Sherlock Holmes Complete Works 1

Chapter 16 Research on Scarlet Characters 16
The morning after John Ferrier's conversation with the Mormon prophet, he went to Salt Lake City, found the acquaintance who was going to the Sierra Nevada, and entrusted him to Jefferson?A letter from Hou Po.The letter told the young man of their imminent danger, and demanded his immediate return.After finishing this matter, he breathed a sigh of relief, and went home with a happier mood.

When he was approaching the farm, he was surprised to find a horse hitched to each of the two posts beside the gate.He hurried into the house and found two young men in the living room.One with a pale face and a long face was lying on a rocking chair, with his feet raised high, leaning on the stove.The other, stubby-necked and vulgar-looking, stood triumphantly at the window, with his hands in his pockets, blowing popular hymns.Both nodded to Ferrier as he entered.The one in the rocker spoke first.

He said, "Let us introduce ourselves. This is the son of Elder Draper, and I am Joseph St. Jason. I will travel with you in the desert when the hand of God draws you out of the sea of ​​misery." Pass."

Another said in a nasal voice: "God will bring all mankind into his kingdom in due time. It will be slow, but it will be very delicate, and there will be no omissions."

John Ferrier nodded dryly.He had already guessed the identity of the visitor.

Stuart Jason continued: "We have come to propose to your daughter by the will of our father. Please see which of us is more suitable. I have only four wives, and the Draper brothers have seven. one, so I need it more than he does."

"You can't say that, Brother Ster Jackson," cried another hastily, "it's not how many wives we've got, but how many we can support. My father has given me the mill, so I compare You have money."

Ster Jason retorted fiercely: "But I will be richer than you in the future. When God calls my father, I will be in charge of his tannery and tannery. Besides, I am older than you, and in the The status in the church is also higher than yours."

Little Draper smiled in the mirror, and said, "Let the girl decide for herself, and we are completely at her choice."

During the course of this conversation, John Ferrier stood at the door, so angry that he was about to whip the two intruders with a riding whip.

In the end, he couldn't bear it anymore, strode up to them and shouted: "Listen, you can only come here if my daughter told you to come. But if she didn't call you, I don't want to see your ugly faces again."

Startled, the two young Mormons stared at him wide-eyed.They had thought that it was a great honor both to him and to his daughter that they were vying to propose to the girl.

Ferrier roared: "There are two ways out of this house. One is the door and the other is the window. Which will you choose?"

His brown face was very fierce, and his veined hands were menacing.The two guests jumped up in fright and ran away.Ferrier followed all the way to the door.

"Let me know when you two have decided which way to go," he said sarcastically.

Ster Jason turned pale with anger.He cried: "You are asking for trouble! How dare you defy the Prophet and the Four Saints. You will regret it forever!"

Little Draper also cried: "God will punish you, and if he can make you live, he can also make you die!"

"Then I'll let you die first!" Ferrier roared angrily, causing the door to buzz.He was about to run upstairs to get his shotgun when Lucy stopped him by the arm.Before he could break free from Lucy's grasp, he heard the sound of a horse's hooves.Site Jason and the others had already run far away, and he couldn't catch up.

Wiping his sweat angrily, he shouted: "These two idle bastards! If you marry such a person, you might as well let you die."

Lucy agreed. "I thought so too, Daddy. But Jefferson is coming soon."

"Yes, it's a good thing he's coming. I wish he'd come back sooner. I don't know what those bastards are up to."

Indeed, this strong farmer and his daughter are in the most difficult and dangerous juncture, and they urgently need someone to help them get out of the predicament and give them advice.In the entire area controlled by the Mormons, no one has ever dared to openly disobey the order of the Four Saints.Even a small mistake will be severely punished, so what is the outcome of such a public disobedience to the order of the Four Saints?Ferrier knew in his heart that his wealth and position were now passing to him.Before him, people with money and status like him had been assassinated, and all the property of the victim had been returned to the church.Although he is brave, he still has some fear in his heart about the unpredictable catastrophe that will come.He can face any danger in front of him, rush and bear it fearlessly, but this kind of restless and fearful day is really unbearable.But he tried his best not to show his feelings, and was discovered by his daughter, who pretended to be nonchalant all day long.But he couldn't hide it from his daughter no matter how much he concealed it. Lucy had already seen his father's anxiety all day long.

He expected that his actions would definitely bring unpredictable disasters. After receiving the warning from the prophet Yang, what he expected happened, but the way he expected was unexpected.When Ferrier got up the next morning, he was surprised to find that there was a note pinned to his chest on his quilt, on which was written crookedly:

"You are limited to correct your evil within 29 days, otherwise—"

The horizontal line after the word is more effective than any threatening language.How it came to his house, and pinned to his quilt, John Ferrier could not guess.For his servants slept in another house, and the doors of their house were bolted.He crumpled up the note carelessly and threw it away, not revealing anything to his daughter.However, the occurrence of this incident made him even more frightened.Isn't the "29 days" on the note just a reminder of the remaining time limit.If you just rely on your blood and bravery, you will not be able to deal with such a mysterious and unpredictable enemy.The person who nailed the note could have killed him with a single knife, but he would have done it so quietly that no one knew who the murderer was.

The next morning, something even stranger shocked Ferrier.They were sitting down to breakfast when Lucy cried out and pointed to the ceiling.It turned out that in the center of the ceiling, there was a large "28" written in what looked like it was written on a charred wooden stick.The daughter did not understand what the number meant, and Ferrier did not explain it to her.That night, he didn't sleep, and kept watch all night with a gun.This night, nothing unusual was found.However, the next morning, another big "27" was written on the door of his house.

Day after day passed like this, and every day he could find the numbers written by his enemies, as if the dawn must come every day, and those numbers were always written in conspicuous places to remind him of the remaining deadlines.Sometimes it was written on the wall, sometimes on the floor, and sometimes it was written on paper, which was taped to the garden gate or railing.In spite of John Ferrier's vigilance he could not find out who did it and when.When he saw these warnings every day, he was terrified like a demon.Because of this, he couldn't eat, couldn't sleep, and lost weight day by day. His eyes showed a look of panic all day long, like a wild animal being chased.Now his only hope is that Hou Po will rush back from Nevada as soon as possible.

The dates changed from twenty days to fifteen days, and from fifteen days to ten days, and the fatal figures were recorded day by day, but there was no news of Jefferson Hope.Time passed by, and the deadline was getting closer, but Hou Po was still nowhere to be seen.Ferrier was eager for him, and whenever he heard the sound of horses' hoofs on the road, or the sound of herds shouting, he always hurried to the gate and looked around, thinking that Hopper had returned, but every time he returned disappointed. .The deadline shortened day by day, and he had to give up the idea of ​​running away.He was alone and helpless, and unfamiliar with the surrounding mountains, he felt deeply powerless.The roads that pass through are strictly guarded, and no one can pass without the order of the Four Saints.He was obviously at the end of the road, and it seemed that he could not avoid this catastrophe.However, the old man's determination did not waver in the slightest. He would rather fight to the death than see his daughter suffer this humiliation.

One evening he sat alone, brooding over the danger he faced, but racking his brains he could not think of a way out of it.That morning, a "2" had already appeared on the wall, which meant that the next day was the last day of the deadline.What will happen then?His mind was filled with vague and dire predictions.What would happen to his daughter after he died?Can they really not escape this invisible net that surrounds them?Thinking that he was so helpless, he couldn't help crying on the table.

What is the sound?In the silence he heard a soft crawling sound.Although the sound is extremely soft, it can be heard very clearly in the silent night.The voice came from the gate.Ferrier slipped into the drawing room and listened with bated breath.The voice stopped for a moment, and then it sounded again, so soft that it was creepy.Suddenly, Ferrier felt someone knocking lightly on the door.Could it be that the midnight assassin came to carry out the assassination order of the secret court?Or some kind of legwork to write the numbers for the last day of that deadline?John Ferrier felt that it would be better to die happily than to live in such fear and fear every day.So he jumped up, pulled the latch, and opened the door.

There was silence outside the door.The night was fading, and the stars twinkled brightly overhead.In front of you is a small garden in front of the court, surrounded by fences and gates.But there was no one in the garden or on the road.Ferrier looked around and breathed a sigh of relief.When he inadvertently looked at his feet, he was surprised to find a person lying there with his hands and feet stretched out straight.

Seeing this scene, he leaned against the wall in horror and covered his throat with his hands so as not to cry out.At first, he thought the man might be injured, or nearly dead.After he took a closer look, he saw that the man crawled on the ground quickly and silently like a snake, and crawled into the living room.The man jumped up as soon as he entered the house and quickly closed the door.Only then did he see clearly that it was the long-awaited Jefferson Hope who came.

"My God!" John Ferrier was surprised and delighted. "You scared me to death. Why did you come in like this?"

"Give me something to eat first," Hou Po said weakly, "I haven't eaten anything for two days and two nights." The master's supper was still on the table, and he ran over and grabbed the cold meat He devoured the bread and bread.When he was full, he asked, "How is Lucy?"

"Very well, she doesn't know these dangers yet," replied the old man.

"That's good. The surroundings of this house have been monitored, so I had to climb all the way in. They are quite powerful, but they are still far away if they want to catch the hunter of Lake Washu."

A rock fell to John Ferrier, and he knew he was saved.He excitedly held the young man's big rough hand and said, "You are really a young man to be proud of. We have no other hope but you. Only you can save us from the clutches of evil."

The young man replied: "You are right, old man. I do respect you very much, but if this matter is only about you, I will think twice before sticking my head into this hornet's nest. But it is also about Lu Sis, I'm here for her. We'd be gone long before those bastards did it, and there'd be no Hoppers in Utah."

"So, what should we do now?"

"Tomorrow's the deadline, and there's no chance unless we start tonight. I've got a mule and two horses, and they're waiting over at Eagle Valley. How much money do you have?"

"2000 gold coins and 5000 banknotes."

"That's enough. I've got so much money here to put together. We're going over the hills to Carson City. You'd better wake Lucy now. God help me that the servant isn't sleeping here."

(End of this chapter)