The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes Part 21 (2/2)
instantly attractedcleared froiven to one of the states of the Union”
”Texas, I think”
”I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the shi+p in”
”What then?”
”I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a certainty I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present in the port of London”
”Yes?”
”The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week I went down to the Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by the early tide this , homeward bound to Savannah I wired to Gravesend and learned that she had passed soo, and as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the Goodwins and not very far froht”
”What will you do, then?”
”Oh, I have my hand upon him He and the two mates, are as I learn, the only native-born Americans in the shi+p The others are Finns and Germans I know, also, that they were all three away froht I had it froo By the ti-shi+p reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and the cable will have inforentlee of murder”
There is ever a flaever, in the best laid of human plans, and the e pips which would show the and as resolute as the and very severe were the equinoctial gales that year We waited long for news of the ”Lone Star” of Savannah, but none ever reached us We did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough of a wave, with the letters ”L S” carved upon it, and that is all which we shall ever know of the fate of the ”Lone Star”
ADVENTURE VI THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP
Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, DD, Principal of the Theological College of St George's, was rew upon him, as I understand, fro read De Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the same effects He found, as so many more have done, that the practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for , an object of led horror and pity to his friends and relatives I can see hi lids, and pin-point pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a nobleto lances at the clock I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work down in her lap and made a little face of disappointo out”
I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day
We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps upon the linoleum Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the rooan, and then, suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder ”Oh, I'm in such trouble!” she cried; ”I do so want a little help”
”Why,” saidup her veil, ”it is Kate Whitney
How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you hen you caht to you” That was always the way Folk ere in grief caht-house
”It was very sweet of you to come Now, you must have some wine and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it Or should you rather that I sent James off to bed?”
”Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too It's about Isa He has not been hohtened about him!”
It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend and school companion We soothed and comforted her by such words as we could find Did she knohere her husband was? Was it possible that we could bring him back to her?
It seems that it was She had the surest information that of late he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opiuies had always been confined to one day, and he had co But now the spell had been upon hi the dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the effects There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar of Gold, in Upper Swanda and timid woman, make her way into such a place and pluck her husband out fro the ruffians who surrounded him?