I took out my revolver and put it on the corner of the table.

Holmes had brought a long, thin stick with him. He put it on the bed. Nest to the stick he put a box of matches and part of a candle. Then he turned off the lamp. It was very dark.

I will never forget that terrible night. I could not hear anything. I could not hear breathing, but I knew that Holmes sat very close to me. I knew that he was like me - excited, and a little bit scared. There was no light in the room, and we couldn't see anything.

From outside we sometimes heard a night-bird. Once, outside our window, we heard a sound like a cat, and we knew the cheetah was in the garden. We could hear the bell of the church clock, far away. It rang every fifteen minutes. How long those quarters of an hour seemed to be! Twelve o'clock came, and one o'clock and two o'clock and three o'clock. And we sat waiting quietly for something to happen.