Sherlock Holmes Complete Works 1

Chapter 33 Four Signatures 11
I asked, "What next? Toby can't do anything."

Holmes lifted Toby from the barrel, led him out of the wood yard, and said, "Toby only acts according to his judgment. Now, creosote is used in many places in the city, especially for wood preservation. Try to calculate the daily creosote shipments in London, and you'll see why Toby was wrong. I don't think we should complain about poor Toby."

"We'd better go back to where we went wrong."

"Yeah, Toby hesitated for a while on the left of the Rue des Chevaliers, because the smell started going in different directions there. The smell must have gone awry there, luckily not too far. Now, we'll just have to go back to that Find it on the road."

We led Toby back to the Street of Knights. After turning around here, Toby ran in another direction without hesitation.

I said, "Be careful we don't let them take us to the lumber yard again."

"I thought about it too, but the oil truck should be on the road, and Toby only runs on the sidewalk. I don't think there will be a mistake this time."

Toby ran across Bilmont Street and Princes Street to a small wooden pier by the Broad Street River, where he stood close to the water's edge, staring at the rushing water, grunting anxiously.

"They may have embarked from here," said Holmes. There were several small flat-bottomed boats and launchs on the quay.We led Toby to the boats, and each boat sniffed carefully, but he made no sign.

Near the embarkation was a small brick building, and at the second window hung a wooden sign, above in large letters: "Mordecai Smith," and below in small letters: "Boats for hire, on time Daily billing is acceptable." There was another sign on the door, which said that there were also small steamboats here.There was a lot of coke on the docks, which was the fuel for the steamboats.Sherlock Holmes looked about him with an expression of unluckiness on his face.

Holmes looked around and said: "They have made preparations to avoid being followed. There is some trouble in this matter."

He walked towards the brick house.Just approaching the house, the door opened from the inside, and a curly-haired boy about six or seven years old ran out, followed by a woman with a sponge in her hand.The woman chased and shouted:

"Come back and take a shower, you little rascal! Your father wants to see you in such a dirty state when he comes back, and see how he can clean you up!"

Holmes seized the opportunity to grab the child and said, "Little friend, you are blushing. You are such a good boy! What do you want?"

The boy thought for a moment and said, "I want a shilling."

"Don't want more than a shilling?"

The innocent little fellow thought for a while, and said, "I'd better give me two shillings."

"Well, here you are. Mrs. Smith, what a fine boy."

"He's so naughty, sir, I can't help him. His father is away all day sometimes."

Holmes pretended to be disappointed and asked: "Ah, he went out? I have something to ask Mr. Smith."

"To tell you the truth, sir, he went out yesterday morning. He hasn't come back yet, and I'm really worried. But, sir, if you want to charter a boat, I can talk to you."

"I'll hire his steamboat."

"What a coincidence! He went away yesterday by steamer. I know there isn't enough coal to go all the way to Woolwich and back. If he'd been in a galleon, I wouldn't be in such a hurry, because sometimes he has to go Farther to Gravehead. Besides, if there is business there, he may be delayed. But can't a steamer go without coal?"

"Perhaps he has bought some coal on the way."

"That's possible. But that's not his character, sir. He's always complaining about the high price of a pocket of coal. Besides, I don't like the man with the artificial leg. I hate his ugly face and his eccentricity." He's always coming here, and I don't know what he's going to do."

Holmes said in amazement: "The man with the prosthetic leg?"

"Yes, sir. A monkey-headed boy who used to come to see my husband. He was the one who woke my wife out of bed last night, and my wife seemed to know he was coming, because he gave birth to the steamboat early. Inflamed. Come on, sir, I'm really worried about my wife."

Holmes shrugged deliberately: "But, my dear Mrs. Smith, you need not worry. How can he be sure that it was the man with the wooden leg who came last night? Is it not possible that someone else came looking for him?"

"Sir, I knew it was him from the slurred accent. He knocked on the window a few times - it was about three o'clock, and said, 'Get up, man, we're on our way.' And the old man put Jim—my oldest son cried out without saying a word, and they just followed the man with the leg. I could hear the wooden leg thumping on the stony ground."

"Is this man with the wooden leg alone?"

"Perhaps, sir, I am sure I heard no one else."

"It's a pity, Mrs. Smith, that I was hoping to charter your steamboat, because I've heard of that... I wonder what it's called?"

"The Dawn, sir."

"Oh. Is that the old green boat with the broad yellow line on the side?"

"No, it's not. It's just like those ordinary boats you see on the river. We just painted it, and there are two red lines on the black hull."

"Thank you, and I hope Mr. Smith will be back soon. I'll go downriver now. If I meet Mr. Smith, I'll tell him you're thinking of him. Did you say the boat's funnel was black? "

"No, it's a black chimney with a white line."

"Well, Mrs. Smith, good-bye. Watson, let us hire that sampan and go to the other side."

After boarding the boat, Holmes said: "When talking to this kind of person, you need to elicit what you want to know step by step, and let them tell you without knowing it. Otherwise, once they know that these things are related to your affairs, they will Keep your mouth shut."

I said, "Obviously, our next step has been determined."

"Tell me, what should I do?"

"Just hire a boat and go downriver to find the Dawn."

"It's not going to work, it's too troublesome. There are many piers from here to Greenwich, and boats can berth for tens of miles across the bridge. Who knows where the 'Dawn' will stop. If you hire boats one by one Looking for, when will I have to wait?"

"Do you want to ask the police to help?"

"The case has come to this point. I don't want them to intervene, but when I need someone, I will call Jones. Overall, he is okay, and I don't want him to be unable to be promoted."

"Then, we can advertise in the newspaper and ask the owner of the dock to find out the whereabouts of the Dawn."

"This method is even more useless. After advertising, they will startle the enemy, and the gangsters will estimate that we are following them. Originally, they wanted to escape as soon as possible. In this way, they will move faster. If they still think that there is no If they were exposed, they should not be in a hurry to escape. Jones published the results of his daily actions in the newspaper, which invisibly provided us with a cover and paralyzed the criminals."

When we got off the boat at Millbank, I asked Holmes, "What shall we do next?"

"We're going back in the car, have some breakfast, and sleep for an hour to get him up for the night. As for Toby, let's take it easy, it might come in handy later. Coachman, at the telegraph office. Pause."

Holmes sent a telegram from the post office in Great Peter Street, and when he got into the car he asked me: "Who do you think I sent the telegram to?"

"Can't guess."

"Baker Street Detectives, remember them? We used them on the Jefferson Hopper case."

"It turned out to be them." I couldn't help laughing.

"They could be of great use in this case, but if that doesn't work, I'll use other tactics. Their squad leader, Wiggins, will take the telegram and lead his squad before we finish breakfast." Come."

(End of this chapter)