A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
I hope you enjoy this reading, which comes from a
work in the public domain, A Study in Scarlet by
Arthur Conan Doyle, Chapter one, Mister Sherlock Holmes. In the
year eighteen seventy eight, 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

(00:22):
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

(00:42):
were in the same situation as myself, and succeeded in
reaching Kandahar in safety, where I found my regiment and
at once entered upon my new duties. The campaign brought
honors 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, which whom I served
at the fatal Battle of Maywand. There I was struck

(01:03):
on the shoulder by a Jesile bullet which shattered the
bone and grazed the subclavian artery. I should have fallen
into the hands of the murderous Gazis, 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,

(01:24):
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

(01:44):
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
despatched accordingly in the troopship Orantes, 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

(02:05):
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 maman 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,

(02:27):
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

(02:48):
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 reckonized young Stamford, who had been a dresser under
me at Bart's. 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

(03:10):
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

(03:33):
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, I answered, trying to solve the problem
as to whether it is possible to get comfortable rooms

(03:54):
at a reasonable price. That's a strange thing, remarked my companion.
You are the second man to 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 some one to go halves with
him in some nice rooms which he had found, and

(04:14):
which were too much for his purse. By jove, I cried,
if he really wants some one to share the rooms
and the expense, I am the veryman for him. I
should prefer having a partner to being alone. Young Stamford
looked rather strangely at me over his wineglass. You don't know,
Sherlock holmbs yet, he said, perhaps you would not care
for him as a constant companion. Why what is there

(04:37):
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 know, I have no idea what he intends to
go in for I believe he is well up in anatomy,

(04:58):
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? Four? I asked, no.
He is not a man that it is easy to
draw out, though he can be communicative enough when the

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fancy seizes him. I should like to meet him, I said.
If I am to lodge with any one, 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

(05:41):
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

(06:02):
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 propose 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,

(06:25):
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 merely 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

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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

(07:09):
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,

(07:30):
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 white washed wall and dun colored doors.
Near the further and a low arched passage branched away

(07:52):
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

(08:14):
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 reagent which is precipitated by hemoglobin and by
nothing else. Had he discovered a gold mine, greater delight
could not have shown upon his features, Doctor Watson, mister

(08:35):
Sherlock Holmes, said Stamford, introducing us, How are you, he said, cordially,
gripping my hand with the 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

(08:56):
question now is about hemoglobin. 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 medical 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

(09:17):
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 papet. Now I ad this small quantity
of blood to a liter of water. You perceive that
the resulting mixture has the appearance of pure water. The

(09:38):
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 color, and a brownish dust
was precipitated to the bottom of the glass. Jar ha ah,

(10:02):
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 Gyakum test was very
clumsy and uncertain. So is the microscopic examination for blood corpusals.

(10:23):
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.

(10:43):
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.

(11:04):
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
Vaughan Bischoff at Frankfort last year. He would certainly have

(11:25):
been hung had this test been in existence. Then there
was Mason of Bradford, and the notorious Muller, and Lefever
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,

(11:46):
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 modeled over with similar pieces

(12:06):
of plaster and discolored 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 Holms seemed delighted at the
idea of sharing his rooms with me. I have my

(12:29):
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
ships 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.

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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,

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I said, and I object to rose 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 rose, he asked anxiously. It depends on
the player, I answered. A well played violin is a

(13:36):
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 tomorrow and we'll go
together and settle everything. He answered, All right, noon exactly,

(13:56):
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 enigmatic all smile. That's
just his little peculiarity, he said. A good many people

(14:17):
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 men.
You know you must study him, then, Stamford said, as
he bade me good bye, You'll find him a knotty problem,

(14:40):
though I'll wager he learns more about you than you
about him. Goodbye, goodbye, I answered, and strolled on to
my hotel, considerably interested in my new acquaintance, Chapter two,
The Science of Deduction. We met next day, as he
had arranged and inspected the rooms at No. Two twenty
one B Baker Street of which he had spoken at

(15:02):
our meeting. They consisted of a couple of comfortable bedrooms
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 term seem
when divided between us, that the bargain was concluded upon
the spot, and we at once entered into possession. That

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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.

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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

(16:06):
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

(16:26):
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,

(16:48):
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 men 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

(17:10):
manipulating his fragile philosophical instruments. The reader may set me
down as a hopeless, busy body when I confess how
much this man stimulated my curiosity, and how often I
endeavored 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

(17:33):
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 endeavoring to unravel it.
He was not studying medicine. He had himself, in reply
to a question, confirmed Stamford's opinion upon that point. Neither

(17:57):
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 hi 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,
noaman would work so hard or attain such precise information

(18:18):
unless he had some definite end in view. Desultory readers
are seldom remarkable for the exactness of their learning. Noman
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

(18:40):
Thomas Carlyle, he inquired in the naivest way who he
might be in 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 traveled
round the Sun appeared to be to me such an
excis extraordinary fact that I could hardly realize it. You

(19:03):
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,

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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 skillful
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

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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 u ones,
but the solar system, I protested, What the deuce is it?
To me? He interrupted, impatiently, You say that we go

(20:08):
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 endeavored to
draw my deductions from it. He said that he would
acquire no knowledge which did not bear upon his object. Therefore,

(20:30):
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 one knowledge of

(20:51):
literature dot nil. Two philosophy dot nil. Three astronomy dot nil,
or politics dot feeble. Five botany dot variable well up
in belladonna, opium and poisons. Generally knows nothing of practical gardening.

(21:12):
Six geology dot 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 color
and consistence in what part of London he had received them.
Seven chemistry dot profound. Eight anatomy dot accurate but unsystematic.

(21:34):
Nine sensational literature dot immense. He appears to know every
detail of every horror perpetrated in the century. Ten plays
the violin well eleven is an expert singlestick player, boxer
and swordsman twelve has a good practical knowledge of British law.
When I had got so far in my list, I

(21:54):
threw it into the fire in despair. If I can
only find what the fellow is driving it by record,
inciling 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.

(22:15):
That he could play pieces and difficult pieces I knew well,
because at my request he has played me some of
Mendelssohn's Leader and other favorites. When left to himself, however,
he would seldom produce any music or attempt any recognized There.
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

(22:37):
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

(22:58):
favorite airs as a slight compensation for the trial upon
my patients. 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

(23:20):
as mister 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 gray headed, seedy visitor looking
like a jew peddler, who appeared to me to be
much excited, and who was closely followed by a slipshod
elderly woman. On another occasion, an old, white haired gentleman

(23:43):
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 Holms used to
beg for the use of the sitting room, and I
would retire to my bedroom. 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

(24:04):
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 fourth of March, as
I have good reason to remember, that I rose somewhat

(24:25):
earlier than usual, and found that Sherlock Homs 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,

(24:46):
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

(25:10):
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

(25:33):
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

(25:55):
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 inquirer begin by mastering more elementary problems. Let him,
on meeting a fellow mortal, learn at a glance to

(26:16):
distinguish the history of the men and the trade or
profession to which he belongs. Pureril. 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

(26:37):
each of these things, a man's calling is plainly revealed.
That all united should fail to enlighten the competent inquirer
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? Ask Sherlock Holmes.
Why this article, I said, pointing at it with my

(26:59):
eggs boon 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 clap down in a third

(27:20):
class carriage on the underground and asked to give the
trades of all his fellow travelers. 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,

(27:42):
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 and what that is. Here in
London we have lots of government detectives and lots of

(28:04):
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.

(28:27):
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

(28:49):
you mean to say I said that, without leaving your room,
you can unravel some not 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

(29:10):
a lot of special knowledge which I applied 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

(29:31):
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

(29:51):
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. Wherein the tropics could an English

(30:15):
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
Allan Poese. Dpan. I had no idea that such individuals

(30:36):
did exist outside of stories. Sherlock Holms rose and lit
his pipe. No doubt you think that you are complimenting
me in comparing me to Japan, he observed. Now, in
my opinion, Dupan was a very inferior fellow. That trick
of his of breaking in on his friend's thoughts with
an Apropos remark after a quarter of an hour's silence,
is really very showy and superficial. He had some analytical genius,

(30:59):
no doubt, but he was by no means such a
phenomenon as Poe appeared to imagine. Have you read Gaboryet's works,
I asked, does Lecick come up to your idea of
a detective? Sherlockom sniff sardonically. Lekick was a miserable bungler,
he said in an angry voice. He had only one
thing to recommend him, and that was his energy. That

(31:19):
book made me positively ill. The question was how to
identify an unknown prisoner. I could have done it in
twenty four hours. Lekick 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's style.
I walked over to the window and stood looking out

(31:42):
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

(32:02):
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 mode of so transparent that even
a Scotland yard official can see through it. I was
still annoyed at his pumptuous style of conversation. I thought
it best to change the topic. I wonder what that

(32:23):
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 bounds, thought

(32:43):
I to myself. He knows that I cannot verify his guess.
The thought had hardly passed through my mind when the
men 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 mister Sherlock Holmes, he said,
stepping into the room and handing my friend the letter.

(33:06):
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,

(33:30):
Royal Marine Light Infantry, Sir. No answer, write sir. He
clicked his heels together, raised his hand in a salute,
and was gone. Chapter three, The Lwst and Gardens Mystery.
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

(33:54):
remained some lurking suspicion in my mind, however, that the
whole thing was a pre arranged episode in ten did
it to dazzle me? Though? What earthly object he could
have been taken me and was past my comprehension. When
I looked at him, he had finished reading the note,
and his eyes had assumed the vacant, lack luster expression
which showed mental abstraction. How in the world did you
deduce that? I asked, deduce what said he petulantly, Why

(34:19):
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

(34:40):
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 with kers there we

(35:01):
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 two 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

(35:23):
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. 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

(35:45):
it to me aloud? This is the letter which I
read to him, My dear mister Sherlock Holmes. There has
been a bad business during the night at three Luriston Gardens,
off the Brixton Road. Our men on the beat saw
a light there about two in the morning, and as
the house was an empty, one suspect that something was amiss.
He found the door open, and in the front room,
which is bare of furniture, discovered the body of a

(36:06):
gentleman well dressed and having cards in his pocket bearing
the name of Enoch J. Drebber, Cleveland, Ohio U. S A.
There have been no robbery, nor is there any evidence
as to how the men 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

(36:27):
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 statue 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 favor me with your
opinion yours faithfully to Bias Gregson. Gregson is the smartest

(36:48):
of the Scotland yarders. My friend remarked, he and Lestrad
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

(37:08):
rippled on. Surely there is not a moment to be lost,
I cried, Shall I go and order you a cab?
I am not sure about whether I shall go. I
am the most incurably lazy devil that ever stood intoe 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

(37:29):
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

(37:49):
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 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

(38:10):
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 colored veil hung over the
house tops, looking like the reflection of the mud colored
streets beneath. My companion was in the best of spirits
and prattled away about Cremona fiddles and the difference between

(38:33):
a strativarius and ainimodi. 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's musical disquisition. No data yet, he answered.
It is a capital mistake to theorize before you have

(38:54):
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

(39:14):
journey upon foot number three. Lurist and 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 too 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,

(39:37):
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 color 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

(39:59):
police constable, surrounded by a small knot of loafers, who
craned their necks and strained their eyes in the vein
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

(40:19):
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.

(40:43):
There were many marks of footsteps upon the wit 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,

(41:04):
flaxen haired man with a note book 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,

(41:24):
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, mister 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

(41:45):
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,

(42:06):
No sir. Then let us go and look at the room,
with which, in consequent remark, he strode on into the house,
followed by Gregson, whose features expressed his astonishment. A short passage,
bare plank 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

(42:27):
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,

(42:49):
and here in their 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 marks. On one corner of this was struck the
stump of a red wax candle. The solitary window was
so dirty that the light was hazy and uncertain, giving
a dull, gray tinge to everything, which was intensified by

(43:12):
the thick layer of dust which coated the whole apartment.
All these details I observed afterwards. At present, my attention
was centered upon the single, grim, motionless figure, which lay
stretched upon the boards, with vacant, sightless eyes staring up
at the discolored 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,

(43:34):
stubbly beard. He was dressed in a heavy broadcloth frock
coat and waistcoat, with light colored 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.

(43:55):
On his rigid face there stood an expression of horror, and,
as it seemed to me, of hatred, such which as
I have never seen upon human features. This malignant and
terrible contortion, combined with the low forehead, blunt nose, and
prognathus jaw, gave the dead man a singularly simious and
apelike appearance, which was increased by his writhing on natural posture.

(44:15):
I have seen death in many forms, but never has
it appeared to me in a more fearsome aspect than
in the 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

(44:37):
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 scouts and
splashes of blood which lay all round. Positive cried both detectives. Then,

(45:00):
of course this blood belongs to a second individual, 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 thirty four. Do you remember
the case, Gregson? No, sir, read it up. You really should.
There is nothing new under the sun. It has all

(45:22):
been done before, as he spoke. His nimble fingers were
flying here, there and everywhere, feeling, pressing, unbuttoning, examining, while
his eyes were 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,

(45:43):
and then glanced at the saws 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.

(46:05):
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

(46:26):
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

(46:48):
the stairs. A gold watch No. Nine seven one six
three by Barroad of London, gold Albert chain, very heavy
and solid gold ring with Masonic device, gold pin, bulldog's
head with rubies as eyes, Russian leather card case with
cards of Enoch J. Drebber of Cleveland, corresponding with the E.

(47:12):
J D. Upon the linen. No purse but loose money
to the extent of seven pounds thirteen pocket edition of
Berccaccio's to Cameron, 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

(47:32):
strand to be left till called four. They are both
from the guy On 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 stan Jerson?
I did it at once, sir, said Gregson. I have
had advertisements sent to all the newspapers, and one of

(47:54):
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 stan Jerson, nothing else.

(48:20):
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

(48:41):
a pompous and self satisfied manner. Mister 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

(49:03):
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

(49:26):
this bare space. There was scrawled in blood red letters
a single word rake. 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
our own blood. See this mer where it has trickled
down the wall that disposes of the idea of suicide. Anyhow,

(49:50):
why was that corner chosen to write it on? I
will tell you. See the candle on the mantelpiece. It
was lit at the time, and if it was lit,
this cour 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

(50:11):
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,
mister 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,

(50:34):
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

(50:57):
glass from his pocket. With these two in 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,

(51:17):
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

(51:39):
applying his tape to the walls in an equally incomprehensible manner.
In one place, he gathered up, very carefully a little
pile of gray 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

(52:00):
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 maneuvers of
their amateur companion with considerable curiosity and some contempt. They
evidently failed to appreciate the fact which I had begun

(52:20):
to realize that Sherlock Holmn's 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. Remark, my friend, you are
doing so well now that it would be a pity
for any one to interfere. There was a world of
sarcasm in his voice as he spoke. If you will

(52:42):
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 forty six Audley Court, Kennington, park Gate. Holmes

(53:04):
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, were coarse, square toed boots,

(53:25):
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 four 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

(53:47):
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. Rake 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

(54:09):
open mouthed behind him. Chapter four. What John Rands had
to tell It was one o'clock when we left number
three Lewiston 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

(54:31):
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

(54:52):
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 WHI 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 thereafter the rain began,

(55:15):
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.

(55:35):
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.

(55:55):
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.

(56:18):
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

(56:40):
the case if the man's nail had been trimmed. I
gathered up some scattered ash from the floor. It was
dark in color and flaky, such an ash as is
only made by a trickanopoly. 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,

(57:00):
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,

(57:22):
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?

(57:45):
Above all? Why should the second men write up the
German word rake 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,

(58:07):
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.

(58:30):
It was simply a ruse to divert inquiry into a
wrong channel. I am not going to tell you much
more of the case, doctor. You know, a conjurer 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

(58:51):
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 and square Toes came in the same cab,
and they walked down the pathway together as friendly as possible,

(59:13):
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.

(59:38):
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 Halley's concert to hear
Norman Neruda this afternoon. This conversation had occurred while our
cab had been fretting its way through a long succession
of dingy streets and dreary byways. In the dingiest and

(59:58):
dreariest of them, our driver suddenly came to a stand.
That's oddly Court in there, he said, pointing to a
narrow slit in the line of dead colored brick. You'll
find me here when you come back. Oddly 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

(01:00:20):
through lines of discolored linen, until we came to number
forty six, the door of which was decorated with a
small slip of brass on which the name Rance was engraved.
On inquiry, we found that the Constable was in bed,
and we were shown into a little front parlor to
await his coming. He appeared, presently, looking a little irritable
at being disturbed in his slumbers. I made my report

(01:00:41):
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 disc. Just let us hear
it all in your own way. As it occurred, Rance
sat down on the horsehair sofa and knitted his brows,

(01:01:03):
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 Heart,
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 Atokin presently,

(01:01:27):
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

(01:01:48):
that same house. Now I knew that them two houses
in Luriston Gardens was empty on account of him that
owns them, who won't have the drain seen to. Though
the very last tenant what lived in one of them, died,
oh 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.

(01:02:10):
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.

(01:02:31):
I ain't afeard of anything on this side, oh the grave,
but I thought that maybe it was him the didoh
the typhoid, inspecting the drains what killed him. The thought
gave me a kind oak 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 any
one else. There was northwest one in the street, not
a livin soul, sir, nor as much as a dog.

(01:02:54):
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 aburnin. There was
a candle flick karn 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

(01:03:14):
walked through and tried the kitchen door. And then John
ran sprang to his feet with a frightened face and
suspicion in his eyes. Where was you hit to see
all that? He cried? It seems to me that you
knows a deal more than you should. Holmes laughed and
threw his cart across the table to the constable. Don't
get arresting me for the murder, he said, I am

(01:03:34):
one of the hounds and not the wolf. Mister Gregson
or mister 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

(01:03:56):
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 any one 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

(01:04:17):
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 sword o man,
he said. He'd hop found hisself in the station if
we hadn't been so took up his face his dress.

(01:04:39):
Didn't you notice them? Holmes broken impatiently. I should think
I did notice them, seeing that I had to prop
him up me a 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 agrieved for I'll wager he found his way

(01:05:02):
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

(01:05:26):
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 men
whom you held in your hands as the men 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

(01:05:49):
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 takeking advantage of it, I am rather in the dark. Still,
it is true that the description of this mentally is
with your idea of the second party in this mystery.

(01:06:09):
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.

(01:06:29):
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 colorless 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

(01:06:50):
attack and her bowing are splendid. What's that little thing
of chopin? She plays so magnificently trolla l aliilirolay leaning
back in the cab this amateur bloodhouse, and caroled away
like a lark while I meditated upon the many sidedness
of the human mind. Chapter five, Our advertisement brings a visitor.
Our morning's exertions had been too much for my weak health,

(01:07:12):
and I was tired out. In the afternoon, after holmes
departure for the concert, I lay down upon the sofa
and endeavored 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

(01:07:33):
countenance of the murdered men. So sinister was the impression
which the 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

(01:07:54):
of the victim was no condonement in the eyes of
the law. The more I thought of it, the more
extraordinary did my companions hypothesis that the men 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

(01:08:14):
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

(01:08:37):
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

(01:08:58):
that the power of producing in 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.

(01:09:20):
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 maywand without losing my nerve, I

(01:09:40):
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 men was raised up a
woman's wedding ring fell upon the floor. It is just

(01:10:00):
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

(01:10:22):
in the roadway between the white Hart Tavern and Holland Grove.
Apply doctor Watson, two twenty one b 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 any one applies,

(01:10:44):
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 men in the brown coat are
our florid friend with the square toes. If he does
not come himself, he will send an accomplice. Would he

(01:11:06):
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

(01:11:26):
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

(01:11:49):
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 it? 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,

(01:12:14):
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

(01:12:34):
cleared and Holmes was engaged in his favorite 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

(01:12:54):
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

(01:13:17):
on the inside. Thank you. This is a queer old
book I picked up at a stall yesterday to jure
enter genties. Published in Latin at Liege in the Lowlands
in sixteen forty two. Charles's Head was still firm on
his shoulders when this little brown backed volume was struck off.
Who is the printer Philippe de Croix, whoever he may
have been? On the fly leaf, in very faded ink,

(01:13:40):
is written ex libriskly on me White. I wonder who
William White was some pragmatical seventeenth century lawyer. I suppose
his writing has a legal twist about it. Here comes
our men, 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

(01:14:01):
heard the servant pass along the hall, and the sharp
click of the latch as she opened it. Does doctor
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

(01:14:22):
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 men 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

(01:14:43):
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 gentleman,
she said, dropping another curtsey, a gold wedding ring in
the Brixton Road. It belongs to my girl, Sallie, As

(01:15:06):
was married only this time twelvemonth, which her husband is
steward aboard a union boat. And what he'd say if
he come home and found her without her ring is
more than I can think, he being short enough at
the best oh 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. Sallie will

(01:15:28):
be a glad woman this night. That's the ring and
what may your address be? I inquired, taking up a pencil.
Thirteen Duncan Street, Hound's ditch a weary way from here.
The Brixton Road does not lie between any circus and
Hound's Ditch, said Sherlock Holmb sharply. The old woman faced

(01:15:48):
round and looked keenly at him from her little, red
rimmed eyes. The gentleman asked me for my address, She said,
Sallie lives in lodgings at three Mayfield Place, Peckham. And
your name is My name is Sawyer. Hers is Denis,
which Tom Denis married her, and a smart clean lad too,
as long as he's at sea, and no steward in

(01:16:09):
the company more thought of. But when on shore, what
with the women? And what with liquor shops? Here is
your ring, missus, 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 Holms sprang

(01:16:32):
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

(01:16:53):
her walking feebly along the other side, while her pursuer
dogged her some little distance behind. Either his 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

(01:17:14):
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 Honriy Mergers viaa Boheim.
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

(01:17:36):
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

(01:17:57):
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

(01:18:19):
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 thirteen
Duncan Street, Hounds Ditch. 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

(01:18:39):
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

(01:19:02):
in the empty cab and giving vent to the finest
assortid 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 thirteen, we found that the house
belonged to a respectable paper hanger named Keswick, and that
no one of the name either of Sawyer or Denis
had ever been heard of there. You don't mean to say,

(01:19:25):
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.

(01:19:48):
He saw that he was followed no doubt, and used
this means of giving me the slip. It shows that
the men 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 bade his injunction. I

(01:20:08):
left home seated in front of the smoldering 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 six to Bias, Gregson shows what
he can do. The papers next day were full of
the Brixton mystery, as they termed it. Each had a

(01:20:29):
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

(01:20:51):
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 venderic Aquatofana Carbonari, the marchionist, to Brinvilliers,

(01:21:13):
the Darwinian theory, the principles of Malthus, and the Ratcliffe
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

(01:21:36):
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, mister Joseph Stangerson. The two bade
adieu to their land lady upon Tuesday the fourth I
n s t And departed to Euston Station with the
avowed intention of catching the Liverpool Express. They were afterwards

(01:22:00):
seen together upon the platform. Nothing more is known of
them until mister 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 Stan Jerson. We are glad

(01:22:20):
to learn that mister Lestrade and mister 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 the effect of driving to our shores a

(01:22:41):
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 honor, any infringement of which was punished by death.
Every effort should be made to find the Secretary Stan Jerson,
and to ascertain some particulars of the habits of the deceased.
A great step had been gained by the discovery of

(01:23:02):
the address of the house at which he had boarded,
a result which was entirely due to the acuteness and
energy of mister 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,

(01:23:24):
It doesn't matter in the least. If the men 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 unsought. Trouvay toujours un plus sotka el admire,
What on earth is this? I cried for At this

(01:23:44):
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's
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 tension, cried Holmes in

(01:24:05):
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 haint, said one of
the youths. I hardly expected you would. You must keep

(01:24:26):
on until you do. Here are your wages. 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

(01:24:49):
seals men's lips. These youngsters, however, go everywhere and hear everything.
They are as sharp as needles too. All they want
is organization. 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

(01:25:12):
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 Holme's unresponsive hand.

(01:25:36):
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 men under lock and key, and his
name is Arthur Charpentier, sub Lieutenant in Her Majesty's Navy,

(01:25:59):
cried Gregson, pompously, rubbing his fat hands and inflating his chest.
Sherlock Holms 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 whisky in water? I don't mind
if I do, the detective answered. The tremendous exertions which

(01:26:21):
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,
mister Sherlock Holmes, for we are both brain workers. You
do me too much, honor, said Holmes, gravely. Let us
hear how you arrived at this most gratifying result. The

(01:26:43):
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
at the Secretary Stan Jerson, who had no more to
do with the crime than the babe unborn. I have

(01:27:05):
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,

(01:27:28):
or until parties came forward and volunteered information. That is
not to bias Gregson's way of going to work. You
remember the hat beside the dead men, Yes, said Holmes
by John Underwood and Sons, one hundred and twenty nine
Camberwell Road. Gregson looked quite crestfallen. I had no idea
that you noticed that, He said, have you been there?

(01:27:51):
No Ah, 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

(01:28:11):
had sent the hat to a mister Drebber residing at
Charpontier's boarding establishment, Torquay Terrace. Thus I got at his address, smart,
very smart, murmured Sherlock Holmes. I next called upon Madame Charpontier,
continued the detective. I found her very pale and distressed.
Her daughter was in the room, too, an uncommonly fine girl,

(01:28:33):
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, mister 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
border mister Enoch J. Drebber of Cleveland, I asked. The

(01:28:55):
mother nodded, she didn't seem abel 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 mister 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, mister Stangerson,

(01:29:16):
said that there were two trains, one at nine point
one five and one at eleven. He was to catch
the first, 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

(01:29:37):
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
mister Drebber again. God forgive you, cried Madame Charpontier, throwing
up her hands and sinking back in her chair. You

(01:29:58):
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

(01:30:22):
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

(01:30:44):
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

(01:31:04):
to speak, I will tell you all without omitting any
particular It is your wisest course, said I mister Drebber
has been with us nearly three weeks. He and his secretary,
mister stan Jerson, had been traveling on the continent. I
noticed a Copenhagen label upon each of their trunks, showing
that there had been their last stopping place. Stan Jerson

(01:31:26):
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,

(01:31:49):
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

(01:32:11):
your boarders when you wish, missus 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

(01:32:33):
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

(01:32:55):
of his sister. When I closed the door behind them,
a load seemed to be lifted from my alas. In
less than an hour there was a ring at the bell,
and I learned that mister 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

(01:33:17):
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,

(01:33:39):
but he caught her by the wrist and endeavored 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

(01:33:59):
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 mister Drebber's mysterious death.
This statement came from Missus Charpontier's lips with many gasps
and pauses. At times she spoke so low that I

(01:34:20):
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 missus Charpontier paused,
the detective continued, I saw that the whole case hung
upon one point. Fixing her with my eye in a

(01:34:42):
way which I always found effective with women, I asked
her at what hour her son returned? I do not know,
she answered not, no, 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

(01:35:06):
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 Charpontier 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,

(01:35:29):
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,

(01:35:52):
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 Is 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

(01:36:12):
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 men volunteered a statement

(01:36:35):
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

(01:36:56):
think of Lestrade, who had started off upon the wrong scent.
I am afraid he won't make much of it. Why,
by jove, here's the veryman 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 demeanor and dress were, however wanting. His

(01:37:17):
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 center 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

(01:37:41):
find it so, mister Lestrade, cried Gregson triumphantly. I thought
you would come to that conclusion. Have you managed to
find the secretary, mister Joseph Stangerson. The Secretary, mister Joseph Stangerson,
said Lestrade, gravely, was murdered at Halliday's private hotel about
six o'clock this morning. Chapter seven, Light in the Darkness.

(01:38:02):
The intelligence with which Lestrade greeted us was so momentous
and so unexpected, that we were all three fairly dumbfoundered
Gregson sprang out of his chair and upset the remainder
of his whisky and water. I stared in silence at
Sherlock Holmes, whose lips were compressed and his brows drawn
down over his eyes. Stan Jerson too, he muttered, the

(01:38:22):
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

(01:38:43):
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 showed me
that I was completely mistaken. Full of the one idea,

(01:39:04):
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 eight point
three zero and the time of the crime, and what
had become of him. Afterwards, I telegraphed to Liverpool, giving

(01:39:26):
a description of the men 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

(01:39:48):
on some meeting place beforehand, remarked Holmes. So it proved.
I spent the whole of yesterday evening in making inquiries
entirely without avail. This morning I began very early, and
at eight o'clock I reached Halliday's private hotel in Little
George Street. On my inquiry as to whether a mister
stan Jerson was living there, they at once answered me

(01:40:10):
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

(01:40:31):
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

(01:40:52):
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
night dress. He was quite dead, and had been for

(01:41:15):
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 men? I felt a creeping of the flesh and

(01:41:38):
a presentiment of coming horror. Even before Sherlock Holmes answered
the word rake 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

(01:42:01):
field of battle, tingled as I thought of it. The
men 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

(01:42:22):
saw men 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 men was tall, had
a reddish face, and was dressed in a long brownish coat.

(01:42:43):
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 exultationation or satisfaction upon his face. Did
you find nothing in the room which could furnish a

(01:43:05):
clue to the murderer? He asked nothing. Stan Jerson 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

(01:43:25):
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,

(01:43:45):
and his pipe was on a chair beside him. There
was a glass of water on the table, and on
the window still a small chip ointment box containing a
couple of pills. Sherlock Holms 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,

(01:44:08):
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 Stan Jerson 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,

(01:44:31):
said Lestrade, producing a small white box. I took them
in 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.

(01:44:53):
They were of a pearly gray color, 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 the poor little devil of a terrier, which
has been bad so long, and which the landlady wanted

(01:45:14):
you to put out of its pain? Yesterday? I went
downstairs and carried the dog upstairs in my arms. Its
labored breathing and glazing I 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,

(01:45:35):
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 wineglass, 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

(01:45:55):
of one who suspects that he is being laughed at.
I cannot see, however, what it has to do with
the death of mister 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.

(01:46:17):
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's earnest
demeanor 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 the cushion, breathing in a labored way, but apparently

(01:46:40):
neither the better nor the worse for its draft. 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

(01:47:03):
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

(01:47:24):
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

(01:47:44):
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

(01:48:07):
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

(01:48:28):
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

(01:48:49):
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

(01:49:11):
had the body of the victim been simply found lying
in the roadway, without any of those who tray in
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 mister Gregson, who
had listened to this address with considerable impatience, could contain
himself no longer. Look here, mister Sherlock Holmes, he said,

(01:49:35):
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 in preaching. Now,
though it is a case of taking the men, 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 men Stan Jerson, and it appears

(01:49:56):
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 men 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

(01:50:18):
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,

(01:50:39):
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

(01:51:01):
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,

(01:51:22):
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.

(01:51:43):
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 seem 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 others be
de glistened with curiosity and resentment. Neither of them had
time to speak, however, before there was a tap at

(01:52:06):
the door, and the spokesman of the street arabs. Young
Wiggins introduced his insignificant and unsavory 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

(01:52:26):
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 men 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

(01:52:49):
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

(01:53:11):
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 Holms sprang to his
feet again. Gentlemen, he cried, with flashing eyes, let me
introduce you to mister 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

(01:53:32):
realize it. I have a vivid recollection of that instant,
of Holmes's triumphant expression and the ring of his voice,
of the cabman's dazed, savage face as he glared at
the glittering handcuffs which had appeared, as if by magic,
upon his wrists. For a second or two, we might
have been a group of statues. Then, with an inarticulate
roar of fury, the prisoner wrenched himself free from Holmes's

(01:53:54):
grasp and hurled himself through the window. Woodwork and glass
gave way before him. But before he got quite through, Gregson, Lestrade,
and Homes 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.

(01:54:15):
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

(01:54:37):
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

(01:54:59):
refuse to answer them. Part two, The Country of the Saints.
Chapter one. 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 civilization. From
the Sierra Nevada to Nebraska, and from the Yellowstone River

(01:55:20):
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 in lofty mountains and dark and gloomy valleys. There
are swift, flowing rivers which dash through jagged cannons, and
there are enormous plains which in winter are white with snow,
and in summer are gray with the saline alkali dust.

(01:55:43):
They all preserve, however, the common characteristics of barrenness, in
hospitality 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 Goa, those awesome plains, and to find themselves
once more upon their prairies. The coyote skulks among the scrub,

(01:56:06):
the buzzard flaps heavily through the air, and the clumsy,
grisly bare 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

(01:56:29):
clumps of the dwarf as 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, gray earth.
Above all, there is absolute silence. Listen as one may.

(01:56:52):
There is no shadow of a sound in all that
mighty wilderness. Nothing but silence, complete and heart subduing silence.
It has been said, but 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

(01:57:14):
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,
other smaller and more delicate. The former have belonged to Oxen,
and the latter to men. For fifteen hundred miles, one

(01:57:36):
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 traveler. 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

(01:57:56):
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 luster, while
the hand which grasped his rifle was hardly more fleshy
than that of a skeleton. As he stood, he leaned

(01:58:16):
upon his weapon for support. And yet his tall figure
in the massive framework of his bones, suggested a wiry
and vigorous constitution. His gaunt face, however, and his clothes,
which hung so baggily over his shriveled limbs, proclaimed what
it was that gave him that se nile and decrepit appearance.
The men was dying, dying from hunger and from thirst.

(01:58:36):
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.

(01:58:58):
He looked with wild, questioning eye eyes, and then he
realized that his wanderings had come to an end, and
that there on that barren crag he was about to die?
Why not here as well as in a feather bed
twenty years? Hence, he muttered, as he seated himself in
the shelter of a bowlder. Before sitting down, he had
deposited upon the ground his useless rifle, and also a

(01:59:19):
large bundle tied up in a gray 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 gray 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.

(01:59:41):
You've hurt me, said a childish voice, reproachfully, have I,
though the men answered penitently, I didn't go for to
do it. As he spoke, he unwrapped the gray 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 wane, but her healthy arms and

(02:00:01):
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, showing the injured part up to him.
That's what mother used to do. Where's mother? Mother's gone?

(02:00:23):
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

(02:00:45):
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 Micah. When we goes

(02:01:08):
back to home, I'll give them to brother Bob. You'll
see prettier things than them soon, said the men, 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 c.
But there was something wrong compasses or map or somethin

(02:01:29):
and it didn't turn up. Water ran out. Just accept
a little drop for the likes of you, Anne, Anne,
and you couldn't wash yourself, interrupted his companion, gravely, staring
up at his grimy visage. No nor drink, and mister bender,
he was the fuss to go. And then Indian Pete,
and then Missus mc gregor, and then Johnny Holmes and

(02:01:52):
then Dearie your mother. Then mother's a debt or two,
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

(02:02:14):
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, will be with mother again.
Yes you will, deary, and you too. I'll tell her

(02:02:38):
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

(02:02:59):
three little 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,

(02:03:20):
pointing at their ill omen 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

(02:03:41):
not nearly so well done. They forgot the water in
the trees. What would you think of offering up prayer,
the men 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 use to say every night in the wagon when
we was on the plains. Why don't you say some yourself,

(02:04:05):
the child asked, with wondering eyes. I disremember them, he answered,
I hain't said none since I was half the height.
Oh 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.

(02:04:25):
You've got to put your hands up like this. It
makes you feel kind oh 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 cloutless heaven and heartfelt entreaty to the

(02:04:46):
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

(02:05:09):
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

(02:05:31):
verge of the Alkali plane, 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,

(02:05:51):
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 airs wilds. As the whirl of dust drew nearer
to the solitary bluff upon which the two castaways were
reposing the canvas covered tilts of wagons, and the figures
of armed horsemen began to show up through the haze,
and the apparition revealed itself as being a great caravan

(02:06:13):
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 wagons
and carts, men on horseback and men on foot, innumerable
women who staggered along under burdens, and children who toddled

(02:06:33):
beside the wagons 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, 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

(02:06:55):
sufficient to rouse the two tired wayfarers above them. At
the head of the column, they rode a score or
more of grave, iron faced men clad in somber 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 men with grisly hair, to the

(02:07:18):
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

(02:07:38):
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 gray 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 engines here, said the

(02:08:00):
elderly men who appeared to be in command. We have
passed the Pawnees, and there are no other tribes until
we crossed the great mountains. Shall I go forward and
see brother stan Jerson, 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

(02:08:20):
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 practiced 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 men, who had first given the alarm,

(02:08:42):
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 Baron 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

(02:09:03):
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

(02:09:26):
socks and nat shoes with shining buckles, offered a strange
contrast to the long, shriveled members of her companion. On
the ledge of rock. Above this strange couple there stood
three solemn buzzards, who, at the sight of the newcomers,
uttered rocous screams of disappointment and flapped sullenly away. The
cries of the foul birds awoke the two sleepers, who
stared about them in bewilderment. The men staggered to his

(02:09:47):
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 bone 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

(02:10:08):
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 wagons.
My name is John Ferrier, the wanderer, explained, me, and

(02:10:30):
that little hon are all that's left, Oh, twenty one people.
The rest is all dead, oh thurst and hunger away
down in the south. Is she your child? Ask some one.
I guess she is now, The other cried defiantly, She's mine,
cause I saved her. No one will take her from me.
She's Lucy Ferrier. From this day on, Who are you?

(02:10:51):
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,

(02:11:12):
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 Nauvu, in the state of Illinois,
where we had founded our temple. We have come to
seek a refuge from the violent men and from the godless,

(02:11:32):
even though it be the heart of the desert. The
name of Nauvu 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

(02:11:53):
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,

(02:12:16):
followed by a great crowd of Mormons, until they reached
a wagon 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 APIs. Beside the driver, their satomen,
who could not have been more than thirty years of age,
but whose massive head and resolute expression marked him as

(02:12:37):
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

(02:12:58):
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.

(02:13:20):
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

(02:13:41):
the cracking of whips and the creaking of wheels, the
great wagons got into motion, and soon the whole caravan
was winding along once more. The elder, to whose care
the two waives had been committed, led them to his wagon,
where a meal was already awaiting them. You shall remain here,
he said, in a few days, you will have recovered
from your footstigues. In the meantime, remember that now and

(02:14:03):
forever 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 two, 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

(02:14:24):
had struggled on with a constancy almost unparalleled in history.
The savage men 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

(02:14:44):
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 forevermore. Young speedily
proved himself to be a skillful administrator as well as
a resolute chief. Maps were drawn in charts prepared in
which the future city was sketched out all around, farms

(02:15:07):
were apportioned and allotted in proportion to the standing of
each individual. The tradesman was put to his trade in
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,

(02:15:30):
which they had erected in the center 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

(02:15:51):
Mormons to the end of their great pilgrimage. Little Lucy
Ferrier was born along pleasantly enough in Elder Stangerson's wagon,
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

(02:16:12):
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 inanimously agreed that
he should be provided with as large and as fertile
attractive land as any of the settlers, with the exception

(02:16:33):
of young himself and of Stangerson, Kembell, 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 skillful with

(02:16:53):
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 neighbors. 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

(02:17:16):
Inland Sea to the distant Wassatch 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

(02:17:38):
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.

(02:17:58):
In every other respect he can form to the religion
of the young settlement, and gained the name of being
an orthodox and straight walking men. 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 odor 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

(02:18:20):
more rooty, 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 live girlish figure tripping through the wheat fields, 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

(02:18:42):
the farmers, left her as fair as 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

(02:19:02):
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 the 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

(02:19:24):
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

(02:19:44):
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 sk Giel, an accomplished rider
their galloped lucy ferrier, her fair face flushed with the

(02:20:04):
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

(02:20:25):
their accustomed stoicism as they marveled 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 endeavored
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,

(02:20:48):
and she found herself completely embedded in the moving stream
of fearside 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
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

(02:21:09):
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 skillful 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

(02:21:29):
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,

(02:21:50):
which assured her of assistance. At the same moment, a
sinewy brown hand caught the frightened horse by the curb,
and forcing away 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

(02:22:12):
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

(02:22:32):
down from his house. When you see him, ask him
if he remembers the Jefferson Hopes of S. T. Lewis.
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,

(02:22:52):
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

(02:23:14):
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,

(02:23:37):
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

(02:23:57):
for silver, and were returning to Salt Lake's Inity in
the hope of raising capital enough to work some loads
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
Sia Era breezes, had stirred his volcanic, untamed heart to
its very depths. When she had vanished from his sight,

(02:24:20):
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

(02:24:42):
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 farmhouse. 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

(02:25:04):
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 in 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

(02:25:25):
in search of them. He soon became a favorite with
the old farmer, who spoke eloquently of his virtues on
such occasions. Lucy was silent, but her blushing cheek in
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 men who had won her affections.

(02:25:48):
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?

(02:26:10):
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 the head. Oh well,

(02:26:32):
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 cannon. Good Bye, my

(02:26:53):
own darling. Goodbye. 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,

(02:27:16):
the happiest girl in all Utah. Chapter three, 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

(02:27:36):
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

(02:27:58):
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

(02:28:19):
turned persecutors on their own account, and persecutors of the
most terrible description. Not the Inquisition of Seville, nor the
German Vemderic, 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

(02:28:42):
and omnipotent, and yet was neither seen nor heard. The
men 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

(02:29:02):
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

(02:29:27):
supply of adult women was running short, and polygamy without
a female population on which to draw was a barren doctrine. Indeed,
strange rumors began to be bandied about, rumors 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

(02:29:50):
mountain spoke of gangs of armed men, masked, stealthy and noiseless,
who flitted by them in the darkness. These tales and
rumors 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

(02:30:11):
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

(02:30:32):
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 neighbor and none spoke of
the things which were nearest his heart. One fine morning,
John Ferrier was about to set out to his wheat
fields when he heard the click of the latch, and
looking through the window, saw a stout, sandy haired, middle

(02:30:55):
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

(02:31:17):
a seat and eyeing the farmer keenly from under his
light colored eye lashes. 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 a protection. Is not this so? It is? So,
answered John Ferrier. In return for all this we asked

(02:31:40):
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

(02:32:00):
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.

(02:32:21):
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 favor in
the eyes of many who are high in the land.
John Ferrier groaned internally. There are stories of her which
I would feign. 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

(02:32:43):
Sainted Joseph Smith? Let every maiden of the true faith
marry one of the elect, For if she went 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 it, riding whip upon this
one point, your whole faith shall be tested. So it

(02:33:04):
has been decided in the sacred Council of four. The
girl is young, and we would not have her wet
gray hairs. Neither would we deprive her of all choice.
We elders have many heifers one, but our children must
also be provided. Stan Jerson 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.

(02:33:26):
They are young, and rich and of the true faith.
What say you to that one? Hebrecy Kempbell, in one
of his sermons, alludes to his hundred wives. Under this
endearing epithet, 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

(02:33:46):
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

(02:34:07):
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 steps 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

(02:34:29):
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

(02:34:51):
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

(02:35:13):
send him a message letting him know the hole we
are in. If I know anything. Oh that, young men,
he'll be back here with a speed that would whip
elector 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

(02:35:33):
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 chin out of Utah.
Leave Utah. That's about the size of it. But the
farm we will raise as much as we can in

(02:35:55):
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 men 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

(02:36:16):
buckshot traveling 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.

(02:36:37):
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 four,
A Flight for Life. On the morning which followed his
interview with the Mormon prophet, John Ferrier went into Salt

(02:36:58):
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 men
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

(02:37:19):
to see a horse hitch 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

(02:37:42):
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 traveled with you in the desert.
When the Lord stretched out his hand and gathered you
into the true fold, as he wore all the nations
in his own good time, said the other, in a
nasal voice. He grind death slowly, but exceeding. Small John

(02:38:05):
Ferrier bowed coldly. He had guessed who his visitors were.
We have come, continued stan Jerson, at the advice of
our fathers, to solicit the hand of your daughter, for
whichever of you s may seem good to you and
to her. As I have but four wives, and brother
Drebber here as seven, it appears to me that my
claim is the stronger one. Nay, nay, brother stan Jerson,

(02:38:25):
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.

(02:38:46):
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 dialog, John
Ferrier had stood fuming in the doorway, hardly able to
keep his riding whip from the back of his two visitors.
Look here, he said, at last, striding up to them.
When my daughter summons you, you can come. But until

(02:39:07):
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 honors, 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

(02:39:28):
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 stand, Jerson 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,

(02:39:50):
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

(02:40:13):
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 some one capable of

(02:40:33):
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

(02:40:55):
been spirited away before. Now and their goods given over
to the church. It 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,

(02:41:15):
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 unlook 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,

(02:41:36):
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

(02:41:56):
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 the 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,

(02:42:17):
pointed upwards. In the center of the ceiling was scrawled
with a burned stick, apparently the number twenty eight. 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 twenty seven had been painted
upon the outside of his door. Thus day followed day,

(02:42:40):
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 Farearrier

(02:43:00):
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

(02:43:20):
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.

(02:43:42):
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.

(02:44:04):
Before he consented to what he regarded as his daughter's dishonor,
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 too 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,

(02:44:26):
and his daughter what was to become of her after
he was gone? Was there no escape from the invisible
net work 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

(02:44:46):
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. Some one
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

(02:45:08):
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.

(02:45:30):
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,
of them, and lying flat upon his face upon the ground,
with arms and legs all a sprawl. 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

(02:45:53):
prostrate figure was that of some wounded or dying men,
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?

(02:46:14):
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 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

(02:46:37):
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 darn sharp,
but they're not quite sharp enough to catch her with
show 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

(02:46:59):
are meant to be out 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

(02:47:20):
in Utah. What are we to do? Tomorrow 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

(02:47:41):
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.

(02:48:03):
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,

(02:48:26):
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 but which protruded from the front of
his tunic. If they are too many for us, we

(02:48:47):
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. Forever. He had long
nerved himself to the sacrifice, however, and the thought of
the honor and happiness of his daughter outweighed any regret
at his ruined fortunes. All looked so peaceful and happy,

(02:49:10):
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

(02:49:32):
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

(02:49:53):
young men seized his two companions and dragged them down
into the shadow, where they lay, silent and trembling. It
was as well, but 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.

(02:50:13):
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. Tomorrow at midnight, said the first,
who appeared to be in authority. When the whippoor will
calls three times, it is well returned the other. Shall
I tell brother Drebber pass it on to him, and

(02:50:35):
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

(02:50:56):
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

(02:51:18):
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 Cannon, in
which the horses were awaiting them with unerring instinct. Jefferson
Hope picked his way among the great boulders and along

(02:51:39):
the bed of a dried up water course until he
came to the retired corner, screened with rocks, where the
faithful animals had been picketed. The girl was placed upon
the mule. An 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

(02:51:59):
in her wild 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 were in the irregular track, so narrow

(02:52:19):
in places that they had to travel an Indian file,
and so rough that only practiced 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.

(02:52:41):
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 sun silent Ravine travelers for Nevada, said

(02:53:03):
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

(02:53:24):
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,

(02:53:45):
and knew that they had passed the outlying post of
the Chosen People, and that freedom lay before them. Chapter
five The Avenging Angels. All night their course lay through
intricate defile 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 marvelous, though savage beauty

(02:54:08):
lay before them in every direction. The great snow capped
peakus 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 in 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 in illusion, for the barren
valley was thickly strewn with trees and boulders which had

(02:54:29):
fallen in a similar manner. Even as they passed, a
great rock came thundering down with a horse 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

(02:54:51):
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 hate 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,

(02:55:13):
we may rest for the remainder of our lives. During
the whole of the day, they struggled on through the defile,
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,

(02:55:34):
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.

(02:55:56):
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

(02:56:19):
bade lucy ado, 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 background. Then the
intervening rocks hid them from his view. He walked for
a couple of miles through one ravine after another without success,

(02:56:40):
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

(02:57:02):
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

(02:57:24):
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

(02:57:46):
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 subdivided 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

(02:58:07):
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 had 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

(02:58:31):
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 insure 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

(02:58:53):
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
alloud haloo 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

(02:59:14):
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,

(02:59:35):
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, men,
maiden all were gone. It was only too clear that
some sudden and terrible disaster had occurred during his absence,

(02:59:56):
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 smoldering fire, he blew it into a

(03:00:19):
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,

(03:00:40):
when as 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 stufu in the cleft fork of it.

(03:01:02):
The inscription upon the paper was brief, but to the point.
John Ferrier, formerly of Salt Lake City, died August fourth,
eighteen sixty. 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

(03:01:24):
their terrible pursuers to fulfill 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 spirits shook off the
lethargy which springs from despair. If there was nothing else

(03:01:46):
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 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

(03:02:10):
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 smoldering 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

(03:02:31):
days he toiled footsore and weary through the defile 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
cannon from which they had commenced their ill fated flight.
Thence he could look down upon the home of the Saints.

(03:02:53):
Worn and exhausted, he leaned upon his rifle and shook
his gun 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 horses hoofs
and saw a mounted man riding towards him. As he approached,

(03:03:14):
he recognized him as a Mormon named Cooper, 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's 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

(03:03:37):
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 don't

(03:04:00):
fear them were their warrant, Hope said earnestly, you must
know something of this matter, Cooper, 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.

(03:04:20):
The very rocks have ears and the tree's 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.

(03:04:41):
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
stan Jerson 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 strong hunger, so the
prophet gave her over to him. No one won't have

(03:05:03):
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 chiseled 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

(03:05:27):
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

(03:05:49):
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,

(03:06:09):
the door was flung open, and a savage looking, weather
beaten men 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

(03:06:30):
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,

(03:06:51):
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

(03:07:13):
passed under, a cliff of 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

(03:07:34):
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

(03:07:56):
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?

(03:08:17):
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 too 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 Minds for nearly five At the end of

(03:08:40):
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

(03:09:00):
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 stan Jerson, and no one knew whither
they had gone. Rumor reported that Drebber had managed to
convert a large part of his property into money, and

(03:09:22):
that he had departed a wealthy man, while his companion
Stan Jerson 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

(03:09:42):
employment as he could pick up, he traveled 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,

(03:10:03):
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 Stan Jerson, who had become his

(03:10:25):
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

(03:10:47):
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

(03:11:10):
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 doctor Watson's journal, to which we are already

(03:11:32):
under such obligations. Chapter six, 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 heard
any of us in the scuffle. I guess you are

(03:11:54):
going to take me to the police station, he remarked
to Sherlock Holmes. My cabs at the door. If you'll
loose my legs, I'll walk down to it. I'm not
so like 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 ankles. He rose and stretched his legs,

(03:12:16):
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 men for it, he said,
gazing with undisguised admiration at my fellow lodger. The way

(03:12:40):
you kept on my trail was a caution. You had
better come with me. Set 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.

(03:13:00):
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

(03:13:20):
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 meantime, mister 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,

(03:13:43):
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

(03:14:06):
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

(03:14:27):
from the same source. Why I cried, you have an
aortic aneurysm. 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 past. It has been getting worse for years.
I got it from overexposure and underfeeding among the Salt
Lake Mountains. I've done my work now and I don't

(03:14:50):
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, Most certainly there is. I answered. In that case,

(03:15:11):
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

(03:15:34):
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 as 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.

(03:15:54):
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

(03:16:16):
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

(03:16:36):
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 I 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

(03:16:57):
do it. If I died tomorrow, as is like 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

(03:17:17):
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
Kabouner'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.

(03:17:37):
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

(03:17:59):
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

(03:18:20):
where they were 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

(03:18:43):
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

(03:19:04):
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

(03:19:26):
and stan Jerson 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 answered that one
had just gone and there would not be another for

(03:19:47):
some hours. Stan Jerson 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

(03:20:10):
that the matter was a delicate one, and that he
must go alone. I could not catch what stan Jerson
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,

(03:20:31):
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 it 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

(03:20:55):
vengeance unless the offender has time to realize who it
is that strikes him and why retribution has come up
upon him. I had my plans arranged by which I
should have the opportunity of making the men 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.

(03:21:16):
It was claimed that same evening and returned. But in
the interval I had taken a molding 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

(03:21:38):
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 harris

(03:22:00):
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 handsom 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.

(03:22:22):
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

(03:22:42):
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 curse 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

(03:23:05):
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,

(03:23:28):
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

(03:23:50):
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 sweet
out of the laboratory at York College. One day the
professor was lecturing on poisons, 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

(03:24:12):
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

(03:24:34):
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.

(03:24:55):
Dismal as it was outside, I was glad within, so
glad that I could have shouted out from pe your 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

(03:25:19):
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

(03:25:40):
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,

(03:26:02):
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

(03:26:23):
light to my own face. Who am I? He gazed
at me with bleard, 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

(03:26:46):
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 s. T. 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

(03:27:08):
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

(03:27:30):
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

(03:27:52):
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

(03:28:15):
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

(03:28:35):
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

(03:28:57):
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

(03:29:17):
Rake 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

(03:29:38):
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

(03:29:58):
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 stan Jerson and so pay off
John Ferrier's debt. I knew that he was staying at

(03:30:18):
Halliday's private hotel, and I hung about all day, but
he never came out. I fancied that he suspected something
when Drebber failed to put in an appearance. He was cunning,
was stan Jerson, 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

(03:30:39):
took advantage of some ladders which were lying in the
lane behind the hotel, and so made my way into
his room in the gray 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 poison pills.
Instead of grasping at the chance of safety which that
offered him, he sprang from his bed and flew at

(03:31:01):
my throat. In self defense, 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

(03:31:24):
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 two twenty one B.
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 shackled as ever
I saw in my life. That's the whole of my story. Gentlemen,

(03:31:44):
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, blase 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

(03:32:06):
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 Holms 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.

(03:32:26):
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

(03:32:49):
attendants 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 seven, the conclusion. We had all been warned to
appear before the magistrates upon the Thursday, but when the

(03:33:09):
Thursday came there was no occasion for a 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

(03:33:30):
upon a useful life and on work well done. Greggson
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

(03:33:53):
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,

(03:34:14):
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

(03:34:36):
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 practice 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,

(03:34:58):
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

(03:35:18):
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 endeavor to show you the
different steps in my reasoning. To begin at the beginning.

(03:35:42):
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

(03:36:03):
gage of the wheels. The ordinary London growler is considerably
less wide than a gentleman's brooom. 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 as every mark upon its surface had a meaning.

(03:36:26):
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 its 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

(03:36:48):
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
calcul related 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 men lay before me.

(03:37:13):
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

(03:37:33):
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

(03:37:57):
no means a new thing in criminal annals. The cases
of Dalsky and Odessa, and of Lecherier 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

(03:38:18):
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,

(03:38:39):
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

(03:38:59):
that I asked Gregson whether he had inquired in his
telegram to Cleveland as to any particular point in mister
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 murderous height,
and furnished me with the additional details as to the
trichinopoly cigar and the length of his nails. I had

(03:39:21):
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

(03:39:43):
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
inquiry to the circumstances connected with the marriage of Enoch Drebber.
The answer was conclusive. It told me that drea Ver
had already applied for the protection of the law against
an old rival in love named Jefferson Hope, and that

(03:40:05):
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
men who had walked into the house with Drebber was
none other than the men 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 any one in charge of it.

(03:40:27):
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 cab driver. All these considerations led

(03:40:49):
me to the irresistible conclusion that Jefferson Hope was to
be found among the jarvis 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

(03:41:10):
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 men
that I wanted. How well they succeeded, and how quickly
I took advantage of it, are still fresh in your recollection.

(03:41:32):
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

(03:41:56):
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

(03:42:16):
the sudden death of them in Hope, who was suspected
of the murder of mister Enoch Drebber and of mister
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

(03:42:39):
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,

(03:43:01):
Messrs Lestrade and Gregson. The men was apprehended, it appears
in the rooms of a certain mister 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

(03:43:24):
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,

(03:43:44):
like the Roman miser populus mesibilt at mihi Plato ipsy Domi,
Simile Acnamo's contemplor in Arca

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