The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes Part 20 (2/2)
”Oh yes, it is , my dear Watson, that you will obey theaue and the most powerful syndicate of criage you intend to take by a trustyyou will send for a hanso your man to take neither the first nor the second which may present itself Into this hansom you will jump, and you will drive to the Strand end of the Lowther Arcade, handing the address to the cabman upon a slip of paper, with a request that he will not throw it away Have your fare ready, and the instant that your cab stops, dash through the Arcade, ti yourself to reach the other side at a quarter-past nine You will find a s close to the curb, driven by a felloith a heavy black cloak tipped at the collar with red Into this you will step, and you will reach Victoria in time for the Continental express”
”Where shall I meet you?”
”At the station The second first-class carriage froe is our rendezvous, then?”
”Yes”
It was in vain that I asked Hol It was evident totrouble to the roof he was under, and that that was the o With a few hurried words as to our plans for the arden, cla over the hich leads into Morti for a hanso I obeyed Holmes's injunctions to the letter A hanso one which was placed ready for us, and I drove ih which I hurried at the top ofwith a very massive driver wrapped in a dark cloak, who, the instant that I had stepped in, whipped up the horse and rattled off to Victoria Station On ain without so one ad for e which Holmes had indicated, the less so as it was the only one in the train which was ed” My only source of anxiety noas the non-appearance of Holmes The station clock marked only seven minutes fro the groups of travellers and leave-takers for the lithe figure of n of hi a venerable Italian priest, as endeavoring to age was to be booked through to Paris Then, having taken another look round, I returned to e, where I found that the porter, in spite of the ticket, had givencompanion It was useless for me to explain to him that his presence was an intrusion, for ed nedly, and continued to look out anxiously for ht that his absence ht Already the doors had all been shut and the whistle blohen-- ”My dear Watson,” said a voice, ”you have not even condescended to say good-”
I turned in uncontrollable astonished ecclesiastic had turned his face towards me For an instant the wrinkles were smoothed away, the nose dreay from the chin, the lower lip ceased to protrude and the ained their fire, the drooping figure expanded The next the whole fraone as quickly as he had come
”Good heavens!” I cried; ”how you startled me!”
”Every precaution is still necessary,” he whispered ”I have reason to think that they are hot upon our trail Ah, there is Moriarty hiun toback, I saw a tall h the crowd, and waving his hand as if he desired to have the train stopped It was too late, however, for ere rapidly gathering momentum, and an instant later had shot clear of the station
”With all our precautions, you see that we have cut it rather fine,” said Hol off the black cassock and hat which had for
”Have you seen thepaper, Watson?”
”No”
”You haven't' seen about Baker Street, then?”
”Baker Street?”
”They set fire to our rooreat harm was done”
”Good heavens, Holmes! this is intolerable”
”They eon-ined that I had returned toyou, however, and that is what has brought Moriarty to Victoria You could not have ?”
”I did exactly what you advised”
”Did you find your broughanize your coachman?”
”No”
”It was et about in such a case without taking a mercenary into your confidence But we must plan e are to do about Moriarty now”
”As this is an express, and as the boat runs in connection with it, I should think we have shaken him off very effectively”
”My dear Watson, you evidently did not realizequite on the saine that if I were the pursuer I should allow ht an obstacle Why, then, should you think so meanly of him?”
”What will he do?”
”What I should do?”
”What would you do, then?”
”Engage a special”
”But it must be late”
”By no means This train stops at Canterbury; and there is always at least a quarter of an hour's delay at the boat He will catch us there”
”One would think that ere the criminals Let us have him arrested on his arrival”
”It would be to ruin the work of threefish, but the sht and left out of the net On Monday we should have them all No, an arrest is inadet out at Canterbury”
”And then?”
”Well, then we must make a cross-country journey to Newhaven, and so over to Dieppe Moriarty will again do what I should do He will get on to Paris, e, and wait for two days at the depot In the s, encourage the h which we travel, andand Basle”
At Canterbury, therefore, we alighted, only to find that we should have to wait an hour before we could get a train to Newhaven
I was still looking rather ruefully after the rapidly disappearing luggage-van which contained my wardrobe, when Holmes pulled my sleeve and pointed up the line
”Already, you see,” said he
Far away, fro the Kentish woods there rose a thin spray of sine could be seen flying along the open curve which leads to the station We had hardly tie when it passed with a rattle and a roar, beating a blast of hot air into our faces
”There he goes,” said Hol and rock over the points ”There are lience It would have been a coup-de-ly”
”And ould he have done had he overtaken us?”
”There cannot be the least doubt that he would have ame at which two may play The question nohether we should take a pre before we reach the buffet at Newhaven”
We ht and spent two days there,On the Monday raphed to the London police, and in the evening we found a reply waiting for us at our hotel Holmes tore it open, and then with a bitter curse hurled it into the grate
”I roaned ”He has escaped!”
”Moriarty?”
”They have secured the whole gang with the exception of hiiven them the slip Of course, when I had left the country there was no one to cope with hialand, Watson”