The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes Part 1 (1/2)
MEMOIRS OF SHERLOCK HOLMES
by Arthur Conan Doyle
Adventure I
Silver Blaze
”I ao,” said Hol
”Go! Where to?”
”To Dart's Pyland”
I was not surprised Indeed, my only wonder was that he had not already been mixed up in this extraordinary case, which was the one topic of conversation through the length and breadth of England For a whole day my companion had rambled about the roo and recharging his pipe with the strongest black tobacco, and absolutely deaf to any of my questions or remarks Fresh editions of every paper had been sent up by our news agent, only to be glanced over and tossed down into a corner Yet, silent as he was, I knew perfectly hat it was over which he was brooding There was but one problee his powers of analysis, and that was the singular disappearance of the favorite for the Wessex Cup, and the tragic murder of its trainer When, therefore, he suddenly announced his intention of setting out for the scene of the drama it was only what I had both expected and hoped for
”I should be o doith you if I should not be in the way,” said I
”My dear Watson, you would confer a great favor uponAnd I think that your time will not be misspent, for there are points about the case which promise to make it an absolutely unique one We have, I think, just tio further into thewith you your very excellent field-glass”
And so it happened that an hour or so later I founden route for Exeter, while Sherlock Holer face fra-cap, dipped rapidly into the bundle of fresh papers which he had procured at Paddington We had left Reading far behind us before he thrust the last one of thear-case
”We are going well,” said he, looking out theand glancing at his watch ”Our rate at present is fifty-three and a half miles an hour”
”I have not observed the quarter-raph posts upon this line are sixty yards apart, and the calculation is a simple one I presume that you have looked into this matter of the murder of John Straker and the disappearance of Silver Blaze?”
”I have seen what the Telegraph and the Chronicle have to say”
”It is one of those cases where the art of the reasoner should be used rather for the sifting of details than for the acquiring of fresh evidence The tragedy has been so uncommon, so complete and of such personal i from a plethora of surmise, conjecture, and hypothesis The difficulty is to detach the framework of fact--of absolute undeniable fact--fro established ourselves upon this sound basis, it is our duty to see what inferences may be drawn and what are the special points upon which the whole rams from both Colonel Ross, the owner of the horse, and fro !” I exclaio down yesterday?”
”Because I made a blunder, my dear Watson--which is, I am afraid, a more common occurrence than any one would think who only knew h your memoirs The fact is that I could not believe it possible that theremain concealed, especially in so sparsely inhabited a place as the north of Dartmoor From hour to hour yesterday I expected to hear that he had been found, and that his abductor was thehad co Fitzroy Si had been done, I felt that it was time for me to take action Yet in some ways I feel that yesterday has not been wasted”
”You have forrip of the essential facts of the case I shall enu clears up a case soit to another person, and I can hardly expect your co-operation if I do not show you the position froainst the cushi+ons, puffing at , thin forefinger checking off the points upon the palave me a sketch of the events which had led to our journey
”Silver Blaze,” said he, ”is from the Somomy stock, and holds as brilliant a record as his faht in turn each of the prizes of the turf to Colonel Ross, his fortunate owner Up to the time of the catastrophe he was the first favorite for the Wessex Cup, the betting being three to one on him He has always, however, been a pri public, and has never yet disappointed them, so that even at those odds enormous sums of money have been laid upon him It is obvious, therefore, that there wereSilver Blaze fro next Tuesday
”The fact was, of course, appreciated at King's Pyland, where the Colonel's training-stable is situated Every precaution was taken to guard the favorite The trainer, John Straker, is a retired jockey who rode in Colonel Ross's colors before he beca-chair He has served the Colonel for five years as jockey and for seven as trainer, and has always shown himself to be a zealous and honest servant Under him were three lads; for the establish only four horses in all One of these lads sat up each night in the stable, while the others slept in the loft All three bore excellent characters John Straker, who is a married man, lived in a small villa about two hundred yards from the stables He has no children, keeps one maid-servant, and is comfortably off The country round is very lonely, but about half a mile to the north there is a small cluster of villas which have been built by a Tavistock contractor for the use of invalids and others who may wish to enjoy the pure Dartmoor air Tavistock itself lies two miles to the west, while across theestablishs to Lord Backwater, and is ed by Silas Brown In every other direction thegypsies Such was the general situation last Monday night when the catastrophe occurred
”On that evening the horses had been exercised and watered as usual, and the stables were locked up at nine o'clock Two of the lads walked up to the trainer's house, where they had supper in the kitchen, while the third, Ned Hunter, reuard At a few minutes after nine the maid, Edith Baxter, carried down to the stables his supper, which consisted of a dish of curried mutton She took no liquid, as there was a water-tap in the stables, and it was the rule that the lad on duty should drink nothing else The maid carried a lantern with her, as it was very dark and the path ran across the open moor
”Edith Baxter ithin thirty yards of the stables, when a man appeared out of the darkness and called to her to stop As he stepped into the circle of yellow light thrown by the lantern she saw that he was a person of gentleray suit of tweeds, with a cloth cap He wore gaiters, and carried a heavy stick with a knob to it She was most impressed, however, by the extreme pallor of his face and by the nervousness of his ht, would be rather over thirty than under it
”'Can you tell me where I am?' he asked 'I had alht of your lantern'
”'You are close to the King's Pyland training-stables,' said she
”'Oh, indeed! What a stroke of luck!' he cried 'I understand that a stable-boy sleeps there alone every night Perhaps that is his supper which you are carrying to him Now I am sure that you would not be too proud to earn the price of a new dress, would you?' He took a piece of white paper folded up out of his waistcoat pocket 'See that the boy has this to-night, and you shall have the prettiest frock that htened by the earnestness of his h which she was accustomed to hand the meals It was already opened, and Hunter was seated at the sun to tell hiain
”'Good-evening,' said he, looking through the'I wanted to have a ith you' The girl has sworn that as he spoke she noticed the corner of the little paper packet protruding from his closed hand
”'What business have you here?' asked the lad
”'It's business thatinto your pocket,' said the other 'You've two horses in for the Wessex Cup--Silver Blaze and Bayard Let ht tip and you won't be a loser Is it a fact that at the weights Bayard could give the other a hundred yards in five furlongs, and that the stable have put their money on him?'
”'So, you're one of those damned touts!' cried the lad 'I'll show you hoe serve the up and rushed across the stable to unloose the dog The girl fled away to the house, but as she ran she looked back and saw that the stranger was leaning through theA minute later, however, when Hunter rushed out with the hound he was gone, and though he ran all round the buildings he failed to find any trace of him”
”One moment,” I asked ”Did the stable-boy, when he ran out with the dog, leave the door unlocked behind him?”
”Excellent, Watson, excellent!” murmured my companion ”The importance of the point struck me so forcibly that I sent a special wire to Dartmoor yesterday to clear the matter up The boy locked the door before he left it The , I h
”Hunter waited until his fellow-grooe to the trainer and told hi the account, although he does not seenificance It left hi at one in theIn reply to her inquiries, he said that he could not sleep on account of his anxiety about the horses, and that he intended to walk down to the stables to see that all ell She begged hiainst the , but in spite of her entreaties he pulled on his large mackintosh and left the house
”Mrs Straker awoke at seven in the , to find that her husband had not yet returned She dressed herself hastily, called the maid, and set off for the stables The door was open; inside, huddled together upon a chair, Hunter was sunk in a state of absolute stupor, the favorite's stall was ens of his trainer
”The two lads who slept in the chaff-cutting loft above the harness-rooht, for they are both sound sleepers Hunter was obviously under the influence of soot out of him, he was left to sleep it off while the two lads and the tomen ran out in search of the absentees They still had hopes that the trainer had for some reason taken out the horse for early exercise, but on ascending the knoll near the house, fro ns of thewhich warned theedy
”About a quarter of afrom a furze-bush Immediately beyond there was a bowl-shaped depression in the moor, and at the bottom of this was found the dead body of the unfortunate trainer His head had been shattered by a savage blow froh, where there was a long, clean cut, inflicted evidently by some very sharp instrument It was clear, however, that Straker had defended hiht hand he held a small knife, which was clotted with blood up to the handle, while in his left he clasped a red and black silk cravat, which was recognized by theby the stranger who had visited the stables Hunter, on recovering from his stupor, was also quite positive as to the ownershi+p of the cravat He was equally certain that the saed his curried mutton, and so deprived the stables of their watch horse, there were abundant proofs in the mud which lay at the bottom of the fatal hollow that he had been there at the ti he has disappeared, and although a large reward has been offered, and all the gypsies of Dartmoor are on the alert, no news has come of him Finally, an analysis has shown that the remains of his supper left by the stable-lad contain an appreciable quantity of powdered opium, while the people at the house partook of the saht without any ill effect
”Those are the main facts of the case, stripped of all surmise, and stated as baldly as possible I shall now recapitulate what the police have done in the ory, to whom the case has been coifted with ihts in his profession On his arrival he promptly found and arrested the man upon whom suspicion naturally rested There was little difficulty in finding him, for he inhabited one of those villas which I have mentioned His name, it appears, was Fitzroy Simpson He was a man of excellent birth and education, who had squandered a fortune upon the turf, and who lived now by doing a little quiet and genteel book- clubs of London An exa-book shows that bets to the aainst the favorite On being arrested he volunteered that state so's Pyland horses, and also about Desborough, the second favorite, which was in charge of Silas Brown at the Mapleton stables He did not atte before, but declared that he had no sinister designs, and had simply wished to obtain first-hand information When confronted with his cravat, he turned very pale, and was utterly unable to account for its presence in the hand of theshowed that he had been out in the stor-laeighted with lead, was just such a weapon as ht, by repeated blows, have inflicted the terrible injuries to which the trainer had succumbed On the other hand, there was no wound upon his person, while the state of Straker's knife would show that one at least of his assailants must bear his mark upon him There you have it all in a nutshell, Watson, and if you can give ed to you”
I had listened with the greatest interest to the statement which Holh most of the facts were familiar to me, I had not sufficiently appreciated their relative importance, nor their connection to each other
”Is it not possible,” I suggested, ”that the incised wound upon Straker les which follow any brain injury?”
”It is more than possible; it is probable,” said Holmes ”In that case one of the main points in favor of the accused disappears”
”And yet,” said I, ”even now I fail to understand what the theory of the police can be”
”I arave objections to it,” returned ine, I take it, that this Fitzroy Si in some way obtained a duplicate key, opened the stable door and took out the horse, with the intention, apparently, of kidnapping hi, so that Si left the door open behind hi the horse away over the moor, when he was either met or overtaken by the trainer A row naturally ensued Simpson beat out the trainer's brains with his heavy stick without receiving any injury from the small knife which Straker used in self-defence, and then the thief either led the horse on to so the struggle, and be noandering out on the moors That is the case as it appears to the police, and improbable as it is, all other explanations are more improbable still However, I shall very quickly test the matter when I am once upon the spot, and until then I cannot really see hoe can getbefore we reached the little town of Tavistock, which lies, like the boss of a shi+eld, in the entle us in the station--the one a tall, fairlight blue eyes; the other a small, alert person, very neat and dapper, in a frock-coat and gaiters, with trilass The latter was Colonel Ross, the well-known sportsory, a lish detective service
”I ahted that you have come down, Mr Holmes,” said the Colonel ”The Inspector here has done all that could possibly be suggested, but I wish to leave no stone unturned in trying to avenge poor Straker and in recovering my horse”