"This is what we are after, Mr. Barker--this bundle, weighted
with a dumb-bell, which you have just raised from the bottom of
the moat."
Barker stared at Holmes with amazement in his face. "How in
thunder came you to know anything about it?" he asked.
"Simply that I put it there."
"You put it there! You!"
"Perhaps I should have said 'replaced it there,'" said Holmes.
"You will remember, Inspector MacDonald, that I was somewhat
struck by the absence of a dumb-bell. I drew your attention to
it; but with the pressure of other events you had hardly the time
to give it the consideration which would have enabled you to draw
deductions from it. When water is near and a weight is missing
it is not a very far-fetched supposition that something has been
sunk in the water. The idea was at least worth testing; so with
the help of Ames, who admitted me to the room, and the crook of
Dr. Watson's umbrella, I was able last night to fish up and
inspect this bundle.
"It was of the first importance, however, that we should be able
to prove who placed it there. This we accomplished by the very
obvious device of announcing that the moat would be dried
to-morrow, which had, of course, the effect that whoever had
hidden the bundle would most certainly withdraw it the moment
that darkness enabled him to do so.
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