The Complete Works of Sherlock Holmes

Chapter 48 Four Signatures (32)
Because the walls of the old house have been in disrepair for a long time, there are many broken walls, and we can easily jump into the courtyard.We walked through the woods to the lawn and were about to enter the house through the window.Suddenly a dark figure like a deformed child jumped out of the bushes, and ran quickly across the lawn into the darkness.

I exclaimed softly, "My God! Did you see that?"

Holmes was startled too at first, and he grabbed my wrist.Then he laughed softly, put his lips to my ear, and said, "That's a good housekeeper, and that's the baboon."

I forgot the strange animals the doctor kept, and there was a cheetah, which might be on our shoulders at any moment.Following Holmes' example, I took off my shoes and turned into the bedroom.Until this moment, I felt a little more at ease.Holmes closed the window softly, moved the lamp over the table, and looked around. The room was just as we had seen it during the day.He walked up to me softly, circled his hands into the shape of a trumpet, and leaned into my ear and said, "Even the slightest sound will make our plan fail." His voice was so soft that I could just hear what he was saying What.

I nodded to show that I had heard him.He said softly again: "Don't fall asleep, your life is at stake. Keep your pistol ready. I'll sit on the edge of the bed, and you sit on that chair."

I took out my revolver and put it on the table.Holmes had brought a slender cane, which he placed on the bed beside him.He put another box of matches and a candle beside the bed, and put out the light.So we sat in the dark.

I shall never forget that dreadful vigil.The room was silent, not even the sound of breathing.But I knew my friend was sitting just a few feet away from me with wide-eyed eyes, waiting as nervously as I for something terrible to happen.The blinds blocked the moonlight outside the window, and the interior was completely invisible.Owls hoot occasionally outside the window.Once there was a few cat-like wailings from our window, and I knew it was the cheetah.We also heard church bells in the distance, striking every quarter of an hour, but time seemed to pass very slowly.After twelve o'clock, one o'clock, two o'clock, three o'clock, we still sat there in silence and waited.

Suddenly, a light flashed from the vent, but then went out, and then there was a strong smell of burning kerosene and heated metal.I heard very light footsteps next door, and after a while, there was no sound again, but the smell became stronger.I sat with my eyes wide open, and after half an hour, I suddenly heard another sound, this sound was very soft, like the hissing of boiling water in a kettle.At the same moment as we heard the sound, Holmes sprang up suddenly from the bed, struck a match, lit the candle, and lashed the bell-rope rapidly with the cane.

He cried: "Look, Watson! Do you see that?"

But I don't see anything.At this time, I suddenly heard a clear whistle, but the sudden bright light shone on my tired eyes, making it difficult for me to see what he was whipping.I saw my friend's face was pale, full of terror and loathing.

He stopped whipping and stared intently at the vent hole.Then in this silent night, there suddenly erupted a shrill and terrifying scream, which grew louder and louder, full of pain, fear and anger, and made people shudder.It was later heard that the sound was heard even by people in neighboring villages.The cry made our hair stand on end, and Holmes and I stood in dumb silence until the sound died away.

I asked nervously, "What is this?"

Holmes said: "It means that the matter is over. And, it should be the best ending. Take your pistol, and we will go to Dr. Roylott's room."

With a serious expression on his face, he walked down the corridor with a lighted lamp and knocked on the bedroom door twice, but no one answered.He turned the doorknob and went inside, and I followed him, pistol in hand.

What we saw was a strange sight.On the table stood a blackout lamp with the shade half-opened, and a yellow light shone on the open safe.Sitting in a wooden chair by the table was Dr. Roylott, who was wearing gray pajamas, a pair of red Turkish slippers on his feet, and the rolled whip we saw during the day on his lap.He raised his head and stared at the ceiling in horror.Around his forehead was a band of yellow, speckled with brown, which was tight around his head.He hadn't moved when we walked in.

"Strap! Speckled strap!" said Holmes in a low voice.

As I took a step closer, the strap suddenly wriggled, and out of his hair emerged a disgusting snake with a square-shaped head.

"It is a marsh adder, the deadliest of India's poisonous snakes," cried Holmes. "It kills a man within ten seconds. Doctors use it to kill men, but they themselves do it. Let us put the Return the snake to its nest and remove Miss Stoner to a safe place before informing the police of the incident."

As he spoke, he took the whip from the dead man's knee, put a slipknot around the snake's neck, and dragged it into the safe, closing the door behind him.

This is the real story of Dr. Roylott's death.This is a long account, and I need not go into detail how we broke the sad news to the terrified lady, sent her to her aunt's house, and how the police concluded that the doctor had been accidentally adopted by him. Killed by dangerous animals and so on.But there was something about the case which I did not know, which Holmes told me the next day as I drove back to town with him.

He said: "My dear Watson, I have almost been led astray by my false supposition, which shows how dangerous it is to draw inferences from insufficient sources. I thought that the tapes spoken by the gypsy and the poor lady must have something to do with the case." related, but when I saw what was going on in that room, and knew that no danger to those who lived there could come from windows or doors, I realized that my previous assumption was wrong. As you said, my attention Immediately attracted to the air vent and the bell cord. I found that the vent had no ventilation, the bell cord was just a cover, and the bed was screwed to the floor, so I suspected the rope was just a bridge. , to lure something to the bed. As for what can go through such a small hole and come down the rope, it is probably a snake. I know the doctor used to be a doctor in India and kept some animals from India .I linked the two things together, and I think I was right. The idea of ​​using a chemically undetectable poison could only have occurred to a clever and ruthless person trained in the Eastern style. And this kind of The venom worked quickly, and a coroner would be a man of keen eyes if he could spot the two little black holes the fangs had made. He trained the snake to come back at his whistle, and feed it again. Give it milk and put it back in the safe. When he kills people, he puts the snake in the air hole, and the snake will crawl to the bed along the rope. It doesn't matter whether the snake bites the person on the bed, Stoner The young lady's sister may have survived a few times, but then died.

"When I entered his room, I saw the chair in the corner. I examined it carefully and knew that he often stood on the chair, because that was the only way he could reach the air vent. The safe, the saucer of milk And the coiled whip made me more sure of my guess. The sound of metal falling to the ground that Miss Stoner heard was obviously made by the doctor when he hurriedly locked the poisonous snake in the safe. After drawing a conclusion, you already know What method did I take to verify this. When I heard the sound of the snake coming out, I immediately lit the lamp and beat the snake."

I said, "You ended up driving the snake back through the vent."

"And the snake turned on its master at the other end. The snake went mad after being whipped by my cane whip, and bit the person who saw it the first time, regardless of whether it was its master or not. In this way, I am Dr. Roylott's death was undoubtedly indirectly responsible. But Miss Stoner was saved. In good conscience, I can hardly feel guilty for the doctor's death."

engineer thumb case

Of all the cases which I solved during my years with my friend Sherlock Holmes, two cases were brought to his attention by my introduction: the case of Mr Hatherley's Thumb, The other was the case of Colonel Warburton who had gone mad.For an intelligent and original reader, the latter matter is more worthy of discussion.The first case, however, was so peculiar at first, and so dramatic in its development, that perhaps it was all the more necessary to describe it, though little of my friend's excellent deduction was applied to it. Law.I'm sure this story has been in the papers many times.However, like all other similar accounts, half a page of general introduction will not attract people's attention.Therefore, it is better to let the truth of the matter be presented in front of you bit by bit, and let the mystery of the case gradually be solved with each new discovery that is beneficial to let people know the whole truth, so as to make people feel more intense. interest of.What happened at that time left a deep impression on me.Even though it was two years ago, I still remember it vividly.

This happened in the summer of [-], not long after my marriage.I had then resumed my practice of medicine, and at last abandoned Holmes alone in my lodgings in Baker Street, though I still visited him now and then, and occasionally persuaded him to give up his wild habits and come to my house.My career was advancing by leaps and bounds, and I lived so close to Paddington Station that I had several people who worked on the railways come to see me.Because I cured one of them of a disease that had plagued him for many years, he took the trouble to praise my medical skills everywhere, and tried to bring as many patients as possible to him who could be affected by him.

One morning, around seven o'clock, I was woken up by the maid's knock on the door.She told me that there were two people waiting for me in the waiting room, they were from Paddington.I hurriedly dressed and hurried downstairs.Because experience has taught me that people who come on the railway are generally very seriously ill.After going downstairs, my old buddy, the railway policeman, came out of the waiting room and closed the door behind him.

"I brought him here." He raised his thumb over his shoulder, pointed behind him, and whispered, "He's inside."

"What's going on here?" I asked.Because his behavior made me feel like he led some monster to me.

"A new patient," he whispered. "I think it would be best if I bring him here myself, so that he doesn't slip away. I must go at once, doctor, and like you, I must Go back to duty, he is in a stable condition now.” After speaking, this loyal introducer left without even giving me a chance to thank him.

I went in and saw a gentleman sitting at a table.He was plainly dressed, in a tweed jacket, and a soft hat rested on top of some of my books.One of his hands was wrapped in a handkerchief, and there were spots of blood on the handkerchief.He looked no more than twenty-five years old, young and handsome, but extremely pale.I got the impression that he was fighting some kind of severe pain with all his willpower.

"I am sorry to disturb you so early, Doctor," said he, "I had a very serious accident last night. After arriving here by train this morning, I asked at Paddington station where the doctor could be found." I was escorted here by a good-hearted man. I gave your maid a card, and she put it on the table beside her."

I took a look at the business card, and it was printed on it: "Mr. Victor Hatherley, Water Conservancy Engineer, 16A Victoria Street (fourth floor)".This is the patient's name, occupation and address.

"Sorry for keeping you waiting." I sat on my armchair while speaking, "I can see that you have been on the train all night. Traveling at night itself is a monotonous and boring thing."

"Well, it's not a dull and boring night for me." He couldn't help laughing out loud, high and shrill, as he spoke.He leaned against the back of the chair, clutching his belly and laughing.This laughter aroused my strong medical instincts.

"Please stop laughing!" I yelled, "Calm down!" I poured him a glass of water.

But it didn't work at all, he was having a hysterical fit.This is the hysteria of a strong man after an unprecedented disaster.After a while he regained consciousness, exhausted and even paler.

He gasped, "I've really made a fool of myself."

"It's nothing, you can drink this first." I poured some brandy into the glass of water in his hand, and his bloodless cheeks began to blush.

He said: "I'm much better, doctor. Then, please show me my thumb, or rather see where my thumb used to be."

He untied the handkerchief and exposed his hands.Even a hard-hearted person would not be able to bear this scene.All I saw were four slender fingers and a spongy section that was scarlet and scary. This was where the thumb should have been.

"My God!" I exclaimed, "what a terrible wound, it must have bled a lot."

"Yes, a lot of blood. After the injury, I passed out. I thought, I was unconscious for a long time. When I came back, I found that it was still bleeding, so I used a handkerchief One end of it was tightly looped around the wrist, and a small wooden bar held it taut."

"Excellent job! You should be a surgeon."

"You see, this is also a matter of water conservancy, which is within the scope of my specialty."

"It was cut by a heavy, sharp object," I said, examining the wound.

"Like a butcher's cleaver," he said.

"I thought, it was an accident, wasn't it?"

"Absolutely not."

"What? Did someone intentionally murder so viciously?"

"Well, it is indeed extremely cruel."

"It's really scary!"

I sponged the wound, wiped it clean, dressed it, and finally rewrapped it with absorbent cotton and sterile bandages.He lay there, not shaking with pain, though he would clench his teeth now and then.

After I wrapped it, I asked him, "How are you feeling now?"

"Very well, your brandy and bandages have transformed me, and I was very weak before. But there are many things to attend to."

"I think it would be better for you not to mention these things, it is evidently a torment to your nerves."

"Oh, it's all right, I won't now. I'm going to tell the police about it, but if I don't have this wound to prove it, they'll think I'm lying because it's An unusual thing, and I don't have any good evidence to prove that my words are true. Besides, even if they believe me, and I have provided very few clues, will they be able to do justice for me Still can't tell."

"Ah," said I, "if you really want to settle something, I can highly recommend my friend Mr. Holmes. Before you go to the police station, you might as well talk to him."

"Oh, I've heard of this man," replied my visitor, "and it would be my great honor if he would take my case, although I would also inform the police. Would you be so kind as to make me an introduction?"

"Not only to introduce you to him, but also to accompany you personally."

"Greatful!"

"Let's hire a carriage. In this case, we can have breakfast with him in time. But in this way, is your body able to bear it?"

"No problem, I don't feel comfortable if I don't tell what happened to me."

"Well, I'll ask the servant to hire a carriage. Wait a moment, and I'll come as soon as I go." I hurried upstairs and briefly explained to my wife. Five minutes later, my new acquaintance and I were in the same carriage for Baker Street.

As I had guessed, Sherlock Holmes was pacing in his dressing gown in his bedroom, reading the Missing, Divorce, etc. columns in The Times, with a pre-breakfast cigarette dangling from his mouth. pipe.The pipe was filled with the leftovers of the previous day's tobacco, which had been carefully dried and scattered in the corners of the mantelpiece.He received us very kindly, and ordered his servant to bring us bacon and eggs, and we ate a hearty meal.After eating, he settled his new friend on the sofa, put a pillow behind his head, and prepared him a glass of brandy and water.

"Mr. Hatherley," said Holmes, "it appears that what has happened to you is unusual. Please relax here without restraint. Tell us what has happened as best you can, and if you are tired, take a short rest. , drink some wine to soothe and soothe."

"Thank you!" said my patient. "I feel like a different person since the doctor treated my wound, and I think your good breakfast completes the whole process. I will try to It may not bother you, so let me now relate that strange experience!"

The sleepy look on Holmes' face belied his sensitive and ardent mood, and he remained seated in his large arm-chair.I sat opposite him, and we listened in silence to the new acquaintance's account of his strange experiences.

(End of this chapter)