Page:The Valley of Fear.pdf/106

Rh from the hall. As Ames had observed, the soles of both were dark with blood.

“Strange!” murmured Holmes, as he stood in the light of the window and examined them minutely. “Very strange indeed!”

Stooping with one of his quick feline pounces, he placed the slipper upon the blood mark on the sill. It exactly corresponded. He smiled in silence at his colleagues.

The Inspector was transfigured with excitement. His native accent rattled like a stick upon railings.

“Man,” he cried, “there’s not a doubt of it! Barker has just marked the window himself. It’s a good deal broader than any bootmark. I mind that you said it was a splay-foot, and here’s the explanation. But what’s the game, Mr. Holmes—what’s the game?”

“Aye, what’s the game?” my friend repeated thoughtfully.

White Mason chuckled and rubbed his fat hands together in his professional satisfaction. “I said it was a snorter!” he cried. “And a real snorter it is!” [104]