on. I was hired to work in the daytime,
not at night. I guess the excitement will keep till morning."

And,--would you believe it?--I couldn't get another word out of him! I
looked at my watch by the moonlight, and found that it was thirteen
minutes after two a. m. Then, thinking I might get a sight of the
burglar from our bedroom window, I drew the heavy, old-fashioned
curtains aside, and peered out over the silent landscape thirty feet
below. But I couldn't see a blamed thing but trees and grass, and a
moss-covered stone wall out by the road; the Earl's bulldog not being
in evidence anywhere.

I knelt down by the window, put my elbows on the sill, and resolved to
wait there awhile, to see if the nocturnal disturber would hike out
again.

Apparently I fell asleep in this attitude, for the next thing I knew,
Holmes, fully dressed, was bending over me with a grin on his face,
and it was broad daylight.

"Well, why don't you wake up yourself, Doc? It's eight o'clock," he
said. Then I arose sheepishly, and dressed.

After our ablutions in the lavatory next door,--where we helped
ourselves to a bottle of whiskey we found in a medicine cabinet on the
wall,--we descended the two flights of stairs to the main floor.
Finding nobody around, we walked through the different rooms on an
exploring tour, seeking evidences of the disturbance the night before.

"Say, they evidently don't use alarm-clocks in this shack, Watson. Not
a thing stirring yet," said Holmes, as we came to a room with the door
slightly ajar.

"Hello, what's this?" he exclaimed, as we entered the room. "His
Lordship must have retired in a rather submerged condition! Look at
him there!"

I was surprised to see the noble heir of all the Puddinghams lying on
the floor of his bedroom, flat on his back, his eyes closed, and with
one foot resting on an overturned chair; and horrified, as I came
closer, to see a large purple bruise on his forehead, and a heavy iron
poker lying on the floor beside him. The diamond cuff-button was also
gone from his right cuff, but the rays of the morning sun, coming
through the east windows, shone on the other glittering bauble, still
in his left cuff.

Holmes very unconcernedly took a cigarette out of his pocket and lit
it, his eyes meanwhile glancing about the room; but I dropped on my
knees beside the Earl and placed my ear over his chest. To my horror,
I could not hear even the faintest heart-beat. My face paled as I
loo