“I think I could lay my finger on it,” said Holmes quietly.


“Really, now!” cried the inspector, “you have formed your

opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is south, for

the country is more deserted there.”


“And I say east,” said my patient.


“I am for west,” remarked the plain-clothes man. “There are

several quiet little villages up there.”


“And I am for north,” said I, “because there are no hills

there, and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up

any.”


“Come,” cried the inspector, laughing; “it’s a very

pretty diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do you

give your casting vote to?”


“You are all wrong.”


“But we can’t all be.”


“Oh, yes, you can. This is my point.” He placed his finger in the

centre of the circle. “This is where we shall find them.”


“But the twelve-mile drive?” gasped Hatherley.


“Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the horse

was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that if it had gone

twelve miles over heavy roads?”


“Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough,” observed Bradstreet

thoughtfully. “Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature of this

gang.”


“None at all,” said Holmes. “They are coiners on a large

scale, and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the place

of silver.”


“We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work,” said

the inspector. “They have been turning out half-crowns by the thousand.

We even traced them as far as Reading, but could get no farther, for they had

covered their traces in a way that showed that they were very old hands. But

now, thanks to this lucky chance, I think that we have got them right

enough.”


But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not destined to fall

into the hands of justice. As we rolled into Eyford Station we saw a gigantic