ead and shoulders looking
out into the gloom. For some minutes he peered forth in furtive,
stealthy fashion, as one who wishes to be assured that he is
unobserved. Then he leaned forward, and in the intense silence we were
aware of the soft lapping of agitated water. He seemed to be stirring
up the moat with something which he held in his hand. Then suddenly he
hauled something in as a fisherman lands a fish--some large, round
object which obscured the light as it was dragged through the open
casement.

"Now!" cried Holmes. "Now!"

We were all upon our feet, staggering after him with our stiffened
limbs, while he ran swiftly across the bridge and rang violently at the
bell. There was the rasping of bolts from the other side, and the
amazed Ames stood in the entrance. Holmes brushed him aside without a
word and, followed by all of us, rushed into the room which had been
occupied by the man whom we had been watching.

The oil lamp on the table represented the glow which we had seen from
outside. It was now in the hand of Cecil Barker, who held it towards us
as we entered. Its light shone upon his strong, resolute, clean-shaved
face and his menacing eyes.

"What the devil is the meaning of all this?" he cried. "What are you
after, anyhow?"

Holmes took a swift glance round, and then pounced upon a sodden bundle
tied together with cord which lay where it had been thrust under the
writing table.

"This is what we are after, Mr. Barker--this bundle, weighted with a
dumb-bell, which you have just raised from the bottom of the moat."

Barker stared at Holmes with amazement in his face. "How in thunder
came you to know anything about it?" he asked.

"Simply that I put it there."

"You put it there! You!"

"Perhaps I should have said 'replaced it there,'" said Holmes. "You
will remember, Inspector MacDonald, that I was somewhat struck by the
absence of a dumb-bell. I drew your attention to it; but with the
pressure of other events you had hardly the time to give it the
consideration which would have enabled you to draw deductions from it.
When water is near and a weight is missing it is not a very far-fetched
supposition that something has been sunk in the water. The idea was at
least worth testing; so with the help of Ames, who admitted me to the
room, and the crook of Dr. Watson's umbrella, I was able last night to
fish up and inspect this bundle.

"It was of the first importance, however, that we should be able