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"You are under the charge of Mr Athelney Jones, of Scotland Yard He is going to bring you up to my rooms, and I shall ask you for a true account of the matter You must make a clean breast of it, for if you do I hope that I may be of use to you I think I can prove that the poison acts so quickly that the man was dead before ever you reached the rooot such a turn inat h theIt fairly shook a for it if he had not scrambled off That was how he came to leave his club, and some of his darts too, as he tells h how you kept on it is ainst you for it But it does see," he added, with a bitter sh upon half a million ofa breakwater in the Anda drains at Dartmoor It was an evil day for me when first I clapped eyes upon the ra treasure, which never brought anything but a curse yet upon the ht uilt, to me it has meant slavery for life"

At this moment Athelney Jones thrust his broad face and heavy shoulders into the tiny cabin "Quite a family party," he remarked "I think I shall have a pull at that flask, Holratulate each other Pity we didn't take the other alive; but there was no choice I say, Holmes, you must confess that you cut it rather fine It was all we could do to overhaul her"

"All is well that ends well," said Holmes "But I certainly did not know that the Aurora was such a clipper"

"Smith says she is one of the fastest launches on the river, and that if he had had another ht her He swears he knew nothing of this Norwood business"

"Neither he did," cried our prisoner,--"not a word I chose his launch because I heard that she was a flier We told hi handsome if we reached our vessel, the Esmeralda, at Gravesend, outward bound for the Brazils"