When we heard

Then our fear for Sir Henry became greater than our ter ror.Holmes and I fired our revolvers together.The creature gave a loud cry of pain,and we knew we had hit it.But it did not stop,and ran on,after Sir Henry.

When we heard the cry of pain,our fears disappeared.This was no supernatural hound.Our bullets could hurt it,and we could kill it.We ran after it as fast as we could.I have never seen anyone run as quickly as Holmes ran that night,and I could not keep up with him.In front of us on the path we heard scream after scream from Sir Henry,and the deep voice of the hound.I saw the creature jump at Sir Henry and throw him to the ground.Its teeth went for his throat.But the next moment Holmes had emptied his revolver into the hound's body.It gave a last deep cry,its teeth closed on the empty air,and it fell to the ground.I put my revolver to its head,but I did not need to fire.The hound was dead.

Sir Henry lay unconscious where he had fallen.Quickly we opened the neck of his shirt.Holmes had fired just in time,and the hound's teeth had not reached our friend's throat.Already his eyes were beginning to open and he looked up at us.

'My God,'he whispered.'What was it?What in heaven's name was it?'

'It's dead,whatever it was,'said Holmes.'We've killed the family ghost for ever.'

The creature that lay before us was as large as a small lion.Its mouth and teeth were huge.They shone with blue flames.There were rings of blue fire round its cruel eyes,too.I touched the hound's burning coat.When I held up my hand,it,too,seemed to be on fire.

'phosphorus,'I said,'That is why the hound appears to burn in the dark.Stapleton put phosphorous paint on the hound in the hut beside the house.'

But Holmes was thinking more about Sir Henry than about Stapleton's cleverness.

'I must apologize to you,Sir Henry,'he said.'I put your life in danger.I expected to see a huge hound,but not a crea ture like this.The fog gave us a very short time to control our fear,and for moments we could not move.'