the chauffeur who brought him is Dr. Watson. Now past their heyday, they have nonetheless caught several spies (Holmes is actually responsible for the imprisoned agents of whom "Altamont" spoke), and fed the Germans some thoroughly untrustworthy intelligence. Holmes had retired from detective work, spending his days beekeeping in the countryside, but returned after the Foreign Minister and the Premier came to him. Holmes has been on this case for two years, and it has taken him to Chicago, Buffalo, and Ireland, where he learnt to play the part of a bitter Irish-American, even gaining the credentials of a member of a secret society. He identified the security leak through which British secrets were reaching the Germans, and then set out to apprehend the receiving agents themselves. The housekeeper was one of Holmes' agents: the light that she switched off was the signal to Holmes and Watson that the coast was clear. Holmes and Watson take Von Bork and the evidence to Scotland Yard. In reference to the impending War, Holmes says, "There's an east wind coming, Watson." Watson misinterprets the meaning of the words and says, "I think not, Holmes. It is very warm", to which Holmes replies: Publication history "His Last Bow" was first published in the UK in The Strand Magazine in September 1917, and in the US in Collier's in the same month. The story was published with three illustrations by Alfred Gilbert (best known as sculptor of the Shaftesbury Memorial Fountain) in the Strand, and with five illustrations by Frederic Dorr Steele in Collier's. It was included in the short story collection His Last Bow, which was published in the UK and the US in October 1917. Legacy The story is the last chronological installment of the series. The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes, set before the story, was published later. Holmes' patriotic passage has been widely quoted, and was later used in the final scene of the Basil Rathbone film Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror (1942), loosely based on "His Last Bow", though set during World War II. The events leading up to and beyond this story were described in Sherlock Holmes and the Railway Maniac (1994, ), by Barrie Roberts. The end of Nicholas Meyer's 1993 novel The Canary Trainer ties into "His Last Bow", with Edward Grey and H. H. Asquith approaching Holmes to request he come out of retirement to