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1"I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might
2have your rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of
3a light. And, first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, and though we shall take them at a
4disadvantage, they may do us some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, and do you conceal
5yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no
6compunction about shooting them down." I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case behind which I
7crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute darkness
8as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready
9to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something
10depressing and subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the vault. "They have but one retreat,"
11whispered Holmes. "That is back through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have done what I asked you,
12Jones?" "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now
13we must be silent and wait." What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but an hour and a quarter,
14yet it appeared to me that the night must have almost gone, and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs were weary and
15stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my hearing
16was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper,
17heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note of the bank director. From my position I could look
18over the case in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint of a light. At first it was but a lurid
19spark upon the stone pavement. Then it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, without any warning or
20sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the centre of the
21little area of light. For a minute or more the hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then it was
22withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between
23the stones. Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones
24turned over upon its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed the light of a lantern. Over the edge
25there peeped a clean-cut, boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand on either side of the
26aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another instant he stood at
27the side of the hole and was hauling after him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face and a shock
28of very red hair. "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump,
29and I'll swing for it!" Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the collar. The other dived down the
30hole, and I heard the sound of rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed upon the barrel of a
31revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone floor. "It's no
32use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no chance at all." "So I see," the other answered with the utmost
33coolness. "I fancy that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his coat-tails." "There are three men waiting for
34him at the door," said Holmes. "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I must compliment you."
35"And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new and effective." "You'll see your pal again presently,"
36said Jones. "He's quicker at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the derbies." "I beg that you will
37not touch me with your filthy hands," remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. "You may not be
38aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and
39'please.'" "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would you please, sir, march upstairs, where we
40can get a cab to carry your Highness to the police-station?" "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a
41sweeping bow to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the detective. "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr.
42Merryweather as we followed them from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or repay you. There is no
43doubt that you have detected and defeated in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts at bank
44robbery that have ever come within my experience." "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr.
45John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund,
46but beyond that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in many ways unique, and by hearing the very
47remarkable narrative of the Red-headed League." "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning as we
48sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible
49object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of the League, and the copying of the Encyclopædia, must
50be to get this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of hours every day. It was a curious way of
51managing it, but, really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was no doubt suggested to Clay's
52ingenious mind by the colour of his accomplice's hair. The £ 4 a week was a lure which must draw him, and what was it to
53them, who were playing for thousands? They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary office, the other rogue
54incites the man to apply for it, and together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the week. From the time
55that I heard of the assistant having come for half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive for
56securing the situation." "But how could you guess what the motive was?" "Had there been women in the house, I should
57have suspected a mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The man's business was a small one, and
58there was nothing in his house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and such an expenditure as they were
59at. It must, then, be something out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's fondness for
60photography, and his trick of vanishing into the cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then I made
61inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals
62in London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which took many hours a day for months on end. What could it
63be, once more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel to some other building.
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