Section 7 Summary

At eleven o'clock, the signal comes. The two friends jump up, make their excuses to the landlord, and hurry towards Stoke Moran. They enter the grounds through one of the many unrepaired holes in the fencing and move along the dark path. They cross the lawn and make for the open window in Julia's bedroom. Just before they reach it, they are confronted with "a hideous and distorted child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs, and then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness." (pg. 120) They are momentarily terrified by the specter but then realize they've just seen the baboon. Quickly they slip off their shoes and enter through the window before the cheetah finds them, too.

Holmes shutters the windows and examines the room carefully. Everything is just as they left it. He whispers to Watson that the...