of the moor, bronze-colored from the fading ferns,
stretched away to the sky-line, broken only by the
steeples of Tavistock, and by a cluster of houses away
to the westward which marked the Mapleton stables. We
all sprang out with the exception of Holmes, who
continued to lean back with his eyes fixed upon the
sky in front of him, entirely absorbed in his own
thoughts. It was only when I touched his arm that he
roused himself with a violent start and stepped out of
the carriage.

"Excuse me," said he, turning to Colonel Ross, who
had looked at him in some surprise. "I was
day-dreaming." There was a gleam in his eyes and a
suppressed excitement in his manner which convinced
me, used as I was to his ways, that his hand was upon
a clue, though I could not imagine where he had found
it.

"Perhaps you would prefer at once to go on to the
scene of the crime, Mr. Holmes?" said Gregory.

"I think that I should prefer to stay here a little
and go into one or two questions of detail. Straker
was brought back here, I presume?"

"Yes; he lies upstairs. The inquest is to-morrow."

"He has been in your service some years, Colonel
Ross?"