but his eyes upon my companion.


“How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr.

Holmes?” he asked. “How did you know, for example, that I did

manual labour. It’s as true as gospel, for I began as a ship’s

carpenter.”


“Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger than

your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more developed.”


“Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?”


“I won’t insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that,

especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you use an

arc-and-compass breastpin.”


“Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?”


“What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for five

inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the elbow where you rest it

upon the desk?”


“Well, but China?”


“The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right wrist could

only have been done in China. I have made a small study of tattoo marks and

have even contributed to the literature of the subject. That trick of staining

the fishes’ scales of a delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When,

in addition, I see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter

becomes even more simple.”


Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. “Well, I never!” said he.

“I thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see that

there was nothing in it after all.”


“I begin to think, Watson,” said Holmes, “that I make a

mistake in explaining. ‘Omne ignotum pro magnifico,’ you

know, and my poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I

am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?”


“Yes, I have got it now,” he answered with his thick red finger

planted halfway down the column. “Here it is. This is what began it all.

You just read it for yourself, sir.”


I took the paper from him and read as follows: