I have cross-examined these men, one of them a hard-headed countryman, one a farrier, and one a moorland farmer, who all tell the same story of this dreadful apparition, exactly corresponding to the hell-hound of the legend.

I assure you that there is a reign of terror in the district, and that it is a hardy man who will cross the moor at night." "And you, a trained man of science, believe it to be supernatural ?" "I do not know what to believe." Holmes shrugged his shoulders.

"I have hitherto confined my investigations to this world," said he.

"In a modest way I have combated evil, but to take on the Father of Evil himself would, perhaps, be too ambitious a task.

Yet you must admit that the footmark is material." "The original hound was material enough to tug a man's throat out, and yet he was diabolical as well." "I see that you have quite gone over to the supernaturalists.