The Adventure of the Speckled Band that of Dr Roylott. Holmes and Watson arrange to spend the night in Helen's room. In darkness they wait; suddenly, a slight metallic noise and a dim light through the ventilator prompt Holmes to action. Quickly lighting a candle, he discovers on the bell cord the "speckled band"—a venomous snake. He strikes the snake with a stick, driving it back through the ventilator. Agitated, it attacks Roylott, who had been waiting for it to return after killing Helen. Holmes identifies the snake as a "swamp adder" and reveals to Watson the motive: the late wife's will had provided an annual
The Capital of the World (short story) knives at first, but after he cheats death several times, a knife pierces his leg, severing the femoral artery. He soon dies, his head "full of illusions". First published in "Esquire" in June 1936 as "The Horns of the Bull", it was changed to its present title in the short story collection "The Fifth Column and the First Forty-Nine Stories", published in 1938. The Capital of the World (short story) "The Capital of the World" is a short story by Ernest Hemingway. The story takes place in Madrid and follows Paco, a young waiter apprentice, and his desires to become