r is uncertain as to his reception. I am willing, however,
considering the heat and my desire to quench my thirst, to wager that it
is a client.'

"'Done,' said Watson; and I immediately remarked, 'Come in.'

"The door opened, and a man of about thirty-five years of age, in a
bathing-suit, entered the room, and I saw at a glance what had happened.

"'Your name is Burgess,' I said. 'You came here from London this morning,
expecting to return to-night. You brought no luggage with you. After
luncheon you went in bathing. You had machine No. 35, and when you came
out of the water you found that No. 35 had disappeared, with your clothes
and the silver watch your uncle gave you on the day you succeeded to his
business.'

"Of course, gentlemen," observed the detective, with a smile at Sir Walter
and Hamlet--"of course the man fairly gasped, and I continued: 'You have
been lying face downward in the sand ever since, waiting for nightfall, so
that you could come to me for assistance, not considering it good form to
make an afternoon call upon a stranger at his hotel, clad in a
bathing-suit. Am I correct?'

"'Sir,' he replied, with a look of wonder, 'you have narrated my story
exactly as it happened, and I find I have made no mistake in coming to
you. Would you mind telling me what is your course of reasoning?'

"'It is plain as day,' said I. 'I am the person with the red beard with
whom you came down third class from London this morning, and you told me
your name was Burgess and that you were a butcher. When you looked to see
the time, I remarked upon the oddness of your watch, which led to your
telling me that it was the gift of your uncle.'

"'True,' said Burgess, 'but I did not tell you I had no luggage.'

"'No,' said I, 'but that you hadn't is plain; for if you had brought any
other clothing besides that you had on with you, you would have put it on
to come here. That you have been robbed I deduce also from your costume.'

"'But the number of the machine?' asked Watson.

"'Is on the tag on the key hanging about his neck,' said I.

"'One more question,' queried Burgess. 'How do you know I have been lying
face downward on the beach ever since?'

"'By the sand in your eyebrows,' I replied; and Watson ordered up the
small bottle."

"I fail to see what it was in our conversation, however," observed Hamlet,
somewhat impatient over the delay caused by the narration of this tale,
"that suggested this train of thought t