"And you think that they brought you back all that way when youwere unconscious?"
"They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of havingbeen lifted and conveyed somewhere."
"What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should havespared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden.Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties."
"I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable facein my life."
"Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, Ihave drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point uponit the folk that we are in search of are to be found."
"I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly.
"Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed youropinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it issouth, for the country is more deserted there."
"And I say east," said my patient.
"I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There areseveral quiet little villages up there."
"And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there,and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go upany."
"Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very prettydiversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who doyou give your casting vote to?"
"You are all wrong."
"But we can't all be."
"Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in thecentre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them."
"But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley.
"Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that thehorse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be thatif it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?"
"Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreetthoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the natureof this gang."
"None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale,and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken theplace of silver."
"We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work,"said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns bythe thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but couldget no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way thatshowed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to thislucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough."
But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were notdestined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled intoEyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamedup from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood andhung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape.
"A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed offagain on its way.
"Yes, sir!" said the station-master.
"When did it break out?"
"I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse,and the whole place is in a blaze."
"Whose house is it?"
"Dr. Becher's."
"Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, verythin, with a long, sharp nose?"
The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is anEnglishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has abetter-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him,a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks asif a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm."
The station-master had not finished his speech before we were allhastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a lowhill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building infront of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while inthe garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving tokeep the flames under.
"That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There isthe gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. Thatsecond window is the one that I jumped from."