trayed, as he took up his
station on a particularly soft pile of hay nearby, and stretched his
fat legs over it comfortably.

"What! Smoke cigarettes up here in the hay, and burn down my ancestral
stables for me!" shouted the Earl in surprise. "Good night! You've got
about as much brains as Holmes says you have, Letstrayed. But here, I
realize that it'll be pretty lonesome up here watching for a hidden
crook with nobody but a lot of pigeons for company, so you can take
this package of fine-cut, and chew to your heart's content. Good-by,
now."

Barnabas took the proffered pack of chewing tobacco, and sighed
deeply.

"Well, good-by. If you hear any shooting, you'll know it's me," he
said, as he took a big mouthful of the fine-cut.

And so we left him to his afternoon vigil, after Holmes had taken a
look at the bulldog chained up near the horses downstairs,--and
returning to the castle we all entered the library, where the Earl
called the butler, and said:

"Harrigan, you may pour us out each a glass of wine."

Harrigan smilingly agreed, and after we had all imbibed, the Earl and
Uncle Tooter played chess on the great mahogany table in the center of
the room; Holmes and Thorneycroft started a game of checkers, as did
Lord Launcelot and myself, sitting on the leather-covered divans in
the broad bay-window, while Billie Hicks sprawled himself out in a
comfortable arm-chair at one side. The Countess did not appear, being
still upstairs in her own room with her maid Teresa, and the various
servants were scattered through the numerous rooms of the castle
engaged in their various duties.

So the afternoon passed,--from a little after two o'clock, when we
returned from the stables, until ten minutes after five, when suddenly
two loud shots split the silence, coming from the direction of the
rear of the castle.

"Ha! There he is now!" yelled Holmes, as he jumped up instantly,
knocking the checkerboard and all the pieces into the lap of the
astonished Thorneycroft, and ran out into the corridor, shouting to us
to accompany him. Holmes had pretty long legs, and he distanced the
rest of us while we did another Marathon out to the stables, with the
servants staring at us out of the back windows. I hate to have to tell
it, but the sight that met our eyes in the hay-loft was honestly
enough to make an archangel swear!

There, stretched out flat on his back on the hay-littered floor near
the top of the stairs, bound and gagg