The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Study In Scarlet, by Arthur Conan Doyle

This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at [Link]

Title: A Study In Scarlet

Author: Arthur Conan Doyle

Posting Date: July 12, 2008 [EBook #244]
Release Date: April, 1995
[Last updated: February 17, 2013]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A STUDY IN SCARLET
***

Produced by Roger Squires

A STUDY IN SCARLET.
By A. Conan Doyle

[1]

Original Transcriber’s Note: This etext is prepared directly from an 1887 edition, and
care has been taken to duplicate the original exactly, including typographical and
punctuation vagaries.
Additions to the text include adding the underscore character to indicate italics, and
textual end-notes in square braces.
Project Gutenberg Editor’s Note: In reproofing and moving old PG files such as this
to the present PG directory system it is the policy to reformat the text to conform to
present PG Standards. In this case however, in consideration of the note above of the
original transcriber describing his care to try to duplicate the original 1887 edition as
to typography and punctuation vagaries, no changes have been made in this ascii text
 file. However, in the Latin-1 file and this html file, present standards are followed
and the several French and Spanish words have been given their proper accents.
Part II, The Country of the Saints, deals much with the Mormon Church.

A STUDY IN SCARLET.

PART I.
(_Being a reprint from the reminiscences of_ JOHN H. WATSON, M.D., _late of the
Army Medical Department._) [2]

CHAPTER I. MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES.

IN the year 1878 I took my degree of Doctor of Medicine of the University of London,
and proceeded to Netley to go through the course prescribed for surgeons in the army.
Having completed my studies there, I was duly attached to the Fifth Northumberland
Fusiliers as Assistant Surgeon. The regiment was stationed in India at the time, and
before I could join it, the second Afghan war had broken out. On landing at Bombay, I
learned that my corps had advanced through the passes, and was already deep in the
enemy’s country. I followed, however, with many other officers who were in the same
situation as myself, and succeeded in reaching Candahar in safety, where I found my
regiment, and at once entered upon my new duties.
The campaign brought honours and promotion to many, but for me it had nothing but
misfortune and disaster. I was removed from my brigade and attached to the Berkshires,
with whom I served at the fatal battle of Maiwand. There I was struck on the shoulder
by a Jezail bullet, which shattered the bone and grazed the subclavian artery. I should
have fallen into the hands of the murderous Ghazis had it not been for the devotion and
courage shown by Murray, my orderly, who threw me across a pack-horse, and
succeeded in bringing me safely to the British lines.
Worn with pain, and weak from the prolonged hardships which I had undergone, I was
removed, with a great train of wounded sufferers, to the base hospital at Peshawar. Here
I rallied, and had already improved so far as to be able to walk about the wards, and
even to bask a little upon the verandah, when I was struck down by enteric fever, that
curse of our Indian possessions. For months my life was despaired of, and when at last I
came to myself and became convalescent, I was so weak and emaciated that a medical
board determined that not a day should be lost in sending me back to England. I was
dispatched, accordingly, in the troopship “Orontes,” and landed a month later on
Portsmouth jetty, with my health irretrievably ruined, but with permission from a
paternal government to spend the next nine months in attempting to improve it.
I had neither kith nor kin in England, and was therefore as free as air—or as free as an
income of eleven shillings and sixpence a day will permit a man to be. Under such
circumstances, I naturally gravitated to London, that great cesspool into which all the
loungers and idlers of the Empire are irresistibly drained. There I stayed for some time
at a private hotel in the Strand, leading a comfortless, meaningless existence, and
spending such money as I had, considerably more freely than I ought. So alarming did
the state of my finances become, that I soon realized that I must either leave the
metropolis and rusticate somewhere in the country, or that I must make a complete
alteration in my style of living. Choosing the latter alternative, I began by making up
my mind to leave the hotel, and to take up my quarters in some less pretentious and less
expensive domicile.
On the very day that I had come to this conclusion, I was standing at the Criterion Bar,
when some one tapped me on the shoulder, and turning round I recognized young
Stamford, who had been a dresser under me at Barts. The sight of a friendly face in the
great wilderness of London is a pleasant thing indeed to a lonely man. In old days
Stamford had never been a particular crony of mine, but now I hailed him with
enthusiasm, and he, in his turn, appeared to be delighted to see me. In the exuberance of
my joy, I asked him to lunch with me at the Holborn, and we started off together in a
hansom.
“Whatever have you been doing with yourself, Watson?” he asked in undisguised
wonder, as we rattled through the crowded London streets. “You are as thin as a lath
and as brown as a nut.”
I gave him a short sketch of my adventures, and had hardly concluded it by the time that
we reached our destination.
“Poor devil!” he said, commiseratingly, after he had listened to my misfortunes. “What
are you up to now?”
“Looking for lodgings.” [3] I answered. “Trying to solve the problem as to whether it is
possible to get comfortable rooms at a reasonable price.”
“That’s a strange thing,” remarked my companion; “you are the second man to-day that
has used that expression to me.”
“And who was the first?” I asked.
“A fellow who is working at the chemical laboratory up at the hospital. He was
bemoaning himself this morning because he could not get someone to go halves with
him in some nice rooms which he had found, and which were too much for his purse.”
“By Jove!” I cried, “if he really wants someone to share the rooms and the expense, I
am the very man for him. I should prefer having a partner to being alone.”
Young Stamford looked rather strangely at me over his wine-glass. “You don’t know
Sherlock Holmes yet,” he said; “perhaps you would not care for him as a constant
companion.”

“Why, what is there against him?”

“Oh, I didn’t say there was anything against him. He is a little queer in his ideas—an
enthusiast in some branches of science. As far as I know he is a decent fellow enough.”
“A medical student, I suppose?” said I.
“No—I have no idea what he intends to go in for. I believe he is well up in anatomy,
and he is a first-class chemist; but, as far as I know, he has never taken out any
systematic medical classes. His studies are very desultory and eccentric, but he has
amassed a lot of out-of-the way knowledge which would astonish his professors.”
“Did you never ask him what he was going in for?” I asked.
“No; he is not a man that it is easy to draw out, though he can be communicative
enough when the fancy seizes him.”
“I should like to meet him,” I said. “If I am to lodge with anyone, I should prefer a man
of studious and quiet habits. I am not strong enough yet to stand much noise or
excitement. I had enough of both in Afghanistan to last me for the remainder of my
natural existence. How could I meet this friend of yours?”
“He is sure to be at the laboratory,” returned my companion. “He either avoids the place
for weeks, or else he works there from morning to night. If you like, we shall drive
round together after luncheon.”
“Certainly,” I answered, and the conversation drifted away into other channels.
As we made our way to the hospital after leaving the Holborn, Stamford gave me a few
more particulars about the gentleman whom I proposed to take as a fellow-lodger.
“You mustn’t blame me if you don’t get on with him,” he said; “I know nothing more of
him than I have learned from meeting him occasionally in the laboratory. You proposed
this arrangement, so you must not hold me responsible.”
“If we don’t get on it will be easy to part company,” I answered. “It seems to me,
Stamford,” I added, looking hard at my companion, “that you have some reason for
washing your hands of the matter. Is this fellow’s temper so formidable, or what is it?
Don’t be mealy-mouthed about it.”
“It is not easy to express the inexpressible,” he answered with a laugh. “Holmes is a
little too scientific for my tastes—it approaches to cold-bloodedness. I could imagine
his giving a friend a little pinch of the latest vegetable alkaloid, not out of malevolence,
you understand, but simply out of a spirit of inquiry in order to have an accurate idea of
the effects. To do him justice, I think that he would take it himself with the same
readiness. He appears to have a passion for definite and exact knowledge.”
“Very right too.”
“Yes, but it may be pushed to excess. When it comes to beating the subjects in the
dissecting-rooms with a stick, it is certainly taking rather a bizarre shape.”

“Beating the subjects!”

“Yes, to verify how far bruises may be produced after death. I saw him at it with my
own eyes.”

“And yet you say he is not a medical student?”

“No. Heaven knows what the objects of his studies are. But here we are, and you must
form your own impressions about him.” As he spoke, we turned down a narrow lane
and passed through a small side-door, which opened into a wing of the great hospital. It
was familiar ground to me, and I needed no guiding as we ascended the bleak stone
staircase and made our way down the long corridor with its vista of whitewashed wall
and dun-coloured doors. Near the further end a low arched passage branched away from
it and led to the chemical laboratory.
This was a lofty chamber, lined and littered with countless bottles. Broad, low tables
were scattered about, which bristled with retorts, test-tubes, and little Bunsen lamps,
with their blue flickering flames. There was only one student in the room, who was
bending over a distant table absorbed in his work. At the sound of our steps he glanced
round and sprang to his feet with a cry of pleasure. “I’ve found it! I’ve found it,” he
shouted to my companion, running towards us with a test-tube in his hand. “I have
found a re-agent which is precipitated by hoemoglobin, [4] and by nothing else.” Had
he discovered a gold mine, greater delight could not have shone upon his features.
“Dr. Watson, Mr. Sherlock Holmes,” said Stamford, introducing us.
“How are you?” he said cordially, gripping my hand with a strength for which I should
hardly have given him credit. “You have been in Afghanistan, I perceive.”
“How on earth did you know that?” I asked in astonishment.
“Never mind,” said he, chuckling to himself. “The question now is about hoemoglobin.
No doubt you see the significance of this discovery of mine?”
“It is interesting, chemically, no doubt,” I answered, “but
practically----“
“Why, man, it is the most practical medico-legal discovery for years. Don’t you see that
it gives us an infallible test for blood stains. Come over here now!” He seized me by the
coat-sleeve in his eagerness, and drew me over to the table at which he had been
working. “Let us have some fresh blood,” he said, digging a long bodkin into his finger,
and drawing off the resulting drop of blood in a chemical pipette. “Now, I add this small
quantity of blood to a litre of water. You perceive that the resulting mixture has the
appearance of pure water. The proportion of blood cannot be more than one in a million.
I have no doubt, however, that we shall be able to obtain the characteristic reaction.” As
he spoke, he threw into the vessel a few white crystals, and then added some drops of a
transparent fluid. In an instant the contents assumed a dull mahogany colour, and a
brownish dust was precipitated to the bottom of the glass jar.
“Ha! ha!” he cried, clapping his hands, and looking as delighted as a child with a new
toy. “What do you think of that?”
“It seems to be a very delicate test,” I remarked.
“Beautiful! beautiful! The old Guiacum test was very clumsy and uncertain. So is the
microscopic examination for blood corpuscles. The latter is valueless if the stains are a
few hours old. Now, this appears to act as well whether the blood is old or new. Had
this test been invented, there are hundreds of men now walking the earth who would
long ago have paid the penalty of their crimes.”
“Indeed!” I murmured.
“Criminal cases are continually hinging upon that one point. A man is suspected of a
crime months perhaps after it has been committed. His linen or clothes are examined,
and brownish stains discovered upon them. Are they blood stains, or mud stains, or rust
stains, or fruit stains, or what are they? That is a question which has puzzled many an
expert, and why? Because there was no reliable test. Now we have the Sherlock
Holmes’ test, and there will no longer be any difficulty.”
His eyes fairly glittered as he spoke, and he put his hand over his heart and bowed as if
to some applauding crowd conjured up by his imagination.
“You are to be congratulated,” I remarked, considerably surprised at his enthusiasm.
“There was the case of Von Bischoff at Frankfort last year. He would certainly have
been hung had this test been in existence. Then there was Mason of Bradford, and the
notorious Muller, and Lefevre of Montpellier, and Samson of New Orleans. I could
name a score of cases in which it would have been decisive.”
“You seem to be a walking calendar of crime,” said Stamford with a laugh. “You might
start a paper on those lines. Call it the ‘Police News of the Past.’”
“Very interesting reading it might be made, too,” remarked Sherlock Holmes, sticking a
small piece of plaster over the prick on his finger. “I have to be careful,” he continued,
turning to me with a smile, “for I dabble with poisons a good deal.” He held out his
hand as he spoke, and I noticed that it was all mottled over with similar pieces of
plaster, and discoloured with strong acids.
“We came here on business,” said Stamford, sitting down on a high three-legged stool,
and pushing another one in my direction with his foot. “My friend here wants to take
diggings, and as you were complaining that you could get no one to go halves with you,
I thought that I had better bring you together.”
Sherlock Holmes seemed delighted at the idea of sharing his rooms with me. “I have my
eye on a suite in Baker Street,” he said, “which would suit us down to the ground. You
don’t mind the smell of strong tobacco, I hope?”
“I always smoke ‘ship’s’ myself,” I answered.
“That’s good enough. I generally have chemicals about, and occasionally do
experiments. Would that annoy you?”
“By no means.”
“Let me see—what are my other shortcomings. I get in the dumps at times, and don’t
open my mouth for days on end. You must not think I am sulky when I do that. Just let
me alone, and I’ll soon be right. What have you to confess now? It’s just as well for two
fellows to know the worst of one another before they begin to live together.”
I laughed at this cross-examination. “I keep a bull pup,” I said, “and I object to rows
because my nerves are shaken, and I get up at all sorts of ungodly hours, and I am
extremely lazy. I have another set of vices when I’m well, but those are the principal
ones at present.”
“Do you include violin-playing in your category of rows?” he asked, anxiously.
“It depends on the player,” I answered. “A well-played violin is a treat
for the gods—a badly-played one----“
“Oh, that’s all right,” he cried, with a merry laugh. “I think we may consider the thing
as settled—that is, if the rooms are agreeable to you.”

“When shall we see them?”

“Call for me here at noon to-morrow, and we’ll go together and settle everything,” he
answered.
“All right—noon exactly,” said I, shaking his hand.
We left him working among his chemicals, and we walked together towards my hotel.
“By the way,” I asked suddenly, stopping and turning upon Stamford, “how the deuce
did he know that I had come from Afghanistan?”
My companion smiled an enigmatical smile. “That’s just his little peculiarity,” he said.
“A good many people have wanted to know how he finds things out.”
“Oh! a mystery is it?” I cried, rubbing my hands. “This is very piquant. I am much
obliged to you for bringing us together. ‘The proper study of mankind is man,’ you
know.”
“You must study him, then,” Stamford said, as he bade me good-bye. “You’ll find him
a knotty problem, though. I’ll wager he learns more about you than you about him.
Good-bye.”
“Good-bye,” I answered, and strolled on to my hotel, considerably interested in my new
acquaintance.

CHAPTER II. THE SCIENCE OF DEDUCTION.

WE met next day as he had arranged, and inspected the rooms at No. 221B, [5] Baker
Street, of which he had spoken at our meeting. They consisted of a couple of
comfortable bed-rooms and a single large airy sitting-room, cheerfully furnished, and
illuminated by two broad windows. So desirable in every way were the apartments, and
so moderate did the terms seem when divided between us, that the bargain was
concluded upon the spot, and we at once entered into possession. That very evening I
moved my things round from the hotel, and on the following morning Sherlock Holmes
followed me with several boxes and portmanteaus. For a day or two we were busily
employed in unpacking and laying out our property to the best advantage. That done,
we gradually began to settle down and to accommodate ourselves to our new
surroundings.
Holmes was certainly not a difficult man to live with. He was quiet in his ways, and his
habits were regular. It was rare for him to be up after ten at night, and he had invariably
breakfasted and gone out before I rose in the morning. Sometimes he spent his day at
the chemical laboratory, sometimes in the dissecting-rooms, and occasionally in long
walks, which appeared to take him into the lowest portions of the City. Nothing could
exceed his energy when the working fit was upon him; but now and again a reaction
would seize him, and for days on end he would lie upon the sofa in the sitting-room,
hardly uttering a word or moving a muscle from morning to night. On these occasions I
have noticed such a dreamy, vacant expression in his eyes, that I might have suspected
him of being addicted to the use of some narcotic, had not the temperance and
cleanliness of his whole life forbidden such a notion.
As the weeks went by, my interest in him and my curiosity as to his aims in life,
gradually deepened and increased. His very person and appearance were such as to
strike the attention of the most casual observer. In height he was rather over six feet, and
so excessively lean that he seemed to be considerably taller. His eyes were sharp and
piercing, save during those intervals of torpor to which I have alluded; and his thin,
hawk-like nose gave his whole expression an air of alertness and decision. His chin, too,
had the prominence and squareness which mark the man of determination. His hands
were invariably blotted with ink and stained with chemicals, yet he was possessed of
extraordinary delicacy of touch, as I frequently had occasion to observe when I watched
him manipulating his fragile philosophical instruments.
The reader may set me down as a hopeless busybody, when I confess how much this
man stimulated my curiosity, and how often I endeavoured to break through the
reticence which he showed on all that concerned himself. Before pronouncing
judgment, however, be it remembered, how objectless was my life, and how little there
was to engage my attention. My health forbade me from venturing out unless the
weather was exceptionally genial, and I had no friends who would call upon me and
break the monotony of my daily existence. Under these circumstances, I eagerly hailed
the little mystery which hung around my companion, and spent much of my time in
endeavouring to unravel it.
He was not studying medicine. He had himself, in reply to a question, confirmed
Stamford’s opinion upon that point. Neither did he appear to have pursued any course of
reading which might fit him for a degree in science or any other recognized portal
which would give him an entrance into the learned world. Yet his zeal for certain
studies was remarkable, and within eccentric limits his knowledge was so
extraordinarily ample and minute that his observations have fairly astounded me. Surely
no man would work so hard or attain such precise information unless he had some
definite end in view. Desultory readers are seldom remarkable for the exactness of their
learning. No man burdens his mind with small matters unless he has some very good
reason for doing so.
His ignorance was as remarkable as his knowledge. Of contemporary literature,
philosophy and politics he appeared to know next to nothing. Upon my quoting
Thomas Carlyle, he inquired in the naivest way who he might be and what he had done.
My surprise reached a climax, however, when I found incidentally that he was ignorant
of the Copernican Theory and of the composition of the Solar System. That any
civilized human being in this nineteenth century should not be aware that the earth
travelled round the sun appeared to be to me such an extraordinary fact that I could
hardly realize it.
“You appear to be astonished,” he said, smiling at my expression of surprise. “Now that
I do know it I shall do my best to forget it.”

“To forget it!”

“You see,” he explained, “I consider that a man’s brain originally is like a little empty
attic, and you have to stock it with such furniture as you choose. A fool takes in all the
lumber of every sort that he comes across, so that the knowledge which might be useful
to him gets crowded out, or at best is jumbled up with a lot of other things so that he has
a difficulty in laying his hands upon it. Now the skilful workman is very careful indeed
as to what he takes into his brain-attic. He will have nothing but the tools which may
help him in doing his work, but of these he has a large assortment, and all in the most
perfect order. It is a mistake to think that that little room has elastic walls and can
distend to any extent. Depend upon it there comes a time when for every addition of
knowledge you forget something that you knew before. It is of the highest importance,
therefore, not to have useless facts elbowing out the useful ones.”
“But the Solar System!” I protested.
“What the deuce is it to me?” he interrupted impatiently; “you say that we go round the
sun. If we went round the moon it would not make a pennyworth of difference to me or
to my work.”
I was on the point of asking him what that work might be, but something in his manner
showed me that the question would be an unwelcome one. I pondered over our short
conversation, however, and endeavoured to draw my deductions from it. He said that he
would acquire no knowledge which did not bear upon his object. Therefore all the
knowledge which he possessed was such as would be useful to him. I enumerated in my
own mind all the various points upon which he had shown me that he was exceptionally
well-informed. I even took a pencil and jotted them down. I could not help smiling at
the document when I had completed it. It ran in this way—

SHERLOCK HOLMES—his limits.

1. Knowledge of Literature.—Nil.
2. Philosophy.—Nil.
3. Astronomy.—Nil.
4. Politics.—Feeble.
5. Botany.—Variable. Well up in belladonna, opium, and poisons generally.
Knows nothing of practical gardening.
6. Geology.—Practical, but limited.
Tells at a glance different soils from each other. After walks has shown me splashes
upon his trousers, and told me by their colour and consistence in what part of London
he had received them.
7. Chemistry.—Profound.
8. Anatomy.—Accurate, but unsystematic.
9. Sensational Literature.—Immense. He appears to know every detail of every horror
perpetrated in the century.
10. Plays the violin well.
11. Is an expert singlestick player, boxer, and swordsman.
12. Has a good practical knowledge of British law.

When I had got so far in my list I threw it into the fire in despair. “If I can only find
what the fellow is driving at by reconciling all these accomplishments, and discovering
a calling which needs them all,” I said to myself, “I may as well give up the attempt at
once.”
I see that I have alluded above to his powers upon the violin. These were very
remarkable, but as eccentric as all his other accomplishments. That he could play
pieces, and difficult pieces, I knew well, because at my request he has played me some
of Mendelssohn’s Lieder, and other favourites. When left to himself, however, he would
seldom produce any music or attempt any recognized air. Leaning back in his arm-chair
of an evening, he would close his eyes and scrape carelessly at the fiddle which was
thrown across his knee. Sometimes the chords were sonorous and melancholy.
Occasionally they were fantastic and cheerful. Clearly they reflected the thoughts which
possessed him, but whether the music aided those thoughts, or whether the playing was
simply the result of a whim or fancy was more than I could determine. I might have
rebelled against these exasperating solos had it not been that he usually terminated them
by playing in quick succession a whole series of my favourite airs as a slight
compensation for the trial upon my patience.
During the first week or so we had no callers, and I had begun to think that my
companion was as friendless a man as I was myself. Presently, however, I found that he
had many acquaintances, and those in the most different classes of society. There was
one little sallow rat-faced, dark-eyed fellow who was introduced to me as Mr. Lestrade,
and who came three or four times in a single week. One morning a young girl called,
fashionably dressed, and stayed for half an hour or more. The same afternoon brought a
grey-headed, seedy visitor, looking like a Jew pedlar, who appeared to me to be much
excited, and who was closely followed by a slip-shod elderly woman. On another
occasion an old white-haired gentleman had an interview with my companion; and on
another a railway porter in his velveteen uniform. When any of these nondescript
individuals put in an appearance, Sherlock Holmes used to beg for the use of the sitting-
room, and I would retire to my bed-room. He always apologized to me for putting me
to this inconvenience. “I have to use this room as a place of business,” he said, “and
these people are my clients.” Again I had an opportunity of asking him a point blank
question, and again my delicacy prevented me from forcing another man to confide in
me. I imagined at the time that he had some strong reason for not alluding to it, but he
soon dispelled the idea by coming round to the subject of his own accord.
It was upon the 4th of March, as I have good reason to remember, that I rose somewhat
earlier than usual, and found that Sherlock Holmes had not yet finished his breakfast.
The landlady had become so accustomed to my late habits that my place had not been
laid nor my coffee prepared. With the unreasonable petulance of mankind I rang the bell
and gave a curt intimation that I was ready. Then I picked up a magazine from the table
and attempted to while away the time with it, while my companion munched silently at
his toast. One of the articles had a pencil mark at the heading, and I naturally began to
run my eye through it.
Its somewhat ambitious title was “The Book of Life,” and it attempted to show how
much an observant man might learn by an accurate and systematic examination of all
that came in his way. It struck me as being a remarkable mixture of shrewdness and of
absurdity. The reasoning was close and intense, but the deductions appeared to me to be
far-fetched and exaggerated. The writer claimed by a momentary expression, a twitch of
a muscle or a glance of an eye, to fathom a man’s inmost thoughts. Deceit, according to
him, was an impossibility in the case of one trained to observation and analysis. His
conclusions were as infallible as so many propositions of Euclid. So startling would his
results appear to the uninitiated that until they learned the processes by which he had
arrived at them they might well consider him as a necromancer.
“From a drop of water,” said the writer, “a logician could infer the possibility of an
Atlantic or a Niagara without having seen or heard of one or the other. So all life is a
great chain, the nature of which is known whenever we are shown a single link of it.
Like all other arts, the Science of Deduction and Analysis is one which can only be
acquired by long and patient study nor is life long enough to allow any mortal to attain
the highest possible perfection in it. Before turning to those moral and mental aspects of
the matter which present the greatest difficulties, let the enquirer begin by mastering
more elementary problems. Let him, on meeting a fellow-mortal, learn at a glance to
distinguish the history of the man, and the trade or profession to which he belongs.
Puerile as such an exercise may seem, it sharpens the faculties of observation, and
teaches one where to look and what to look for. By a man’s finger nails, by his coat-
sleeve, by his boot, by his trouser knees, by the callosities of his forefinger and thumb,
by his expression, by his shirt cuffs—by each of these things a man’s calling is plainly
revealed. That all united should fail to enlighten the competent enquirer in any case is
almost inconceivable.”
“What ineffable twaddle!” I cried, slapping the magazine down on the table, “I never
read such rubbish in my life.”
“What is it?” asked Sherlock Holmes.
“Why, this article,” I said, pointing at it with my egg spoon as I sat down to my
breakfast. “I see that you have read it since you have marked it. I don’t deny that it is
smartly written. It irritates me though. It is evidently the theory of some arm-chair
lounger who evolves all these neat little paradoxes in the seclusion of his own study. It
is not practical. I should like to see him clapped down in a third class carriage on the
Underground, and asked to give the trades of all his fellow-travellers. I would lay a
thousand to one against him.”
“You would lose your money,” Sherlock Holmes remarked calmly. “As for the article I
wrote it myself.”

“You!”
“Yes, I have a turn both for observation and for deduction. The theories which I have
expressed there, and which appear to you to be so chimerical are really extremely
practical—so practical that I depend upon them for my bread and cheese.”
“And how?” I asked involuntarily.
“Well, I have a trade of my own. I suppose I am the only one in the world. I’m a
consulting detective, if you can understand what that is. Here in London we have lots
of Government detectives and lots of private ones. When these fellows are at fault they
come to me, and I manage to put them on the right scent. They lay all the evidence
before me, and I am generally able, by the help of my knowledge of the history of
crime, to set them straight. There is a strong family resemblance about misdeeds, and if
you have all the details of a thousand at your finger ends, it is odd if you can’t unravel
the thousand and first. Lestrade is a well-known detective. He got himself into a fog
recently over a forgery case, and that was what brought him here.”

“And these other people?”

“They are mostly sent on by private inquiry agencies. They are all people who are in
trouble about something, and want a little enlightening. I listen to their story, they listen
to my comments, and then I pocket my fee.”
“But do you mean to say,” I said, “that without leaving your room you can unravel
some knot which other men can make nothing of, although they have seen every detail
for themselves?”
“Quite so. I have a kind of intuition that way. Now and again a case turns up which is a
little more complex. Then I have to bustle about and see things with my own eyes. You
see I have a lot of special knowledge which I apply to the problem, and which facilitates
matters wonderfully. Those rules of deduction laid down in that article which aroused
your scorn, are invaluable to me in practical work. Observation with me is second
nature. You appeared to be surprised when I told you, on our first meeting, that you had
come from Afghanistan.”
“You were told, no doubt.”
“Nothing of the sort. I knew you came from Afghanistan. From long habit the train of
thoughts ran so swiftly through my mind, that I arrived at the conclusion without being
conscious of intermediate steps. There were such steps, however. The train of reasoning
ran, ‘Here is a gentleman of a medical type, but with the air of a military man. Clearly
an army doctor, then. He has just come from the tropics, for his face is dark, and that is
not the natural tint of his skin, for his wrists are fair. He has undergone hardship and
sickness, as his haggard face says clearly. His left arm has been injured. He holds it in a
stiff and unnatural manner. Where in the tropics could an English army doctor have
seen much hardship and got his arm wounded? Clearly in Afghanistan.’ The whole train
of thought did not occupy a second. I then remarked that you came from Afghanistan,
and you were astonished.”
“It is simple enough as you explain it,” I said, smiling. “You remind me of Edgar Allen
Poe’s Dupin. I had no idea that such individuals did exist outside of stories.”
Sherlock Holmes rose and lit his pipe. “No doubt you think that you are complimenting
me in comparing me to Dupin,” he observed. “Now, in my opinion, Dupin was a very
inferior fellow. That trick of his of breaking in on his friends’ thoughts with an apropos
remark after a quarter of an hour’s silence is really very showy and superficial. He had
some analytical genius, no doubt; but he was by no means such a phenomenon as Poe
appeared to imagine.”
“Have you read Gaboriau’s works?” I asked. “Does Lecoq come up to your idea of a
detective?”
Sherlock Holmes sniffed sardonically. “Lecoq was a miserable bungler,” he said, in an
angry voice; “he had only one thing to recommend him, and that was his energy. That
book made me positively ill. The question was how to identify an unknown prisoner. I
could have done it in twenty-four hours. Lecoq took six months or so. It might be made
a text-book for detectives to teach them what to avoid.”
I felt rather indignant at having two characters whom I had admired treated in this
cavalier style. I walked over to the window, and stood looking out into the busy street.
“This fellow may be very clever,” I said to myself, “but he is certainly very conceited.”
“There are no crimes and no criminals in these days,” he said, querulously. “What is the
use of having brains in our profession. I know well that I have it in me to make my
name famous. No man lives or has ever lived who has brought the same amount of
study and of natural talent to the detection of crime which I have done. And what is the
result? There is no crime to detect, or, at most, some bungling villainy with a motive so
transparent that even a Scotland Yard official can see through it.”
I was still annoyed at his bumptious style of conversation. I thought it best to change the
topic.
“I wonder what that fellow is looking for?” I asked, pointing to a stalwart, plainly-
dressed individual who was walking slowly down the other side of the street, looking
anxiously at the numbers. He had a large blue envelope in his hand, and was evidently
the bearer of a message.
“You mean the retired sergeant of Marines,” said Sherlock Holmes.
“Brag and bounce!” thought I to myself. “He knows that I cannot verify his guess.”
The thought had hardly passed through my mind when the man whom we were
watching caught sight of the number on our door, and ran rapidly across the roadway.
We heard a loud knock, a deep voice below, and heavy steps ascending the stair.
“For Mr. Sherlock Holmes,” he said, stepping into the room and handing my friend the
letter.
Here was an opportunity of taking the conceit out of him. He little thought of this when
he made that random shot. “May I ask, my lad,” I said, in the blandest voice, “what your
trade may be?”
“Commissionaire, sir,” he said, gruffly. “Uniform away for repairs.”
“And you were?” I asked, with a slightly malicious glance at my companion.
“A sergeant, sir, Royal Marine Light Infantry, sir. No answer? Right, sir.”
He clicked his heels together, raised his hand in a salute, and was gone.

CHAPTER III. THE LAURISTON GARDEN MYSTERY [6]

I CONFESS that I was considerably startled by this fresh proof of the practical nature of
my companion’s theories. My respect for his powers of analysis increased wondrously.
There still remained some lurking suspicion in my mind, however, that the whole thing
was a pre-arranged episode, intended to dazzle me, though what earthly object he could
have in taking me in was past my comprehension. When I looked at him he had finished
reading the note, and his eyes had assumed the vacant, lack-lustre expression which
showed mental abstraction.
“How in the world did you deduce that?” I asked.
“Deduce what?” said he, petulantly.
“Why, that he was a retired sergeant of Marines.”
“I have no time for trifles,” he answered, brusquely; then with a smile, “Excuse my
rudeness. You broke the thread of my thoughts; but perhaps it is as well. So you
actually were not able to see that that man was a sergeant of Marines?”
“No, indeed.”
“It was easier to know it than to explain why I knew it. If you were asked to prove that
two and two made four, you might find some difficulty, and yet you are quite sure of the
fact. Even across the street I could see a great blue anchor tattooed on the back of the
fellow’s hand. That smacked of the sea. He had a military carriage, however, and
regulation side whiskers. There we have the marine. He was a man with some amount
of self-importance and a certain air of command. You must have observed the way in
which he held his head and swung his cane. A steady, respectable, middle-aged man,
too, on the face of him—all facts which led me to believe that he had been a sergeant.”
“Wonderful!” I ejaculated.
“Commonplace,” said Holmes, though I thought from his expression that he was
pleased at my evident surprise and admiration. “I said just now that there were no
criminals. It appears that I am wrong—look at this!” He threw me over the note which
the commissionaire had brought. [7]

“Why,” I cried, as I cast my eye over it, “this is terrible!”

“It does seem to be a little out of the common,” he remarked, calmly.
“Would you mind reading it to me aloud?”
This is the letter which I read to him----

“MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--

“There has been a bad business during the night at 3, Lauriston Gardens, off the Brixton
Road. Our man on the beat saw a light there about two in the morning, and as the house
was an empty one, suspected that something was amiss. He found the door open, and in
the front room, which is bare of furniture, discovered the body of a gentleman, well
dressed, and having cards in his pocket bearing the name of ‘Enoch J. Drebber,
Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.A.’ There had been no robbery, nor is there any evidence as to
how the man met his death. There are marks of blood in the room, but there is no wound
upon his person. We are at a loss as to how he came into the empty house; indeed, the
whole affair is a puzzler. If you can come round to the house any time before twelve,
you will find me there. I have left everything in statu quo until I hear from you. If you
are unable to come I shall give you fuller details, and would esteem it a great kindness if
you would favour me with your opinion.
Yours faithfully,

“TOBIAS GREGSON.”

“Gregson is the smartest of the Scotland Yarders,” my friend remarked;

“he and Lestrade are the pick of a bad lot. They are both quick and energetic, but
conventional—shockingly so. They have their knives into one another, too. They are as
jealous as a pair of professional beauties. There will be some fun over this case if they
are both put upon the scent.”
I was amazed at the calm way in which he rippled on. “Surely there is not a moment to
be lost,” I cried, “shall I go and order you a cab?”
“I’m not sure about whether I shall go. I am the most incurably lazy devil that ever
stood in shoe leather—that is, when the fit is on me, for I can be spry enough at times.”
“Why, it is just such a chance as you have been longing for.”
“My dear fellow, what does it matter to me. Supposing I unravel the whole matter, you
may be sure that Gregson, Lestrade, and Co. will pocket all the credit. That comes of
being an unofficial personage.”
“But he begs you to help him.”
“Yes. He knows that I am his superior, and acknowledges it to me; but he would cut his
tongue out before he would own it to any third person. However, we may as well go
and have a look. I shall work it out on my own hook. I may have a laugh at them if I
have nothing else. Come on!”
He hustled on his overcoat, and bustled about in a way that showed that an energetic fit
had superseded the apathetic one.
“Get your hat,” he said.

“You wish me to come?”

“Yes, if you have nothing better to do.” A minute later we were both in a hansom,
driving furiously for the Brixton Road.
It was a foggy, cloudy morning, and a dun-coloured veil hung over the house-tops,
looking like the reflection of the mud-coloured streets beneath. My companion was in
the best of spirits, and prattled away about Cremona fiddles, and the difference between
a Stradivarius and an Amati. As for myself, I was silent, for the dull weather and the
melancholy business upon which we were engaged, depressed my spirits.
“You don’t seem to give much thought to the matter in hand,” I said at last, interrupting
Holmes’ musical disquisition.
“No data yet,” he answered. “It is a capital mistake to theorize before you have all the
evidence. It biases the judgment.”
“You will have your data soon,” I remarked, pointing with my finger;
“this is the Brixton Road, and that is the house, if I am not very much mistaken.”
“So it is. Stop, driver, stop!” We were still a hundred yards or so from it, but he insisted
upon our alighting, and we finished our journey upon foot.
Number 3, Lauriston Gardens wore an ill-omened and minatory look. It was one of four
which stood back some little way from the street, two being occupied and two empty.
The latter looked out with three tiers of vacant melancholy windows, which were blank
and dreary, save that here and there a “To Let” card had developed like a cataract upon
the bleared panes. A small garden sprinkled over with a scattered eruption of sickly
plants separated each of these houses from the street, and was traversed by a narrow
pathway, yellowish in colour, and consisting apparently of a mixture of clay and of
gravel. The whole place was very sloppy from the rain which had fallen through the
night. The garden was bounded by a three-foot brick wall with a fringe of wood rails
upon the top, and against this wall was leaning a stalwart police constable, surrounded
by a small knot of loafers, who craned their necks and strained their eyes in the vain
hope of catching some glimpse of the proceedings within.
I had imagined that Sherlock Holmes would at once have hurried into the house and
plunged into a study of the mystery. Nothing appeared to be further from his intention.
With an air of nonchalance which, under the circumstances, seemed to me to border
upon affectation, he lounged up and down the pavement, and gazed vacantly at the
ground, the sky, the opposite houses and the line of railings. Having finished his
scrutiny, he proceeded slowly down the path, or rather down the fringe of grass which
flanked the path, keeping his eyes riveted upon the ground. Twice he stopped, and once
I saw him smile, and heard him utter an exclamation of satisfaction. There were many
marks of footsteps upon the wet clayey soil, but since the police had been coming and
going over it, I was unable to see how my companion could hope to learn anything from
it. Still I had had such extraordinary evidence of the quickness of his perceptive
faculties, that I had no doubt that he could see a great deal which was hidden from me.
At the door of the house we were met by a tall, white-faced, flaxen-haired man, with a
notebook in his hand, who rushed forward and wrung my companion’s hand with
effusion. “It is indeed kind of you to come,” he said, “I have had everything left
untouched.”
“Except that!” my friend answered, pointing at the pathway. “If a herd of buffaloes had
passed along there could not be a greater mess. No doubt, however, you had drawn your
own conclusions, Gregson, before you permitted this.”
“I have had so much to do inside the house,” the detective said evasively. “My
colleague, Mr. Lestrade, is here. I had relied upon him to look after this.”
Holmes glanced at me and raised his eyebrows sardonically. “With two such men as
yourself and Lestrade upon the ground, there will not be much for a third party to find
out,” he said.
Gregson rubbed his hands in a self-satisfied way. “I think we have done all that can be
done,” he answered; “it’s a queer case though, and I knew your taste for such things.”
“You did not come here in a cab?” asked Sherlock Holmes.
“No, sir.”
“Nor Lestrade?”
“No, sir.”
“Then let us go and look at the room.” With which inconsequent remark he strode on
into the house, followed by Gregson, whose features expressed his astonishment.
A short passage, bare planked and dusty, led to the kitchen and offices. Two doors
opened out of it to the left and to the right. One of these had obviously been closed for
many weeks. The other belonged to the dining-room, which was the apartment in which
the mysterious affair had occurred. Holmes walked in, and I followed him with that
subdued feeling at my heart which the presence of death inspires.
It was a large square room, looking all the larger from the absence of all furniture. A
vulgar flaring paper adorned the walls, but it was blotched in places with mildew, and
here and there great strips had become detached and hung down, exposing the yellow
plaster beneath. Opposite the door was a showy fireplace, surmounted by a mantelpiece
of imitation white marble. On one corner of this was stuck the stump of a red wax
candle. The solitary window was so dirty that the light was hazy and uncertain, giving a
dull grey tinge to everything, which was intensified by the thick layer of dust which
coated the whole apartment.
All these details I observed afterwards. At present my attention was centred upon the
single grim motionless figure which lay stretched upon the boards, with vacant sightless
eyes staring up at the discoloured ceiling. It was that of a man about forty-three or forty-
four years of age, middle-sized, broad shouldered, with crisp curling black hair, and a
short stubbly beard. He was dressed in a heavy broadcloth frock coat and waistcoat,
with light-coloured trousers, and immaculate collar and cuffs. A top hat, well brushed
and trim, was placed upon the floor beside him. His hands were clenched and his arms
thrown abroad, while his lower limbs were interlocked as though his death struggle had
been a grievous one. On his rigid face there stood an expression of horror, and as it
seemed to me, of hatred, such as I have never seen upon human features. This malignant
and terrible contortion, combined with the low forehead, blunt nose, and prognathous
jaw gave the dead man a singularly simious and ape-like appearance, which was
increased by his writhing, unnatural posture. I have seen death in many forms, but never
has it appeared to me in a more fearsome aspect than in that dark grimy apartment,
which looked out upon one of the main arteries of suburban London.
Lestrade, lean and ferret-like as ever, was standing by the doorway, and greeted my
companion and myself.
“This case will make a stir, sir,” he remarked. “It beats anything I have seen, and I am
no chicken.”
“There is no clue?” said Gregson.
“None at all,” chimed in Lestrade.
Sherlock Holmes approached the body, and, kneeling down, examined it intently. “You
are sure that there is no wound?” he asked, pointing to numerous gouts and splashes of
blood which lay all round.
“Positive!” cried both detectives.
“Then, of course, this blood belongs to a second individual--[8] presumably the
murderer, if murder has been committed. It reminds me of the circumstances attendant
on the death of Van Jansen, in Utrecht, in the year ‘34. Do you remember the case,
Gregson?”
“No, sir.”
“Read it up—you really should. There is nothing new under the sun. It has all been done
before.”
As he spoke, his nimble fingers were flying here, there, and everywhere, feeling,
pressing, unbuttoning, examining, while his eyes wore the same far-away expression
which I have already remarked upon. So swiftly was the examination made, that one
would hardly have guessed the minuteness with which it was conducted. Finally, he
sniffed the dead man’s lips, and then glanced at the soles of his patent leather boots.
“He has not been moved at all?” he asked.
“No more than was necessary for the purposes of our examination.”
“You can take him to the mortuary now,” he said. “There is nothing more to be
learned.”
Gregson had a stretcher and four men at hand. At his call they entered the room, and the
stranger was lifted and carried out. As they raised him, a ring tinkled down and rolled
across the floor. Lestrade grabbed it up and stared at it with mystified eyes.
“There’s been a woman here,” he cried. “It’s a woman’s wedding-ring.”
He held it out, as he spoke, upon the palm of his hand. We all gathered round him and
gazed at it. There could be no doubt that that circlet of plain gold had once adorned the
finger of a bride.
“This complicates matters,” said Gregson. “Heaven knows, they were complicated
enough before.”
“You’re sure it doesn’t simplify them?” observed Holmes. “There’s nothing to be
learned by staring at it. What did you find in his pockets?”
“We have it all here,” said Gregson, pointing to a litter of objects upon one of the
bottom steps of the stairs. “A gold watch, No. 97163, by Barraud, of London. Gold
Albert chain, very heavy and solid. Gold ring, with masonic device. Gold pin—bull-
dog’s head, with rubies as eyes. Russian leather card-case, with cards of Enoch J.
Drebber of Cleveland, corresponding with the E. J. D. upon the linen. No purse, but
loose money to the extent of seven pounds thirteen. Pocket edition of Boccaccio’s
‘Decameron,’ with name of Joseph Stangerson upon the fly-leaf. Two letters—one
addressed to E. J. Drebber and one to Joseph Stangerson.”

“At what address?”

“American Exchange, Strand—to be left till called for. They are both from the Guion
Steamship Company, and refer to the sailing of their boats from Liverpool. It is clear
that this unfortunate man was about to return to New York.”

“Have you made any inquiries as to this man, Stangerson?”

“I did it at once, sir,” said Gregson. “I have had advertisements sent to all the
newspapers, and one of my men has gone to the American Exchange, but he has not
returned yet.”
“Have you sent to Cleveland?”
“We telegraphed this morning.”
“How did you word your inquiries?”
“We simply detailed the circumstances, and said that we should be glad of any
information which could help us.”
“You did not ask for particulars on any point which appeared to you to be crucial?”
“I asked about Stangerson.”
“Nothing else? Is there no circumstance on which this whole case appears to hinge?
Will you not telegraph again?”
“I have said all I have to say,” said Gregson, in an offended voice.
Sherlock Holmes chuckled to himself, and appeared to be about to make some remark,
when Lestrade, who had been in the front room while we were holding this conversation
in the hall, reappeared upon the scene, rubbing his hands in a pompous and self-satisfied
manner.
“Mr. Gregson,” he said, “I have just made a discovery of the highest importance, and
one which would have been overlooked had I not made a careful examination of the
walls.”
The little man’s eyes sparkled as he spoke, and he was evidently in a state of suppressed
exultation at having scored a point against his colleague.
“Come here,” he said, bustling back into the room, the atmosphere of which felt clearer
since the removal of its ghastly inmate. “Now, stand there!”
He struck a match on his boot and held it up against the wall.
“Look at that!” he said, triumphantly.
I have remarked that the paper had fallen away in parts. In this particular corner of the
room a large piece had peeled off, leaving a yellow square of coarse plastering. Across
this bare space there was scrawled in blood-red letters a single word—
RACHE.

“What do you think of that?” cried the detective, with the air of a showman exhibiting
his show. “This was overlooked because it was in the darkest corner of the room, and no
one thought of looking there. The murderer has written it with his or her own blood. See
this smear where it has trickled down the wall! That disposes of the idea of suicide
anyhow. Why was that corner chosen to write it on? I will tell you. See that candle on
the mantelpiece. It was lit at the time, and if it was lit this corner would be the brightest
instead of the darkest portion of the wall.”
“And what does it mean now that you have found it?” asked Gregson in a depreciatory
voice.
“Mean? Why, it means that the writer was going to put the female name Rachel, but was
disturbed before he or she had time to finish. You mark my words, when this case
comes to be cleared up you will find that a woman named Rachel has something to do
with it. It’s all very well for you to laugh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes. You may be very smart
and clever, but the old hound is the best, when all is said and done.”
“I really beg your pardon!” said my companion, who had ruffled the little man’s temper
by bursting into an explosion of laughter. “You certainly have the credit of being the
first of us to find this out, and, as you say, it bears every mark of having been written by
the other participant in last night’s mystery. I have not had time to examine this room
yet, but with your permission I shall do so now.”
As he spoke, he whipped a tape measure and a large round magnifying glass from his
pocket. With these two implements he trotted noiselessly about the room, sometimes
stopping, occasionally kneeling, and once lying flat upon his face. So engrossed was he
with his occupation that he appeared to have forgotten our presence, for he chattered
away to himself under his breath the whole time, keeping up a running fire of
exclamations, groans, whistles, and little cries suggestive of encouragement and of
hope. As I watched him I was irresistibly reminded of a pure-blooded well-trained
foxhound as it dashes backwards and forwards through the covert, whining in its
eagerness, until it comes across the lost scent. For twenty minutes or more he continued
his researches, measuring with the most exact care the distance between marks which
were entirely invisible to me, and occasionally applying his tape to the walls in an
equally incomprehensible manner. In one place he gathered up very carefully a little pile
of grey dust from the floor, and packed it away in an envelope. Finally, he examined
with his glass the word upon the wall, going over every letter of it with the most minute
exactness. This done, he appeared to be satisfied, for he replaced his tape and his glass
in his pocket.
“They say that genius is an infinite capacity for taking pains,” he remarked with a smile.
“It’s a very bad definition, but it does apply to detective work.”
Gregson and Lestrade had watched the manoeuvres [9] of their amateur companion with
considerable curiosity and some contempt. They evidently failed to appreciate the fact,
which I had begun to realize, that Sherlock Holmes’ smallest actions were all directed
towards some definite and practical end.
“What do you think of it, sir?” they both asked.
“It would be robbing you of the credit of the case if I was to presume to help you,”
remarked my friend. “You are doing so well now that it would be a pity for anyone to
interfere.” There was a world of sarcasm in his voice as he spoke. “If you will let me
know how your investigations go,” he continued, “I shall be happy to give you any help
I can. In the meantime I should like to speak to the constable who found the body. Can
you give me his name and address?”
Lestrade glanced at his note-book. “John Rance,” he said. “He is off duty now. You will
find him at 46, Audley Court, Kennington Park Gate.”
Holmes took a note of the address.
“Come along, Doctor,” he said; “we shall go and look him up. I’ll tell you one thing
which may help you in the case,” he continued, turning to the two detectives. “There has
been murder done, and the murderer was a man. He was more than six feet high, was in
the prime of life, had small feet for his height, wore coarse, square-toed boots and
smoked a Trichinopoly cigar. He came here with his victim in a four-wheeled cab,
which was drawn by a horse with three old shoes and one new one on his off fore leg. In
all probability the murderer had a florid face, and the finger-nails of his right hand were
remarkably long. These are only a few indications, but they may assist you.”
Lestrade and Gregson glanced at each other with an incredulous smile.
“If this man was murdered, how was it done?” asked the former.
“Poison,” said Sherlock Holmes curtly, and strode off. “One other thing, Lestrade,” he
added, turning round at the door: “’Rache,’ is the German for ‘revenge;’ so don’t lose
your time looking for Miss Rachel.”
With which Parthian shot he walked away, leaving the two rivals open-mouthed behind
him.

CHAPTER IV. WHAT JOHN RANCE HAD TO TELL.

IT was one o’clock when we left No. 3, Lauriston Gardens. Sherlock Holmes led me to
the nearest telegraph office, whence he dispatched a long telegram. He then hailed a
cab, and ordered the driver to take us to the address given us by Lestrade.
“There is nothing like first hand evidence,” he remarked; “as a matter of fact, my mind
is entirely made up upon the case, but still we may as well learn all that is to be
learned.”
“You amaze me, Holmes,” said I. “Surely you are not as sure as you pretend to be of all
those particulars which you gave.”
“There’s no room for a mistake,” he answered. “The very first thing which I observed
on arriving there was that a cab had made two ruts with its wheels close to the curb.
Now, up to last night, we have had no rain for a week, so that those wheels which left
such a deep impression must have been there during the night. There were the marks of
the horse’s hoofs, too, the outline of one of which was far more clearly cut than that of
the other three, showing that that was a new shoe. Since the cab was there after the rain
began, and was not there at any time during the morning—I have Gregson’s word for
that—it follows that it must have been there during the night, and, therefore, that it
brought those two individuals to the house.”
“That seems simple enough,” said I; “but how about the other man’s height?”
“Why, the height of a man, in nine cases out of ten, can be told from the length of his
stride. It is a simple calculation enough, though there is no use my boring you with
figures. I had this fellow’s stride both on the clay outside and on the dust within. Then I
had a way of checking my calculation. When a man writes on a wall, his instinct leads
him to write about the level of his own eyes. Now that writing was just over six feet
from the ground. It was child’s play.”
“And his age?” I asked.
“Well, if a man can stride four and a-half feet without the smallest effort, he can’t be
quite in the sere and yellow. That was the breadth of a puddle on the garden walk which
he had evidently walked across. Patent-leather boots had gone round, and Square-toes
had hopped over. There is no mystery about it at all. I am simply applying to ordinary
life a few of those precepts of observation and deduction which I advocated in that
article. Is there anything else that puzzles you?”
“The finger nails and the Trichinopoly,” I suggested.
“The writing on the wall was done with a man’s forefinger dipped in blood. My glass
allowed me to observe that the plaster was slightly scratched in doing it, which would
not have been the case if the man’s nail had been trimmed. I gathered up some scattered
ash from the floor. It was dark in colour and flakey—such an ash as is only made by a
Trichinopoly. I have made a special study of cigar ashes—in fact, I have written a
monograph upon the subject. I flatter myself that I can distinguish at a glance the ash of
any known brand, either of cigar or of tobacco. It is just in such details that the skilled
detective differs from the Gregson and Lestrade type.”
“And the florid face?” I asked.
“Ah, that was a more daring shot, though I have no doubt that I was right. You must not
ask me that at the present state of the affair.”
I passed my hand over my brow. “My head is in a whirl,” I remarked; “the more one
thinks of it the more mysterious it grows. How came these two men—if there were two
men—into an empty house? What has become of the cabman who drove them? How
could one man compel another to take poison? Where did the blood come from? What
was the object of the murderer, since robbery had no part in it? How came the woman’s
ring there? Above all, why should the second man write up the German word RACHE
before decamping? I confess that I cannot see any possible way of reconciling all these
facts.”
My companion smiled approvingly.
“You sum up the difficulties of the situation succinctly and well,” he said. “There is
much that is still obscure, though I have quite made up my mind on the main facts. As
to poor Lestrade’s discovery it was simply a blind intended to put the police upon a
wrong track, by suggesting Socialism and secret societies. It was not done by a German.
The A, if you noticed, was printed somewhat after the German fashion. Now, a real
German invariably prints in the Latin character, so that we may safely say that this was
not written by one, but by a clumsy imitator who overdid his part. It was simply a ruse
to divert inquiry into a wrong channel. I’m not going to tell you much more of the case,
Doctor. You know a conjuror gets no credit when once he has explained his trick, and if
I show you too much of my method of working, you will come to the conclusion that I
am a very ordinary individual after all.”
“I shall never do that,” I answered; “you have brought detection as near an exact science
as it ever will be brought in this world.”
My companion flushed up with pleasure at my words, and the earnest way in which I
uttered them. I had already observed that he was as sensitive to flattery on the score of
his art as any girl could be of her beauty.
“I’ll tell you one other thing,” he said. “Patent leathers [10] and Square-toes came in the
same cab, and they walked down the pathway together as friendly as possible—arm-in-
arm, in all probability. When they got inside they walked up and down the room—or
rather, Patent-leathers stood still while Square-toes walked up and down. I could read
all that in the dust; and I could read that as he walked he grew more and more excited.
That is shown by the increased length of his strides. He was talking all the while, and
working himself up, no doubt, into a fury. Then the tragedy occurred. I’ve told you all I
know myself now, for the rest is mere surmise and conjecture. We have a good working
basis, however, on which to start. We must hurry up, for I want to go to Halle’s concert
to hear Norman Neruda this afternoon.”
This conversation had occurred while our cab had been threading its way through a long
succession of dingy streets and dreary by-ways. In the dingiest and dreariest of them our
driver suddenly came to a stand. “That’s Audley Court in there,” he said, pointing to a
narrow slit in the line of dead-coloured brick. “You’ll find me here when you come
back.”
Audley Court was not an attractive locality. The narrow passage led us into a
quadrangle paved with flags and lined by sordid dwellings. We picked our way among
groups of dirty children, and through lines of discoloured linen, until we came to
Number 46, the door of which was decorated with a small slip of brass on which the
name Rance was engraved. On enquiry we found that the constable was in bed, and we
were shown into a little front parlour to await his coming.
He appeared presently, looking a little irritable at being disturbed in his slumbers. “I
made my report at the office,” he said.
Holmes took a half-sovereign from his pocket and played with it pensively. “We
thought that we should like to hear it all from your own lips,” he said.
“I shall be most happy to tell you anything I can,” the constable answered with his eyes
upon the little golden disk.
“Just let us hear it all in your own way as it occurred.”
Rance sat down on the horsehair sofa, and knitted his brows as though determined not
to omit anything in his narrative.
“I’ll tell it ye from the beginning,” he said. “My time is from ten at night to six in the
morning. At eleven there was a fight at the ‘White Hart’; but bar that all was quiet
enough on the beat. At one o’clock it began to rain, and I met Harry Murcher—him who
has the Holland Grove beat—and we stood together at the corner of Henrietta Street a-
talkin’.
Presently—maybe about two or a little after—I thought I would take
a look round and see that all was right down the Brixton Road. It was
precious dirty and lonely. Not a soul did I meet all the way down,
though a cab or two went past me. I was a strollin’ down, thinkin’
between ourselves how uncommon handy a four of gin hot would be, when
suddenly the glint of a light caught my eye in the window of that same
house. Now, I knew that them two houses in Lauriston Gardens was empty
on account of him that owns them who won’t have the drains seen to,
though the very last tenant what lived in one of them died o’ typhoid
fever. I was knocked all in a heap therefore at seeing a light in
the window, and I suspected as something was wrong. When I got to the
door----“
“You stopped, and then walked back to the garden gate,” my companion interrupted.
“What did you do that for?”
Rance gave a violent jump, and stared at Sherlock Holmes with the utmost amazement
upon his features.
“Why, that’s true, sir,” he said; “though how you come to know it, Heaven only knows.
Ye see, when I got up to the door it was so still and so lonesome, that I thought I’d be
none the worse for some one with me. I ain’t afeared of anything on this side o’ the
grave; but I thought that maybe it was him that died o’ the typhoid inspecting the drains
what killed him. The thought gave me a kind o’ turn, and I walked back to the gate to
see if I could see Murcher’s lantern, but there wasn’t no sign of him nor of anyone
else.”

“There was no one in the street?”

“Not a livin’ soul, sir, nor as much as a dog. Then I pulled myself
together and went back and pushed the door open. All was quiet inside,
so I went into the room where the light was a-burnin’. There was a
candle flickerin’ on the mantelpiece—a red wax one—and by its light I
saw----“
“Yes, I know all that you saw. You walked round the room several times,
and you knelt down by the body, and then you walked through and tried
the kitchen door, and then----“
John Rance sprang to his feet with a frightened face and suspicion in his eyes. “Where
was you hid to see all that?” he cried. “It seems to me that you knows a deal more than
you should.”
Holmes laughed and threw his card across the table to the constable. “Don’t get
arresting me for the murder,” he said. “I am one of the hounds and not the wolf; Mr.
Gregson or Mr. Lestrade will answer for that. Go on, though. What did you do next?”
Rance resumed his seat, without however losing his mystified expression. “I went back
to the gate and sounded my whistle. That brought Murcher and two more to the spot.”
“Was the street empty then?”
“Well, it was, as far as anybody that could be of any good goes.”
“What do you mean?”
The constable’s features broadened into a grin. “I’ve seen many a drunk chap in my
time,” he said, “but never anyone so cryin’ drunk as that cove. He was at the gate when
I came out, a-leanin’ up agin the railings, and a-singin’ at the pitch o’ his lungs about
Columbine’s New-fangled Banner, or some such stuff. He couldn’t stand, far less help.”
“What sort of a man was he?” asked Sherlock Holmes.
John Rance appeared to be somewhat irritated at this digression. “He was an uncommon
drunk sort o’ man,” he said. “He’d ha’ found hisself in the station if we hadn’t been so
took up.”
“His face—his dress—didn’t you notice them?” Holmes broke in impatiently.
“I should think I did notice them, seeing that I had to prop him up—me
and Murcher between us. He was a long chap, with a red face, the lower
part muffled round----“

“That will do,” cried Holmes. “What became of him?”

“We’d enough to do without lookin’ after him,” the policeman said, in an aggrieved
voice. “I’ll wager he found his way home all right.”
“How was he dressed?”
“A brown overcoat.”
“Had he a whip in his hand?”
“A whip—no.”
“He must have left it behind,” muttered my companion. “You didn’t happen to see or
hear a cab after that?”
“No.”
“There’s a half-sovereign for you,” my companion said, standing up and taking his hat.
“I am afraid, Rance, that you will never rise in the force. That head of yours should be
for use as well as ornament. You might have gained your sergeant’s stripes last night.
The man whom you held in your hands is the man who holds the clue of this mystery,
and whom we are seeking. There is no use of arguing about it now; I tell you that it is
so. Come along, Doctor.”
We started off for the cab together, leaving our informant incredulous, but obviously
uncomfortable.
“The blundering fool,” Holmes said, bitterly, as we drove back to our lodgings. “Just to
think of his having such an incomparable bit of good luck, and not taking advantage of
it.”
“I am rather in the dark still. It is true that the description of this man tallies with your
idea of the second party in this mystery. But why should he come back to the house
after leaving it? That is not the way of criminals.”
“The ring, man, the ring: that was what he came back for. If we have no other way of
catching him, we can always bait our line with the ring. I shall have him, Doctor—I’ll
lay you two to one that I have him. I must thank you for it all. I might not have gone but
for you, and so have missed the finest study I ever came across: a study in scarlet, eh?
Why shouldn’t we use a little art jargon. There’s the scarlet thread of murder running
through the colourless skein of life, and our duty is to unravel it, and isolate it, and
expose every inch of it. And now for lunch, and then for Norman Neruda. Her attack
and her bowing are splendid. What’s that little thing of Chopin’s she plays so
magnificently: Tra-la-la-lira-lira-lay.”
Leaning back in the cab, this amateur bloodhound carolled away like a lark while I
meditated upon the many-sidedness of the human mind.
CHAPTER V. OUR ADVERTISEMENT BRINGS A VISITOR.

OUR morning’s exertions had been too much for my weak health, and I was tired out in
the afternoon. After Holmes’ departure for the concert, I lay down upon the sofa and
endeavoured to get a couple of hours’ sleep. It was a useless attempt. My mind had
been too much excited by all that had occurred, and the strangest fancies and surmises
crowded into it. Every time that I closed my eyes I saw before me the distorted baboon-
like countenance of the murdered man. So sinister was the impression which that face
had produced upon me that I found it difficult to feel anything but gratitude for him who
had removed its owner from the world. If ever human features bespoke vice of the most
malignant type, they were certainly those of Enoch J. Drebber, of Cleveland. Still I
recognized that justice must be done, and that the depravity of the victim was no
condonment [11] in the eyes of the law.
The more I thought of it the more extraordinary did my companion’s hypothesis, that
the man had been poisoned, appear. I remembered how he had sniffed his lips, and had
no doubt that he had detected something which had given rise to the idea. Then, again,
if not poison, what had caused the man’s death, since there was neither wound nor
marks of strangulation? But, on the other hand, whose blood was that which lay so
thickly upon the floor? There were no signs of a struggle, nor had the victim any
weapon with which he might have wounded an antagonist. As long as all these
questions were unsolved, I felt that sleep would be no easy matter, either for Holmes or
myself. His quiet self-confident manner convinced me that he had already formed a
theory which explained all the facts, though what it was I could not for an instant
conjecture.
He was very late in returning—so late, that I knew that the concert could not have
detained him all the time. Dinner was on the table before he appeared.
“It was magnificent,” he said, as he took his seat. “Do you remember what Darwin says
about music? He claims that the power of producing and appreciating it existed among
the human race long before the power of speech was arrived at. Perhaps that is why we
are so subtly influenced by it. There are vague memories in our souls of those misty
centuries when the world was in its childhood.”
“That’s rather a broad idea,” I remarked.
“One’s ideas must be as broad as Nature if they are to interpret Nature,” he answered.
“What’s the matter? You’re not looking quite yourself. This Brixton Road affair has
upset you.”
“To tell the truth, it has,” I said. “I ought to be more case-hardened after my Afghan
experiences. I saw my own comrades hacked to pieces at Maiwand without losing my
nerve.”
“I can understand. There is a mystery about this which stimulates the imagination;
where there is no imagination there is no horror. Have you seen the evening paper?”
“No.”
“It gives a fairly good account of the affair. It does not mention the fact that when the
man was raised up, a woman’s wedding ring fell upon the floor. It is just as well it does
not.”

“Why?”
“Look at this advertisement,” he answered. “I had one sent to every paper this morning
immediately after the affair.”
He threw the paper across to me and I glanced at the place indicated. It was the first
announcement in the “Found” column. “In Brixton Road, this morning,” it ran, “a plain
gold wedding ring, found in the roadway between the ‘White Hart’ Tavern and Holland
Grove. Apply Dr. Watson, 221B, Baker Street, between eight and nine this evening.”
“Excuse my using your name,” he said. “If I used my own some of these dunderheads
would recognize it, and want to meddle in the affair.”
“That is all right,” I answered. “But supposing anyone applies, I have no ring.”
“Oh yes, you have,” said he, handing me one. “This will do very well. It is almost a
facsimile.”
“And who do you expect will answer this advertisement.”
“Why, the man in the brown coat—our florid friend with the square toes.
If he does not come himself he will send an accomplice.”

“Would he not consider it as too dangerous?”

“Not at all. If my view of the case is correct, and I have every reason to believe that it is,
this man would rather risk anything than lose the ring. According to my notion he
dropped it while stooping over Drebber’s body, and did not miss it at the time. After
leaving the house he discovered his loss and hurried back, but found the police already
in possession, owing to his own folly in leaving the candle burning. He had to pretend
to be drunk in order to allay the suspicions which might have been aroused by his
appearance at the gate. Now put yourself in that man’s place. On thinking the matter
over, it must have occurred to him that it was possible that he had lost the ring in the
road after leaving the house. What would he do, then? He would eagerly look out for the
evening papers in the hope of seeing it among the articles found. His eye, of course,
would light upon this. He would be overjoyed. Why should he fear a trap? There would
be no reason in his eyes why the finding of the ring should be connected with the
murder. He would come. He will come. You shall see him within an hour?”
“And then?” I asked.
“Oh, you can leave me to deal with him then. Have you any arms?”
“I have my old service revolver and a few cartridges.”
“You had better clean it and load it. He will be a desperate man, and though I shall take
him unawares, it is as well to be ready for anything.”
I went to my bedroom and followed his advice. When I returned with the pistol the table
had been cleared, and Holmes was engaged in his favourite occupation of scraping upon
his violin.
“The plot thickens,” he said, as I entered; “I have just had an answer to my American
telegram. My view of the case is the correct one.”
“And that is?” I asked eagerly.
“My fiddle would be the better for new strings,” he remarked. “Put your pistol in your
pocket. When the fellow comes speak to him in an ordinary way. Leave the rest to me.
Don’t frighten him by looking at him too hard.”
“It is eight o’clock now,” I said, glancing at my watch.
“Yes. He will probably be here in a few minutes. Open the door slightly. That will do.
Now put the key on the inside. Thank you! This is a queer old book I picked up at a stall
yesterday—‘De Jure inter Gentes’—published in Latin at Liege in the Lowlands, in
1642. Charles’ head was still firm on his shoulders when this little brown-backed
volume was struck off.”

“Who is the printer?”

“Philippe de Croy, whoever he may have been. On the fly-leaf, in very faded ink, is
written ‘Ex libris Guliolmi Whyte.’ I wonder who William Whyte was. Some
pragmatical seventeenth century lawyer, I suppose. His writing has a legal twist about
it. Here comes our man, I think.”
As he spoke there was a sharp ring at the bell. Sherlock Holmes rose softly and moved
his chair in the direction of the door. We heard the servant pass along the hall, and the
sharp click of the latch as she opened it.
“Does Dr. Watson live here?” asked a clear but rather harsh voice. We could not hear
the servant’s reply, but the door closed, and some one began to ascend the stairs. The
footfall was an uncertain and shuffling one. A look of surprise passed over the face of
my companion as he listened to it. It came slowly along the passage, and there was a
feeble tap at the door.
“Come in,” I cried.
At my summons, instead of the man of violence whom we expected, a very old and
wrinkled woman hobbled into the apartment. She appeared to be dazzled by the sudden
blaze of light, and after dropping a curtsey, she stood blinking at us with her bleared
eyes and fumbling in her pocket with nervous, shaky fingers. I glanced at my
companion, and his face had assumed such a disconsolate expression that it was all I
could do to keep my countenance.
The old crone drew out an evening paper, and pointed at our
advertisement. “It’s this as has brought me, good gentlemen,” she said,
dropping another curtsey; “a gold wedding ring in the Brixton Road. It
belongs to my girl Sally, as was married only this time twelvemonth,
which her husband is steward aboard a Union boat, and what he’d say if
he come ‘ome and found her without her ring is more than I can think, he
being short enough at the best o’ times, but more especially when he
has the drink. If it please you, she went to the circus last night along
with----“
“Is that her ring?” I asked.
“The Lord be thanked!” cried the old woman; “Sally will be a glad woman this night.
That’s the ring.”
“And what may your address be?” I inquired, taking up a pencil.
“13, Duncan Street, Houndsditch. A weary way from here.”
“The Brixton Road does not lie between any circus and Houndsditch,” said Sherlock
Holmes sharply.
The old woman faced round and looked keenly at him from her little red-rimmed eyes.
“The gentleman asked me for my address,” she said. “Sally lives in lodgings at 3,
Mayfield Place, Peckham.”

“And your name is----?”

“My name is Sawyer—her’s is Dennis, which Tom Dennis married her—and
a smart, clean lad, too, as long as he’s at sea, and no steward in the
company more thought of; but when on shore, what with the women and what
with liquor shops----“
“Here is your ring, Mrs. Sawyer,” I interrupted, in obedience to a sign from my
companion; “it clearly belongs to your daughter, and I am glad to be able to restore it to
the rightful owner.”
With many mumbled blessings and protestations of gratitude the old crone packed it
away in her pocket, and shuffled off down the stairs. Sherlock Holmes sprang to his feet
the moment that she was gone and rushed into his room. He returned in a few seconds
enveloped in an ulster and a cravat. “I’ll follow her,” he said, hurriedly; “she must be an
accomplice, and will lead me to him. Wait up for me.” The hall door had hardly
slammed behind our visitor before Holmes had descended the stair. Looking through
the window I could see her walking feebly along the other side, while her pursuer
dogged her some little distance behind. “Either his whole theory is incorrect,” I thought
to myself, “or else he will be led now to the heart of the mystery.” There was no need
for him to ask me to wait up for him, for I felt that sleep was impossible until I heard the
result of his adventure.
It was close upon nine when he set out. I had no idea how long he might be, but I sat
stolidly puffing at my pipe and skipping over the pages of Henri Murger’s “Vie de
Bohème.” Ten o’clock passed, and I heard the footsteps of the maid as they pattered off
to bed. Eleven, and the more stately tread of the landlady passed my door, bound for the
same destination. It was close upon twelve before I heard the sharp sound of his latch-
key. The instant he entered I saw by his face that he had not been successful.
Amusement and chagrin seemed to be struggling for the mastery, until the former
suddenly carried the day, and he burst into a hearty laugh.
“I wouldn’t have the Scotland Yarders know it for the world,” he cried, dropping into
his chair; “I have chaffed them so much that they would never have let me hear the end
of it. I can afford to laugh, because I know that I will be even with them in the long
run.”
“What is it then?” I asked.
“Oh, I don’t mind telling a story against myself. That creature had gone a little way
when she began to limp and show every sign of being foot-sore. Presently she came to a
halt, and hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. I managed to be close to her so as to
hear the address, but I need not have been so anxious, for she sang it out loud enough to
be heard at the other side of the street, ‘Drive to 13, Duncan Street, Houndsditch,’ she
cried. This begins to look genuine, I thought, and having seen her safely inside, I
perched myself behind. That’s an art which every detective should be an expert at. Well,
away we rattled, and never drew rein until we reached the street in question. I hopped
off before we came to the door, and strolled down the street in an easy, lounging way. I
saw the cab pull up. The driver jumped down, and I saw him open the door and stand
expectantly. Nothing came out though. When I reached him he was groping about
frantically in the empty cab, and giving vent to the finest assorted collection of oaths
that ever I listened to. There was no sign or trace of his passenger, and I fear it will be
some time before he gets his fare. On inquiring at Number 13 we found that the house
belonged to a respectable paperhanger, named Keswick, and that no one of the name
either of Sawyer or Dennis had ever been heard of there.”
“You don’t mean to say,” I cried, in amazement, “that that tottering, feeble old woman
was able to get out of the cab while it was in motion, without either you or the driver
seeing her?”
“Old woman be damned!” said Sherlock Holmes, sharply. “We were the old women to
be so taken in. It must have been a young man, and an active one, too, besides being an
incomparable actor. The get-up was inimitable. He saw that he was followed, no doubt,
and used this means of giving me the slip. It shows that the man we are after is not as
lonely as I imagined he was, but has friends who are ready to risk something for him.
Now, Doctor, you are looking done-up. Take my advice and turn in.”
I was certainly feeling very weary, so I obeyed his injunction. I left Holmes seated in
front of the smouldering fire, and long into the watches of the night I heard the low,
melancholy wailings of his violin, and knew that he was still pondering over the strange
problem which he had set himself to unravel.

CHAPTER VI. TOBIAS GREGSON SHOWS WHAT HE CAN DO.

THE papers next day were full of the “Brixton Mystery,” as they termed it. Each had a
long account of the affair, and some had leaders upon it in addition. There was some
information in them which was new to me. I still retain in my scrap-book numerous
clippings and extracts bearing upon the case. Here is a condensation of a few of them:--
The Daily Telegraph remarked that in the history of crime there had seldom been a
tragedy which presented stranger features. The German name of the victim, the absence
of all other motive, and the sinister inscription on the wall, all pointed to its perpetration
by political refugees and revolutionists. The Socialists had many branches in America,
and the deceased had, no doubt, infringed their unwritten laws, and been tracked down
by them. After alluding airily to the Vehmgericht, aqua tofana, Carbonari, the
Marchioness de Brinvilliers, the Darwinian theory, the principles of Malthus, and the
Ratcliff Highway murders, the article concluded by admonishing the Government and
advocating a closer watch over foreigners in England.
The Standard commented upon the fact that lawless outrages of the sort usually
occurred under a Liberal Administration. They arose from the unsettling of the minds of
the masses, and the consequent weakening of all authority. The deceased was an
American gentleman who had been residing for some weeks in the Metropolis. He had
stayed at the boarding-house of Madame Charpentier, in Torquay Terrace, Camberwell.
He was accompanied in his travels by his private secretary, Mr. Joseph Stangerson. The
two bade adieu to their landlady upon Tuesday, the 4th inst., and departed to Euston
Station with the avowed intention of catching the Liverpool express. They were
afterwards seen together upon the platform. Nothing more is known of them until Mr.
Drebber’s body was, as recorded, discovered in an empty house in the Brixton Road,
many miles from Euston. How he came there, or how he met his fate, are questions
which are still involved in mystery. Nothing is known of the whereabouts of
Stangerson. We are glad to learn that Mr. Lestrade and Mr. Gregson, of Scotland Yard,
are both engaged upon the case, and it is confidently anticipated that these well-known
officers will speedily throw light upon the matter.
The Daily News observed that there was no doubt as to the crime being a political one.
The despotism and hatred of Liberalism which animated the Continental Governments
had had the effect of driving to our shores a number of men who might have made
excellent citizens were they not soured by the recollection of all that they had
undergone. Among these men there was a stringent code of honour, any infringement of
which was punished by death. Every effort should be made to find the secretary,
Stangerson, and to ascertain some particulars of the habits of the deceased. A great step
had been gained by the discovery of the address of the house at which he had boarded—
a result which was entirely due to the acuteness and energy of Mr. Gregson of Scotland
Yard.
Sherlock Holmes and I read these notices over together at breakfast, and they appeared
to afford him considerable amusement.
“I told you that, whatever happened, Lestrade and Gregson would be sure to score.”
“That depends on how it turns out.”
“Oh, bless you, it doesn’t matter in the least. If the man is caught, it will be on account
of their exertions; if he escapes, it will be _in spite_ of their exertions. It’s heads I win
and tails you lose. Whatever they do, they will have followers. ‘Un sot trouve toujours
un plus sot qui l’admire.’”
“What on earth is this?” I cried, for at this moment there came the pattering of many
steps in the hall and on the stairs, accompanied by audible expressions of disgust upon
the part of our landlady.
“It’s the Baker Street division of the detective police force,” said my companion,
gravely; and as he spoke there rushed into the room half a dozen of the dirtiest and most
ragged street Arabs that ever I clapped eyes on.
“’Tention!” cried Holmes, in a sharp tone, and the six dirty little scoundrels stood in a
line like so many disreputable statuettes. “In future you shall send up Wiggins alone to
report, and the rest of you must wait in the street. Have you found it, Wiggins?”
“No, sir, we hain’t,” said one of the youths.
“I hardly expected you would. You must keep on until you do. Here are your wages.”
[13] He handed each of them a shilling.
“Now, off you go, and come back with a better report next time.”
He waved his hand, and they scampered away downstairs like so many rats, and we
heard their shrill voices next moment in the street.
“There’s more work to be got out of one of those little beggars than out of a dozen of
the force,” Holmes remarked. “The mere sight of an official-looking person seals men’s
lips. These youngsters, however, go everywhere and hear everything. They are as sharp
as needles, too; all they want is organisation.”
“Is it on this Brixton case that you are employing them?” I asked.
“Yes; there is a point which I wish to ascertain. It is merely a matter of time. Hullo! we
are going to hear some news now with a vengeance! Here is Gregson coming down the
road with beatitude written upon every feature of his face. Bound for us, I know. Yes,
he is stopping. There he is!”
There was a violent peal at the bell, and in a few seconds the fair-haired detective came
up the stairs, three steps at a time, and burst into our sitting-room.
“My dear fellow,” he cried, wringing Holmes’ unresponsive hand, “congratulate me! I
have made the whole thing as clear as day.”
A shade of anxiety seemed to me to cross my companion’s expressive face.
“Do you mean that you are on the right track?” he asked.
“The right track! Why, sir, we have the man under lock and key.”
“And his name is?”
“Arthur Charpentier, sub-lieutenant in Her Majesty’s navy,” cried Gregson, pompously,
rubbing his fat hands and inflating his chest.
Sherlock Holmes gave a sigh of relief, and relaxed into a smile.
“Take a seat, and try one of these cigars,” he said. “We are anxious to know how you
managed it. Will you have some whiskey and water?”
“I don’t mind if I do,” the detective answered. “The tremendous exertions which I have
gone through during the last day or two have worn me out. Not so much bodily
exertion, you understand, as the strain upon the mind. You will appreciate that, Mr.
Sherlock Holmes, for we are both brain-workers.”
“You do me too much honour,” said Holmes, gravely. “Let us hear how you arrived at
this most gratifying result.”
The detective seated himself in the arm-chair, and puffed complacently at his cigar.
Then suddenly he slapped his thigh in a paroxysm of amusement.
“The fun of it is,” he cried, “that that fool Lestrade, who thinks himself so smart, has
gone off upon the wrong track altogether. He is after the secretary Stangerson, who had
no more to do with the crime than the babe unborn. I have no doubt that he has caught
him by this time.”
The idea tickled Gregson so much that he laughed until he choked.

“And how did you get your clue?”

“Ah, I’ll tell you all about it. Of course, Doctor Watson, this is strictly between
ourselves. The first difficulty which we had to contend with was the finding of this
American’s antecedents. Some people would have waited until their advertisements
were answered, or until parties came forward and volunteered information. That is not
Tobias Gregson’s way of going to work. You remember the hat beside the dead man?”
“Yes,” said Holmes; “by John Underwood and Sons, 129, Camberwell Road.”
Gregson looked quite crest-fallen.
“I had no idea that you noticed that,” he said. “Have you been there?”
“No.”
“Ha!” cried Gregson, in a relieved voice; “you should never neglect a chance, however
small it may seem.”
“To a great mind, nothing is little,” remarked Holmes, sententiously.
“Well, I went to Underwood, and asked him if he had sold a hat of that size and
description. He looked over his books, and came on it at once. He had sent the hat to a
Mr. Drebber, residing at Charpentier’s Boarding Establishment, Torquay Terrace. Thus
I got at his address.”
“Smart—very smart!” murmured Sherlock Holmes.
“I next called upon Madame Charpentier,” continued the detective. “I found her very
pale and distressed. Her daughter was in the room, too—an uncommonly fine girl she is,
too; she was looking red about the eyes and her lips trembled as I spoke to her. That
didn’t escape my notice. I began to smell a rat. You know the feeling, Mr. Sherlock
Holmes, when you come upon the right scent—a kind of thrill in your nerves. ‘Have
you heard of the mysterious death of your late boarder Mr. Enoch J. Drebber, of
Cleveland?’ I asked.
“The mother nodded. She didn’t seem able to get out a word. The daughter burst into
tears. I felt more than ever that these people knew something of the matter.
“’At what o’clock did Mr. Drebber leave your house for the train?’ I asked.
“’At eight o’clock,’ she said, gulping in her throat to keep down her agitation. ‘His
secretary, Mr. Stangerson, said that there were two trains—one at 9.15 and one at 11.
He was to catch the first. [14]
“’And was that the last which you saw of him?’
“A terrible change came over the woman’s face as I asked the question. Her features
turned perfectly livid. It was some seconds before she could get out the single word
‘Yes’—and when it did come it was in a husky unnatural tone.
“There was silence for a moment, and then the daughter spoke in a calm clear voice.
“’No good can ever come of falsehood, mother,’ she said. ‘Let us be frank with this
gentleman. We did see Mr. Drebber again.’
“’God forgive you!’ cried Madame Charpentier, throwing up her hands and sinking
back in her chair. ‘You have murdered your brother.’
“’Arthur would rather that we spoke the truth,’ the girl answered firmly.
“’You had best tell me all about it now,’ I said. ‘Half-confidences are worse than none.
Besides, you do not know how much we know of it.’
“’On your head be it, Alice!’ cried her mother; and then, turning to me, ‘I will tell you
all, sir. Do not imagine that my agitation on behalf of my son arises from any fear lest
he should have had a hand in this terrible affair. He is utterly innocent of it. My dread is,
however, that in your eyes and in the eyes of others he may appear to be compromised.
That however is surely impossible. His high character, his profession, his antecedents
would all forbid it.’
“’Your best way is to make a clean breast of the facts,’ I answered.
‘Depend upon it, if your son is innocent he will be none the worse.’
“’Perhaps, Alice, you had better leave us together,’ she said, and her daughter withdrew.
‘Now, sir,’ she continued, ‘I had no intention of telling you all this, but since my poor
daughter has disclosed it I have no alternative. Having once decided to speak, I will tell
you all without omitting any particular.’
“’It is your wisest course,’ said I.
“’Mr. Drebber has been with us nearly three weeks. He and his secretary, Mr.
Stangerson, had been travelling on the Continent. I noticed a “Copenhagen” label upon
each of their trunks, showing that that had been their last stopping place. Stangerson
was a quiet reserved man, but his employer, I am sorry to say, was far otherwise. He
was coarse in his habits and brutish in his ways. The very night of his arrival he became
very much the worse for drink, and, indeed, after twelve o’clock in the day he could
hardly ever be said to be sober. His manners towards the maid-servants were
disgustingly free and familiar. Worst of all, he speedily assumed the same attitude
towards my daughter, Alice, and spoke to her more than once in a way which,
fortunately, she is too innocent to understand. On one occasion he actually seized her in
his arms and embraced her—an outrage which caused his own secretary to reproach him
for his unmanly conduct.’
“’But why did you stand all this,’ I asked. ‘I suppose that you can get rid of your
boarders when you wish.’
“Mrs. Charpentier blushed at my pertinent question. ‘Would to God that I had given
him notice on the very day that he came,’ she said. ‘But it was a sore temptation. They
were paying a pound a day each—fourteen pounds a week, and this is the slack season. I
am a widow, and my boy in the Navy has cost me much. I grudged to lose the money. I
acted for the best. This last was too much, however, and I gave him notice to leave on
account of it. That was the reason of his going.’
“’Well?’
“’My heart grew light when I saw him drive away. My son is on leave just now, but I
did not tell him anything of all this, for his temper is violent, and he is passionately fond
of his sister. When I closed the door behind them a load seemed to be lifted from my
mind. Alas, in less than an hour there was a ring at the bell, and I learned that Mr.
Drebber had returned. He was much excited, and evidently the worse for drink. He
forced his way into the room, where I was sitting with my daughter, and made some
incoherent remark about having missed his train. He then turned to Alice, and before
my very face, proposed to her that she should fly with him. “You are of age,” he said,
“and there is no law to stop you. I have money enough and to spare. Never mind the old
girl here, but come along with me now straight away. You shall live like a princess.”
Poor Alice was so frightened that she shrunk away from him, but he caught her by the
wrist and endeavoured to draw her towards the door. I screamed, and at that moment my
son Arthur came into the room. What happened then I do not know. I heard oaths and
the confused sounds of a scuffle. I was too terrified to raise my head. When I did look
up I saw Arthur standing in the doorway laughing, with a stick in his hand. “I don’t
think that fine fellow will trouble us again,” he said. “I will just go after him and see
what he does with himself.” With those words he took his hat and started off down the
street. The next morning we heard of Mr. Drebber’s mysterious death.’
“This statement came from Mrs. Charpentier’s lips with many gasps and pauses. At
times she spoke so low that I could hardly catch the words. I made shorthand notes of
all that she said, however, so that there should be no possibility of a mistake.”
“It’s quite exciting,” said Sherlock Holmes, with a yawn. “What happened next?”
“When Mrs. Charpentier paused,” the detective continued, “I saw that the whole case
hung upon one point. Fixing her with my eye in a way which I always found effective
with women, I asked her at what hour her son returned.
“’I do not know,’ she answered.
“’Not know?’
“’No; he has a latch-key, and he let himself in.’
“’After you went to bed?’
“’Yes.’
“’When did you go to bed?’
“’About eleven.’
“’So your son was gone at least two hours?’
“’Yes.’
“’Possibly four or five?’
“’Yes.’
“’What was he doing during that time?’
“’I do not know,’ she answered, turning white to her very lips.
“Of course after that there was nothing more to be done. I found out where Lieutenant
Charpentier was, took two officers with me, and arrested him. When I touched him on
the shoulder and warned him to come quietly with us, he answered us as bold as brass,
‘I suppose you are arresting me for being concerned in the death of that scoundrel
Drebber,’ he said. We had said nothing to him about it, so that his alluding to it had a
most suspicious aspect.”
“Very,” said Holmes.
“He still carried the heavy stick which the mother described him as having with him
when he followed Drebber. It was a stout oak cudgel.”

“What is your theory, then?”

“Well, my theory is that he followed Drebber as far as the Brixton Road. When there, a
fresh altercation arose between them, in the course of which Drebber received a blow
from the stick, in the pit of the stomach, perhaps, which killed him without leaving any
mark. The night was so wet that no one was about, so Charpentier dragged the body of
his victim into the empty house. As to the candle, and the blood, and the writing on the
wall, and the ring, they may all be so many tricks to throw the police on to the wrong
scent.”
“Well done!” said Holmes in an encouraging voice. “Really, Gregson, you are getting
along. We shall make something of you yet.”
“I flatter myself that I have managed it rather neatly,” the detective answered proudly.
“The young man volunteered a statement, in which he said that after following Drebber
some time, the latter perceived him, and took a cab in order to get away from him. On
his way home he met an old shipmate, and took a long walk with him. On being asked
where this old shipmate lived, he was unable to give any satisfactory reply. I think the
whole case fits together uncommonly well. What amuses me is to think of Lestrade,
who had started off upon the wrong scent. I am afraid he won’t make much of [15]
Why, by Jove, here’s the very man himself!”
It was indeed Lestrade, who had ascended the stairs while we were talking, and who
now entered the room. The assurance and jauntiness which generally marked his
demeanour and dress were, however, wanting. His face was disturbed and troubled,
while his clothes were disarranged and untidy. He had evidently come with the intention
of consulting with Sherlock Holmes, for on perceiving his colleague he appeared to be
embarrassed and put out. He stood in the centre of the room, fumbling nervously with
his hat and uncertain what to do. “This is a most extraordinary case,” he said at last—“a
most incomprehensible affair.”
“Ah, you find it so, Mr. Lestrade!” cried Gregson, triumphantly. “I thought you would
come to that conclusion. Have you managed to find the Secretary, Mr. Joseph
Stangerson?”
“The Secretary, Mr. Joseph Stangerson,” said Lestrade gravely, “was murdered at
Halliday’s Private Hotel about six o’clock this morning.”

CHAPTER VII. LIGHT IN THE DARKNESS.

THE intelligence with which Lestrade greeted us was so momentous and so unexpected,
that we were all three fairly dumfoundered. Gregson sprang out of his chair and upset
the remainder of his whiskey and water. I stared in silence at Sherlock Holmes, whose
lips were compressed and his brows drawn down over his eyes.
“Stangerson too!” he muttered. “The plot thickens.”
“It was quite thick enough before,” grumbled Lestrade, taking a chair.
“I seem to have dropped into a sort of council of war.”
“Are you—are you sure of this piece of intelligence?” stammered Gregson.
“I have just come from his room,” said Lestrade. “I was the first to discover what had
occurred.”
“We have been hearing Gregson’s view of the matter,” Holmes observed.
“Would you mind letting us know what you have seen and done?”
“I have no objection,” Lestrade answered, seating himself. “I freely confess that I was
of the opinion that Stangerson was concerned in the death of Drebber. This fresh
development has shown me that I was completely mistaken. Full of the one idea, I set
myself to find out what had become of the Secretary. They had been seen together at
Euston Station about half-past eight on the evening of the third. At two in the morning
Drebber had been found in the Brixton Road. The question which confronted me was to
find out how Stangerson had been employed between 8.30 and the time of the crime,
and what had become of him afterwards. I telegraphed to Liverpool, giving a
description of the man, and warning them to keep a watch upon the American boats. I
then set to work calling upon all the hotels and lodging-houses in the vicinity of Euston.
You see, I argued that if Drebber and his companion had become separated, the natural
course for the latter would be to put up somewhere in the vicinity for the night, and then
to hang about the station again next morning.”
“They would be likely to agree on some meeting-place beforehand,” remarked Holmes.
“So it proved. I spent the whole of yesterday evening in making enquiries entirely
without avail. This morning I began very early, and at eight o’clock I reached Halliday’s
Private Hotel, in Little George Street. On my enquiry as to whether a Mr. Stangerson
was living there, they at once answered me in the affirmative.
“’No doubt you are the gentleman whom he was expecting,’ they said. ‘He has been
waiting for a gentleman for two days.’
“’Where is he now?’ I asked.
“’He is upstairs in bed. He wished to be called at nine.’
“’I will go up and see him at once,’ I said.
“It seemed to me that my sudden appearance might shake his nerves and lead him to say
something unguarded. The Boots volunteered to show me the room: it was on the
second floor, and there was a small corridor leading up to it. The Boots pointed out the
door to me, and was about to go downstairs again when I saw something that made me
feel sickish, in spite of my twenty years’ experience. From under the door there curled a
little red ribbon of blood, which had meandered across the passage and formed a little
pool along the skirting at the other side. I gave a cry, which brought the Boots back. He
nearly fainted when he saw it. The door was locked on the inside, but we put our
shoulders to it, and knocked it in. The window of the room was open, and beside the
window, all huddled up, lay the body of a man in his nightdress. He was quite dead, and
had been for some time, for his limbs were rigid and cold. When we turned him over,
the Boots recognized him at once as being the same gentleman who had engaged the
room under the name of Joseph Stangerson. The cause of death was a deep stab in the
left side, which must have penetrated the heart. And now comes the strangest part of the
affair. What do you suppose was above the murdered man?”
I felt a creeping of the flesh, and a presentiment of coming horror, even before Sherlock
Holmes answered.
“The word RACHE, written in letters of blood,” he said.
“That was it,” said Lestrade, in an awe-struck voice; and we were all silent for a while.
There was something so methodical and so incomprehensible about the deeds of this
unknown assassin, that it imparted a fresh ghastliness to his crimes. My nerves, which
were steady enough on the field of battle tingled as I thought of it.
“The man was seen,” continued Lestrade. “A milk boy, passing on his way to the dairy,
happened to walk down the lane which leads from the mews at the back of the hotel. He
noticed that a ladder, which usually lay there, was raised against one of the windows of
the second floor, which was wide open. After passing, he looked back and saw a man
descend the ladder. He came down so quietly and openly that the boy imagined him to
be some carpenter or joiner at work in the hotel. He took no particular notice of him,
beyond thinking in his own mind that it was early for him to be at work. He has an
impression that the man was tall, had a reddish face, and was dressed in a long,
brownish coat. He must have stayed in the room some little time after the murder, for
we found blood-stained water in the basin, where he had washed his hands, and marks
on the sheets where he had deliberately wiped his knife.”
I glanced at Holmes on hearing the description of the murderer, which tallied so exactly
with his own. There was, however, no trace of exultation or satisfaction upon his face.
“Did you find nothing in the room which could furnish a clue to the murderer?” he
asked.
“Nothing. Stangerson had Drebber’s purse in his pocket, but it seems that this was
usual, as he did all the paying. There was eighty odd pounds in it, but nothing had been
taken. Whatever the motives of these extraordinary crimes, robbery is certainly not one
of them. There were no papers or memoranda in the murdered man’s pocket, except a
single telegram, dated from Cleveland about a month ago, and containing the words, ‘J.
H. is in Europe.’ There was no name appended to this message.”
“And there was nothing else?” Holmes asked.
“Nothing of any importance. The man’s novel, with which he had read himself to sleep
was lying upon the bed, and his pipe was on a chair beside him. There was a glass of
water on the table, and on the window-sill a small chip ointment box containing a
couple of pills.”
Sherlock Holmes sprang from his chair with an exclamation of delight.
“The last link,” he cried, exultantly. “My case is complete.”
The two detectives stared at him in amazement.
“I have now in my hands,” my companion said, confidently, “all the threads which have
formed such a tangle. There are, of course, details to be filled in, but I am as certain of
all the main facts, from the time that Drebber parted from Stangerson at the station, up
to the discovery of the body of the latter, as if I had seen them with my own eyes. I will
give you a proof of my knowledge. Could you lay your hand upon those pills?”
“I have them,” said Lestrade, producing a small white box; “I took them and the purse
and the telegram, intending to have them put in a place of safety at the Police Station. It
was the merest chance my taking these pills, for I am bound to say that I do not attach
any importance to them.”
“Give them here,” said Holmes. “Now, Doctor,” turning to me, “are those ordinary
pills?”
They certainly were not. They were of a pearly grey colour, small, round, and almost
transparent against the light. “From their lightness and transparency, I should imagine
that they are soluble in water,” I remarked.
“Precisely so,” answered Holmes. “Now would you mind going down and fetching that
poor little devil of a terrier which has been bad so long, and which the landlady wanted
you to put out of its pain yesterday.”
I went downstairs and carried the dog upstair in my arms. It’s laboured breathing and
glazing eye showed that it was not far from its end. Indeed, its snow-white muzzle
proclaimed that it had already exceeded the usual term of canine existence. I placed it
upon a cushion on the rug.
“I will now cut one of these pills in two,” said Holmes, and drawing his penknife he
suited the action to the word. “One half we return into the box for future purposes. The
other half I will place in this wine glass, in which is a teaspoonful of water. You
perceive that our friend, the Doctor, is right, and that it readily dissolves.”
“This may be very interesting,” said Lestrade, in the injured tone of one who suspects
that he is being laughed at, “I cannot see, however, what it has to do with the death of
Mr. Joseph Stangerson.”
“Patience, my friend, patience! You will find in time that it has everything to do with it.
I shall now add a little milk to make the mixture palatable, and on presenting it to the
dog we find that he laps it up readily enough.”
As he spoke he turned the contents of the wine glass into a saucer and placed it in front
of the terrier, who speedily licked it dry. Sherlock Holmes’ earnest demeanour had so
far convinced us that we all sat in silence, watching the animal intently, and expecting
some startling effect. None such appeared, however. The dog continued to lie stretched
upon tho [16] cushion, breathing in a laboured way, but apparently neither the better nor
the worse for its draught.
Holmes had taken out his watch, and as minute followed minute without result, an
expression of the utmost chagrin and disappointment appeared upon his features. He
gnawed his lip, drummed his fingers upon the table, and showed every other symptom
of acute impatience. So great was his emotion, that I felt sincerely sorry for him, while
the two detectives smiled derisively, by no means displeased at this check which he had
met.
“It can’t be a coincidence,” he cried, at last springing from his chair and pacing wildly
up and down the room; “it is impossible that it should be a mere coincidence. The very
pills which I suspected in the case of Drebber are actually found after the death of
Stangerson. And yet they are inert. What can it mean? Surely my whole chain of
reasoning cannot have been false. It is impossible! And yet this wretched dog is none
the worse. Ah, I have it! I have it!” With a perfect shriek of delight he rushed to the box,
cut the other pill in two, dissolved it, added milk, and presented it to the terrier. The
unfortunate creature’s tongue seemed hardly to have been moistened in it before it gave
a convulsive shiver in every limb, and lay as rigid and lifeless as if it had been struck by
lightning.
Sherlock Holmes drew a long breath, and wiped the perspiration from his forehead. “I
should have more faith,” he said; “I ought to know by this time that when a fact appears
to be opposed to a long train of deductions, it invariably proves to be capable of bearing
some other interpretation. Of the two pills in that box one was of the most deadly
poison, and the other was entirely harmless. I ought to have known that before ever I
saw the box at all.”
This last statement appeared to me to be so startling, that I could hardly believe that he
was in his sober senses. There was the dead dog, however, to prove that his conjecture
had been correct. It seemed to me that the mists in my own mind were gradually
clearing away, and I began to have a dim, vague perception of the truth.
“All this seems strange to you,” continued Holmes, “because you failed at the beginning
of the inquiry to grasp the importance of the single real clue which was presented to
you. I had the good fortune to seize upon that, and everything which has occurred since
then has served to confirm my original supposition, and, indeed, was the logical
sequence of it. Hence things which have perplexed you and made the case more
obscure, have served to enlighten me and to strengthen my conclusions. It is a mistake
to confound strangeness with mystery. The most commonplace crime is often the most
mysterious because it presents no new or special features from which deductions may
be drawn. This murder would have been infinitely more difficult to unravel had the
body of the victim been simply found lying in the roadway without any of those outré
and sensational accompaniments which have rendered it remarkable. These strange
details, far from making the case more difficult, have really had the effect of making it
less so.”
Mr. Gregson, who had listened to this address with considerable impatience, could
contain himself no longer. “Look here, Mr. Sherlock Holmes,” he said, “we are all
ready to acknowledge that you are a smart man, and that you have your own methods of
working. We want something more than mere theory and preaching now, though. It is a
case of taking the man. I have made my case out, and it seems I was wrong. Young
Charpentier could not have been engaged in this second affair. Lestrade went after his
man, Stangerson, and it appears that he was wrong too. You have thrown out hints
here, and hints there, and seem to know more than we do, but the time has come when
we feel that we have a right to ask you straight how much you do know of the business.
Can you name the man who did it?”
“I cannot help feeling that Gregson is right, sir,” remarked Lestrade. “We have both
tried, and we have both failed. You have remarked more than once since I have been in
the room that you had all the evidence which you require. Surely you will not withhold
it any longer.”
“Any delay in arresting the assassin,” I observed, “might give him time to perpetrate
some fresh atrocity.”
Thus pressed by us all, Holmes showed signs of irresolution. He continued to walk up
and down the room with his head sunk on his chest and his brows drawn down, as was
his habit when lost in thought.
“There will be no more murders,” he said at last, stopping abruptly and facing us. “You
can put that consideration out of the question. You have asked me if I know the name of
the assassin. I do. The mere knowing of his name is a small thing, however, compared
with the power of laying our hands upon him. This I expect very shortly to do. I have
good hopes of managing it through my own arrangements; but it is a thing which needs
delicate handling, for we have a shrewd and desperate man to deal with, who is
supported, as I have had occasion to prove, by another who is as clever as himself. As
long as this man has no idea that anyone can have a clue there is some chance of
securing him; but if he had the slightest suspicion, he would change his name, and
vanish in an instant among the four million inhabitants of this great city. Without
meaning to hurt either of your feelings, I am bound to say that I consider these men to
be more than a match for the official force, and that is why I have not asked your
assistance. If I fail I shall, of course, incur all the blame due to this omission; but that I
am prepared for. At present I am ready to promise that the instant that I can
communicate with you without endangering my own combinations, I shall do so.”
Gregson and Lestrade seemed to be far from satisfied by this assurance, or by the
depreciating allusion to the detective police. The former had flushed up to the roots of
his flaxen hair, while the other’s beady eyes glistened with curiosity and resentment.
Neither of them had time to speak, however, before there was a tap at the door, and the
spokesman of the street Arabs, young Wiggins, introduced his insignificant and
unsavoury person.
“Please, sir,” he said, touching his forelock, “I have the cab downstairs.”
“Good boy,” said Holmes, blandly. “Why don’t you introduce this pattern at Scotland
Yard?” he continued, taking a pair of steel handcuffs from a drawer. “See how
beautifully the spring works. They fasten in an instant.”
“The old pattern is good enough,” remarked Lestrade, “if we can only find the man to
put them on.”
“Very good, very good,” said Holmes, smiling. “The cabman may as well help me with
my boxes. Just ask him to step up, Wiggins.”
I was surprised to find my companion speaking as though he were about to set out on a
journey, since he had not said anything to me about it. There was a small portmanteau
in the room, and this he pulled out and began to strap. He was busily engaged at it when
the cabman entered the room.
“Just give me a help with this buckle, cabman,” he said, kneeling over his task, and
never turning his head.
The fellow came forward with a somewhat sullen, defiant air, and put down his hands to
assist. At that instant there was a sharp click, the jangling of metal, and Sherlock
Holmes sprang to his feet again.
“Gentlemen,” he cried, with flashing eyes, “let me introduce you to Mr.
Jefferson Hope, the murderer of Enoch Drebber and of Joseph Stangerson.”
The whole thing occurred in a moment—so quickly that I had no time to realize it. I
have a vivid recollection of that instant, of Holmes’ triumphant expression and the ring
of his voice, of the cabman’s dazed, savage face, as he glared at the glittering handcuffs,
which had appeared as if by magic upon his wrists. For a second or two we might have
been a group of statues. Then, with an inarticulate roar of fury, the prisoner wrenched
himself free from Holmes’s grasp, and hurled himself through the window. Woodwork
and glass gave way before him; but before he got quite through, Gregson, Lestrade, and
Holmes sprang upon him like so many staghounds. He was dragged back into the room,
and then commenced a terrific conflict. So powerful and so fierce was he, that the four
of us were shaken off again and again. He appeared to have the convulsive strength of a
man in an epileptic fit. His face and hands were terribly mangled by his passage through
the glass, but loss of blood had no effect in diminishing his resistance. It was not until
Lestrade succeeded in getting his hand inside his neckcloth and half-strangling him that
we made him realize that his struggles were of no avail; and even then we felt no
security until we had pinioned his feet as well as his hands. That done, we rose to our
feet breathless and panting.
“We have his cab,” said Sherlock Holmes. “It will serve to take him to Scotland Yard.
And now, gentlemen,” he continued, with a pleasant smile, “we have reached the end of
our little mystery. You are very welcome to put any questions that you like to me now,
and there is no danger that I will refuse to answer them.”

PART II. The Country of the Saints.

CHAPTER I. ON THE GREAT ALKALI PLAIN.

IN the central portion of the great North American Continent there lies an arid and
repulsive desert, which for many a long year served as a barrier against the advance of
civilisation. From the Sierra Nevada to Nebraska, and from the Yellowstone River in
the north to the Colorado upon the south, is a region of desolation and silence. Nor is
Nature always in one mood throughout this grim district. It comprises snow-capped and
lofty mountains, and dark and gloomy valleys. There are swift-flowing rivers which
dash through jagged cañons; and there are enormous plains, which in winter are white
with snow, and in summer are grey with the saline alkali dust. They all preserve,
however, the common characteristics of barrenness, inhospitality, and misery.
There are no inhabitants of this land of despair. A band of Pawnees or of Blackfeet may
occasionally traverse it in order to reach other hunting-grounds, but the hardiest of the
braves are glad to lose sight of those awesome plains, and to find themselves once more
upon their prairies. The coyote skulks among the scrub, the buzzard flaps heavily
through the air, and the clumsy grizzly bear lumbers through the dark ravines, and picks
up such sustenance as it can amongst the rocks. These are the sole dwellers in the
wilderness.
In the whole world there can be no more dreary view than that from the northern slope
of the Sierra Blanco. As far as the eye can reach stretches the great flat plain-land, all
dusted over with patches of alkali, and intersected by clumps of the dwarfish chaparral
bushes. On the extreme verge of the horizon lie a long chain of mountain peaks, with
their rugged summits flecked with snow. In this great stretch of country there is no sign
of life, nor of anything appertaining to life. There is no bird in the steel-blue heaven, no
movement upon the dull, grey earth—above all, there is absolute silence. Listen as one
may, there is no shadow of a sound in all that mighty wilderness; nothing but silence—
complete and heart-subduing silence.
It has been said there is nothing appertaining to life upon the broad plain. That is hardly
true. Looking down from the Sierra Blanco, one sees a pathway traced out across the
desert, which winds away and is lost in the extreme distance. It is rutted with wheels
and trodden down by the feet of many adventurers. Here and there there are scattered
white objects which glisten in the sun, and stand out against the dull deposit of alkali.
Approach, and examine them! They are bones: some large and coarse, others smaller
and more delicate. The former have belonged to oxen, and the latter to men. For fifteen
hundred miles one may trace this ghastly caravan route by these scattered remains of
those who had fallen by the wayside.
Looking down on this very scene, there stood upon the fourth of May, eighteen hundred
and forty-seven, a solitary traveller. His appearance was such that he might have been
the very genius or demon of the region. An observer would have found it difficult to
say whether he was nearer to forty or to sixty. His face was lean and haggard, and the
brown parchment-like skin was drawn tightly over the projecting bones; his long, brown
hair and beard were all flecked and dashed with white; his eyes were sunken in his head,
and burned with an unnatural lustre; while the hand which grasped his rifle was hardly
more fleshy than that of a skeleton. As he stood, he leaned upon his weapon for support,
and yet his tall figure and the massive framework of his bones suggested a wiry and
vigorous constitution. His gaunt face, however, and his clothes, which hung so baggily
over his shrivelled limbs, proclaimed what it was that gave him that senile and decrepit
appearance. The man was dying—dying from hunger and from thirst.
He had toiled painfully down the ravine, and on to this little elevation, in the vain hope
of seeing some signs of water. Now the great salt plain stretched before his eyes, and
the distant belt of savage mountains, without a sign anywhere of plant or tree, which
might indicate the presence of moisture. In all that broad landscape there was no gleam
of hope. North, and east, and west he looked with wild questioning eyes, and then he
realised that his wanderings had come to an end, and that there, on that barren crag, he
was about to die. “Why not here, as well as in a feather bed, twenty years hence,” he
muttered, as he seated himself in the shelter of a boulder.
Before sitting down, he had deposited upon the ground his useless rifle, and also a large
bundle tied up in a grey shawl, which he had carried slung over his right shoulder. It
appeared to be somewhat too heavy for his strength, for in lowering it, it came down on
the ground with some little violence. Instantly there broke from the grey parcel a little
moaning cry, and from it there protruded a small, scared face, with very bright brown
eyes, and two little speckled, dimpled fists.
“You’ve hurt me!” said a childish voice reproachfully.
“Have I though,” the man answered penitently, “I didn’t go for to do it.” As he spoke he
unwrapped the grey shawl and extricated a pretty little girl of about five years of age,
whose dainty shoes and smart pink frock with its little linen apron all bespoke a
mother’s care. The child was pale and wan, but her healthy arms and legs showed that
she had suffered less than her companion.
“How is it now?” he answered anxiously, for she was still rubbing the towsy golden
curls which covered the back of her head.
“Kiss it and make it well,” she said, with perfect gravity, shoving [19] the injured part
up to him. “That’s what mother used to do. Where’s mother?”
“Mother’s gone. I guess you’ll see her before long.”
“Gone, eh!” said the little girl. “Funny, she didn’t say good-bye; she ‘most always did if
she was just goin’ over to Auntie’s for tea, and now she’s been away three days. Say,
it’s awful dry, ain’t it? Ain’t there no water, nor nothing to eat?”
“No, there ain’t nothing, dearie. You’ll just need to be patient awhile, and then you’ll be
all right. Put your head up agin me like that, and then you’ll feel bullier. It ain’t easy to
talk when your lips is like leather, but I guess I’d best let you know how the cards lie.
What’s that you’ve got?”
“Pretty things! fine things!” cried the little girl enthusiastically, holding up two
glittering fragments of mica. “When we goes back to home I’ll give them to brother
Bob.”
“You’ll see prettier things than them soon,” said the man confidently. “You just wait a
bit. I was going to tell you though—you remember when we left the river?”
“Oh, yes.”
“Well, we reckoned we’d strike another river soon, d’ye see. But there
was somethin’ wrong; compasses, or map, or somethin’, and it didn’t
turn up. Water ran out. Just except a little drop for the likes of you
and—and----“
“And you couldn’t wash yourself,” interrupted his companion gravely, staring up at his
grimy visage.
“No, nor drink. And Mr. Bender, he was the fust to go, and then Indian Pete, and then
Mrs. McGregor, and then Johnny Hones, and then, dearie, your mother.”
“Then mother’s a deader too,” cried the little girl dropping her face in her pinafore and
sobbing bitterly.
“Yes, they all went except you and me. Then I thought there was some chance of water
in this direction, so I heaved you over my shoulder and we tramped it together. It don’t
seem as though we’ve improved matters. There’s an almighty small chance for us
now!”
“Do you mean that we are going to die too?” asked the child, checking her sobs, and
raising her tear-stained face.
“I guess that’s about the size of it.”
“Why didn’t you say so before?” she said, laughing gleefully. “You gave me such a
fright. Why, of course, now as long as we die we’ll be with mother again.”
“Yes, you will, dearie.”
“And you too. I’ll tell her how awful good you’ve been. I’ll bet she meets us at the door
of Heaven with a big pitcher of water, and a lot of buckwheat cakes, hot, and toasted on
both sides, like Bob and me was fond of. How long will it be first?”
“I don’t know—not very long.” The man’s eyes were fixed upon the northern horizon.
In the blue vault of the heaven there had appeared three little specks which increased in
size every moment, so rapidly did they approach. They speedily resolved themselves
into three large brown birds, which circled over the heads of the two wanderers, and
then settled upon some rocks which overlooked them. They were buzzards, the vultures
of the west, whose coming is the forerunner of death.
“Cocks and hens,” cried the little girl gleefully, pointing at their ill-omened forms, and
clapping her hands to make them rise. “Say, did God make this country?”
“In course He did,” said her companion, rather startled by this unexpected question.
“He made the country down in Illinois, and He made the Missouri,” the little girl
continued. “I guess somebody else made the country in these parts. It’s not nearly so
well done. They forgot the water and the trees.”
“What would ye think of offering up prayer?” the man asked diffidently.
“It ain’t night yet,” she answered.
“It don’t matter. It ain’t quite regular, but He won’t mind that, you bet. You say over
them ones that you used to say every night in the waggon when we was on the Plains.”
“Why don’t you say some yourself?” the child asked, with wondering eyes.
“I disremember them,” he answered. “I hain’t said none since I was half the height o’
that gun. I guess it’s never too late. You say them out, and I’ll stand by and come in on
the choruses.”
“Then you’ll need to kneel down, and me too,” she said, laying the shawl out for that
purpose. “You’ve got to put your hands up like this. It makes you feel kind o’ good.”
It was a strange sight had there been anything but the buzzards to see it. Side by side on
the narrow shawl knelt the two wanderers, the little prattling child and the reckless,
hardened adventurer. Her chubby face, and his haggard, angular visage were both
turned up to the cloudless heaven in heartfelt entreaty to that dread being with whom
they were face to face, while the two voices—the one thin and clear, the other deep and
harsh—united in the entreaty for mercy and forgiveness. The prayer finished, they
resumed their seat in the shadow of the boulder until the child fell asleep, nestling upon
the broad breast of her protector. He watched over her slumber for some time, but
Nature proved to be too strong for him. For three days and three nights he had allowed
himself neither rest nor repose. Slowly the eyelids drooped over the tired eyes, and the
head sunk lower and lower upon the breast, until the man’s grizzled beard was mixed
with the gold tresses of his companion, and both slept the same deep and dreamless
slumber.
Had the wanderer remained awake for another half hour a strange sight would have met
his eyes. Far away on the extreme verge of the alkali plain there rose up a little spray of
dust, very slight at first, and hardly to be distinguished from the mists of the distance,
but gradually growing higher and broader until it formed a solid, well-defined cloud.
This cloud continued to increase in size until it became evident that it could only be
raised by a great multitude of moving creatures. In more fertile spots the observer would
have come to the conclusion that one of those great herds of bisons which graze upon
the prairie land was approaching him. This was obviously impossible in these arid
wilds. As the whirl of dust drew nearer to the solitary bluff upon which the two
castaways were reposing, the canvas-covered tilts of waggons and the figures of armed
horsemen began to show up through the haze, and the apparition revealed itself as being
a great caravan upon its journey for the West. But what a caravan! When the head of it
had reached the base of the mountains, the rear was not yet visible on the horizon. Right
across the enormous plain stretched the straggling array, waggons and carts, men on
horseback, and men on foot. Innumerable women who staggered along under burdens,
and children who toddled beside the waggons or peeped out from under the white
coverings. This was evidently no ordinary party of immigrants, but rather some nomad
people who had been compelled from stress of circumstances to seek themselves a new
country. There rose through the clear air a confused clattering and rumbling from this
great mass of humanity, with the creaking of wheels and the neighing of horses. Loud as
it was, it was not sufficient to rouse the two tired wayfarers above them.
At the head of the column there rode a score or more of grave ironfaced men, clad in
sombre homespun garments and armed with rifles. On reaching the base of the bluff
they halted, and held a short council among themselves.
“The wells are to the right, my brothers,” said one, a hard-lipped, clean-shaven man
with grizzly hair.
“To the right of the Sierra Blanco—so we shall reach the Rio Grande,” said another.
“Fear not for water,” cried a third. “He who could draw it from the rocks will not now
abandon His own chosen people.”
“Amen! Amen!” responded the whole party.
They were about to resume their journey when one of the youngest and keenest-eyed
uttered an exclamation and pointed up at the rugged crag above them. From its summit
there fluttered a little wisp of pink, showing up hard and bright against the grey rocks
behind. At the sight there was a general reining up of horses and unslinging of guns,
while fresh horsemen came galloping up to reinforce the vanguard. The word
‘Redskins’ was on every lip.
“There can’t be any number of Injuns here,” said the elderly man who appeared to be in
command. “We have passed the Pawnees, and there are no other tribes until we cross
the great mountains.”
“Shall I go forward and see, Brother Stangerson,” asked one of the band.
“And I,” “and I,” cried a dozen voices.
“Leave your horses below and we will await you here,” the Elder answered. In a
moment the young fellows had dismounted, fastened their horses, and were ascending
the precipitous slope which led up to the object which had excited their curiosity. They
advanced rapidly and noiselessly, with the confidence and dexterity of practised scouts.
The watchers from the plain below could see them flit from rock to rock until their
figures stood out against the skyline. The young man who had first given the alarm was
leading them. Suddenly his followers saw him throw up his hands, as though overcome
with astonishment, and on joining him they were affected in the same way by the sight
which met their eyes.
On the little plateau which crowned the barren hill there stood a single giant boulder,
and against this boulder there lay a tall man, long-bearded and hard-featured, but of an
excessive thinness. His placid face and regular breathing showed that he was fast asleep.
Beside him lay a little child, with her round white arms encircling his brown sinewy
neck, and her golden haired head resting upon the breast of his velveteen tunic. Her rosy
lips were parted, showing the regular line of snow-white teeth within, and a playful
smile played over her infantile features. Her plump little white legs terminating in white
socks and neat shoes with shining buckles, offered a strange contrast to the long
shrivelled members of her companion. On the ledge of rock above this strange couple
there stood three solemn buzzards, who, at the sight of the new comers uttered raucous
screams of disappointment and flapped sullenly away.
The cries of the foul birds awoke the two sleepers who stared about [20] them in
bewilderment. The man staggered to his feet and looked down upon the plain which had
been so desolate when sleep had overtaken him, and which was now traversed by this
enormous body of men and of beasts. His face assumed an expression of incredulity as
he gazed, and he passed his boney hand over his eyes. “This is what they call delirium, I
guess,” he muttered. The child stood beside him, holding on to the skirt of his coat, and
said nothing but looked all round her with the wondering questioning gaze of childhood.
The rescuing party were speedily able to convince the two castaways that their
appearance was no delusion. One of them seized the little girl, and hoisted her upon his
shoulder, while two others supported her gaunt companion, and assisted him towards
the waggons.
“My name is John Ferrier,” the wanderer explained; “me and that little un are all that’s
left o’ twenty-one people. The rest is all dead o’ thirst and hunger away down in the
south.”
“Is she your child?” asked someone.
“I guess she is now,” the other cried, defiantly; “she’s mine ‘cause I saved her. No man
will take her from me. She’s Lucy Ferrier from this day on. Who are you, though?” he
continued, glancing with curiosity at his stalwart, sunburned rescuers; “there seems to
be a powerful lot of ye.”
“Nigh upon ten thousand,” said one of the young men; “we are the persecuted children
of God—the chosen of the Angel Merona.”
“I never heard tell on him,” said the wanderer. “He appears to have chosen a fair crowd
of ye.”
“Do not jest at that which is sacred,” said the other sternly. “We are of those who
believe in those sacred writings, drawn in Egyptian letters on plates of beaten gold,
which were handed unto the holy Joseph Smith at Palmyra. We have come from
Nauvoo, in the State of Illinois, where we had founded our temple. We have come to
seek a refuge from the violent man and from the godless, even though it be the heart of
the desert.”
The name of Nauvoo evidently recalled recollections to John Ferrier. “I see,” he said,
“you are the Mormons.”
“We are the Mormons,” answered his companions with one voice.

“And where are you going?”

“We do not know. The hand of God is leading us under the person of our Prophet. You
must come before him. He shall say what is to be done with you.”
They had reached the base of the hill by this time, and were surrounded by crowds of
the pilgrims—pale-faced meek-looking women, strong laughing children, and anxious
earnest-eyed men. Many were the cries of astonishment and of commiseration which
arose from them when they perceived the youth of one of the strangers and the
destitution of the other. Their escort did not halt, however, but pushed on, followed by a
great crowd of Mormons, until they reached a waggon, which was conspicuous for its
great size and for the gaudiness and smartness of its appearance. Six horses were yoked
to it, whereas the others were furnished with two, or, at most, four a-piece. Beside the
driver there sat a man who could not have been more than thirty years of age, but whose
massive head and resolute expression marked him as a leader. He was reading a brown-
backed volume, but as the crowd approached he laid it aside, and listened attentively to
an account of the episode. Then he turned to the two castaways.
“If we take you with us,” he said, in solemn words, “it can only be as believers in our
own creed. We shall have no wolves in our fold. Better far that your bones should
bleach in this wilderness than that you should prove to be that little speck of decay
which in time corrupts the whole fruit. Will you come with us on these terms?”
“Guess I’ll come with you on any terms,” said Ferrier, with such emphasis that the
grave Elders could not restrain a smile. The leader alone retained his stern, impressive
expression.
“Take him, Brother Stangerson,” he said, “give him food and drink, and the child
likewise. Let it be your task also to teach him our holy creed. We have delayed long
enough. Forward! On, on to Zion!”
“On, on to Zion!” cried the crowd of Mormons, and the words rippled down the long
caravan, passing from mouth to mouth until they died away in a dull murmur in the far
distance. With a cracking of whips and a creaking of wheels the great waggons got into
motion, and soon the whole caravan was winding along once more. The Elder to whose
care the two waifs had been committed, led them to his waggon, where a meal was
already awaiting them.
“You shall remain here,” he said. “In a few days you will have recovered from your
fatigues. In the meantime, remember that now and for ever you are of our religion.
Brigham Young has said it, and he has spoken with the voice of Joseph Smith, which is
the voice of God.”

CHAPTER II. THE FLOWER OF UTAH.

THIS is not the place to commemorate the trials and privations endured by the
immigrant Mormons before they came to their final haven. From the shores of the
Mississippi to the western slopes of the Rocky Mountains they had struggled on with a
constancy almost unparalleled in history. The savage man, and the savage beast,
hunger, thirst, fatigue, and disease—every impediment which Nature could place in the
way, had all been overcome with Anglo-Saxon tenacity. Yet the long journey and the
accumulated terrors had shaken the hearts of the stoutest among them. There was not
one who did not sink upon his knees in heartfelt prayer when they saw the broad valley
of Utah bathed in the sunlight beneath them, and learned from the lips of their leader
that this was the promised land, and that these virgin acres were to be theirs for
evermore.
Young speedily proved himself to be a skilful administrator as well as a resolute chief.
Maps were drawn and charts prepared, in which the future city was sketched out. All
around farms were apportioned and allotted in proportion to the standing of each
individual. The tradesman was put to his trade and the artisan to his calling. In the town
streets and squares sprang up, as if by magic. In the country there was draining and
hedging, planting and clearing, until the next summer saw the whole country golden
with the wheat crop. Everything prospered in the strange settlement. Above all, the great
temple which they had erected in the centre of the city grew ever taller and larger. From
the first blush of dawn until the closing of the twilight, the clatter of the hammer and the
rasp of the saw was never absent from the monument which the immigrants erected to
Him who had led them safe through many dangers.
The two castaways, John Ferrier and the little girl who had shared his fortunes and had
been adopted as his daughter, accompanied the Mormons to the end of their great
pilgrimage. Little Lucy Ferrier was borne along pleasantly enough in Elder
Stangerson’s waggon, a retreat which she shared with the Mormon’s three wives and
with his son, a headstrong forward boy of twelve. Having rallied, with the elasticity of
childhood, from the shock caused by her mother’s death, she soon became a pet with the
women, and reconciled herself to this new life in her moving canvas-covered home. In
the meantime Ferrier having recovered from his privations, distinguished himself as a
useful guide and an indefatigable hunter. So rapidly did he gain the esteem of his new
companions, that when they reached the end of their wanderings, it was unanimously
agreed that he should be provided with as large and as fertile a tract of land as any of the
settlers, with the exception of Young himself, and of Stangerson, Kemball, Johnston,
and Drebber, who were the four principal Elders.
On the farm thus acquired John Ferrier built himself a substantial log-house, which
received so many additions in succeeding years that it grew into a roomy villa. He was a
man of a practical turn of mind, keen in his dealings and skilful with his hands. His iron
constitution enabled him to work morning and evening at improving and tilling his
lands. Hence it came about that his farm and all that belonged to him prospered
exceedingly. In three years he was better off than his neighbours, in six he was well-to-
do, in nine he was rich, and in twelve there were not half a dozen men in the whole of
Salt Lake City who could compare with him. From the great inland sea to the distant
Wahsatch Mountains there was no name better known than that of John Ferrier.
There was one way and only one in which he offended the susceptibilities of his co-
religionists. No argument or persuasion could ever induce him to set up a female
establishment after the manner of his companions. He never gave reasons for this
persistent refusal, but contented himself by resolutely and inflexibly adhering to his
determination. There were some who accused him of lukewarmness in his adopted
religion, and others who put it down to greed of wealth and reluctance to incur expense.
Others, again, spoke of some early love affair, and of a fair-haired girl who had pined
away on the shores of the Atlantic. Whatever the reason, Ferrier remained strictly
celibate. In every other respect he conformed to the religion of the young settlement,
and gained the name of being an orthodox and straight-walking man.
Lucy Ferrier grew up within the log-house, and assisted her adopted father in all his
undertakings. The keen air of the mountains and the balsamic odour of the pine trees
took the place of nurse and mother to the young girl. As year succeeded to year she
grew taller and stronger, her cheek more rudy, and her step more elastic. Many a
wayfarer upon the high road which ran by Ferrier’s farm felt long-forgotten thoughts
revive in their mind as they watched her lithe girlish figure tripping through the
wheatfields, or met her mounted upon her father’s mustang, and managing it with all the
ease and grace of a true child of the West. So the bud blossomed into a flower, and the
year which saw her father the richest of the farmers left her as fair a specimen of
American girlhood as could be found in the whole Pacific slope.
It was not the father, however, who first discovered that the child had developed into the
woman. It seldom is in such cases. That mysterious change is too subtle and too gradual
to be measured by dates. Least of all does the maiden herself know it until the tone of a
voice or the touch of a hand sets her heart thrilling within her, and she learns, with a
mixture of pride and of fear, that a new and a larger nature has awoken within her.
There are few who cannot recall that day and remember the one little incident which
heralded the dawn of a new life. In the case of Lucy Ferrier the occasion was serious
enough in itself, apart from its future influence on her destiny and that of many besides.
It was a warm June morning, and the Latter Day Saints were as busy as the bees whose
hive they have chosen for their emblem. In the fields and in the streets rose the same
hum of human industry. Down the dusty high roads defiled long streams of heavily-
laden mules, all heading to the west, for the gold fever had broken out in California, and
the Overland Route lay through the City of the Elect. There, too, were droves of sheep
and bullocks coming in from the outlying pasture lands, and trains of tired immigrants,
men and horses equally weary of their interminable journey. Through all this motley
assemblage, threading her way with the skill of an accomplished rider, there galloped
Lucy Ferrier, her fair face flushed with the exercise and her long chestnut hair floating
out behind her. She had a commission from her father in the City, and was dashing in as
she had done many a time before, with all the fearlessness of youth, thinking only of her
task and how it was to be performed. The travel-stained adventurers gazed after her in
astonishment, and even the unemotional Indians, journeying in with their pelties,
relaxed their accustomed stoicism as they marvelled at the beauty of the pale-faced
maiden.
She had reached the outskirts of the city when she found the road blocked by a great
drove of cattle, driven by a half-dozen wild-looking herdsmen from the plains. In her
impatience she endeavoured to pass this obstacle by pushing her horse into what
appeared to be a gap. Scarcely had she got fairly into it, however, before the beasts
closed in behind her, and she found herself completely imbedded in the moving stream
of fierce-eyed, long-horned bullocks. Accustomed as she was to deal with cattle, she
was not alarmed at her situation, but took advantage of every opportunity to urge her
horse on in the hopes of pushing her way through the cavalcade. Unfortunately the
horns of one of the creatures, either by accident or design, came in violent contact with
the flank of the mustang, and excited it to madness. In an instant it reared up upon its
hind legs with a snort of rage, and pranced and tossed in a way that would have
unseated any but a most skilful rider. The situation was full of peril. Every plunge of the
excited horse brought it against the horns again, and goaded it to fresh madness. It was
all that the girl could do to keep herself in the saddle, yet a slip would mean a terrible
death under the hoofs of the unwieldy and terrified animals. Unaccustomed to sudden
emergencies, her head began to swim, and her grip upon the bridle to relax. Choked by
the rising cloud of dust and by the steam from the struggling creatures, she might have
abandoned her efforts in despair, but for a kindly voice at her elbow which assured her
of assistance. At the same moment a sinewy brown hand caught the frightened horse by
the curb, and forcing a way through the drove, soon brought her to the outskirts.
“You’re not hurt, I hope, miss,” said her preserver, respectfully.
She looked up at his dark, fierce face, and laughed saucily. “I’m awful frightened,” she
said, naively; “whoever would have thought that Poncho would have been so scared by
a lot of cows?”
“Thank God you kept your seat,” the other said earnestly. He was a tall, savage-looking
young fellow, mounted on a powerful roan horse, and clad in the rough dress of a
hunter, with a long rifle slung over his shoulders. “I guess you are the daughter of John
Ferrier,” he remarked, “I saw you ride down from his house. When you see him, ask
him if he remembers the Jefferson Hopes of St. Louis. If he’s the same Ferrier, my
father and he were pretty thick.”
“Hadn’t you better come and ask yourself?” she asked, demurely.
The young fellow seemed pleased at the suggestion, and his dark eyes sparkled with
pleasure. “I’ll do so,” he said, “we’ve been in the mountains for two months, and are not
over and above in visiting condition. He must take us as he finds us.”
“He has a good deal to thank you for, and so have I,” she answered, “he’s awful fond of
me. If those cows had jumped on me he’d have never got over it.”
“Neither would I,” said her companion.
“You! Well, I don’t see that it would make much matter to you, anyhow.
You ain’t even a friend of ours.”
The young hunter’s dark face grew so gloomy over this remark that Lucy Ferrier
laughed aloud.
“There, I didn’t mean that,” she said; “of course, you are a friend now. You must come
and see us. Now I must push along, or father won’t trust me with his business any more.
Good-bye!”
“Good-bye,” he answered, raising his broad sombrero, and bending over her little hand.
She wheeled her mustang round, gave it a cut with her riding-whip, and darted away
down the broad road in a rolling cloud of dust.
Young Jefferson Hope rode on with his companions, gloomy and taciturn. He and they
had been among the Nevada Mountains prospecting for silver, and were returning to
Salt Lake City in the hope of raising capital enough to work some lodes which they had
discovered. He had been as keen as any of them upon the business until this sudden
incident had drawn his thoughts into another channel. The sight of the fair young girl, as
frank and wholesome as the Sierra breezes, had stirred his volcanic, untamed heart to its
very depths. When she had vanished from his sight, he realized that a crisis had come in
his life, and that neither silver speculations nor any other questions could ever be of
such importance to him as this new and all-absorbing one. The love which had sprung
up in his heart was not the sudden, changeable fancy of a boy, but rather the wild, fierce
passion of a man of strong will and imperious temper. He had been accustomed to
succeed in all that he undertook. He swore in his heart that he would not fail in this if
human effort and human perseverance could render him successful.
He called on John Ferrier that night, and many times again, until his face was a familiar
one at the farm-house. John, cooped up in the valley, and absorbed in his work, had had
little chance of learning the news of the outside world during the last twelve years. All
this Jefferson Hope was able to tell him, and in a style which interested Lucy as well as
her father. He had been a pioneer in California, and could narrate many a strange tale of
fortunes made and fortunes lost in those wild, halcyon days. He had been a scout too,
and a trapper, a silver explorer, and a ranchman. Wherever stirring adventures were to
be had, Jefferson Hope had been there in search of them. He soon became a favourite
with the old farmer, who spoke eloquently of his virtues. On such occasions, Lucy was
silent, but her blushing cheek and her bright, happy eyes, showed only too clearly that
her young heart was no longer her own. Her honest father may not have observed these
symptoms, but they were assuredly not thrown away upon the man who had won her
affections.
It was a summer evening when he came galloping down the road and pulled up at the
gate. She was at the doorway, and came down to meet him. He threw the bridle over the
fence and strode up the pathway.
“I am off, Lucy,” he said, taking her two hands in his, and gazing tenderly down into
her face; “I won’t ask you to come with me now, but will you be ready to come when I
am here again?”
“And when will that be?” she asked, blushing and laughing.
“A couple of months at the outside. I will come and claim you then, my darling. There’s
no one who can stand between us.”
“And how about father?” she asked.
“He has given his consent, provided we get these mines working all right. I have no fear
on that head.”
“Oh, well; of course, if you and father have arranged it all, there’s no more to be said,”
she whispered, with her cheek against his broad breast.
“Thank God!” he said, hoarsely, stooping and kissing her. “It is settled, then. The longer
I stay, the harder it will be to go. They are waiting for me at the cañon. Good-bye, my
own darling—good-bye. In two months you shall see me.”
He tore himself from her as he spoke, and, flinging himself upon his horse, galloped
furiously away, never even looking round, as though afraid that his resolution might fail
him if he took one glance at what he was leaving. She stood at the gate, gazing after him
until he vanished from her sight. Then she walked back into the house, the happiest girl
in all Utah.

CHAPTER III. JOHN FERRIER TALKS WITH THE PROPHET.

THREE weeks had passed since Jefferson Hope and his comrades had departed from
Salt Lake City. John Ferrier’s heart was sore within him when he thought of the young
man’s return, and of the impending loss of his adopted child. Yet her bright and happy
face reconciled him to the arrangement more than any argument could have done. He
had always determined, deep down in his resolute heart, that nothing would ever induce
him to allow his daughter to wed a Mormon. Such a marriage he regarded as no
marriage at all, but as a shame and a disgrace. Whatever he might think of the Mormon
doctrines, upon that one point he was inflexible. He had to seal his mouth on the
subject, however, for to express an unorthodox opinion was a dangerous matter in those
days in the Land of the Saints.
Yes, a dangerous matter—so dangerous that even the most saintly dared only whisper
their religious opinions with bated breath, lest something which fell from their lips
might be misconstrued, and bring down a swift retribution upon them. The victims of
persecution had now turned persecutors on their own account, and persecutors of the
most terrible description. Not the Inquisition of Seville, nor the German Vehm-gericht,
nor the Secret Societies of Italy, were ever able to put a more formidable machinery in
motion than that which cast a cloud over the State of Utah.
Its invisibility, and the mystery which was attached to it, made this organization doubly
terrible. It appeared to be omniscient and omnipotent, and yet was neither seen nor
heard. The man who held out against the Church vanished away, and none knew
whither he had gone or what had befallen him. His wife and his children awaited him at
home, but no father ever returned to tell them how he had fared at the hands of his
secret judges. A rash word or a hasty act was followed by annihilation, and yet none
knew what the nature might be of this terrible power which was suspended over them.
No wonder that men went about in fear and trembling, and that even in the heart of the
wilderness they dared not whisper the doubts which oppressed them.
At first this vague and terrible power was exercised only upon the recalcitrants who,
having embraced the Mormon faith, wished afterwards to pervert or to abandon it.
Soon, however, it took a wider range. The supply of adult women was running short,
and polygamy without a female population on which to draw was a barren doctrine
indeed. Strange rumours began to be bandied about—rumours of murdered immigrants
and rifled camps in regions where Indians had never been seen. Fresh women appeared
in the harems of the Elders—women who pined and wept, and bore upon their faces the
traces of an unextinguishable horror. Belated wanderers upon the mountains spoke of
gangs of armed men, masked, stealthy, and noiseless, who flitted by them in the
darkness. These tales and rumours took substance and shape, and were corroborated and
re-corroborated, until they resolved themselves into a definite name. To this day, in the
lonely ranches of the West, the name of the Danite Band, or the Avenging Angels, is a
sinister and an ill-omened one.
Fuller knowledge of the organization which produced such terrible results served to
increase rather than to lessen the horror which it inspired in the minds of men. None
knew who belonged to this ruthless society. The names of the participators in the deeds
of blood and violence done under the name of religion were kept profoundly secret.
The very friend to whom you communicated your misgivings as to the Prophet and his
mission, might be one of those who would come forth at night with fire and sword to
exact a terrible reparation. Hence every man feared his neighbour, and none spoke of
the things which were nearest his heart.
One fine morning, John Ferrier was about to set out to his wheatfields, when he heard
the click of the latch, and, looking through the window, saw a stout, sandy-haired,
middle-aged man coming up the pathway. His heart leapt to his mouth, for this was
none other than the great Brigham Young himself. Full of trepidation—for he knew that
such a visit boded him little good—Ferrier ran to the door to greet the Mormon chief.
The latter, however, received his salutations coldly, and followed him with a stern face
into the sitting-room.
“Brother Ferrier,” he said, taking a seat, and eyeing the farmer keenly from under his
light-coloured eyelashes, “the true believers have been good friends to you. We picked
you up when you were starving in the desert, we shared our food with you, led you safe
to the Chosen Valley, gave you a goodly share of land, and allowed you to wax rich
under our protection. Is not this so?”
“It is so,” answered John Ferrier.
“In return for all this we asked but one condition: that was, that you should embrace the
true faith, and conform in every way to its usages. This you promised to do, and this, if
common report says truly, you have neglected.”
“And how have I neglected it?” asked Ferrier, throwing out his hands in expostulation.
“Have I not given to the common fund? Have I not attended at the Temple? Have I not--
--?”
“Where are your wives?” asked Young, looking round him. “Call them in, that I may
greet them.”
“It is true that I have not married,” Ferrier answered. “But women were few, and there
were many who had better claims than I. I was not a lonely man: I had my daughter to
attend to my wants.”
“It is of that daughter that I would speak to you,” said the leader of the Mormons. “She
has grown to be the flower of Utah, and has found favour in the eyes of many who are
high in the land.”
John Ferrier groaned internally.
“There are stories of her which I would fain disbelieve—stories that she is sealed to
some Gentile. This must be the gossip of idle tongues. What is the thirteenth rule in the
code of the sainted Joseph Smith? ‘Let every maiden of the true faith marry one of the
elect; for if she wed a Gentile, she commits a grievous sin.’ This being so, it is
impossible that you, who profess the holy creed, should suffer your daughter to violate
it.”
John Ferrier made no answer, but he played nervously with his riding-whip.
“Upon this one point your whole faith shall be tested—so it has been decided in the
Sacred Council of Four. The girl is young, and we would not have her wed grey hairs,
neither would we deprive her of all choice. We Elders have many heifers, [29] but our
children must also be provided. Stangerson has a son, and Drebber has a son, and either
of them would gladly welcome your daughter to their house. Let her choose between
them. They are young and rich, and of the true faith. What say you to that?”
Ferrier remained silent for some little time with his brows knitted.
“You will give us time,” he said at last. “My daughter is very young—she is scarce of
an age to marry.”
“She shall have a month to choose,” said Young, rising from his seat.
“At the end of that time she shall give her answer.”
He was passing through the door, when he turned, with flushed face and flashing eyes.
“It were better for you, John Ferrier,” he thundered, “that you and she were now lying
blanched skeletons upon the Sierra Blanco, than that you should put your weak wills
against the orders of the Holy Four!”
With a threatening gesture of his hand, he turned from the door, and Ferrier heard his
heavy step scrunching along the shingly path.
He was still sitting with his elbows upon his knees, considering how he should broach
the matter to his daughter when a soft hand was laid upon his, and looking up, he saw
her standing beside him. One glance at her pale, frightened face showed him that she
had heard what had passed.
“I could not help it,” she said, in answer to his look. “His voice rang through the house.
Oh, father, father, what shall we do?”
“Don’t you scare yourself,” he answered, drawing her to him, and passing his broad,
rough hand caressingly over her chestnut hair. “We’ll fix it up somehow or another.
You don’t find your fancy kind o’ lessening for this chap, do you?”
A sob and a squeeze of his hand was her only answer.
“No; of course not. I shouldn’t care to hear you say you did. He’s a likely lad, and he’s
a Christian, which is more than these folk here, in spite o’ all their praying and
preaching. There’s a party starting for Nevada to-morrow, and I’ll manage to send him a
message letting him know the hole we are in. If I know anything o’ that young man,
he’ll be back here with a speed that would whip electro-telegraphs.”
Lucy laughed through her tears at her father’s description.
“When he comes, he will advise us for the best. But it is for you that I am frightened,
dear. One hears—one hears such dreadful stories about those who oppose the Prophet:
something terrible always happens to them.”
“But we haven’t opposed him yet,” her father answered. “It will be time to look out for
squalls when we do. We have a clear month before us; at the end of that, I guess we had
best shin out of Utah.”
“Leave Utah!”
“That’s about the size of it.”
“But the farm?”
“We will raise as much as we can in money, and let the rest go. To tell the truth, Lucy,
it isn’t the first time I have thought of doing it. I don’t care about knuckling under to
any man, as these folk do to their darned prophet. I’m a free-born American, and it’s all
new to me. Guess I’m too old to learn. If he comes browsing about this farm, he might
chance to run up against a charge of buckshot travelling in the opposite direction.”
“But they won’t let us leave,” his daughter objected.
“Wait till Jefferson comes, and we’ll soon manage that. In the meantime, don’t you fret
yourself, my dearie, and don’t get your eyes swelled up, else he’ll be walking into me
when he sees you. There’s nothing to be afeared about, and there’s no danger at all.”
John Ferrier uttered these consoling remarks in a very confident tone, but she could not
help observing that he paid unusual care to the fastening of the doors that night, and that
he carefully cleaned and loaded the rusty old shotgun which hung upon the wall of his
bedroom.

CHAPTER IV. A FLIGHT FOR LIFE.

ON the morning which followed his interview with the Mormon Prophet, John Ferrier
went in to Salt Lake City, and having found his acquaintance, who was bound for the
Nevada Mountains, he entrusted him with his message to Jefferson Hope. In it he told
the young man of the imminent danger which threatened them, and how necessary it
was that he should return. Having done thus he felt easier in his mind, and returned
home with a lighter heart.
As he approached his farm, he was surprised to see a horse hitched to each of the posts
of the gate. Still more surprised was he on entering to find two young men in possession
of his sitting-room. One, with a long pale face, was leaning back in the rocking-chair,
with his feet cocked up upon the stove. The other, a bull-necked youth with coarse
bloated features, was standing in front of the window with his hands in his pocket,
whistling a popular hymn. Both of them nodded to Ferrier as he entered, and the one in
the rocking-chair commenced the conversation.
“Maybe you don’t know us,” he said. “This here is the son of Elder Drebber, and I’m
Joseph Stangerson, who travelled with you in the desert when the Lord stretched out His
hand and gathered you into the true fold.”
“As He will all the nations in His own good time,” said the other in a nasal voice; “He
grindeth slowly but exceeding small.”
John Ferrier bowed coldly. He had guessed who his visitors were.
“We have come,” continued Stangerson, “at the advice of our fathers to solicit the hand
of your daughter for whichever of us may seem good to you and to her. As I have but
four wives and Brother Drebber here has seven, it appears to me that my claim is the
stronger one.”
“Nay, nay, Brother Stangerson,” cried the other; “the question is not how many wives
we have, but how many we can keep. My father has now given over his mills to me, and
I am the richer man.”
“But my prospects are better,” said the other, warmly. “When the Lord removes my
father, I shall have his tanning yard and his leather factory. Then I am your elder, and
am higher in the Church.”
“It will be for the maiden to decide,” rejoined young Drebber, smirking at his own
reflection in the glass. “We will leave it all to her decision.”
During this dialogue, John Ferrier had stood fuming in the doorway, hardly able to keep
his riding-whip from the backs of his two visitors.
“Look here,” he said at last, striding up to them, “when my daughter summons you, you
can come, but until then I don’t want to see your faces again.”
The two young Mormons stared at him in amazement. In their eyes this competition
between them for the maiden’s hand was the highest of honours both to her and her
father.
“There are two ways out of the room,” cried Ferrier; “there is the door, and there is the
window. Which do you care to use?”
His brown face looked so savage, and his gaunt hands so threatening, that his visitors
sprang to their feet and beat a hurried retreat. The old farmer followed them to the door.
“Let me know when you have settled which it is to be,” he said, sardonically.
“You shall smart for this!” Stangerson cried, white with rage. “You have defied the
Prophet and the Council of Four. You shall rue it to the end of your days.”
“The hand of the Lord shall be heavy upon you,” cried young Drebber; “He will arise
and smite you!”
“Then I’ll start the smiting,” exclaimed Ferrier furiously, and would have rushed
upstairs for his gun had not Lucy seized him by the arm and restrained him. Before he
could escape from her, the clatter of horses’ hoofs told him that they were beyond his
reach.
“The young canting rascals!” he exclaimed, wiping the perspiration from his forehead;
“I would sooner see you in your grave, my girl, than the wife of either of them.”
“And so should I, father,” she answered, with spirit; “but Jefferson will soon be here.”
“Yes. It will not be long before he comes. The sooner the better, for we do not know
what their next move may be.”
It was, indeed, high time that someone capable of giving advice and help should come
to the aid of the sturdy old farmer and his adopted daughter. In the whole history of the
settlement there had never been such a case of rank disobedience to the authority of the
Elders. If minor errors were punished so sternly, what would be the fate of this arch
rebel. Ferrier knew that his wealth and position would be of no avail to him. Others as
well known and as rich as himself had been spirited away before now, and their goods
given over to the Church. He was a brave man, but he trembled at the vague, shadowy
terrors which hung over him. Any known danger he could face with a firm lip, but this
suspense was unnerving. He concealed his fears from his daughter, however, and
affected to make light of the whole matter, though she, with the keen eye of love, saw
plainly that he was ill at ease.
He expected that he would receive some message or remonstrance from Young as to his
conduct, and he was not mistaken, though it came in an unlooked-for manner. Upon
rising next morning he found, to his surprise, a small square of paper pinned on to the
coverlet of his bed just over his chest. On it was printed, in bold straggling letters:--

“Twenty-nine days are given you for amendment, and then----“

The dash was more fear-inspiring than any threat could have been. How this warning
came into his room puzzled John Ferrier sorely, for his servants slept in an outhouse,
and the doors and windows had all been secured. He crumpled the paper up and said
nothing to his daughter, but the incident struck a chill into his heart. The twenty-nine
days were evidently the balance of the month which Young had promised. What
strength or courage could avail against an enemy armed with such mysterious powers?
The hand which fastened that pin might have struck him to the heart, and he could never
have known who had slain him.
Still more shaken was he next morning. They had sat down to their breakfast when
Lucy with a cry of surprise pointed upwards. In the centre of the ceiling was scrawled,
with a burned stick apparently, the number 28. To his daughter it was unintelligible, and
he did not enlighten her. That night he sat up with his gun and kept watch and ward. He
saw and he heard nothing, and yet in the morning a great 27 had been painted upon the
outside of his door.
Thus day followed day; and as sure as morning came he found that his unseen enemies
had kept their register, and had marked up in some conspicuous position how many
days were still left to him out of the month of grace. Sometimes the fatal numbers
appeared upon the walls, sometimes upon the floors, occasionally they were on small
placards stuck upon the garden gate or the railings. With all his vigilance John Ferrier
could not discover whence these daily warnings proceeded. A horror which was almost
superstitious came upon him at the sight of them. He became haggard and restless, and
his eyes had the troubled look of some hunted creature. He had but one hope in life
now, and that was for the arrival of the young hunter from Nevada.
Twenty had changed to fifteen and fifteen to ten, but there was no news of the absentee.
One by one the numbers dwindled down, and still there came no sign of him. Whenever
a horseman clattered down the road, or a driver shouted at his team, the old farmer
hurried to the gate thinking that help had arrived at last. At last, when he saw five give
way to four and that again to three, he lost heart, and abandoned all hope of escape.
Single-handed, and with his limited knowledge of the mountains which surrounded the
settlement, he knew that he was powerless. The more-frequented roads were strictly
watched and guarded, and none could pass along them without an order from the
Council. Turn which way he would, there appeared to be no avoiding the blow which
hung over him. Yet the old man never wavered in his resolution to part with life itself
before he consented to what he regarded as his daughter’s dishonour.
He was sitting alone one evening pondering deeply over his troubles, and searching
vainly for some way out of them. That morning had shown the figure 2 upon the wall of
his house, and the next day would be the last of the allotted time. What was to happen
then? All manner of vague and terrible fancies filled his imagination. And his
daughter—what was to become of her after he was gone? Was there no escape from the
invisible network which was drawn all round them. He sank his head upon the table and
sobbed at the thought of his own impotence.
What was that? In the silence he heard a gentle scratching sound—low, but very distinct
in the quiet of the night. It came from the door of the house. Ferrier crept into the hall
and listened intently. There was a pause for a few moments, and then the low insidious
sound was repeated. Someone was evidently tapping very gently upon one of the panels
of the door. Was it some midnight assassin who had come to carry out the murderous
orders of the secret tribunal? Or was it some agent who was marking up that the last day
of grace had arrived. John Ferrier felt that instant death would be better than the
suspense which shook his nerves and chilled his heart. Springing forward he drew the
bolt and threw the door open.
Outside all was calm and quiet. The night was fine, and the stars were twinkling
brightly overhead. The little front garden lay before the farmer’s eyes bounded by the
fence and gate, but neither there nor on the road was any human being to be seen. With
a sigh of relief, Ferrier looked to right and to left, until happening to glance straight
down at his own feet he saw to his astonishment a man lying flat upon his face upon the
ground, with arms and legs all asprawl.
So unnerved was he at the sight that he leaned up against the wall with his hand to his
throat to stifle his inclination to call out. His first thought was that the prostrate figure
was that of some wounded or dying man, but as he watched it he saw it writhe along the
ground and into the hall with the rapidity and noiselessness of a serpent. Once within
the house the man sprang to his feet, closed the door, and revealed to the astonished
farmer the fierce face and resolute expression of Jefferson Hope.
“Good God!” gasped John Ferrier. “How you scared me! Whatever made you come in
like that.”
“Give me food,” the other said, hoarsely. “I have had no time for bite or sup for eight-
and-forty hours.” He flung himself upon the [21] cold meat and bread which were still
lying upon the table from his host’s supper, and devoured it voraciously. “Does Lucy
bear up well?” he asked, when he had satisfied his hunger.
“Yes. She does not know the danger,” her father answered.
“That is well. The house is watched on every side. That is why I crawled my way up to
it. They may be darned sharp, but they’re not quite sharp enough to catch a Washoe
hunter.”
John Ferrier felt a different man now that he realized that he had a devoted ally. He
seized the young man’s leathery hand and wrung it cordially. “You’re a man to be proud
of,” he said. “There are not many who would come to share our danger and our
troubles.”
“You’ve hit it there, pard,” the young hunter answered. “I have a respect for you, but if
you were alone in this business I’d think twice before I put my head into such a hornet’s
nest. It’s Lucy that brings me here, and before harm comes on her I guess there will be
one less o’ the Hope family in Utah.”

“What are we to do?”

“To-morrow is your last day, and unless you act to-night you are lost. I have a mule
and two horses waiting in the Eagle Ravine. How much money have you?”
“Two thousand dollars in gold, and five in notes.”
“That will do. I have as much more to add to it. We must push for Carson City through
the mountains. You had best wake Lucy. It is as well that the servants do not sleep in
the house.”
While Ferrier was absent, preparing his daughter for the approaching journey, Jefferson
Hope packed all the eatables that he could find into a small parcel, and filled a
stoneware jar with water, for he knew by experience that the mountain wells were few
and far between. He had hardly completed his arrangements before the farmer returned
with his daughter all dressed and ready for a start. The greeting between the lovers was
warm, but brief, for minutes were precious, and there was much to be done.
“We must make our start at once,” said Jefferson Hope, speaking in a low but resolute
voice, like one who realizes the greatness of the peril, but has steeled his heart to meet
it. “The front and back entrances are watched, but with caution we may get away
through the side window and across the fields. Once on the road we are only two miles
from the Ravine where the horses are waiting. By daybreak we should be half-way
through the mountains.”
“What if we are stopped,” asked Ferrier.
Hope slapped the revolver butt which protruded from the front of his tunic. “If they are
too many for us we shall take two or three of them with us,” he said with a sinister
smile.
The lights inside the house had all been extinguished, and from the darkened window
Ferrier peered over the fields which had been his own, and which he was now about to
abandon for ever. He had long nerved himself to the sacrifice, however, and the thought
of the honour and happiness of his daughter outweighed any regret at his ruined
fortunes. All looked so peaceful and happy, the rustling trees and the broad silent
stretch of grain-land, that it was difficult to realize that the spirit of murder lurked
through it all. Yet the white face and set expression of the young hunter showed that in
his approach to the house he had seen enough to satisfy him upon that head.
Ferrier carried the bag of gold and notes, Jefferson Hope had the scanty provisions and
water, while Lucy had a small bundle containing a few of her more valued possessions.
Opening the window very slowly and carefully, they waited until a dark cloud had
somewhat obscured the night, and then one by one passed through into the little garden.
With bated breath and crouching figures they stumbled across it, and gained the shelter
of the hedge, which they skirted until they came to the gap which opened into the
cornfields. They had just reached this point when the young man seized his two
companions and dragged them down into the shadow, where they lay silent and
trembling.
It was as well that his prairie training had given Jefferson Hope the ears of a lynx. He
and his friends had hardly crouched down before the melancholy hooting of a mountain
owl was heard within a few yards of them, which was immediately answered by another
hoot at a small distance. At the same moment a vague shadowy figure emerged from the
gap for which they had been making, and uttered the plaintive signal cry again, on
which a second man appeared out of the obscurity.
“To-morrow at midnight,” said the first who appeared to be in authority.
“When the Whip-poor-Will calls three times.”

“It is well,” returned the other. “Shall I tell Brother Drebber?”

“Pass it on to him, and from him to the others. Nine to seven!”

“Seven to five!” repeated the other, and the two figures flitted away in different
directions. Their concluding words had evidently been some form of sign and
countersign. The instant that their footsteps had died away in the distance, Jefferson
Hope sprang to his feet, and helping his companions through the gap, led the way across
the fields at the top of his speed, supporting and half-carrying the girl when her strength
appeared to fail her.
“Hurry on! hurry on!” he gasped from time to time. “We are through the line of
sentinels. Everything depends on speed. Hurry on!”
Once on the high road they made rapid progress. Only once did they meet anyone, and
then they managed to slip into a field, and so avoid recognition. Before reaching the
town the hunter branched away into a rugged and narrow footpath which led to the
mountains. Two dark jagged peaks loomed above them through the darkness, and the
defile which led between them was the Eagle Cañon in which the horses were awaiting
them. With unerring instinct Jefferson Hope picked his way among the great boulders
and along the bed of a dried-up watercourse, until he came to the retired corner,
screened with rocks, where the faithful animals had been picketed. The girl was placed
upon the mule, and old Ferrier upon one of the horses, with his money-bag, while
Jefferson Hope led the other along the precipitous and dangerous path.
It was a bewildering route for anyone who was not accustomed to face Nature in her
wildest moods. On the one side a great crag towered up a thousand feet or more, black,
stern, and menacing, with long basaltic columns upon its rugged surface like the ribs of
some petrified monster. On the other hand a wild chaos of boulders and debris made all
advance impossible. Between the two ran the irregular track, so narrow in places that
they had to travel in Indian file, and so rough that only practised riders could have
traversed it at all. Yet in spite of all dangers and difficulties, the hearts of the fugitives
were light within them, for every step increased the distance between them and the
terrible despotism from which they were flying.
They soon had a proof, however, that they were still within the jurisdiction of the
Saints. They had reached the very wildest and most desolate portion of the pass when
the girl gave a startled cry, and pointed upwards. On a rock which overlooked the track,
showing out dark and plain against the sky, there stood a solitary sentinel. He saw them
as soon as they perceived him, and his military challenge of “Who goes there?” rang
through the silent ravine.
“Travellers for Nevada,” said Jefferson Hope, with his hand upon the rifle which hung
by his saddle.
They could see the lonely watcher fingering his gun, and peering down at them as if
dissatisfied at their reply.
“By whose permission?” he asked.
“The Holy Four,” answered Ferrier. His Mormon experiences had taught him that that
was the highest authority to which he could refer.
“Nine from seven,” cried the sentinel.
“Seven from five,” returned Jefferson Hope promptly, remembering the countersign
which he had heard in the garden.
“Pass, and the Lord go with you,” said the voice from above. Beyond his post the path
broadened out, and the horses were able to break into a trot. Looking back, they could
see the solitary watcher leaning upon his gun, and knew that they had passed the
outlying post of the chosen people, and that freedom lay before them.
CHAPTER V. THE AVENGING ANGELS.

ALL night their course lay through intricate defiles and over irregular and rock-strewn
paths. More than once they lost their way, but Hope’s intimate knowledge of the
mountains enabled them to regain the track once more. When morning broke, a scene of
marvellous though savage beauty lay before them. In every direction the great snow-
capped peaks hemmed them in, peeping over each other’s shoulders to the far horizon.
So steep were the rocky banks on either side of them, that the larch and the pine seemed
to be suspended over their heads, and to need only a gust of wind to come hurtling
down upon them. Nor was the fear entirely an illusion, for the barren valley was thickly
strewn with trees and boulders which had fallen in a similar manner. Even as they
passed, a great rock came thundering down with a hoarse rattle which woke the echoes
in the silent gorges, and startled the weary horses into a gallop.
As the sun rose slowly above the eastern horizon, the caps of the great mountains lit up
one after the other, like lamps at a festival, until they were all ruddy and glowing. The
magnificent spectacle cheered the hearts of the three fugitives and gave them fresh
energy. At a wild torrent which swept out of a ravine they called a halt and watered their
horses, while they partook of a hasty breakfast. Lucy and her father would fain have
rested longer, but Jefferson Hope was inexorable. “They will be upon our track by this
time,” he said. “Everything depends upon our speed. Once safe in Carson we may rest
for the remainder of our lives.”
During the whole of that day they struggled on through the defiles, and by evening they
calculated that they were more than thirty miles from their enemies. At night-time they
chose the base of a beetling crag, where the rocks offered some protection from the chill
wind, and there huddled together for warmth, they enjoyed a few hours’ sleep. Before
daybreak, however, they were up and on their way once more. They had seen no signs
of any pursuers, and Jefferson Hope began to think that they were fairly out of the reach
of the terrible organization whose enmity they had incurred. He little knew how far that
iron grasp could reach, or how soon it was to close upon them and crush them.
About the middle of the second day of their flight their scanty store of provisions began
to run out. This gave the hunter little uneasiness, however, for there was game to be had
among the mountains, and he had frequently before had to depend upon his rifle for the
needs of life. Choosing a sheltered nook, he piled together a few dried branches and
made a blazing fire, at which his companions might warm themselves, for they were
now nearly five thousand feet above the sea level, and the air was bitter and keen.
Having tethered the horses, and bade Lucy adieu, he threw his gun over his shoulder,
and set out in search of whatever chance might throw in his way. Looking back he saw
the old man and the young girl crouching over the blazing fire, while the three animals
stood motionless in the back-ground. Then the intervening rocks hid them from his
view.
He walked for a couple of miles through one ravine after another without success,
though from the marks upon the bark of the trees, and other indications, he judged that
there were numerous bears in the vicinity. At last, after two or three hours’ fruitless
search, he was thinking of turning back in despair, when casting his eyes upwards he
saw a sight which sent a thrill of pleasure through his heart. On the edge of a jutting
pinnacle, three or four hundred feet above him, there stood a creature somewhat
resembling a sheep in appearance, but armed with a pair of gigantic horns. The big-
horn—for so it is called—was acting, probably, as a guardian over a flock which were
invisible to the hunter; but fortunately it was heading in the opposite direction, and had
not perceived him. Lying on his face, he rested his rifle upon a rock, and took a long
and steady aim before drawing the trigger. The animal sprang into the air, tottered for a
moment upon the edge of the precipice, and then came crashing down into the valley
beneath.
The creature was too unwieldy to lift, so the hunter contented himself with cutting away
one haunch and part of the flank. With this trophy over his shoulder, he hastened to
retrace his steps, for the evening was already drawing in. He had hardly started,
however, before he realized the difficulty which faced him. In his eagerness he had
wandered far past the ravines which were known to him, and it was no easy matter to
pick out the path which he had taken. The valley in which he found himself divided and
sub-divided into many gorges, which were so like each other that it was impossible to
distinguish one from the other. He followed one for a mile or more until he came to a
mountain torrent which he was sure that he had never seen before. Convinced that he
had taken the wrong turn, he tried another, but with the same result. Night was coming
on rapidly, and it was almost dark before he at last found himself in a defile which was
familiar to him. Even then it was no easy matter to keep to the right track, for the moon
had not yet risen, and the high cliffs on either side made the obscurity more profound.
Weighed down with his burden, and weary from his exertions, he stumbled along,
keeping up his heart by the reflection that every step brought him nearer to Lucy, and
that he carried with him enough to ensure them food for the remainder of their journey.
He had now come to the mouth of the very defile in which he had left them. Even in the
darkness he could recognize the outline of the cliffs which bounded it. They must, he
reflected, be awaiting him anxiously, for he had been absent nearly five hours. In the
gladness of his heart he put his hands to his mouth and made the glen re-echo to a loud
halloo as a signal that he was coming. He paused and listened for an answer. None
came save his own cry, which clattered up the dreary silent ravines, and was borne back
to his ears in countless repetitions. Again he shouted, even louder than before, and again
no whisper came back from the friends whom he had left such a short time ago. A
vague, nameless dread came over him, and he hurried onwards frantically, dropping the
precious food in his agitation.
When he turned the corner, he came full in sight of the spot where the fire had been lit.
There was still a glowing pile of wood ashes there, but it had evidently not been tended
since his departure. The same dead silence still reigned all round. With his fears all
changed to convictions, he hurried on. There was no living creature near the remains of
the fire: animals, man, maiden, all were gone. It was only too clear that some sudden
and terrible disaster had occurred during his absence—a disaster which had embraced
them all, and yet had left no traces behind it.
Bewildered and stunned by this blow, Jefferson Hope felt his head spin round, and had
to lean upon his rifle to save himself from falling. He was essentially a man of action,
however, and speedily recovered from his temporary impotence. Seizing a half-
consumed piece of wood from the smouldering fire, he blew it into a flame, and
proceeded with its help to examine the little camp. The ground was all stamped down
by the feet of horses, showing that a large party of mounted men had overtaken the
fugitives, and the direction of their tracks proved that they had afterwards turned back to
Salt Lake City. Had they carried back both of his companions with them? Jefferson
Hope had almost persuaded himself that they must have done so, when his eye fell upon
an object which made every nerve of his body tingle within him. A little way on one
side of the camp was a low-lying heap of reddish soil, which had assuredly not been
there before. There was no mistaking it for anything but a newly-dug grave. As the
young hunter approached it, he perceived that a stick had been planted on it, with a
sheet of paper stuck in the cleft fork of it. The inscription upon the paper was brief, but
to the point:
JOHN FERRIER,
FORMERLY OF SALT LAKE CITY, [22]
Died August 4th, 1860.
The sturdy old man, whom he had left so short a time before, was gone, then, and this
was all his epitaph. Jefferson Hope looked wildly round to see if there was a second
grave, but there was no sign of one. Lucy had been carried back by their terrible
pursuers to fulfil her original destiny, by becoming one of the harem of the Elder’s son.
As the young fellow realized the certainty of her fate, and his own powerlessness to
prevent it, he wished that he, too, was lying with the old farmer in his last silent resting-
place.
Again, however, his active spirit shook off the lethargy which springs from despair. If
there was nothing else left to him, he could at least devote his life to revenge. With
indomitable patience and perseverance, Jefferson Hope possessed also a power of
sustained vindictiveness, which he may have learned from the Indians amongst whom
he had lived. As he stood by the desolate fire, he felt that the only one thing which
could assuage his grief would be thorough and complete retribution, brought by his own
hand upon his enemies. His strong will and untiring energy should, he determined, be
devoted to that one end. With a grim, white face, he retraced his steps to where he had
dropped the food, and having stirred up the smouldering fire, he cooked enough to last
him for a few days. This he made up into a bundle, and, tired as he was, he set himself
to walk back through the mountains upon the track of the avenging angels.
For five days he toiled footsore and weary through the defiles which he had already
traversed on horseback. At night he flung himself down among the rocks, and snatched
a few hours of sleep; but before daybreak he was always well on his way. On the sixth
day, he reached the Eagle Cañon, from which they had commenced their ill-fated flight.
Thence he could look down upon the home of the saints. Worn and exhausted, he leaned
upon his rifle and shook his gaunt hand fiercely at the silent widespread city beneath
him. As he looked at it, he observed that there were flags in some of the principal
streets, and other signs of festivity. He was still speculating as to what this might mean
when he heard the clatter of horse’s hoofs, and saw a mounted man riding towards him.
As he approached, he recognized him as a Mormon named Cowper, to whom he had
rendered services at different times. He therefore accosted him when he got up to him,
with the object of finding out what Lucy Ferrier’s fate had been.
“I am Jefferson Hope,” he said. “You remember me.”
The Mormon looked at him with undisguised astonishment—indeed, it was difficult to
recognize in this tattered, unkempt wanderer, with ghastly white face and fierce, wild
eyes, the spruce young hunter of former days. Having, however, at last, satisfied himself
as to his identity, the man’s surprise changed to consternation.
“You are mad to come here,” he cried. “It is as much as my own life is worth to be seen
talking with you. There is a warrant against you from the Holy Four for assisting the
Ferriers away.”
“I don’t fear them, or their warrant,” Hope said, earnestly. “You must know something
of this matter, Cowper. I conjure you by everything you hold dear to answer a few
questions. We have always been friends. For God’s sake, don’t refuse to answer me.”
“What is it?” the Mormon asked uneasily. “Be quick. The very rocks have ears and the
trees eyes.”
“What has become of Lucy Ferrier?”
“She was married yesterday to young Drebber. Hold up, man, hold up, you have no life
left in you.”
“Don’t mind me,” said Hope faintly. He was white to the very lips, and had sunk down
on the stone against which he had been leaning. “Married, you say?”
“Married yesterday—that’s what those flags are for on the Endowment House. There
was some words between young Drebber and young Stangerson as to which was to have
her. They’d both been in the party that followed them, and Stangerson had shot her
father, which seemed to give him the best claim; but when they argued it out in council,
Drebber’s party was the stronger, so the Prophet gave her over to him. No one won’t
have her very long though, for I saw death in her face yesterday. She is more like a
ghost than a woman. Are you off, then?”
“Yes, I am off,” said Jefferson Hope, who had risen from his seat. His face might have
been chiselled out of marble, so hard and set was its expression, while its eyes glowed
with a baleful light.
“Where are you going?”
“Never mind,” he answered; and, slinging his weapon over his shoulder, strode off
down the gorge and so away into the heart of the mountains to the haunts of the wild
beasts. Amongst them all there was none so fierce and so dangerous as himself.
The prediction of the Mormon was only too well fulfilled. Whether it was the terrible
death of her father or the effects of the hateful marriage into which she had been forced,
poor Lucy never held up her head again, but pined away and died within a month. Her
sottish husband, who had married her principally for the sake of John Ferrier’s property,
did not affect any great grief at his bereavement; but his other wives mourned over her,
and sat up with her the night before the burial, as is the Mormon custom. They were
grouped round the bier in the early hours of the morning, when, to their inexpressible
fear and astonishment, the door was flung open, and a savage-looking, weather-beaten
man in tattered garments strode into the room. Without a glance or a word to the
cowering women, he walked up to the white silent figure which had once contained the
pure soul of Lucy Ferrier. Stooping over her, he pressed his lips reverently to her cold
forehead, and then, snatching up her hand, he took the wedding-ring from her finger.
“She shall not be buried in that,” he cried with a fierce snarl, and before an alarm could
be raised sprang down the stairs and was gone. So strange and so brief was the episode,
that the watchers might have found it hard to believe it themselves or persuade other
people of it, had it not been for the undeniable fact that the circlet of gold which marked
her as having been a bride had disappeared.
For some months Jefferson Hope lingered among the mountains, leading a strange wild
life, and nursing in his heart the fierce desire for vengeance which possessed him. Tales
were told in the City of the weird figure which was seen prowling about the suburbs,
and which haunted the lonely mountain gorges. Once a bullet whistled through
Stangerson’s window and flattened itself upon the wall within a foot of him. On another
occasion, as Drebber passed under a cliff a great boulder crashed down on him, and he
only escaped a terrible death by throwing himself upon his face. The two young
Mormons were not long in discovering the reason of these attempts upon their lives, and
led repeated expeditions into the mountains in the hope of capturing or killing their
enemy, but always without success. Then they adopted the precaution of never going
out alone or after nightfall, and of having their houses guarded. After a time they were
able to relax these measures, for nothing was either heard or seen of their opponent, and
they hoped that time had cooled his vindictiveness.
Far from doing so, it had, if anything, augmented it. The hunter’s mind was of a hard,
unyielding nature, and the predominant idea of revenge had taken such complete
possession of it that there was no room for any other emotion. He was, however, above
all things practical. He soon realized that even his iron constitution could not stand the
incessant strain which he was putting upon it. Exposure and want of wholesome food
were wearing him out. If he died like a dog among the mountains, what was to become
of his revenge then? And yet such a death was sure to overtake him if he persisted. He
felt that that was to play his enemy’s game, so he reluctantly returned to the old Nevada
mines, there to recruit his health and to amass money enough to allow him to pursue his
object without privation.
His intention had been to be absent a year at the most, but a combination of unforeseen
circumstances prevented his leaving the mines for nearly five. At the end of that time,
however, his memory of his wrongs and his craving for revenge were quite as keen as
on that memorable night when he had stood by John Ferrier’s grave. Disguised, and
under an assumed name, he returned to Salt Lake City, careless what became of his own
life, as long as he obtained what he knew to be justice. There he found evil tidings
awaiting him. There had been a schism among the Chosen People a few months before,
some of the younger members of the Church having rebelled against the authority of the
Elders, and the result had been the secession of a certain number of the malcontents,
who had left Utah and become Gentiles. Among these had been Drebber and
Stangerson; and no one knew whither they had gone. Rumour reported that Drebber had
managed to convert a large part of his property into money, and that he had departed a
wealthy man, while his companion, Stangerson, was comparatively poor. There was no
clue at all, however, as to their whereabouts.
Many a man, however vindictive, would have abandoned all thought of revenge in the
face of such a difficulty, but Jefferson Hope never faltered for a moment. With the small
competence he possessed, eked out by such employment as he could pick up, he
travelled from town to town through the United States in quest of his enemies. Year
passed into year, his black hair turned grizzled, but still he wandered on, a human
bloodhound, with his mind wholly set upon the one object upon which he had devoted
his life. At last his perseverance was rewarded. It was but a glance of a face in a
window, but that one glance told him that Cleveland in Ohio possessed the men whom
he was in pursuit of. He returned to his miserable lodgings with his plan of vengeance
all arranged. It chanced, however, that Drebber, looking from his window, had
recognized the vagrant in the street, and had read murder in his eyes. He hurried before
a justice of the peace, accompanied by Stangerson, who had become his private
secretary, and represented to him that they were in danger of their lives from the
jealousy and hatred of an old rival. That evening Jefferson Hope was taken into custody,
and not being able to find sureties, was detained for some weeks. When at last he was
liberated, it was only to find that Drebber’s house was deserted, and that he and his
secretary had departed for Europe.
Again the avenger had been foiled, and again his concentrated hatred urged him to
continue the pursuit. Funds were wanting, however, and for some time he had to return
to work, saving every dollar for his approaching journey. At last, having collected
enough to keep life in him, he departed for Europe, and tracked his enemies from city to
city, working his way in any menial capacity, but never overtaking the fugitives. When
he reached St. Petersburg they had departed for Paris; and when he followed them there
he learned that they had just set off for Copenhagen. At the Danish capital he was again
a few days late, for they had journeyed on to London, where he at last succeeded in
running them to earth. As to what occurred there, we cannot do better than quote the old
hunter’s own account, as duly recorded in Dr. Watson’s Journal, to which we are
already under such obligations.

CHAPTER VI. A CONTINUATION OF THE REMINISCENCES OF JOHN

WATSON, M.D.

OUR prisoner’s furious resistance did not apparently indicate any ferocity in his
disposition towards ourselves, for on finding himself powerless, he smiled in an affable
manner, and expressed his hopes that he had not hurt any of us in the scuffle. “I guess
you’re going to take me to the police-station,” he remarked to Sherlock Holmes. “My
cab’s at the door. If you’ll loose my legs I’ll walk down to it. I’m not so light to lift as I
used to be.”
Gregson and Lestrade exchanged glances as if they thought this proposition rather a
bold one; but Holmes at once took the prisoner at his word, and loosened the towel
which we had bound round his ancles. [23] He rose and stretched his legs, as though to
assure himself that they were free once more. I remember that I thought to myself, as I
eyed him, that I had seldom seen a more powerfully built man; and his dark sunburned
face bore an expression of determination and energy which was as formidable as his
personal strength.
“If there’s a vacant place for a chief of the police, I reckon you are the man for it,” he
said, gazing with undisguised admiration at my fellow-lodger. “The way you kept on
my trail was a caution.”
“You had better come with me,” said Holmes to the two detectives.
“I can drive you,” said Lestrade.
“Good! and Gregson can come inside with me. You too, Doctor, you have taken an
interest in the case and may as well stick to us.”
I assented gladly, and we all descended together. Our prisoner made no attempt at
escape, but stepped calmly into the cab which had been his, and we followed him.
Lestrade mounted the box, whipped up the horse, and brought us in a very short time to
our destination. We were ushered into a small chamber where a police Inspector noted
down our prisoner’s name and the names of the men with whose murder he had been
charged. The official was a white-faced unemotional man, who went through his duties
in a dull mechanical way. “The prisoner will be put before the magistrates in the course
of the week,” he said; “in the mean time, Mr. Jefferson Hope, have you anything that
you wish to say? I must warn you that your words will be taken down, and may be used
against you.”
“I’ve got a good deal to say,” our prisoner said slowly. “I want to tell you gentlemen all
about it.”
“Hadn’t you better reserve that for your trial?” asked the Inspector.
“I may never be tried,” he answered. “You needn’t look startled. It isn’t suicide I am
thinking of. Are you a Doctor?” He turned his fierce dark eyes upon me as he asked this
last question.
“Yes; I am,” I answered.
“Then put your hand here,” he said, with a smile, motioning with his manacled wrists
towards his chest.
I did so; and became at once conscious of an extraordinary throbbing and commotion
which was going on inside. The walls of his chest seemed to thrill and quiver as a frail
building would do inside when some powerful engine was at work. In the silence of the
room I could hear a dull humming and buzzing noise which proceeded from the same
source.
“Why,” I cried, “you have an aortic aneurism!”
“That’s what they call it,” he said, placidly. “I went to a Doctor last week about it, and
he told me that it is bound to burst before many days passed. It has been getting worse
for years. I got it from over-exposure and under-feeding among the Salt Lake
Mountains. I’ve done my work now, and I don’t care how soon I go, but I should like to
leave some account of the business behind me. I don’t want to be remembered as a
common cut-throat.”
The Inspector and the two detectives had a hurried discussion as to the advisability of
allowing him to tell his story.
“Do you consider, Doctor, that there is immediate danger?” the former asked, [24]
“Most certainly there is,” I answered.
“In that case it is clearly our duty, in the interests of justice, to take his statement,” said
the Inspector. “You are at liberty, sir, to give your account, which I again warn you will
be taken down.”
“I’ll sit down, with your leave,” the prisoner said, suiting the action to the word. “This
aneurism of mine makes me easily tired, and the tussle we had half an hour ago has not
mended matters. I’m on the brink of the grave, and I am not likely to lie to you. Every
word I say is the absolute truth, and how you use it is a matter of no consequence to
me.”
With these words, Jefferson Hope leaned back in his chair and began the following
remarkable statement. He spoke in a calm and methodical manner, as though the events
which he narrated were commonplace enough. I can vouch for the accuracy of the
subjoined account, for I have had access to Lestrade’s note-book, in which the
prisoner’s words were taken down exactly as they were uttered.
“It don’t much matter to you why I hated these men,” he said; “it’s enough that they
were guilty of the death of two human beings—a father and a daughter—and that they
had, therefore, forfeited their own lives. After the lapse of time that has passed since
their crime, it was impossible for me to secure a conviction against them in any court. I
knew of their guilt though, and I determined that I should be judge, jury, and
executioner all rolled into one. You’d have done the same, if you have any manhood in
you, if you had been in my place.
“That girl that I spoke of was to have married me twenty years ago. She was forced into
marrying that same Drebber, and broke her heart over it. I took the marriage ring from
her dead finger, and I vowed that his dying eyes should rest upon that very ring, and that
his last thoughts should be of the crime for which he was punished. I have carried it
about with me, and have followed him and his accomplice over two continents until I
caught them. They thought to tire me out, but they could not do it. If I die to-morrow, as
is likely enough, I die knowing that my work in this world is done, and well done. They
have perished, and by my hand. There is nothing left for me to hope for, or to desire.
“They were rich and I was poor, so that it was no easy matter for me to follow them.
When I got to London my pocket was about empty, and I found that I must turn my
hand to something for my living. Driving and riding are as natural to me as walking, so
I applied at a cabowner’s office, and soon got employment. I was to bring a certain sum
a week to the owner, and whatever was over that I might keep for myself. There was
seldom much over, but I managed to scrape along somehow. The hardest job was to
learn my way about, for I reckon that of all the mazes that ever were contrived, this city
is the most confusing. I had a map beside me though, and when once I had spotted the
principal hotels and stations, I got on pretty well.
“It was some time before I found out where my two gentlemen were living; but I
inquired and inquired until at last I dropped across them. They were at a boarding-house
at Camberwell, over on the other side of the river. When once I found them out I knew
that I had them at my mercy. I had grown my beard, and there was no chance of their
recognizing me. I would dog them and follow them until I saw my opportunity. I was
determined that they should not escape me again.
“They were very near doing it for all that. Go where they would about London, I was
always at their heels. Sometimes I followed them on my cab, and sometimes on foot,
but the former was the best, for then they could not get away from me. It was only early
in the morning or late at night that I could earn anything, so that I began to get behind
hand with my employer. I did not mind that, however, as long as I could lay my hand
upon the men I wanted.
“They were very cunning, though. They must have thought that there was some chance
of their being followed, for they would never go out alone, and never after nightfall.
During two weeks I drove behind them every day, and never once saw them separate.
Drebber himself was drunk half the time, but Stangerson was not to be caught napping.
I watched them late and early, but never saw the ghost of a chance; but I was not
discouraged, for something told me that the hour had almost come. My only fear was
that this thing in my chest might burst a little too soon and leave my work undone.
“At last, one evening I was driving up and down Torquay Terrace, as the street was
called in which they boarded, when I saw a cab drive up to their door. Presently some
luggage was brought out, and after a time Drebber and Stangerson followed it, and
drove off. I whipped up my horse and kept within sight of them, feeling very ill at ease,
for I feared that they were going to shift their quarters. At Euston Station they got out,
and I left a boy to hold my horse, and followed them on to the platform. I heard them
ask for the Liverpool train, and the guard answer that one had just gone and there would
not be another for some hours. Stangerson seemed to be put out at that, but Drebber
was rather pleased than otherwise. I got so close to them in the bustle that I could hear
every word that passed between them. Drebber said that he had a little business of his
own to do, and that if the other would wait for him he would soon rejoin him. His
companion remonstrated with him, and reminded him that they had resolved to stick
together. Drebber answered that the matter was a delicate one, and that he must go
alone. I could not catch what Stangerson said to that, but the other burst out swearing,
and reminded him that he was nothing more than his paid servant, and that he must not
presume to dictate to him. On that the Secretary gave it up as a bad job, and simply
bargained with him that if he missed the last train he should rejoin him at Halliday’s
Private Hotel; to which Drebber answered that he would be back on the platform before
eleven, and made his way out of the station.
“The moment for which I had waited so long had at last come. I had my enemies within
my power. Together they could protect each other, but singly they were at my mercy. I
did not act, however, with undue precipitation. My plans were already formed. There is
no satisfaction in vengeance unless the offender has time to realize who it is that strikes
him, and why retribution has come upon him. I had my plans arranged by which I
should have the opportunity of making the man who had wronged me understand that
his old sin had found him out. It chanced that some days before a gentleman who had
been engaged in looking over some houses in the Brixton Road had dropped the key of
one of them in my carriage. It was claimed that same evening, and returned; but in the
interval I had taken a moulding of it, and had a duplicate constructed. By means of this I
had access to at least one spot in this great city where I could rely upon being free from
interruption. How to get Drebber to that house was the difficult problem which I had
now to solve.
“He walked down the road and went into one or two liquor shops, staying for nearly
half-an-hour in the last of them. When he came out he staggered in his walk, and was
evidently pretty well on. There was a hansom just in front of me, and he hailed it. I
followed it so close that the nose of my horse was within a yard of his driver the whole
way. We rattled across Waterloo Bridge and through miles of streets, until, to my
astonishment, we found ourselves back in the Terrace in which he had boarded. I could
not imagine what his intention was in returning there; but I went on and pulled up my
cab a hundred yards or so from the house. He entered it, and his hansom drove away.
Give me a glass of water, if you please. My mouth gets dry with the talking.”
I handed him the glass, and he drank it down.
“That’s better,” he said. “Well, I waited for a quarter of an hour, or more, when
suddenly there came a noise like people struggling inside the house. Next moment the
door was flung open and two men appeared, one of whom was Drebber, and the other
was a young chap whom I had never seen before. This fellow had Drebber by the collar,
and when they came to the head of the steps he gave him a shove and a kick which sent
him half across the road. ‘You hound,’ he cried, shaking his stick at him; ‘I’ll teach you
to insult an honest girl!’ He was so hot that I think he would have thrashed Drebber with
his cudgel, only that the cur staggered away down the road as fast as his legs would
carry him. He ran as far as the corner, and then, seeing my cab, he hailed me and
jumped in. ‘Drive me to Halliday’s Private Hotel,’ said he.
“When I had him fairly inside my cab, my heart jumped so with joy that I feared lest at
this last moment my aneurism might go wrong. I drove along slowly, weighing in my
own mind what it was best to do. I might take him right out into the country, and there
in some deserted lane have my last interview with him. I had almost decided upon this,
when he solved the problem for me. The craze for drink had seized him again, and he
ordered me to pull up outside a gin palace. He went in, leaving word that I should wait
for him. There he remained until closing time, and when he came out he was so far gone
that I knew the game was in my own hands.
“Don’t imagine that I intended to kill him in cold blood. It would only have been rigid
justice if I had done so, but I could not bring myself to do it. I had long determined that
he should have a show for his life if he chose to take advantage of it. Among the many
billets which I have filled in America during my wandering life, I was once janitor and
sweeper out of the laboratory at York College. One day the professor was lecturing on
poisions, [25] and he showed his students some alkaloid, as he called it, which he had
extracted from some South American arrow poison, and which was so powerful that the
least grain meant instant death. I spotted the bottle in which this preparation was kept,
and when they were all gone, I helped myself to a little of it. I was a fairly good
dispenser, so I worked this alkaloid into small, soluble pills, and each pill I put in a box
with a similar pill made without the poison. I determined at the time that when I had
my chance, my gentlemen should each have a draw out of one of these boxes, while I
ate the pill that remained. It would be quite as deadly, and a good deal less noisy than
firing across a handkerchief. From that day I had always my pill boxes about with me,
and the time had now come when I was to use them.
“It was nearer one than twelve, and a wild, bleak night, blowing hard and raining in
torrents. Dismal as it was outside, I was glad within—so glad that I could have shouted
out from pure exultation. If any of you gentlemen have ever pined for a thing, and
longed for it during twenty long years, and then suddenly found it within your reach,
you would understand my feelings. I lit a cigar, and puffed at it to steady my nerves, but
my hands were trembling, and my temples throbbing with excitement. As I drove, I
could see old John Ferrier and sweet Lucy looking at me out of the darkness and
smiling at me, just as plain as I see you all in this room. All the way they were ahead of
me, one on each side of the horse until I pulled up at the house in the Brixton Road.
“There was not a soul to be seen, nor a sound to be heard, except the dripping of the
rain. When I looked in at the window, I found Drebber all huddled together in a drunken
sleep. I shook him by the arm, ‘It’s time to get out,’ I said.
“’All right, cabby,’ said he.
“I suppose he thought we had come to the hotel that he had mentioned, for he got out
without another word, and followed me down the garden. I had to walk beside him to
keep him steady, for he was still a little top-heavy. When we came to the door, I opened
it, and led him into the front room. I give you my word that all the way, the father and
the daughter were walking in front of us.
“’It’s infernally dark,’ said he, stamping about.
“’We’ll soon have a light,’ I said, striking a match and putting it to a wax candle which
I had brought with me. ‘Now, Enoch Drebber,’ I continued, turning to him, and holding
the light to my own face, ‘who am I?’
“He gazed at me with bleared, drunken eyes for a moment, and then I saw a horror
spring up in them, and convulse his whole features, which showed me that he knew me.
He staggered back with a livid face, and I saw the perspiration break out upon his brow,
while his teeth chattered in his head. At the sight, I leaned my back against the door and
laughed loud and long. I had always known that vengeance would be sweet, but I had
never hoped for the contentment of soul which now possessed me.
“’You dog!’ I said; ‘I have hunted you from Salt Lake City to St. Petersburg, and you
have always escaped me. Now, at last your wanderings have come to an end, for either
you or I shall never see to-morrow’s sun rise.’ He shrunk still further away as I spoke,
and I could see on his face that he thought I was mad. So I was for the time. The pulses
in my temples beat like sledge-hammers, and I believe I would have had a fit of some
sort if the blood had not gushed from my nose and relieved me.
“’What do you think of Lucy Ferrier now?’ I cried, locking the door, and shaking the
key in his face. ‘Punishment has been slow in coming, but it has overtaken you at last.’ I
saw his coward lips tremble as I spoke. He would have begged for his life, but he knew
well that it was useless.
“’Would you murder me?’ he stammered.
“’There is no murder,’ I answered. ‘Who talks of murdering a mad dog? What mercy
had you upon my poor darling, when you dragged her from her slaughtered father, and
bore her away to your accursed and shameless harem.’
“’It was not I who killed her father,’ he cried.
“’But it was you who broke her innocent heart,’ I shrieked, thrusting the box before
him. ‘Let the high God judge between us. Choose and eat. There is death in one and life
in the other. I shall take what you leave. Let us see if there is justice upon the earth, or if
we are ruled by chance.’
“He cowered away with wild cries and prayers for mercy, but I drew my knife and held
it to his throat until he had obeyed me. Then I swallowed the other, and we stood facing
one another in silence for a minute or more, waiting to see which was to live and which
was to die. Shall I ever forget the look which came over his face when the first warning
pangs told him that the poison was in his system? I laughed as I saw it, and held Lucy’s
marriage ring in front of his eyes. It was but for a moment, for the action of the alkaloid
is rapid. A spasm of pain contorted his features; he threw his hands out in front of him,
staggered, and then, with a hoarse cry, fell heavily upon the floor. I turned him over
with my foot, and placed my hand upon his heart. There was no movement. He was
dead!
“The blood had been streaming from my nose, but I had taken no notice of it. I don’t
know what it was that put it into my head to write upon the wall with it. Perhaps it was
some mischievous idea of setting the police upon a wrong track, for I felt light-hearted
and cheerful. I remembered a German being found in New York with RACHE written
up above him, and it was argued at the time in the newspapers that the secret societies
must have done it. I guessed that what puzzled the New Yorkers would puzzle the
Londoners, so I dipped my finger in my own blood and printed it on a convenient place
on the wall. Then I walked down to my cab and found that there was nobody about, and
that the night was still very wild. I had driven some distance when I put my hand into
the pocket in which I usually kept Lucy’s ring, and found that it was not there. I was
thunderstruck at this, for it was the only memento that I had of her. Thinking that I
might have dropped it when I stooped over Drebber’s body, I drove back, and leaving
my cab in a side street, I went boldly up to the house—for I was ready to dare anything
rather than lose the ring. When I arrived there, I walked right into the arms of a police-
officer who was coming out, and only managed to disarm his suspicions by pretending
to be hopelessly drunk.
“That was how Enoch Drebber came to his end. All I had to do then was to do as much
for Stangerson, and so pay off John Ferrier’s debt. I knew that he was staying at
Halliday’s Private Hotel, and I hung about all day, but he never came out. [26] fancy
that he suspected something when Drebber failed to put in an appearance. He was
cunning, was Stangerson, and always on his guard. If he thought he could keep me off
by staying indoors he was very much mistaken. I soon found out which was the window
of his bedroom, and early next morning I took advantage of some ladders which were
lying in the lane behind the hotel, and so made my way into his room in the grey of the
dawn. I woke him up and told him that the hour had come when he was to answer for
the life he had taken so long before. I described Drebber’s death to him, and I gave him
the same choice of the poisoned pills. Instead of grasping at the chance of safety which
that offered him, he sprang from his bed and flew at my throat. In self-defence I stabbed
him to the heart. It would have been the same in any case, for Providence would never
have allowed his guilty hand to pick out anything but the poison.
“I have little more to say, and it’s as well, for I am about done up. I went on cabbing it
for a day or so, intending to keep at it until I could save enough to take me back to
America. I was standing in the yard when a ragged youngster asked if there was a cabby
there called Jefferson Hope, and said that his cab was wanted by a gentleman at 221B,
Baker Street. I went round, suspecting no harm, and the next thing I knew, this young
man here had the bracelets on my wrists, and as neatly snackled [27] as ever I saw in
my life. That’s the whole of my story, gentlemen. You may consider me to be a
murderer; but I hold that I am just as much an officer of justice as you are.”
So thrilling had the man’s narrative been, and his manner was so impressive that we had
sat silent and absorbed. Even the professional detectives, blasé as they were in every
detail of crime, appeared to be keenly interested in the man’s story. When he finished
we sat for some minutes in a stillness which was only broken by the scratching of
Lestrade’s pencil as he gave the finishing touches to his shorthand account.
“There is only one point on which I should like a little more information,” Sherlock
Holmes said at last. “Who was your accomplice who came for the ring which I
advertised?”
The prisoner winked at my friend jocosely. “I can tell my own secrets,” he said, “but I
don’t get other people into trouble. I saw your advertisement, and I thought it might be a
plant, or it might be the ring which I wanted. My friend volunteered to go and see. I
think you’ll own he did it smartly.”
“Not a doubt of that,” said Holmes heartily.
“Now, gentlemen,” the Inspector remarked gravely, “the forms of the law must be
complied with. On Thursday the prisoner will be brought before the magistrates, and
your attendance will be required. Until then I will be responsible for him.” He rang the
bell as he spoke, and Jefferson Hope was led off by a couple of warders, while my
friend and I made our way out of the Station and took a cab back to Baker Street.

CHAPTER VII. THE CONCLUSION.

WE had all been warned to appear before the magistrates upon the Thursday; but when
the Thursday came there was no occasion for our testimony. A higher Judge had taken
the matter in hand, and Jefferson Hope had been summoned before a tribunal where
strict justice would be meted out to him. On the very night after his capture the
aneurism burst, and he was found in the morning stretched upon the floor of the cell,
with a placid smile upon his face, as though he had been able in his dying moments to
look back upon a useful life, and on work well done.
“Gregson and Lestrade will be wild about his death,” Holmes remarked, as we chatted it
over next evening. “Where will their grand advertisement be now?”
“I don’t see that they had very much to do with his capture,” I answered.
“What you do in this world is a matter of no consequence,” returned my companion,
bitterly. “The question is, what can you make people believe that you have done. Never
mind,” he continued, more brightly, after a pause. “I would not have missed the
investigation for anything. There has been no better case within my recollection. Simple
as it was, there were several most instructive points about it.”
“Simple!” I ejaculated.
“Well, really, it can hardly be described as otherwise,” said Sherlock Holmes, smiling at
my surprise. “The proof of its intrinsic simplicity is, that without any help save a few
very ordinary deductions I was able to lay my hand upon the criminal within three
days.”
“That is true,” said I.
“I have already explained to you that what is out of the common is usually a guide
rather than a hindrance. In solving a problem of this sort, the grand thing is to be able to
reason backwards. That is a very useful accomplishment, and a very easy one, but
people do not practise it much. In the every-day affairs of life it is more useful to reason
forwards, and so the other comes to be neglected. There are fifty who can reason
synthetically for one who can reason analytically.”
“I confess,” said I, “that I do not quite follow you.”
“I hardly expected that you would. Let me see if I can make it clearer. Most people, if
you describe a train of events to them, will tell you what the result would be. They can
put those events together in their minds, and argue from them that something will come
to pass. There are few people, however, who, if you told them a result, would be able to
evolve from their own inner consciousness what the steps were which led up to that
result. This power is what I mean when I talk of reasoning backwards, or analytically.”
“I understand,” said I.
“Now this was a case in which you were given the result and had to find everything else
for yourself. Now let me endeavour to show you the different steps in my reasoning. To
begin at the beginning. I approached the house, as you know, on foot, and with my mind
entirely free from all impressions. I naturally began by examining the roadway, and
there, as I have already explained to you, I saw clearly the marks of a cab, which, I
ascertained by inquiry, must have been there during the night. I satisfied myself that it
was a cab and not a private carriage by the narrow gauge of the wheels. The ordinary
London growler is considerably less wide than a gentleman’s brougham.
“This was the first point gained. I then walked slowly down the garden path, which
happened to be composed of a clay soil, peculiarly suitable for taking impressions. No
doubt it appeared to you to be a mere trampled line of slush, but to my trained eyes
every mark upon its surface had a meaning. There is no branch of detective science
which is so important and so much neglected as the art of tracing footsteps. Happily, I
have always laid great stress upon it, and much practice has made it second nature to
me. I saw the heavy footmarks of the constables, but I saw also the track of the two men
who had first passed through the garden. It was easy to tell that they had been before the
others, because in places their marks had been entirely obliterated by the others coming
upon the top of them. In this way my second link was formed, which told me that the
nocturnal visitors were two in number, one remarkable for his height (as I calculated
from the length of his stride), and the other fashionably dressed, to judge from the small
and elegant impression left by his boots.
“On entering the house this last inference was confirmed. My well-booted man lay
before me. The tall one, then, had done the murder, if murder there was. There was no
wound upon the dead man’s person, but the agitated expression upon his face assured
me that he had foreseen his fate before it came upon him. Men who die from heart
disease, or any sudden natural cause, never by any chance exhibit agitation upon their
features. Having sniffed the dead man’s lips I detected a slightly sour smell, and I came
to the conclusion that he had had poison forced upon him. Again, I argued that it had
been forced upon him from the hatred and fear expressed upon his face. By the method
of exclusion, I had arrived at this result, for no other hypothesis would meet the facts.
Do not imagine that it was a very unheard of idea. The forcible administration of poison
is by no means a new thing in criminal annals. The cases of Dolsky in Odessa, and of
Leturier in Montpellier, will occur at once to any toxicologist.
“And now came the great question as to the reason why. Robbery had not been the
object of the murder, for nothing was taken. Was it politics, then, or was it a woman?
That was the question which confronted me. I was inclined from the first to the latter
supposition. Political assassins are only too glad to do their work and to fly. This
murder had, on the contrary, been done most deliberately, and the perpetrator had left
his tracks all over the room, showing that he had been there all the time. It must have
been a private wrong, and not a political one, which called for such a methodical
revenge. When the inscription was discovered upon the wall I was more inclined than
ever to my opinion. The thing was too evidently a blind. When the ring was found,
however, it settled the question. Clearly the murderer had used it to remind his victim of
some dead or absent woman. It was at this point that I asked Gregson whether he had
enquired in his telegram to Cleveland as to any particular point in Mr. Drebber’s former
career. He answered, you remember, in the negative.
“I then proceeded to make a careful examination of the room, which confirmed me in
my opinion as to the murderer’s height, and furnished me with the additional details as
to the Trichinopoly cigar and the length of his nails. I had already come to the
conclusion, since there were no signs of a struggle, that the blood which covered the
floor had burst from the murderer’s nose in his excitement. I could perceive that the
track of blood coincided with the track of his feet. It is seldom that any man, unless he
is very full-blooded, breaks out in this way through emotion, so I hazarded the opinion
that the criminal was probably a robust and ruddy-faced man. Events proved that I had
judged correctly.
“Having left the house, I proceeded to do what Gregson had neglected. I telegraphed to
the head of the police at Cleveland, limiting my enquiry to the circumstances connected
with the marriage of Enoch Drebber. The answer was conclusive. It told me that
Drebber had already applied for the protection of the law against an old rival in love,
named Jefferson Hope, and that this same Hope was at present in Europe. I knew now
that I held the clue to the mystery in my hand, and all that remained was to secure the
murderer.
“I had already determined in my own mind that the man who had walked into the house
with Drebber, was none other than the man who had driven the cab. The marks in the
road showed me that the horse had wandered on in a way which would have been
impossible had there been anyone in charge of it. Where, then, could the driver be,
unless he were inside the house? Again, it is absurd to suppose that any sane man would
carry out a deliberate crime under the very eyes, as it were, of a third person, who was
sure to betray him. Lastly, supposing one man wished to dog another through London,
what better means could he adopt than to turn cabdriver. All these considerations led me
to the irresistible conclusion that Jefferson Hope was to be found among the jarveys of
the Metropolis.
“If he had been one there was no reason to believe that he had ceased to be. On the
contrary, from his point of view, any sudden change would be likely to draw attention to
himself. He would, probably, for a time at least, continue to perform his duties. There
was no reason to suppose that he was going under an assumed name. Why should he
change his name in a country where no one knew his original one? I therefore organized
my Street Arab detective corps, and sent them systematically to every cab proprietor in
London until they ferreted out the man that I wanted. How well they succeeded, and
how quickly I took advantage of it, are still fresh in your recollection. The murder of
Stangerson was an incident which was entirely unexpected, but which could hardly in
any case have been prevented. Through it, as you know, I came into possession of the
pills, the existence of which I had already surmised. You see the whole thing is a chain
of logical sequences without a break or flaw.”
“It is wonderful!” I cried. “Your merits should be publicly recognized. You should
publish an account of the case. If you won’t, I will for you.”
“You may do what you like, Doctor,” he answered. “See here!” he continued, handing a
paper over to me, “look at this!”
It was the Echo for the day, and the paragraph to which he pointed was devoted to the
case in question.
“The public,” it said, “have lost a sensational treat through the sudden death of the man
Hope, who was suspected of the murder of Mr. Enoch Drebber and of Mr. Joseph
Stangerson. The details of the case will probably be never known now, though we are
informed upon good authority that the crime was the result of an old standing and
romantic feud, in which love and Mormonism bore a part. It seems that both the victims
belonged, in their younger days, to the Latter Day Saints, and Hope, the deceased
prisoner, hails also from Salt Lake City. If the case has had no other effect, it, at least,
brings out in the most striking manner the efficiency of our detective police force, and
will serve as a lesson to all foreigners that they will do wisely to settle their feuds at
home, and not to carry them on to British soil. It is an open secret that the credit of this
smart capture belongs entirely to the well-known Scotland Yard officials, Messrs.
Lestrade and Gregson. The man was apprehended, it appears, in the rooms of a certain
Mr. Sherlock Holmes, who has himself, as an amateur, shown some talent in the
detective line, and who, with such instructors, may hope in time to attain to some degree
of their skill. It is expected that a testimonial of some sort will be presented to the two
officers as a fitting recognition of their services.”
“Didn’t I tell you so when we started?” cried Sherlock Holmes with a laugh. “That’s the
result of all our Study in Scarlet: to get them a testimonial!”
“Never mind,” I answered, “I have all the facts in my journal, and the public shall know
them. In the meantime you must make yourself contented by the consciousness of
success, like the Roman miser—
“’Populus me sibilat, at mihi plaudo Ipse domi simul ac nummos contemplor in
arca.’”

ORIGINAL TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES:

[Footnote 1: Frontispiece, with the caption: “He examined with his glass the word upon
the wall, going over every letter of it with the most minute exactness.” (_Page_ 23.)]
[Footnote 2: “JOHN H. WATSON, M.D.”: the initial letters in the name are capitalized,
the other letters in small caps. All chapter titles are in small caps. The initial words of
chapters are in small caps with first letter capitalized.]
[Footnote 3: “lodgings.”: the period should be a comma, as in later editions.]
[Footnote 4: “hoemoglobin”: should be haemoglobin. The o&e are concatenated.]
[Footnote 5: “221B”: the B is in small caps]
[Footnote 6: “THE LAURISTON GARDEN MYSTERY”: the table-of-contents lists
this chapter as “...GARDENS MYSTERY”—plural, and probably more correct.]
[Footnote 7: “brought.””: the text has an extra double-quote mark]
[Footnote 8: “individual—“: illustration this page, with the caption: “As he spoke, his
nimble fingers were flying here, there, and everywhere.”]
[Footnote 9: “manoeuvres”: the o&e are concatenated.]
[Footnote 10: “Patent leathers”: the hyphen is missing.]
[Footnote 11: “condonment”: should be condonement.]
[Footnote 13: “wages.”: ending quote is missing.]
[Footnote 14: “the first.”: ending quote is missing.]
[Footnote 15: “make much of...”: Other editions complete this sentence with an “it.” But
there is a gap in the text at this point, and, given the context, it may have actually been
an interjection, a dash. The gap is just the right size for the characters “it.” and the start
of a new sentence, or for a “----“]
[Footnote 16: “tho cushion”: “tho” should be “the”]
[Footnote 19: “shoving”: later editions have “showing”. The original is clearly
superior.]
[Footnote 20: “stared about...”: illustration, with the caption: “One of them seized the
little girl, and hoisted her upon his shoulder.”]
[Footnote 21: “upon the”: illustration, with the caption: “As he watched it he saw it
writhe along the ground.”]
[Footnote 22: “FORMERLY...”: F,S,L,C in caps, other letters in this line in small caps.]
[Footnote 23: “ancles”: ankles.]
[Footnote 24: “asked,”: should be “asked.”]
[Footnote 25: “poisions”: should be “poisons”]
[Footnote 26: “...fancy”: should be “I fancy”. There is a gap in the text.]
[Footnote 27: “snackled”: “shackled” in later texts.]
[Footnote 29: Heber C. Kemball, in one of his sermons, alludes to his hundred wives
under this endearing epithet.]

End of Project Gutenberg’s A Study In Scarlet, by Arthur Conan Doyle

*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A STUDY IN SCARLET ***
***** This file should be named [Link] or [Link] ***** This and all associated
files of various formats will be found in:
[Link]
Produced by Roger Squires
Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will be renamed.
Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no one owns a United
States copyright in these works, so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it
in the United States without permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special
rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to copying and
distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT
GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark,
and may not be used if you charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific
permission. If you do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose such as creation of
derivative works, reports, performances and research. They may be modified and
printed and given away—you may do practically ANYTHING with public domain
eBooks. Redistribution is subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
redistribution.

*** START: FULL LICENSE ***

THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free distribution of
electronic works, by using or distributing this work (or any other work associated in any
way with the phrase “Project Gutenberg”), you agree to comply with all the terms of the
Full Project Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
[Link]

Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm

electronic works
1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work, you
indicate that you have read, understand, agree to and accept all the terms of this license
and intellectual property (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide
by all the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy all copies
of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. If you paid a fee for
obtaining a copy of or access to a Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not
agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the
person or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
1.B. “Project Gutenberg” is a registered trademark. It may only be used on or
associated in any way with an electronic work by people who agree to be bound by the
terms of this agreement. There are a few things that you can do with most Project
Gutenberg-tm electronic works even without complying with the full terms of this
agreement. See paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project
Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement and help
preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works. See paragraph
1.E below.
1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation (“the Foundation” or
PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project Gutenberg-tm
electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the collection are in the public
domain in the United States. If an individual work is in the public domain in the United
States and you are located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you
from copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative works based
on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we
hope that you will support the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to
electronic works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the
terms of this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with the
work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in
the same format with its attached full Project Gutenberg-tm License when you share it
without charge with others.
1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern what you can
do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in a constant state of change.
If you are outside the United States, check the laws of your country in addition to the
terms of this agreement before downloading, copying, displaying, performing,
distributing or creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning the
copyright status of any work in any country outside the United States.
1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate access to, the
full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently whenever any copy of a
Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the phrase “Project Gutenberg”
appears, or with which the phrase “Project Gutenberg” is associated) is accessed,
displayed, performed, viewed, copied or distributed:
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at [Link]
1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived from the public
domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the
copyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in the United States
without paying any fees or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a
work with the phrase “Project Gutenberg” associated with or appearing on the work,
you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or
obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set
forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted with the
permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution must comply with both
paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional terms imposed by the copyright
holder. Additional terms will be linked to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all
works posted with the permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this
work.
1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm License terms
from this work, or any files containing a part of this work or any other work associated
with Project Gutenberg-tm.
1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this electronic work, or
any part of this electronic work, without prominently displaying the sentence set forth in
paragraph 1.E.1 with active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
Gutenberg-tm License.
1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, compressed, marked
up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any word processing or hypertext
form. However, if you provide access to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm
work in a format other than “Plain Vanilla ASCII” or other format used in the official
version posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site ([Link]), you
must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a copy, a means of
exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its
original “Plain Vanilla ASCII” or other form. Any alternate format must include the
full Project Gutenberg-tm License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, performing, copying or
distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or
1.E.9.
1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
that
• You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from the use of Project
Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method you already use to calculate your
applicable taxes. The fee is owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm
trademark, but he has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Project
 Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid within 60
days following each date on which you prepare (or are legally required to prepare)
your periodic tax returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the address specified
in Section 4, “Information about donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
Archive Foundation.”
• You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies you in writing
(or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he does not agree to the terms of the
full Project Gutenberg-tm License. You must require such a user to return or
destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and discontinue all
use of and all access to other copies of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
• You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any money paid
for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the electronic work is discovered
and reported to you within 90 days of receipt of the work.
• You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free distribution of Project
Gutenberg-tm works.

1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work
or group of works on different terms than are set forth in this agreement, you must
obtain permission in writing from both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
Foundation and Michael Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark.
Contact the Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
1.F.
1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable effort to
identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread public domain works in
creating the Project Gutenberg-tm collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-
tm electronic works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
“Defects,” such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or corrupt data,
transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual property infringement, a defective
or damaged disk or other medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or
cannot be read by your equipment.
1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the
“Right
of Replacement or Refund” described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE,
STRICT
LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT
THOSE
PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT
WILL NOT BE
LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL,
PUNITIVE OR
INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY
OF SUCH
DAMAGE.
1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can receive a refund of
the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a written explanation to the person you
received the work from. If you received the work on a physical medium, you must
return the medium with your written explanation. The person or entity that provided
you with the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a refund.
If you received the work electronically, the person or entity providing it to you may
choose to give you a second opportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu of a
refund. If the second copy is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing
without further opportunities to fix the problem.
1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you ‘AS-IS’ WITH NO OTHER
WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT
LIMITED TO
WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied warranties or the
exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. If any disclaimer or limitation set
forth in this agreement violates the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the
agreement shall be interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted
by the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any provision of this
agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the trademark
owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone providing copies of Project
Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance with this agreement, and any volunteers
associated with the production, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm
electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do or cause to
occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm work, (b) alteration,
modification, or additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg-tm work, and © any
Defect you cause.

Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm

Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of electronic works in
formats readable by the widest variety of computers including obsolete, old, middle-
aged and new computers. It exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and
donations from people in all walks of life.
Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the assistance they need, is
critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm’s goals and ensuring that the Project
Gutenberg-tm collection will remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001,
the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure and
permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. To learn more about
the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations
can help, see Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation web page at [Link]

Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive

Foundation
The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit 501©(3) educational
corporation organized under the laws of the state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt
status by the Internal Revenue Service. The Foundation’s EIN or federal tax
identification number is 64-6221541. Its 501©(3) letter is posted at
[Link] Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent permitted by U.S. federal laws and your
state’s laws.
The Foundation’s principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at
809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
business@[Link]. Email contact links and up to date contact
information can be found at the Foundation’s web site and official
page at [Link]
For additional contact information:
Dr. Gregory B. Newby
Chief Executive and Director
gbnewby@[Link]

Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg

Literary Archive Foundation
Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide spread public
support and donations to carry out its mission of increasing the number of public
domain and licensed works that can be freely distributed in machine readable form
accessible by the widest array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small
donations ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt status
with the IRS.
The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations
where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To
SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
particular state visit [Link]
While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we have not met the
solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition against accepting unsolicited
donations from donors in such states who approach us with offers to donate.
International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make any statements
concerning tax treatment of donations received from outside the United States. U.S.
laws alone swamp our small staff.
Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation methods and
addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other ways including checks, online
payments and credit card donations.
To donate, please visit: [Link]

Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works.

Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm concept of a
library of electronic works that could be freely shared with anyone. For thirty years, he
produced and distributed Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of
volunteer support.

Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed editions, all of
which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. unless a copyright notice is
included. Thus, we do not necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular
paper edition.

Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
[Link]
This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, including how to make
donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, how to help produce
our new eBooks, and how to subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new
eBooks.