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By Root 569 0

of the legal difficulties and expense encountered by the Hurlstone estate in retaining the crown. Revelation of her own treasure will kindle a similar investigation. To reveal her knowledge of its existence is to put a noose around her neck. At the cost of her life she must not be identified as the treasure’s finder. She needs an untermediary, an agent capable of dealing with the authorities and of meeting the expense necessary to retrieve the trove. She therefore finds a surrogate – or surrogates. In their name she lays claim to the treasure, relying on them to provide her with both a share of the proceeds and continuing anonymity.

“But she cannot act! Reginald Musgrave, she knows, can identify her by sight. She cannot risk claiming her fortune, even indirectly through her agents, while the possibility remains that he might, during the negotiations for its return, meet her in broad daylight.

“She learns of Sir Reginald’s death in the shooting accident. The promptness with which she acts – within ten days; that’s quick work, you know – argues against her having learned of it from the Hurlstone Village Chronicle, which she may possibly receive regularly. Musgrave’s death may have been timely reported in the Canadian newspapers but more likely a Sussex crony has sent her a wire. She immediately makes her move by laying claim to the riches in the name of her confederates.

“Our envelope, Watson, must identify her surrogates! Its senders have, by directing us to the hideaway in the Norman catacombs of Hurlstone, effectively laid claim to the crown jewels of the ancient Stuarts. The finders of treasure have important rights, which are recognized in courts everywhere.” He turned to Nathaniel Musgrave. “I believe, Mr Musgrave, that your family’s rights vis-à-vis those of other claimants were in any case abandoned when your cousin signed a waiver of any further title when he established your claim to the Hurlstone crown. Yes? Then it is so: the right to our discovery today resides in the sender of this message – and that can only be the confederate, or confederates, of Rachel Howells. It is they, not we, who are the true finders. Knowing what we do, you and I, Watson, have no choice but to attest to that. You, Musgrave, will be wise to consider your position with care. These surrogates will undoubtedly approach you as negotiators but they may not be unreasonable.”

Holmes withdrew the mystery epistle from his breast pocket and examined it again carefully. “So it is report system – together with our extra L – that we have available to us. What in the name of the devil can we infer from them?”

It was then that Sherlock Holmes looked up at me with a startled expression. He had evidently seen something on the envelope which we had missed.

“Watson, do you perchance have friends in the west of Canada?”

“None that I know of,” said I, “save Sir Henry Baskerville, but we have already eliminated him from the equation. Why do you ask?”

“Because just as one inference often suggests another, one logogram can suggest another. But wait! I am not sure …” He scribbled furiously in his notebook. “REPORT SYSTEM l rearranges to …”

I looked over Holmes’s shoulder.

“… to STORMY PETRELS!” he cried in triumph. Musgrave and I stared at Holmes in astonishment. I checked his scribbled notes. It was just as he said. Holmes went on, speaking rapidly, as one whose brain races ahead of his power to communicate: “What or who can these ‘stormy petrels’ be? It is a phrase that I have applied to you, Watson! And to myself! Could it be that this is a reference to us? That it is yet another of those devices which this extraordinary woman has used to manipulate us? No. It cannot be so. The envelope is addressed not to ‘Watson’ but to ‘Musgrave’. And the words appear on the top left hand corner, the space for the sender’s name. ‘Stormy Petrels’ is therefore not a reference to us, Watson – it is the name of the surrogates themselves – the instruments of Rachel Howells!

“Their very name tells us who and what they are: students of my methods and readers of your