The only thing
about his face that I could clearly see was his dark beard.
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 machine, 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.
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