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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Study In Scarlet, by Arthur Conan Doyle
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+
+almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
+
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+Title: A Study In Scarlet
+
+Author: Arthur Conan Doyle
+
+Posting Date: July 12, 2008 [EBook #244]
+
+Release Date: April, 1995
+
+[Last updated: February 17, 2013]
+
+Language: English
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A STUDY IN SCARLET ***
+
+Produced by Roger Squires
+
+A STUDY IN SCARLET.
+
+By A. Conan Doyle
+
+[1]
+
+Original Transcriber's Note: This etext is prepared directly
+
+from an 1887 edition, and care has been taken to duplicate the
+
+original exactly, including typographical and punctuation
+
+vagaries.
+
+Additions to the text include adding the underscore character to
+
+indicate italics, and textual end-notes in square braces.
+
+Project Gutenberg Editor's Note: In reproofing and moving old PG
+
+files such as this to the present PG directory system it is the
+
+policy to reformat the text to conform to present PG Standards.
+
+In this case however, in consideration of the note above of the
+
+original transcriber describing his care to try to duplicate the
+
+original 1887 edition as to typography and punctuation vagaries,
+
+no changes have been made in this ascii text file. However, in
+
+the Latin-1 file and this html file, present standards are
+
+followed and the several French and Spanish words have been
+
+given their proper accents.
+
+Part II, The Country of the Saints, deals much with the Mormon Church.
+
+A STUDY IN SCARLET.
+
+PART I.
+
+(_Being a reprint from the reminiscences of_ JOHN H. WATSON, M.D., _late
+
+of the Army Medical Department._) [2]
+
+CHAPTER I. MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES.
+
+IN the year 1878 I took my degree of Doctor of Medicine of the
+
+University of London, and proceeded to Netley to go through the course
+
+prescribed for surgeons in the army. Having completed my studies there,
+
+I was duly attached to the Fifth Northumberland Fusiliers as Assistant
+
+Surgeon. The regiment was stationed in India at the time, and before
+
+I could join it, the second Afghan war had broken out. On landing at
+
+Bombay, I learned that my corps had advanced through the passes, and
+
+was already deep in the enemy's country. I followed, however, with many
+
+other officers who were in the same situation as myself, and succeeded
+
+in reaching Candahar in safety, where I found my regiment, and at once
+
+entered upon my new duties.
+
+The campaign brought honours and promotion to many, but for me it had
+
+nothing but misfortune and disaster. I was removed from my brigade and
+
+attached to the Berkshires, with whom I served at the fatal battle of
+
+Maiwand. There I was struck on the shoulder by a Jezail bullet, which
+
+shattered the bone and grazed the subclavian artery. I should have
+
+fallen into the hands of the murderous Ghazis had it not been for the
+
+devotion and courage shown by Murray, my orderly, who threw me across a
+
+pack-horse, and succeeded in bringing me safely to the British lines.
+
+Worn with pain, and weak from the prolonged hardships which I had
+
+undergone, I was removed, with a great train of wounded sufferers, to
+
+the base hospital at Peshawar. Here I rallied, and had already improved
+
+so far as to be able to walk about the wards, and even to bask a little
+
+upon the verandah, when I was struck down by enteric fever, that curse
+
+of our Indian possessions. For months my life was despaired of, and
+
+when at last I came to myself and became convalescent, I was so weak and
+
+emaciated that a medical board determined that not a day should be lost
+
+in sending me back to England. I was dispatched, accordingly, in the
+
+troopship "Orontes," and landed a month later on Portsmouth jetty, with
+
+my health irretrievably ruined, but with permission from a paternal
+
+government to spend the next nine months in attempting to improve it.
+
+I had neither kith nor kin in England, and was therefore as free as
+
+air--or as free as an income of eleven shillings and sixpence a day will
+
+permit a man to be. Under such circumstances, I naturally gravitated to
+
+London, that great cesspool into which all the loungers and idlers of
+
+the Empire are irresistibly drained. There I stayed for some time at
+
+a private hotel in the Strand, leading a comfortless, meaningless
+
+existence, and spending such money as I had, considerably more freely
+
+than I ought. So alarming did the state of my finances become, that
+
+I soon realized that I must either leave the metropolis and rusticate
+
+somewhere in the country, or that I must make a complete alteration in
+
+my style of living. Choosing the latter alternative, I began by making
+
+up my mind to leave the hotel, and to take up my quarters in some less
+
+pretentious and less expensive domicile.
+
+On the very day that I had come to this conclusion, I was standing at
+
+the Criterion Bar, when some one tapped me on the shoulder, and turning
+
+round I recognized young Stamford, who had been a dresser under me at
+
+Barts. The sight of a friendly face in the great wilderness of London is
+
+a pleasant thing indeed to a lonely man. In old days Stamford had never
+
+been a particular crony of mine, but now I hailed him with enthusiasm,
+
+and he, in his turn, appeared to be delighted to see me. In the
+
+exuberance of my joy, I asked him to lunch with me at the Holborn, and
+
+we started off together in a hansom.
+
+"Whatever have you been doing with yourself, Watson?" he asked in
+
+undisguised wonder, as we rattled through the crowded London streets.
+
+"You are as thin as a lath and as brown as a nut."
+
+I gave him a short sketch of my adventures, and had hardly concluded it
+
+by the time that we reached our destination.
+
+"Poor devil!" he said, commiseratingly, after he had listened to my
+
+misfortunes. "What are you up to now?"
+
+"Looking for lodgings." [3] I answered. "Trying to solve the problem
+
+as to whether it is possible to get comfortable rooms at a reasonable
+
+price."
+
+"That's a strange thing," remarked my companion; "you are the second man
+
+to-day that has used that expression to me."
+
+"And who was the first?" I asked.
+
+"A fellow who is working at the chemical laboratory up at the hospital.
+
+He was bemoaning himself this morning because he could not get someone
+
+to go halves with him in some nice rooms which he had found, and which
+
+were too much for his purse."
+
+"By Jove!" I cried, "if he really wants someone to share the rooms and
+
+the expense, I am the very man for him. I should prefer having a partner
+
+to being alone."
+
+Young Stamford looked rather strangely at me over his wine-glass. "You
+
+don't know Sherlock Holmes yet," he said; "perhaps you would not care
+
+for him as a constant companion."
+
+"Why, what is there against him?"
+
+"Oh, I didn't say there was anything against him. He is a little queer
+
+in his ideas--an enthusiast in some branches of science. As far as I
+
+know he is a decent fellow enough."
+
+"A medical student, I suppose?" said I.
+
+"No--I have no idea what he intends to go in for. I believe he is well
+
+up in anatomy, and he is a first-class chemist; but, as far as I know,
+
+he has never taken out any systematic medical classes. His studies are
+
+very desultory and eccentric, but he has amassed a lot of out-of-the way
+
+knowledge which would astonish his professors."
+
+"Did you never ask him what he was going in for?" I asked.
+
+"No; he is not a man that it is easy to draw out, though he can be
+
+communicative enough when the fancy seizes him."
+
+"I should like to meet him," I said. "If I am to lodge with anyone, I
+
+should prefer a man of studious and quiet habits. I am not strong
+
+enough yet to stand much noise or excitement. I had enough of both in
+
+Afghanistan to last me for the remainder of my natural existence. How
+
+could I meet this friend of yours?"
+
+"He is sure to be at the laboratory," returned my companion. "He either
+
+avoids the place for weeks, or else he works there from morning to
+
+night. If you like, we shall drive round together after luncheon."
+
+"Certainly," I answered, and the conversation drifted away into other
+
+channels.
+
+As we made our way to the hospital after leaving the Holborn, Stamford
+
+gave me a few more particulars about the gentleman whom I proposed to
+
+take as a fellow-lodger.
+
+"You mustn't blame me if you don't get on with him," he said; "I know
+
+nothing more of him than I have learned from meeting him occasionally in
+
+the laboratory. You proposed this arrangement, so you must not hold me
+
+responsible."
+
+"If we don't get on it will be easy to part company," I answered. "It
+
+seems to me, Stamford," I added, looking hard at my companion, "that you
+
+have some reason for washing your hands of the matter. Is this fellow's
+
+temper so formidable, or what is it? Don't be mealy-mouthed about it."
+
+"It is not easy to express the inexpressible," he answered with a laugh.
+
+"Holmes is a little too scientific for my tastes--it approaches to
+
+cold-bloodedness. I could imagine his giving a friend a little pinch of
+
+the latest vegetable alkaloid, not out of malevolence, you understand,
+
+but simply out of a spirit of inquiry in order to have an accurate idea
+
+of the effects. To do him justice, I think that he would take it himself
+
+with the same readiness. He appears to have a passion for definite and
+
+exact knowledge."
+
+"Very right too."
+
+"Yes, but it may be pushed to excess. When it comes to beating the
+
+subjects in the dissecting-rooms with a stick, it is certainly taking
+
+rather a bizarre shape."
+
+"Beating the subjects!"
+
+"Yes, to verify how far bruises may be produced after death. I saw him
+
+at it with my own eyes."
+
+"And yet you say he is not a medical student?"
+
+"No. Heaven knows what the objects of his studies are. But here we
+
+are, and you must form your own impressions about him." As he spoke, we
+
+turned down a narrow lane and passed through a small side-door, which
+
+opened into a wing of the great hospital. It was familiar ground to me,
+
+and I needed no guiding as we ascended the bleak stone staircase and
+
+made our way down the long corridor with its vista of whitewashed
+
+wall and dun-coloured doors. Near the further end a low arched passage
+
+branched away from it and led to the chemical laboratory.
+
+This was a lofty chamber, lined and littered with countless bottles.
+
+Broad, low tables were scattered about, which bristled with retorts,
+
+test-tubes, and little Bunsen lamps, with their blue flickering flames.
+
+There was only one student in the room, who was bending over a distant
+
+table absorbed in his work. At the sound of our steps he glanced round
+
+and sprang to his feet with a cry of pleasure. "I've found it! I've
+
+found it," he shouted to my companion, running towards us with a
+
+test-tube in his hand. "I have found a re-agent which is precipitated
+
+by hoemoglobin, [4] and by nothing else." Had he discovered a gold mine,
+
+greater delight could not have shone upon his features.
+
+"Dr. Watson, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said Stamford, introducing us.
+
+"How are you?" he said cordially, gripping my hand with a strength
+
+for which I should hardly have given him credit. "You have been in
+
+Afghanistan, I perceive."
+
+"How on earth did you know that?" I asked in astonishment.
+
+"Never mind," said he, chuckling to himself. "The question now is about
+
+hoemoglobin. No doubt you see the significance of this discovery of
+
+mine?"
+
+"It is interesting, chemically, no doubt," I answered, "but
+
+practically----"
+
+"Why, man, it is the most practical medico-legal discovery for years.
+
+Don't you see that it gives us an infallible test for blood stains. Come
+
+over here now!" He seized me by the coat-sleeve in his eagerness, and
+
+drew me over to the table at which he had been working. "Let us have
+
+some fresh blood," he said, digging a long bodkin into his finger, and
+
+drawing off the resulting drop of blood in a chemical pipette. "Now, I
+
+add this small quantity of blood to a litre of water. You perceive that
+
+the resulting mixture has the appearance of pure water. The proportion
+
+of blood cannot be more than one in a million. I have no doubt, however,
+
+that we shall be able to obtain the characteristic reaction." As he
+
+spoke, he threw into the vessel a few white crystals, and then added
+
+some drops of a transparent fluid. In an instant the contents assumed a
+
+dull mahogany colour, and a brownish dust was precipitated to the bottom
+
+of the glass jar.
+
+"Ha! ha!" he cried, clapping his hands, and looking as delighted as a
+
+child with a new toy. "What do you think of that?"
+
+"It seems to be a very delicate test," I remarked.
+
+"Beautiful! beautiful! The old Guiacum test was very clumsy and
+
+uncertain. So is the microscopic examination for blood corpuscles. The
+
+latter is valueless if the stains are a few hours old. Now, this appears
+
+to act as well whether the blood is old or new. Had this test been
+
+invented, there are hundreds of men now walking the earth who would long
+
+ago have paid the penalty of their crimes."
+
+"Indeed!" I murmured.
+
+"Criminal cases are continually hinging upon that one point. A man is
+
+suspected of a crime months perhaps after it has been committed. His
+
+linen or clothes are examined, and brownish stains discovered upon them.
+
+Are they blood stains, or mud stains, or rust stains, or fruit stains,
+
+or what are they? That is a question which has puzzled many an expert,
+
+and why? Because there was no reliable test. Now we have the Sherlock
+
+Holmes' test, and there will no longer be any difficulty."
+
+His eyes fairly glittered as he spoke, and he put his hand over his
+
+heart and bowed as if to some applauding crowd conjured up by his
+
+imagination.
+
+"You are to be congratulated," I remarked, considerably surprised at his
+
+enthusiasm.
+
+"There was the case of Von Bischoff at Frankfort last year. He would
+
+certainly have been hung had this test been in existence. Then there was
+
+Mason of Bradford, and the notorious Muller, and Lefevre of Montpellier,
+
+and Samson of New Orleans. I could name a score of cases in which it
+
+would have been decisive."
+
+"You seem to be a walking calendar of crime," said Stamford with a
+
+laugh. "You might start a paper on those lines. Call it the 'Police News
+
+of the Past.'"
+
+"Very interesting reading it might be made, too," remarked Sherlock
+
+Holmes, sticking a small piece of plaster over the prick on his finger.
+
+"I have to be careful," he continued, turning to me with a smile, "for I
+
+dabble with poisons a good deal." He held out his hand as he spoke, and
+
+I noticed that it was all mottled over with similar pieces of plaster,
+
+and discoloured with strong acids.
+
+"We came here on business," said Stamford, sitting down on a high
+
+three-legged stool, and pushing another one in my direction with
+
+his foot. "My friend here wants to take diggings, and as you were
+
+complaining that you could get no one to go halves with you, I thought
+
+that I had better bring you together."
+
+Sherlock Holmes seemed delighted at the idea of sharing his rooms with
+
+me. "I have my eye on a suite in Baker Street," he said, "which would
+
+suit us down to the ground. You don't mind the smell of strong tobacco,
+
+I hope?"
+
+"I always smoke 'ship's' myself," I answered.
+
+"That's good enough. I generally have chemicals about, and occasionally
+
+do experiments. Would that annoy you?"
+
+"By no means."
+
+"Let me see--what are my other shortcomings. I get in the dumps at
+
+times, and don't open my mouth for days on end. You must not think I am
+
+sulky when I do that. Just let me alone, and I'll soon be right. What
+
+have you to confess now? It's just as well for two fellows to know the
+
+worst of one another before they begin to live together."
+
+I laughed at this cross-examination. "I keep a bull pup," I said, "and
+
+I object to rows because my nerves are shaken, and I get up at all sorts
+
+of ungodly hours, and I am extremely lazy. I have another set of vices
+
+when I'm well, but those are the principal ones at present."
+
+"Do you include violin-playing in your category of rows?" he asked,
+
+anxiously.
+
+"It depends on the player," I answered. "A well-played violin is a treat
+
+for the gods--a badly-played one----"
+
+"Oh, that's all right," he cried, with a merry laugh. "I think we may
+
+consider the thing as settled--that is, if the rooms are agreeable to
+
+you."
+
+"When shall we see them?"
+
+"Call for me here at noon to-morrow, and we'll go together and settle
+
+everything," he answered.
+
+"All right--noon exactly," said I, shaking his hand.
+
+We left him working among his chemicals, and we walked together towards
+
+my hotel.
+
+"By the way," I asked suddenly, stopping and turning upon Stamford, "how
+
+the deuce did he know that I had come from Afghanistan?"
+
+My companion smiled an enigmatical smile. "That's just his little
+
+peculiarity," he said. "A good many people have wanted to know how he
+
+finds things out."
+
+"Oh! a mystery is it?" I cried, rubbing my hands. "This is very piquant.
+
+I am much obliged to you for bringing us together. 'The proper study of
+
+mankind is man,' you know."
+
+"You must study him, then," Stamford said, as he bade me good-bye.
+
+"You'll find him a knotty problem, though. I'll wager he learns more
+
+about you than you about him. Good-bye."
+
+"Good-bye," I answered, and strolled on to my hotel, considerably
+
+interested in my new acquaintance.
+
+CHAPTER II. THE SCIENCE OF DEDUCTION.
+
+WE met next day as he had arranged, and inspected the rooms at No. 221B,
+
+[5] Baker Street, of which he had spoken at our meeting. They
+
+consisted of a couple of comfortable bed-rooms and a single large
+
+airy sitting-room, cheerfully furnished, and illuminated by two broad
+
+windows. So desirable in every way were the apartments, and so moderate
+
+did the terms seem when divided between us, that the bargain was
+
+concluded upon the spot, and we at once entered into possession.
+
+That very evening I moved my things round from the hotel, and on the
+
+following morning Sherlock Holmes followed me with several boxes and
+
+portmanteaus. For a day or two we were busily employed in unpacking and
+
+laying out our property to the best advantage. That done, we
+
+gradually began to settle down and to accommodate ourselves to our new
+
+surroundings.
+
+Holmes was certainly not a difficult man to live with. He was quiet
+
+in his ways, and his habits were regular. It was rare for him to be
+
+up after ten at night, and he had invariably breakfasted and gone out
+
+before I rose in the morning. Sometimes he spent his day at the chemical
+
+laboratory, sometimes in the dissecting-rooms, and occasionally in long
+
+walks, which appeared to take him into the lowest portions of the City.
+
+Nothing could exceed his energy when the working fit was upon him; but
+
+now and again a reaction would seize him, and for days on end he would
+
+lie upon the sofa in the sitting-room, hardly uttering a word or moving
+
+a muscle from morning to night. On these occasions I have noticed such
+
+a dreamy, vacant expression in his eyes, that I might have suspected him
+
+of being addicted to the use of some narcotic, had not the temperance
+
+and cleanliness of his whole life forbidden such a notion.
+
+As the weeks went by, my interest in him and my curiosity as to his
+
+aims in life, gradually deepened and increased. His very person and
+
+appearance were such as to strike the attention of the most casual
+
+observer. In height he was rather over six feet, and so excessively
+
+lean that he seemed to be considerably taller. His eyes were sharp and
+
+piercing, save during those intervals of torpor to which I have alluded;
+
+and his thin, hawk-like nose gave his whole expression an air of
+
+alertness and decision. His chin, too, had the prominence and squareness
+
+which mark the man of determination. His hands were invariably
+
+blotted with ink and stained with chemicals, yet he was possessed of
+
+extraordinary delicacy of touch, as I frequently had occasion to observe
+
+when I watched him manipulating his fragile philosophical instruments.
+
+The reader may set me down as a hopeless busybody, when I confess how
+
+much this man stimulated my curiosity, and how often I endeavoured
+
+to break through the reticence which he showed on all that concerned
+
+himself. Before pronouncing judgment, however, be it remembered, how
+
+objectless was my life, and how little there was to engage my attention.
+
+My health forbade me from venturing out unless the weather was
+
+exceptionally genial, and I had no friends who would call upon me and
+
+break the monotony of my daily existence. Under these circumstances, I
+
+eagerly hailed the little mystery which hung around my companion, and
+
+spent much of my time in endeavouring to unravel it.
+
+He was not studying medicine. He had himself, in reply to a question,
+
+confirmed Stamford's opinion upon that point. Neither did he appear to
+
+have pursued any course of reading which might fit him for a degree in
+
+science or any other recognized portal which would give him an entrance
+
+into the learned world. Yet his zeal for certain studies was remarkable,
+
+and within eccentric limits his knowledge was so extraordinarily ample
+
+and minute that his observations have fairly astounded me. Surely no man
+
+would work so hard or attain such precise information unless he had some
+
+definite end in view. Desultory readers are seldom remarkable for the
+
+exactness of their learning. No man burdens his mind with small matters
+
+unless he has some very good reason for doing so.
+
+His ignorance was as remarkable as his knowledge. Of contemporary
+
+literature, philosophy and politics he appeared to know next to nothing.
+
+Upon my quoting Thomas Carlyle, he inquired in the naivest way who he
+
+might be and what he had done. My surprise reached a climax, however,
+
+when I found incidentally that he was ignorant of the Copernican Theory
+
+and of the composition of the Solar System. That any civilized human
+
+being in this nineteenth century should not be aware that the earth
+
+travelled round the sun appeared to be to me such an extraordinary fact
+
+that I could hardly realize it.
+
+"You appear to be astonished," he said, smiling at my expression of
+
+surprise. "Now that I do know it I shall do my best to forget it."
+
+"To forget it!"
+
+"You see," he explained, "I consider that a man's brain originally is
+
+like a little empty attic, and you have to stock it with such furniture
+
+as you choose. A fool takes in all the lumber of every sort that he
+
+comes across, so that the knowledge which might be useful to him gets
+
+crowded out, or at best is jumbled up with a lot of other things so that
+
+he has a difficulty in laying his hands upon it. Now the skilful workman
+
+is very careful indeed as to what he takes into his brain-attic. He will
+
+have nothing but the tools which may help him in doing his work, but of
+
+these he has a large assortment, and all in the most perfect order. It
+
+is a mistake to think that that little room has elastic walls and can
+
+distend to any extent. Depend upon it there comes a time when for every
+
+addition of knowledge you forget something that you knew before. It is
+
+of the highest importance, therefore, not to have useless facts elbowing
+
+out the useful ones."
+
+"But the Solar System!" I protested.
+
+"What the deuce is it to me?" he interrupted impatiently; "you say
+
+that we go round the sun. If we went round the moon it would not make a
+
+pennyworth of difference to me or to my work."
+
+I was on the point of asking him what that work might be, but something
+
+in his manner showed me that the question would be an unwelcome one. I
+
+pondered over our short conversation, however, and endeavoured to draw
+
+my deductions from it. He said that he would acquire no knowledge which
+
+did not bear upon his object. Therefore all the knowledge which he
+
+possessed was such as would be useful to him. I enumerated in my own
+
+mind all the various points upon which he had shown me that he was
+
+exceptionally well-informed. I even took a pencil and jotted them down.
+
+I could not help smiling at the document when I had completed it. It ran
+
+in this way--
+
+SHERLOCK HOLMES--his limits.
+
+1. Knowledge of Literature.--Nil.
+
+2. Philosophy.--Nil.
+
+3. Astronomy.--Nil.
+
+4. Politics.--Feeble.
+
+5. Botany.--Variable. Well up in belladonna,
+
+opium, and poisons generally.
+
+Knows nothing of practical gardening.
+
+6. Geology.--Practical, but limited.
+
+Tells at a glance different soils
+
+from each other. After walks has
+
+shown me splashes upon his trousers,
+
+and told me by their colour and
+
+consistence in what part of London
+
+he had received them.
+
+7. Chemistry.--Profound.
+
+8. Anatomy.--Accurate, but unsystematic.
+
+9. Sensational Literature.--Immense. He appears
+
+to know every detail of every horror
+
+perpetrated in the century.
+
+10. Plays the violin well.
+
+11. Is an expert singlestick player, boxer, and swordsman.
+
+12. Has a good practical knowledge of British law.
+
+When I had got so far in my list I threw it into the fire in despair.
+
+"If I can only find what the fellow is driving at by reconciling all
+
+these accomplishments, and discovering a calling which needs them all,"
+
+I said to myself, "I may as well give up the attempt at once."
+
+I see that I have alluded above to his powers upon the violin. These
+
+were very remarkable, but as eccentric as all his other accomplishments.
+
+That he could play pieces, and difficult pieces, I knew well, because
+
+at my request he has played me some of Mendelssohn's Lieder, and other
+
+favourites. When left to himself, however, he would seldom produce any
+
+music or attempt any recognized air. Leaning back in his arm-chair of
+
+an evening, he would close his eyes and scrape carelessly at the fiddle
+
+which was thrown across his knee. Sometimes the chords were sonorous and
+
+melancholy. Occasionally they were fantastic and cheerful. Clearly they
+
+reflected the thoughts which possessed him, but whether the music aided
+
+those thoughts, or whether the playing was simply the result of a whim
+
+or fancy was more than I could determine. I might have rebelled against
+
+these exasperating solos had it not been that he usually terminated them
+
+by playing in quick succession a whole series of my favourite airs as a
+
+slight compensation for the trial upon my patience.
+
+During the first week or so we had no callers, and I had begun to think
+
+that my companion was as friendless a man as I was myself. Presently,
+
+however, I found that he had many acquaintances, and those in the most
+
+different classes of society. There was one little sallow rat-faced,
+
+dark-eyed fellow who was introduced to me as Mr. Lestrade, and who came
+
+three or four times in a single week. One morning a young girl called,
+
+fashionably dressed, and stayed for half an hour or more. The same
+
+afternoon brought a grey-headed, seedy visitor, looking like a Jew
+
+pedlar, who appeared to me to be much excited, and who was closely
+
+followed by a slip-shod elderly woman. On another occasion an old
+
+white-haired gentleman had an interview with my companion; and on
+
+another a railway porter in his velveteen uniform. When any of these
+
+nondescript individuals put in an appearance, Sherlock Holmes used to
+
+beg for the use of the sitting-room, and I would retire to my bed-room.
+
+He always apologized to me for putting me to this inconvenience. "I have
+
+to use this room as a place of business," he said, "and these people
+
+are my clients." Again I had an opportunity of asking him a point blank
+
+question, and again my delicacy prevented me from forcing another man to
+
+confide in me. I imagined at the time that he had some strong reason for
+
+not alluding to it, but he soon dispelled the idea by coming round to
+
+the subject of his own accord.
+
+It was upon the 4th of March, as I have good reason to remember, that I
+
+rose somewhat earlier than usual, and found that Sherlock Holmes had not
+
+yet finished his breakfast. The landlady had become so accustomed to my
+
+late habits that my place had not been laid nor my coffee prepared. With
+
+the unreasonable petulance of mankind I rang the bell and gave a curt
+
+intimation that I was ready. Then I picked up a magazine from the table
+
+and attempted to while away the time with it, while my companion munched
+
+silently at his toast. One of the articles had a pencil mark at the
+
+heading, and I naturally began to run my eye through it.
+
+Its somewhat ambitious title was "The Book of Life," and it attempted to
+
+show how much an observant man might learn by an accurate and systematic
+
+examination of all that came in his way. It struck me as being a
+
+remarkable mixture of shrewdness and of absurdity. The reasoning was
+
+close and intense, but the deductions appeared to me to be far-fetched
+
+and exaggerated. The writer claimed by a momentary expression, a twitch
+
+of a muscle or a glance of an eye, to fathom a man's inmost thoughts.
+
+Deceit, according to him, was an impossibility in the case of one
+
+trained to observation and analysis. His conclusions were as infallible
+
+as so many propositions of Euclid. So startling would his results appear
+
+to the uninitiated that until they learned the processes by which he had
+
+arrived at them they might well consider him as a necromancer.
+
+"From a drop of water," said the writer, "a logician could infer the
+
+possibility of an Atlantic or a Niagara without having seen or heard of
+
+one or the other. So all life is a great chain, the nature of which is
+
+known whenever we are shown a single link of it. Like all other arts,
+
+the Science of Deduction and Analysis is one which can only be acquired
+
+by long and patient study nor is life long enough to allow any mortal
+
+to attain the highest possible perfection in it. Before turning to
+
+those moral and mental aspects of the matter which present the greatest
+
+difficulties, let the enquirer begin by mastering more elementary
+
+problems. Let him, on meeting a fellow-mortal, learn at a glance to
+
+distinguish the history of the man, and the trade or profession to
+
+which he belongs. Puerile as such an exercise may seem, it sharpens the
+
+faculties of observation, and teaches one where to look and what to look
+
+for. By a man's finger nails, by his coat-sleeve, by his boot, by his
+
+trouser knees, by the callosities of his forefinger and thumb, by his
+
+expression, by his shirt cuffs--by each of these things a man's calling
+
+is plainly revealed. That all united should fail to enlighten the
+
+competent enquirer in any case is almost inconceivable."
+
+"What ineffable twaddle!" I cried, slapping the magazine down on the
+
+table, "I never read such rubbish in my life."
+
+"What is it?" asked Sherlock Holmes.
+
+"Why, this article," I said, pointing at it with my egg spoon as I sat
+
+down to my breakfast. "I see that you have read it since you have marked
+
+it. I don't deny that it is smartly written. It irritates me though. It
+
+is evidently the theory of some arm-chair lounger who evolves all these
+
+neat little paradoxes in the seclusion of his own study. It is not
+
+practical. I should like to see him clapped down in a third class
+
+carriage on the Underground, and asked to give the trades of all his
+
+fellow-travellers. I would lay a thousand to one against him."
+
+"You would lose your money," Sherlock Holmes remarked calmly. "As for
+
+the article I wrote it myself."
+
+"You!"
+
+"Yes, I have a turn both for observation and for deduction. The
+
+theories which I have expressed there, and which appear to you to be so
+
+chimerical are really extremely practical--so practical that I depend
+
+upon them for my bread and cheese."
+
+"And how?" I asked involuntarily.
+
+"Well, I have a trade of my own. I suppose I am the only one in the
+
+world. I'm a consulting detective, if you can understand what that is.
+
+Here in London we have lots of Government detectives and lots of private
+
+ones. When these fellows are at fault they come to me, and I manage to
+
+put them on the right scent. They lay all the evidence before me, and I
+
+am generally able, by the help of my knowledge of the history of
+
+crime, to set them straight. There is a strong family resemblance about
+
+misdeeds, and if you have all the details of a thousand at your finger
+
+ends, it is odd if you can't unravel the thousand and first. Lestrade
+
+is a well-known detective. He got himself into a fog recently over a
+
+forgery case, and that was what brought him here."
+
+"And these other people?"
+
+"They are mostly sent on by private inquiry agencies. They are
+
+all people who are in trouble about something, and want a little
+
+enlightening. I listen to their story, they listen to my comments, and
+
+then I pocket my fee."
+
+"But do you mean to say," I said, "that without leaving your room you
+
+can unravel some knot which other men can make nothing of, although they
+
+have seen every detail for themselves?"
+
+"Quite so. I have a kind of intuition that way. Now and again a case
+
+turns up which is a little more complex. Then I have to bustle about and
+
+see things with my own eyes. You see I have a lot of special knowledge
+
+which I apply to the problem, and which facilitates matters wonderfully.
+
+Those rules of deduction laid down in that article which aroused your
+
+scorn, are invaluable to me in practical work. Observation with me is
+
+second nature. You appeared to be surprised when I told you, on our
+
+first meeting, that you had come from Afghanistan."
+
+"You were told, no doubt."
+
+"Nothing of the sort. I _knew_ you came from Afghanistan. From long
+
+habit the train of thoughts ran so swiftly through my mind, that I
+
+arrived at the conclusion without being conscious of intermediate steps.
+
+There were such steps, however. The train of reasoning ran, 'Here is a
+
+gentleman of a medical type, but with the air of a military man. Clearly
+
+an army doctor, then. He has just come from the tropics, for his face is
+
+dark, and that is not the natural tint of his skin, for his wrists are
+
+fair. He has undergone hardship and sickness, as his haggard face says
+
+clearly. His left arm has been injured. He holds it in a stiff and
+
+unnatural manner. Where in the tropics could an English army doctor have
+
+seen much hardship and got his arm wounded? Clearly in Afghanistan.' The
+
+whole train of thought did not occupy a second. I then remarked that you
+
+came from Afghanistan, and you were astonished."
+
+"It is simple enough as you explain it," I said, smiling. "You remind
+
+me of Edgar Allen Poe's Dupin. I had no idea that such individuals did
+
+exist outside of stories."
+
+Sherlock Holmes rose and lit his pipe. "No doubt you think that you are
+
+complimenting me in comparing me to Dupin," he observed. "Now, in my
+
+opinion, Dupin was a very inferior fellow. That trick of his of breaking
+
+in on his friends' thoughts with an apropos remark after a quarter of
+
+an hour's silence is really very showy and superficial. He had some
+
+analytical genius, no doubt; but he was by no means such a phenomenon as
+
+Poe appeared to imagine."
+
+"Have you read Gaboriau's works?" I asked. "Does Lecoq come up to your
+
+idea of a detective?"
+
+Sherlock Holmes sniffed sardonically. "Lecoq was a miserable bungler,"
+
+he said, in an angry voice; "he had only one thing to recommend him, and
+
+that was his energy. That book made me positively ill. The question was
+
+how to identify an unknown prisoner. I could have done it in twenty-four
+
+hours. Lecoq took six months or so. It might be made a text-book for
+
+detectives to teach them what to avoid."
+
+I felt rather indignant at having two characters whom I had admired
+
+treated in this cavalier style. I walked over to the window, and stood
+
+looking out into the busy street. "This fellow may be very clever," I
+
+said to myself, "but he is certainly very conceited."
+
+"There are no crimes and no criminals in these days," he said,
+
+querulously. "What is the use of having brains in our profession. I know
+
+well that I have it in me to make my name famous. No man lives or has
+
+ever lived who has brought the same amount of study and of natural
+
+talent to the detection of crime which I have done. And what is the
+
+result? There is no crime to detect, or, at most, some bungling villainy
+
+with a motive so transparent that even a Scotland Yard official can see
+
+through it."
+
+I was still annoyed at his bumptious style of conversation. I thought it
+
+best to change the topic.
+
+"I wonder what that fellow is looking for?" I asked, pointing to a
+
+stalwart, plainly-dressed individual who was walking slowly down the
+
+other side of the street, looking anxiously at the numbers. He had
+
+a large blue envelope in his hand, and was evidently the bearer of a
+
+message.
+
+"You mean the retired sergeant of Marines," said Sherlock Holmes.
+
+"Brag and bounce!" thought I to myself. "He knows that I cannot verify
+
+his guess."
+
+The thought had hardly passed through my mind when the man whom we were
+
+watching caught sight of the number on our door, and ran rapidly across
+
+the roadway. We heard a loud knock, a deep voice below, and heavy steps
+
+ascending the stair.
+
+"For Mr. Sherlock Holmes," he said, stepping into the room and handing
+
+my friend the letter.
+
+Here was an opportunity of taking the conceit out of him. He little
+
+thought of this when he made that random shot. "May I ask, my lad," I
+
+said, in the blandest voice, "what your trade may be?"
+
+"Commissionaire, sir," he said, gruffly. "Uniform away for repairs."
+
+"And you were?" I asked, with a slightly malicious glance at my
+
+companion.
+
+"A sergeant, sir, Royal Marine Light Infantry, sir. No answer? Right,
+
+sir."
+
+He clicked his heels together, raised his hand in a salute, and was
+
+gone.
+
+CHAPTER III. THE LAURISTON GARDEN MYSTERY [6]
+
+I CONFESS that I was considerably startled by this fresh proof of the
+
+practical nature of my companion's theories. My respect for his powers
+
+of analysis increased wondrously. There still remained some lurking
+
+suspicion in my mind, however, that the whole thing was a pre-arranged
+
+episode, intended to dazzle me, though what earthly object he could have
+
+in taking me in was past my comprehension. When I looked at him he
+
+had finished reading the note, and his eyes had assumed the vacant,
+
+lack-lustre expression which showed mental abstraction.
+
+"How in the world did you deduce that?" I asked.
+
+"Deduce what?" said he, petulantly.
+
+"Why, that he was a retired sergeant of Marines."
+
+"I have no time for trifles," he answered, brusquely; then with a smile,
+
+"Excuse my rudeness. You broke the thread of my thoughts; but perhaps
+
+it is as well. So you actually were not able to see that that man was a
+
+sergeant of Marines?"
+
+"No, indeed."
+
+"It was easier to know it than to explain why I knew it. If you
+
+were asked to prove that two and two made four, you might find some
+
+difficulty, and yet you are quite sure of the fact. Even across the
+
+street I could see a great blue anchor tattooed on the back of the
+
+fellow's hand. That smacked of the sea. He had a military carriage,
+
+however, and regulation side whiskers. There we have the marine. He was
+
+a man with some amount of self-importance and a certain air of command.
+
+You must have observed the way in which he held his head and swung
+
+his cane. A steady, respectable, middle-aged man, too, on the face of
+
+him--all facts which led me to believe that he had been a sergeant."
+
+"Wonderful!" I ejaculated.
+
+"Commonplace," said Holmes, though I thought from his expression that he
+
+was pleased at my evident surprise and admiration. "I said just now that
+
+there were no criminals. It appears that I am wrong--look at this!" He
+
+threw me over the note which the commissionaire had brought. [7]
+
+"Why," I cried, as I cast my eye over it, "this is terrible!"
+
+"It does seem to be a little out of the common," he remarked, calmly.
+
+"Would you mind reading it to me aloud?"
+
+This is the letter which I read to him----
+
+"MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--
+
+"There has been a bad business during the night at 3, Lauriston Gardens,
+
+off the Brixton Road. Our man on the beat saw a light there about two in
+
+the morning, and as the house was an empty one, suspected that something
+
+was amiss. He found the door open, and in the front room, which is bare
+
+of furniture, discovered the body of a gentleman, well dressed, and
+
+having cards in his pocket bearing the name of 'Enoch J. Drebber,
+
+Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.A.' There had been no robbery, nor is there any
+
+evidence as to how the man met his death. There are marks of blood in
+
+the room, but there is no wound upon his person. We are at a loss as to
+
+how he came into the empty house; indeed, the whole affair is a puzzler.
+
+If you can come round to the house any time before twelve, you will find
+
+me there. I have left everything _in statu quo_ until I hear from you.
+
+If you are unable to come I shall give you fuller details, and would
+
+esteem it a great kindness if you would favour me with your opinion.
+
+Yours faithfully,
+
+"TOBIAS GREGSON."
+
+"Gregson is the smartest of the Scotland Yarders," my friend remarked;
+
+"he and Lestrade are the pick of a bad lot. They are both quick and
+
+energetic, but conventional--shockingly so. They have their knives
+
+into one another, too. They are as jealous as a pair of professional
+
+beauties. There will be some fun over this case if they are both put
+
+upon the scent."
+
+I was amazed at the calm way in which he rippled on. "Surely there is
+
+not a moment to be lost," I cried, "shall I go and order you a cab?"
+
+"I'm not sure about whether I shall go. I am the most incurably lazy
+
+devil that ever stood in shoe leather--that is, when the fit is on me,
+
+for I can be spry enough at times."
+
+"Why, it is just such a chance as you have been longing for."
+
+"My dear fellow, what does it matter to me. Supposing I unravel the
+
+whole matter, you may be sure that Gregson, Lestrade, and Co. will
+
+pocket all the credit. That comes of being an unofficial personage."
+
+"But he begs you to help him."
+
+"Yes. He knows that I am his superior, and acknowledges it to me; but
+
+he would cut his tongue out before he would own it to any third person.
+
+However, we may as well go and have a look. I shall work it out on my
+
+own hook. I may have a laugh at them if I have nothing else. Come on!"
+
+He hustled on his overcoat, and bustled about in a way that showed that
+
+an energetic fit had superseded the apathetic one.
+
+"Get your hat," he said.
+
+"You wish me to come?"
+
+"Yes, if you have nothing better to do." A minute later we were both in
+
+a hansom, driving furiously for the Brixton Road.
+
+It was a foggy, cloudy morning, and a dun-coloured veil hung over the
+
+house-tops, looking like the reflection of the mud-coloured streets
+
+beneath. My companion was in the best of spirits, and prattled away
+
+about Cremona fiddles, and the difference between a Stradivarius and
+
+an Amati. As for myself, I was silent, for the dull weather and the
+
+melancholy business upon which we were engaged, depressed my spirits.
+
+"You don't seem to give much thought to the matter in hand," I said at
+
+last, interrupting Holmes' musical disquisition.
+
+"No data yet," he answered. "It is a capital mistake to theorize before
+
+you have all the evidence. It biases the judgment."
+
+"You will have your data soon," I remarked, pointing with my finger;
+
+"this is the Brixton Road, and that is the house, if I am not very much
+
+mistaken."
+
+"So it is. Stop, driver, stop!" We were still a hundred yards or so from
+
+it, but he insisted upon our alighting, and we finished our journey upon
+
+foot.
+
+Number 3, Lauriston Gardens wore an ill-omened and minatory look. It was
+
+one of four which stood back some little way from the street, two being
+
+occupied and two empty. The latter looked out with three tiers of vacant
+
+melancholy windows, which were blank and dreary, save that here and
+
+there a "To Let" card had developed like a cataract upon the bleared
+
+panes. A small garden sprinkled over with a scattered eruption of sickly
+
+plants separated each of these houses from the street, and was traversed
+
+by a narrow pathway, yellowish in colour, and consisting apparently of a
+
+mixture of clay and of gravel. The whole place was very sloppy from the
+
+rain which had fallen through the night. The garden was bounded by a
+
+three-foot brick wall with a fringe of wood rails upon the top, and
+
+against this wall was leaning a stalwart police constable, surrounded by
+
+a small knot of loafers, who craned their necks and strained their eyes
+
+in the vain hope of catching some glimpse of the proceedings within.
+
+I had imagined that Sherlock Holmes would at once have hurried into the
+
+house and plunged into a study of the mystery. Nothing appeared to be
+
+further from his intention. With an air of nonchalance which, under the
+
+circumstances, seemed to me to border upon affectation, he lounged up
+
+and down the pavement, and gazed vacantly at the ground, the sky, the
+
+opposite houses and the line of railings. Having finished his scrutiny,
+
+he proceeded slowly down the path, or rather down the fringe of grass
+
+which flanked the path, keeping his eyes riveted upon the ground. Twice
+
+he stopped, and once I saw him smile, and heard him utter an exclamation
+
+of satisfaction. There were many marks of footsteps upon the wet clayey
+
+soil, but since the police had been coming and going over it, I was
+
+unable to see how my companion could hope to learn anything from it.
+
+Still I had had such extraordinary evidence of the quickness of his
+
+perceptive faculties, that I had no doubt that he could see a great deal
+
+which was hidden from me.
+
+At the door of the house we were met by a tall, white-faced,
+
+flaxen-haired man, with a notebook in his hand, who rushed forward and
+
+wrung my companion's hand with effusion. "It is indeed kind of you to
+
+come," he said, "I have had everything left untouched."
+
+"Except that!" my friend answered, pointing at the pathway. "If a herd
+
+of buffaloes had passed along there could not be a greater mess. No
+
+doubt, however, you had drawn your own conclusions, Gregson, before you
+
+permitted this."
+
+"I have had so much to do inside the house," the detective said
+
+evasively. "My colleague, Mr. Lestrade, is here. I had relied upon him
+
+to look after this."
+
+Holmes glanced at me and raised his eyebrows sardonically. "With two
+
+such men as yourself and Lestrade upon the ground, there will not be
+
+much for a third party to find out," he said.
+
+Gregson rubbed his hands in a self-satisfied way. "I think we have done
+
+all that can be done," he answered; "it's a queer case though, and I
+
+knew your taste for such things."
+
+"You did not come here in a cab?" asked Sherlock Holmes.
+
+"No, sir."
+
+"Nor Lestrade?"
+
+"No, sir."
+
+"Then let us go and look at the room." With which inconsequent remark he
+
+strode on into the house, followed by Gregson, whose features expressed
+
+his astonishment.
+
+A short passage, bare planked and dusty, led to the kitchen and offices.
+
+Two doors opened out of it to the left and to the right. One of these
+
+had obviously been closed for many weeks. The other belonged to the
+
+dining-room, which was the apartment in which the mysterious affair had
+
+occurred. Holmes walked in, and I followed him with that subdued feeling
+
+at my heart which the presence of death inspires.
+
+It was a large square room, looking all the larger from the absence
+
+of all furniture. A vulgar flaring paper adorned the walls, but it was
+
+blotched in places with mildew, and here and there great strips had
+
+become detached and hung down, exposing the yellow plaster beneath.
+
+Opposite the door was a showy fireplace, surmounted by a mantelpiece of
+
+imitation white marble. On one corner of this was stuck the stump of a
+
+red wax candle. The solitary window was so dirty that the light was
+
+hazy and uncertain, giving a dull grey tinge to everything, which was
+
+intensified by the thick layer of dust which coated the whole apartment.
+
+All these details I observed afterwards. At present my attention was
+
+centred upon the single grim motionless figure which lay stretched upon
+
+the boards, with vacant sightless eyes staring up at the discoloured
+
+ceiling. It was that of a man about forty-three or forty-four years of
+
+age, middle-sized, broad shouldered, with crisp curling black hair, and
+
+a short stubbly beard. He was dressed in a heavy broadcloth frock coat
+
+and waistcoat, with light-coloured trousers, and immaculate collar
+
+and cuffs. A top hat, well brushed and trim, was placed upon the floor
+
+beside him. His hands were clenched and his arms thrown abroad, while
+
+his lower limbs were interlocked as though his death struggle had been a
+
+grievous one. On his rigid face there stood an expression of horror,
+
+and as it seemed to me, of hatred, such as I have never seen upon human
+
+features. This malignant and terrible contortion, combined with the low
+
+forehead, blunt nose, and prognathous jaw gave the dead man a singularly
+
+simious and ape-like appearance, which was increased by his writhing,
+
+unnatural posture. I have seen death in many forms, but never has
+
+it appeared to me in a more fearsome aspect than in that dark grimy
+
+apartment, which looked out upon one of the main arteries of suburban
+
+London.
+
+Lestrade, lean and ferret-like as ever, was standing by the doorway, and
+
+greeted my companion and myself.
+
+"This case will make a stir, sir," he remarked. "It beats anything I
+
+have seen, and I am no chicken."
+
+"There is no clue?" said Gregson.
+
+"None at all," chimed in Lestrade.
+
+Sherlock Holmes approached the body, and, kneeling down, examined it
+
+intently. "You are sure that there is no wound?" he asked, pointing to
+
+numerous gouts and splashes of blood which lay all round.
+
+"Positive!" cried both detectives.
+
+"Then, of course, this blood belongs to a second individual--[8]
+
+presumably the murderer, if murder has been committed. It reminds me of
+
+the circumstances attendant on the death of Van Jansen, in Utrecht, in
+
+the year '34. Do you remember the case, Gregson?"
+
+"No, sir."
+
+"Read it up--you really should. There is nothing new under the sun. It
+
+has all been done before."
+
+As he spoke, his nimble fingers were flying here, there, and everywhere,
+
+feeling, pressing, unbuttoning, examining, while his eyes wore the same
+
+far-away expression which I have already remarked upon. So swiftly was
+
+the examination made, that one would hardly have guessed the minuteness
+
+with which it was conducted. Finally, he sniffed the dead man's lips,
+
+and then glanced at the soles of his patent leather boots.
+
+"He has not been moved at all?" he asked.
+
+"No more than was necessary for the purposes of our examination."
+
+"You can take him to the mortuary now," he said. "There is nothing more
+
+to be learned."
+
+Gregson had a stretcher and four men at hand. At his call they entered
+
+the room, and the stranger was lifted and carried out. As they raised
+
+him, a ring tinkled down and rolled across the floor. Lestrade grabbed
+
+it up and stared at it with mystified eyes.
+
+"There's been a woman here," he cried. "It's a woman's wedding-ring."
+
+He held it out, as he spoke, upon the palm of his hand. We all gathered
+
+round him and gazed at it. There could be no doubt that that circlet of
+
+plain gold had once adorned the finger of a bride.
+
+"This complicates matters," said Gregson. "Heaven knows, they were
+
+complicated enough before."
+
+"You're sure it doesn't simplify them?" observed Holmes. "There's
+
+nothing to be learned by staring at it. What did you find in his
+
+pockets?"
+
+"We have it all here," said Gregson, pointing to a litter of objects
+
+upon one of the bottom steps of the stairs. "A gold watch, No. 97163, by
+
+Barraud, of London. Gold Albert chain, very heavy and solid. Gold ring,
+
+with masonic device. Gold pin--bull-dog's head, with rubies as eyes.
+
+Russian leather card-case, with cards of Enoch J. Drebber of Cleveland,
+
+corresponding with the E. J. D. upon the linen. No purse, but loose
+
+money to the extent of seven pounds thirteen. Pocket edition of
+
+Boccaccio's 'Decameron,' with name of Joseph Stangerson upon the
+
+fly-leaf. Two letters--one addressed to E. J. Drebber and one to Joseph
+
+Stangerson."
+
+"At what address?"
+
+"American Exchange, Strand--to be left till called for. They are both
+
+from the Guion Steamship Company, and refer to the sailing of their
+
+boats from Liverpool. It is clear that this unfortunate man was about to
+
+return to New York."
+
+"Have you made any inquiries as to this man, Stangerson?"
+
+"I did it at once, sir," said Gregson. "I have had advertisements
+
+sent to all the newspapers, and one of my men has gone to the American
+
+Exchange, but he has not returned yet."
+
+"Have you sent to Cleveland?"
+
+"We telegraphed this morning."
+
+"How did you word your inquiries?"
+
+"We simply detailed the circumstances, and said that we should be glad
+
+of any information which could help us."
+
+"You did not ask for particulars on any point which appeared to you to
+
+be crucial?"
+
+"I asked about Stangerson."
+
+"Nothing else? Is there no circumstance on which this whole case appears
+
+to hinge? Will you not telegraph again?"
+
+"I have said all I have to say," said Gregson, in an offended voice.
+
+Sherlock Holmes chuckled to himself, and appeared to be about to make
+
+some remark, when Lestrade, who had been in the front room while we
+
+were holding this conversation in the hall, reappeared upon the scene,
+
+rubbing his hands in a pompous and self-satisfied manner.
+
+"Mr. Gregson," he said, "I have just made a discovery of the highest
+
+importance, and one which would have been overlooked had I not made a
+
+careful examination of the walls."
+
+The little man's eyes sparkled as he spoke, and he was evidently in
+
+a state of suppressed exultation at having scored a point against his
+
+colleague.
+
+"Come here," he said, bustling back into the room, the atmosphere of
+
+which felt clearer since the removal of its ghastly inmate. "Now, stand
+
+there!"
+
+He struck a match on his boot and held it up against the wall.
+
+"Look at that!" he said, triumphantly.
+
+I have remarked that the paper had fallen away in parts. In this
+
+particular corner of the room a large piece had peeled off, leaving a
+
+yellow square of coarse plastering. Across this bare space there was
+
+scrawled in blood-red letters a single word--
+
+RACHE.
+
+"What do you think of that?" cried the detective, with the air of a
+
+showman exhibiting his show. "This was overlooked because it was in the
+
+darkest corner of the room, and no one thought of looking there. 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. Why was that corner chosen to write it on? I will tell you. See
+
+that candle on the mantelpiece. It was lit at the time, and if it was
+
+lit this corner would be the brightest instead of the darkest portion of
+
+the wall."
+
+"And what does it mean now that you _have_ found it?" asked Gregson in a
+
+depreciatory voice.
+
+"Mean? Why, it means that the writer was going to put the female name
+
+Rachel, but 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. It's all 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, who had ruffled the
+
+little man's temper by bursting into an explosion of laughter. "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."
+
+As he spoke, he whipped a tape measure and a large round magnifying
+
+glass from his pocket. With these two implements he trotted noiselessly
+
+about the room, sometimes stopping, occasionally kneeling, and once
+
+lying flat upon his face. So engrossed was he with his occupation that
+
+he appeared to have forgotten our presence, for he chattered away to
+
+himself under his breath the whole time, keeping up a running fire
+
+of exclamations, groans, whistles, and little cries suggestive of
+
+encouragement and of hope. As I watched him I was irresistibly reminded
+
+of a pure-blooded well-trained foxhound as it dashes backwards and
+
+forwards through the covert, whining in its eagerness, until it comes
+
+across the lost scent. 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, and occasionally applying his
+
+tape to the walls in an equally incomprehensible manner. In one place
+
+he gathered up very carefully a little pile of grey dust from the floor,
+
+and packed it away in an envelope. Finally, he examined with his glass
+
+the word upon the wall, going over every letter of it with the most
+
+minute exactness. This done, he appeared to be satisfied, for he
+
+replaced his tape and his glass in his pocket.
+
+"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."
+
+Gregson and Lestrade had watched the manoeuvres [9] of their amateur
+
+companion with considerable curiosity and some contempt. They evidently
+
+failed to appreciate the fact, which I had begun to realize, that
+
+Sherlock Holmes' smallest actions were all directed towards some
+
+definite and practical end.
+
+"What do you think of it, sir?" they both asked.
+
+"It would be robbing you of the credit of the case if I was to presume
+
+to help you," remarked my friend. "You are doing so well now that it
+
+would be a pity for anyone to interfere." There was a world of
+
+sarcasm in his voice as he spoke. "If you will let me know how your
+
+investigations go," he continued, "I shall be happy to give you any help
+
+I can. 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 note-book. "John Rance," he said. "He is off
+
+duty now. You will find him at 46, Audley Court, Kennington Park Gate."
+
+Holmes took a note of the address.
+
+"Come along, Doctor," he said; "we shall go and look him up. I'll tell
+
+you one thing which may help you in the case," he continued, turning to
+
+the two detectives. "There has been murder done, and the murderer was a
+
+man. 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. 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 fore leg. In all probability the murderer had a florid face, and the
+
+finger-nails of his right hand were remarkably long. These are only a
+
+few indications, but they may assist you."
+
+Lestrade and Gregson glanced at each other with an incredulous smile.
+
+"If this man was murdered, how was it done?" asked the former.
+
+"Poison," said Sherlock Holmes curtly, and strode off. "One other thing,
+
+Lestrade," he added, turning round at the door: "'Rache,' is the German
+
+for 'revenge;' so don't lose your time looking for Miss Rachel."
+
+With which Parthian shot he walked away, leaving the two rivals
+
+open-mouthed behind him.
+
+CHAPTER IV. WHAT JOHN RANCE HAD TO TELL.
+
+IT was one o'clock when we left No. 3, Lauriston Gardens. Sherlock
+
+Holmes led me to the nearest telegraph office, 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.
+
+"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. "Surely you are not as sure as you
+
+pretend to be of all those particulars which you gave."
+
+"There's no room for a mistake," he answered. "The very first thing
+
+which I observed on arriving there was that a cab had made two ruts with
+
+its wheels close to the curb. Now, up to last night, we have had no rain
+
+for a week, so that those wheels which left such a deep impression must
+
+have been there during the night. There were the marks of the horse's
+
+hoofs, 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. 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?"
+
+"Why, the height of a man, in nine cases out of ten, can be told from
+
+the length of his stride. It is a simple calculation enough, though
+
+there is no use my boring you with figures. I had this fellow's stride
+
+both on the clay outside and on the dust within. Then I had a way of
+
+checking my calculation. 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 sere and yellow. That was the breadth
+
+of a puddle on the garden walk which he had evidently walked across.
+
+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?"
+
+"The finger nails and the Trichinopoly," I suggested.
+
+"The writing on the wall was done with a man's forefinger dipped in
+
+blood. 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. I gathered up some scattered ash from the floor.
+
+It was dark in colour and flakey--such an ash as is only made by a
+
+Trichinopoly. I have made a special study of cigar ashes--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. It is just in such details that the skilled detective
+
+differs from the Gregson and Lestrade type."
+
+"And the florid face?" I asked.
+
+"Ah, that was a more daring shot, though I have no doubt that I was
+
+right. You must not ask me that at the present state of the affair."
+
+I passed my hand over my brow. "My head is in a whirl," I remarked; "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? 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, why should the second man write up the German word RACHE before
+
+decamping? I confess that I cannot see any possible way of reconciling
+
+all these facts."
+
+My companion smiled approvingly.
+
+"You sum up the difficulties of the situation succinctly and well," he
+
+said. "There is much that is still obscure, though I have quite made up
+
+my mind on the main facts. As to poor Lestrade's discovery it was simply
+
+a blind intended to put the police upon a wrong track, 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. Now, a real
+
+German invariably prints in the Latin character, so that we may safely
+
+say that this was not written by one, but by a clumsy imitator who
+
+overdid his part. It was simply a ruse to divert inquiry into a wrong
+
+channel. I'm not going to tell you much more of the case, Doctor. You
+
+know a conjuror gets no credit when once he has explained his trick,
+
+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."
+
+"I shall never do that," I answered; "you have brought detection as near
+
+an 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. 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. "Patent leathers [10] 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.
+
+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. 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. 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. We must hurry up, for I want to go to
+
+Halle's concert to hear Norman Neruda this afternoon."
+
+This conversation had occurred while our cab had been threading its way
+
+through a long succession of dingy streets and dreary by-ways. In the
+
+dingiest and dreariest of them our driver suddenly came to a stand.
+
+"That'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. The narrow passage led us
+
+into a quadrangle paved with flags and lined by sordid dwellings. We
+
+picked our way among groups of dirty children, and through lines of
+
+discoloured linen, until we came to Number 46, the door of which
+
+was decorated with a small slip of brass on which the name Rance was
+
+engraved. On enquiry we found that the constable was in bed, and we were
+
+shown into a little front parlour to await his coming.
+
+He appeared presently, looking a little irritable at being disturbed in
+
+his slumbers. "I made my report at the office," he said.
+
+Holmes took a half-sovereign from his pocket and played with it
+
+pensively. "We thought that we should like to hear it all from your own
+
+lips," he said.
+
+"I shall be most happy to tell you anything I can," the constable
+
+answered with his eyes upon the little golden disk.
+
+"Just let us hear it all in your own way as it occurred."
+
+Rance sat down on the horsehair sofa, and knitted his brows as though
+
+determined not to omit anything in his narrative.
+
+"I'll tell it ye from the beginning," he said. "My time is from ten at
+
+night to six in the morning. At eleven there was a fight at the 'White
+
+Hart'; but bar that all was quiet enough on the beat. At one o'clock it
+
+began to rain, and I met Harry Murcher--him who has the Holland Grove
+
+beat--and we stood together at the corner of Henrietta Street a-talkin'.
+
+Presently--maybe about two or a little after--I thought I would take
+
+a look round and see that all was right down the Brixton Road. 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 strollin' down, thinkin'
+
+between ourselves how uncommon handy a four of gin hot would be, when
+
+suddenly the glint of a light caught my eye in the window of that same
+
+house. Now, I knew that them two houses in Lauriston Gardens was empty
+
+on account of him that owns them who won't have the drains seen to,
+
+though the very last tenant what lived in one of them died o' typhoid
+
+fever. I was knocked all in a heap therefore at seeing a light in
+
+the window, and I suspected as something was wrong. 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?"
+
+Rance gave a violent jump, and stared at Sherlock Holmes with the utmost
+
+amazement upon his features.
+
+"Why, that's true, sir," he said; "though how you come to know it,
+
+Heaven only knows. Ye see, when I got up to the door it was so still and
+
+so lonesome, that I thought I'd be none the worse for some one with me.
+
+I ain't afeared of anything on this side o' the grave; but I thought
+
+that maybe it was him that died o' the typhoid inspecting the drains
+
+what killed him. The thought gave me a kind o' turn, and I walked back
+
+to the gate to see if I could see Murcher's lantern, but there wasn't no
+
+sign of him nor of anyone else."
+
+"There was no one in the street?"
+
+"Not a livin' soul, sir, nor as much as a dog. Then I pulled myself
+
+together and went back and pushed the door open. All was quiet inside,
+
+so I went into the room where the light was a-burnin'. There was a
+
+candle flickerin' on the mantelpiece--a red wax one--and by its light I
+
+saw----"
+
+"Yes, I know all that you saw. 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. "Where was you hid to see all that?" he cried. "It seems to me
+
+that you knows a deal more than you should."
+
+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.
+
+"I went back to the gate and sounded my whistle. That brought Murcher
+
+and two more to the spot."
+
+"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. "I've seen many a drunk
+
+chap in my time," he said, "but never anyone so cryin' drunk as
+
+that cove. He was at the gate when I came out, a-leanin' up agin the
+
+railings, and a-singin' at the pitch o' his lungs about Columbine's
+
+New-fangled Banner, or some such stuff. He couldn't stand, far less
+
+help."
+
+"What sort of a man was he?" asked Sherlock Holmes.
+
+John Rance appeared to be somewhat irritated at this digression. "He was
+
+an uncommon drunk sort o' man," he said. "He'd ha' found hisself in the
+
+station if we hadn't been so took up."
+
+"His face--his dress--didn't you notice them?" Holmes broke in
+
+impatiently.
+
+"I should think I did notice them, seeing that I had to prop him up--me
+
+and Murcher 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?"
+
+"We'd enough to do without lookin' after him," the policeman said, in an
+
+aggrieved voice. "I'll wager he found his way home all right."
+
+"How was he dressed?"
+
+"A brown overcoat."
+
+"Had he a whip in his hand?"
+
+"A whip--no."
+
+"He must have left it behind," muttered my companion. "You didn't happen
+
+to see or hear a cab after that?"
+
+"No."
+
+"There's a half-sovereign for you," my companion said, standing up and
+
+taking his hat. "I am afraid, Rance, that you will never rise in the
+
+force. That head of yours should be for use as well as ornament. You
+
+might have gained your sergeant's stripes last night. The man whom you
+
+held in your hands is the man who holds the clue of this mystery, and
+
+whom we are seeking. There is no use of arguing about it now; I tell you
+
+that it is so. Come along, Doctor."
+
+We started off for the cab together, leaving our informant incredulous,
+
+but obviously uncomfortable.
+
+"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. 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. 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. I might not have gone but for you, and so have
+
+missed the finest study I ever came across: a study in scarlet, eh?
+
+Why shouldn't we use a little art jargon. There's the scarlet thread of
+
+murder running through the colourless skein of life, and our duty is
+
+to unravel it, and isolate it, and expose every inch of it. And now
+
+for lunch, and then for Norman Neruda. Her attack and her bowing
+
+are splendid. What's that little thing of Chopin's she plays so
+
+magnificently: Tra-la-la-lira-lira-lay."
+
+Leaning back in the cab, this amateur bloodhound carolled away like a
+
+lark while I meditated upon the many-sidedness of the human mind.
+
+CHAPTER V. OUR ADVERTISEMENT BRINGS A VISITOR.
+
+OUR morning's exertions had been too much for my weak health, and I was
+
+tired out in the afternoon. After Holmes' departure for the concert, I
+
+lay down upon the sofa and endeavoured to get a couple of hours' sleep.
+
+It was a useless attempt. My mind had been too much excited by all that
+
+had occurred, 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. So sinister was the
+
+impression which that face had produced upon me that I found it
+
+difficult to feel anything but gratitude for him who had removed its
+
+owner from the world. If ever human features bespoke vice of the most
+
+malignant type, they were certainly those of Enoch J. Drebber, of
+
+Cleveland. Still I recognized that justice must be done, and that the
+
+depravity of the victim was no condonment [11] in the eyes of the law.
+
+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, and had no doubt that he had detected something
+
+which had given rise to the idea. Then, again, if not poison, what
+
+had caused the man's death, since there was neither wound nor marks of
+
+strangulation? But, on the other hand, whose blood was that which lay so
+
+thickly upon the floor? There were no signs of a struggle, nor had the
+
+victim any weapon with which he might have wounded an antagonist. As
+
+long as all these questions were unsolved, I felt that sleep would be
+
+no easy matter, either for Holmes or myself. His quiet self-confident
+
+manner convinced me that he had already formed a theory which explained
+
+all the facts, though what it was I could not for an instant conjecture.
+
+He was very late in returning--so late, that I knew that the concert
+
+could not have detained him all the time. Dinner was on the table before
+
+he appeared.
+
+"It was magnificent," he said, as he took his seat. "Do you remember
+
+what Darwin says about music? He claims that the power of producing and
+
+appreciating it existed among the human race long before the power of
+
+speech was arrived at. Perhaps that is why we are so subtly influenced
+
+by it. There are vague memories in our souls of those misty centuries
+
+when the world was in its childhood."
+
+"That's rather a broad idea," I remarked.
+
+"One's ideas must be as broad as Nature if they are to interpret
+
+Nature," he answered. "What's the matter? You're not looking quite
+
+yourself. This Brixton Road affair has upset you."
+
+"To tell the truth, it has," I said. "I ought to be more case-hardened
+
+after my Afghan experiences. I saw my own comrades hacked to pieces at
+
+Maiwand without losing my nerve."
+
+"I can understand. There is a mystery about this which stimulates the
+
+imagination; where there is no imagination there is no horror. Have you
+
+seen the evening paper?"
+
+"No."
+
+"It gives a fairly good account of the affair. 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?"
+
+"Look at this advertisement," he answered. "I had one sent to every
+
+paper this morning immediately after the affair."
+
+He threw the paper across to me and I glanced at the place indicated. It
+
+was the first announcement in the "Found" column. "In Brixton Road,
+
+this morning," it ran, "a plain gold wedding ring, found in the roadway
+
+between the 'White Hart' Tavern and Holland Grove. Apply Dr. Watson,
+
+221B, Baker Street, between eight and nine this evening."
+
+"Excuse my 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, 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."
+
+"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."
+
+"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. According to my notion he dropped it while stooping over Drebber's
+
+body, and did not miss it at the time. 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. He had
+
+to pretend to be drunk in order to allay the suspicions which might have
+
+been aroused by his appearance at the gate. Now put yourself in that
+
+man's place. 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? He would eagerly look out for the
+
+evening papers in the hope of seeing it among the articles found. His
+
+eye, of course, would light upon this. He would be overjoyed. Why should
+
+he fear a trap? 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 asked.
+
+"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. He will be a desperate man,
+
+and though I shall take him unawares, it is as well to be ready for
+
+anything."
+
+I went to my bedroom and followed his advice. When I returned with
+
+the pistol the table had been cleared, and Holmes was engaged in his
+
+favourite occupation of scraping upon his violin.
+
+"The plot thickens," he said, as I entered; "I have just had an answer
+
+to my American telegram. My view of the case is the correct one."
+
+"And that is?" I asked eagerly.
+
+"My fiddle would be the 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."
+
+"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! This is a
+
+queer old book I picked up at a stall yesterday--'De Jure inter
+
+Gentes'--published in Latin at Liege in the Lowlands, in 1642. Charles'
+
+head was still firm on his shoulders when this little brown-backed
+
+volume was struck off."
+
+"Who is the printer?"
+
+"Philippe de Croy, whoever he may have been. On the fly-leaf, in very
+
+faded ink, is written 'Ex libris Guliolmi Whyte.' I wonder who William
+
+Whyte was. Some pragmatical seventeenth 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. Sherlock Holmes rose
+
+softly and moved his chair in the direction of the door. We heard the
+
+servant pass along the hall, and the sharp click of the latch as she
+
+opened it.
+
+"Does Dr. Watson live here?" asked a clear but rather harsh voice. We
+
+could not hear the servant's reply, but the door closed, and some one
+
+began to ascend the stairs. The footfall was an uncertain and shuffling
+
+one. 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.
+
+"Come in," I cried.
+
+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, and after dropping a curtsey, she
+
+stood blinking at us with her bleared eyes and fumbling in her pocket
+
+with nervous, shaky fingers. I glanced at my companion, and his face
+
+had assumed such a disconsolate expression that it was all I could do to
+
+keep my countenance.
+
+The old crone drew out an evening paper, and pointed at our
+
+advertisement. "It's this as has brought me, good gentlemen," she said,
+
+dropping another curtsey; "a gold wedding ring in the Brixton Road. It
+
+belongs to my girl Sally, as was married only this time twelvemonth,
+
+which her husband is steward aboard a Union boat, and what he'd say if
+
+he come 'ome and found her without her ring is more than I can think, he
+
+being short enough at the best o' times, 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."
+
+"And what may your address be?" I inquired, taking up a pencil.
+
+"13, Duncan Street, Houndsditch. A weary way from here."
+
+"The Brixton Road does not lie between any circus and Houndsditch," said
+
+Sherlock Holmes sharply.
+
+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----?"
+
+"My name is Sawyer--her's is Dennis, which Tom Dennis married her--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, 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."
+
+With many mumbled blessings and protestations of gratitude the old crone
+
+packed it away in her pocket, and shuffled off down the stairs. Sherlock
+
+Holmes sprang to his feet the moment that 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." The hall door had
+
+hardly slammed behind our visitor before Holmes had descended the stair.
+
+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, for I felt that sleep was impossible until
+
+I heard the result of his adventure.
+
+It was close upon nine when he set out. I had no idea how long he might
+
+be, but I sat stolidly puffing at my pipe and skipping over the pages
+
+of Henri Murger's "Vie de Bohème." Ten o'clock passed, and I heard the
+
+footsteps of the maid as they pattered off to bed. Eleven, and the
+
+more stately tread of the landlady passed my door, bound for the same
+
+destination. It was close upon twelve before I heard the sharp sound of
+
+his latch-key. The instant he entered I saw by his face that he had not
+
+been successful. Amusement and chagrin seemed to be struggling for the
+
+mastery, 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."
+
+"What is it then?" I asked.
+
+"Oh, I don't mind telling a story against myself. That creature had
+
+gone a little way when she began to limp and show every sign of being
+
+foot-sore. Presently she came to a halt, and hailed a four-wheeler which
+
+was passing. I managed to be close to her so as to hear the address, but
+
+I need not have been so anxious, for she sang it out loud enough to
+
+be heard at the other side of the street, 'Drive to 13, Duncan Street,
+
+Houndsditch,' she cried. This begins to look genuine, I thought, and
+
+having seen her safely inside, I perched myself behind. That's an art
+
+which every detective should be an expert at. Well, away we rattled, and
+
+never drew rein until we reached the street in question. 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 though. 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. There was no sign or trace of his passenger, and I fear it
+
+will be some time before he gets his fare. On inquiring at Number 13
+
+we found that the house belonged to a respectable paperhanger, named
+
+Keswick, and that no one of the name either of Sawyer or Dennis had ever
+
+been heard of there."
+
+"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. It must have been a young man, and an
+
+active one, too, besides being an incomparable actor. The get-up was
+
+inimitable. He saw that he was followed, no doubt, and used this means
+
+of giving me the slip. 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."
+
+I was certainly feeling very weary, so I obeyed his injunction. I
+
+left Holmes seated in front of the smouldering fire, and long into the
+
+watches of the night I heard the low, melancholy wailings of his violin,
+
+and knew that he was still pondering over the strange problem which he
+
+had set himself to unravel.
+
+CHAPTER VI. TOBIAS GREGSON SHOWS WHAT HE CAN DO.
+
+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. I
+
+still retain in my scrap-book numerous clippings and extracts bearing
+
+upon the case. Here is a condensation of a few of them:--
+
+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, the absence of all other motive, and the sinister
+
+inscription on the wall, all pointed to its perpetration by political
+
+refugees and revolutionists. The Socialists had many branches in
+
+America, and the deceased had, no doubt, infringed their unwritten laws,
+
+and been tracked down by them. After alluding airily to the Vehmgericht,
+
+aqua tofana, Carbonari, the Marchioness de Brinvilliers, the Darwinian
+
+theory, the principles of Malthus, and the Ratcliff Highway murders, the
+
+article concluded by admonishing the Government and advocating a closer
+
+watch over foreigners in England.
+
+The _Standard_ commented upon the fact that lawless outrages of the sort
+
+usually occurred under a Liberal Administration. They arose from the
+
+unsettling of the minds of the masses, and the consequent weakening
+
+of all authority. The deceased was an American gentleman who had
+
+been residing for some weeks in the Metropolis. He had stayed at the
+
+boarding-house of Madame Charpentier, in Torquay Terrace, Camberwell.
+
+He was accompanied in his travels by his private secretary, Mr. Joseph
+
+Stangerson. The two bade adieu to their landlady upon Tuesday, the
+
+4th inst., and departed to Euston Station with the avowed intention of
+
+catching the Liverpool express. They were afterwards seen together upon
+
+the platform. 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. 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. We are glad to learn that Mr. Lestrade and
+
+Mr. Gregson, of Scotland Yard, are both engaged upon the case, and it
+
+is confidently anticipated that these well-known officers will speedily
+
+throw light upon the matter.
+
+The _Daily News_ observed that there was no doubt as to the crime being
+
+a political one. The despotism and hatred of Liberalism which animated
+
+the Continental Governments 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. Among these
+
+men there was a stringent code of honour, any infringement of which was
+
+punished by death. Every effort should be made to find the secretary,
+
+Stangerson, and to ascertain some particulars of the habits of the
+
+deceased. A great step had been gained by the discovery of the address
+
+of the house at which he had boarded--a result which was entirely due to
+
+the acuteness and energy of Mr. Gregson of Scotland Yard.
+
+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."
+
+"That depends on how it turns out."
+
+"Oh, bless you, it doesn't matter in the least. 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 sot trouve toujours un plus sot
+
+qui l'admire.'"
+
+"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; 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.
+
+"'Tention!" cried Holmes, in a sharp tone, and the six dirty little
+
+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. Have you found it, Wiggins?"
+
+"No, sir, we hain't," said one of the youths.
+
+"I hardly expected you would. You must keep on until you do. Here are
+
+your wages." [13] He handed each of them a shilling.
+
+"Now, off you go, and come back with a better report next time."
+
+He waved his hand, and they scampered away downstairs like so many rats,
+
+and we heard their shrill voices next moment in the street.
+
+"There's more work to be got out of one of those little beggars than
+
+out of a dozen of the force," Holmes remarked. "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 organisation."
+
+"Is it on this Brixton case that you are employing them?" I asked.
+
+"Yes; there is a point which I wish to ascertain. It is merely a matter
+
+of time. Hullo! we are going to hear some news now with a vengeance!
+
+Here is Gregson coming down the road with beatitude written upon every
+
+feature of his face. Bound for us, I know. Yes, he is stopping. There he
+
+is!"
+
+There was a violent peal at the bell, and in a few seconds the
+
+fair-haired detective came up the stairs, three steps at a time, and
+
+burst into our sitting-room.
+
+"My dear fellow," he cried, wringing Holmes' unresponsive hand,
+
+"congratulate me! I have made the whole thing as clear as day."
+
+A shade of anxiety seemed to me to cross my companion's expressive face.
+
+"Do you mean that you are on the right track?" 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.
+
+Sherlock Holmes gave a sigh of relief, and relaxed into a smile.
+
+"Take a seat, and try one of these cigars," he said. "We are anxious to
+
+know how you managed it. Will you have some whiskey and water?"
+
+"I don't mind if I do," the detective answered. "The tremendous
+
+exertions which I have 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."
+
+"You do me too much honour," said Holmes, gravely. "Let us hear how you
+
+arrived at this most gratifying result."
+
+The detective seated himself in the arm-chair, and puffed complacently
+
+at his cigar. Then suddenly he slapped his thigh in a paroxysm of
+
+amusement.
+
+"The fun of it is," he cried, "that that fool 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."
+
+The idea tickled Gregson so much that he laughed until he choked.
+
+"And how did you get your clue?"
+
+"Ah, I'll tell you all about it. Of course, Doctor Watson, this is
+
+strictly between ourselves. 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. You remember the hat beside the dead man?"
+
+"Yes," said Holmes; "by John Underwood and Sons, 129, Camberwell Road."
+
+Gregson looked quite crest-fallen.
+
+"I had no idea that you noticed that," he said. "Have you been there?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Ha!" cried Gregson, in a relieved voice; "you should never neglect a
+
+chance, however small it may seem."
+
+"To a great mind, nothing is little," remarked Holmes, sententiously.
+
+"Well, 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 at his address."
+
+"Smart--very smart!" murmured Sherlock Holmes.
+
+"I next called upon Madame Charpentier," continued the detective.
+
+"I found her very pale and distressed. Her daughter was in the room,
+
+too--an uncommonly fine girl she is, too; she was looking red about
+
+the eyes and her lips trembled as I spoke to her. That didn't escape
+
+my notice. I began to smell a rat. You know the feeling, Mr. Sherlock
+
+Holmes, when you come upon the right scent--a kind of thrill in your
+
+nerves. 'Have you heard of the mysterious death of your late boarder Mr.
+
+Enoch J. Drebber, of Cleveland?' I asked.
+
+"The mother nodded. She didn't seem able to get out a word. The daughter
+
+burst into tears. I felt more than ever that these people knew something
+
+of the matter.
+
+"'At what o'clock did Mr. Drebber leave your house for the train?' I
+
+asked.
+
+"'At eight o'clock,' she said, gulping in her throat to keep down her
+
+agitation. 'His secretary, Mr. Stangerson, said that there were two
+
+trains--one at 9.15 and one at 11. He was to catch the first. [14]
+
+"'And was that the last which you saw of him?'
+
+"A terrible change came over the woman's face as I asked the question.
+
+Her features turned perfectly livid. 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.
+
+"There was 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.'
+
+"'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.
+
+"'You had 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.'
+
+"'On your head be it, Alice!' cried her mother; and then, turning to me,
+
+'I will tell you all, sir. 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. 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. His high character, his
+
+profession, his antecedents would 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.'
+
+"'Perhaps, Alice, you had better leave us together,' she said, and her
+
+daughter withdrew. 'Now, sir,' she continued, 'I had no intention of
+
+telling you all this, but since my poor daughter has disclosed it I
+
+have no alternative. Having once decided to speak, I will tell you all
+
+without omitting any particular.'
+
+"'It is your wisest course,' said I.
+
+"'Mr. Drebber has been with us nearly three weeks. He and his secretary,
+
+Mr. Stangerson, had been travelling on the Continent. I noticed a
+
+"Copenhagen" label upon each of their trunks, showing that that had been
+
+their last stopping place. Stangerson was a quiet reserved man, but his
+
+employer, I am sorry to say, was far otherwise. He was coarse in his
+
+habits and brutish in his ways. The very night of his arrival he became
+
+very much the worse for drink, and, indeed, after twelve o'clock in the
+
+day he could hardly ever be said to be sober. His manners towards the
+
+maid-servants were disgustingly free and familiar. Worst of all, 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. 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.'
+
+"'But why did you stand all this,' I asked. 'I suppose that you can get
+
+rid of your boarders when you wish.'
+
+"Mrs. Charpentier blushed at my pertinent question. 'Would to God that
+
+I had given him notice on the very day that he came,' she said. 'But
+
+it was a sore temptation. They were paying a pound a day each--fourteen
+
+pounds a week, and this is the slack season. I am a widow, and my boy in
+
+the Navy has cost me much. I grudged to lose the money. I acted for the
+
+best. 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?'
+
+"'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 all this, for his temper
+
+is violent, and he is passionately fond of his sister. When I closed the
+
+door behind them a load seemed to be lifted from my mind. 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 worse for
+
+drink. He forced his way into the room, where I was sitting with my
+
+daughter, and made some incoherent remark about having missed his train.
+
+He then turned to Alice, and before my very face, proposed to her that
+
+she should fly with him. "You are of age," he said, "and there is no law
+
+to stop you. I have money enough and to spare. Never mind the old girl
+
+here, but come along with me now straight away. You shall live like a
+
+princess." Poor Alice was so frightened that she shrunk 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 Arthur came into the room.
+
+What happened then I do not know. I heard oaths 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.
+
+"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." With those words
+
+he took his hat and started off down the street. The next morning we
+
+heard of Mr. Drebber's mysterious death.'
+
+"This statement came from Mrs. 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."
+
+"It's quite exciting," said Sherlock Holmes, with a yawn. "What happened
+
+next?"
+
+"When Mrs. Charpentier paused," the detective continued, "I saw that the
+
+whole case hung upon one point. Fixing her with my eye in a way which
+
+I always found effective with women, I asked her at what hour her son
+
+returned.
+
+"'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.'
+
+"'What was he doing during that time?'
+
+"'I do not know,' she answered, turning white to her very lips.
+
+"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
+
+are arresting me for being concerned in the death of that scoundrel
+
+Drebber,' he said. We had said nothing to him about it, so that his
+
+alluding to it had a most suspicious aspect."
+
+"Very," said Holmes.
+
+"He still carried the heavy stick which the mother described him as
+
+having with him when he followed Drebber. It was a stout oak cudgel."
+
+"What is your theory, then?"
+
+"Well, my theory is that he followed Drebber as far as the Brixton Road.
+
+When there, a fresh altercation arose between them, 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, 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 on to the wrong scent."
+
+"Well done!" said Holmes in an encouraging voice. "Really, Gregson, you
+
+are getting along. We shall make something of you yet."
+
+"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. On his way home he met an
+
+old shipmate, and took a long walk with him. On being asked where this
+
+old shipmate lived, he was unable to give any satisfactory reply. I
+
+think the whole case fits together uncommonly well. What amuses me is to
+
+think of Lestrade, who had started off upon the wrong scent. I am afraid
+
+he won't make much of [15] Why, by Jove, here's the very man himself!"
+
+It was indeed Lestrade, who had ascended the stairs while we were
+
+talking, and who now entered the room. 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. 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. He stood in the centre of the room, fumbling
+
+nervously with his hat and uncertain what to do. "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 the
+
+Secretary, Mr. Joseph Stangerson?"
+
+"The Secretary, Mr. Joseph Stangerson," said Lestrade gravely, "was
+
+murdered at Halliday's Private Hotel about six o'clock this morning."
+
+CHAPTER VII. LIGHT IN THE DARKNESS.
+
+THE intelligence with which Lestrade greeted us was so momentous and so
+
+unexpected, that we were all three fairly dumfoundered. Gregson sprang
+
+out of his chair and upset the remainder of his whiskey and water. I
+
+stared in silence at Sherlock Holmes, whose lips were compressed and his
+
+brows drawn down over his eyes.
+
+"Stangerson too!" he muttered. "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--are you sure of this piece of intelligence?" stammered
+
+Gregson.
+
+"I have just come from his room," said Lestrade. "I was the first to
+
+discover what had occurred."
+
+"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
+
+confess that I was of the opinion that Stangerson was concerned in
+
+the death of Drebber. This fresh development has shown me that I was
+
+completely mistaken. Full of the one idea, I set myself to find out
+
+what had become of the Secretary. They had been seen together at Euston
+
+Station about half-past eight on the evening of the third. At two in the
+
+morning Drebber had been found in the Brixton Road. The question which
+
+confronted me was to find out how Stangerson had been employed between
+
+8.30 and the time of the crime, and what had become of him afterwards.
+
+I telegraphed to Liverpool, giving a description of the man, and warning
+
+them to keep a watch upon the American boats. I then set to work calling
+
+upon all the hotels and lodging-houses in the vicinity of Euston. You
+
+see, I argued that if Drebber and his companion had become separated,
+
+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."
+
+"They would be likely to agree on some meeting-place beforehand,"
+
+remarked Holmes.
+
+"So it proved. I spent the whole of yesterday evening in making
+
+enquiries entirely without avail. This morning I began very early, and
+
+at eight o'clock I reached Halliday's Private Hotel, in Little George
+
+Street. On my enquiry as to whether a Mr. Stangerson was living there,
+
+they at once answered me in the affirmative.
+
+"'No doubt you are the gentleman whom he was expecting,' they said. 'He
+
+has been waiting for a gentleman for two days.'
+
+"'Where is he now?' I asked.
+
+"'He is upstairs in bed. He wished to be called at nine.'
+
+"'I will go up and see him at once,' I said.
+
+"It seemed to me that my sudden appearance might shake his nerves and
+
+lead him to say something unguarded. 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, and was about to
+
+go downstairs again when I saw something that made me feel sickish, in
+
+spite of my twenty years' experience. 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,
+
+which brought the Boots back. He nearly fainted when he saw it. 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. When we turned
+
+him over, the Boots recognized 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 in the left side, which must have penetrated
+
+the heart. And now comes the strangest part of the affair. What do you
+
+suppose was above the murdered man?"
+
+I felt a creeping of the flesh, and a presentiment of coming horror,
+
+even before Sherlock Holmes answered.
+
+"The word RACHE, written in letters of blood," he said.
+
+"That was it," said Lestrade, in an awe-struck voice; and we were all
+
+silent for a while.
+
+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, happened to walk down the lane which leads from the mews
+
+at the back of the hotel. 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 quietly and openly that the boy imagined him to
+
+be some carpenter or joiner at work in the hotel. He took no particular
+
+notice of him, 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. He must have stayed in
+
+the room some little time after the murder, for we found blood-stained
+
+water in the basin, where he had washed his hands, and marks on the
+
+sheets where he had deliberately wiped his knife."
+
+I glanced at Holmes on hearing the description of the murderer, which
+
+tallied so exactly with his own. There was, however, no trace of
+
+exultation or satisfaction upon his face.
+
+"Did you find nothing in the room which could furnish a clue to the
+
+murderer?" he asked.
+
+"Nothing. Stangerson had Drebber's purse in his pocket, but it seems
+
+that this was usual, as he did all the paying. There was eighty odd
+
+pounds in it, but nothing had been taken. Whatever the motives of these
+
+extraordinary crimes, robbery is certainly not one of them. There were
+
+no papers or memoranda in the murdered man's pocket, except a single
+
+telegram, dated from Cleveland about a month ago, and containing
+
+the words, 'J. H. is in Europe.' There was no name appended to this
+
+message."
+
+"And there was nothing else?" Holmes asked.
+
+"Nothing of any importance. 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
+
+window-sill a small chip ointment box containing a couple of pills."
+
+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.
+
+"I have now in my hands," my companion said, confidently, "all the
+
+threads which have formed such a tangle. There are, of course, details
+
+to be filled in, but I am as certain of all the main facts, from the
+
+time that 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 a proof of my knowledge. Could you lay your hand
+
+upon those pills?"
+
+"I have them," said Lestrade, producing a small white box; "I took them
+
+and the purse and the telegram, intending to have them put in a place of
+
+safety at the Police Station. It was the merest chance my taking these
+
+pills, for I am bound to say that I do not attach any importance to
+
+them."
+
+"Give them here," said Holmes. "Now, Doctor," turning to me, "are those
+
+ordinary pills?"
+
+They certainly were not. They were of a pearly grey colour, small,
+
+round, and almost transparent against the light. "From their 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,
+
+and which the landlady wanted you to put out of its pain yesterday."
+
+I went downstairs and carried the dog upstair in my arms. It's laboured
+
+breathing and glazing eye showed that it was not far from its end.
+
+Indeed, its snow-white muzzle proclaimed that it had already exceeded
+
+the usual term of canine existence. I placed it upon a cushion on the
+
+rug.
+
+"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 we return into the
+
+box for future purposes. The other half I will place in this wine glass,
+
+in which is a teaspoonful of water. You perceive that our friend, the
+
+Doctor, is right, and that it readily dissolves."
+
+"This may be very interesting," said Lestrade, in the injured tone of
+
+one who suspects that he is being laughed at, "I cannot see, however,
+
+what it has to do with the death of Mr. Joseph Stangerson."
+
+"Patience, my friend, patience! 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, and on presenting it to the dog we find that he laps
+
+it up readily enough."
+
+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. 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. The dog continued to lie stretched
+
+upon tho [16] cushion, breathing in a laboured way, but apparently
+
+neither the better nor the worse for its draught.
+
+Holmes had taken out his watch, and as minute followed minute without
+
+result, an expression of the utmost chagrin and disappointment appeared
+
+upon his features. He gnawed his lip, drummed his fingers upon the
+
+table, 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.
+
+"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. The very pills which I suspected in the case of
+
+Drebber are actually found after the death of Stangerson. And yet they
+
+are inert. What can it mean? 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!" 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. The unfortunate creature's tongue
+
+seemed hardly to have been 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.
+
+Sherlock Holmes drew a long breath, and wiped the perspiration from his
+
+forehead. "I should have more faith," he said; "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. Of the two pills in that box one was of the most deadly
+
+poison, and the other was entirely harmless. I ought to have known that
+
+before ever I saw the box at all."
+
+This last statement appeared to me to be so startling, that I could
+
+hardly believe that he was in his sober senses. There was the dead dog,
+
+however, to prove that his conjecture had been correct. It seemed to me
+
+that the mists in my own mind were gradually clearing away, and I began
+
+to have a dim, vague perception of the truth.
+
+"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, and everything which has occurred since then has served to
+
+confirm my original supposition, and, indeed, was the logical sequence
+
+of it. Hence things which have perplexed you and made the case more
+
+obscure, have served to enlighten me and to strengthen my conclusions.
+
+It is a mistake to confound strangeness with mystery. The most
+
+commonplace crime is often the most mysterious because it presents no
+
+new or special features from which deductions may be drawn. 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 _outré_ and sensational accompaniments which have rendered
+
+it remarkable. These strange details, far from making the case more
+
+difficult, have really had the effect of making it less so."
+
+Mr. Gregson, who had listened to this address with considerable
+
+impatience, could contain himself no longer. "Look here, Mr. Sherlock
+
+Holmes," he said, "we are all ready to acknowledge that you are a smart
+
+man, and that you have your own methods of working. We want something
+
+more than mere theory and preaching now, though. It is a case of taking
+
+the man. I have made my case out, and it seems I was wrong. Young
+
+Charpentier could not have been engaged in this second affair. Lestrade
+
+went after his man, Stangerson, and it appears that he was wrong too.
+
+You have thrown out hints here, and hints there, and seem to know more
+
+than we do, but the time has come when we feel that we have a right to
+
+ask you straight how much you do know of the business. Can you name the
+
+man who did it?"
+
+"I cannot help feeling that Gregson is right, sir," remarked Lestrade.
+
+"We have both tried, and we have both failed. You have remarked more
+
+than once since I have been in the room that you had all the evidence
+
+which you require. Surely you will not withhold it any longer."
+
+"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. 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.
+
+"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. 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. I have 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, who is supported, as I have had occasion to prove, by another who
+
+is as clever as himself. As long as this man has no idea that anyone
+
+can have a clue there is some chance of securing him; 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. 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, and that is why I
+
+have not asked your assistance. If I fail I shall, of course, incur all
+
+the blame due to this omission; but that I am prepared for. 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."
+
+Gregson and Lestrade seemed to be far from satisfied by this assurance,
+
+or by the depreciating allusion to the detective police. The former had
+
+flushed up to the roots of his flaxen hair, while the other's beady eyes
+
+glistened with curiosity and resentment. Neither of them had time to
+
+speak, however, before there was a tap at the door, and the spokesman
+
+of the street Arabs, young Wiggins, introduced his insignificant and
+
+unsavoury person.
+
+"Please, 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."
+
+"The old pattern is good enough," remarked Lestrade, "if we can only
+
+find the man to put them on."
+
+"Very good, very good," said Holmes, smiling. "The cabman may as well
+
+help me with my boxes. Just ask him to step up, Wiggins."
+
+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.
+
+There was a small portmanteau in the room, and this he pulled out and
+
+began to strap. He was busily engaged at it when the cabman entered the
+
+room.
+
+"Just give me a help with this buckle, cabman," he said, kneeling over
+
+his task, and never turning his head.
+
+The fellow came forward with a somewhat sullen, defiant air, and put
+
+down his hands to assist. 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, 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 a vivid recollection of that instant, of Holmes'
+
+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. 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; 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. So powerful and so fierce was he, that
+
+the four of us were shaken off again and again. He appeared to have the
+
+convulsive strength of a man in an epileptic fit. His face and hands
+
+were terribly mangled by his passage through the glass, but loss of
+
+blood had no effect in diminishing his resistance. It was not until
+
+Lestrade succeeded in getting his hand inside his neckcloth and
+
+half-strangling him that we made him realize that his struggles were of
+
+no avail; and even then we felt no security until we had pinioned his
+
+feet as well as his hands. 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. 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."
+
+PART II. _The Country of the Saints._
+
+CHAPTER I. ON THE GREAT ALKALI PLAIN.
+
+IN the central portion of the great North American Continent there lies
+
+an arid and repulsive desert, which for many a long year served as a
+
+barrier against the advance of civilisation. From the Sierra Nevada to
+
+Nebraska, 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. It comprises
+
+snow-capped and lofty mountains, and dark and gloomy valleys. There are
+
+swift-flowing rivers which dash through jagged cañons; and there are
+
+enormous plains, which in winter are white with snow, and in summer are
+
+grey with the saline alkali dust. They all preserve, however, the common
+
+characteristics of barrenness, inhospitality, and misery.
+
+There are no inhabitants of this land of despair. A band of Pawnees
+
+or of Blackfeet may occasionally traverse it in order to reach other
+
+hunting-grounds, but the hardiest of the braves are glad to lose sight
+
+of those awesome plains, and to find themselves once more upon their
+
+prairies. 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.
+
+In the whole world there can be no more dreary view than that from
+
+the northern slope of the Sierra Blanco. As far as the eye can reach
+
+stretches the great flat plain-land, all dusted over with patches of
+
+alkali, and intersected by clumps of the dwarfish chaparral bushes. On
+
+the extreme verge of the horizon lie a long chain of mountain peaks,
+
+with their rugged summits flecked with snow. 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. Listen as one may,
+
+there is no shadow of a sound in all that mighty wilderness; nothing but
+
+silence--complete and heart-subduing silence.
+
+It has been said there is nothing appertaining to life upon the broad
+
+plain. That is hardly true. Looking down from the Sierra Blanco, one
+
+sees a pathway traced out across the desert, which winds away and is
+
+lost in the extreme distance. It is rutted with wheels and trodden down
+
+by the feet of many adventurers. Here and there there are scattered
+
+white objects which glisten in the sun, and stand out against the dull
+
+deposit of alkali. Approach, and examine them! They are bones: some
+
+large and coarse, others smaller and more delicate. The former have
+
+belonged to oxen, and the latter to men. For fifteen hundred miles one
+
+may trace this ghastly caravan route by these scattered remains of those
+
+who had fallen by the wayside.
+
+Looking down on this very scene, there stood upon the fourth of May,
+
+eighteen hundred and forty-seven, a solitary traveller. His appearance
+
+was such that he might have been the very genius or demon of the region.
+
+An observer would have found it difficult to say whether he was nearer
+
+to forty or to sixty. His face was lean and haggard, and the brown
+
+parchment-like skin was drawn tightly over the projecting bones; his
+
+long, brown hair and beard were all flecked and dashed with white; his
+
+eyes were sunken in his head, and burned with an unnatural lustre; 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, 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 shrivelled limbs, 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 the vain hope of seeing some signs of water. 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. In all that broad landscape there
+
+was no gleam of hope. North, and east, and west he looked with wild
+
+questioning eyes, and then he realised that his wanderings had come to
+
+an end, and that there, on that barren crag, he was about to die. "Why
+
+not here, as well as in a feather bed, twenty years hence," he muttered,
+
+as he seated himself in the shelter of a boulder.
+
+Before sitting down, he had deposited upon the ground his useless rifle,
+
+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, 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, and from it there protruded a small, scared face, with very
+
+bright brown eyes, and two little speckled, dimpled fists.
+
+"You've hurt me!" said a childish voice reproachfully.
+
+"Have I though," the man answered penitently, "I didn't go for to do
+
+it." As he spoke he unwrapped the grey shawl and extricated a pretty
+
+little girl of about five years of age, whose dainty shoes and smart
+
+pink frock with its little linen apron all bespoke a mother's care. The
+
+child was pale and wan, but her healthy arms and legs showed that she
+
+had suffered less than her companion.
+
+"How is it now?" he answered anxiously, for she was still rubbing the
+
+towsy golden curls which covered the back of her head.
+
+"Kiss it and make it well," she said, with perfect gravity, shoving
+
+[19] the injured part up 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; she
+
+'most always did if she was just goin' over to Auntie's for tea, and now
+
+she's been away three days. Say, it's awful dry, ain't it? Ain't there
+
+no water, nor nothing to eat?"
+
+"No, there ain't nothing, dearie. You'll just need to be patient awhile,
+
+and then you'll be all right. Put your head up agin me like that, and
+
+then you'll feel bullier. 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?"
+
+"Pretty things! fine things!" cried the little girl enthusiastically,
+
+holding up two glittering fragments of mica. "When we goes back to home
+
+I'll give them to brother Bob."
+
+"You'll see prettier things than them soon," said the man confidently.
+
+"You just wait a bit. I was going to tell you though--you remember when
+
+we left the river?"
+
+"Oh, yes."
+
+"Well, we reckoned we'd strike another river soon, d'ye see. But there
+
+was somethin' wrong; compasses, or map, or somethin', and it didn't
+
+turn up. Water ran out. Just except a little drop for the likes of you
+
+and--and----"
+
+"And you couldn't wash yourself," interrupted his companion gravely,
+
+staring up at his grimy visage.
+
+"No, nor drink. And Mr. Bender, he was the fust to go, and then Indian
+
+Pete, and then Mrs. McGregor, and then Johnny Hones, and then, dearie,
+
+your mother."
+
+"Then mother's a deader too," cried the little girl dropping her face in
+
+her pinafore and sobbing bitterly.
+
+"Yes, they all went except you and me. 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?" asked the child, checking
+
+her sobs, and raising her tear-stained face.
+
+"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. 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. I'll bet she
+
+meets us at the door of Heaven with a big pitcher of water, and a lot
+
+of buckwheat cakes, hot, and toasted on both sides, like Bob and me was
+
+fond of. How long will it be first?"
+
+"I don't know--not very long." The man's eyes were fixed upon the
+
+northern horizon. In the blue vault of the heaven there had appeared
+
+three little specks which increased in size every moment, so rapidly did
+
+they approach. 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 is the forerunner of death.
+
+"Cocks and hens," cried the little girl gleefully, pointing at their
+
+ill-omened forms, and clapping her hands to make them rise. "Say, did
+
+God make this country?"
+
+"In course He did," said her companion, rather startled by this
+
+unexpected question.
+
+"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. 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 won't mind that, you
+
+bet. You say over them ones that you used to say every night in the
+
+waggon when we was on the Plains."
+
+"Why don't you say some yourself?" the child asked, with wondering eyes.
+
+"I disremember them," he answered. "I hain't said none since I was half
+
+the height o' that gun. I guess it's never too late. You say them out,
+
+and I'll stand by and come in on the choruses."
+
+"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 o' good."
+
+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, the little
+
+prattling child and the reckless, hardened adventurer. 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--united in the entreaty for mercy and forgiveness. The
+
+prayer finished, they resumed their seat in the shadow of the boulder
+
+until the child fell asleep, nestling upon the broad breast of her
+
+protector. He watched over her slumber for some time, but Nature proved
+
+to be too strong for him. For three days and three nights he had allowed
+
+himself neither rest nor repose. Slowly the eyelids drooped over the
+
+tired eyes, and the head sunk lower and lower upon the breast, until the
+
+man's grizzled beard was mixed with the gold tresses of his companion,
+
+and both slept the same deep and dreamless slumber.
+
+Had the wanderer remained awake for another half hour a strange sight
+
+would have met his eyes. Far away on the extreme verge of the alkali
+
+plain there rose up a little spray of dust, very slight at first, and
+
+hardly to be distinguished from the mists of the distance, but gradually
+
+growing higher and broader until it formed a solid, well-defined cloud.
+
+This cloud continued to increase in size until it became evident that it
+
+could only be raised by a great multitude of moving creatures. In more
+
+fertile spots the observer would have come to the conclusion that one
+
+of those great herds of bisons which graze upon the prairie land was
+
+approaching him. This was obviously impossible in these arid wilds. As
+
+the whirl of dust drew nearer to the solitary bluff upon which the two
+
+castaways were reposing, the canvas-covered tilts of waggons and the
+
+figures of armed horsemen began to show up through the haze, 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. Right
+
+across the enormous plain stretched the straggling array, waggons
+
+and carts, men on horseback, and men on foot. Innumerable women who
+
+staggered along under burdens, and children who toddled beside the
+
+waggons or peeped out from under the white coverings. This was evidently
+
+no ordinary party of immigrants, but rather some nomad people who had
+
+been compelled from stress of circumstances to seek themselves a new
+
+country. There rose through the clear air a confused clattering and
+
+rumbling from this great mass of humanity, with the creaking of wheels
+
+and the neighing of horses. Loud as it was, it was not sufficient to
+
+rouse the two tired wayfarers above them.
+
+At the head of the column there rode a score or more of grave ironfaced
+
+men, clad in sombre homespun garments and armed with rifles. On reaching
+
+the base of the bluff they halted, and held a short council among
+
+themselves.
+
+"The wells are to the right, my brothers," said one, a hard-lipped,
+
+clean-shaven man with grizzly hair.
+
+"To the right of the Sierra Blanco--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 own chosen people."
+
+"Amen! Amen!" responded the whole party.
+
+They were about to resume their journey when one of the youngest and
+
+keenest-eyed uttered an exclamation and pointed up at the rugged crag
+
+above them. From its summit there fluttered a little wisp of pink,
+
+showing up hard and bright against the grey rocks behind. At the sight
+
+there was a general reining 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 Injuns here," said the elderly man who
+
+appeared to be in command. "We have passed the Pawnees, 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.
+
+"And I," "and I," cried a dozen voices.
+
+"Leave your horses below and we will await you here," the Elder
+
+answered. In a moment the young fellows had dismounted, fastened their
+
+horses, and were ascending the precipitous slope which led up to the
+
+object which had excited their curiosity. They advanced rapidly and
+
+noiselessly, with the confidence and dexterity of practised scouts.
+
+The watchers from the plain 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, and on joining
+
+him they were affected in the same way by the sight which met their
+
+eyes.
+
+On the little plateau which crowned the barren hill there stood a
+
+single giant boulder, and against this boulder there lay a tall man,
+
+long-bearded and hard-featured, but of an excessive thinness. His placid
+
+face and regular breathing showed that he was fast asleep. Beside him
+
+lay a little child, with her round white arms encircling his brown
+
+sinewy neck, and her golden haired head resting upon the breast of his
+
+velveteen tunic. Her rosy lips were parted, showing the regular line of
+
+snow-white teeth within, and a playful smile played over her infantile
+
+features. Her plump little white legs terminating in white socks and
+
+neat shoes with shining buckles, offered a strange contrast to the long
+
+shrivelled members of her companion. On the ledge of rock above this
+
+strange couple there stood three solemn buzzards, who, at the sight of
+
+the new comers uttered raucous screams of disappointment and flapped
+
+sullenly away.
+
+The cries of the foul birds awoke the two sleepers who stared about [20]
+
+them in bewilderment. The man staggered to his feet and looked down upon
+
+the plain which had been so desolate when sleep had overtaken him, and
+
+which was now traversed by this enormous body of men and of beasts. His
+
+face assumed an expression of incredulity as he gazed, and he passed his
+
+boney hand over his eyes. "This is what they call delirium, I guess,"
+
+he muttered. The child stood beside him, holding on to the skirt of
+
+his coat, and said nothing but looked all round her with the wondering
+
+questioning gaze of childhood.
+
+The rescuing party were speedily able to convince the two castaways that
+
+their appearance was no delusion. One of them seized the little girl,
+
+and hoisted her upon his shoulder, while two others supported her gaunt
+
+companion, and assisted him towards the waggons.
+
+"My name is John Ferrier," the wanderer explained; "me and that little
+
+un are all that's left o' twenty-one people. The rest is all dead o'
+
+thirst and hunger away down in the south."
+
+"Is she your child?" asked someone.
+
+"I guess she is now," the other cried, defiantly; "she's mine 'cause I
+
+saved her. No man will take her from me. She's Lucy Ferrier from this
+
+day on. Who are you, though?" he continued, glancing with curiosity at
+
+his stalwart, sunburned rescuers; "there seems to be a powerful lot of
+
+ye."
+
+"Nigh upon ten thousand," said one of the young men; "we are the
+
+persecuted children of God--the chosen of the Angel Merona."
+
+"I never heard tell on him," said the wanderer. "He appears to have
+
+chosen a fair crowd of ye."
+
+"Do not jest at that which is sacred," said the other sternly. "We are
+
+of those who believe in those sacred writings, drawn in Egyptian letters
+
+on plates of beaten gold, which were handed unto the holy Joseph Smith
+
+at Palmyra. We have come from Nauvoo, in the State of Illinois, where we
+
+had founded our temple. We have come to seek a refuge from the violent
+
+man and from the godless, even though it be the heart of the desert."
+
+The name of Nauvoo evidently recalled recollections to John Ferrier. "I
+
+see," he said, "you are the Mormons."
+
+"We are the Mormons," answered his companions with one voice.
+
+"And where are you going?"
+
+"We do not know. The hand of God is leading us under the person of our
+
+Prophet. You must come before him. He shall say what is to be done with
+
+you."
+
+They had reached the base of the hill by this time, and were surrounded
+
+by crowds of the pilgrims--pale-faced meek-looking women, strong
+
+laughing children, and anxious earnest-eyed men. Many were the cries
+
+of astonishment and of commiseration which arose from them when they
+
+perceived the youth of one of the strangers and the destitution of the
+
+other. Their escort did not halt, however, but pushed on, followed by
+
+a great crowd of Mormons, until they reached a waggon, which was
+
+conspicuous for its great size and for the gaudiness and smartness of
+
+its appearance. Six horses were yoked to it, whereas the others were
+
+furnished with two, or, at most, four a-piece. Beside the driver there
+
+sat a man who could not have been more than thirty years of age, but
+
+whose massive head and resolute expression marked him as a leader. He
+
+was reading a brown-backed volume, but as the crowd approached he laid
+
+it aside, and listened attentively to an account of the episode. Then he
+
+turned to the two castaways.
+
+"If we take you with us," he said, in solemn words, "it can only be as
+
+believers in our own creed. We shall have no wolves in our fold. Better
+
+far that your bones should bleach in this wilderness than that you
+
+should prove to be that little speck of decay which in time corrupts the
+
+whole fruit. Will you come with us on these terms?"
+
+"Guess I'll come with you on any terms," said Ferrier, with such
+
+emphasis that the grave Elders could not restrain a smile. The leader
+
+alone retained his stern, impressive expression.
+
+"Take him, Brother Stangerson," he said, "give him food and drink,
+
+and the child likewise. Let it be your task also to teach him our holy
+
+creed. We have delayed long enough. Forward! On, on to Zion!"
+
+"On, on to Zion!" cried the crowd of Mormons, and the words rippled down
+
+the long caravan, passing from mouth to mouth until they died away in a
+
+dull murmur in the far distance. With a cracking of whips and a creaking
+
+of wheels the great waggons got into motion, and soon the whole caravan
+
+was winding along once more. The Elder to whose care the two waifs
+
+had been committed, led them to his waggon, where a meal was already
+
+awaiting them.
+
+"You shall remain here," he said. "In a few days you will have recovered
+
+from your fatigues. In the meantime, remember that now and for ever you
+
+are of our religion. Brigham Young has said it, and he has spoken with
+
+the voice of Joseph Smith, which is the voice of God."
+
+CHAPTER II. THE FLOWER OF UTAH.
+
+THIS is not the place to commemorate the trials and privations endured
+
+by the immigrant Mormons before they came to their final haven. From the
+
+shores of the Mississippi to the western slopes of the Rocky Mountains
+
+they had struggled on with a constancy almost unparalleled in history.
+
+The savage man, and the savage beast, hunger, thirst, fatigue, and
+
+disease--every impediment which Nature could place in the way, had all
+
+been overcome with Anglo-Saxon tenacity. Yet the long journey and the
+
+accumulated terrors had shaken the hearts of the stoutest among them.
+
+There was not one who did not sink upon his knees in heartfelt prayer
+
+when they saw the broad valley of Utah bathed in the sunlight beneath
+
+them, and learned from the lips of their leader that this was the
+
+promised land, and that these virgin acres were to be theirs for
+
+evermore.
+
+Young speedily proved himself to be a skilful administrator as well as a
+
+resolute chief. Maps were drawn and charts prepared, in which the future
+
+city was sketched out. All around farms were apportioned and allotted in
+
+proportion to the standing of each individual. The tradesman was put
+
+to his trade and the artisan to his calling. In the town streets and
+
+squares sprang up, as if by magic. In the country there was draining
+
+and hedging, planting and clearing, until the next summer saw the whole
+
+country golden with the wheat crop. Everything prospered in the strange
+
+settlement. Above all, the great temple which they had erected in the
+
+centre of the city grew ever taller and larger. From the first blush of
+
+dawn until the closing of the twilight, the clatter of the hammer
+
+and the rasp of the saw was never absent from the monument which the
+
+immigrants erected to Him who had led them safe through many dangers.
+
+The two castaways, John Ferrier and the little girl who had shared his
+
+fortunes and had been adopted as his daughter, accompanied the Mormons
+
+to the end of their great pilgrimage. Little Lucy Ferrier was borne
+
+along pleasantly enough in Elder Stangerson's waggon, a retreat which
+
+she shared with the Mormon's three wives and with his son, a headstrong
+
+forward boy of twelve. Having rallied, with the elasticity of childhood,
+
+from the shock caused by her mother's death, she soon became a pet
+
+with the women, and reconciled herself to this new life in her moving
+
+canvas-covered home. In the meantime Ferrier having recovered from his
+
+privations, distinguished himself as a useful guide and an indefatigable
+
+hunter. So rapidly did he gain the esteem of his new companions, that
+
+when they reached the end of their wanderings, it was unanimously agreed
+
+that he should be provided with as large and as fertile a tract of land
+
+as any of the settlers, with the exception of Young himself, and of
+
+Stangerson, Kemball, Johnston, and Drebber, who were the four principal
+
+Elders.
+
+On the farm thus acquired John Ferrier built himself a substantial
+
+log-house, which received so many additions in succeeding years that it
+
+grew into a roomy villa. He was a man of a practical turn of mind,
+
+keen in his dealings and skilful with his hands. His iron constitution
+
+enabled him to work morning and evening at improving and tilling his
+
+lands. Hence it came about that his farm and all that belonged to
+
+him prospered exceedingly. In three years he was better off than his
+
+neighbours, in six he was well-to-do, in nine he was rich, and in twelve
+
+there were not half a dozen men in the whole of Salt Lake City who could
+
+compare with him. From the great inland sea to the distant Wahsatch
+
+Mountains there was no name better known than that of John Ferrier.
+
+There was one way and only one in which he offended the susceptibilities
+
+of his co-religionists. No argument or persuasion could ever induce him
+
+to set up a female establishment after the manner of his companions. He
+
+never gave reasons for this persistent refusal, but contented himself by
+
+resolutely and inflexibly adhering to his determination. There were some
+
+who accused him of lukewarmness in his adopted religion, and others who
+
+put it down to greed of wealth and reluctance to incur expense. Others,
+
+again, spoke of some early love affair, and of a fair-haired girl who
+
+had pined away on the shores of the Atlantic. Whatever the reason,
+
+Ferrier remained strictly celibate. In every other respect he conformed
+
+to the religion of the young settlement, and gained the name of being an
+
+orthodox and straight-walking man.
+
+Lucy Ferrier grew up within the log-house, and assisted her adopted
+
+father in all his undertakings. The keen air of the mountains and the
+
+balsamic odour of the pine trees took the place of nurse and mother to
+
+the young girl. As year succeeded to year she grew taller and stronger,
+
+her cheek more rudy, and her step more elastic. Many a wayfarer upon
+
+the high road which ran by Ferrier's farm felt long-forgotten thoughts
+
+revive in their mind as they watched her lithe girlish figure tripping
+
+through the wheatfields, or met her mounted upon her father's mustang,
+
+and managing it with all the ease and grace of a true child of the West.
+
+So the bud blossomed into a flower, and the year which saw her father
+
+the richest of the farmers left her as fair a specimen of American
+
+girlhood as could be found in the whole Pacific slope.
+
+It was not the father, however, who first discovered that the child had
+
+developed into the woman. It seldom is in such cases. That mysterious
+
+change is too subtle and too gradual to be measured by dates. Least of
+
+all does the maiden herself know it until the tone of a voice or the
+
+touch of a hand sets her heart thrilling within her, and she learns,
+
+with a mixture of pride and of fear, that a new and a larger nature has
+
+awoken within her. There are few who cannot recall that day and remember
+
+the one little incident which heralded the dawn of a new life. In the
+
+case of Lucy Ferrier the occasion was serious enough in itself, apart
+
+from its future influence on her destiny and that of many besides.
+
+It was a warm June morning, and the Latter Day Saints were as busy as
+
+the bees whose hive they have chosen for their emblem. In the fields and
+
+in the streets rose the same hum of human industry. Down the dusty high
+
+roads defiled long streams of heavily-laden mules, all heading to the
+
+west, for the gold fever had broken out in California, and the Overland
+
+Route lay through the City of the Elect. There, too, were droves of
+
+sheep and bullocks coming in from the outlying pasture lands, and trains
+
+of tired immigrants, men and horses equally weary of their interminable
+
+journey. Through all this motley assemblage, threading her way with the
+
+skill of an accomplished rider, there galloped Lucy Ferrier, her fair
+
+face flushed with the exercise and her long chestnut hair floating out
+
+behind her. She had a commission from her father in the City, and was
+
+dashing in as she had done many a time before, with all the fearlessness
+
+of youth, thinking only of her task and how it was to be performed. The
+
+travel-stained adventurers gazed after her in astonishment, and even
+
+the unemotional Indians, journeying in with their pelties, relaxed their
+
+accustomed stoicism as they marvelled at the beauty of the pale-faced
+
+maiden.
+
+She had reached the outskirts of the city when she found the road
+
+blocked by a great drove of cattle, driven by a half-dozen wild-looking
+
+herdsmen from the plains. In her impatience she endeavoured to pass this
+
+obstacle by pushing her horse into what appeared to be a gap. Scarcely
+
+had she got fairly into it, however, before the beasts closed in behind
+
+her, and she found herself completely imbedded in the moving stream of
+
+fierce-eyed, long-horned bullocks. Accustomed as she was to deal with
+
+cattle, she was not alarmed at her situation, but took advantage of
+
+every opportunity to urge her horse on in the hopes of pushing her way
+
+through the cavalcade. Unfortunately the horns of one of the creatures,
+
+either by accident or design, came in violent contact with the flank of
+
+the mustang, and excited it to madness. In an instant it reared up upon
+
+its hind legs with a snort of rage, and pranced and tossed in a way that
+
+would have unseated any but a most skilful rider. The situation was full
+
+of peril. Every plunge of the excited horse brought it against the horns
+
+again, and goaded it to fresh madness. It was all that the girl could
+
+do to keep herself in the saddle, yet a slip would mean a terrible death
+
+under the hoofs of the unwieldy and terrified animals. Unaccustomed to
+
+sudden emergencies, her head began to swim, and her grip upon the bridle
+
+to relax. Choked by the rising cloud of dust and by the steam from the
+
+struggling creatures, she might have abandoned her efforts in despair,
+
+but for a kindly voice at her elbow which assured her of assistance. At
+
+the same moment a sinewy brown hand caught the frightened horse by
+
+the curb, and forcing a way through the drove, soon brought her to the
+
+outskirts.
+
+"You're not hurt, I hope, miss," said her preserver, respectfully.
+
+She looked up at his dark, fierce face, and laughed saucily. "I'm awful
+
+frightened," she said, naively; "whoever would have thought that Poncho
+
+would have been so scared by a lot of cows?"
+
+"Thank God you kept your seat," the other said earnestly. He was a tall,
+
+savage-looking young fellow, mounted on a powerful roan horse, and
+
+clad in the rough dress of a hunter, with a long rifle slung over his
+
+shoulders. "I guess you are the daughter of John Ferrier," he remarked,
+
+"I saw you ride down from his house. When you see him, ask him if he
+
+remembers the Jefferson Hopes of St. Louis. If he's the same Ferrier, my
+
+father and he were pretty thick."
+
+"Hadn't you better come and ask yourself?" she asked, demurely.
+
+The young fellow seemed pleased at the suggestion, and his dark eyes
+
+sparkled with pleasure. "I'll do so," he said, "we've been in the
+
+mountains for two months, and are not over and above in visiting
+
+condition. He must take us as he finds us."
+
+"He has a good deal to thank you for, and so have I," she answered,
+
+"he's awful fond of me. If those cows had jumped on me he'd have never
+
+got over it."
+
+"Neither would I," said her companion.
+
+"You! Well, I don't see that it would make much matter to you, anyhow.
+
+You ain't even a friend of ours."
+
+The young hunter's dark face grew so gloomy over this remark that Lucy
+
+Ferrier laughed aloud.
+
+"There, I didn't mean that," she said; "of course, you are a friend now.
+
+You must come and see us. Now I must push along, or father won't trust
+
+me with his business any more. Good-bye!"
+
+"Good-bye," he answered, raising his broad sombrero, and bending over
+
+her little hand. She wheeled her mustang round, gave it a cut with her
+
+riding-whip, and darted away down the broad road in a rolling cloud of
+
+dust.
+
+Young Jefferson Hope rode on with his companions, gloomy and taciturn.
+
+He and they had been among the Nevada Mountains prospecting for silver,
+
+and were returning to Salt Lake City in the hope of raising capital
+
+enough to work some lodes which they had discovered. He had been as keen
+
+as any of them upon the business until this sudden incident had drawn
+
+his thoughts into another channel. The sight of the fair young girl,
+
+as frank and wholesome as the Sierra breezes, had stirred his volcanic,
+
+untamed heart to its very depths. When she had vanished from his sight,
+
+he realized that a crisis had come in his life, and that neither silver
+
+speculations nor any other questions could ever be of such importance to
+
+him as this new and all-absorbing one. The love which had sprung up in
+
+his heart was not the sudden, changeable fancy of a boy, but rather the
+
+wild, fierce passion of a man of strong will and imperious temper. He
+
+had been accustomed to succeed in all that he undertook. He swore in
+
+his heart that he would not fail in this if human effort and human
+
+perseverance could render him successful.
+
+He called on John Ferrier that night, and many times again, until
+
+his face was a familiar one at the farm-house. John, cooped up in the
+
+valley, and absorbed in his work, had had little chance of learning
+
+the news of the outside world during the last twelve years. All this
+
+Jefferson Hope was able to tell him, and in a style which interested
+
+Lucy as well as her father. He had been a pioneer in California, and
+
+could narrate many a strange tale of fortunes made and fortunes lost
+
+in those wild, halcyon days. He had been a scout too, and a trapper, a
+
+silver explorer, and a ranchman. Wherever stirring adventures were to be
+
+had, Jefferson Hope had been there in search of them. He soon became a
+
+favourite with the old farmer, who spoke eloquently of his virtues. On
+
+such occasions, Lucy was silent, but her blushing cheek and her bright,
+
+happy eyes, showed only too clearly that her young heart was no longer
+
+her own. Her honest father may not have observed these symptoms,
+
+but they were assuredly not thrown away upon the man who had won her
+
+affections.
+
+It was a summer evening when he came galloping down the road and pulled
+
+up at the gate. She was at the doorway, and came down to meet him. He
+
+threw the bridle over the fence and strode up the pathway.
+
+"I am off, Lucy," he said, taking her two hands in his, and gazing
+
+tenderly down into her face; "I won't ask you to come with me now, but
+
+will you be ready to come when I am here again?"
+
+"And when will that be?" she asked, blushing and laughing.
+
+"A couple of months at the outside. I will come and claim you then, my
+
+darling. There's no one who can stand between us."
+
+"And how about father?" she asked.
+
+"He has given his consent, provided we get these mines working all
+
+right. I have no fear on that head."
+
+"Oh, well; of course, if you and father have arranged it all, there's
+
+no more to be said," she whispered, with her cheek against his broad
+
+breast.
+
+"Thank God!" he said, hoarsely, stooping and kissing her. "It is
+
+settled, then. The longer I stay, the harder it will be to go. They are
+
+waiting for me at the cañon. Good-bye, my own darling--good-bye. In two
+
+months you shall see me."
+
+He tore himself from her as he spoke, and, flinging himself upon his
+
+horse, galloped furiously away, never even looking round, as though
+
+afraid that his resolution might fail him if he took one glance at
+
+what he was leaving. She stood at the gate, gazing after him until
+
+he vanished from her sight. Then she walked back into the house, the
+
+happiest girl in all Utah.
+
+CHAPTER III. JOHN FERRIER TALKS WITH THE PROPHET.
+
+THREE weeks had passed since Jefferson Hope and his comrades had
+
+departed from Salt Lake City. John Ferrier's heart was sore within him
+
+when he thought of the young man's return, and of the impending loss of
+
+his adopted child. Yet her bright and happy face reconciled him to
+
+the arrangement more than any argument could have done. He had always
+
+determined, deep down in his resolute heart, that nothing would ever
+
+induce him to allow his daughter to wed a Mormon. Such a marriage he
+
+regarded as no marriage at all, but as a shame and a disgrace. Whatever
+
+he might think of the Mormon doctrines, upon that one point he was
+
+inflexible. He had to seal his mouth on the subject, however, for to
+
+express an unorthodox opinion was a dangerous matter in those days in
+
+the Land of the Saints.
+
+Yes, a dangerous matter--so dangerous that even the most saintly dared
+
+only whisper their religious opinions with bated breath, lest something
+
+which fell from their lips might be misconstrued, and bring down a
+
+swift retribution upon them. The victims of persecution had now turned
+
+persecutors on their own account, and persecutors of the most
+
+terrible description. Not the Inquisition of Seville, nor the German
+
+Vehm-gericht, nor the Secret Societies of Italy, were ever able to put
+
+a more formidable machinery in motion than that which cast a cloud over
+
+the State of Utah.
+
+Its invisibility, and the mystery which was attached to it, made
+
+this organization doubly terrible. It appeared to be omniscient and
+
+omnipotent, and yet was neither seen nor heard. The man who held out
+
+against the Church vanished away, and none knew whither he had gone or
+
+what had befallen him. His wife and his children awaited him at home,
+
+but no father ever returned to tell them how he had fared at the
+
+hands of his secret judges. A rash word or a hasty act was followed
+
+by annihilation, and yet none knew what the nature might be of this
+
+terrible power which was suspended over them. No wonder that men
+
+went about in fear and trembling, and that even in the heart of the
+
+wilderness they dared not whisper the doubts which oppressed them.
+
+At first this vague and terrible power was exercised only upon the
+
+recalcitrants who, having embraced the Mormon faith, wished afterwards
+
+to pervert or to abandon it. Soon, however, it took a wider range. The
+
+supply of adult women was running short, and polygamy without a female
+
+population on which to draw was a barren doctrine indeed. Strange
+
+rumours began to be bandied about--rumours of murdered immigrants and
+
+rifled camps in regions where Indians had never been seen. Fresh women
+
+appeared in the harems of the Elders--women who pined and wept, and
+
+bore upon their faces the traces of an unextinguishable horror. Belated
+
+wanderers upon the mountains spoke of gangs of armed men, masked,
+
+stealthy, and noiseless, who flitted by them in the darkness. These
+
+tales and rumours took substance and shape, and were corroborated and
+
+re-corroborated, until they resolved themselves into a definite name.
+
+To this day, in the lonely ranches of the West, the name of the Danite
+
+Band, or the Avenging Angels, is a sinister and an ill-omened one.
+
+Fuller knowledge of the organization which produced such terrible
+
+results served to increase rather than to lessen the horror which it
+
+inspired in the minds of men. None knew who belonged to this ruthless
+
+society. The names of the participators in the deeds of blood and
+
+violence done under the name of religion were kept profoundly secret.
+
+The very friend to whom you communicated your misgivings as to the
+
+Prophet and his mission, might be one of those who would come forth at
+
+night with fire and sword to exact a terrible reparation. Hence every
+
+man feared his neighbour, and none spoke of the things which were
+
+nearest his heart.
+
+One fine morning, John Ferrier was about to set out to his wheatfields,
+
+when he heard the click of the latch, and, looking through the window,
+
+saw a stout, sandy-haired, middle-aged man coming up the pathway. His
+
+heart leapt to his mouth, for this was none other than the great Brigham
+
+Young himself. Full of trepidation--for he knew that such a visit boded
+
+him little good--Ferrier ran to the door to greet the Mormon chief. The
+
+latter, however, received his salutations coldly, and followed him with
+
+a stern face into the sitting-room.
+
+"Brother Ferrier," he said, taking a seat, and eyeing the farmer keenly
+
+from under his light-coloured eyelashes, "the true believers have been
+
+good friends to you. We picked you up when you were starving in the
+
+desert, we shared our food with you, led you safe to the Chosen Valley,
+
+gave you a goodly share of land, and allowed you to wax rich under our
+
+protection. Is not this so?"
+
+"It is so," answered John Ferrier.
+
+"In return for all this we asked but one condition: that was, that you
+
+should embrace the true faith, and conform in every way to its usages.
+
+This you promised to do, and this, if common report says truly, you have
+
+neglected."
+
+"And how have I neglected it?" asked Ferrier, throwing out his hands in
+
+expostulation. "Have I not given to the common fund? Have I not attended
+
+at the Temple? Have I not----?"
+
+"Where are your wives?" asked Young, looking round him. "Call them in,
+
+that I may greet them."
+
+"It is true that I have not married," Ferrier answered. "But women
+
+were few, and there were many who had better claims than I. I was not a
+
+lonely man: I had my daughter to attend to my wants."
+
+"It is of that daughter that I would speak to you," said the leader
+
+of the Mormons. "She has grown to be the flower of Utah, and has found
+
+favour in the eyes of many who are high in the land."
+
+John Ferrier groaned internally.
+
+"There are stories of her which I would fain disbelieve--stories that
+
+she is sealed to some Gentile. This must be the gossip of idle tongues.
+
+What is the thirteenth rule in the code of the sainted Joseph Smith?
+
+'Let every maiden of the true faith marry one of the elect; for if
+
+she wed a Gentile, she commits a grievous sin.' This being so, it is
+
+impossible that you, who profess the holy creed, should suffer your
+
+daughter to violate it."
+
+John Ferrier made no answer, but he played nervously with his
+
+riding-whip.
+
+"Upon this one point your whole faith shall be tested--so it has been
+
+decided in the Sacred Council of Four. The girl is young, and we would
+
+not have her wed grey hairs, neither would we deprive her of all
+
+choice. We Elders have many heifers, [29] but our children must also
+
+be provided. Stangerson has a son, and Drebber has a son, and either of
+
+them would gladly welcome your daughter to their house. Let her choose
+
+between them. They are young and rich, and of the true faith. What say
+
+you to that?"
+
+Ferrier remained silent for some little time with his brows knitted.
+
+"You will give us time," he said at last. "My daughter is very
+
+young--she is scarce of an age to marry."
+
+"She shall have a month to choose," said Young, rising from his seat.
+
+"At the end of that time she shall give her answer."
+
+He was passing through the door, when he turned, with flushed face and
+
+flashing eyes. "It were better for you, John Ferrier," he thundered,
+
+"that you and she were now lying blanched skeletons upon the Sierra
+
+Blanco, than that you should put your weak wills against the orders of
+
+the Holy Four!"
+
+With a threatening gesture of his hand, he turned from the door, and
+
+Ferrier heard his heavy step scrunching along the shingly path.
+
+He was still sitting with his elbows upon his knees, considering how he
+
+should broach the matter to his daughter when a soft hand was laid upon
+
+his, and looking up, he saw her standing beside him. One glance at her
+
+pale, frightened face showed him that she had heard what had passed.
+
+"I could not help it," she said, in answer to his look. "His voice rang
+
+through the house. Oh, father, father, what shall we do?"
+
+"Don't you scare yourself," he answered, drawing her to him, and passing
+
+his broad, rough hand caressingly over her chestnut hair. "We'll fix it
+
+up somehow or another. You don't find your fancy kind o' lessening for
+
+this chap, do you?"
+
+A sob and a squeeze of his hand was her only answer.
+
+"No; of course not. I shouldn't care to hear you say you did. He's a
+
+likely lad, and he's a Christian, which is more than these folk here, in
+
+spite o' all their praying and preaching. There's a party starting for
+
+Nevada to-morrow, and I'll manage to send him a message letting him know
+
+the hole we are in. If I know anything o' that young man, he'll be back
+
+here with a speed that would whip electro-telegraphs."
+
+Lucy laughed through her tears at her father's description.
+
+"When he comes, he will advise us for the best. But it is for you that
+
+I am frightened, dear. One hears--one hears such dreadful stories about
+
+those who oppose the Prophet: something terrible always happens to
+
+them."
+
+"But we haven't opposed him yet," her father answered. "It will be time
+
+to look out for squalls when we do. We have a clear month before us; at
+
+the end of that, I guess we had best shin out of Utah."
+
+"Leave Utah!"
+
+"That's about the size of it."
+
+"But the farm?"
+
+"We will raise as much as we can in money, and let the rest go. To tell
+
+the truth, Lucy, it isn't the first time I have thought of doing it. I
+
+don't care about knuckling under to any man, as these folk do to their
+
+darned prophet. I'm a free-born American, and it's all new to me. Guess
+
+I'm too old to learn. If he comes browsing about this farm, he might
+
+chance to run up against a charge of buckshot travelling in the opposite
+
+direction."
+
+"But they won't let us leave," his daughter objected.
+
+"Wait till Jefferson comes, and we'll soon manage that. In the meantime,
+
+don't you fret yourself, my dearie, and don't get your eyes swelled up,
+
+else he'll be walking into me when he sees you. There's nothing to be
+
+afeared about, and there's no danger at all."
+
+John Ferrier uttered these consoling remarks in a very confident tone,
+
+but she could not help observing that he paid unusual care to the
+
+fastening of the doors that night, and that he carefully cleaned and
+
+loaded the rusty old shotgun which hung upon the wall of his bedroom.
+
+CHAPTER IV. A FLIGHT FOR LIFE.
+
+ON the morning which followed his interview with the Mormon Prophet,
+
+John Ferrier went in to Salt Lake City, and having found his
+
+acquaintance, who was bound for the Nevada Mountains, he entrusted him
+
+with his message to Jefferson Hope. In it he told the young man of the
+
+imminent danger which threatened them, and how necessary it was that he
+
+should return. Having done thus he felt easier in his mind, and returned
+
+home with a lighter heart.
+
+As he approached his farm, he was surprised to see a horse hitched to
+
+each of the posts of the gate. Still more surprised was he on entering
+
+to find two young men in possession of his sitting-room. One, with a
+
+long pale face, was leaning back in the rocking-chair, with his feet
+
+cocked up upon the stove. The other, a bull-necked youth with coarse
+
+bloated features, was standing in front of the window with his hands in
+
+his pocket, whistling a popular hymn. Both of them nodded to Ferrier as
+
+he entered, and the one in the rocking-chair commenced the conversation.
+
+"Maybe you don't know us," he said. "This here is the son of Elder
+
+Drebber, and I'm Joseph Stangerson, who travelled with you in the desert
+
+when the Lord stretched out His hand and gathered you into the true
+
+fold."
+
+"As He will all the nations in His own good time," said the other in a
+
+nasal voice; "He grindeth slowly but exceeding small."
+
+John Ferrier bowed coldly. He had guessed who his visitors were.
+
+"We have come," continued Stangerson, "at the advice of our fathers to
+
+solicit the hand of your daughter for whichever of us may seem good to
+
+you and to her. As I have but four wives and Brother Drebber here has
+
+seven, it appears to me that my claim is the stronger one."
+
+"Nay, nay, Brother Stangerson," cried the other; "the question is not
+
+how many wives we have, but how many we can keep. My father has now
+
+given over his mills to me, and I am the richer man."
+
+"But my prospects are better," said the other, warmly. "When the
+
+Lord removes my father, I shall have his tanning yard and his leather
+
+factory. Then I am your elder, and am higher in the Church."
+
+"It will be for the maiden to decide," rejoined young Drebber, smirking
+
+at his own reflection in the glass. "We will leave it all to her
+
+decision."
+
+During this dialogue, John Ferrier had stood fuming in the doorway,
+
+hardly able to keep his riding-whip from the backs of his two visitors.
+
+"Look here," he said at last, striding up to them, "when my daughter
+
+summons you, you can come, but until then I don't want to see your faces
+
+again."
+
+The two young Mormons stared at him in amazement. In their eyes this
+
+competition between them for the maiden's hand was the highest of
+
+honours both to her and her father.
+
+"There are two ways out of the room," cried Ferrier; "there is the door,
+
+and there is the window. Which do you care to use?"
+
+His brown face looked so savage, and his gaunt hands so threatening,
+
+that his visitors sprang to their feet and beat a hurried retreat. The
+
+old farmer followed them to the door.
+
+"Let me know when you have settled which it is to be," he said,
+
+sardonically.
+
+"You shall smart for this!" Stangerson cried, white with rage. "You have
+
+defied the Prophet and the Council of Four. You shall rue it to the end
+
+of your days."
+
+"The hand of the Lord shall be heavy upon you," cried young Drebber; "He
+
+will arise and smite you!"
+
+"Then I'll start the smiting," exclaimed Ferrier furiously, and would
+
+have rushed upstairs for his gun had not Lucy seized him by the arm and
+
+restrained him. Before he could escape from her, the clatter of horses'
+
+hoofs told him that they were beyond his reach.
+
+"The young canting rascals!" he exclaimed, wiping the perspiration from
+
+his forehead; "I would sooner see you in your grave, my girl, than the
+
+wife of either of them."
+
+"And so should I, father," she answered, with spirit; "but Jefferson
+
+will soon be here."
+
+"Yes. It will not be long before he comes. The sooner the better, for we
+
+do not know what their next move may be."
+
+It was, indeed, high time that someone capable of giving advice and
+
+help should come to the aid of the sturdy old farmer and his adopted
+
+daughter. In the whole history of the settlement there had never been
+
+such a case of rank disobedience to the authority of the Elders. If
+
+minor errors were punished so sternly, what would be the fate of this
+
+arch rebel. Ferrier knew that his wealth and position would be of no
+
+avail to him. Others as well known and as rich as himself had been
+
+spirited away before now, and their goods given over to the Church. He
+
+was a brave man, but he trembled at the vague, shadowy terrors which
+
+hung over him. Any known danger he could face with a firm lip, but
+
+this suspense was unnerving. He concealed his fears from his daughter,
+
+however, and affected to make light of the whole matter, though she,
+
+with the keen eye of love, saw plainly that he was ill at ease.
+
+He expected that he would receive some message or remonstrance from
+
+Young as to his conduct, and he was not mistaken, though it came in an
+
+unlooked-for manner. Upon rising next morning he found, to his surprise,
+
+a small square of paper pinned on to the coverlet of his bed just over
+
+his chest. On it was printed, in bold straggling letters:--
+
+"Twenty-nine days are given you for amendment, and then----"
+
+The dash was more fear-inspiring than any threat could have been. How
+
+this warning came into his room puzzled John Ferrier sorely, for his
+
+servants slept in an outhouse, and the doors and windows had all been
+
+secured. He crumpled the paper up and said nothing to his daughter, but
+
+the incident struck a chill into his heart. The twenty-nine days were
+
+evidently the balance of the month which Young had promised. What
+
+strength or courage could avail against an enemy armed with such
+
+mysterious powers? The hand which fastened that pin might have struck
+
+him to the heart, and he could never have known who had slain him.
+
+Still more shaken was he next morning. They had sat down to their
+
+breakfast when Lucy with a cry of surprise pointed upwards. In the
+
+centre of the ceiling was scrawled, with a burned stick apparently,
+
+the number 28. To his daughter it was unintelligible, and he did not
+
+enlighten her. That night he sat up with his gun and kept watch and
+
+ward. He saw and he heard nothing, and yet in the morning a great 27 had
+
+been painted upon the outside of his door.
+
+Thus day followed day; and as sure as morning came he found that his
+
+unseen enemies had kept their register, and had marked up in some
+
+conspicuous position how many days were still left to him out of the
+
+month of grace. Sometimes the fatal numbers appeared upon the walls,
+
+sometimes upon the floors, occasionally they were on small placards
+
+stuck upon the garden gate or the railings. With all his vigilance John
+
+Ferrier could not discover whence these daily warnings proceeded. A
+
+horror which was almost superstitious came upon him at the sight of
+
+them. He became haggard and restless, and his eyes had the troubled look
+
+of some hunted creature. He had but one hope in life now, and that was
+
+for the arrival of the young hunter from Nevada.
+
+Twenty had changed to fifteen and fifteen to ten, but there was no news
+
+of the absentee. One by one the numbers dwindled down, and still there
+
+came no sign of him. Whenever a horseman clattered down the road, or a
+
+driver shouted at his team, the old farmer hurried to the gate thinking
+
+that help had arrived at last. At last, when he saw five give way to
+
+four and that again to three, he lost heart, and abandoned all hope of
+
+escape. Single-handed, and with his limited knowledge of the mountains
+
+which surrounded the settlement, he knew that he was powerless. The
+
+more-frequented roads were strictly watched and guarded, and none could
+
+pass along them without an order from the Council. Turn which way he
+
+would, there appeared to be no avoiding the blow which hung over him.
+
+Yet the old man never wavered in his resolution to part with life itself
+
+before he consented to what he regarded as his daughter's dishonour.
+
+He was sitting alone one evening pondering deeply over his troubles, and
+
+searching vainly for some way out of them. That morning had shown the
+
+figure 2 upon the wall of his house, and the next day would be the last
+
+of the allotted time. What was to happen then? All manner of vague and
+
+terrible fancies filled his imagination. And his daughter--what was to
+
+become of her after he was gone? Was there no escape from the invisible
+
+network which was drawn all round them. He sank his head upon the table
+
+and sobbed at the thought of his own impotence.
+
+What was that? In the silence he heard a gentle scratching sound--low,
+
+but very distinct in the quiet of the night. It came from the door of
+
+the house. Ferrier crept into the hall and listened intently. There
+
+was a pause for a few moments, and then the low insidious sound was
+
+repeated. Someone was evidently tapping very gently upon one of the
+
+panels of the door. Was it some midnight assassin who had come to carry
+
+out the murderous orders of the secret tribunal? Or was it some agent
+
+who was marking up that the last day of grace had arrived. John Ferrier
+
+felt that instant death would be better than the suspense which shook
+
+his nerves and chilled his heart. Springing forward he drew the bolt and
+
+threw the door open.
+
+Outside all was calm and quiet. The night was fine, and the stars were
+
+twinkling brightly overhead. The little front garden lay before the
+
+farmer's eyes bounded by the fence and gate, but neither there nor on
+
+the road was any human being to be seen. With a sigh of relief, Ferrier
+
+looked to right and to left, until happening to glance straight down at
+
+his own feet he saw to his astonishment a man lying flat upon his face
+
+upon the ground, with arms and legs all asprawl.
+
+So unnerved was he at the sight that he leaned up against the wall with
+
+his hand to his throat to stifle his inclination to call out. His first
+
+thought was that the prostrate figure was that of some wounded or dying
+
+man, but as he watched it he saw it writhe along the ground and into the
+
+hall with the rapidity and noiselessness of a serpent. Once within the
+
+house the man sprang to his feet, closed the door, and revealed to the
+
+astonished farmer the fierce face and resolute expression of Jefferson
+
+Hope.
+
+"Good God!" gasped John Ferrier. "How you scared me! Whatever made you
+
+come in like that."
+
+"Give me food," the other said, hoarsely. "I have had no time for bite
+
+or sup for eight-and-forty hours." He flung himself upon the [21] cold
+
+meat and bread which were still lying upon the table from his host's
+
+supper, and devoured it voraciously. "Does Lucy bear up well?" he asked,
+
+when he had satisfied his hunger.
+
+"Yes. She does not know the danger," her father answered.
+
+"That is well. The house is watched on every side. That is why I crawled
+
+my way up to it. They may be darned sharp, but they're not quite sharp
+
+enough to catch a Washoe hunter."
+
+John Ferrier felt a different man now that he realized that he had
+
+a devoted ally. He seized the young man's leathery hand and wrung it
+
+cordially. "You're a man to be proud of," he said. "There are not many
+
+who would come to share our danger and our troubles."
+
+"You've hit it there, pard," the young hunter answered. "I have a
+
+respect for you, but if you were alone in this business I'd think twice
+
+before I put my head into such a hornet's nest. It's Lucy that brings me
+
+here, and before harm comes on her I guess there will be one less o' the
+
+Hope family in Utah."
+
+"What are we to do?"
+
+"To-morrow is your last day, and unless you act to-night you are lost.
+
+I have a mule and two horses waiting in the Eagle Ravine. How much money
+
+have you?"
+
+"Two thousand dollars in gold, and five in notes."
+
+"That will do. I have as much more to add to it. We must push for Carson
+
+City through the mountains. You had best wake Lucy. It is as well that
+
+the servants do not sleep in the house."
+
+While Ferrier was absent, preparing his daughter for the approaching
+
+journey, Jefferson Hope packed all the eatables that he could find into
+
+a small parcel, and filled a stoneware jar with water, for he knew by
+
+experience that the mountain wells were few and far between. He had
+
+hardly completed his arrangements before the farmer returned with his
+
+daughter all dressed and ready for a start. The greeting between the
+
+lovers was warm, but brief, for minutes were precious, and there was
+
+much to be done.
+
+"We must make our start at once," said Jefferson Hope, speaking in a low
+
+but resolute voice, like one who realizes the greatness of the peril,
+
+but has steeled his heart to meet it. "The front and back entrances are
+
+watched, but with caution we may get away through the side window and
+
+across the fields. Once on the road we are only two miles from the
+
+Ravine where the horses are waiting. By daybreak we should be half-way
+
+through the mountains."
+
+"What if we are stopped," asked Ferrier.
+
+Hope slapped the revolver butt which protruded from the front of his
+
+tunic. "If they are too many for us we shall take two or three of them
+
+with us," he said with a sinister smile.
+
+The lights inside the house had all been extinguished, and from the
+
+darkened window Ferrier peered over the fields which had been his own,
+
+and which he was now about to abandon for ever. He had long nerved
+
+himself to the sacrifice, however, and the thought of the honour and
+
+happiness of his daughter outweighed any regret at his ruined fortunes.
+
+All looked so peaceful and happy, the rustling trees and the broad
+
+silent stretch of grain-land, that it was difficult to realize that
+
+the spirit of murder lurked through it all. Yet the white face and set
+
+expression of the young hunter showed that in his approach to the house
+
+he had seen enough to satisfy him upon that head.
+
+Ferrier carried the bag of gold and notes, Jefferson Hope had the scanty
+
+provisions and water, while Lucy had a small bundle containing a few
+
+of her more valued possessions. Opening the window very slowly and
+
+carefully, they waited until a dark cloud had somewhat obscured the
+
+night, and then one by one passed through into the little garden. With
+
+bated breath and crouching figures they stumbled across it, and gained
+
+the shelter of the hedge, which they skirted until they came to the gap
+
+which opened into the cornfields. They had just reached this point when
+
+the young man seized his two companions and dragged them down into the
+
+shadow, where they lay silent and trembling.
+
+It was as well that his prairie training had given Jefferson Hope the
+
+ears of a lynx. He and his friends had hardly crouched down before the
+
+melancholy hooting of a mountain owl was heard within a few yards
+
+of them, which was immediately answered by another hoot at a small
+
+distance. At the same moment a vague shadowy figure emerged from the
+
+gap for which they had been making, and uttered the plaintive signal cry
+
+again, on which a second man appeared out of the obscurity.
+
+"To-morrow at midnight," said the first who appeared to be in authority.
+
+"When the Whip-poor-Will calls three times."
+
+"It is well," returned the other. "Shall I tell Brother Drebber?"
+
+"Pass it on to him, and from him to the others. Nine to seven!"
+
+"Seven to five!" repeated the other, and the two figures flitted away
+
+in different directions. Their concluding words had evidently been some
+
+form of sign and countersign. The instant that their footsteps had died
+
+away in the distance, Jefferson Hope sprang to his feet, and helping his
+
+companions through the gap, led the way across the fields at the top
+
+of his speed, supporting and half-carrying the girl when her strength
+
+appeared to fail her.
+
+"Hurry on! hurry on!" he gasped from time to time. "We are through the
+
+line of sentinels. Everything depends on speed. Hurry on!"
+
+Once on the high road they made rapid progress. Only once did they
+
+meet anyone, and then they managed to slip into a field, and so avoid
+
+recognition. Before reaching the town the hunter branched away into a
+
+rugged and narrow footpath which led to the mountains. Two dark jagged
+
+peaks loomed above them through the darkness, and the defile which led
+
+between them was the Eagle Cañon in which the horses were awaiting them.
+
+With unerring instinct Jefferson Hope picked his way among the great
+
+boulders and along the bed of a dried-up watercourse, until he came to
+
+the retired corner, screened with rocks, where the faithful animals had
+
+been picketed. The girl was placed upon the mule, and old Ferrier upon
+
+one of the horses, with his money-bag, while Jefferson Hope led the
+
+other along the precipitous and dangerous path.
+
+It was a bewildering route for anyone who was not accustomed to face
+
+Nature in her wildest moods. On the one side a great crag towered up a
+
+thousand feet or more, black, stern, and menacing, with long basaltic
+
+columns upon its rugged surface like the ribs of some petrified monster.
+
+On the other hand a wild chaos of boulders and debris made all advance
+
+impossible. Between the two ran the irregular track, so narrow in places
+
+that they had to travel in Indian file, and so rough that only practised
+
+riders could have traversed it at all. Yet in spite of all dangers and
+
+difficulties, the hearts of the fugitives were light within them,
+
+for every step increased the distance between them and the terrible
+
+despotism from which they were flying.
+
+They soon had a proof, however, that they were still within the
+
+jurisdiction of the Saints. They had reached the very wildest and most
+
+desolate portion of the pass when the girl gave a startled cry, and
+
+pointed upwards. On a rock which overlooked the track, showing out dark
+
+and plain against the sky, there stood a solitary sentinel. He saw them
+
+as soon as they perceived him, and his military challenge of "Who goes
+
+there?" rang through the silent ravine.
+
+"Travellers for Nevada," said Jefferson Hope, with his hand upon the
+
+rifle which hung by his saddle.
+
+They could see the lonely watcher fingering his gun, and peering down at
+
+them as if dissatisfied at their reply.
+
+"By whose permission?" he asked.
+
+"The Holy Four," answered Ferrier. His Mormon experiences had taught him
+
+that that was the highest authority to which he could refer.
+
+"Nine from seven," cried the sentinel.
+
+"Seven from five," returned Jefferson Hope promptly, remembering the
+
+countersign which he had heard in the garden.
+
+"Pass, and the Lord go with you," said the voice from above. Beyond his
+
+post the path broadened out, and the horses were able to break into a
+
+trot. Looking back, they could see the solitary watcher leaning upon
+
+his gun, and knew that they had passed the outlying post of the chosen
+
+people, and that freedom lay before them.
+
+CHAPTER V. THE AVENGING ANGELS.
+
+ALL night their course lay through intricate defiles and over irregular
+
+and rock-strewn paths. More than once they lost their way, but Hope's
+
+intimate knowledge of the mountains enabled them to regain the track
+
+once more. When morning broke, a scene of marvellous though savage
+
+beauty lay before them. In every direction the great snow-capped peaks
+
+hemmed them in, peeping over each other's shoulders to the far horizon.
+
+So steep were the rocky banks on either side of them, that the larch
+
+and the pine seemed to be suspended over their heads, and to need only a
+
+gust of wind to come hurtling down upon them. Nor was the fear entirely
+
+an illusion, for the barren valley was thickly strewn with trees and
+
+boulders which had fallen in a similar manner. Even as they passed,
+
+a great rock came thundering down with a hoarse rattle which woke
+
+the echoes in the silent gorges, and startled the weary horses into a
+
+gallop.
+
+As the sun rose slowly above the eastern horizon, the caps of the great
+
+mountains lit up one after the other, like lamps at a festival, until
+
+they were all ruddy and glowing. The magnificent spectacle cheered the
+
+hearts of the three fugitives and gave them fresh energy. At a wild
+
+torrent which swept out of a ravine they called a halt and watered their
+
+horses, while they partook of a hasty breakfast. Lucy and her father
+
+would fain have rested longer, but Jefferson Hope was inexorable. "They
+
+will be upon our track by this time," he said. "Everything depends upon
+
+our speed. Once safe in Carson we may rest for the remainder of our
+
+lives."
+
+During the whole of that day they struggled on through the defiles, and
+
+by evening they calculated that they were more than thirty miles from
+
+their enemies. At night-time they chose the base of a beetling crag,
+
+where the rocks offered some protection from the chill wind, and there
+
+huddled together for warmth, they enjoyed a few hours' sleep. Before
+
+daybreak, however, they were up and on their way once more. They had
+
+seen no signs of any pursuers, and Jefferson Hope began to think that
+
+they were fairly out of the reach of the terrible organization whose
+
+enmity they had incurred. He little knew how far that iron grasp could
+
+reach, or how soon it was to close upon them and crush them.
+
+About the middle of the second day of their flight their scanty store
+
+of provisions began to run out. This gave the hunter little uneasiness,
+
+however, for there was game to be had among the mountains, and he had
+
+frequently before had to depend upon his rifle for the needs of life.
+
+Choosing a sheltered nook, he piled together a few dried branches and
+
+made a blazing fire, at which his companions might warm themselves, for
+
+they were now nearly five thousand feet above the sea level, and the air
+
+was bitter and keen. Having tethered the horses, and bade Lucy adieu,
+
+he threw his gun over his shoulder, and set out in search of whatever
+
+chance might throw in his way. Looking back he saw the old man and the
+
+young girl crouching over the blazing fire, while the three animals
+
+stood motionless in the back-ground. Then the intervening rocks hid them
+
+from his view.
+
+He walked for a couple of miles through one ravine after another without
+
+success, though from the marks upon the bark of the trees, and other
+
+indications, he judged that there were numerous bears in the vicinity.
+
+At last, after two or three hours' fruitless search, he was thinking of
+
+turning back in despair, when casting his eyes upwards he saw a sight
+
+which sent a thrill of pleasure through his heart. On the edge of a
+
+jutting pinnacle, three or four hundred feet above him, there stood a
+
+creature somewhat resembling a sheep in appearance, but armed with a
+
+pair of gigantic horns. The big-horn--for so it is called--was acting,
+
+probably, as a guardian over a flock which were invisible to the hunter;
+
+but fortunately it was heading in the opposite direction, and had not
+
+perceived him. Lying on his face, he rested his rifle upon a rock, and
+
+took a long and steady aim before drawing the trigger. The animal sprang
+
+into the air, tottered for a moment upon the edge of the precipice, and
+
+then came crashing down into the valley beneath.
+
+The creature was too unwieldy to lift, so the hunter contented himself
+
+with cutting away one haunch and part of the flank. With this trophy
+
+over his shoulder, he hastened to retrace his steps, for the evening was
+
+already drawing in. He had hardly started, however, before he realized
+
+the difficulty which faced him. In his eagerness he had wandered far
+
+past the ravines which were known to him, and it was no easy matter
+
+to pick out the path which he had taken. The valley in which he found
+
+himself divided and sub-divided into many gorges, which were so like
+
+each other that it was impossible to distinguish one from the other.
+
+He followed one for a mile or more until he came to a mountain torrent
+
+which he was sure that he had never seen before. Convinced that he had
+
+taken the wrong turn, he tried another, but with the same result. Night
+
+was coming on rapidly, and it was almost dark before he at last found
+
+himself in a defile which was familiar to him. Even then it was no easy
+
+matter to keep to the right track, for the moon had not yet risen, and
+
+the high cliffs on either side made the obscurity more profound. Weighed
+
+down with his burden, and weary from his exertions, he stumbled along,
+
+keeping up his heart by the reflection that every step brought him
+
+nearer to Lucy, and that he carried with him enough to ensure them food
+
+for the remainder of their journey.
+
+He had now come to the mouth of the very defile in which he had left
+
+them. Even in the darkness he could recognize the outline of the cliffs
+
+which bounded it. They must, he reflected, be awaiting him anxiously,
+
+for he had been absent nearly five hours. In the gladness of his heart
+
+he put his hands to his mouth and made the glen re-echo to a loud halloo
+
+as a signal that he was coming. He paused and listened for an answer.
+
+None came save his own cry, which clattered up the dreary silent
+
+ravines, and was borne back to his ears in countless repetitions. Again
+
+he shouted, even louder than before, and again no whisper came back from
+
+the friends whom he had left such a short time ago. A vague, nameless
+
+dread came over him, and he hurried onwards frantically, dropping the
+
+precious food in his agitation.
+
+When he turned the corner, he came full in sight of the spot where the
+
+fire had been lit. There was still a glowing pile of wood ashes there,
+
+but it had evidently not been tended since his departure. The same
+
+dead silence still reigned all round. With his fears all changed to
+
+convictions, he hurried on. There was no living creature near the
+
+remains of the fire: animals, man, maiden, all were gone. It was only
+
+too clear that some sudden and terrible disaster had occurred during
+
+his absence--a disaster which had embraced them all, and yet had left no
+
+traces behind it.
+
+Bewildered and stunned by this blow, Jefferson Hope felt his head spin
+
+round, and had to lean upon his rifle to save himself from falling. He
+
+was essentially a man of action, however, and speedily recovered from
+
+his temporary impotence. Seizing a half-consumed piece of wood from the
+
+smouldering fire, he blew it into a flame, and proceeded with its help
+
+to examine the little camp. The ground was all stamped down by the feet
+
+of horses, showing that a large party of mounted men had overtaken
+
+the fugitives, and the direction of their tracks proved that they had
+
+afterwards turned back to Salt Lake City. Had they carried back both of
+
+his companions with them? Jefferson Hope had almost persuaded himself
+
+that they must have done so, when his eye fell upon an object which made
+
+every nerve of his body tingle within him. A little way on one side of
+
+the camp was a low-lying heap of reddish soil, which had assuredly
+
+not been there before. There was no mistaking it for anything but a
+
+newly-dug grave. As the young hunter approached it, he perceived that a
+
+stick had been planted on it, with a sheet of paper stuck in the cleft
+
+fork of it. The inscription upon the paper was brief, but to the point:
+
+JOHN FERRIER,
+
+FORMERLY OF SALT LAKE CITY, [22]
+
+Died August 4th, 1860.
+
+The sturdy old man, whom he had left so short a time before, was gone,
+
+then, and this was all his epitaph. Jefferson Hope looked wildly round
+
+to see if there was a second grave, but there was no sign of one. Lucy
+
+had been carried back by their terrible pursuers to fulfil her original
+
+destiny, by becoming one of the harem of the Elder's son. As the young
+
+fellow realized the certainty of her fate, and his own powerlessness to
+
+prevent it, he wished that he, too, was lying with the old farmer in his
+
+last silent resting-place.
+
+Again, however, his active spirit shook off the lethargy which springs
+
+from despair. If there was nothing else left to him, he could at least
+
+devote his life to revenge. With indomitable patience and perseverance,
+
+Jefferson Hope possessed also a power of sustained vindictiveness, which
+
+he may have learned from the Indians amongst whom he had lived. As he
+
+stood by the desolate fire, he felt that the only one thing which could
+
+assuage his grief would be thorough and complete retribution, brought
+
+by his own hand upon his enemies. His strong will and untiring energy
+
+should, he determined, be devoted to that one end. With a grim, white
+
+face, he retraced his steps to where he had dropped the food, and having
+
+stirred up the smouldering fire, he cooked enough to last him for a
+
+few days. This he made up into a bundle, and, tired as he was, he
+
+set himself to walk back through the mountains upon the track of the
+
+avenging angels.
+
+For five days he toiled footsore and weary through the defiles which he
+
+had already traversed on horseback. At night he flung himself down among
+
+the rocks, and snatched a few hours of sleep; but before daybreak he was
+
+always well on his way. On the sixth day, he reached the Eagle Cañon,
+
+from which they had commenced their ill-fated flight. Thence he could
+
+look down upon the home of the saints. Worn and exhausted, he leaned
+
+upon his rifle and shook his gaunt hand fiercely at the silent
+
+widespread city beneath him. As he looked at it, he observed that
+
+there were flags in some of the principal streets, and other signs of
+
+festivity. He was still speculating as to what this might mean when he
+
+heard the clatter of horse's hoofs, and saw a mounted man riding towards
+
+him. As he approached, he recognized him as a Mormon named Cowper, to
+
+whom he had rendered services at different times. He therefore accosted
+
+him when he got up to him, with the object of finding out what Lucy
+
+Ferrier's fate had been.
+
+"I am Jefferson Hope," he said. "You remember me."
+
+The Mormon looked at him with undisguised astonishment--indeed, it was
+
+difficult to recognize in this tattered, unkempt wanderer, with ghastly
+
+white face and fierce, wild eyes, the spruce young hunter of former
+
+days. Having, however, at last, satisfied himself as to his identity,
+
+the man's surprise changed to consternation.
+
+"You are mad to come here," he cried. "It is as much as my own life is
+
+worth to be seen talking with you. There is a warrant against you from
+
+the Holy Four for assisting the Ferriers away."
+
+"I don't fear them, or their warrant," Hope said, earnestly. "You must
+
+know something of this matter, Cowper. I conjure you by everything you
+
+hold dear to answer a few questions. We have always been friends. For
+
+God's sake, don't refuse to answer me."
+
+"What is it?" the Mormon asked uneasily. "Be quick. The very rocks have
+
+ears and the trees eyes."
+
+"What has become of Lucy Ferrier?"
+
+"She was married yesterday to young Drebber. Hold up, man, hold up, you
+
+have no life left in you."
+
+"Don't mind me," said Hope faintly. He was white to the very lips, and
+
+had sunk down on the stone against which he had been leaning. "Married,
+
+you say?"
+
+"Married yesterday--that's what those flags are for on the Endowment
+
+House. There was some words between young Drebber and young Stangerson
+
+as to which was to have her. They'd both been in the party that followed
+
+them, and Stangerson had shot her father, which seemed to give him the
+
+best claim; but when they argued it out in council, Drebber's party was
+
+the stronger, so the Prophet gave her over to him. No one won't have
+
+her very long though, for I saw death in her face yesterday. She is more
+
+like a ghost than a woman. Are you off, then?"
+
+"Yes, I am off," said Jefferson Hope, who had risen from his seat. His
+
+face might have been chiselled out of marble, so hard and set was its
+
+expression, while its eyes glowed with a baleful light.
+
+"Where are you going?"
+
+"Never mind," he answered; and, slinging his weapon over his shoulder,
+
+strode off down the gorge and so away into the heart of the mountains to
+
+the haunts of the wild beasts. Amongst them all there was none so fierce
+
+and so dangerous as himself.
+
+The prediction of the Mormon was only too well fulfilled. Whether it was
+
+the terrible death of her father or the effects of the hateful marriage
+
+into which she had been forced, poor Lucy never held up her head again,
+
+but pined away and died within a month. Her sottish husband, who had
+
+married her principally for the sake of John Ferrier's property, did not
+
+affect any great grief at his bereavement; but his other wives mourned
+
+over her, and sat up with her the night before the burial, as is the
+
+Mormon custom. They were grouped round the bier in the early hours of
+
+the morning, when, to their inexpressible fear and astonishment,
+
+the door was flung open, and a savage-looking, weather-beaten man in
+
+tattered garments strode into the room. Without a glance or a word to
+
+the cowering women, he walked up to the white silent figure which had
+
+once contained the pure soul of Lucy Ferrier. Stooping over her, he
+
+pressed his lips reverently to her cold forehead, and then, snatching
+
+up her hand, he took the wedding-ring from her finger. "She shall not be
+
+buried in that," he cried with a fierce snarl, and before an alarm could
+
+be raised sprang down the stairs and was gone. So strange and so brief
+
+was the episode, that the watchers might have found it hard to believe
+
+it themselves or persuade other people of it, had it not been for the
+
+undeniable fact that the circlet of gold which marked her as having been
+
+a bride had disappeared.
+
+For some months Jefferson Hope lingered among the mountains, leading
+
+a strange wild life, and nursing in his heart the fierce desire for
+
+vengeance which possessed him. Tales were told in the City of the weird
+
+figure which was seen prowling about the suburbs, and which haunted
+
+the lonely mountain gorges. Once a bullet whistled through Stangerson's
+
+window and flattened itself upon the wall within a foot of him. On
+
+another occasion, as Drebber passed under a cliff a great boulder
+
+crashed down on him, and he only escaped a terrible death by throwing
+
+himself upon his face. The two young Mormons were not long in
+
+discovering the reason of these attempts upon their lives, and led
+
+repeated expeditions into the mountains in the hope of capturing or
+
+killing their enemy, but always without success. Then they adopted the
+
+precaution of never going out alone or after nightfall, and of having
+
+their houses guarded. After a time they were able to relax these
+
+measures, for nothing was either heard or seen of their opponent, and
+
+they hoped that time had cooled his vindictiveness.
+
+Far from doing so, it had, if anything, augmented it. The hunter's mind
+
+was of a hard, unyielding nature, and the predominant idea of revenge
+
+had taken such complete possession of it that there was no room for
+
+any other emotion. He was, however, above all things practical. He soon
+
+realized that even his iron constitution could not stand the incessant
+
+strain which he was putting upon it. Exposure and want of wholesome food
+
+were wearing him out. If he died like a dog among the mountains, what
+
+was to become of his revenge then? And yet such a death was sure to
+
+overtake him if he persisted. He felt that that was to play his enemy's
+
+game, so he reluctantly returned to the old Nevada mines, there to
+
+recruit his health and to amass money enough to allow him to pursue his
+
+object without privation.
+
+His intention had been to be absent a year at the most, but a
+
+combination of unforeseen circumstances prevented his leaving the mines
+
+for nearly five. At the end of that time, however, his memory of
+
+his wrongs and his craving for revenge were quite as keen as on that
+
+memorable night when he had stood by John Ferrier's grave. Disguised,
+
+and under an assumed name, he returned to Salt Lake City, careless
+
+what became of his own life, as long as he obtained what he knew to
+
+be justice. There he found evil tidings awaiting him. There had been a
+
+schism among the Chosen People a few months before, some of the younger
+
+members of the Church having rebelled against the authority of the
+
+Elders, and the result had been the secession of a certain number of the
+
+malcontents, who had left Utah and become Gentiles. Among these had been
+
+Drebber and Stangerson; and no one knew whither they had gone. Rumour
+
+reported that Drebber had managed to convert a large part of his
+
+property into money, and that he had departed a wealthy man, while his
+
+companion, Stangerson, was comparatively poor. There was no clue at all,
+
+however, as to their whereabouts.
+
+Many a man, however vindictive, would have abandoned all thought of
+
+revenge in the face of such a difficulty, but Jefferson Hope never
+
+faltered for a moment. With the small competence he possessed, eked out
+
+by such employment as he could pick up, he travelled from town to town
+
+through the United States in quest of his enemies. Year passed into
+
+year, his black hair turned grizzled, but still he wandered on, a human
+
+bloodhound, with his mind wholly set upon the one object upon which he
+
+had devoted his life. At last his perseverance was rewarded. It was
+
+but a glance of a face in a window, but that one glance told him that
+
+Cleveland in Ohio possessed the men whom he was in pursuit of. He
+
+returned to his miserable lodgings with his plan of vengeance all
+
+arranged. It chanced, however, that Drebber, looking from his window,
+
+had recognized the vagrant in the street, and had read murder in
+
+his eyes. He hurried before a justice of the peace, accompanied by
+
+Stangerson, who had become his private secretary, and represented to him
+
+that they were in danger of their lives from the jealousy and hatred of
+
+an old rival. That evening Jefferson Hope was taken into custody, and
+
+not being able to find sureties, was detained for some weeks. When at
+
+last he was liberated, it was only to find that Drebber's house was
+
+deserted, and that he and his secretary had departed for Europe.
+
+Again the avenger had been foiled, and again his concentrated hatred
+
+urged him to continue the pursuit. Funds were wanting, however, and
+
+for some time he had to return to work, saving every dollar for his
+
+approaching journey. At last, having collected enough to keep life in
+
+him, he departed for Europe, and tracked his enemies from city to
+
+city, working his way in any menial capacity, but never overtaking the
+
+fugitives. When he reached St. Petersburg they had departed for Paris;
+
+and when he followed them there he learned that they had just set off
+
+for Copenhagen. At the Danish capital he was again a few days late, for
+
+they had journeyed on to London, where he at last succeeded in running
+
+them to earth. As to what occurred there, we cannot do better than quote
+
+the old hunter's own account, as duly recorded in Dr. Watson's Journal,
+
+to which we are already under such obligations.
+
+CHAPTER VI. A CONTINUATION OF THE REMINISCENCES OF JOHN WATSON, M.D.
+
+OUR prisoner's furious resistance did not apparently indicate any
+
+ferocity in his disposition towards ourselves, for on finding himself
+
+powerless, he smiled in an affable manner, and expressed his hopes that
+
+he had not hurt any of us in the scuffle. "I guess you're going to take
+
+me to the police-station," he remarked to Sherlock Holmes. "My cab's at
+
+the door. If you'll loose my legs I'll walk down to it. I'm not so light
+
+to lift as I used to be."
+
+Gregson and Lestrade exchanged glances as if they thought this
+
+proposition rather a bold one; but Holmes at once took the prisoner at
+
+his word, and loosened the towel which we had bound round his ancles.
+
+[23] He rose and stretched his legs, as though to assure himself that
+
+they were free once more. I remember that I thought to myself, as I eyed
+
+him, that I had seldom seen a more powerfully built man; and his dark
+
+sunburned face bore an expression of determination and energy which was
+
+as formidable as his personal strength.
+
+"If there's a vacant place for a chief of the police, I reckon you
+
+are the man for it," he said, gazing with undisguised admiration at my
+
+fellow-lodger. "The way you kept on my trail was a caution."
+
+"You had better come with me," said Holmes to the two detectives.
+
+"I can drive you," said Lestrade.
+
+"Good! and Gregson can come inside with me. You too, Doctor, you have
+
+taken an interest in the case and may as well stick to us."
+
+I assented gladly, and we all descended together. Our prisoner made no
+
+attempt at escape, but stepped calmly into the cab which had been his,
+
+and we followed him. Lestrade mounted the box, whipped up the horse, and
+
+brought us in a very short time to our destination. We were ushered into
+
+a small chamber where a police Inspector noted down our prisoner's name
+
+and the names of the men with whose murder he had been charged. The
+
+official was a white-faced unemotional man, who went through his
+
+duties in a dull mechanical way. "The prisoner will be put before the
+
+magistrates in the course of the week," he said; "in the mean time, Mr.
+
+Jefferson Hope, have you anything that you wish to say? I must warn you
+
+that your words will be taken down, and may be used against you."
+
+"I've got a good deal to say," our prisoner said slowly. "I want to tell
+
+you gentlemen all about it."
+
+"Hadn't you better reserve that for your trial?" asked the Inspector.
+
+"I may never be tried," he answered. "You needn't look startled. It
+
+isn't suicide I am thinking of. Are you a Doctor?" He turned his fierce
+
+dark eyes upon me as he asked this last question.
+
+"Yes; I am," I answered.
+
+"Then put your hand here," he said, with a smile, motioning with his
+
+manacled wrists towards his chest.
+
+I did so; and became at once conscious of an extraordinary throbbing and
+
+commotion which was going on inside. The walls of his chest seemed to
+
+thrill and quiver as a frail building would do inside when some powerful
+
+engine was at work. In the silence of the room I could hear a dull
+
+humming and buzzing noise which proceeded from the same source.
+
+"Why," I cried, "you have an aortic aneurism!"
+
+"That's what they call it," he said, placidly. "I went to a Doctor last
+
+week about it, and he told me that it is bound to burst before many days
+
+passed. It has been getting worse for years. I got it from over-exposure
+
+and under-feeding among the Salt Lake Mountains. I've done my work now,
+
+and I don't care how soon I go, but I should like to leave some account
+
+of the business behind me. I don't want to be remembered as a common
+
+cut-throat."
+
+The Inspector and the two detectives had a hurried discussion as to the
+
+advisability of allowing him to tell his story.
+
+"Do you consider, Doctor, that there is immediate danger?" the former
+
+asked, [24]
+
+"Most certainly there is," I answered.
+
+"In that case it is clearly our duty, in the interests of justice, to
+
+take his statement," said the Inspector. "You are at liberty, sir, to
+
+give your account, which I again warn you will be taken down."
+
+"I'll sit down, with your leave," the prisoner said, suiting the action
+
+to the word. "This aneurism of mine makes me easily tired, and the
+
+tussle we had half an hour ago has not mended matters. I'm on the brink
+
+of the grave, and I am not likely to lie to you. Every word I say is the
+
+absolute truth, and how you use it is a matter of no consequence to me."
+
+With these words, Jefferson Hope leaned back in his chair and began
+
+the following remarkable statement. He spoke in a calm and methodical
+
+manner, as though the events which he narrated were commonplace enough.
+
+I can vouch for the accuracy of the subjoined account, for I have had
+
+access to Lestrade's note-book, in which the prisoner's words were taken
+
+down exactly as they were uttered.
+
+"It don't much matter to you why I hated these men," he said; "it's
+
+enough that they were guilty of the death of two human beings--a father
+
+and a daughter--and that they had, therefore, forfeited their own
+
+lives. After the lapse of time that has passed since their crime, it was
+
+impossible for me to secure a conviction against them in any court. I
+
+knew of their guilt though, and I determined that I should be judge,
+
+jury, and executioner all rolled into one. You'd have done the same, if
+
+you have any manhood in you, if you had been in my place.
+
+"That girl that I spoke of was to have married me twenty years ago. She
+
+was forced into marrying that same Drebber, and broke her heart over
+
+it. I took the marriage ring from her dead finger, and I vowed that his
+
+dying eyes should rest upon that very ring, and that his last thoughts
+
+should be of the crime for which he was punished. I have carried
+
+it about with me, and have followed him and his accomplice over two
+
+continents until I caught them. They thought to tire me out, but they
+
+could not do it. If I die to-morrow, as is likely enough, I die knowing
+
+that my work in this world is done, and well done. They have perished,
+
+and by my hand. There is nothing left for me to hope for, or to desire.
+
+"They were rich and I was poor, so that it was no easy matter for me to
+
+follow them. When I got to London my pocket was about empty, and I found
+
+that I must turn my hand to something for my living. Driving and riding
+
+are as natural to me as walking, so I applied at a cabowner's office,
+
+and soon got employment. I was to bring a certain sum a week to the
+
+owner, and whatever was over that I might keep for myself. There was
+
+seldom much over, but I managed to scrape along somehow. The hardest job
+
+was to learn my way about, for I reckon that of all the mazes that ever
+
+were contrived, this city is the most confusing. I had a map beside me
+
+though, and when once I had spotted the principal hotels and stations, I
+
+got on pretty well.
+
+"It was some time before I found out where my two gentlemen were living;
+
+but I inquired and inquired until at last I dropped across them. They
+
+were at a boarding-house at Camberwell, over on the other side of the
+
+river. When once I found them out I knew that I had them at my mercy. I
+
+had grown my beard, and there was no chance of their recognizing me.
+
+I would dog them and follow them until I saw my opportunity. I was
+
+determined that they should not escape me again.
+
+"They were very near doing it for all that. Go where they would about
+
+London, I was always at their heels. Sometimes I followed them on my
+
+cab, and sometimes on foot, but the former was the best, for then they
+
+could not get away from me. It was only early in the morning or late
+
+at night that I could earn anything, so that I began to get behind hand
+
+with my employer. I did not mind that, however, as long as I could lay
+
+my hand upon the men I wanted.
+
+"They were very cunning, though. They must have thought that there was
+
+some chance of their being followed, for they would never go out alone,
+
+and never after nightfall. During two weeks I drove behind them every
+
+day, and never once saw them separate. Drebber himself was drunk half
+
+the time, but Stangerson was not to be caught napping. I watched them
+
+late and early, but never saw the ghost of a chance; but I was not
+
+discouraged, for something told me that the hour had almost come. My
+
+only fear was that this thing in my chest might burst a little too soon
+
+and leave my work undone.
+
+"At last, one evening I was driving up and down Torquay Terrace, as the
+
+street was called in which they boarded, when I saw a cab drive up to
+
+their door. Presently some luggage was brought out, and after a time
+
+Drebber and Stangerson followed it, and drove off. I whipped up my horse
+
+and kept within sight of them, feeling very ill at ease, for I feared
+
+that they were going to shift their quarters. At Euston Station they
+
+got out, and I left a boy to hold my horse, and followed them on to the
+
+platform. I heard them ask for the Liverpool train, and the guard answer
+
+that one had just gone and there would not be another for some hours.
+
+Stangerson seemed to be put out at that, but Drebber was rather pleased
+
+than otherwise. I got so close to them in the bustle that I could hear
+
+every word that passed between them. Drebber said that he had a little
+
+business of his own to do, and that if the other would wait for him he
+
+would soon rejoin him. His companion remonstrated with him, and reminded
+
+him that they had resolved to stick together. Drebber answered that the
+
+matter was a delicate one, and that he must go alone. I could not catch
+
+what Stangerson said to that, but the other burst out swearing, and
+
+reminded him that he was nothing more than his paid servant, and that he
+
+must not presume to dictate to him. On that the Secretary gave it up
+
+as a bad job, and simply bargained with him that if he missed the last
+
+train he should rejoin him at Halliday's Private Hotel; to which Drebber
+
+answered that he would be back on the platform before eleven, and made
+
+his way out of the station.
+
+"The moment for which I had waited so long had at last come. I had my
+
+enemies within my power. Together they could protect each other,
+
+but singly they were at my mercy. I did not act, however, with undue
+
+precipitation. My plans were already formed. There is no satisfaction in
+
+vengeance unless the offender has time to realize who it is that strikes
+
+him, and why retribution has come upon him. I had my plans arranged by
+
+which I should have the opportunity of making the man who had wronged me
+
+understand that his old sin had found him out. It chanced that some days
+
+before a gentleman who had been engaged in looking over some houses in
+
+the Brixton Road had dropped the key of one of them in my carriage. It
+
+was claimed that same evening, and returned; but in the interval I had
+
+taken a moulding of it, and had a duplicate constructed. By means of
+
+this I had access to at least one spot in this great city where I could
+
+rely upon being free from interruption. How to get Drebber to that house
+
+was the difficult problem which I had now to solve.
+
+"He walked down the road and went into one or two liquor shops, staying
+
+for nearly half-an-hour in the last of them. When he came out he
+
+staggered in his walk, and was evidently pretty well on. There was a
+
+hansom just in front of me, and he hailed it. I followed it so close
+
+that the nose of my horse was within a yard of his driver the whole way.
+
+We rattled across Waterloo Bridge and through miles of streets, until,
+
+to my astonishment, we found ourselves back in the Terrace in which he
+
+had boarded. I could not imagine what his intention was in returning
+
+there; but I went on and pulled up my cab a hundred yards or so from
+
+the house. He entered it, and his hansom drove away. Give me a glass of
+
+water, if you please. My mouth gets dry with the talking."
+
+I handed him the glass, and he drank it down.
+
+"That's better," he said. "Well, I waited for a quarter of an hour, or
+
+more, when suddenly there came a noise like people struggling inside the
+
+house. Next moment the door was flung open and two men appeared, one of
+
+whom was Drebber, and the other was a young chap whom I had never seen
+
+before. This fellow had Drebber by the collar, and when they came to
+
+the head of the steps he gave him a shove and a kick which sent him half
+
+across the road. 'You hound,' he cried, shaking his stick at him; 'I'll
+
+teach you to insult an honest girl!' He was so hot that I think he would
+
+have thrashed Drebber with his cudgel, only that the cur staggered away
+
+down the road as fast as his legs would carry him. He ran as far as the
+
+corner, and then, seeing my cab, he hailed me and jumped in. 'Drive me
+
+to Halliday's Private Hotel,' said he.
+
+"When I had him fairly inside my cab, my heart jumped so with joy that
+
+I feared lest at this last moment my aneurism might go wrong. I drove
+
+along slowly, weighing in my own mind what it was best to do. I might
+
+take him right out into the country, and there in some deserted lane
+
+have my last interview with him. I had almost decided upon this, when he
+
+solved the problem for me. The craze for drink had seized him again, and
+
+he ordered me to pull up outside a gin palace. He went in, leaving word
+
+that I should wait for him. There he remained until closing time, and
+
+when he came out he was so far gone that I knew the game was in my own
+
+hands.
+
+"Don't imagine that I intended to kill him in cold blood. It would only
+
+have been rigid justice if I had done so, but I could not bring myself
+
+to do it. I had long determined that he should have a show for his life
+
+if he chose to take advantage of it. Among the many billets which I
+
+have filled in America during my wandering life, I was once janitor and
+
+sweeper out of the laboratory at York College. One day the professor was
+
+lecturing on poisions, [25] and he showed his students some alkaloid,
+
+as he called it, which he had extracted from some South American arrow
+
+poison, and which was so powerful that the least grain meant instant
+
+death. I spotted the bottle in which this preparation was kept, and when
+
+they were all gone, I helped myself to a little of it. I was a fairly
+
+good dispenser, so I worked this alkaloid into small, soluble pills, and
+
+each pill I put in a box with a similar pill made without the poison.
+
+I determined at the time that when I had my chance, my gentlemen should
+
+each have a draw out of one of these boxes, while I ate the pill that
+
+remained. It would be quite as deadly, and a good deal less noisy than
+
+firing across a handkerchief. From that day I had always my pill boxes
+
+about with me, and the time had now come when I was to use them.
+
+"It was nearer one than twelve, and a wild, bleak night, blowing hard
+
+and raining in torrents. Dismal as it was outside, I was glad within--so
+
+glad that I could have shouted out from pure exultation. If any of you
+
+gentlemen have ever pined for a thing, and longed for it during twenty
+
+long years, and then suddenly found it within your reach, you would
+
+understand my feelings. I lit a cigar, and puffed at it to steady my
+
+nerves, but my hands were trembling, and my temples throbbing with
+
+excitement. As I drove, I could see old John Ferrier and sweet Lucy
+
+looking at me out of the darkness and smiling at me, just as plain as I
+
+see you all in this room. All the way they were ahead of me, one on each
+
+side of the horse until I pulled up at the house in the Brixton Road.
+
+"There was not a soul to be seen, nor a sound to be heard, except the
+
+dripping of the rain. When I looked in at the window, I found Drebber
+
+all huddled together in a drunken sleep. I shook him by the arm, 'It's
+
+time to get out,' I said.
+
+"'All right, cabby,' said he.
+
+"I suppose he thought we had come to the hotel that he had mentioned,
+
+for he got out without another word, and followed me down the garden.
+
+I had to walk beside him to keep him steady, for he was still a little
+
+top-heavy. When we came to the door, I opened it, and led him into the
+
+front room. I give you my word that all the way, the father and the
+
+daughter were walking in front of us.
+
+"'It's infernally dark,' said he, stamping about.
+
+"'We'll soon have a light,' I said, striking a match and putting it to
+
+a wax candle which I had brought with me. 'Now, Enoch Drebber,' I
+
+continued, turning to him, and holding the light to my own face, 'who am
+
+I?'
+
+"He gazed at me with bleared, drunken eyes for a moment, and then I
+
+saw a horror spring up in them, and convulse his whole features, which
+
+showed me that he knew me. He staggered back with a livid face, and I
+
+saw the perspiration break out upon his brow, while his teeth chattered
+
+in his head. At the sight, I leaned my back against the door and laughed
+
+loud and long. I had always known that vengeance would be sweet, but I
+
+had never hoped for the contentment of soul which now possessed me.
+
+"'You dog!' I said; 'I have hunted you from Salt Lake City to St.
+
+Petersburg, and you have always escaped me. Now, at last your wanderings
+
+have come to an end, for either you or I shall never see to-morrow's sun
+
+rise.' He shrunk still further away as I spoke, and I could see on his
+
+face that he thought I was mad. So I was for the time. The pulses in my
+
+temples beat like sledge-hammers, and I believe I would have had a fit
+
+of some sort if the blood had not gushed from my nose and relieved me.
+
+"'What do you think of Lucy Ferrier now?' I cried, locking the door, and
+
+shaking the key in his face. 'Punishment has been slow in coming, but it
+
+has overtaken you at last.' I saw his coward lips tremble as I spoke. He
+
+would have begged for his life, but he knew well that it was useless.
+
+"'Would you murder me?' he stammered.
+
+"'There is no murder,' I answered. 'Who talks of murdering a mad dog?
+
+What mercy had you upon my poor darling, when you dragged her from her
+
+slaughtered father, and bore her away to your accursed and shameless
+
+harem.'
+
+"'It was not I who killed her father,' he cried.
+
+"'But it was you who broke her innocent heart,' I shrieked, thrusting
+
+the box before him. 'Let the high God judge between us. Choose and
+
+eat. There is death in one and life in the other. I shall take what you
+
+leave. Let us see if there is justice upon the earth, or if we are ruled
+
+by chance.'
+
+"He cowered away with wild cries and prayers for mercy, but I drew my
+
+knife and held it to his throat until he had obeyed me. Then I swallowed
+
+the other, and we stood facing one another in silence for a minute or
+
+more, waiting to see which was to live and which was to die. Shall I
+
+ever forget the look which came over his face when the first warning
+
+pangs told him that the poison was in his system? I laughed as I saw
+
+it, and held Lucy's marriage ring in front of his eyes. It was but for
+
+a moment, for the action of the alkaloid is rapid. A spasm of pain
+
+contorted his features; he threw his hands out in front of him,
+
+staggered, and then, with a hoarse cry, fell heavily upon the floor. I
+
+turned him over with my foot, and placed my hand upon his heart. There
+
+was no movement. He was dead!
+
+"The blood had been streaming from my nose, but I had taken no notice of
+
+it. I don't know what it was that put it into my head to write upon the
+
+wall with it. Perhaps it was some mischievous idea of setting the police
+
+upon a wrong track, for I felt light-hearted and cheerful. I remembered
+
+a German being found in New York with RACHE written up above him, and it
+
+was argued at the time in the newspapers that the secret societies must
+
+have done it. I guessed that what puzzled the New Yorkers would puzzle
+
+the Londoners, so I dipped my finger in my own blood and printed it on
+
+a convenient place on the wall. Then I walked down to my cab and found
+
+that there was nobody about, and that the night was still very wild. I
+
+had driven some distance when I put my hand into the pocket in which
+
+I usually kept Lucy's ring, and found that it was not there. I was
+
+thunderstruck at this, for it was the only memento that I had of her.
+
+Thinking that I might have dropped it when I stooped over Drebber's
+
+body, I drove back, and leaving my cab in a side street, I went boldly
+
+up to the house--for I was ready to dare anything rather than lose
+
+the ring. When I arrived there, I walked right into the arms of a
+
+police-officer who was coming out, and only managed to disarm his
+
+suspicions by pretending to be hopelessly drunk.
+
+"That was how Enoch Drebber came to his end. All I had to do then was
+
+to do as much for Stangerson, and so pay off John Ferrier's debt. I knew
+
+that he was staying at Halliday's Private Hotel, and I hung about all
+
+day, but he never came out. [26] fancy that he suspected something when
+
+Drebber failed to put in an appearance. He was cunning, was Stangerson,
+
+and always on his guard. If he thought he could keep me off by staying
+
+indoors he was very much mistaken. I soon found out which was the window
+
+of his bedroom, and early next morning I took advantage of some ladders
+
+which were lying in the lane behind the hotel, and so made my way into
+
+his room in the grey of the dawn. I woke him up and told him that the
+
+hour had come when he was to answer for the life he had taken so long
+
+before. I described Drebber's death to him, and I gave him the same
+
+choice of the poisoned pills. Instead of grasping at the chance of
+
+safety which that offered him, he sprang from his bed and flew at my
+
+throat. In self-defence I stabbed him to the heart. It would have been
+
+the same in any case, for Providence would never have allowed his guilty
+
+hand to pick out anything but the poison.
+
+"I have little more to say, and it's as well, for I am about done up.
+
+I went on cabbing it for a day or so, intending to keep at it until I
+
+could save enough to take me back to America. I was standing in the
+
+yard when a ragged youngster asked if there was a cabby there called
+
+Jefferson Hope, and said that his cab was wanted by a gentleman at 221B,
+
+Baker Street. I went round, suspecting no harm, and the next thing I
+
+knew, this young man here had the bracelets on my wrists, and as neatly
+
+snackled [27] as ever I saw in my life. That's the whole of my story,
+
+gentlemen. You may consider me to be a murderer; but I hold that I am
+
+just as much an officer of justice as you are."
+
+So thrilling had the man's narrative been, and his manner was so
+
+impressive that we had sat silent and absorbed. Even the professional
+
+detectives, _blasé_ as they were in every detail of crime, appeared to
+
+be keenly interested in the man's story. When he finished we sat for
+
+some minutes in a stillness which was only broken by the scratching
+
+of Lestrade's pencil as he gave the finishing touches to his shorthand
+
+account.
+
+"There is only one point on which I should like a little more
+
+information," Sherlock Holmes said at last. "Who was your accomplice who
+
+came for the ring which I advertised?"
+
+The prisoner winked at my friend jocosely. "I can tell my own secrets,"
+
+he said, "but I don't get other people into trouble. I saw your
+
+advertisement, and I thought it might be a plant, or it might be the
+
+ring which I wanted. My friend volunteered to go and see. I think you'll
+
+own he did it smartly."
+
+"Not a doubt of that," said Holmes heartily.
+
+"Now, gentlemen," the Inspector remarked gravely, "the forms of the law
+
+must be complied with. On Thursday the prisoner will be brought before
+
+the magistrates, and your attendance will be required. Until then I will
+
+be responsible for him." He rang the bell as he spoke, and Jefferson
+
+Hope was led off by a couple of warders, while my friend and I made our
+
+way out of the Station and took a cab back to Baker Street.
+
+CHAPTER VII. THE CONCLUSION.
+
+WE had all been warned to appear before the magistrates upon the
+
+Thursday; but when the Thursday came there was no occasion for our
+
+testimony. A higher Judge had taken the matter in hand, and Jefferson
+
+Hope had been summoned before a tribunal where strict justice would
+
+be meted out to him. On the very night after his capture the aneurism
+
+burst, and he was found in the morning stretched upon the floor of the
+
+cell, with a placid smile upon his face, as though he had been able
+
+in his dying moments to look back upon a useful life, and on work well
+
+done.
+
+"Gregson and Lestrade will be wild about his death," Holmes remarked, as
+
+we chatted it over next evening. "Where will their grand advertisement
+
+be now?"
+
+"I don't see that they had very much to do with his capture," I
+
+answered.
+
+"What you do in this world is a matter of no consequence," returned my
+
+companion, bitterly. "The question is, what can you make people believe
+
+that you have done. Never mind," he continued, more brightly, after a
+
+pause. "I would not have missed the investigation for anything. There
+
+has been no better case within my recollection. Simple as it was, there
+
+were several most instructive points about it."
+
+"Simple!" I ejaculated.
+
+"Well, really, it can hardly be described as otherwise," said Sherlock
+
+Holmes, smiling at my surprise. "The proof of its intrinsic simplicity
+
+is, that without any help save a few very ordinary deductions I was able
+
+to lay my hand upon the criminal within three days."
+
+"That is true," said I.
+
+"I have already explained to you that what is out of the common is
+
+usually a guide rather than a hindrance. In solving a problem of this
+
+sort, the grand thing is to be able to reason backwards. That is a very
+
+useful accomplishment, and a very easy one, but people do not practise
+
+it much. In the every-day affairs of life it is more useful to reason
+
+forwards, and so the other comes to be neglected. There are fifty who
+
+can reason synthetically for one who can reason analytically."
+
+"I confess," said I, "that I do not quite follow you."
+
+"I hardly expected that you would. Let me see if I can make it clearer.
+
+Most people, if you describe a train of events to them, will tell you
+
+what the result would be. They can put those events together in their
+
+minds, and argue from them that something will come to pass. There are
+
+few people, however, who, if you told them a result, would be able to
+
+evolve from their own inner consciousness what the steps were which led
+
+up to that result. This power is what I mean when I talk of reasoning
+
+backwards, or analytically."
+
+"I understand," said I.
+
+"Now this was a case in which you were given the result and had to
+
+find everything else for yourself. Now let me endeavour to show you the
+
+different steps in my reasoning. To begin at the beginning. I approached
+
+the house, as you know, on foot, and with my mind entirely free from all
+
+impressions. I naturally began by examining the roadway, and there, as I
+
+have already explained to you, I saw clearly the marks of a cab, which,
+
+I ascertained by inquiry, must have been there during the night. I
+
+satisfied myself that it was a cab and not a private carriage by the
+
+narrow gauge of the wheels. The ordinary London growler is considerably
+
+less wide than a gentleman's brougham.
+
+"This was the first point gained. I then walked slowly down the garden
+
+path, which happened to be composed of a clay soil, peculiarly suitable
+
+for taking impressions. No doubt it appeared to you to be a mere
+
+trampled line of slush, but to my trained eyes every mark upon its
+
+surface had a meaning. There is no branch of detective science which
+
+is so important and so much neglected as the art of tracing footsteps.
+
+Happily, I have always laid great stress upon it, and much practice
+
+has made it second nature to me. I saw the heavy footmarks of the
+
+constables, but I saw also the track of the two men who had first passed
+
+through the garden. It was easy to tell that they had been before the
+
+others, because in places their marks had been entirely obliterated by
+
+the others coming upon the top of them. In this way my second link was
+
+formed, which told me that the nocturnal visitors were two in number,
+
+one remarkable for his height (as I calculated from the length of his
+
+stride), and the other fashionably dressed, to judge from the small and
+
+elegant impression left by his boots.
+
+"On entering the house this last inference was confirmed. My well-booted
+
+man lay before me. The tall one, then, had done the murder, if murder
+
+there was. There was no wound upon the dead man's person, but the
+
+agitated expression upon his face assured me that he had foreseen his
+
+fate before it came upon him. Men who die from heart disease, or any
+
+sudden natural cause, never by any chance exhibit agitation upon their
+
+features. Having sniffed the dead man's lips I detected a slightly sour
+
+smell, and I came to the conclusion that he had had poison forced upon
+
+him. Again, I argued that it had been forced upon him from the hatred
+
+and fear expressed upon his face. By the method of exclusion, I had
+
+arrived at this result, for no other hypothesis would meet the facts.
+
+Do not imagine that it was a very unheard of idea. The forcible
+
+administration of poison is by no means a new thing in criminal annals.
+
+The cases of Dolsky in Odessa, and of Leturier in Montpellier, will
+
+occur at once to any toxicologist.
+
+"And now came the great question as to the reason why. Robbery had not
+
+been the object of the murder, for nothing was taken. Was it politics,
+
+then, or was it a woman? That was the question which confronted me.
+
+I was inclined from the first to the latter supposition. Political
+
+assassins are only too glad to do their work and to fly. This murder
+
+had, on the contrary, been done most deliberately, and the perpetrator
+
+had left his tracks all over the room, showing that he had been there
+
+all the time. It must have been a private wrong, and not a political
+
+one, which called for such a methodical revenge. When the inscription
+
+was discovered upon the wall I was more inclined than ever to my
+
+opinion. The thing was too evidently a blind. When the ring was found,
+
+however, it settled the question. Clearly the murderer had used it to
+
+remind his victim of some dead or absent woman. It was at this point
+
+that I asked Gregson whether he had enquired in his telegram to
+
+Cleveland as to any particular point in Mr. Drebber's former career. He
+
+answered, you remember, in the negative.
+
+"I then proceeded to make a careful examination of the room, which
+
+confirmed me in my opinion as to the murderer's height, and furnished me
+
+with the additional details as to the Trichinopoly cigar and the length
+
+of his nails. I had already come to the conclusion, since there were no
+
+signs of a struggle, that the blood which covered the floor had burst
+
+from the murderer's nose in his excitement. I could perceive that the
+
+track of blood coincided with the track of his feet. It is seldom that
+
+any man, unless he is very full-blooded, breaks out in this way through
+
+emotion, so I hazarded the opinion that the criminal was probably a
+
+robust and ruddy-faced man. Events proved that I had judged correctly.
+
+"Having left the house, I proceeded to do what Gregson had neglected. I
+
+telegraphed to the head of the police at Cleveland, limiting my enquiry
+
+to the circumstances connected with the marriage of Enoch Drebber. The
+
+answer was conclusive. It told me that Drebber had already applied for
+
+the protection of the law against an old rival in love, named Jefferson
+
+Hope, and that this same Hope was at present in Europe. I knew now that
+
+I held the clue to the mystery in my hand, and all that remained was to
+
+secure the murderer.
+
+"I had already determined in my own mind that the man who had walked
+
+into the house with Drebber, was none other than the man who had driven
+
+the cab. The marks in the road showed me that the horse had wandered
+
+on in a way which would have been impossible had there been anyone in
+
+charge of it. Where, then, could the driver be, unless he were inside
+
+the house? Again, it is absurd to suppose that any sane man would carry
+
+out a deliberate crime under the very eyes, as it were, of a third
+
+person, who was sure to betray him. Lastly, supposing one man wished
+
+to dog another through London, what better means could he adopt than
+
+to turn cabdriver. All these considerations led me to the irresistible
+
+conclusion that Jefferson Hope was to be found among the jarveys of the
+
+Metropolis.
+
+"If he had been one there was no reason to believe that he had ceased to
+
+be. On the contrary, from his point of view, any sudden change would be
+
+likely to draw attention to himself. He would, probably, for a time at
+
+least, continue to perform his duties. There was no reason to suppose
+
+that he was going under an assumed name. Why should he change his name
+
+in a country where no one knew his original one? I therefore organized
+
+my Street Arab detective corps, and sent them systematically to every
+
+cab proprietor in London until they ferreted out the man that I wanted.
+
+How well they succeeded, and how quickly I took advantage of it, are
+
+still fresh in your recollection. The murder of Stangerson was an
+
+incident which was entirely unexpected, but which could hardly in
+
+any case have been prevented. Through it, as you know, I came into
+
+possession of the pills, the existence of which I had already surmised.
+
+You see the whole thing is a chain of logical sequences without a break
+
+or flaw."
+
+"It is wonderful!" I cried. "Your merits should be publicly recognized.
+
+You should publish an account of the case. If you won't, I will for
+
+you."
+
+"You may do what you like, Doctor," he answered. "See here!" he
+
+continued, handing a paper over to me, "look at this!"
+
+It was the _Echo_ for the day, and the paragraph to which he pointed was
+
+devoted to the case in question.
+
+"The public," it said, "have lost a sensational treat through the sudden
+
+death of the man Hope, who was suspected of the murder of Mr. Enoch
+
+Drebber and of Mr. Joseph Stangerson. The details of the case will
+
+probably be never known now, though we are informed upon good authority
+
+that the crime was the result of an old standing and romantic feud, in
+
+which love and Mormonism bore a part. It seems that both the victims
+
+belonged, in their younger days, to the Latter Day Saints, and Hope, the
+
+deceased prisoner, hails also from Salt Lake City. If the case has had
+
+no other effect, it, at least, brings out in the most striking manner
+
+the efficiency of our detective police force, and will serve as a lesson
+
+to all foreigners that they will do wisely to settle their feuds at
+
+home, and not to carry them on to British soil. It is an open secret
+
+that the credit of this smart capture belongs entirely to the well-known
+
+Scotland Yard officials, Messrs. Lestrade and Gregson. The man was
+
+apprehended, it appears, in the rooms of a certain Mr. Sherlock Holmes,
+
+who has himself, as an amateur, shown some talent in the detective
+
+line, and who, with such instructors, may hope in time to attain to some
+
+degree of their skill. It is expected that a testimonial of some sort
+
+will be presented to the two officers as a fitting recognition of their
+
+services."
+
+"Didn't I tell you so when we started?" cried Sherlock Holmes with a
+
+laugh. "That's the result of all our Study in Scarlet: to get them a
+
+testimonial!"
+
+"Never mind," I answered, "I have all the facts in my journal, and the
+
+public shall know them. In the meantime you must make yourself contented
+
+by the consciousness of success, like the Roman miser--
+
+"'Populus me sibilat, at mihi plaudo
+
+Ipse domi simul ac nummos contemplor in arca.'"
+
+ORIGINAL TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES:
+
+[Footnote 1: Frontispiece, with the caption: "He examined with his glass
+
+the word upon the wall, going over every letter of it with the most
+
+minute exactness." (_Page_ 23.)]
+
+[Footnote 2: "JOHN H. WATSON, M.D.": the initial letters in the name are
+
+capitalized, the other letters in small caps. All chapter titles are in
+
+small caps. The initial words of chapters are in small caps with first
+
+letter capitalized.]
+
+[Footnote 3: "lodgings.": the period should be a comma, as in later
+
+editions.]
+
+[Footnote 4: "hoemoglobin": should be haemoglobin. The o&e are
+
+concatenated.]
+
+[Footnote 5: "221B": the B is in small caps]
+
+[Footnote 6: "THE LAURISTON GARDEN MYSTERY": the table-of-contents
+
+lists this chapter as "...GARDENS MYSTERY"--plural, and probably more
+
+correct.]
+
+[Footnote 7: "brought."": the text has an extra double-quote mark]
+
+[Footnote 8: "individual--": illustration this page, with the
+
+caption: "As he spoke, his nimble fingers were flying here, there, and
+
+everywhere."]
+
+[Footnote 9: "manoeuvres": the o&e are concatenated.]
+
+[Footnote 10: "Patent leathers": the hyphen is missing.]
+
+[Footnote 11: "condonment": should be condonement.]
+
+[Footnote 13: "wages.": ending quote is missing.]
+
+[Footnote 14: "the first.": ending quote is missing.]
+
+[Footnote 15: "make much of...": Other editions complete this sentence
+
+with an "it." But there is a gap in the text at this point, and, given
+
+the context, it may have actually been an interjection, a dash. The gap
+
+is just the right size for the characters "it." and the start of a new
+
+sentence, or for a "----"]
+
+[Footnote 16: "tho cushion": "tho" should be "the"]
+
+[Footnote 19: "shoving": later editions have "showing". The original is
+
+clearly superior.]
+
+[Footnote 20: "stared about...": illustration, with the caption: "One of
+
+them seized the little girl, and hoisted her upon his shoulder."]
+
+[Footnote 21: "upon the": illustration, with the caption: "As he watched
+
+it he saw it writhe along the ground."]
+
+[Footnote 22: "FORMERLY...": F,S,L,C in caps, other letters in this line
+
+in small caps.]
+
+[Footnote 23: "ancles": ankles.]
+
+[Footnote 24: "asked,": should be "asked."]
+
+[Footnote 25: "poisions": should be "poisons"]
+
+[Footnote 26: "...fancy": should be "I fancy". There is a gap in the
+
+text.]
+
+[Footnote 27: "snackled": "shackled" in later texts.]
+
+[Footnote 29: Heber C. Kemball, in one of his sermons, alludes to his
+
+hundred wives under this endearing epithet.]
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's A Study In Scarlet, by Arthur Conan Doyle
+
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\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/frequency.py b/frequency.py
index acaa449..cde9cc5 100644
--- a/frequency.py
+++ b/frequency.py
@@ -2,23 +2,71 @@
 	Project Gutenberg """
 
 import string
-
+from pattern.web import *
+from pattern.en import *
+"""
+f1 = open('AStudyInScarlet', 'w')
+url = URL('http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/244/pg244.txt')
+study_scarlet = plaintext(URL('http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/244/pg244.txt').download())
+f1.write(study_scarlet.encode("UTF-8"))
+f1.close()
+"""
 def get_word_list(file_name):
 	""" Reads the specified project Gutenberg book.  Header comments,
 		punctuation, and whitespace are stripped away.  The function
 		returns a list of the words used in the book as a list.
 		All words are converted to lower case.
 	"""
-	pass
+	f = open(file_name, 'r')
+	lines = f.readlines()
+	curr_line = 0
+	end_line = 0
+	while lines[curr_line].find('START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK') == -1:
+		curr_line += 1
+	while lines[end_line].find('ORIGINAL TRANSCRIBER') == -1:
+		end_line +=1
+	#for line in lines:
+	#	if 'END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK' in line:
+	#		break
+	#	else:
+	#		book = ''.join(lines)
+	#		new_book = book.split()
+	lines = lines[curr_line+1:end_line-1]
+	book = ''.join(lines)
+	new_book = book.split()
+	word_list = []
+	for word in new_book:
+		new_word = word.strip(string.punctuation)
+		newer_word = new_word.strip(string.whitespace)
+		newest_word = newer_word.lower()
+		word_list.append(newest_word)
+	return word_list
+
+file_name = 'AStudyInScarlet'
+get_word_list(file_name)
 
 def get_top_n_words(word_list, n):
-	""" Takes a list of words as input and returns a list of the n most frequently
+	"""Takes a list of words as input and returns a list of the n most frequently
 		occurring words ordered from most to least frequently occurring.
 
 		word_list: a list of words (assumed to all be in lower case with no
 					punctuation
 		n: the number of words to return
 		returns: a list of n most frequently occurring words ordered from most
-				 frequently to least frequentlyoccurring
-	"""
-	pass
\ No newline at end of file
+				 frequently to least frequentlyoccurring"""
+	
+	word_counts = {}
+	for word in word_list:
+		if word not in word_counts:
+			word_counts[word] = 1
+		else:
+			word_counts[word] += 1
+	ordered_by_frequency = sorted(word_counts, key=word_counts.get, reverse=True)
+	return ordered_by_frequency[0:n]
+
+
+if __name__ == '__main__':
+ 	file_name = 'AStudyInScarlet'
+ 	word_list = get_word_list(file_name)
+ 	n = 100
+ 	print get_top_n_words(word_list, n)
\ No newline at end of file