INITIALIZATION Knowledgebase: ki-dev Base Query: this is at est Model: gemini-1.5-pro-preview-0409 Use Curl?: None ================================================== QUESTIONING Clarity Score: 2 Give follow-up?: True Follow-up query: Could you please clarify what you mean by 'this is at est'? Are you asking about a specific concept, place, or something else? ================================================== ROUTING Query type: creative_writing ================================================== RAG PARAMETERS Max Context To Include: 100 Lowest Score to Consider: 0.1 ================================================== VECTOR SEARCH ALGORITHM TO USE Use MMR search?: True Use Similarity search?: False ================================================== PRIMER Primer: You are a highly intelligent personal assistant. Your role is to act as an expert writer. In your responses to enterprise users, prioritize clarity, trustworthiness, and appropriate formality. Be honest by admitting when a topic falls outside your scope of knowledge, and suggest alternative avenues for obtaining information when necessary. Make effective use of chat history to avoid redundancy and enhance response relevance, continuously adapting to integrate all necessary details in your interactions. If the user provides a specific structure for the article or output, please follow it intently. Use as much tokens as possible to provide a detailed response. Your answer must be in English language. Your tone must be neutral. Your writing style must be standard. ================================================== FINAL QUERY Final Query: CONTEXT: ########## File: zxcvzxcvzx.txt.txt Page: 1 Context: edited 04MAY2024 #################### File: kios_routes_list.txt.txt Page: 1 Context: zebra name my zebra's name is stripey boi #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 1 Context: The Valley of Fear Arthur Conan Doyle #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 3 Context: The Valley Of Fearby #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 4 Context: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 5 Context: CONTENTSPART 1—The Tragedy of BirlstoneChapter 1 The Warning2 Sherlock Holmes Discourses3 The Tragedy of Birlstone4 Darkness5 The People Of the Drama6 A Dawning Light7 The SolutionPART 2—The Scowrers1 The Man2 The Bodymaster3 Lodge 341, Vermissa4 The Valley of Fear5 The Darkest Hour6 Danger7 The Trapping of Birdy Edwards Epilogue #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 7 Context: eyes of thelaw—and there lie the glory and the wonder of it! The greatest schemer of alltime, the organizer of every deviltry, the controlling brain of the underworld, abrain which might have made or marred the destiny of nations—that's the man!But so aloof is he from general suspicion, so immune from criticism, soadmirable in his management and self-effacement, that for those very words thatyou have uttered he could hale you to a court and emerge with your year'spension as a solatium for his wounded character. Is he not the celebrated authorof The Dynamics of an Asteroid, a book which ascends to such rarefied heightsof pure mathematics that it is said that there was no man in the scientific presscapable of criticizing it? Is this a man to traduce? Foul-mouthed doctor andslandered professor—such would be your respective roles! That's genius,Watson. But if I am spared by lesser men, our day will surely come.""May I be there to see!" I exclaimed devoutly. "But you were speaking of thism #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 7 Context: re speaking of thisman Porlock.""Ah, yes—the so-called Porlock is a link in the chain some little way from itsgreat attachment. Porlock is not quite a sound link—between ourselves. He is theonly flaw in that chain so far as I have been able to test it.""But no chain is stronger than its weakest link." #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 13 Context: ed to him. His tall, bony figure gavepromise of exceptional physical strength, while his great cranium and deep-set,lustrous eyes spoke no less clearly of the keen intelligence which twinkled outfrom behind his bushy eyebrows. He was a silent, precise man with a dour natureand a hard Aberdonian accent.Twice already in his career had Holmes helped him to attain success, his own #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 14 Context: on't smoke, I thank you. I'llhave to be pushing on my way; for the early hours of a case are the preciousones, as no man knows better than your own self. But—but—"The inspector had stopped suddenly, and was staring with a look of absoluteamazement at a paper upon the table. It was the sheet upon which I had scrawledthe enigmatic message."Douglas!" he stammered. "Birlstone! What's this, Mr. Holmes? Man, it'switchcraft! Where in the name of all that is wonderful did you get those names?""It is a cipher that Dr. Watson and I have had occasion to solve. But why—what's amiss with the names?"The inspector looked from one to the other of us in dazed astonishment. "Justthis," said he, "that Mr. Douglas of Birlstone Manor House was horriblymurdered last night!"Chapter 2 #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 16 Context: usiness to see him. I had a chat with him on eclipses. How the talk got that wayI canna think; but he had out a reflector lantern and a globe, and made it all clearin a minute. He lent me a book; but I don't mind saying that it was a bit abovemy head, though I had a good Aberdeen upbringing. He'd have made a grandmeenister with his thin face and gray hair and solemn-like way of talking. When #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 20 Context: some conception as to the motives of the crime. It is, as I #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 21 Context: ast there was a fitting object for those remarkable powers which, like allspecial gifts, become irksome to their owner when they are not in use. That razorbrain blunted and rusted with inaction. #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 23 Context: e roseupon the ruins of the feudal castle. #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 29 Context: "It was nearly six o'clock," said Ames, the butler."I've heard," said the sergeant, "that it was usually raised at sunset. Thatwould be nearer half-past four than six at this time of year.""Mrs. Douglas had visitors to tea," said Ames. "I couldn't raise it until theywent. Then I wound it up myself.""Then it comes to this," said the sergeant: "If anyone came from outside—ifthey did—they must have got in across the bridge before six and been in hidingever since, until Mr. Douglas came into the room after eleven.""That is so! Mr. Douglas went round the house every night the last thingbefore he turned in to see that the lights were right. That brought him in here.The man was waiting and shot him. Then he got away through the window andleft his gun behind him. That's how I read it; for nothing else will fit the facts."The sergeant picked up a card which lay beside the dead man on the floor.The initials V. V. and under them the number 341 were rudely scrawled in inkupon it."What's this?" he #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 30 Context: scratching his puzzled head in his perplexity. "It will want the best brains in theforce to get to the bottom of this thing. It will be a London job before it isfinished." He raised the hand lamp and walked slowly round the room. "Hullo!"he cried, excitedly, drawing the window curtain to one side. "What o'clock werethose curtains drawn?""When the lamps were lit," said the butler. "It would be shortly after four.""Someone had been hiding here, sure enough." He held down the light, andthe marks of muddy boots were very visible in the corner. "I'm bound to say thisbears out your theory, Mr. Barker. It looks as if the man got into the house afterfour when the curtains were drawn and before six when the bridge was raised.He slipped into this room, because it was the first that he saw. There was noother place where he could hide, so he popped in behind this curtain. That allseems clear enough. It is likely that his main idea was to burgle the house; butMr. Douglas chanced to come upon him, s #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 35 Context: e first separatedthemselves from me. I have no wish ever to score at their expense. At the same #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 36 Context: time, Mr. White Mason, I claim the right to work in my own way and give myresults at my own time—complete rather than in stages.""I am sure we are honoured by your presence and to show you all we know,"said White Mason cordially. "Come along, Dr. Watson, and when the time comeswe'll all hope for a place in your book."We walked down the quaint village street with a row of pollarded elms oneach side of it. Just beyond were two ancient stone pillars, weather-stained andlichen-blotched bearing upon their summits a shapeless something which hadonce been the rampant lion of Capus of Birlstone. A short walk along thewinding drive with such sward and oaks around it as one only sees in ruralEngland, then a sudden turn, and the long, low Jacobean house of dingy, liver-coloured brick lay before us, with an old-fashioned garden of cut yews on eachside of it. As we approached it, there was the wooden drawbridge and thebeautiful broad moat as still and luminous as quicksilver in the cold, wintersuns #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 36 Context: beyond it."I've had a good look, Mr. Holmes," said White Mason. "There is nothingthere, no sign that anyone has landed—but why should he leave any sign?" #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 36 Context: the cold, wintersunshine.Three centuries had flowed past the old Manor House, centuries of births andof homecomings, of country dances and of the meetings of fox hunters. Strangethat now in its old age this dark business should have cast its shadow upon thevenerable walls! And yet those strange, peaked roofs and quaint, overhunggables were a fitting covering to grim and terrible intrigue. As I looked at thedeep-set windows and the long sweep of the dull-coloured, water-lapped front, Ifelt that no more fitting scene could be set for such a tragedy."That's the window," said White Mason, "that one on the immediate right ofthe drawbridge. It's open just as it was found last night.""It looks rather narrow for a man to pass.""Well, it wasn't a fat man, anyhow. We don't need your deductions, Mr.Holmes, to tell us that. But you or I could squeeze through all right."Holmes walked to the edge of the moat and looked across. Then he examinedthe stone ledge and the grass border beyond it."I've had #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 42 Context: corner, one would say it was a more shapely sole. However, they are certainlyvery indistinct. What's this under the side table?""Mr. Douglas's dumb-bells," said Ames."Dumb-bell—there's only one. Where's the other?""I don't know, Mr. Holmes. There may have been only one. I have not noticedthem for months.""One dumb-bell—" Holmes said seriously; but his remarks were interruptedby a sharp knock at the door.A tall, sunburned, capable-looking, clean-shaved man looked in at us. I hadno difficulty in guessing that it was the Cecil Barker of whom I had heard. Hismasterful eyes travelled quickly with a questioning glance from face to face."Sorry to interrupt your consultation," said he, "but you should hear the latestnews.""An arrest?""No such luck. But they've found his bicycle. The fellow left his bicyclebehind him. Come and have a look. It is within a hundred yards of the hall door."We found three or four grooms and idlers standing in the drive inspecting abicycle which had been drawn out fr #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 44 Context: down it. No, she was not hurrying; it did not seem to him that she wasparticularly agitated. Just as she reached the bottom of the stair Mr. Barker hadrushed out of the study. He had stopped Mrs. Douglas and begged her to goback."For God's sake, go back to your room!" he cried. "Poor Jack is dead! Youcan do nothing. For God's sake, go back!"After some persuasion upon the stairs Mrs. Douglas had gone back. She didnot scream. She made no outcry whatever. Mrs. Allen, the housekeeper, hadtaken her upstairs and stayed with her in the bedroom. Ames and Mr. Barker hadthen returned to the study, where they had found everything exactly as the policehad seen it. The candle was not lit at that time; but the lamp was burning. Theyhad looked out of the window; but the night was very dark and nothing could beseen or heard. They had then rushed out into the hall, where Ames had turnedthe windlass which lowered the drawbridge. Mr. Barker had then hurried off toget the police.Such, in its essentials, w #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 53 Context: e question might as well have been spoken. Then, with a bow, sheswept from the room."She's a beautiful woman—a very beautiful woman," said MacDonaldthoughtfully, after the door had closed behind her. "This man Barker hascertainly been down here a good deal. He is a man who might be attractive to awoman. He admits that the dead man was jealous, and maybe he knew besthimself what cause he had for jealousy. Then there's that wedding ring. You can'tget past that. The man who tears a wedding ring off a dead man's—What do yousay to it, Mr. Holmes?"My friend had sat with his head upon his hands, sunk in the deepest thought.Now he rose and rang the bell. "Ames," he said, when the butler entered, "whereis Mr. Cecil Barker now?" #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 55 Context: nt occurred, which brought me back to the tragedyand left a sinister impression in my mind.I have said that a decoration of yew trees circled the garden. At the endfarthest from the house they thickened into a continuous hedge. On the other sideof this hedge, concealed from the eyes of anyone approaching from the directionof the house, there was a stone seat. As I approached the spot I was aware ofvoices, some remark in the deep tones of a man, answered by a little ripple offeminine laughter.An instant later I had come round the end of the hedge and my eyes lit uponMrs. Douglas and the man Barker before they were aware of my presence. Herappearance gave me a shock. In the dining-room she had been demure anddiscreet. Now all pretense of grief had passed away from her. Her eyes shone #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 59 Context: doing fromquarter to eleven, when the sound of the shot brought them down, until quarterpast eleven, when they rang the bell and summoned the servants. What werethey doing, and why did they not instantly give the alarm? That is the questionwhich faces us, and when it has been answered we shall surely have gone someway to solve our problem.""I am convinced myself," said I, "that there is an understanding between #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 60 Context: e, who deceive everyone upon this point, andconspire to murder the husband. He happens to be a man over whose head somedanger hangs—""We have only their word for that." #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 62 Context: , Friend Watson. Well, we shall see. By the way, you have that bigumbrella of yours, have you not?""It is here." #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 63 Context: ells. It was at Tunbridge Wellsthen that he had become conscious of some danger. It was clear, therefore, that ifa man had come over with a bicycle it was from Tunbridge Wells that he mightbe expected to have come. We took the bicycle over with us and showed it at thehotels. It was identified at once by the manager of the Eagle Commercial asbelonging to a man named Hargrave, who had taken a room there two daysbefore. This bicycle and a small valise were his whole belongings. He hadregistered his name as coming from London, but had given no address. Thevalise was London made, and the contents were British; but the man himself wasundoubtedly an American.""Well, well," said Holmes gleefully, "you have indeed done some solid workwhile I have been sitting spinning theories with my friend! It's a lesson in beingpractical, Mr. Mac.""Ay, it's just that, Mr. Holmes," said the inspector with satisfaction."But this may all fit in with your theories," I remarked. #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 64 Context: MacDonald, "when we have got our man—and you #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 65 Context: r. Mac, it is very good and very clear so far as it goes. That is yourend of the story. My end is that the crime was committed half an hour earlierthan reported; that Mrs. Douglas and Barker are both in a conspiracy to concealsomething; that they aided the murderer's escape—or at least that they reachedthe room before he escaped—and that they fabricated evidence of his escapethrough the window, whereas in all probability they had themselves let him goby lowering the bridge. That's my reading of the first half."The two detectives shook their heads. #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 67 Context: The SolutionNext morning, after breakfast, we found Inspector MacDonald and WhiteMason seated in close consultation in the small parlour of the local policesergeant. On the table in front of them were piled a number of letters andtelegrams, which they were carefully sorting and docketing. Three had beenplaced on one side."Still on the track of the elusive bicyclist?" Holmes asked cheerfully. "Whatis the latest news of the ruffian?"MacDonald pointed ruefully to his heap of correspondence."He is at present reported from Leicester, Nottingham, Southampton, Derby,East Ham, Richmond, and fourteen other places. In three of them—East Ham,Leicester, and Liverpool—there is a clear case against him, and he has actuallybeen arrested. The country seems to be full of the fugitives with yellow coats.""Dear me!" said Holmes sympathetically. "Now, Mr. Mac and you, Mr. WhiteMason, I wish to give you a very earnest piece of advice. When I went into thiscase with you I bargained, as you will no doubt rem #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 68 Context: e Manor House.""Well, what happened?""Ah, I can only give you a very general answer to that for the moment. By theway, I have been reading a short but clear and interesting account of the oldbuilding, purchasable at the modest sum of one penny from the localtobacconist."Here Holmes drew a small tract, embellished with a rude engraving of theancient Manor House, from his waistcoat pocket."It immensely adds to the zest of an investigation, my dear Mr. Mac, whenone is in conscious sympathy with the historical atmosphere of one'ssurroundings. Don't look so impatient; for I assure you that even so bald anaccount as this raises some sort of picture of the past in one's mind. Permit me togive you a sample. 'Erected in the fifth year of the reign of James I, and standingupon the site of a much older building, the Manor House of Birlstone presentsone of the finest surviving examples of the moated Jacobean residence—'""You are making fools of us, Mr. Holmes!" #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 72 Context: assure you that this inquiry has come to a definite pause."Evening was drawing in when we reassembled. Holmes was very serious inhis manner, myself curious, and the detectives obviously critical and annoyed."Well, gentlemen," said my friend gravely, "I am asking you now to puteverything to the test with me, and you will judge for yourselves whether theobservations I have made justify the conclusions to which I have come. It is achill evening, and I do not know how long our expedition may last; so I beg thatyou will wear your warmest coats. It is of the first importance that we should bein our places before it grows dark; so with your permission we shall get startedat once." #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 73 Context: tin the fatal study. Everything else was dark and still."How long is this to last?" asked the inspector finally. "And what is it we arewatching for?" #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 73 Context: taccusation, the brutal tap upon the shoulder—what can one make of such adenouement? But the quick inference, the subtle trap, the clever forecast ofcoming events, the triumphant vindication of bold theories—are these not thepride and the justification of our life's work? At the present moment you thrillwith the glamour of the situation and the anticipation of the hunt. Where wouldbe that thrill if I had been as definite as a timetable? I only ask a little patience,Mr. Mac, and all will be clear to you.""Well, I hope the pride and justification and the rest of it will come before weall get our death of cold," said the London detective with comic resignation.We all had good reason to join in the aspiration; for our vigil was a long andbitter one. Slowly the shadows darkened over the long, sombre face of the oldhouse. A cold, damp reek from the moat chilled us to the bones and set our teethchattering. There was a single lamp over the gateway and a steady globe of lightin the fatal study. #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 74 Context: the writingtable."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." #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 74 Context: "I have no more notion than you how long it is to last," Holmes answeredwith some asperity. "If criminals would always schedule their movements likerailway trains, it would certainly be more convenient for all of us. As to what itis we—Well, that's what we are watching for!"As he spoke the bright, yellow light in the study was obscured by somebodypassing to and fro before it. The laurels among which we lay were immediatelyopposite the window and not more than a hundred feet from it. Presently it wasthrown open with a whining of hinges, and we could dimly see the dark outlineof a man's head and shoulders looking out into the gloom. For some minutes hepeered forth in furtive, stealthy fashion, as one who wishes to be assured that heis unobserved. Then he leaned forward, and in the intense silence we were awareof the soft lapping of agitated water. He seemed to be stirring up the moat withsomething which he held in his hand. Then suddenly he hauled something in as afisherman lands a fish— #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 76 Context: er grace from you.""Oh, you think so, do you? Well, all I can say is that if there's any secret hereit is not my secret, and I am not the man to give it away.""Well, if you take that line, Mr. Barker," said the inspector quietly, "we mustjust keep you in sight until we have the warrant and can hold you.""You can do what you damn please about that," said Barker defiantly.The proceedings seemed to have come to a definite end so far as he wasconcerned; for one had only to look at that granite face to realize that no peineforte et dure would ever force him to plead against his will. The deadlock wasbroken, however, by a woman's voice. Mrs. Douglas had been standing listeningat the half opened door, and now she entered the room."You have done enough for now, Cecil," said she. "Whatever comes of it inthe future, you have done enough.""Enough and more than enough," remarked Sherlock Holmes gravely. "I haveevery sympathy with you, madam, and should strongly urge you to have someconfidence in t #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 79 Context: e took her hand for aninstant in his own, "and I acted for the best."Well, gentlemen, the day before these happenings I was over in TunbridgeWells, and I got a glimpse of a man in the street. It was only a glimpse; but Ihave a quick eye for these things, and I never doubted who it was. It was theworst enemy I had among them all—one who has been after me like a hungrywolf after a caribou all these years. I knew there was trouble coming, and I camehome and made ready for it. I guessed I'd fight through it all right on my own,my luck was a proverb in the States about '76. I never doubted that it would bewith me still."I was on my guard all that next day, and never went out into the park. It's aswell, or he'd have had the drop on me with that buckshot gun of his before ever Icould draw on him. After the bridge was up—my mind was always more restfulwhen that bridge was up in the evenings—I put the thing clear out of my head. Inever dreamed of his getting into the house and waiting for me. B #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 82 Context: a time, far from the Sussex Manor House of Birlstone, and far also from the yearof grace in which we made our eventful journey which ended with the strangestory of the man who had been known as John Douglas. I wish you to journeyback some twenty years in time, and westward some thousands of miles inspace, that I may lay before you a singular and terrible narrative—so singularand so terrible that you may find it hard to believe that even as I tell it, even sodid it occur.Do not think that I intrude one story before another is finished. As you readon you will find that this is not so. And when I have detailed those distant eventsand you have solved this mystery of the past, we shall meet once more in thoserooms on Baker Street, where this, like so many other wonderful happenings,will find its end. #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 83 Context: PART 2 #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 84 Context: The ScowrersChapter 1The ManIt was the fourth of February in the year 1875. It had been a severe winter,and the snow lay deep in the gorges of the Gilmerton Mountains. The steamploughs had, however, kept the railroad open, and the evening train whichconnects the long line of coal-mining and iron-working settlements was slowlygroaning its way up the steep gradients which lead from Stagville on the plain toVermissa, the central township which lies at the head of Vermissa Valley. Fromthis point the track sweeps downward to Bartons Crossing, Helmdale, and thepurely agricultural county of Merton. It was a single-track railroad; but at everysiding—and they were numerous—long lines of trucks piled with coal and ironore told of the hidden wealth which had brought a rude population and a bustlinglife to this most desolate corner of the United States of America.For desolate it was! Little could the first pioneer who had traversed it haveever imagined that the fairest prairies and the most lush w #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 85 Context: Several women of the labouring class and one or two travellers who mighthave been small local storekeepers made up the rest of the company, with theexception of one young man in a corner by himself. It is with this man that weare concerned. Take a good look at him, for he is worth it.He is a fresh-complexioned, middle-sized young man, not far, one wouldguess, from his thirtieth year. He has large, shrewd, humorous gray eyes whichtwinkle inquiringly from time to time as he looks round through his spectacles atthe people about him. It is easy to see that he is of a sociable and possibly simpledisposition, anxious to be friendly to all men. Anyone could pick him at once asgregarious in his habits and communicative in his nature, with a quick wit and aready smile. And yet the man who studied him more closely might discern acertain firmness of jaw and grim tightness about the lips which would warn himthat there were depths beyond, and that this pleasant, brown-haired youngIrishman might con #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 87 Context: here are plenty of us about. You won't find the order more flourishinganywhere in the States than right here in Vermissa Valley. But we could do withsome lads like you. I can't understand a spry man of the union finding no work todo in Chicago.""I found plenty of work to do," said McMurdo."Then why did you leave?"McMurdo nodded towards the policemen and smiled. "I guess those chapswould be glad to know," he said.Scanlan groaned sympathetically. "In trouble?" he asked in a whisper. #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 88 Context: e you before we part: If you're in trouble in Vermissa, go straight tothe Union House and see Boss McGinty. He is the Bodymaster of VermissaLodge, and nothing can happen in these parts unless Black Jack McGinty wantsit. So long, mate! Maybe we'll meet in lodge one of these evenings. But mind mywords: If you are in trouble, go to Boss McGinty."Scanlan descended, and McMurdo was left once again to his thoughts. Nighthad now fallen, and the flames of the frequent furnaces were roaring and leapingin the darkness. Against their lurid background dark figures were bending andstraining, twisting and turning, with the motion of winch or of windlass, to therhythm of an eternal clank and roar."I guess hell must look something like that," said a voice. #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 89 Context: from the miners at the #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 90 Context: am a stranger in theseparts?" #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 90 Context: ifting smoke, while the strengthand industry of man found fitting monuments in the hills which he had spilled bythe side of his monstrous excavations. But the town showed a dead level of meanugliness and squalor. The broad street was churned up by the traffic into ahorrible rutted paste of muddy snow. The sidewalks were narrow and uneven.The numerous gas-lamps served only to show more clearly a long line ofwooden houses, each with its veranda facing the street, unkempt and dirty.As they approached the centre of the town the scene was brightened by a rowof well-lit stores, and even more by a cluster of saloons and gaming houses, inwhich the miners spent their hard-earned but generous wages."That's the Union House," said the guide, pointing to one saloon which rosealmost to the dignity of being a hotel. "Jack McGinty is the boss there.""What sort of a man is he?" McMurdo asked."What! have you never heard of the boss?""How could I have heard of him when you know that I am a stranger in th #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 94 Context: Then he was versed in the life of the cities of the North, of Detroit, and thelumber camps of Michigan, and finally of Chicago, where he had worked in aplaning mill. And afterwards came the hint of romance, the feeling that strangethings had happened to him in that great city, so strange and so intimate that theymight not be spoken of. He spoke wistfully of a sudden leaving, a breaking ofold ties, a flight into a strange world, ending in this dreary valley, and Ettielistened, her dark eyes gleaming with pity and with sympathy—those twoqualities which may turn so rapidly and so naturally to love.McMurdo had obtained a temporary job as bookkeeper; for he was a well-educated man. This kept him out most of the day, and he had not found occasionyet to report himself to the head of the lodge of the Eminent Order of Freemen.He was reminded of his omission, however, by a visit one evening from MikeScanlan, the fellow member whom he had met in the train. Scanlan, the small,sharp-faced, nervous, #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 95 Context: ion."It seems to me, mister," said he, "that you are gettin' set on my Ettie. Ain'tthat so, or am I wrong?""Yes, that is so," the young man answered."Vell, I vant to tell you right now that it ain't no manner of use. There'ssomeone slipped in afore you.""She told me so.""Vell, you can lay that she told you truth. But did she tell you who it vas?""No, I asked her; but she wouldn't tell.""I dare say not, the leetle baggage! Perhaps she did not vish to frighten you #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 96 Context: ve it? Vat about Milman and VanShorst, and the Nicholson family, and old Mr. Hyam, and little Billy James, andthe others? Prove it! Is there a man or a voman in this valley vat does not knowit?""See here!" said McMurdo earnestly. "I want you to take back what you'vesaid, or else make it good. One or the other you must do before I quit this room. #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 99 Context: ou, Ettie—nor to your father either. As towicked men, I expect you may find that I am as bad as the worst of them beforewe're through.""No, no, Jack! I would trust you anywhere."McMurdo laughed bitterly. "Good Lord! how little you know of me! Yourinnocent soul, my darling, could not even guess what is passing in mine. But,hullo, who's the visitor?"The door had opened suddenly, and a young fellow came swaggering in withthe air of one who is the master. He was a handsome, dashing young man ofabout the same age and build as McMurdo himself. Under his broad-brimmedblack felt hat, which he had not troubled to remove, a handsome face with fierce,domineering eyes and a curved hawk-bill of a nose looked savagely at the pairwho sat by the stove.Ettie had jumped to her feet full of confusion and alarm. "I'm glad to see you,Mr. Baldwin," said she. "You're earlier than I had thought. Come and sit down." #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 100 Context: sonable—be kind! For my sake, Ted, if ever you loved me,be big-hearted and forgiving!""I think, Ettie, that if you were to leave us alone we could get this thingsettled," said McMurdo quietly. "Or maybe, Mr. Baldwin, you will take a turndown the street with me. It's a fine evening, and there's some open groundbeyond the next block.""I'll get even with you without needing to dirty my hands," said his enemy."You'll wish you had never set foot in this house before I am through with you!" #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 101 Context: quartersin the morning." #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 101 Context: "No time like the present," cried McMurdo."I'll choose my own time, mister. You can leave the time to me. See here!" Hesuddenly rolled up his sleeve and showed upon his forearm a peculiar sign whichappeared to have been branded there. It was a circle with a triangle within it."D'you know what that means?""I neither know nor care!""Well, you will know, I'll promise you that. You won't be much older, either.Perhaps Miss Ettie can tell you something about it. As to you, Ettie, you'll comeback to me on your knees—d'ye hear, girl?—on your knees—and then I'll tellyou what your punishment may be. You've sowed—and by the Lord, I'll see thatyou reap!" He glanced at them both in fury. Then he turned upon his heel, and aninstant later the outer door had banged behind him.For a few moments McMurdo and the girl stood in silence. Then she threwher arms around him."Oh, Jack, how brave you were! But it is no use, you must fly! To-night—Jack—to-night! It's your only hope. He will have your life. I read #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 104 Context: ked-looking revolver."See here, my joker," said he, "if I thought you were playing any game on us,it would be short work for you.""This is a strange welcome," McMurdo answered with some dignity, "for theBodymaster of a lodge of Freemen to give to a stranger brother.""Ay, but it's just that same that you have to prove," said McGinty, "and Godhelp you if you fail! Where were you made?""Lodge 29, Chicago.""When?""June 24, 1872.""What Bodymaster?" #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 105 Context: from aninner pocket. #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 107 Context: what the hell do youwant? And can't I speak alone with a gentleman for five minutes but you mustbutt in on us?"The bartender stood abashed. "I'm sorry, Councillor, but it's Ted Baldwin. Hesays he must see you this very minute."The message was unnecessary; for the set, cruel face of the man himself waslooking over the servant's shoulder. He pushed the bartender out and closed thedoor on him."So," said he with a furious glance at McMurdo, "you got here first, did you?I've a word to say to you, Councillor, about this man.""Then say it here and now before my face," cried McMurdo."I'll say it at my own time, in my own way." #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 114 Context: companyconsisted of young fellows from eighteen to twenty-five, the ready and capableagents who carried out the commands of their seniors. Among the older menwere many whose features showed the tigerish, lawless souls within; but lookingat the rank and file it was difficult to believe that these eager and open-facedyoung fellows were in very truth a dangerous gang of murderers, whose mindshad suffered such complete moral perversion that they took a horrible pride intheir proficiency at the business, and looked with deepest respect at the man whohad the reputation of making what they called "a clean job." #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 116 Context: "Is your lodge No. 29, Chicago?"He bowed again."Dark nights are unpleasant," said the voice."Yes, for strangers to travel," he answered."The clouds are heavy.""Yes, a storm is approaching.""Are the brethren satisfied?" asked the Bodymaster.There was a general murmur of assent."We know, Brother, by your sign and by your countersign that you are indeedone of us," said McGinty. "We would have you know, however, that in thiscounty and in other counties of these parts we have certain rites, and also certainduties of our own which call for good men. Are you ready to be tested?""I am.""Are you of stout heart?""I am.""Take a stride forward to prove it."As the words were said he felt two hard points in front of his eyes, pressingupon them so that it appeared as if he could not move forward without a dangerof losing them. None the less, he nerved himself to step resolutely out, and as hedid so the pressure melted away. There was a low murmur of applause."He is of stout heart," said the voice. "C #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 118 Context: "The first business on the agenda paper," said McGinty, "is to read thefollowing letter from Division Master Windle of Merton County Lodge 249. Hesays:"DEAR SIR:"There is a job to be done on Andrew Rae of Rae & Sturmash, coal owners near thisplace. You will remember that your lodge owes us a return, having had the service oftwo brethren in the matter of the patrolman last fall. You will send two good men, theywill be taken charge of by Treasurer Higgins of this lodge, whose address you know.He will show them when to act and where. Yours in freedom,"J. W. WINDLE D. M. A. O. F."Windle has never refused us when we have had occasion to ask for the loanof a man or two, and it is not for us to refuse him." McGinty paused and lookedround the room with his dull, malevolent eyes. "Who will volunteer for the job?"Several young fellows held up their hands. The Bodymaster looked at themwith an approving smile."You'll do, Tiger Cormac. If you handle it as well as you did the last, youwon't be wrong #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 119 Context: for them, same as they would for us. Speaking of that, two brothers from theMerton lodge are coming over to us next week to do some business in thisquarter.""Who are they?" asked someone."Faith, it is wiser not to ask. If you know nothing, you can testify nothing,and no trouble can come of it. But they are men who will make a clean job whenthey are about it.""And time, too!" cried Ted Baldwin. "Folk are gettin' out of hand in theseparts. It was only last week that three of our men were turned off by ForemanBlaker. It's been owing him a long time, and he'll get it full and proper.""Get what?" McMurdo whispered to his neighbour."The business end of a buckshot cartridge!" cried the man with a loud laugh."What think you of our ways, Brother?"McMurdo's criminal soul seemed to have already absorbed the spirit of thevile association of which he was now a member. "I like it well," said he. "'Tis aproper place for a lad of mettle."Several of those who sat around heard his words and applauded th #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 120 Context: k who has bought the property of this man that we have driven out of thedistrict?" #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 121 Context: ose with gloom upon his brow. #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 122 Context: ocket."LAW AND ORDER!That's how he heads it."REIGN OF TERROR IN THE COAL AND IRON DISTRICT"Twelve years have now elapsed since the first assassinations which proved theexistence of a criminal organization in our midst. From that day these outrages havenever ceased, until now they have reached a pitch which makes us the opprobrium of #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 123 Context: here will come a point where in self-defense every man will unite to crushus out. James Stanger is an old man. He is respected in the township and thedistrict. His paper stands for all that is solid in the valley. If that man is struckdown, there will be a stir through this state that will only end with ourdestruction.""And how would they bring about our destruction, Mr. Standback?" criedMcGinty. "Is it by the police? Sure, half of them are in our pay and half of themafraid of us. Or is it by the law courts and the judge? Haven't we tried that beforenow, and what ever came of it?""There is a Judge Lynch that might try the case," said Brother Morris.A general shout of anger greeted the suggestion."I have but to raise my finger," cried McGinty, "and I could put two hundredmen into this town that would clear it out from end to end." Then suddenlyraising his voice and bending his huge black brows into a terrible frown, "Seehere, Brother Morris, I have my eye on you, and have had for some t #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 123 Context: the civilized world. Is it for such results as this that our great country welcomes to itsbosom the alien who flies from the despotisms of Europe? Is it that they shallthemselves become tyrants over the very men who have given them shelter, and that astate of terrorism and lawlessness should be established under the very shadow of thesacred folds of the starry Flag of Freedom which would raise horror in our minds ifwe read of it as existing under the most effete monarchy of the East? The men areknown. The organization is patent and public. How long are we to endure it? Can weforever live—""Sure, I've read enough of the slush!" cried the chairman, tossing the paperdown upon the table. "That's what he says of us. The question I'm asking you iswhat shall we say to him?""Kill him!" cried a dozen fierce voices."I protest against that," said Brother Morris, the man of the good brow andshaved face. "I tell you, Brethren, that our hand is too heavy in this valley, andthat there will come a poi #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 124 Context: g betweenthe brightly lit windows. From within came the clanking of the printing press."Here, you," said Baldwin to McMurdo, "you can stand below at the door andsee that the road is kept open for us. Arthur Willaby can stay with you. Youothers come with me. Have no fears, boys; for we have a dozen witnesses that #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 124 Context: before he could answer. "I apologize, Eminent Bodymaster, to you and to everybrother in this lodge if I have said more than I should. I am a faithful member—you all know that—and it is my fear lest evil come to the lodge which makes mespeak in anxious words. But I have greater trust in your judgment than in myown, Eminent Bodymaster, and I promise you that I will not offend again."The Bodymaster's scowl relaxed as he listened to the humble words. "Verygood, Brother Morris. It's myself that would be sorry if it were needful to giveyou a lesson. But so long as I am in this chair we shall be a united lodge in wordand in deed. And now, boys," he continued, looking round at the company, "I'llsay this much, that if Stanger got his full deserts there would be more troublethan we need ask for. These editors hang together, and every journal in the statewould be crying out for police and troops. But I guess you can give him a prettysevere warning. Will you fix it, Brother Baldwin?""Sure!" said t #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 125 Context: oaction. Leaving the limp and motionless body of the editor at the head of thestair, the criminals rushed down and made their way swiftly along the street.Having reached the Union House, some of them mixed with the crowd inMcGinty's saloon, whispering across the bar to the Boss that the job had been #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 125 Context: we are in the Union Bar at this very moment."It was nearly midnight, and the street was deserted save for one or tworevellers upon their way home. The party crossed the road, and, pushing openthe door of the newspaper office, Baldwin and his men rushed in and up the stairwhich faced them. McMurdo and another remained below. From the room abovecame a shout, a cry for help, and then the sound of trampling feet and of fallingchairs. An instant later a gray-haired man rushed out on the landing.He was seized before he could get farther, and his spectacles came tinklingdown to McMurdo's feet. There was a thud and a groan. He was on his face, andhalf a dozen sticks were clattering together as they fell upon him. He writhed,and his long, thin limbs quivered under the blows. The others ceased at last; butBaldwin, his cruel face set in an infernal smile, was hacking at the man's head,which he vainly endeavoured to defend with his arms. His white hair wasdabbled with patches of blood. Baldwin was #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 127 Context: lways," cried Morris with vehemence. "Whatever we say, evenwhat we think, seems to go back to that man McGinty." #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 130 Context: e cloud ofmurder hangs thicker and lower than that over the heads of the people. It is theValley of Fear, the Valley of Death. The terror is in the hearts of the people fromthe dusk to the dawn. Wait, young man, and you will learn for yourself.""Well, I'll let you know what I think when I have seen more," said McMurdocarelessly. "What is very clear is that you are not the man for the place, and thatthe sooner you sell out—if you only get a dime a dollar for what the business isworth—the better it will be for you. What you have said is safe with me; but, byGar! if I thought you were an informer—""No, no!" cried Morris piteously."Well, let it rest at that. I'll bear what you have said in mind, and maybe someday I'll come back to it. I expect you meant kindly by speaking to me like this.Now I'll be getting home.""One word before you go," said Morris. "We may have been seen together.They may want to know what we have spoken about.""Ah! that's well thought of." #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 141 Context: man Strauss?""No, nor him either.""Well, if you won't tell us we can't make you; but I'd be glad to know."Lawler smiled and shook his head. He was not to be drawn.In spite of the reticence of their guests, Scanlan and McMurdo were quitedetermined to be present at what they called "the fun." When, therefore, at anearly hour one morning McMurdo heard them creeping down the stairs heawakened Scanlan, and the two hurried on their clothes. When they were dressedthey found that the others had stolen out, leaving the door open behind them. Itwas not yet dawn, and by the light of the lamps they could see the two men somedistance down the street. They followed them warily, treading noiselessly in thedeep snow.The boarding house was near the edge of the town, and soon they were at the #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 142 Context: crossroads which is beyond its boundary. Here three men were waiting, withwhom Lawler and Andrews held a short, eager conversation. Then they allmoved on together. It was clearly some notable job which needed numbers. Atthis point there are several trails which lead to various mines. The strangers tookthat which led to the Crow Hill, a huge business which was in strong handswhich had been able, thanks to their energetic and fearless New Englandmanager, Josiah H. Dunn, to keep some order and discipline during the longreign of terror.Day was breaking now, and a line of workmen were slowly making their way,singly and in groups, along the blackened path.McMurdo and Scanlan strolled on with the others, keeping in sight of themen whom they followed. A thick mist lay over them, and from the heart of itthere came the sudden scream of a steam whistle. It was the ten-minute signalbefore the cages descended and the day's labour began.When they reached the open space round the mine shaft there wer #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 144 Context: "Sure, it is like a war," he repeated. "What is it but a war between us andthem, and we hit back where we best can."There was high revel in the lodge room at the Union House that night, notonly over the killing of the manager and engineer of the Crow Hill mine, whichwould bring this organization into line with the other blackmailed and terror-stricken companies of the district, but also over a distant triumph which had beenwrought by the hands of the lodge itself.It would appear that when the County Delegate had sent over five good mento strike a blow in Vermissa, he had demanded that in return three Vermissa menshould be secretly selected and sent across to kill William Hales of Stake Royal,one of the best known and most popular mine owners in the Gilmerton district, aman who was believed not to have an enemy in the world; for he was in all waysa model employer. He had insisted, however, upon efficiency in the work, andhad, therefore, paid off certain drunken and idle employees who we #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 146 Context: When?""Well, you had best give me a night or two that I may see the house and makemy plans. Then—""Very good," said McGinty, shaking him by the hand. "I leave it with you. Itwill be a great day when you bring us the news. It's just the last stroke that willbring them all to their knees."McMurdo thought long and deeply over the commission which had been so #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 148 Context: ched the lodge of secret gatherings in the Herald office and of distribution of #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 148 Context: r of the Stendals all followed hard upon oneanother in the same terrible winter.Darkly the shadow lay upon the Valley of Fear. The spring had come withrunning brooks and blossoming trees. There was hope for all Nature bound solong in an iron grip; but nowhere was there any hope for the men and womenwho lived under the yoke of the terror. Never had the cloud above them been sodark and hopeless as in the early summer of the year 1875.Chapter 6DangerIt was the height of the reign of terror. McMurdo, who had already beenappointed Inner Deacon, with every prospect of some day succeeding McGintyas Bodymaster, was now so necessary to the councils of his comrades thatnothing was done without his help and advice. The more popular he became,however, with the Freemen, the blacker were the scowls which greeted him as hepassed along the streets of Vermissa. In spite of their terror the citizens weretaking heart to band themselves together against their oppressors. Rumours hadreached the lodge of se #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 150 Context: s, is operating. Thething has got to be stopped right now."Now read the postscript." #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 151 Context: before he can do any harm. See here, Morris, willyou leave this thing in my hands?""Sure, if you will only take it off mine.""I'll do that. You can stand right back and let me run it. Even your name neednot be mentioned. I'll take it all on myself, as if it were to me that this letter hascome. Will that content you?""It's just what I would ask.""Then leave it at that and keep your head shut. Now I'll get down to the #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 154 Context: sebefore you as it has reached me." #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 154 Context: nd discussed, than that a blowshould fall upon us without warning which would destroy us all. I haveinformation that the most powerful and richest organizations in this state havebound themselves together for our destruction, and that at this very momentthere is a Pinkerton detective, one Birdy Edwards, at work in the valleycollecting the evidence which may put a rope round the necks of many of us, andsend every man in this room into a felon's cell. That is the situation for thediscussion of which I have made a claim of urgency."There was a dead silence in the room. It was broken by the chairman."What is your evidence for this, Brother McMurdo?" he asked."It is in this letter which has come into my hands," said McMurdo. He readthe passage aloud. "It is a matter of honour with me that I can give no furtherparticulars about the letter, nor put it into your hands; but I assure you that thereis nothing else in it which can affect the interests of the lodge. I put the casebefore you as it h #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 156 Context: this letter; but now I'm sure it's the man. Imet him on the cars when I went down the line on Wednesday—a hard case ifever there was one. He said he was a reporter. I believed it for the moment.Wanted to know all he could about the Scowrers and what he called 'theoutrages' for a New York paper. Asked me every kind of question so as to getsomething. You bet I was giving nothing away. 'I'd pay for it and pay well,' saidhe, 'if I could get some stuff that would suit my editor.' I said what I thoughtwould please him best, and he handed me a twenty-dollar bill for myinformation. 'There's ten times that for you,' said he, 'if you can find me all that Iwant.'""What did you tell him, then?""Any stuff I could make up.""How do you know he wasn't a newspaper man?""I'll tell you. He got out at Hobson's Patch, and so did I. I chanced into thetelegraph bureau, and he was leaving it."'See here,' said the operator after he'd gone out, 'I guess we should charge #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 157 Context: ge for a price. You bet he'll tumble to it. I'll tellhim the papers are at my house, and that it's as much as my life would be worthto let him come while folk were about. He'll see that that's horse sense. Let himcome at ten o'clock at night, and he shall see everything. That will fetch himsure.""Well?""You can plan the rest for yourselves. Widow MacNamara's is a lonely house.She's as true as steel and as deaf as a post. There's only Scanlan and me in thehouse. If I get his promise—and I'll let you know if I do—I'd have the wholeseven of you come to me by nine o'clock. We'll get him in. If ever he gets outalive—well, he can talk of Birdy Edwards's luck for the rest of his days!""There's going to be a vacancy at Pinkerton's or I'm mistaken. Leave it at that,McMurdo. At nine to-morrow we'll be with you. You once get the door shutbehind him, and you can leave the rest with us." #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 160 Context: ow that I can hold him till you come." #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 163 Context: ded bear and plunged forthe half-opened door. A levelled revolver met him there with the stern blue eyes #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 163 Context: gehad come over him. His manner was as of one who has great work to do. Hisface had set into granite firmness. His eyes shone with a fierce excitementbehind his spectacles. He had become a visible leader of men. They stared at himwith eager interest; but he said nothing. Still with the same singular gaze helooked from man to man."Well!" cried Boss McGinty at last. "Is he here? Is Birdy Edwards here?""Yes," McMurdo answered slowly. "Birdy Edwards is here. I am BirdyEdwards!"There were ten seconds after that brief speech during which the room mighthave been empty, so profound was the silence. The hissing of a kettle upon thestove rose sharp and strident to the ear. Seven white faces, all turned upward tothis man who dominated them, were set motionless with utter terror. Then, witha sudden shivering of glass, a bristle of glistening rifle barrels broke througheach window, while the curtains were torn from their hangings.At the sight Boss McGinty gave the roar of a wounded bear and plunged #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 165 Context: ote to be left atthe address of Miss Ettie Shafter, a mission which he had accepted with a winkand a knowing smile. In the early hours of the morning a beautiful woman and amuch muffled man boarded a special train which had been sent by the railroadcompany, and made a swift, unbroken journey out of the land of danger. It wasthe last time that ever either Ettie or her lover set foot in the Valley of Fear. Tendays later they were married in Chicago, with old Jacob Shafter as witness of thewedding. #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 166 Context: hers of the fiercestspirits of the gang. For ten years they were out of the world, and then came a daywhen they were free once more—a day which Edwards, who knew his men, wasvery sure would be an end of his life of peace. They had sworn an oath on allthat they thought holy to have his blood as a vengeance for their comrades. Andwell they strove to keep their vow!From Chicago he was chased, after two attempts so near success that it wassure that the third would get him. From Chicago he went under a changed nameto California, and it was there that the light went for a time out of his life whenEttie Edwards died. Once again he was nearly killed, and once again under thename of Douglas he worked in a lonely canyon, where with an English partnernamed Barker he amassed a fortune. At last there came a warning to him that thebloodhounds were on his track once more, and he cleared—only just in time—for England. And thence came the John Douglas who for a second time marrieda worthy mate, and liv #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 166 Context: worthy mate, and lived for five years as a Sussex county gentleman, a lifewhich ended with the strange happenings of which we have heard.Epilogue #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 167 Context: ofthe moated Manor House. His face was drawn and haggard."I've had bad news—terrible news, Mr. Holmes," said he."I feared as much," said Holmes."You have not had a cable, have you?""I have had a note from someone who has.""It's poor Douglas. They tell me his name is Edwards; but he will always beJack Douglas of Benito Canyon to me. I told you that they started together forSouth Africa in the Palmyra three weeks ago.""Exactly.""The ship reached Cape Town last night. I received this cable from MrsDouglas this morning:—"Jack has been lost overboard in gale off St Helena. No one knows howaccident occurred.—Ivy Douglas." #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 169 Context: "Do you tell me that we have to sit down under this? Do you say that no onecan ever get level with this king-devil?""No, I don't say that," said Holmes, and his eyes seemed to be looking farinto the future. "I don't say that he can't be beat. But you must give me time—you must give me time!"We all sat in silence for some minutes, while those fateful eyes still strainedto pierce the veil. #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 170 Context: g Project Gutenberg-tmelectronic works1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tmelectronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree toand accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by allthe terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroyall copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a ProjectGutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by theterms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person orentity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 174 Context: but its volunteers and employees are scatteredthroughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, emailbusiness@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contactinformation can be found at the Foundation's web site and officialpage at http://pglaf.orgFor additional contact information: Dr. Gregory B. Newby Chief Executive and Director gbnewby@pglaf.orgSection 4. Information about Donations to the Project GutenbergLiterary Archive FoundationProject Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without widespread public support and donations to carry out its mission ofincreasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can befreely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widestarray of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exemptstatus with the IRS.The Foundation is committed to complyin #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 174 Context: ommitted to complying with the laws regulating #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 175 Context: rchive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how tosubscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. #################### File: asdfasdfasdfsaf123123131.txt Page: 1 Context: asdfasdfasdfsaf123123131 #################### File: dog_name.txt.txt Page: 1 Context: my dog's name is DIO! #################### File: The%20Tomb.txt Page: 1 Context: Accordingly my watches by the dank portal became less persistent, and much of my time was spent in other though equally strange pursuits. I would sometimes rise very quietly in the night, stealing out to walk in those church-yards and places of burial from which I had been kept by my parents. What I did there I may not say, for I am not now sure of the reality of certain things; but I know that on the day after such a nocturnal ramble I would often astonish those about me with my knowledge of topics almost forgotten for many generations. It was after a night like this that I shocked the community with a queer conceit about the burial of the rich and celebrated Squire Brewster, a maker of local history who was interred in 1711, and whose slate headstone, bearing a graven skull and crossbones, was slowly crumbling to powder. In a moment of childish imagination I vowed not only that the undertaker, Goodman Simpson, had stolen the silver-buckled shoes, silken hose, and satin small-clothes of the deceased before burial; but that the Squire himself, not fully inanimate, had turned twice in his mound-covered coffin on the day after interment. But the idea of entering the tomb never left my thoughts; being indeed stimulated by the unexpected genealogical discovery that my own maternal ancestry possessed at least a slight link with the supposediy extinct family of the Hydes. Last of my paternal race, I was likewise the last of this older and more mysterious line. I began to feel that the tomb was mine, and to look forward with hot eagerness to the time when I might pass within that stone door and down those slimy stone steps in the dark. I now formed the habit of listening very intently at the slightly open portal, choosing my favorite hours of midnight stillness for the odd vigil. By the time I came of age, I had made a small clearing in the thicket before the mold-stained facade of the hillside, allowing the surrounding vegetation to encircle and overhang the space like the walls and roof of a sylvan bower. This bower was my temple, the fastened door my shrine, and here I would lie outstretched on the mossy ground, thinking strange thoughts and dreaming strange dreams. The night of the first revelation was a sultry one. I must have fallen asleep from fatigue, for it was with a distinct sense of awakening that I heard the voices. Of these tones and accents I hesitate to speak; of their quality I will not speak; but I may say that they presented certain uncanny differences in vocabulary, pronunciation, and mode of utterance. Every shade of New England dialect, from the uncouth syllables of the Puritan colonists to the precise rhetoric of fifty years ago, seemed represented in that shadowy colloquy, though it was only later that I noticed the fact. At the time, indeed, my attention was distracted from this matter by another phenomenon; a phenomenon so fleeting that I could not take oath upon its reality. I barely fancied that as I awoke, a light had been hurriedly extinguished within the sunken sepulcher. I do not think I was either astounded or panic-stricken, but I know that I was greatly and permanently changed that night. Upon returning home I went with much directness to a rotting chest in the attic, wherein I found the key which next day unlocked with ease the barrier I had so long stormed in vain. It was in the soft glow of late afternoon that I first entered the vault on the abandoned slope. A spell was upon me, and my heart leaped with an exultation I can but ill describe. As I closed the door behind me and descended the dripping steps by the light of my lone candle, I seemed to know the way; and though the candle sputtered with the stifling reek of the place, I felt singularly at home in the musty, charnel-house air. Looking about me, I beheld many marble slabs bearing coffins, or the remains of coffins. Some of these were sealed and intact, but others had nearly vanished, leaving the silver handles and plates isolated amidst certain curious heaps of whitish dust. Upon one plate I read the name of Sir Geoffrey Hyde, who had come from Sussex in 1640 and died here a few years later. In a conspicuous alcove was one fairly well preserved and untenanted casket, adorned with a single name which brought me both a smile and a shudder. An odd impulse caused me to climb upon the broad slab, extinguish my candle, and lie down within the vacant box. ########## """QUERY: this is at est""" Consider the chat history for relevant information. Use all information included. Use as much tokens as needed. Final Files Sources: zxcvzxcvzx.txt.txt - Page 1, kios_routes_list.txt.txt - Page 1, The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf - Page 1, The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf - Page 3, The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf - Page 4, The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf - Page 5, The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf - Page 7, The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf - Page 13, The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf - Page 14, The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf - Page 16, The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf - Page 20, The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf - Page 21, The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf - Page 23, The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf - Page 29, The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf - Page 30, The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf - Page 35, The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf - Page 36, The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf - Page 42, The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf - Page 44, The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf - Page 53, The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf - Page 55, The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf - Page 59, The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf - Page 60, The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf - Page 62, The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf - Page 63, The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf - Page 64, The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf - Page 65, The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf - Page 67, The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf - Page 68, The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf - Page 72, The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf - Page 73, The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf - Page 74, The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf - Page 76, The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf - Page 79, The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf - Page 82, The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf - Page 83, The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf - Page 84, The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf - Page 85, The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf - Page 87, The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf - Page 88, The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf - Page 89, The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf - Page 90, The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf - Page 94, The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf - Page 95, The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf - Page 96, The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf - Page 99, The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf - Page 100, The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf - Page 101, The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf - Page 104, The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf - Page 105, The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf - Page 107, The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf - Page 114, The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf - Page 116, The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf - Page 118, The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf - Page 119, The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf - Page 120, The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf - Page 121, The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf - Page 122, The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf - Page 123, The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf - Page 124, The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf - Page 125, The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf - Page 127, The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf - Page 130, The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf - Page 141, The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf - Page 142, The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf - Page 144, The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf - Page 146, The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf - Page 148, The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf - Page 150, The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf - Page 151, The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf - Page 154, The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf - Page 156, The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf - Page 157, The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf - Page 160, The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf - Page 163, The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf - Page 165, The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf - Page 166, The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf - Page 167, The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf - Page 169, The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf - Page 170, The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf - Page 174, The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf - Page 175, asdfasdfasdfsaf123123131.txt - Page 1, dog_name.txt.txt - Page 1, The%20Tomb.txt - Page 1 ================================================== FINAL ANSWER Answer: Unfortunately, I need more information to understand your query. "This is at est" is not clear enough for me to understand what you're asking. Please provide me with more context or clarify your question. For example, what does "this" refer to? Are you referring to something within the provided text from H.P. Lovecraft's "The Tomb"? What do you mean by "est"? Are you using an abbreviation? Once you provide me with more information, I'll be happy to assist you further. ==================================================