"The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped.

"Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off

through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon

the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face.

"See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out

his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly

scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but

of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric

point in the dark hollow of his hand.

Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said

he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you

have got?"

"A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though

it were putty."

"It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone."

"Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated.

"Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I

have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day

lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be

conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly

not within a twentieth part of the market price."

"A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire

plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us.

"That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are

sentimental considerations in the background which would induce

the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but

recover the gem."

"It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I

remarked.

"Precisely so, on December 22d, just five days ago. John Horner,

a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's

jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case

has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the

matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers,

glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out,

doubled it over, and read the following paragraph:

"Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was

brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22d inst.,

abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the

valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder,

upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect

that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess

of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might

solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had

remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been

called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared,

that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco

casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was

accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the

dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was

arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found

either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to

the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on

discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room,

where she found matters as described by the last witness.

Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest

of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence

in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for

robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate

refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to

the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion

during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was

carried out of court.

"Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully,

tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the

sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to

the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You

see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much

more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the

stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry

Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other

characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set

ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and

ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To

do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie

undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If

this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods."

"What will you say?"

"Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at

the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr.

Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at

221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise."

"Very. But will he see it?"

"Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor

man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his

mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson

that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must

have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his

bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to

see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to

it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the ../advertising agency

and have this put in the evening papers."

"In which, sir?"

"Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News

Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you."

"Very well, sir. And this stone?"

"Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say,

Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here

with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place

of the one which your family is now devouring."

When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and

held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just

see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and

focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet

baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a

bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found

in the banks of the Amoy River in southem China and is remarkable

in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is

blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has

already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a

vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about

for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallized charcoal.

Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the

gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and

drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it."

"Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?"

"I cannot tell."

"Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had

anything to do with the matter?"

"It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an

absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he

was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made

of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple

test if we have an answer to our advertisement."

"And you can do nothing until then?"

"Nothing."

"In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall

come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I

should like to see the solution of so tangled a business."

"Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I

believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I

ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop."