noon
`` Billie Budd must have come back in the middle of the night , and stolen the shoes , after he escaped yesterday afternoon . I guess he 's probably hiding around in the neighborhood somewhere . '' I was just opening my mouth to get off a witticism about who took the shoes , when Holmes , observing me , gave me a warning kick under the table , so I desisted . After breakfast was over , -- at which meal Inspector Letstrayed ate at least three times as much as any one else , -- Holmes announced he was going down to Hedge-gutheridge to investigate some clues , and would not be back until noon . He signaled to me to accompany him , and when nobody was looking , we hurriedly beat it upstairs to our room , where Holmes quickly took out a disguise from the suit-case , took off his regular clothes , and put on the new outfit , which consisted of a well-worn and dirty suit of loud yellow checks , with a dinky little red cap , broken tan shoes , and a riding-whip to carry in his hand . Then he deftly got out his make-up stuff , and in a moment had fixed a lump of flesh-colored wax on the bridge of his long aquiline nose , and painted his face red with actors ' grease-paint until he looked as if he had been drunk for a week . Changing his voice , he addressed me in a thick Cockney dialect : `` My name is now Dick Henderson , from the Epsom race-track , and do n't you forget it , old Sawbones , or I 'll make hash out of you ! ''