The Complete Works of Sherlock Holmes

Chapter 61 Memoirs (2) ([-])
"My friend Dr. Watson inferred the same way on our way here. If this is the case, Simpson is in a rather disadvantaged position."

"There is no doubt about it. Simpson has neither a knife nor a wound. But the evidence against him is very solid. He attaches great importance to the missing horse and is suspected of poisoning the stable boy. He was also out in the rain that night, had a heavy cane, and his tie was held tightly by the victim. I think that's enough for us to have a case against him."

Holmes shook his head.

"These could easily be refuted by a clever lawyer," said Holmes. "Why did he steal the horse from the stable? If he wanted to kill it, why didn't he do it in the stable? Was the matching key found in him?" What apothecary sold him the strong narcotic? First of all, where could he hide a horse as a stranger? How do you explain yourself?"

"He said it was a ten-pound note. He did have a ten-pound note in his purse. But your other questions are not difficult to answer. He knows the district well, and he visits the Tower every summer. Westoke came to live twice. The narcotic may have been brought from London by him. Now that the purpose has been served, the key may have been thrown away. The famous horse may have been hidden in a pit in the moor or in some old In the mine."

"As for the tie, what did he say?"

"He admits it was his tie, but says it's lost. But there's a new fact that proves it. He brought the horse out of the stable."

Holmes listened attentively.

"We found a number of footprints that showed that a group of gypsies were within a mile of the murder on the night of the murder. They left on Tuesday. Now, we assume that there was some kind of agreement between Simpson and the gypsies, Didn't Simpson give the horse to the gypsies when he ran away? Isn't it probable, then, that the famous horse is still in the hands of the gypsies?"

"Of course it is possible."

"We're searching the moor for these gypsies, and we've checked every stable and house within ten miles of Tavistock."

"As far as I know, isn't there a riding stable nearby?"

"Yes, of course we can't ignore this. Because their Madsborough is the No. 2 horse in the field, the disappearance of the famous silver and white horse is very beneficial to them. I heard that the trainer Silas Brown in the Great stakes have been wagered in this race, and he and poor Straker are not on good terms. However, we have searched the stables and found nothing suspicious."

"Has this man Simpson anything to do with the interests of the Mapleton Stables?"

"Absolutely not."

Holmes leaned silently against the back of the seat.A few minutes later, our carriage stopped in front of a neat red brick villa with long eaves beside the road.Not far away, across the horse training ground, is a long gray tile house.All around was a gentle rolling moor, broken as far as the eye could see by bronzed and withered ferns, interrupted only occasionally by the pinnacles of Tavistock.To the west, another patch of houses intersects the moor, and that is some of the stables of Mapleton.We all jumped out, except Holmes.Holmes was still leaning back on the back of the car seat, looking at the sky, lost in thought.I went over and touched his arm, and he suddenly recovered and jumped out of the car.

"I'm sorry," Holmes turned to Colonel Ross. Colonel Ross looked at him in surprise. Holmes said apologetically, "I was just fantasizing." His eyes were shining strangely, and he tried his best to suppress his excitement.From past experience, I knew he had a clue, but not where he found it.

"Perhaps you wish to go to the scene of the crime at once, Mr. Holmes?" asked Gregory.

"I think I'll stop here for a while to check out a detail or two. Has Stryker's body been brought back?"

"Yes, it's upstairs. The autopsy won't be until tomorrow."

"Colonel Ross, has he worked with you for many years?"

"Yes, I always thought he was an excellent servant."

"Sheriff, I suppose you've checked the pockets of the deceased and made a list?"

"Yes, I have all those things in the living room, and you can go and see them now."

"great."

Walking into the foyer, we all sat down around a table in the middle.The sheriff opened a square tin box, pulled out some items and placed them in front of us.Among them were a box of matches, a two-inch candle, an ADP pipe made of briar, a sealskin pouch containing half an ounce of long-cut tobacco, and a silver pocket watch with a gold chain. , five gold one-pound coins, an aluminum pencil case, some sheets of paper, and an ivory-handled pocketknife with a hard, fine-bladed blade engraved with "Wess & Co. of London."

"This is a strange knife," said Holmes, picking it up and inspecting it for a while. "There are bloodstains on it. I suppose it is the knife that the dead man was holding. Watson, you must be familiar with such knives?"

"Yes, this is what our doctors call the eye shadow knife." I said.

"I think so too. Such a delicate blade is used for very delicate operations. It is a strange thing for a man to go out in a rainstorm with such a knife and not put it in his pocket." .”

"Near his body, we found the round cork sheath of the knife," the sheriff said. "His wife told us it was on the dresser and he took it with him when he left the house. It wasn't a good weapon to begin with, but in this case it was probably the best weapon he could get his hands on."

"Very likely. What's the matter with these papers?"

"Three are receipts from the weed seller. One is a letter of instruction from Colonel Ross. The other is an invoice for 37 pounds [-] shillings from a women's dresser, issued by Lesurier, Bond Street. Mrs. The invoice is to Mr. William Derbyshire. Mrs. Straker informs us that Mr. Derbyshire is a friend of her husband's, and some correspondence will be sent to her."

"Mrs. Derbyshire must be very rich," said Holmes, looking at the receipt. "Twenty-two guineas a dress is not cheap. There is nothing here to examine. We can now go to the crime scene."

When we came out of the living room, a woman was waiting in the passage, and she came forward and tugged at the sheriff's sleeve.The woman was haggard and thin, apparently frightened in recent days.

"Did you catch them? Did you find them?" she asked anxiously.

"No, Mrs. Straker. However, Mr. Holmes has come here from London to assist us, and we will do our best to solve the case."

"I must have seen you in a park in Plymouth not long ago, Mrs. Straker," said Holmes.

"No, sir, you are mistaken."

"Oh! I could swear it. You were wearing a pale gray coat trimmed with ostrich feathers."

"I have never had such a dress, sir," replied the woman.

"Ah, that is perfectly clear," said Holmes, apologizing, and following the sheriff.After walking a short distance, we came across the wilderness to the place where the body was found, and beside the pit was the gorse bush where the coat was hung at that time.

"As far as I understand, there was no wind that night," said Holmes.

"Yes, but it's raining heavily."

"In that case, the coat must have been placed here, not by the wind blowing over the gorse bushes."

"Yes, it must have been hung on a gorse bush."

"That's remarkable. I found a lot of footprints here. Apparently a lot of people have been here since Monday night."

"A straw mat was placed next to the body, and we all stood on that mat."

"Great."

"In this bag are one of Strike's boots, one of Fitzroy Simpson's shoes, and one of the silver white-fronted horseshoes."

"My dear sheriff, you are so clever!" Holmes took the bag, walked to the low-lying place, pulled the mat to the middle, stretched his neck on the mat, rested his chin on his hands, and carefully inspected the trampled dirt in front of him. "Ha! What is this?" cried Holmes suddenly.It was a half-burnt match, a wax match covered in mud that at first glance could be mistaken for a small stick.

"It's hard to imagine how I could have overlooked it," said the sheriff ruefully.

"It's buried in the soil, so it's not easy to find. The reason why I can find it is because I'm looking for it."

"What? Did you find this, as you expected?"

"I don't think it's impossible."

Holmes took out his boots from his bag and compared them with the footprints on the ground. Then he climbed to the edge of the pit and crawled slowly among the ferns and gorse bushes.

"I'm afraid there will be no more traces here," said the Inspector. "I've made a careful examination of the surrounding area for a hundred yards."

"Indeed!" said Holmes, standing up. "In this case, I need not do any more. But I hope to walk a little over the moors before dark, so that I may get acquainted with the terrain tomorrow. Geely, I have this horseshoe in my pocket."

Colonel Ross, very impatient with my companion's leisurely and methodical manner of work, looked at his watch.

"Sergeant, I would like you to come back with me," said Colonel Ross. "I would like to hear your opinion on a few things, especially whether we should make a public statement to remove our horse's name from Canceled from the list of horse races."

"Of course not," cried Holmes decisively. "I will certainly let him enter the race."

The colonel nodded.

"I'm glad to hear from you, sir," said Colonel Ross, "if you'll walk the moors, and join us at poor Straker's, and we'll drive to Tavistock together." to town."

Colonel Ross and the Sheriff had returned, and Holmes and I walked slowly over the moors.The sun was setting and the vast expanse of moors before us was bathed in golden light, and the evening glow was reflected on the ferns and blackberries.But Holmes had no intention of appreciating the gorgeous scenery, he was completely immersed in deep thought.

"Well, Watson," he said at last, "we put aside for the moment the question of who was the murderer of John Straker, and for the present seek only to find the whereabouts of the horse. Now suppose that at the time of the murder or at the time of the murder Finally, the horse ran away, where could it go? Horses are gregarious. Its nature presumed that it either returned to the Kingspiran stables, or to the Mapleton stables. How could it run around in the wilderness? If so, it would be seen. Why did the gypsies abduct it? These people usually avoid it when they hear of trouble. Fear of being pestered by the police. They don't think they can sell a horse like that. They'd take a huge risk and get nothing if they took him, there's no doubt about that."

"So, where is the horse club?"

"I've said it's either at Kingspiran or at Mapleton. It's not at Kingspiran now, so it must be at Mapleton. Let's go on that assumption and see how it turns out. The sheriff said that the soil in this wilderness is very hard and dry, but it is getting lower and lower from here to Mapleton. From here you can see that there is a long low-lying land. It's very wet. If our hypothesis is correct, the famous horse must have passed there, and then we can find his hoofprints there."

Talking and walking with great interest, after a few minutes, we came to what we call the depression.As Holmes had requested, I walked to the right, and Holmes to the left, but I had not gone fifty paces before I heard him call me, and saw him waving to me.It turned out that there were some clear horseshoe prints on the soft ground in front of him. When Holmes took out the horseshoe from the bag and compared it with the hoof prints on the ground, the two were exactly the same.

"You see how important assumptions are," said Holmes. "Gregory lacks that quality. We make possible assumptions about what has happened, and act on them, and they turn out to be justified. Then we Just get on with it."

Through wet lowlands and a quarter of a mile of hard grass as the terrain began to slope down, we rediscovered the horseshoe prints.Thereafter the horseshoe prints were interrupted for another nearly half a mile, but near Mapleton we found the horseshoe prints again.Holmes was the first to spot it, and he stood pointing with a look of triumph on his face.Obviously, beside the horseshoe prints, there is still a man's footprints.

"At first the horse walked alone," I said aloud.

"Indeed, it walked alone at first. Hey, what's going on here?"

It turned out that the two trails suddenly turned in the direction of Kings Pilan.Holmes whistled, and the two of us continued to retrace our steps.Holmes followed the tracks closely, but when I chanced to look aside, I was surprised to see the same tracks retrace their steps.

"Very well of you, Watson!" said Holmes, when I pointed out the track to him. "You save us a great deal of distance, which we would otherwise have turned back. We are still following the retracement. let's go."

We had not gone very far before our track was broken again on the asphalt road leading to the Mapleton stable gate.No sooner had we approached the stable than we saw a groom run out of the stable.

"Idlers are not allowed to stay here," said the man.

"I just want to ask one question," said Holmes, putting his thumb and forefinger into the pocket of his waistcoat. "Suppose I call on your master, Mr. Silas Brown, at five o'clock tomorrow morning. Is it not too early?"

"God bless you, sir, he is always the first to rise, and if anyone comes to call then, he will receive. He is coming, sir, and ask him yourself. No, sir, no, if he sees I'll take your money and he'll drive me away. Please wait a while if you'll give it."

Holmes was just about to take a gold half-crown out of his pocket, when he put it away at the man's words.A hideous old man strode out from the door with a hunting whip in his hand.

"What's the matter, Dawson?!" he yelled. "No gossip! Go do your work! And you, what the hell are you doing here?"

"We would like to speak to you for ten minutes, my dear sir," said Holmes quietly.

"I don't have time to chat with every loafer, we don't allow strangers to come near here. Go away, if you don't go, I will let the dogs bite you."

Holmes leaned over and whispered something in his ear.He jumped up, blushing.

"Lie!" he shouted. "You're lying!"

"Very well. Shall we argue here in public, or shall we talk in your drawing room?"

"Oh, if you will, then, please."

Holmes smiled.

"I will not keep you waiting, Watson," said Holmes. "And now, Mr. Brown, I am at your command."

After about twenty or ten minutes, when Holmes and he came out, it was completely dark.I have never seen a man make such a transformation in such a short period of time as Silas Brown.His face was pale, his head was covered with beads of sweat, his hands trembled, and the hunting whip in his hand was like a twig unable to swing in the wind.The domineering look was gone, and he followed my partner timidly like a dog.

"I will do as you say. I will do it exactly," he said.

"There must be no mistake," Holmes emphasized, looking back at him.

"Yes, nothing can go wrong, guaranteed. Shall I change it?" He looked timidly at Holmes.

Holmes thought for a while, then suddenly burst out laughing. "No, no," said Holmes. "I will write and let you know. Don't try to play tricks, or else..."

"Yes, please trust me, please trust me!"

"Well, I think I can trust you. Be sure to listen to my letter tomorrow." Ignoring Brown's trembling hand extended to him, Holmes turned away, and we returned to Kingspirane.

"I have rarely seen such a domineering, cowardly, and slavish wretch as Silas Browne," said Holmes as we trudged back.

"Then the horse is really with him?"

"He was bluffing at first, trying to get it out of the way, but then he was convinced that I was watching him, because I told him exactly what he did that morning. different square-toed shoe prints, and Brown's boots fit them perfectly. Also, this kind of thing is definitely not something that a servant would dare to do. Judging from his habit of always being the first to get up, I told him that he was How he found a strange horse roaming the moors, and how he went out to meet it. How he was overjoyed when he saw that it was the famous silver white-fronted horse. Only this horse had May win the horse he bet on, and the famous horse should fall into his hands. And I said how he planned to send the horse back to King's Pilling in the first place, and what evil thoughts he had , planning to hide the horse until the end of the game, and then how to bring the horse back and hide it in Mapleton. When he heard my detailed description, he had to admit that he just wanted to save his life .”

"But haven't the stables been searched?"

"Yes, an old bastard like him is scheming."

"Aren't you worried that you're keeping the horse with him now, since he can hurt that famous horse for his own benefit?"

"My dear friend, he will love it like an eyeball. For he knows that the horse's safety is directly related to his clemency."

"I don't think Colonel Ross is a magnanimous man."

(End of this chapter)