was never more than a hundred yards from them. At
last I saw them hire a boat and start for a row, for it was a very hot
day, and they thought, no doubt, that it would be cooler on the water.

"'It was just as if they had been given into my hands. There was a bit
of a haze, and you could not see more than a few hundred yards. I
hired a boat for myself, and I pulled after them. I could see the blur
of their craft, but they were going nearly as fast as I, and they must
have been a long mile from the shore before I caught them up. The haze
was like a curtain all round us, and there were we three in the middle
of it. My God, shall I ever forget their faces when they saw who was
in the boat that was closing in upon them? She screamed out. He swore
like a madman and jabbed at me with an oar, for he must have seen death
in my eyes. I got past it and got one in with my stick that crushed
his head like an egg. I would have spared her, perhaps, for all my
madness, but she threw her arms round him, crying out to him, and
calling him "Alec." I struck again, and she lay stretched beside him.
I was like a wild beast then that had tasted blood. If Sarah had been
there, by the Lord, she should have joined them. I pulled out my
knife, and--well, there! I've said enough. It gave me a kind of savage
joy when I thought how Sarah would feel when she had such signs as
these of what her meddling had brought about. Then I tied the bodies
into the boat, stove a plank, and stood by until they had sunk. I knew
very well that the owner would think that they had lost their bearings
in the haze, and had drifted off out to sea. I cleaned myself up, got
back to land, and joined my ship without a soul having a suspicion of
what had passed. That night I made up the packet for Sarah Cushing,
and next day I sent it from Belfast.

"'There you have the whole truth of it. You can hang me, or do what
you like with me, but you cannot punish me as I have been punished
already. I cannot shut my eyes but I see those two faces staring at
me--staring at me as they stared when my boat broke through the haze.
I killed them quick, but they are killing me slow; and if I have
another night of it I shall be either mad or dead before morning. You
won't put me alone into a cell, sir? For pity's sake don't, and may
you be treated in your day of agony as you treat me now.'

"What is the meaning of it, Watson?" said Holmes solemnly as he laid
down t