He would know that he could overtake him. But the German does not
do so. He turns to his bicycle. I am told that he was an
excellent cyclist. He would not do this if he did not see that
the boy had some swift means of escape."
"The other bicycle."
"Let us continue our reconstruction. He meets his death five
miles from the school -- not by a bullet, mark you, which even
a lad might conceivably discharge, but by a savage blow dealt
by a vigorous arm. The lad, then, HAD a companion in his flight.
And the flight was a swift one, since it took five miles before
an expert cyclist could overtake them. Yet we survey the ground
round the scene of the tragedy. What do we find? A few cattle
tracks, nothing more. I took a wide sweep round, and there is no
path within fifty yards. Another cyclist could have had nothing
to do with the actual murder. Nor were there any human footmarks."
"Holmes," I cried, "this is impossible."
"Admirable!" he said. "A most illuminating remark.
It IS impossible as I state it, and therefore I must in some
respect have stated it wrong. Yet you saw for yourself.
Can you suggest any fallacy?"
"He could not have fractured his skull in a fall?"
"In a morass, Watson?"
"I am at my wit's end.
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