Sherlock Holmes Complete Works 2

Chapter 39 Return 15
Sherlock Holmes was at his strongest in spirit and at his strongest in 1895.As his reputation grew, so did the cases which came to him, and many eminent persons visited our house in Baker Street.Had I even hinted at who one or two of these visitors were, I would have been reprimanded for indiscretion.With the exception of what happened to the Duke of Holdereth, Holmes never demanded exorbitant rewards for his excellent grades.He is very noble, and it can be said that he is so willful. If the parties do not get his sympathy, he will refuse to help them.But sometimes he will spend several weeks in a row studying the case for an ordinary client, provided that the case is sufficiently bizarre and moving to fully stimulate his superhuman imagination and resourcefulness.

1895 was an unforgettable year.During the year, a series of cases occupied all his energies, including the exquisite investigation of the violent death of Cardinal Tosca under the instructions of the Holy Pope; Except for one harm.The above two cases were followed by the tragedy at Woodman Lee Manor, the bizarre case of the death of Captain Peter Gary.

During the month of July, when Holmes was absent from our lodgings frequently, and at length, several vulgar persons visited and questioned Captain Basil, whom I did not know till then to be working somewhere under an assumed name.He used many pseudonyms to hide his intimidating identity.He has no less than five temporary residences in London. He did not tell me what he was investigating. It seems that the case he is investigating this time is very special.At breakfast he returned to the house with his hat on and a barbed spear under his arm.

I yelled, "Oh my god! You're not walking around London with this stuff, are you?"

"I just came back from a butcher shop."

"What? Butcher shop!"

"I bet you can't guess what sport I play."

"I don't want to guess."

He poured the coffee and smiled.

"If you'd been behind the Arradès butcher's just now, you'd have seen a dead pig dangling from the ceiling, and a gentleman in a shirt-sleeved poke at it hard with this weapon. That was me. , I impaled the pig without much effort. Don't you want to go there and try?"

"I don't want to do this, what are you doing this for?"

"It may have something to do with the mysterious case at Woodman Lee. Ah, Hopkins, I had your telegram last night and have been waiting for you."

Our guest was a witty guy of about 30, dressed in smart tweed.This is young Sheriff Stanley Hopkins.Holmes thought that Mr. Hopkins was a young man with great promise, and Hopkins also admired and respected Holmes like a student, because my friend used scientific methods to solve the problem.At this point Hopkins sat down in great dejection.

"Thank you, sir. I have eaten. I spent the night in the city. I will report to the city."

"What are you here to report?"

"Failure, sir, failure indeed."

"Hasn't a little new progress been made?"

"No."

"Then let me investigate the case."

"Mr. Holmes, I am very grateful. This is the first serious case I have ever had, and I am at a loss. For God's sake, go and help me."

"Okay, I have read all the materials I have so far, as well as the investigative report. Are there any clues to the tobacco pouch found at the scene of the crime?"

Hopkins seemed taken aback.

"Sir, I think the tobacco-pouch is the victim's own, because it has his initials in it, and it's made of sealskin, and he's an old sealer."

"But he doesn't seem to have a pipe."

"Yes, sir, we found no pipe. It is true that he seldom smoked, and he may have kept these tobaccos for his friends."

"There is a possibility, and I mention it, because if I were to take up the case, I would use this bag as the beginning of my investigation. My friend Dr. Watson knows nothing about it, and I would like to hear more about it. The course of this incident, so please give us a brief account of the main situation."

Sheriff Stanley Hopkins took a note from his pocket.

"This is the chronology of Captain Peter Gary's life: born in 1845, now 50 years old, good at hunting seals and whales. In 1883, he was the captain of the seal ship 'Sea Unicorn' in Port Dandy. Retired in 1884. First Traveled for a few years and finally bought a little place in Sussex called Woodman Lee, where he lived for six years and was killed last week.

"This man is indeed very special. In his daily life, he lived a strict, puritanical life, silent and depressed all day long. He had a wife and a daughter in his 20s, and employed two maids at home. He Often gets drunk, and when he's drunk he turns into a complete demon. Sometimes in the middle of the night he throws his wife and daughter out of the house and beats them all over the garden, screaming the whole village woke up.

"Once a vicar from the parish came to his house to accuse him of bad behaviour, he yelled at the old vicar, and he was summoned by the police. You'd be hard pressed to find a more outrageous man than Peter Gary. The same is true of his temper when he was a captain. He was called Black Peter by the sailors, not only because of his black face and beard, but also because everyone around him was afraid of his bad temper, hated him, and avoided him. He was miserable. After his death, none of the neighbors said a word of regret.

"This man, Mr. Holmes, has a little log cabin built outside his house, about a few hundred yards away, which he calls 'the cabin,' and where he spends every night. It's a very simple little house, about ten feet long. Six feet by ten feet. Only he himself had the key to the hut, and he never allowed anyone to step over his threshold. The windows on all sides of the house were never opened, and one of the windows faced the road, and was lit every night in the hut. When the lights are on, people often look into the little room and wonder what he is doing. Sir, all that investigation can do is give a few facts from the windows of the little room.

"At one o'clock in the morning two days before the incident, a stonemason named Slater stopped to look at the house when he passed by the house. The lights in the window were reflected on the trees outside. The stonemason swore Said: 'A man's head was clearly seen moving from side to side in the room through the curtains, but this shadow was clearly not Peter Gary, and I knew Peter well. This man had a beard, but his beard was not quite like Peter's beard, His beard was short and turned up.' That's what the mason said. He was in the hotel on the road for two hours, some way from the windows of the log cabin. It happened on a Monday, and the murder happened on Wednesday. .

"Peter Gary was rowdy again on Tuesday. He was drunk like a man-eating beast, and his wife and children ran away quickly when they heard him coming. It was very late when Peter returned to his little The house. At about two o’clock in the morning the next day, his daughter heard horrible screams from the direction of the house. Because he usually yelled when he was drunk, no one paid attention. A maid seven When I got up at one o'clock, I saw the door of the hut was open. But people were afraid of Black Peter, so no one dared to go to see how he was doing until noon. The scene inside made them pale with fright, and hurried back to the house. village. Within an hour I was at the crime scene and took over the case.

"Mr. Holmes, you know that I am very strong-willed, but I can tell you frankly that when I poked my head into this hut, I too was startled by what I saw. There were swarms of red-head flies and blow-flies. The floor and walls looked like a slaughterhouse. He called the cabin a 'little cabin', and it really was like a cabin, with a bed at one end, a locker, a map and some Charts, a painting of the 'Sea Unicorn', and a row of logbooks on a shelf, these scenes are exactly the same as we see on the real ship. A fishing steel spear has been pierced through his broad chest, Forking deep into the wooden wall behind him, it was obvious that he died after that horrible scream.

"I know your method of detection. I allowed nothing to be moved after a careful inspection of the floorboards, both inside and outside the house, but there were no traces."

"You mean that no footprints were found at all?"

"Yes, definitely not."

"I have solved many cases, and I have never seen flying animals commit crimes. As long as criminals have two legs, they will leave footprints or rub marks and inconspicuous movement marks. From your investigation, it can be seen that Come on, there are some things you haven't checked carefully."

Sheriff Hopkins was a little embarrassed when he heard Holmes' sarcastic words.

"Sir, I was very foolish not to ask you to come, but the matter is now irreparable. There are also some noteworthy items in the house: a harpoon used in the murder. The harpoon was taken from his tool rack. Two more are still there, one space is empty. This one is engraved with 'SS Sea Unicorn, Dandy'. It can be concluded that the murder was caused by the murderer's anger. The murder happened next, and the murderer grabbed the weapon. The murder happened at two o'clock in the morning, and Black Peter was well dressed, which proved that he had a date with the murderer beforehand. The bottle of rum on the table and The same is true of the two used cups."

"Both inferences are quite reasonable," said Holmes. "Is there anything else in the house besides rum?"

"Also, there is a small wine cabinet above the locker, with brandy and whiskey in it. But these are irrelevant to the case, because the bottles are full of wine, and the wine in the cabinet has not been touched."

Holmes said: "No, the wine in the cupboard is still very meaningful in my opinion. You should first tell about the other items that you think are related to this case."

"And that pouch of tobacco on the table."

"Where is it on the table?"

"In the middle of the table, the tobacco pouch was made of furry sealskin, with a leather cord to hold it on, and had 'P?C?' stamped on it. It contained about half an ounce of strong seaman's tobacco. "

"Very good! Any more?"

Hopkins took a notebook from his pocket. On the first page was written "J?H?N?" and the date "1883."Holmes scrutinized the notebook, and we both stood behind him with rapt attention.On the second page were printed letters "C?P?R?", and on the following pages were numbers.Then there are headings like "Argentina," "Costa Rica," "São Paulo," and several pages of symbols and numbers that follow each entry.

"What can these explain?" Holmes began to discover the problem.

"These are like stock exchange statements. I think 'J?H?N?' is the initials of the broker's name, and 'C?P?R' may be some of the customers."

"Why can't it be regarded as the Canadian Pacific Railway?" said Holmes, pointing to the letters "C?P?R?"

The sheriff beat himself on the thigh with his fist and scolded himself in a low voice.

He yelled: "What a fool! You are quite right, then only the letters 'J?H?N?' need to be solved. In my opinion this is the most important of all my clues You will think, sir, that these letters are the initials of the murderer. I believe that these notebooks, containing the large sums of valuable securities, were the motive for the murder of Black Peter."

Holmes's expression showed that this new development of the case was completely unexpected to him.

(End of this chapter)