Sherlock Holmes Complete Works 2

Chapter 10 Memoirs 10
"'Has he been sober for a while before dying?'

"'He was sober for a little while.'

"'Did he leave any last words?'

"'He just told you to take a good look at the papers in the back drawer of the Japanese cabinet.'

"I did not follow my friend and the doctor to the chamber of the dead, for I was dissecting the whole incident in my head with great boredom. How could a sailor, with an eye on his face, take a boxer like old Trevor, a traveler, and gold miners? And why did he suddenly faint when he heard the faint initials on his arm? And what was in the letter from Fordingham? Scared him to death? Suddenly, it occurred to me that the sailor was going to Fordingham, Hampshire, because that's where Mr. Beddoes came from. So it was probably Sailor Hudson who sent the letter letter warning old Trevor that he has revealed the secret of his past crimes. Perhaps this letter was sent by Mr. Beddoes to warn old Trevor that an old accomplice of theirs was about to expose them Conspiracy of the past. But my friend said to me that the content of that letter is very incomprehensible, maybe, there is some special code used in it, so that the real meaning of the letter is different from the letter? Headache. I believe that if there is a password there, I will be able to crack it. Later, my friend came out following a tear-stained maid. I saw that he was still calm, and what he held in his hand was now me These papers on your lap. He showed me the scribbled stone-blue letter you are holding now, and by the light I read what you just read:

'The game supply in London is steadily rising, and we believe Chief Custodian Hudson has now been ordered to take all orders for flypaper and keep your hen alive. '

"At the time, I had exactly the same look on your face as you did when you first finished reading it. But after rereading it, sure enough, I found some secret meanings. They can be casually pre-appointed like 'flypaper' and 'female' Pheasant' and other code words, so that people who don't know can't figure out the real meaning at all. And from the word Hudson appearing in the letter, I immediately proved that the writer was Beddoes and not a sailor. So I again I re-read it from back to front, but I still can't understand the meaning of words like 'life' and 'female pheasant'. Similarly, I tried to read every other word without success. Because these 'the of for', 'supply', 'game', and 'Londen' were originally meaningless.

"After a while, I finally figured out how to solve this enigmatic letter. In fact, I only needed to read every second word from the first word, and I found enough to make old Trevor face Embarrassing warning message: 'It's all over. Hudson has exposed it all, you run for your life!'

"Victor Trevor covered his face with trembling hands and said: 'This is worse than death, it must have killed my father. But what do the words 'main custody' and 'female pheasant' in the essay mean? Woolen cloth?'

"'In fact, these words are just two words that the sender randomly added between two useful words after writing the sentence to prevent uninformed people from reading it. But these words must be commonly used by him, One might therefore surmise that the sender was fond of hunting, or at least of poultry. Is Mr. Beddoes such a man?'

"He said, 'Yeah, he's a great hunter, and my father hunts with him every fall.'

"I said: 'He must have known something and sent a warning letter. Besides, that sailor Hudson must have secrets in his hands that could threaten these two great men.'

"My friend exclaimed: 'Here you are, I don't need to keep these so-called secrets. I found this in the drawer behind the Japanese cabinet according to my father's will. I really don't have the courage to read it.'

"Inscribed on the outside of the paper: Narrative of the voyage of the three-masted schooner 'Gloria Scott. It sank in the waters around 25°[-]' west longitude and [-]°[-]° north latitude." And it contained a letter.

"'My dearest son, the looming disgrace has darkened my old age. I am most concerned about you. Because you love me and respect me, if because of me And let you suffer shame, I really can't bear it. But the disaster that has been hovering over my head has really come, after reading this diary, you will know how responsible I should be for what I have done .

"'By the time you can read this letter, it must be that I have been exposed and sentenced to prison for my bad deeds. Perhaps, of heart disease, I was dead by then. But anyhow, I I still want to tell you my truth, hoping to get your understanding.

"'Actually, my real name is not Trevor, I was called James Armitage when I was young. And a few weeks ago, Mr. Holmes' speculation made me feel as if he had guessed the little secret of my alias. In the young I used to work in a bank in London at the time. I spent some money that didn't belong to me without my consent to pay off a gambling debt. But perhaps by a twist of fate, I was turning my money around to block I was discovered before I lived in a hole. On my 23rd birthday, I was convicted of a felony by the court and sent to the sailing ship "Gloria Scott" with 37 other criminals, and I will be exiled to Australia .

"'The Crimean War was going on in 38, and the ships that were supposed to be carrying criminals were hauling munitions all over the Black Sea. So the government had to use ships like the Gloria Scott We were transported by a smaller ship from the vegetable business. The ship was heavy at the bow and very wide, and in any case it was no match for a new clipper. Except for us 26 prisoners, [-] sailors, [-] soldiers, [-] captain, [-] mates, [-] doctor, [-] chaplain and [-] jailers. In other words, when sailing from Falmouth, there were about [-] people on board .

"'The cell partitions in this ship were very thin. I noticed a young man who was later imprisoned in the cell next to me in the stern. He was handsome, and his legs were at least six and a half feet The tall figure is particularly striking. After seeing the melancholy and dull faces of the prisoners, I was very happy to see such a face full of energy and determination. What made me even more happy was that he could He is my neighbor. One night, I heard a few whispers, and when I searched, I found that he had dug a hole in the partition of the cell.

"'He said: 'Well, what did you do to get here, and what's your name?'

"'After answering his question, I asked him some more information.

"'He said: 'My name is Jack Prendergast, and I'm sure you'll have my favours, before the ship gets to Australia and we part. "

"' He said proudly: "Well, you already know about me and my case. "

"'I said: 'Yes, I understand very well. "

"'He said: 'And you remember what was so special about that case?'

"'I said, 'I don't know. "

"'He said: 'Don't you know I've been defrauded of almost £25?'

"'I said: 'I've heard that. "

"'He said: "But you know, the police don't know where I hid the money until now. "

"'He asked again: "Can you guess it?"

"'I said: 'I can't guess. "

"' Then he said aloud: 'I still have money in my hand, more money than you can count, almost more than your hair.As you can see, I'm a guy who knows how to enjoy life, and I'm not only going to run out myself, but I'm going to save you all. "

"'I didn't take his words quite seriously at first. But after a while he solemnly swore that he had a well-thought-out secret plan to take the ships, and that he himself had spearheaded, and with money as bait, launched Twelve prisoners joined in.

"'Prendergast said: 'Guess where the money is? Tell you what, that priest is one of my associates, and he's a rare good man, and he's got the money.In a very proper position he paid off all the sailors of the ship before they were hired to escort us.Besides, he had bought Mailer, the second mate, and two jailers, and he might have bought the captain too, if he hadn't thought the captain useless. "

"'I asked: 'How shall we proceed?'

"'He said: 'Of course all the soldiers were killed. "

"'I said: 'But they're armed. "

"'He said: "Don't be a fool, we have all the sailors as security, and each of us is equipped with two pistols. Isn't it easy to capture this ship? Try tonight if the man on your left is also want to join. "

"'Then I learned that the young man next door to me was called Evans, and he has changed his name now. He was exiled for counterfeiting money, and now he is a rich and lucky man in the South of England. .As Prendergast expected, the young man also saw that this was our only chance, so he agreed to join. And so, before our ship crossed the bay, nearly all the people joined. .

"'In the beginning, the plan went very smoothly, and the fake pastor friend was very conscientious. He often came in and out of our cell with a large backpack that seemed to be full of scriptures. All kinds of tools. By the third day, we each had a file, a pound of dynamite, two pistols, and twenty rounds of ammunition, and the second officer and the two jailers were all on our side. Here we come. So we only have to deal with the captain, the doctor, the other two mates, the other two jailers and Lieutenant Martin and his eighteen soldiers. And because of a sudden incident, we planned to launch it at night The operation to seize the ship was much earlier.

"'In the third week after the ship left port, one night, a prisoner fell ill, and the doctor was called. While the doctor was examining him, the doctor's hand touched the pistol under the prisoner's bed. , and the coward screamed loudly, and the prisoner, seeing that the story had been leaked, jumped up, bound the doctor to the bed, and gagged him so that he could not speak. And so, Since the doctor had opened the lock to see the prisoner, we were able to swarm up and seize the ship. Hearing the gunshots, a squad leader ran over to see what was going on. He was beaten like the two soldiers who had just been shot. Dead. There were two other soldiers by the cabin door. They didn't shoot at us. I guess there might be no bullets in the guns, but we shot them dead while they were bayonet. Just before we had Before entering the captain's cabin, I heard gunshots. Pushing open the door, I saw the smoking pistol in the pastor's hand at a glance, and the captain's brains also splashed the Atlantic navigation chart all over the place, and his body Sitting beside him were the two officers who had already been caught.

"'Having seized the ship, we swarmed into the cabin adjoining the captain's cabin. The fake priest named Wilson opened one of the many boxes stacked near the side of the cabin, and took out Twenty bottles of brown wine. Suddenly there was an unexpected gunshot, and immediately the cabin was filled with smoke. I couldn't even see the other side of the table. When the smoke cleared, I saw Wilson and eight other people in blood. The ground was dying on the ground. I was scared to death. It was only when Prendergast roared like a bull and rushed out the door that everyone dared to follow him. After rushing out of the cabin, we found The lieutenant and ten of his men were standing in the stern of the boat, and they shot at us through the slit of the revolving skylight that opened above the table. Although they were very valiant, we managed to defeat them while they were loading their gunpowder. After that, the red-eyed Prendergast was like a devil in a rage, and threw all these soldiers into the sea like children. In this way, except for the two jailers, the two officers and the All enemies except the Doctor are eliminated.

"'Then we argued over what to do with the remaining enemies. I, the four other prisoners, and the three sailors had no desire in my heart to kill or to see others kill, but Prendergast He and his gang were indifferent to brutal killing. They thought the only safe way to do it was to clean things up. The 8 of us almost got locked up again for this argument. But Finally, he agreed to let us leave by boat. So each of us got a sailor suit, a bucket of fresh water, a small bucket of corned beef, a small bucket of biscuits and a compass. After handing us a nautical chart , we started drifting to fend for ourselves.

"'As we left, the sailors turned to the northeasterly wind and sailed away from us. We decided to take advantage of the northerly wind and sail towards Sierra Leone. We could no longer see the barque except the mast. Suddenly In the middle, like a strange tree, a thick black smoke rose into the sky, and then we heard the deafening and violent explosion. After the smoke cleared, we could no longer find the identity of the ship There was no trace, so we immediately turned the bow and sailed to the accident site with all our strength.

"'It took us a long time to get there, and there was only a broken boat and some broken planks floating on the sea. After hearing the call for help, we were on a piece of wood not far away. Hudson, the sailor, was found burnt and exhausted. The next day he said to us: "As soon as you left, Prendergast and his gang killed the two jailers and the second officer and threw them into the In the sea.After cutting the doctor's throat, he himself took the knife to the first officer.The first mate broke free and ran all the way to the deck, where he was chased into the aft cabin by twelve criminals.At this time, others found him holding a match and sitting on a barrel of gunpowder that had been opened, and swore that if anyone touched him, he would use the [-] barrels of gunpowder on the ship to die with everyone.But the powder keg exploded suddenly. Afterwards, I guess someone might have shot the powder keg by mistake. "

"'On the next day the captain of the brig Hotsbury, bound for Australia, believed the lie that we were survivors of a wrecked passenger ship, and allowed us to disembark in Sydney and engage in mining. , we came back to England as wealthy colonists and lived a comfortable life for more than 20 years. Then somehow, Hudson came to him and tried to blackmail him. Now you can understand how I feel. '

"In very illegible handwriting underneath: 'What should I do about Beddoes writing in code that Hudson has told all about his past!'

"After that incident my friend Trevor Jr. was very heartbroken and moved to Tray to trade in tea, and did well. And Beddoes and the sailors were never seen again. Some say they did The sailor was lurking nearby, and the police think he killed Beddoes, and I think Beddoes killed the sailor and went away. In any case, there has been no news of either of them since."

(End of this chapter)