oken trail until we find either the
Aurora or Mr. Mordecai Smith."

"Toby could eat these scraps, I dare say. Are you going to bed,
Holmes?"

"No: I am not tired. I have a curious constitution. I never remember
feeling tired by work, though idleness exhausts me completely. I am
going to smoke and to think over this queer business to which my fair
client has introduced us. If ever man had an easy task, this of ours
ought to be. Wooden-legged men are not so common, but the other man
must, I should think, be absolutely unique."

"That other man again!"

"I have no wish to make a mystery of him,--to you, anyway. But you
must have formed your own opinion. Now, do consider the data.
Diminutive footmarks, toes never fettered by boots, naked feet,
stone-headed wooden mace, great agility, small poisoned darts. What do
you make of all this?"

"A savage!" I exclaimed. "Perhaps one of those Indians who were the
associates of Jonathan Small."

"Hardly that," said he. "When first I saw signs of strange weapons I
was inclined to think so; but the remarkable character of the footmarks
caused me to reconsider my views. Some of the inhabitants of the
Indian Peninsula are small men, but none could have left such marks as
that. The Hindoo proper has long and thin feet. The sandal-wearing
Mohammedan has the great toe well separated from the others, because
the thong is commonly passed between. These little darts, too, could
only be shot in one way. They are from a blow-pipe. Now, then, where
are we to find our savage?"

"South American," I hazarded.

He stretched his hand up, and took down a bulky volume from the shelf.
"This is the first volume of a gazetteer which is now being published.
It may be looked upon as the very latest authority. What have we here?
'Andaman Islands, situated 340 miles to the north of Sumatra, in the
Bay of Bengal.' Hum! hum! What's all this? Moist climate, coral
reefs, sharks, Port Blair, convict-barracks, Rutland Island,
cottonwoods--Ah, here we are. 'The aborigines of the Andaman Islands
may perhaps claim the distinction of being the smallest race upon this
earth, though some anthropologists prefer the Bushmen of Africa, the
Digger Indians of America, and the Terra del Fuegians. The average
height is rather below four feet, although many full-grown adults may
be found who are very much smaller than this. They are a fierce,
morose, and intractable people, though capable of formin