broken by a sudden exclamation from Holmes, who dashed at a
cupboard, from which he emerged with a second yellow-covered
volume in his hand.

"We pay the price, Watson, for being too up-to-date!" he cried.
"We are before our time, and suffer the usual penalties. Being
the seventh of January, we have very properly laid in the new
almanac. It is more than likely that Porlock took his message
from the old one. No doubt he would have told us so had his
letter of explanation been written. Now let us see what page 534
has in store for us. Number thirteen is 'There,' which is much
more promising. Number one hundred and twenty-seven is
'is'--'There is' "--Holmes's eyes were gleaming with excitement,
and his thin, nervous fingers twitched as he counted the words--
"'danger.' Ha! Ha! Capital! Put that down, Watson. 'There is
danger--may--come--very--soon--one.' Then we have the name
'Douglas'--'rich--country--now--at--Birlstone--House--Birlstone--
confidence--is--pressing.' There, Watson! What do you think of
pure reason and its fruit? If the green-grocer had such a thing
as a laurel wreath, I should send Billy round for it."

I was staring at the strange message which I had scrawled, as he
deciphered it, upon a sheet of foolscap on my knee.

"What a queer, scrambling way of expressing his meaning!" said I.

"On the contrary, he has done quite remarkably well," said
Holmes. "When you search a single column for words with which to
express your meaning, you can hardly expect to get everything you
want. You are bound to leave something to the intelligence of