The Adventure of the Speckled Band the snake wrong, a theory that the swamp adder was an artificial hybrid between the Mexican Gila monster ("Heloderma suspectum") and "Naja naja". His speculation suggests that Doyle might have hidden a double-meaning in Holmes' words. What Holmes said, reported by Watson, was "It is a swamp adder, the deadliest snake in India"; but Klauber suggested what Holmes really said was "It is a "samp-aderm", the deadliest skink in India." "Samp-aderm" can be translated "snake-Gila-monster": "Samp" is Hindi for snake, and the suffix "aderm" is derived from "heloderm", the common or vernacular name of the Gila monster generally used by
The Search (short story) The Search (short story) The Search is a science fiction short story by Canadian-American writer A. E. van Vogt, originally published in "Astounding" in January 1943. The story involves time travel and is told in a non-linear fashion with multiple plot twists. Drake, a travelling salesmen for the Quik-Rite pen company, awakes in the hospital with no memories of the last two weeks. His boss tells him that he disappeared in the middle of his last business trip. In an attempt to piece together what happened, he sets out to recreate the journey. While waiting for a train, another traveller,