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[Assistant] What do you think of that? cried the detective, with the air of a showman exhibiting his show.


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[Assistant] This was overlooked because it was the darkest corner of the room and no one thought of looking there.


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[Assistant] The murderer has written it with his or her own blood. See this smear where it has trickled down the wall, that disposes of the idea of suicide anyhow.


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[Assistant] Why was that corner chosen to write it on? I will tell you.


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[Assistant] See that candle on the mantelpiece? It was lit at the time.


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[Assistant] And if it was lit, this corner would be the brightest instead of the darkest portion of the wall.


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[Assistant] And what does it mean now that you have found it? asked Gregson in a deprecatory voice. Mean, why it means that the writer was going to put the female name Rachel and was disturbed before he or she had time to finish. You mark my words, when this case comes to be cleared up you will find that a woman named Rachel has something to do with it.


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[Assistant] So very well for you to laugh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes. You may be very smart and clever, but the old hound is the best when all is said and done. I really beg your pardon, said my companion.


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[Assistant] Who had ruffled the little man's temper by bursting into an explosion of laughter.


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[Assistant] You certainly have the credit of being the first of us to find this out, and as you say, it bears every mark of having been written by the other participant in last night's mystery. I have not had time to examine this room yet, but with your permission I shall do so now.


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[Assistant] As he spoke, he whipped a tape measure and a large round magnifying glass from his pocket.


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[Assistant] With these two implements he trotted noiselessly about the room, sometimes stopping, occasionally kneeling, and once lying flat upon his face.


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[Assistant] So engrossed was he with his occupation that he appeared to have forgotten our presence.


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[Assistant] For he chattered away to himself under his breath the whole time.


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[Assistant] Keeping up a running fire of exclamations, groans, whistles, and little cries suggestive of encouragement and of hope.


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[Assistant] As I watched him I was irresistibly reminded of a pure-blooded, well-trained fox-hound as it dashes backwards and forwards through the covert, whining in its eagerness until it comes across the lost scent.


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[Assistant] For twenty minutes or more he continued his researches, measuring with the most exact care the distance between marks which were entirely invisible to me.


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[Assistant] And occasionally applying his tape to the walls in an equally incomprehensible manner


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[Assistant] In one place he gathered up very carefully a little pile of grey dust from the floor and packed it away in an envelope.


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[Assistant] Finally he examined with his glass the word upon the wall.


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[Assistant] Going over every letter of it with the most minute exactness. With this done he appeared to be satisfied, for he replaced his tape and his glass in his pocket.


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[Assistant] They say that genius is an infinite capacity for taking pains, he remarked with a smile. It's a very bad definition, but it does apply to detective work.


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[Assistant] Gregson and Lestrade had watched the manoeuvres of their amateur companion with considerable curiosity and some contempt.


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[Assistant] They evidently failed to appreciate the fact, which I had begun to realize, that Sherlock Holmes's smallest actions were all directed towards some definite and practical end. What do you think of it, sir? they both asked.


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[Assistant] It would be robbing you of the credit of the case if I was to presume to help you, remarked my friend.


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[Assistant] You are doing so well now that it would be a pity for anyone to interfere.


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[Assistant] There was a world of sarcasm in his voice as he spoke.


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[Assistant] If you will let me know how your investigations go," he continued, I shall be happy to give you any help I can.


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[Assistant] In the meantime I should like to speak to the constable who found the body. Can you give me his name and address?" Lestrade glanced at his notebook.


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[Assistant] John Rance, he said. He is off duty now.


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[Assistant] You will find him at 46 Alderley Court, Kennington Park Gate.


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[Assistant] Holmes took a note of the address. Come along, Doctor, he said. We shall go and look him up.


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[Assistant] I'll tell you one thing which may help you in the case," he continued, turning to the two detectives, but there has been murder done, and the murderer was a man.


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[Assistant] He was more than six feet high, was in the prime of life, had small feet for his height, wore coarse square-toed boots, and smoked a trichinopoly cigar.


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[Assistant] He came here with his victim in a four-wheeled cab, which was drawn by a horse with three old shoes, and one new one on his off-foreleg. In all probability the murderer had a florid face, and the fingernails of his right hand were remarkably long.


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[Assistant] These are only a few indications, but they may assist you.


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[Assistant] Lestrade and Gregson glanced at each other with an incredulous smile. If this man was murdered, how was it done? asked the former.


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[Assistant] Poison, said Sherlock Holmes curtly and strode off.


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[Assistant] One other thing, Lestrade," he added, turning round at the door.


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[Assistant] So don't lose your time by looking for Miss Rachel. With which Parthian shot he walked away.


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[Assistant] Leaving the two rivals open-mouthed behind him.


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[Assistant] It was one o'clock when we left number three Lauriston Gardens. Sherlock Holmes led me to the nearest telegraph office.


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[Assistant] Whence he dispatched a long telegram. He then hailed a cab and ordered the driver to take us to the address given us by Lestrade.


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[Assistant] There is nothing like first-hand evidence," he remarked. As a matter of fact, my mind is entirely made up upon the case, but still we may as well learn all that is to be learned. You amaze me, Holmes," said I.


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[Assistant] Surely you are not as sure as you pretend to be of all those particulars which you gave? There is no room for mistake," he answered.


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[Assistant] The very first thing which I observed on arriving there was that a cab had made two ruts with its wheels close to the kerb. Now, up to last night we have had no rain for a week.


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[Assistant] So that those wheels which left such a deep impression must have been there during the night.


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[Assistant] There were the marks of the horse's hooves too, the outline of one of which was far more clearly cut than that of the other three, showing that that was a new shoe.


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[Assistant] Since the cab was there after the rain began and was not there at any time during the morning—I have Gregson's word for that—it follows that it must have been there during the night, and therefore that it brought those two individuals to the house. That seems simple enough, said I. But how about the other man's height?


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[Assistant] Why the height of a man in nine cases out of ten can be told from the length of his stride?


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[Assistant] It is a simple calculation enough, though there is no use my boring you with figures. I had this fellow stride both on the clay outside and on the dust within. Then I had a way of checking my calculation.


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[Assistant] When a man writes on a wall, his instinct leads him to write about the level of his own eyes. Now that writing was just over six feet from the ground. It was child's play. And his age? I asked. Well, if a man can stride four and a half feet without the smallest effort, he can't be quite in the seer and yellow.


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[Assistant] That was the breadth of a puddle on the garden walk, which he had evidently walked cross. Patent leather boots had gone round and square toes had hopped over. There is no mystery about it at all. I am simply applying to ordinary life a few of those precepts of observation and deduction which I advocated in that article. Is there anything else that puzzles you?


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[Assistant] The fingernails and the trichinopoly, I suggested.


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[Assistant] The writing on the wall was done with a man's forefinger dipped in blood.


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[Assistant] My glass allowed me to observe that the plaster was slightly scratched in doing it, which would not have been the case if the man's nail had been trimmed.


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[Assistant] I gathered up some scattered ash from the floor. It was dark in colour and flaky. Such an ash as is only made by a trichinopoly. I have made a special study of cigar ashes.


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[Assistant] In fact, I have written a monograph upon the subject. I flatter myself that I can distinguish at a glance the ash of any known brand, either of cigar or of tobacco.


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[Assistant] It is just in such details that the skilled detective differs from the Gregson and Lestrade type.


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[Assistant] And the florid face, I ask. Ah, that was a more daring shot, though I have no doubt that I was right.


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[Assistant] The more one thinks of it the more mysterious it grows. How came these two men, if there were two men, into an empty house? What has become of the cabman who drove them?


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[Assistant] How could one man compel another to take poison? Where did the blood come from? What was the object of the murderer, since robbery had no part in it? How came the woman's ring there, above all?


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[Assistant] Why should the second man write up the German word rash before decamping?


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[Assistant] I confess that I cannot see any possible way of reconciling all these facts. My companion smiled approvingly.


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[Assistant] You sum up the difficulties of the situation succinctly and well, he said.


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[Assistant] There is much that is still obscure, though I have quite made up my mind on the main facts.


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[Assistant] As to poor Lestrade's discovery, it was simply a blind intended to put the police upon the wrong track.


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[Assistant] By suggesting socialism and secret societies. It was not done by a German. The A, if you noticed, was printed somewhat after the German fashion.


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[Assistant] Now a real German invariably prints in the Latin character.


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[Assistant] So that we may safely say that this was not written by one, but by a clumsy imitator who overdid his part.


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[Assistant] It was simply a ruse to divert inquiry into a wrong channel.


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[Assistant] I'm not going to tell you much more of the case, Doctor. You know a conjurer gets no credit once he has explained his trick.


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[Assistant] And if I show you too much of my method of working you will come to the conclusion that I am a very ordinary individual after all.


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[Assistant] I shall never do that," I answered. You have brought detection as near and exact science as it ever will be brought in this world. My companion flushed up with pleasure at my words and the earnest way in which I uttered them.


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[Assistant] I had already observed that he was as sensitive to flattery on the score of his art as any girl could be of her beauty. I'll tell you one other thing," he said.


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[Assistant] Patent leathers and square toes came in the same cab and they walked down the pathway together as friendly as possible, arm in arm in all probability.


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[Assistant] When they got inside they walked up and down the room or rather patent leathers stood still while square toes walked up and down. I could read all that in the dust and I could read that as he walked he grew more and more excited.


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[Assistant] That is shown by the increased length of his strides. He was talking all the while, and working himself up no doubt into a fury. Then the tragedy occurred.


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[Assistant] I've told you all I know myself now for the rest is mere surmise and conjecture. We have a good working basis, however, on which to start.


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[Assistant] We must hurry up, for I want to go to Halley's concert to hear Norman De Ruda this afternoon.


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[Assistant] The conversation had occurred while our cab had been treading its way through a long succession of dingy streets and dreary byways.


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[Assistant] In the dingiest and dreariest of them our driver suddenly came to a stand. There's Audley Court in there, he said, pointing to a narrow slit in the line of dead-coloured brick. You'll find me here when you come back. Audley Court was not an attractive locality.


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[Assistant] The narrow passage led us into a quadrangle paved with flags and lined by sordid dwellings.


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[Assistant] We picked our way through lines of discoloured linen until we came to number 46.


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[Assistant] The door of which was decorated with a small slip of brass on which the name Rance was engraved. On inquiry we found that the constable was in bed,


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[Assistant] Holmes took a half sovereign from his pocket and played with it pensively.


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[Assistant] We thought that we should like to hear it all from your own lips, he said.


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[Assistant] I shall be most happy to tell you anything I can," the constable answered, with his eyes upon the little golden disk.


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[Assistant] Just let us hear it all in your own way as it occurred. I'll tell it ye from the beginning," he said.


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[Assistant] My time is from ten at night to six in the morning. At eleven there was a fight at the White Art. But bar that all was quiet enough on the beach.


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[Assistant] At one o'clock it began to rain and I met Harry Mercher, him who has the Olland Grove bead.


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[Assistant] And we stood together at the corner of Enrietta Strait, talking.


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[Assistant] Presently, maybe about two or a little after, I thought I would take a look round and see that all was right down to Brixton Road.


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[Assistant] It was precious, dirty, and lonely. Not a soul did I meet all the way down, though a cab or two went past me. I was a-strolling down, thinking between ourselves how uncommon Andy a four of gin-hot would be.


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[Assistant] When suddenly the glint of a light caught my eye in the window of that same house.


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[Assistant] Now I knew that them two houses in Lauriston Gardens was empty on account of him that owns them, who don't have the drain seed to, though the very last tenant what lived in one of them died of typhoid fever. I was knocked all in heat, therefore, at seeing a light in the window, and I suspected that something was wrong.


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[Assistant] When I got to the door you stopped and then walked back to the garden gate, my companion interrupted. What did you do that for?


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[Assistant] You see, when I got up to the door it was so still and lonesome that I thought I'd be none the worse for someone with me. I ain't afraid of anything on this side of the grave, but I thought that maybe it was him that died of the typhoid inspecting the drains what killed him.


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[Assistant] The thought gave me a kind of turn, and I walked back to the gate to see if I could see Murch's lantern, but there wasn't no sign of him nor of anyone else. There was no one in the street, not a living soul, sir, nor as much as a dog. Then I pulled myself together and went back and pushed the door open.


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[Assistant] You walked round the room several times and you knelt down by the body and then you walked through and tried the kitchen door and then John Rance sprang to his feet with a frightened face and suspicion in his eyes.


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[Assistant] Where was you id to see all that? He cried. It seems to me that you know a deal more than you should.


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[Assistant] Holmes laughed and threw his card across the table to the constable. Don't get arresting me for the murder, he said. I am one of the hounds and not the wolf. Mr. Gregson or Mr. Lestrade will answer for that. Go on, though. What did you do next? Rance resumed his seat, without, however, losing his mystified expression.


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[Assistant] I went back to the gate and sounded my whistle. That brought Murcher and two more to the spot.


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[Assistant] Was the street empty then? Well it was as far as anybody that could be of any good goes. What do you mean? The constable's features broadened into a grin.


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[Assistant] I've seen many a drunk chap in my time," he said, but never anyone so crying drunk as that cove. He was at the gate when I came out, a-leaning up agin' the railings, and singing at the pitch o' his lungs about Columbine's newfangled banner or such stuff. He couldn't stand far less hell. What sort of man was he? asked Sherlock Holmes.


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[Assistant] John Rants appeared to be somewhat irritated at this digression.


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[Assistant] He was an uncommon drunk sort of man he said.


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[Assistant] He'd have found himself in the station, if we hadn't been so took up. His face? His dress?


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[Assistant] I should think I did notice him, seeing that I had to prop him up, me a merchant between us. He was a long chap with a red face, the lower part muffled round. That will do," cried Holmes. What became of him?


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[Assistant] Weird enough to do without looking after him, the policeman said in an aggrieved voice. Our wager he found his way home all right. How was he dressed? Brown overcoat? Had he a whip in his hand? A whip? No. He must have left it behind, muttered my companion.


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[Assistant] You didn't happen to see or hear a cab after that? No.


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[Assistant] There's half a sovereign for you, my companion said, standing up and taking his hat. I'm afraid, Rance, that you will never rise in the Force.


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[Assistant] The man whom you held in your arms is the man who holds the clue of this mystery and whom we are seeking.


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[Assistant] There is no use of arguing about it now. I tell you that it is so. Come along, Doctor.


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[Assistant] We started off at the cab together, leaving our informant incredulous, but obviously uncomfortable.


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[Assistant] The blundering fool, Holmes said bitterly as we drove back to our lodgings, just to think of his having such an incomparable bit of good luck and not taking advantage of it. I am rather in the dark still.


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[Assistant] It is true that the description of this man tallies with your idea of the second party in this mystery. But why should he come back to the house after leaving it? That is not the way of criminals. The ring man, the ring, that was what he came back for.


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[Assistant] If we have no other way of catching him, we can always bait our line with the ring. I shall have him doctor, I'll lay you two to one that I have him. I must thank you for it all.


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[Assistant] I might not have gone but for you, and so have missed the finest study I ever came across. A study in scarlet, eh?


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[Assistant] Why shouldn't we use a little art jargon? There's the scarlet thread of murder running through the colourless skein of life.


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[Assistant] And our duty is to unravel it and isolate it and expose every inch of it.


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[Assistant] And now for lunch, and then for Norman Neruda. Her attack and her bowing are splendid.


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[Assistant] What's that little thing of Chopin's she plays so magnificently? Tra-la-la-li-ra-li-ra-le.


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[Assistant] Leaning back in the cab, this amateur bloodhound caroled away like a lark.


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[Assistant] While I meditated upon the many-sidedness of the human mind.


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[Assistant] Our mornings exertions had been too much for my weak health, and I was tired out in the afternoon. After Holmes's departure for the concert,


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[Assistant] I lay down upon the sofa and endeavoured to get a couple of hours sleep. It was a useless attempt.


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[Assistant] My mind had been too much excited by all that had occurred.


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[Assistant] And the strangest fancies and surmises crowded into it. Every time that I closed my eyes I saw before me the distorted, baboon-like countenance of the murdered man.


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[Assistant] So sinister was the impression which that face had produced upon me.


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[Assistant] That I found it difficult to feel anything but gratitude for him who had removed its owner from the world.


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[Assistant] Have ever human features bespoke vice of the most malignant type?


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[Assistant] There were certainly those of Enoch J. Drebber of Cleveland. Still, I recognize that justice must be done.


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[Assistant] And that the depravity of the victim was no condonement in the eyes of the law.


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[Assistant] The more I thought of it, the more extraordinary did my companion's hypothesis that the man had been poisoned appear. I remembered how he had sniffed his lips.


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[Assistant] What had caused the man's death since there was neither wound nor marks of strangulation?


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[Assistant] But on the other hand whose blood was that which lay so thickly upon the floor?


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[Assistant] That he had already formed a theory which explained all the facts.


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[Assistant] Though what it was I could not for an instant conjecture. He was very late in returning.


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[Assistant] So late that I knew the concert could not have detained him all the time. Dinner was on the table before he appeared.


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[Assistant] It was magnificent, he said as he took his seat. Do you remember what Darwin says about music?


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[Assistant] He claims that the power of producing and appreciating it existed among the human race long before the power of speech was arrived at.


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[Assistant] Perhaps that is why we are so subtly influenced by it.


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[Assistant] I ought to be more case hardened after my Afghan experiences.


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[Assistant] I saw my own comrades hacked to pieces at my wand without losing my nerve. I can understand.


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[Assistant] It does not mention the fact that when the man was raised up, a woman's wedding ring fell upon the floor. It is just as well it does not. Why?


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[Assistant] Look at this advertisement, he answered. I had one sent to every paper this morning, immediately after the affair.


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[Assistant] He threw the paper across to me and I glanced at the place indicated. It was the first announcement in the found column.


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[Assistant] In Brixton Road this morning, it ran, a plain gold wedding ring found in the roadway between the White Hart Tavern and Holland Grove.


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[Assistant] Apply Dr. Watson, 221B Baker Street, between 8 and 9 this evening. Excuse me using your name, he said. If I used my own, some of these dunderheads would recognize it and want to meddle in the affair. That is all right, I answered. But supposing anyone applies?


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[Assistant] I have no ring. Oh yes you have, said he, handing me one. This will do very well. It is almost a facsimile. And who do you expect will answer this advertisement?


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[Assistant] Why the man in the brown coat, our florid friend with the square toes? If he does not come himself, he will send an accomplice.


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[Assistant] Would he not consider it as too dangerous? Not at all. If my view of the case is correct, and I have every reason to believe that it is, this man would rather risk anything than lose the ring.


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[Assistant] According to my notion, he dropped it while stooping over Drebber's body, and did not miss it at the time.


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[Assistant] After leaving the house he discovered his loss and hurried back, but found the police already in possession, owing to his own folly in leaving the candle burning.


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[Assistant] On thinking the matter over, it must have occurred to him that it was possible that he had lost the ring in the road after leaving the house. What would he do then?


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[Assistant] He would eagerly look out for the evening papers in the hope of seeing it among the articles found.


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[Assistant] His eye, of course, would alight upon this. He would be overjoyed. Why should he fear a trap?


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[Assistant] There would be no reason in his eyes why the finding of the ring should be connected with the murder. He would come. He will come. You shall see him within an hour. And then, I ask,


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[Assistant] Oh, you can leave me to deal with him then. Have you any arms? I have my old service revolver and a few cartridges. You had better clean it and load it.


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[Assistant] When I returned with the pistol, the table had been cleared, and Holmes was engaged in his favourite occupation of scraping upon his violin.


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[Assistant] The plot thickens, he said as I entered. I have just had an answer to my American telegram.


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[Assistant] My view of the case is the correct one. And that is, I asked eagerly, my fiddle would be better for new strings, he remarked. Put your pistol in your pocket. When the fellow comes, speak to him in an ordinary way. Leave the rest to me. Don't frighten him by looking at him too hard.


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[Assistant] It is eight o'clock now, I said, glancing at my watch. Yes, he will probably be here in a few minutes. Open the door slightly. That will do. Now put the key on the inside. Thank you.


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[Assistant] But this is a queer old book I picked up at a stall yesterday.


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[Assistant] De jure inter gentes, published in Latin at Liège in the Lowlands in 1642. Charles's head was still firm on his shoulders when this little brown-backed volume was struck off.


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[Assistant] I wonder who William White was. Some pragmatical 17th century lawyer, I suppose. His writing has a legal twist about it. Here comes our man, I think. As he spoke, there was a sharp ring at the bell.


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[Assistant] A look of surprise passed over the face of my companion as he listened to it. It came slowly along the passage, and there was a feeble tap at the door.


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[Assistant] At my summons, instead of the man of violence whom we expected, a very old and wrinkled woman hobbled into the apartment. She appeared to be dazzled by the sudden blaze of light.


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[Assistant] And his face had assumed such a disconsolate expression that it was all I could do to keep my countenance.


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[Assistant] The old crone drew out an evening paper and pointed at our advertisement. "'It's this as has brought me, good gentleman,' she said, dropping another curtsy. "'A gold wedding ring in the Brixton Road. It belongs to my girl Sally, as was married only this time twelve months.'


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[Assistant] Which her husband is steward aboard a Union boat, and what he'd say if he come home and found her without a ring is more than I can think. He being short enough at the best of times.


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[Assistant] But more especially, when he has the drink, if it please you, she went to the circus last night along with— Is that her ring? I asked. The Lord be thanked, cried the old woman. Sally will be a glad woman this night. That's the ring.


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[Assistant] And what may your address be? I inquired, taking up a pencil.


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[Assistant] 13 Duncan Street Houndstitch. A weary way from here.


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[Assistant] The Brixton Road does not lie between any circus and houndstitch, said Sherlock Holmes sharply.


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[Assistant] The old woman faced round and looked keenly at him from her little red-rimmed eyes. The gentleman asked me for my address, she said. Sally lives in lodgings at 3 Mayfield Place Peckham. And your name is?


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[Assistant] My name is Sawyer, hers is Dennis, which Tom Dennis married her.


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[Assistant] And a smart clean lad too, as long as he's at sea, and no steward in the company more thought of, but when on shore,


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[Assistant] What with the women and what with liquor shops. Here is your ring, Mrs. Sawyer, I interrupted, in obedience to a sign from my companion. It clearly belongs to your daughter, and I am glad to be able to restore it to the rightful owner.


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[Assistant] With many mumbled blessings and protestations of gratitude, the old crone packed it away in her pocket and shuffled off down the stairs.


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[Assistant] Sherlock Holmes sprang to his feet the moment she was gone and rushed into his room. He returned in a few seconds, enveloped in an ulster and a cravat. I'll follow her, he said hurriedly. She must be an accomplice and will lead me to him. Wait up for me.


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[Assistant] The hall door had hardly slammed behind our visitor before Holmes had descended the stair.


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[Assistant] Looking through the window I could see her walking feebly along the other side, while her pursuer dogged her some little distance behind. Either his whole theory is incorrect, I thought to myself, or else he will be led now to the heart of the mystery. There was no need for him to ask me to wait up for him.


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[Assistant] And I heard the footsteps of the maid as they pattered off to bed.


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[Assistant] Eleven and the more stately tread of the landlady passed my door bound for the same destination.


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[Assistant] It was close upon twelve before I heard the sharp sound of his latch-key.


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[Assistant] The instant he entered I saw by his face that he had not been successful.


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[Assistant] Amusement and shagrin seem to be struggling for the mastery.


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[Assistant] Until the former suddenly carried the day and he burst into a hearty laugh. I wouldn't have the Scotland Yarders know it for the world, he cried, dropping into his chair. I have chaffed them so much that they would never have let me hear the end of it. I can afford to laugh because I know that I will be even with them in the long run.


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[Assistant] What is it then? I asked. Oh, I don't mind telling a story against myself.


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[Assistant] That creature had gone a little way when she began to limp.


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[Assistant] And show every sign of being foot-saw. Presently she came to a halt and hailed a four-wheeler which was passing.


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[Assistant] I managed to be close to her so as to hear the address.


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[Assistant] But I need not have been so anxious, for she sang it out loud enough to be heard the other side of the street.


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[Assistant] Drive to 13 Duncan Street Hounsditch, she cried.


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[Assistant] I hopped off before we came to the door and strolled down the street in an easy lounging way. I saw the cab pull up, the driver jumped down, and I saw him open the door and stand expectantly. Nothing came out there.


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[Assistant] When I reached him, he was groping about frantically in the empty cab and giving vent to the finest assorted collection of oaths that ever I listened to.


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[Assistant] And that no one of the name either of Sawyer or Dennis had ever been heard of there.


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[Assistant] You don't mean to say, I cried in amazement, that that tottering, feeble old woman was able to get out of the cab while it was in motion without either you or the driver seeing her. Old woman be damned, said Sherlock Holmes sharply. We were the old women to be so taken in.


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[Assistant] It must have been a young man, and an active one too, besides being an incomparable actor.


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[Assistant] The get-up was inimitable. He saw that he was followed, no doubt, and used this means of giving me the slip.


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[Assistant] It shows that the man we are after is not as lonely as I imagined he was, but has friends who are ready to risk something for him. Now, Doctor, you are looking done up. Take my advice and turn in.


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[Assistant] I was certainly feeling very weary, so I obeyed his injunction.


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[Assistant] I left home seated in front of the smouldering fire, and long into the watches of the night I heard the low melancholy wailings of his violin.


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[Assistant] And knew that he was still pondering over the strange problem which he had set himself to unravel.


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[Assistant] The papers next day were full of the Brixton mystery, as they termed it. Each had a long account of the affair, and some had leaders upon it in addition. There was some information in them which was new to me.


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[Assistant] I still retain in my scrapbook numerous clippings and extracts bearing upon the case. Here is a condensation of a few of them.


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[Assistant] The Daily Telegraph remarked that in the history of crime there had seldom been a tragedy which presented stranger features. The German name of the victim


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[Assistant] The absence of all other motive and the sinister inscription on the wall


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[Assistant] And the deceased had no doubt infringed their unwritten laws and been tracked down by them.


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[Assistant] After eluding eerily to the Vemgericht, Aquatophana Carbonari, the Marchioness de Brinvilliers,


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[Assistant] The Darwinian theory, the principles of Malthus and the Ratcliffe highway murders,


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[Assistant] The article concluded by admonishing the Government and advocating a closer watch over foreigners in England.


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[Assistant] The standard commented upon the fact that lawless outrages of the sort usually occurred under a liberal administration.


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[Assistant] They arose from the unsettling of the minds of the masses and the consequent weakening of all authority.


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[Assistant] The deceased was an American gentleman who had been residing for some weeks in the metropolis.


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[Assistant] He had stayed at the boarding-house of Madame Charpentier in Torquay Terrace, Camberwell.


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[Assistant] It was accompanied in his travels by his private secretary, Mr Joseph Stangerson.


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[Assistant] The two bared adieu to their landlady upon Tuesday, the fourth inst, and departed to Euston Station with the avowed intention of catching the Liverpool Express. They were afterwards seen together upon the platform.


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[Assistant] Nothing more is known of them until Mr. Drebber's body was, as recorded, discovered in an empty house in the Brixton Road, many miles from Euston.


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[Assistant] How he came there or how he met his fate are questions which are still involved in mystery. Nothing is known of the whereabouts of Stangerson.


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[Assistant] We are glad to learn that Mr Lestrade and Mr Gregson of Scotland Yard are both engaged upon the case.


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[Assistant] That there was no doubt as to the crime being a political one.


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[Assistant] The despotism and hatred of liberalism which animated the continental governments


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[Assistant] had had the effect of driving to our shores a number of men who might have made excellent citizens were they not soured by the recollection of all that they had undergone.


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[Assistant] Among these men there was a stringent code of honour, any infringement of which was punished by death.


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[Assistant] Every effort should be made to find the secretary, Stangerson, and to ascertain some particulars of the habits of the deceased.


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[Assistant] A great step had been gained by the discovery of the address of the house at which he had


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[Assistant] Result, which was entirely due to the acuteness and energy of Mr Gregson of Scotland Yard.


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[Assistant] Sherlock Holmes and I read these notices over together at breakfast, and they appeared to afford him considerable amusement. I told you that whatever happened Lestrade and Gregson would be sure to score.


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[Assistant] That depends on how it turns out. Oh bless you, it doesn't matter in the least.


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[Assistant] If the man is caught, it will be on account of their exertions. If he escapes, it will be in spite of their exertions. It's heads I win and tails you lose. Whatever they do, they will have followers. Un seau trouve toujours un plusseau qui l'admire.


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[Assistant] What on earth is this?" I cried, for at this moment there came the pattering of many steps in the hall and on the stairs, accompanied by audible expressions of disgust upon the part of our landlady. It's the Baker Street division of the Detective Police Force," said my companion gravely.


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[Assistant] And as he spoke, there rushed into the room half a dozen of the dirtiest and most ragged street Arabs that ever I clapped eyes on. TENSION!


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[Assistant] Cried homes in a sharp tone, and the six dirty scoundrels stood in a line, like so many disreputable statuettes. In future you shall send up Wiggins alone to report, and the rest of you must wait in the street.


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[Assistant] Have you found it Wiggins? No sir, we ain't.


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[Assistant] Said one of the youths, I hardly expected you would. You must keep on until you do. Here are your wages.


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[Assistant] He handed each of them a shilling. Now, off you go and come back with a better report next time.


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[Assistant] He waved his hand and they scampered away downstairs like so many rats.


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[Assistant] And we heard their shrill voices next moment in the street.


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[Assistant] There's more work to be got out of one of those little beggars than half a dozen of the Force," Holmes remarked.


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[Assistant] The mere sight of an official-looking person seals men's lips. These youngsters, however, go everywhere and hear everything. They are as sharp as needles too. All they want is organization.


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[Assistant] Is it on this Brixton case that you are employing them, I ask? Yes. There is a point which I wish to ascertain. It is merely a matter of time.


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[Assistant] Hello, we're going to hear some news now with a vengeance. Here is Gregson coming down the road.


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[Assistant] With Beatitude written upon every feature of his face. Bound for us, I know. Yes he is stopping. There he is.


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[Assistant] There was a violent peal at the bell, and in a few seconds the fair-haired detective came up the steps, three steps at a time, and burst into our sitting-room. My dear fellow, he cried, ringing Holmes's unresponsive hand, congratulate me, I have made the whole thing as clear as day.


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[Assistant] He asked, the right track. Why, sir, we have the man under lock and key, and his name is Arthur Charpentier, sub-lieutenant in Her Majesty's Navy, cried Gregson pompously, rubbing his fat hands and inflating his chest.


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[Assistant] The tremendous exertions which I've gone through during the last day or two have worn me out. Not so much bodily exertion, you understand, as the strain upon the mind. You will appreciate that, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, for we are both brain workers.


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[Assistant] You do me too much honour, said Holmes gravely. Let us hear how you arrived at this most gratifying result.


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[Assistant] The detective seated himself in the armchair and puffed complacently at his cigar.


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[Assistant] Then suddenly he slapped his thigh in a paroxysm of amusement. The fun of it is, he cried, that the full Lestrade, who thinks himself so smart, has gone off upon the wrong track altogether. He is after the secretary Stangerson, who had no more to do with the crime than the babe unborn. I have no doubt that he has caught him by this time.


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[Assistant] The idea tickled Gregson so much that he laughed until he choked.


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[Assistant] And how did you get your clue? Ah, I'll tell you all about it. Of course, Dr Watson, this is strictly between ourselves.


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[Assistant] The first difficulty, which we had to contend with, was the finding of this American's antecedents. Some people would have waited until their advertisements were answered, or until parties came forward and volunteered information. That is not Tobias Gregson's way of going to work.


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[Assistant] You remember the act beside the dead man? Yes, said Holmes, by John Underwood and Sons, 129 Camberwell Road. Gregson looked quite crestfallen. I had no idea that you noticed that, he said. Have you been there? No.


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[Assistant] Hah!" cried Gregson, in a relieved voice. You should never neglect a chance, however small it might seem. To a great mind, nothing is little, remarked Holmes, sententiously. Well,


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[Assistant] I went to Underwood and asked him if he had sold a hat of that size and description. He looked over his books and came on it at once. He had sent the hat to a Mr. Drebber residing at Charpentier's boarding establishment, Torquay Terrace. Thus I got his address. Smart. Very smart, murmured Sherlock Holmes. I next called upon Madame Charpentier.


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[Assistant] Have you heard of the mysterious death of your late boarder, Mr Enoch J. Drebber of Cleveland? I asked.


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[Assistant] The mother nodded. She didn't seem able to get out a word.


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[Assistant] The door had burst into tears. I felt more than ever that these people knew something of the matter.


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[Assistant] At what o'clock did Mr. Drever leave your house for the train? I asked.


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[Assistant] At eight o'clock she said gulping in her throat to keep down her agitation.


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[Assistant] His secretary, Mr Stangerson, had said that there were two trains, one at 9.15 and one at 11. He was to catch the first. And was that the last which you saw of him?


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[Assistant] A terrible change came over the woman's face as I asked the question. Her features turned perfectly livid.


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[Assistant] It was some seconds before she could get out the single word, yes, and when it did come it was in a husky, unnatural tone.


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[Assistant] There was a silence for a moment, and then the daughter spoke in a calm, clear voice. No good can ever come of falsehood, mother, she said. Let us be frank with this gentleman. We did see Mr. Drebber again.


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[Assistant] God forgive you!" cried Madame Charpentier, throwing up her hands and sinking back in her chair. You have murdered your brother. Arthur would rather that we spoke the truth, the girl answered firmly.


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[Assistant] You would best tell me all about it now, I said. Half confidences are worse than none. Besides, you do not know how much we know of it.


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[Assistant] On your head be it, Alice, cried her mother, and then turn into me. I will tell you all, sir.


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[Assistant] Do not imagine that my agitation on behalf of my son arises from any fear lest he should have had a hand in this terrible affair. He is utterly innocent of it.


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[Assistant] My dread is, however, that in your eyes and in the eyes of others he may appear to be compromised. That, however, is surely impossible.


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[Assistant] His eye character, his profession, his antecedents will all forbid it. Your best way is to make a clean breast of the facts, I answered. Depend upon it. If your son is innocent, he will be none the worse.


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[Assistant] Perhaps, Alice, you would better leave us together, she said, and her daughter withdrew. Now, sir, she continued.


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[Assistant] I had no intention of telling you all this, but since my poor daughter has disclosed it I have no alternative.


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[Assistant] Having once decided to speak, I will tell you all, without omitting any particular, it is your wisest course, said I.


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[Assistant] Mr. Drebber has been with us nearly three weeks. He and his secretary, Mr. Stangerson, had been travelling on the continent.


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[Assistant] The very night of his arrival he became very much the worst for drink.


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[Assistant] And indeed after twelve o'clock in the day he could hardly ever be said to be sober.


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[Assistant] His manners towards the maidservants were disgustingly free and familiar. Worst of all,


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[Assistant] He speedily assumed the same attitude towards my daughter Alice and spoke to her more than once in a way which fortunately she is too innocent to understand.


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[Assistant] On one occasion he actually seized her in his arms and embraced her, an outrage which caused his own secretary to reproach him for his unmanly conduct.


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[Assistant] But why did you stand all this, I asked? I suppose that you can get rid of your borders when you wish.


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[Assistant] Madame Charpentier blushed at my pertinent questions. Would to God that I had given him notice on the very day that he came, she said, but it was a sore temptation.


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[Assistant] They were paying a pound a day each, fourteen pounds a week, and this is the slack season. I'm a widow, and my boy in the Navy has cost me much. I grudged to lose the money. I acted for the best.


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[Assistant] This last was too much, however, and I gave him notice to leave on account of it. That was the reason of his going. Well?


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[Assistant] My heart grew light when I saw him drive away. My son is on leave just now, but I did not tell him anything of this, for his temper is violent and he is passionately fond of his sister.


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[Assistant] When I close the door behind them, a load seem to be lifted from my mind.


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[Assistant] Alas, in less than an hour there was a ring at the bell, and I learned that Mr. Drebber had returned. He was much excited, and evidently the worst for drink.


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[Assistant] He forced his way into the room where I was sitting with my daughter and made some incoherent remark about having missed the train.


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[Assistant] Poor Alice was so frightened that she struck away from him, but he caught her by the wrist and endeavoured to draw her towards the door. I screamed, and at that moment my son Alpha came into the room.


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[Assistant] What happened then I do not know. I heard oves and the confused sounds of a scuffle. I was too terrified to raise my head. When I did look up I saw Arthur standing in the doorway laughing with a stick in his hand.


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[Assistant] I don't think that fine fellow will trouble us again, he said. I will just go after him and see what he does with himself.


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[Assistant] With those words he took his hat and started off down the street.


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[Assistant] The next morning we heard of Mr Drebber's mysterious death.


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[Assistant] This statement came from Madame Charpentier's lips with many gasps and pauses, at times she spoke so low that I could hardly catch the words. I made shorthand notes of all that she said, however, so that there should be no possibility of a mistake.


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[Assistant] It's quite exciting, said Sherlock Holmes with a yawn. What happened next?


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[Assistant] When Madame Charpentier paused, the detective continued, I saw the old case hung upon one point.


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[Assistant] Fixing her with my eye in a way which I always found effective with women, I asked her at what hour her son returned.


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[Assistant] I do not know, she answered. Not know? No, he has a latch key and he let himself in. After you went to bed? Yes. When did you go to bed? About eleven. So your son was gone at least two hours? Yes. Possibly four or five? Yes.


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[Assistant] What was he doing during that time? I do not know she answered, turning white to her very lips.


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[Assistant] Of course, after that there was nothing more to be done. I found out where Lieutenant Charpentier was, took two officers with me and arrested him. When I touched him on the shoulder and warned him to come quietly with us, he answered us as bold as brass, I suppose you're arresting me for being concerned in the death of the scoundrel Drebber, he said.


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[Assistant] We had said nothing to him about it. Soda is alluding to it at a most suspicious aspect. Very, said Holmes. He still carried the evey stick which the mother described him as having with him when he followed Dribba. It was a stout oak cudgel. What is your theory then?


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[Assistant] Well, my theory is that he followed Drebber as far as the Brixton Road, when there, a fresh altercation arose between them.


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[Assistant] In the course of which Drebber received a blow from the stick in the pit of the stomach, perhaps, which killed him without leaving any mark. The night was so wet that no one was about,


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[Assistant] So Charpentier dragged the body of his victim into the empty house. As to the candle and the blood and the writing on the wall and the ring, they may all be so many tricks to throw the police onto the wrong scent. Well done, said Holmes, in an encouraging voice. Really, Gregson, you are getting along. We shall make something of you yet.


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[Assistant] I flatter myself that I have managed it rather neatly," the detective answered proudly. The young man volunteered a statement in which he said that after following Drebber some time the latter perceived him and took a cab in order to get away from him.


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[Assistant] On his way home he met an old shipmate and took a long walk with him.


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[Assistant] On being asked where this old shipmate lived, he was unable to give any satisfactory reply.


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[Assistant] I think the old case fits together uncommonly well. What amuses me is to think of Lestrade who had started off upon the wrong scent. I'm afraid he won't make much of it. Hi. By Jove, he is the very man himself.


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[Assistant] It was indeed Lestrade who had ascended the stairs while we were talking who now entered the room.


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[Assistant] The assurance and jauntiness which generally marked his demeanour and dress were, however, wanting. His face was disturbed and troubled, while his clothes were disarranged and untidy.


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[Assistant] He had evidently come with the intention of consulting with Sherlock Holmes, for, on perceiving his colleague, he appeared to be embarrassed and put out.


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[Assistant] He stood in the centre of the room, fumbling nervously with his hat, and uncertain what to do.


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[Assistant] This is a most extraordinary case," he said at last, a most incomprehensible affair. Ah, you find it so, Mr. Lestrade, cried Gregson triumphantly. I thought you would come to that conclusion. Have you managed to find a secretary, Mr. Joseph Stangerson? The secretary, Mr. Joseph Stangerson, said Lestrade gravely.


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[Assistant] Was murdered at Alladay's private hotel about 6 o'clock this morning.


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[Assistant] The intelligence with which Lestrade greeted us was so momentous and so unexpected that we were all three fairly dumbfounded. Gregson sprang out of his chair and upset the remainder of his whiskey and water. I stared in silence at Sherlock Holmes


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[Assistant] The plot thickens. It was quite thick enough before, grumbled Lestrade, taking a chair. I seem to have dropped into a sort of council of war. Are you


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[Assistant] Are you sure of this piece of intelligence? Stammered Gregson.


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[Assistant] I've just come from his room," said Lestrade. I was the first to discover what had occurred.


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[Assistant] We have been hearing Gregson's view of the matter. Holmes observed. Would you mind letting us know what you have seen and done?" I have no objection, Lestrade answered, seating himself. I freely confessed that I was of the opinion that Stangerson was concerned in the death of Dreba.


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[Assistant] This fresh development has shown me that I was completely mistaken.


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[Assistant] Full of the one idea, I set myself to find out what had become of the secretary.


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[Assistant] They had been seen together at Euston Station about half past eight on the evening of the third.


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[Assistant] At two in the morning Drebber had been found in the Brixton Road. The question which confronted me


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[Assistant] Giving a description of the man and warning them to keep a watch upon the American boats.


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[Assistant] Are then set to work calling upon all the hotels and lodging houses in the vicinity of Euston.


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[Assistant] You see, I argued that if Drebber and his companion had become separated...


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[Assistant] The natural course for the latter would be to put up somewhere in the vicinity for the night, and then to hang about the station again next morning.


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[Assistant] They would be likely to agree on some meeting place beforehand, remarked Holmes. So it proved. I spent the whole of yesterday evening making inquiries entirely without avail. This morning I began very early, and at eight o'clock I reached Halliday's Private Hotel in Little George Street.


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[Assistant] On my inquiry as to whether a Mr Stangerson was living there, they at once answered me in the affirmative.


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[Assistant] No doubt you were the gentleman whom he was expecting, they said. He's been waiting for a gentleman for two days. Where is he now? I asked.


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[Assistant] He's upstairs in bed. He wished to be called at nine. I will go up and see him at once, I said.


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[Assistant] It seemed to me that my sudden appearance might shake his nerves and lead him to say something unguarded.


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[Assistant] The boots volunteered to show me the room, it was on the second floor, and there was a small corridor leading up to it. The boots pointed out the door to me.


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[Assistant] And was about to go downstairs again when I saw something that made me feel sickish, in spite of my 20 years experience.


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[Assistant] From under the door there curled a little red ribbon of blood which had meandered across the passage and formed a little pool along the skirting at the other side. I gave a cry.


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[Assistant] Which brought the boots back. He nearly fainted when he saw it.


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[Assistant] The door was locked on the inside, but we put our shoulders to it and knocked it in. The window of the room was open, and beside the window, all huddled up, lay the body of a man in his nightdress. He was quite dead, and had been for some time, for his limbs were rigid and cold.


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[Assistant] When we turned him over the boots recognised him at once as being the same gentleman who had engaged the room under the name of Joseph Stangerson. The cause of death was a deep stab on the left side, which must have penetrated the art. And now comes the strangest part of the affair. What do you suppose was above the murdered man?


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[Assistant] I felt a creeping of the flesh and a presentiment of coming horror, even before Sherlock Holmes answered, The word rash, written in letters of blood, he said. That was it, said Lestrade in an awestruck voice, and we were all silent for a while.


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[Assistant] There was something so methodical and so incomprehensible about the deeds of this unknown assassin that it imparted a fresh ghastliness to his crimes. My nerves, which were steady enough on the field of battle, tingled as I thought of it. The man was seen, continued Lestrade, a milk-boy passing on his way to the dairy.


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[Assistant] Happened to walk down the lane which leads from the muse at the back of the hotel.


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[Assistant] He noticed that a ladder which usually lay there was raised against one of the windows of the second floor which was wide open. After passing he looked back and saw a man descend the ladder. He came down so quickly and openly


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[Assistant] That the boy imagined him to be some carpenter or joiner at work in the hotel. He took no particular notice of him.


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[Assistant] Beyond thinking in his own mind that it was early for him to be at work. He has an impression that the man was tall, had a reddish face, and was dressed in a long brownish coat.


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[Assistant] He must have stayed in the room some little time after the murder.


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[Assistant] For we found bloodstained water in the basin, where he had washed his hands.


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[Assistant] And marks on the sheets where he had deliberately wiped his knife.


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[Assistant] I glanced at Holmes on hearing the description of the murderer which tallied so exactly with his own


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[Assistant] There was however no trace of exaltation or satisfaction upon his face.


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[Assistant] Did you find nothing in the room which could furnish a clue to the murderer? he asked.


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[Assistant] Nothing. Stangerson had Drebber's purse in his pocket.


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[Assistant] But it seems that this was usual as he did all the paying. There was 80 odd pounds in it, but nothing had been taken. Whatever the motives of these extraordinary crimes, robbery is certainly not one of them.


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[Assistant] There were no papers or memoranda in the murdered man's pocket.


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[Assistant] Except a single telegram dated from Cleveland about a month ago and containing the words, J.H. is in Europe.


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[Assistant] There was no name appended to this message. And there was nothing else? Holmes asked. Nothing of any importance?


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[Assistant] The man's novel, with which he had read himself to sleep, was lying upon the bed, and his pipe was on a chair beside him. There was a glass of water on the table and on the windowsill,


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[Assistant] A small chip ointment box containing a couple of pills.


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[Assistant] Sherlock Holmes sprang from his chair with an exclamation of delight. The last link! he cried exultantly. My case is complete. The two detectives stared at him in amazement.


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[Assistant] But I am certain of all the main facts, from the time the drebber parted from Stangerson at the station, up to the discovery of the body of the latter, as if I had seen them with my own eyes. I will give you proof of my knowledge.


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[Assistant] Could you lay your hand upon those pills? I have them," said Lestrade, producing a small white box. I took them and a purse and a telegram, intending to have them put in a place of safety at the police station.


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[Assistant] They were of a pearly grey colour, small, round and almost transparent against the light.


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[Assistant] From the lightness and transparency I should imagine that they are soluble in water, I remarked. Precisely so, answered Holmes. Now, would you mind going down and fetching that poor little devil of a terrier, which has been bad so long?


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[Assistant] And which the landlady wanted you to put out of its pain yesterday.


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[Assistant] I went downstairs and carried the dog upstairs in my arms.


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[Assistant] That it had already exceeded the usual term of canine existence. I placed it upon a cushion on the rug.


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[Assistant] I will now cut one of these pills in two," said Holmes, and drawing his penknife he suited the action to the word. One half I will place in this wine-glass, in which is a teaspoonful of water.


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[Assistant] You perceive that our friend the Doctor is right and that it readily dissolves. This may be interesting," said Lestrade, in the injured tone of one who suspects that he is being laughed at.


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[Assistant] I cannot see, however, what it has to do with the death of Mr. Joseph Stangerson. Patience, my friend, patience.


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[Assistant] You will find in time that it has everything to do with it. I shall now add a little milk to make the mixture palatable.


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[Assistant] And on presenting it to the dog, we find that he laps it up readily enough.


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[Assistant] As he spoke he turned the contents of the wine glass into a saucer and placed it in front of the terrier, who speedily licked it dry.


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[Assistant] Sherlock Holmes' earnest demeanour had so far convinced us that we all sat in silence watching the animal intently and expecting some startling effect. None such appeared, however.


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[Assistant] The dog continued to lie stretched upon the cushion, breathing in a laboured way, but apparently neither the better nor the worse for its draught.


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[Assistant] Holmes had taken out his watch and as minute followed minute without result.


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[Assistant] An expression of the utmost chagrin and disappointment appeared upon his features.


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[Assistant] And showed every other symptom of acute impatience. So great was his emotion that I felt sincerely sorry for him, while the two detectives smiled derisively, by no means displeased at this check which he had met.


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[Assistant] It can't be a coincidence, he cried, at last springing from his chair and pacing wildly up and down the room. It is impossible that it should be a mere coincidence.


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[Assistant] The very pills, which I suspected in the case of Dreba, are actually found after the death of Stangerson, and yet they are inert. What can it mean?


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[Assistant] Surely, my whole chain of reasoning cannot have been false. It is impossible. And yet this wretched dog is none the worse. Ah, I have it. I have it.


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[Assistant] With a perfect shriek of delight he rushed to the box, cut the other pill in two, dissolved it, added milk, and presented it to the terrier.


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[Assistant] The unfortunate creature's tongue seemed hardly to have moistened in it before it gave a convulsive shiver in every limb and lay as rigid and lifeless as if it had been struck by lightning.


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[Assistant] Sherlock Holmes drew a long breath and wiped the perspiration from his forehead. I should have more faith, he said.


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[Assistant] I ought to know by this time that when a fact appears to be opposed to a long train of deductions, it invariably proves to be capable of bearing some other interpretation.


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[Assistant] Of the two pills in the box, one was of the most deadly poison and the other was entirely harmless.


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[Assistant] I ought to have known that before ever I saw the box at all.


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[Assistant] This last statement appeared to be so startling that I could hardly believe that he was in his sober senses.


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[Assistant] There was the dead dog, however, to prove that his conjecture had been correct.


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[Assistant] It seemed to me that the mists in my own mind were gradually clearing away.


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[Assistant] And I began to have a dim, vague perception of the truth.


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[Assistant] All this seems strange to you," continued Holmes, because you failed at the beginning of the inquiry to grasp the importance of the single real clue which was presented to you. I had the good fortune to seize upon that.


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[Assistant] And everything which has occurred since then has served to confirm my original supposition, and indeed was the logical sequence of it.


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[Assistant] Hence, things which have perplexed you and made the case more obscure have served to enlighten me and to strengthen my conclusions.


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[Assistant] It is a mistake to confound strangeness with mystery.


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[Assistant] The most common place crime is often the most mysterious because it presents no new or special features from which deductions may be drawn.


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[Assistant] This murder would have been infinitely more difficult to unravel had the body of the victim been simply found lying in the roadway without any of those outre and sensational accompaniments which have rendered it remarkable.


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[Assistant] These strange details, far from making the case more difficult, have really had the effect of making it less so.


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[Assistant] Mr. Gregson, who would listen to this address with considerable impatience,


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[Assistant] Young Charpentier could not have been engaged in this second affair.


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[Assistant] Lestrade went after his man Stangerson, and it appears that he was wrong too. You have thrown out ints here, and ints there.


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[Assistant] And seem to know more than we do, that the time has come when we feel that we have a right to ask you straight, how much you do know of the business.


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[Assistant] Any delay in arresting the assassin, I observed, might give him time to perpetrate some fresh atrocity. Thus pressed by us all, Holmes showed signs of irresolution


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[Assistant] He continued to walk up and down the room with his head sunk on his chest and his brows drawn down, as was his habit when lost in thought.


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[Assistant] There will be no more murders, he said at last, stopping abruptly and facing us. You can put that consideration out of the question. You have asked me if I know the name of the assassin. I do.


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[Assistant] The mere knowing of his name is a small thing, however, compared with the power of laying our hands upon him. This I expect very shortly to do.


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[Assistant] I had good hopes of managing it through my own arrangements, but it is a thing which needs delicate handling for we have a shrewd and desperate man to deal with.


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[Assistant] Who is supported as I have had occasion to prove by another who is as clever as himself.


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[Assistant] As long as this man has no idea that anyone can have a clue, there is some chance of securing him.


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[Assistant] But if he had the slightest suspicion, he would change his name and vanish in an instant among the four million inhabitants of this great city.


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[Assistant] Without meaning to hurt either of your feelings, I am bound to say that I consider these men to be more than a match for the official force.


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[Assistant] If I fail, I shall of course incur the blame due to this admission, but that I am prepared for.


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[Assistant] At present I am ready to promise that the instant that I can communicate with you without endangering my own combinations, I shall do so.


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[Assistant] Gregson and Lestrade seem to be far from satisfied by this assurance, or by the depreciating allusion to the detective force.


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[Assistant] The former had flushed up to the roots of his flaxen hair, while the other's beady eyes glistened with curiosity and resentment.


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[Assistant] Neither of them had time to speak however, before there was a tap at the door.


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[Assistant] And the spokesman of the Street Arabs, Young Wiggins, introduced his insignificant and unsavoury person.


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[Assistant] Play, sir," he said, touching his forelock. I have the cab downstairs. Good boy," said Holmes blandly. Why don't you introduce this pattern at Scotland Yard? He continued, taking a pair of steel handcuffs from a drawer. See how beautifully the spring works. They fasten in an instant.


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[Assistant] The old pattern is good enough, remark Lestrade, if we can only find a man to put them on.


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[Assistant] Very good, very good," said Holmes, smiling. The cabman may as well help me with my boxes. Just ask him to step up, Wiggins.


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[Assistant] I was surprised to find my companion speaking as though he were about to set out on a journey, since he had not said anything to me about it.


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[Assistant] There was a small portmanteau in the room, and this he pulled out and began to strap.


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[Assistant] He was busily engaged at it when the cabman entered the room.


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[Assistant] Just give me a help with this buckle, Cabman, he said, kneeling over his task and never turning his head.


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[Assistant] The fellow came forward with a somewhat sullen, defiant air and put down his hands to assist.


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[Assistant] At that instant there was a sharp click, the jangling of metal, and Sherlock Holmes sprang to his feet again. Gentlemen! he cried with flashing eyes. Let me introduce you to Mr. Jefferson Hope.


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[Assistant] The murderer of Enoch Drebber and of Joseph Stangerson. The whole thing occurred in a moment. So quickly that I had no time to realize it. I have vivid recollection of that instant.


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[Assistant] Of Holmes's triumphant expression and the ring of his voice, of the cabman's dazed, savage face, as he glared at the glittering handcuffs, which had appeared as if by magic upon his wrists. For a second or two we might have been a group of statues,


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[Assistant] Then, with an inarticulate roar of fury, the prisoner wrenched himself free from Holmes's grasp and hurled himself through the window. Woodwork and glass gave way before him.


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[Assistant] But before he got quite through, Gregson, Lestrade, and Holmes sprang upon him like so many staghounds. He was dragged back into the room, and then commenced a terrific conflict.


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[Assistant] So powerful and so fierce was he, that the four of us were shaken off again and again.


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[Assistant] He appeared to have the convulsive strength of a man in an epileptic fit


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[Assistant] His face and hands were terribly mangled by his passage through


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[Assistant] But loss of blood had no effect in diminishing his resistance.


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[Assistant] It was not until Lestrade succeeded in getting his hand inside his neck cloth and half strangling him


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[Assistant] That we made him realize that his struggles were of no avail.


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[Assistant] And even then we felt no security until we had pinioned his feet as well as his hands.


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[Assistant] That done, we rose to our feet, breathless and panting. We have his cab, said Sherlock Holmes. It will serve to take him to Scotland Yard. And now, gentlemen, he continued with a pleasant smile, we have reached the end of our little mystery.


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[Assistant] You are very welcome to put any questions that you like to me now, and there is no danger that I will refuse to answer them.


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[Assistant] In the central portion of the great North American continent,


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[Assistant] There lies an arid and repulsive desert.


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[Assistant] Which for many a long year served as a barrier against the advance of civilization. From the Sierra Nevada to Nebraska.


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[Assistant] And from the Yellowstone River in the north to the Colorado upon the south is a region of desolation and silence, nor is nature always in one mood throughout this grim district.


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[Assistant] It comprises snow-capped and lofty mountains and dark and gloomy valleys.


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[Assistant] There are swift flowing rivers which dash through jagged canyons.


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[Assistant] And there are enormous plains, which in winter are white with snow, and in summer are grey with the saline alkali dust.


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[Assistant] They all preserve, however, the common characteristics of barrenness, inhospitality and misery. There are no inhabitants of this land of despair, abound of poor knees or of black feet.


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[Assistant] Are glad to lose sight of those awesome planes and find themselves once more upon their prairies.


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[Assistant] The coyote skulks among the scrub, the buzzard flaps heavily through the air, and the clumsy grizzly bear lumbers through the dark ravines and picks up such sustenance as it can amongst the rocks. These are the sole dwellers in the wilderness.


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[Assistant] In the whole world there can be no more dreary view than that from the northern slope of the Sierra Blanco.


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[Assistant] As far as the eye can reach stretches the great flat, plain land.


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[Assistant] All dusted over with patches of alkali and intersected by clumps of the dwarfish chaparral bushes.


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[Assistant] On the extreme verge of the horizon lies a long chain of mountain peaks, with their rugged summits flecked with snow.


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[Assistant] In this great stretch of country there is no sign of life, nor of anything appertaining to life. There is no bird in the steel blue heaven, no movement upon the dull grey earth. Above all there is absolute silence.


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[Assistant] Listen as one may, there is no shadow of a sound in all that mighty wilderness. Nothing but silence. Complete and heart-subduing silence.


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[Assistant] It has been said there is nothing appertaining to life upon the broad plain. That is hardly true. Looking down from the Sierra Blanco


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[Assistant] One sees a pathway traced out across the desert.


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[Assistant] Which winds away and is lost in the extreme distance.


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[Assistant] It is rutted with wheels and trodden down by the feet of many adventurers.


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[Assistant] Here and there are scattered white objects which glisten in the sun.


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[Assistant] Some large and coarse, others smaller and more delicate. The former have belonged to oxen, and the latter to men.


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[Assistant] For fifteen hundred miles one may trace this ghastly caravan route by these scattered remains of those who have fallen by the wayside. Looking down on this very scene


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[Assistant] His appearance was such that he might have been the very genius or demon of the region.


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[Assistant] An observer would have found it difficult to say whether he was nearer to forty or to sixty. His face was lean and haggard.


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[Assistant] And the brown parchment-like skin was drawn tightly over the projecting bones.


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[Assistant] His long brown hair and beard were all flecked and dashed with white.


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[Assistant] His eyes were sunken in his head and burned with an unnatural luster.


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[Assistant] While the hand which grasped his rifle was hardly more fleshy than that of a skeleton. As he stood he leaned upon his weapon for support.


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[Assistant] And yet his tall figure and the massive framework of his bones suggested a wiry and vigorous constitution. His gaunt face, however, and his clothes, which hung so baggily over his shriveled limbs,


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[Assistant] Proclaimed what it was that gave him that senile and decrepit appearance. The man was dying, dying from hunger and from thirst. He had toiled painfully down the ravine and on to this little elevation, in vain hope of seeing some signs of water.


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[Assistant] Now the great salt plain stretched before his eyes and the distant belt of savage mountains without a sign anywhere of plant or tree which might indicate the presence of moisture.


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[Assistant] In all that broad landscape there was no gleam of hope.


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[Assistant] North and east and west he looked with wild questioning eyes, and then he realized that his wanderings had come to an end, and that there on that barren crag he was about to die. Why not here?


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[Assistant] As well as in a feather bed twenty years hence, he muttered, as he seated himself in the shelter of a boulder.


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[Assistant] Before sitting down he had deposited upon the ground his useless rifle.


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[Assistant] And also a large bundle tied up in a grey shawl which he had carried slung over his right shoulder. It appeared to be somewhat too heavy for his strength.


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[Assistant] For in lowering it, it came down on the ground with some little violence. Instantly there broke from the grey parcel a little moaning cry.


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[Assistant] And extricated a pretty little girl of about five years of age.


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[Assistant] Who's dainty shoes and smart pink frock with its little linen apron all bespoke a mother's care. The child was pale and won.


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[Assistant] But her healthy arms and legs showed that she had suffered less than her companion. How is it now? he answered anxiously.


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[Assistant] For she was still rubbing the tauzy golden curls which covered the back of her head.


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[Assistant] Kiss it and make it well, she said, with perfect gravity, showing the injured part to him. That's what Mother used to do. Where's Mother? Mother's gone. I guess you'll see her before long. Gone, eh? said the little girl. Funny she didn't say good-bye.


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[Assistant] She most always did if she was just going over to aunties for tea. Now she's been away three days. Say, it's awful dry, ain't it? Ain't there no water or nothing to eat? No, there ain't nothing, dearie.


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[Assistant] You'll just need to be patient a while, and then you'll be alright.


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[Assistant] Put your head up again me like that, and then you'll feel bullier.


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[Assistant] It ain't easy to talk when your lips is like leather, but I guess I'd best let you know how the cards lie. What's that you've got?


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[Assistant] Pretty things, fine things, cried the little girl enthusiastically, holding up two glittering fragments of mica.


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[Assistant] Well, we reckon we'd strike another river soon, do you see?


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[Assistant] But there was something wrong, compasses or map or something, and it didn't turn up. Water ran out. Just accept a little drop for the likes of you and, and, and you couldn't wash yourself.


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[Assistant] Interrupted his companion gravely, staring up at his grimy visage. No, nor drink.


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[Assistant] And Mr. Bender, he was the first to go, and then, Injun Pete, and then Mrs. McGregor, and then Johnny Holmes, and then Deary, your mother.


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[Assistant] Then mother's a deader too, cried the little girl.


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[Assistant] Dropping her face in her pinafore and sobbing bitterly. Yes. They all went except you and me.


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[Assistant] Then I thought there was some chance of water in this direction, so I heaved you over my shoulder and we tramped it together. It don't seem as though we've improved matters. There's an almighty small chance for us now. Do you mean that we are going to die too?


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[Assistant] Ask the child, checking her sobs and raising a tear-stained face.


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[Assistant] I guess that's about the size of it. Why didn't you say so before? she said laughing gleefully. You gave me such a fright.


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[Assistant] Why, of course, now as long as we die, we'll be with Mother again. Yes, you will, dearie. And you too. I'll tell her how awful good you've been.


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[Assistant] I'll bet she meets us at the door of heaven with a big pitcher of water.


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[Assistant] There had appeared three little specks which increased in size every moment, so rapidly did they approach.


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[Assistant] They speedily resolved themselves into three large brown birds, which circled over the heads of the two wanderers, and then settled upon some rocks which overlooked them. They were buzzards, the vultures of the West, whose coming in is the forerunner of death.


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[Assistant] Cocks and hens, cried the little girl gleefully, pointing at their ill-oment forms and clapping her hands to make them rise. Say, did God make this country?


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[Assistant] And course he did, said her companion, rather startled by this unexpected question.


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[Assistant] He made the country down in Illinois, and he made the Missouri, the little girl continued. I guess somebody else made the country in these parts.


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[Assistant] It's not nearly so well done. They forgot the water and the trees. What would ye think of offering up prayer? The man asked diffidently. It ain't night yet, she answered. It don't matter. It ain't quite regular, but he don't mind that, you bet.


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[Assistant] You say over them ones that you used to say every night in the wagon when we was on the planes.


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[Assistant] Why don't you say some yourself? the child asked with wondering eyes. I'd disremember them, he answered.


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[Assistant] I ain't said none since I was half the height of that gun. I guess it's never too late. You say them out and I'll stand by you and come in on the choruses.


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[Assistant] Then you'll need to kneel down and me too, she said, laying the shawl out for that purpose. You've got to put your hands up like this. It makes you feel kind of good.


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[Assistant] It was a strange sight, had there been anything but the buzzards to see it. Side by side on the narrow shawl knelt the two wanderers.


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[Assistant] The Little Prattling Child and the Reckless Hardened Adventurer


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[Assistant] Her chubby face and his haggard, angular visage were both turned up to the cloudless heaven in heartfelt entreaty to that dread being with whom they were face to face, while the two voices, the one thin and clear, the other deep and harsh,


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[Assistant] They resumed their seat in the shadow of the boulder until the child fell asleep, nestling upon the broad breast of her protector.


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[Assistant] He watched over her slumber for some time, but nature proved to be too strong for him.


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[Assistant] For three days and three nights he had allowed himself neither rest nor repose.


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[Assistant] Slowly the eyelids drooped over the tired eyes, and the head sunk lower and lower upon the breast.


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[Assistant] Until the man's grizzled beard was mixed with the gold tresses of his companion.


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[Assistant] And both slept the same deep and dreamless slumber.


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[Assistant] Had the wanderer remained awake for another half hour, a strange sight would have met his eyes.


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[Assistant] Far away, on the extreme verge of the alkali plain, there rose up a little spray of dust, very slight at first.


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[Assistant] Until it became evident that it could only be raised by a great multitude of moving creatures.


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[Assistant] In more fertile spots the observer would have come to


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[Assistant] That one of those great herds of bison which graze upon the prairie land was approaching him.


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[Assistant] This was obviously impossible in these arid wilds.


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[Assistant] As the whirl of dust drew nearer to the solitary bluff upon which the two castaways were reposing, the canvas covered tilts of wagons


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[Assistant] And the figures of armed horsemen began to show up through the haze.


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[Assistant] And the apparition revealed itself as being a great caravan upon its journey for the West. But what a caravan! When the head of it had reached the base of the mountains, the rear was not yet visible on the horizon.


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[Assistant] Right across the enormous plain stretched the straggling array, wagons and carts, men on horseback and men on foot.


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[Assistant] Innumerable women who staggered along under burdens, and children who toddled beside the wagons or peeped out from under the white coverings. This was evidently no ordinary party of immigrants.


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[Assistant] A confused clattering and rumbling from this great mass of humanity, with the creaking of wheels and the neighing horses


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[Assistant] Loud as it was, it was not sufficient to rouse the two tired wayfarers above them.


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[Assistant] At the head of the column there wrote a score or more of grave, iron-faced men.


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[Assistant] Said one hard-lipped, clean-shaven man with grizzly hair. To the right of the Sierra Blanco


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[Assistant] So we shall reach the Rio Grande," said another. Fear not for water, cried a third. He who could draw it from the rocks will not now abandon his chosen people. Amen, amen, responded the whole party.


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[Assistant] They were about to resume their journey when one of the youngest and keenest-eyed


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[Assistant] Uttered an exclamation and pointed up at the rugged crag above them. From its summit there fluttered a little wisp of pink.


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[Assistant] Showing up hard and bright against the grey rocks behind. At the sight


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[Assistant] There was a general reigning up of horses and unslinging of guns while fresh horsemen came galloping up to reinforce the vanguard. The word Redskins was on every lip. There can't be any number of Indians here, said the elderly man who appeared to be in command. We have passed the Pawnees


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[Assistant] And there are no other tribes until we cross the great mountains. Shall I go forward and see, Brother Stangerson?" asked one of the band.


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[Assistant] Leave your horses below and we will await you here. The elder answered.


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[Assistant] In a moment the young fellows had dismounted, fastened their horses, and were ascending the precipitous slope.


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[Assistant] Which led up to the object which had excited their curiosity.


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[Assistant] They advanced rapidly and noiselessly with the confidence and dexterity of practiced Scout.


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[Assistant] The watchers from the plane below could see them flit from rock to rock until their figures stood out against the skyline. The young man who had first given the alarm was leading them. Suddenly his followers saw him throw up his hands, as though overcome with astonishment.