"I must admit," began Holmes, "that my near failure was due largely to neglecting information from previous cases -- not the double elimination problem in particular, but each of the cases involving the Suwati monarch. The Sultan of Suwat is a decent man, I knew that, and a lover of puzzles and games. Expelling a man from his country for playing a good game of Diplomacy would be quite unlike him. I was uneasy having solved the Diplomacy problem, validating the man's story. It yet seemed highly unlikely that the Sultan would behave so harshly to a worthy opponent. Moreover, the way that just enough information was provided to uniquely define the position at the end of 1902 led me to suspect there was more to this.

"Recalling the manner in which the Sultan cleverly chooses to arrange extensions to the lease on the oil facilities in his nation, I guessed that this too was a test from the Sultan. But what did he want? The whole game was not quite defined. The final position was a possibility, but how to send it was unclear. It was more than an hour after you left that I recognised the real question -- to which I had, of course, already found the answer."

"But Holmes," I retorted, "What was the answer, the code-word that saved Port Suwat for the Empire?"

I was no wiser. I could see all the evidence on the two scraps of paper; I had followed Holmes' reasoning on the Diplomacy board; I even knew the answer. But the question was a complete mystery.

I knew it must be somehow contained in the papers, and I stared with a skeptical mind at the stilted account of the refugee's escape from his native land and at the provinceless orders. I peered and grimaced. Then, to my great joy, I spotted the question.

"Ahem," began Holmes, "I suppose I had better..."

But in my moment of triumph, I silenced the great detective. "Initially, Holmes, I felt uncomfortable with your abuse about the double elimination. To cap it all, you now seem to want to deprive me of my final joy in finding the question."

Holmes smiled. "Congratulations, Watson; I gather that you have indeed found it."

I believe that I blushed.

(Still confused? The doctor has supplied the manner in which the Sultan's question is asked.)