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 Street, I know that my friend Watson is in the neighbourhood. You will see it there beside the path. You threw it down, no doubt, at that supreme moment when you charged into the empty hut.”

“Exactly.”

“I thought as much—and knowing your admirable tenacity, I was convinced that you were sitting in ambush, a weapon within reach, waiting for the tenant to return. So you actually thought that I was the criminal?”

“I did not know who you were, but I was determined to find out.”

“Excellent, Watson! And how did you localise me? You saw me, perhaps, on the night of the convict hunt, when I was so imprudent as to allow the moon to rise behind me?”

“Yes, I saw you then.”

“And have, no doubt, searched all the huts until you came to this one?”

“No, your boy had been observed, and that gave me a guide where to look.”