To-day I was not
alarmed, but I was filled with curiosity, and I determined to find
out who he was and what he wanted. I slowed down my ma-
chine, but he slowed down his. Then I stopped altogether, but he
stopped also. Then I laid a trap for him. There is a sharp turning
of the road, and I pedalled very quickly round this, and then I
stopped and waited. I expected him to shoot round and pass me
before he could stop. But he never appeared. Then I went back
and looked round the corner. I could see a mile of road, but he
was not on it. To make it the more extraordinary, there was no
side road at this point down which he could have gone."
Holmes chuckled and rubbed his hands. "This case certainly
presents some features of its own," said he. "How much time
elapsed between your turning the corner and your discovery that
the road was clear?"
"Two or three minutes."
"Then he could not have retreated down the road, and you say
that there are no side roads?"
"None."
"Then he certainly took a footpath on one side or the other."
"It could not have been on the side of the heath, or I should
have seen him.
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