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)
A STUDY IN SCARLET.
A STUDY IN SCARLET.

A Detective Story.

BY

A. CONAN DOYLE,
Author of " Micah Clarke," " The Sign ofFour,"
" The Adventures ofSherlock Holmes," etc.

A NEW EDITION

WITH FORTY ILLUSTRATIONS BY GEO . HUTCHINSON .

WARD, LOCK, BOWDEN, AND CO . ,

LONDON : WARWICK HOUSE, SALISBURY SQUARE, E.C.
NEW YORK : EAST 12TH STREET .

MELBOURNE : 3 AND 5, ST. JAMES'S STREET.

1892
(All rights reserved.)
 PR4622
578
1892
MAIN

In compliance with current copyright

law, U. C. Library Bindery produced
this replacement volume on paper
that meets the ANSI Standard Z39.48-
1984 to replace the irreparably
deteriorated original

1995
 A STUDY IN SCARLET.
London: Ward, Lock, Bowden & Co.

First Edition (as Beeton's Christmas Annual). Demy 8vo.. 1887

Second Edition, Crown 8vo. 1838
Reprinted • 1889
Third Edition, Crown 8vo. Illustrated 1891
Reprinted. Crown 8vo. Juustrated 1892
1892
"
1802
 CONTENTS.

PART I.

(Being a Reprintfrom the Reminiscences ofJOHN H. WATSON, M.ID. ,

late ofthe Army Medical Department.)
CHAPTER PAGE

I. MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES . J

II . THE SCIENCE OF DEDUCTION . 16

III . THE LAURISTON GARDENS MYSTERY 34

IV. WHAT JOHN RANCE HAD TO TELL 54

V. OUR ADVERTISEMENT BRINGS A VISITOR 68

VI . TOBIAS GREGSON SHOWS WHAT HE CAN DO 82

VII . LIGHT IN THE DARKNESS 101

PART 11.

The Country of the Saints.

I. ON THE GREAT ALKALI PLAIN 118

II . THE FLOWER OF UTAH . 136

III. JOHN FERRIER TALKS WITH THE PROPHET 148

IV. A FLIGHT FOR LIFE 158
V. THE Avenging Angels . 176

VI. A CONTINUATION OF THE REMINISCENCES OF JOHN

WATSON, M.D. 192

VII . THE CONCLUSION 213

vij
 A STUDY IN SCARLET.

PART I.
(Beinga reprintfrom the reminiscences ofJOHN H. WATSON,
M.D., late ofthe Army Medical Department.)

CHAPTER I.
MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES.

the year 1878 I

took my degree of
Doctor of Medi-
cine of the Uni-
versity 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 at-
tached to the Fifth
Northumberland Fusi-
liers as Assistant Sur-
geon. The regiment
tt was stationed in India
Gu

' THERE I WAS STRUCK ON THE

at the time, and before
SHOULDER BY A BULLET. " B
2 À STUDY in scarlÈÏ.

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 reach-
ing 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 Peshawur. 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
 A STUDY IN SCARLET. 3

so weak and emaciated that a medical board deter.

mined that not a day should be lost in sending me
back to England. I was despatched, accordingly,
in the troopship Orontes, and landed a month later
on Portsmouth jetty, with my health irretrievably
ruined, but with permission from a paternal govern-
ment 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 natur-
ally 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 some-
where in the country, or that I must make a com-
plete 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 con
clusion, I was standing at the Criterion Bar, when
soine one tapped me on the shoulder, and turning
4 A STUDY IN SCARLET.

round I recognised 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 Stam-
ford 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," 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 com-
panion ; " 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
 A STUDY IN SCARLET. 5

some one 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 some
one 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."
66

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 en-
thusiast 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
6 A study IN SCARLET.

to lodge with any one, 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 till
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 par-
ticulars 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 com-
pany," 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
 A STUDY IN SCARLET. 7

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 ac-
curate 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 farther end a low
arched passage branched away from it and led to
the chemical laboratory.
8 A STUDY IN SCARLET.

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 pre-
cipitated by hemoglobin, 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 Stain-
ford, 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 hæmoglobin. No
doubt you see the significance of this discovery of
mine ? "
" It is interesting, chemically, no doubt," I an-
swered, " but practically ”
"
Why, man, it is the most practical medico-
legal discovery for years. Don't you see that it
Ch41

"" I'VE FOUND IT ! I'VE FOUND IT ! ' HE SHOUTED."

9
 A STUDY IN SCARLET. II

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 appear-
ance 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 tcy.
" What do you think of that ? "
" It seems to be a very delicate test," I re-
marked.
" Beautiful ! beautiful ! The old guaiacum test
was very clumsy and uncertain. So is the micro-
scopic 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
12 A STUDY IN SCARLET.

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 imagina-
tion.
" You are to be congratulated," I remarked, con-
siderably surprised at his enthusiasm .
" There was the case of Von Bischoff at Frank-
fort 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. ' "
 A STUDY IN SCARLET. 13

" 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 chemi-
cals 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
14 A STUDY IN SCARLET.

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
ungodiy 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
 A STUDY IN SCARLET. 15

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 acquaint
ance.
 CHAPTER II .

THE SCIENCE OF DEDUCTION .

met next

day as he

ANE ranged,
and
spected
in-

the rooms
at No.
221B, Baker
Street, of which
he had spoken
at our meeting
They consisted
of a couple of
comfortable
bedrooms and a
"HE WOULD CLOSE HIS EYES AND SCRAPE CARE-
LESSLY AT THE FIDDLE ." single large airy
sitting - room ,
cheerfully furnished, and illuminated by two broad
16
 A STUDY IN SCARLET. 17

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 surround-
ings.
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. Some-
times he spent his day at the chemical laboratory,
sometimes in the dissecting rooms, and occasion-
ally 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
C
18 A STUDY IN SCARLET.

some narcotic, had not the temperance and cleanli-

ness 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 busy-
body, 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 atten-
tion. 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
 A STUDY IN SCARLET. 19

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 recognised
portal which would give him an entrance into the
learned world. Yet his zeal for certain studies was
remarkable, and within eccentric limits his know-
ledge 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 know-
ledge. Of contemporary literature, philosophy and
politics he appeared to know next to nothing.
Upon my quoting Thomas Carlyle, he enquired in
the naïvest 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
20 A STUDY IN SCARLET.

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
 À study IN SCARLET. 21

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 know-
ledge 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 bella-
donna, 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 .
22 À STUDY İN SCARLEŤ.

7. Knowledge of 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 accom-
plishments, 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 recognised 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. Some-
times the chords were sonorous and melancholy.
Occasionally they were fantastic and cheerful.
Clearly they reflected the thoughts which possessed
 A STUDY IN SCARLET. 23

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

" THERE WAS A LITTLE SALLOW, RAT- FACED DARK- EYED FELLOW."

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
24 A STUDY IN SCARLET.

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,

Gro.t

" GREY-HEADED, SEEDY VISITOR. "

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,
 A STUDY IN SCARLET. 25

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,

Cott
" AN OLD WHITE- HAIRED GENTLEMAN HAD AN INTERVIEW WITH
MY COMPANION."

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
26 A STUDY IN SCARLET.

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 apologised 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
inme. 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
 A STUDY IN SCARLET. 27

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 impossibilily in the case of one trained to ob-
servation 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 logi-

cian 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
ofwhich 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 pre
sent the greatest difficulties, let the inquirer begin
by mastering more elementary problems. Let
28 A STUDY IN SCARLET.

him, on neeting 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
inquirer 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," Holmes remarked
calmly. " As for the article, I wrote it myself."
 A STUDY IN SCARLET. 29

"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 him-
self 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
30 A STUDY IN SCARLET.

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 prob-
lem, 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
 A STUDY IN SCARLET. 31

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 Poe
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 super-
ficial. 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 ? " Lecoq
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."
32 A STUDY IN SCARLET.

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 indi-
vidual 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."
 A STUDY IN SCARLET. 33

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 ascend-
ing 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. " Uni-
form away for repairs."
" And you were ? " I asked, with a slightly mali-
cious glance at my companion.
" A sergeant, sir, Royal Marine Light Infantry,
sir. No answer ? Right, sir."
He clicked his heels together, raised his hand ir
a salute, and was gone.

L
 CHAPTER III .

THE LAURISTON GARDEN MYSTERY.

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 won-
drously. 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
“
HE HUSTLED ON HIS OVERCOAT."
earthly object he
34
 A STUDY IN SCARLET. 35

could have in taking me in was past my compre-

hension. 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 rude-
ness. 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 know 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, respect-
able, middle-aged man, too, on the face of him-
all facts which led me to believe that he had been
a sergeant."
36 A STUDY IN SCARLET.

" 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.
" 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
 A STUDY IN SCARLET, 37

you can come round to the house any time before

twelve, you will find me there. I have left every-
thing 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
38 A STUDY IN SCARLET.

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 differ-
ence between a Stradivarius and an Amati. As
for myself, I was silent, for the dull weather and
the melancholy business upon which we were en-
gaged, depressed my spirits.
" You don't seem to give much thought to the
matter in hand," I said at last, interrupting Holmes,
musical disquisition.
 A STUDY IN SCARLET. 39

" No data yet," he answered. " It is a capital

mistake to theorize before you have all the evi-
r
dence. 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
40 A STUDY IN SCARLET.

the vain hope of catching some glimpse of the pro-

ceedings 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 non-
chalance 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 pro-
ceeded 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 com-
panion'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

 A STUDY IN SCARLET. 41

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 Sher-
lock 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 ex-
pressed 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 apart
42 A STUDY IN SCARLET.

ment 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 mantel-
piece 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
ofdust 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
 A STUDY IN SCARLET, 43

lower limbs were interlocked, as though his death

struggle had been a grievous one. On his rigid desirpas
‫فو‬
face there stood an expression of horror, and, as it
seemed to me, of hatred, such as I have never seen denin
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 stand-
ing 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-presumably the murderer, if murder
has been committed. It reminds me of the cir-
44 A STUDY IN SCARLET.

cumstances 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 no-

Go,Hurchingon
" SH
SHERLOCK HOLMES APPROACHED THE BODY, AND, KNEELING DOWN
EXAMINED IT INTENTLY."

thing new under the sun. It has all been done

before."
As he spoke, his nimble fingers were flying here,
there, and everywhere, feeling, pressing, unbutton-
ing, examining, while his eyes wore the same far-
away expression which I have already remarked
upon. So swiftly was the examination made, that
 A STUDY IN SCARLET. 45

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.
1
" There's been a woman here," he cried. " It's
a woman's wedding-ring." Cue
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 ? " ob-

served 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
46 A STUDY IN SCARLET.

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 Steam-
ship Company, and refer to the sailing of their
boats from Liverpool. It is clear that this unfor-
tunate 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 Ex-
change, 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."
 A STUDY IN SCARLET. 47

" 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, re-
appeared 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 exulta-
tion 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
48 A STUDY IN SCARLET.

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 detec-

tive, 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 com-
 S

GroHorchinSon Jee 41
" HE STRUCK A MATCH ON HIS BOOT AND HELD IT UP AGAINST
THE WALL."
49 E
 A STUDY IN SCARLET. 51

panion, 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 partici-
pant in last night's mystery. I have not had time
to examine this room yet, but with your per-
mission 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 exclama-
tions, 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 eager-
ness, until it comes across the lost scent. For
twenty minutes or more he continued his re-
searches, measuring with the most exact care the
distance between marks which were entirely in-
visible to me, and occasionally applying his tape
to the walls in an equally incomprehensible man-
ner. In one place he gathered up very carefully
a little pile of grey dust from the floor, and packed
52 A STUDY IN SCARLET.

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 man-
œuvres of their amateur companion with consider-
able 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 any one 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
 A STUDY IN SCARLET. 53

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 ion
boots and smoked a Trichinopoly cigar. He came perupt
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 Ger-
man for ' revenge ' ; so don't lose your time look-
ing 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.

was one o'clock

when we left
No. 3, Lauris-
ton Gardens.
Sherlock
Holmes led me
to the nearest
telegraphoffice,
whence he dis-
patched 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 re-
marked ; " as a matter of fact,
my mind is entirely made
Gro,Hurégigson up upon the case, but still we
may as well learn all that is
to be learned."
"HE APPEARED PRESENTLY, LOOKING 54
A LITTLE IRRITABLE."
 A STUDY IN SCARLET. 55

" 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 calcu-
lation. 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."
56 A STUDY IN SCARLET.

" 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 apply-
ing to ordinary life a few of those precepts of
observation and deduction which I advocated ir
that article. Is there anything else that puzzles
you ? "
" The finger-nails and the Trichinopoly," I sug-
gested.
" The writing on the wall was done with a man's
fore-finger 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 dis-
tinguish 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
 A STUDY IN SCARLET. 57

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 de-
camping ? 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 Ger-
man. The A, if you noticed, was printed some-
what after the German fashion. Now, a real Ger-
man 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
58 A STUDY IN SCARLET.

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 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 him-
self 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 . "
 A STUDY IN SCARLET. 59

This conversation had occurred while our cab

had been threading its way through a long succes-
sion of dingy streets and dreary byways. 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 deco-
rated with a small slip of brass on which the name
Rance was engraved. On inquiry 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
60 A STUDY IN SCARLET.

his brows, as though determined not to omit any-

thing 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 seed too, though the very
last tenant what lived in one of them died o'
typhoid fever. I was knocked all in a heap, there-
fore, at seeing a light in the window, and I sus-
pected 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 Sher-
 Gес,нитубор.
"JOHN RANCE SPRANG TO HIS FEET WITH A FRIGHTENED FACE."
61
 A STUDY IN SCARLET. 63

lock 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 afeard 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 any one 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
64 A STUDY IN SCARLET.

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 any one so cryin' drunk as that cove.
He was at the gate when I came out, a- leanin'
up ag'in 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.
 A STUDY IN SCARLET. 65

He was a long chap, with a red face, the lower part

"
muffled round

20,

"" HE WAS AN UNCOMMON DRUNK SORT OF MAN . "

" That will do," cried Holmes. " What became

of him ? "
F
66 A STUDY IN SCARLET,

" 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 com-
panion 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
 A STUDY IN SCARLET. 67

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 catch-
ing 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
art
jargon. There's the scarlet thread of murder run-
ning 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 blood-
hound carolled away like a lark while I meditated
upon the manysidedness of the human mind.
 CHAPTER V.

OUR ADVERTISEMENT BRINGS A VISITOR.

morn-

ing's
exer-

tions
had
been
too

much for myweak

health, and I was
tired out in the
afternoon . After
Holmes' depar-
ture for the con-
cert, I lay down
upon the sofa and
endeavour-
Ca
ul
t ed to get
a
couple
of hours'
" WHEN I RETURNED WITH THE PISTOL."
68
 A STUDY IN SCARLET. 69

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 im-
pression which that face had produced upon me
that I found it difficult to feel anything but grati-
tude 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 recognised
that justice must be done, and that the depravity
of the victim was no condonement 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
70 A STUDY IN SCARLET.

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 child-
hood."
" 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 ex-
periences. 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."

:
 A STUDY IN SCARLET. 71

' 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 im-
mediately after the affair."
He threw the paper across to me and I glanced
at the place indicated. It was the first announce-
ment 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
recognise it, and want to meddle in the affair."
" That is all right," I answered. "But supposing
any one 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 ad-
vertisement."
" 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,
 72 A STUDY IN SCARLET.

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 stoop-
ing 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 cart-
ridges."
" 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."
 A STUDY IN SCARLET. 73

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's
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 cen-
tury lawyer, I suppose. His writing has a legal
twist about it. Here comes our man, I think."
74 A STUDY IN SCARLET.

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 ap-
peared 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
Cro,HureljijSOD Sect
" THE OLD CRONE DREW OUT AN EVENING PAPER AND POINTED AT OUR
ADVERTISEMENT. "
75
 A STUDY IN SCARLET. 77

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 es-
pecially 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 gentle-
man asked me for my address," she said. " Sally
lives in lodgings at 3, Mayfield Place, Peckham."
" And your name is-- ? "
" My name is Sawyer-hers 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
78 A STUDY IN SCARLET.

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.
 A STUDY IN SCARLET. 79

The instant he entered I saw by his face that he

had not been successful. Amusement and chagrin

"
GrgHutebins
HER PURSUER DOGGED HER SOME LITTLE DISTANCE BEHIND ."

seemed to be struggling for the mastery, until the

former suddenly carried the day, and he burst into
a hearty laugh.
80 A STUDY IN SCARLET.

" 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 expect-
antly. Nothing came out though. When I
reached him, he was groping about frantically in
the empty cab, and giving vent to the finest as-
sorted collection of oaths that ever I listened to
There was no sign or trace of his passenger, and I
 A STUDY IN SCARLET. 81

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 amaze-

ment, " 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 incompar-
able 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 some-
thing 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.

G
 .....

CHAPTER VI .

TOBIAS GREGSON SHOWS WHAT HE CAN DO.

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 ex-
tracts bearing upon the case.
Here is a condensation of a
few of them : —

The Daily Telegraph re-

marked that in the history
A TIME. THREE
AT STAIRS
"CAME UP THE " STEPS of crime there had seldom
8z
 A STUDY IN SCARLET. 83

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 High-
way murders, the article concluded by admonish-
ing 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 de-
ceased 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 plat-
form. Nothing more is known of them until Mr.
84 A STUDY IN SCARLET.

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. Les-
trade and Mr. Gregson, of Scotland Yard, are both
engaged upon the case, and it is confidently antici-
pated 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 under-
gone. 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 dis-
covery 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 Scot-
land Yard .
Sherlock Holmes and I read these notices over
together at breakfast, and they appeared to afford
him considerable amusement.
 Cro,HuTebiijsoz
."
"' IT'S THE SAKER STREET DIVISION OF THE DETECTIVE POLICE FORCE.
85
 A STUDY IN SCARLET. 87

" 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 mo-
ment there came the pattering of many steps in the
hall and on the stairs, accompanied by audible ex-
pressions 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. " 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
88 A STUDY IN SCARLET.

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 organization."
" Is it on this Brixton case that you are employ-
ing 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 beati-
tude 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."
 A STUDY IN SCARLET. 89

" And his name is ? "

" Arthur Charpentier, sub-lieutenant in Her
Majesty's navy," cried Gregson pompously rub-
bing his fat hands and inflating his chest.
Sherlock Holmes gave a sigh of relief and re-
laxed 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.
90 A STUDY IN SCARLET.

" 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 it
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," con
 A STUDY IN SCARLET. 91

tinued 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 some-
thing 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 II . He was to catch the
first.'

" 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 per-
fectly 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,'
92 A STUDY IN SCARLET.

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 com-
promised. 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 to-
gether,' 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.'
 A STUDY IN SCARLET. 93

" 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 at-
titude towards my daughter, Alice, and spoke to
her more than once in a way which, fortunately,
she is too innocent to understand. On one oc-
casion he actually seized her in his arms and
embraced her an outrage which caused his own
secretary to reproach him for his unmanly con-
duct.'
"" 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 ques-
tion. ' 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
94 A STUDY IN SCARLET

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 re-
mark 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
Made

Go.Hulebizi

"" HE CAUGHT HER BY THE WRIST AND ENDEAVOURED TO DRAW HER TOWARDS
"
THE DOOR.
95
 A STUDY IN SCARLET. 97

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, how-
ever, 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 ? '
H
98 A STUDY IN SCARLET.

" " 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
bedone. 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 sus-
picious 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
 A STUDY IN SCARLET. 99

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 it. 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 per-
ceiving his colleague he appeared to be embar-
rassed and put out. He stood in the centre of the
room, fumbling nervously with his hat and un-
100 A STUDY IN SCARLET.

certain 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 Greg-
son, 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.

intelligence with
which Lestrade
greeted us was

THE SO

and
momentous
so unex-
pected that we were
all three fairly dumb-
foundered. Gregson
sprang out of his chair
and upset the remain-
der of his whiskey
and water. I stared
in silence at Sherlock
Holmes, whose lips
were compressed and
t
Grot.
his brows drawn down
over his eyes.
"
Stangerson too ! "
he muttered. " The
" HE NEARLY FAINTED WHEN HE SAW IT. "
plot thickens."
102 A STUDY IN SCARLET.

" 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 intelli-
gence ? " stammered Gregson.
" I have just come from his room," said Le-
strade. " 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, seat-
ing 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
 A STUDY IN SCARLET. 103

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 meet-
ing-place beforehand," remarked Holmes.
" So it proved. I spent the whole of yesterday
evening in making inquiries 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 inquiry 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 some-
thing 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' ex-
perience. From under the door there curled a
little red ribbon of blood, which had meandered
104 A STUDY IN SCARLET.

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 recognised
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 in-
comprehensible 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
 A STUDY IN SCARLET. 105

milk boy, passing on his way to the dairy, hap-

pened 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 think-
ing 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
106 A STUDY IN SCARLET.

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 con-
taining 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 amaze-
ment.

" 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 Stanger-
son 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
 A STUDY IN SCARLET. 107

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 upstairs
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,
108 A STUDY IN SCARIET.

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 Stanger-
son."

" 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 con-
tinued to lie stretched upon the 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
 A STUDY IN SCARLET. 109

down the room ; " it is impossible that it should be

a mere coincidence. The very pills which I sus-
pected 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 impos-
sible ! And yet this wretched dog is none the
worse. Ah, I have it ! I have it ! " With a per-
fect 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, how-
ever, to prove that his conjecture had been correct.
It seemed to me that the mists in my own mind
110 A STUDY IN SCARLET.

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 con-
firm 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 strange-
ness 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 ac-
companiments 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 him-
self no longer. " Look here, Mr. Sherlock Holmes,"
66
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
 ‫ران‬

Gow.Hurelbinson e

" 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."

111
 A STUDY IN SCARLET. 113

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 Charpen-
tier 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 ob-
served, " 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
I
114 A STUDY IN SCARLET.

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 any one 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 pre-
pared for. At present I am ready to promise that
the instant that I can communicate with you with-
out endangering my own combinations, I shall do
‫دو‬
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,
 A STUDY IN SCARLET. 115

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
hishead.
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 jang-
ling of metal, and Sherlock Holmes sprang to his
feet again.
116 A STUDY IN SCARLET.

" Gentlemen," he cried, with flashing eyes, " let

me introduce you to Mr. Jefferson Hope, the mur-
derer of Enoch Drebber and of Joseph Stanger-
son."
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' trium-
phant 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 him-
self 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 diminish-
ing his resistance. It was not until Lestrade suc-
ceeded 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
Gau,Hurebingo1),Jeciti

" LESTRADE AND HOLMES SPRANG UPON HIM LIKE SO MANY

STAGHOUNDS ."

A Study in Scarlet.] [
Page116.
 A STUDY IN SCARLET. 117

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 ques-
tions 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 .

the central por-

tion 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 civiliza-
tion. 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.
" DYING FROM HUNGER." It comprises
118
snow- capped and
 A STUDY IN SCARLET. 119

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 sum-
mer 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 occasion-
ally traverse it in order to reach other hunting-
grounds, but the hardiest of the braves are glad
to lose sight of those awsome 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
chapparal 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.
120 A STUDY IN SCARLET.

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 imen. 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
 A STUDY IN SCARLET, 121

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
realized 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 some-
what too heavy for his strength, for in lowering it,
122 A STUDY IN SCARLET.

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 pro-
truded a small, scared face, with very bright brown
eyes, and two little speckled, dimpled fists.
" You've hurt me ! " said a childish voice, re-
proachfully.
" Have I though," the man answered penitently ;
" I didn't go for to do it." As he spoke he un-
wrapped 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 com-
panion.
" 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, showing 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 ? "
 A STUDY IN SCARLET. 123

" 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 ag'in 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
124 A STUDY IN SCARLET.

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.
 A STUDY IN SCARLET. 125

" 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 of good."
It was a strange sight, had there been any-
thing but the buzzards to see it. Side by side on
126 A STUDY IN SCARLET.

the narrow shawl knelt the two wanderers, the

little prattling child and the reckless, hardened
adventurer. Her chubby face and his haggard,

Co.Hutchin902.
" SIDE BY SIDE ON THE NARROW SHAWL KNELT THE TWO WANDERERS."

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
 A STUDY IN SCARLET. 127

harsh-united in the entreaty for mercy and for-

giveness. 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 be-
came 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 con-
clusion 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
128 A STUDY IN SCARLET,

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
thebaseof 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, andchil-
dren 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 clatter-
ing and rumbling from this great mass of humanity,
with the creaking of wheels and the neighing 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 home-
spun 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
 A STUDY IN SCARLET, 129

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 rapidlyand noiselessly, with theconfidence
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
K
130 A STUDY IN SCARLET.

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 infan-
tile features. Her plump little white legs, termin-
ating 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 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
 A STUDY IN SCARLET. 131

assumed an expression of incredulity as he gazed,

and he passed his bony
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

" ONE OF THEM SEIZED THE LITTLE GIRL, AND HOISTED HER UPON Hus
SHOULDER .

nothing, but looked all round her with the wonder-

ing, questioning gaze of childhood.
132 A STUDY IN SCARLET.

The rescuing party were speedily able to con-

vince 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 ex-
"
plained ; 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 some one.
" 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
 A STUDY IN SCARLET. 133

the godless, even though it be the heart of the

desert."
The name of Nauvoo evidently recalled recollec-
tions to John Ferrier. " I see," he said ; " you are
the Mormons."
" We are the Mormons," answered his com-
panions 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 pil-
grims-pale- faced, meek-looking women ; strong,
laughing children ; and anxious, earnest-eyed men.
Many were the cries of astonishment and of com-
miseration which arose from them when they per-
ceived 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 gaudi-
ness 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,
134 A STUDY IN SCARLET.

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 re-
tained 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, pass-
ing from mouth to mouth until they died away in
a dull murmur in the far distance. With a crack-
ing 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.
 A STUDY IN SCARLET. 135

" 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.

is not the place

T y p s to commemorate

the trials and pri-

vations

Mormons
endured
by the immigrant
before
they came to their
final haven. From
the shores of the
Mississippi to the
western

slopes
of the
Rocky
Moun-
" DOWN THE DUSTY HIGH ROADS DEFILED LONG STREAMS tains
OF HEAVILY- LADEN MULES. "
they
had struggled on with a constancy almost un
1.36
 A STUDY IN SCARLET. 137

paralleled 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 accumu-
lated 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 were never absent
from the monument which the immigrants erected
 138 A STUDY IN SCARLET.

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 Mor-
mons 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 be-
came 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
 A STUDY IN SCARLET. 139

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 neigh-
bours, 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 ofJohn 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 reso-
lutely and inflexibly adhering to his determination.
There were some who accused him of lukewarm-
ness 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 or-
thodox 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
140 A STUDY IN SCARLET.

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
ruddy and her step more elastic. Many a way-
farer upon the high road which ran by Ferrier's
farm felt long-forgotten thoughts revive in their
minds as they watched her lithe, girlish figure trip-
ping 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 dis-
covered 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 awoke 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
 A STUDY IN SCARLET. 141

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 Cali-
fornia, 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 herds-
men from the plains. In her impatience she en-
deavoured 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
142 A STUDY IN SCARLET.

closed in behind her, and she found herself com-

pletely 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 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. Unaccus-
tomed 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 fright-
ened 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 pre-
server, respectfully.
Grayinsun.J.T1891
" A SINEWY BROWN HAND CAUGHT THE FRIGHTENED HORSE
BY THE CURB."

A Study in Scarlet.] [
Page 142.
 A STUDY IN SCARLET. 143

She looked up at his dark, fierce face, and

laughed saucily. " I'm awful frightened," she said,
naïvely ; " 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 sugges-
tion, 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 ."
144 A STUDY IN SCARLET.

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 som-
brero, 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 com-
panions, 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 ques-
tions 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
 A STUDY IN SCARLET. 145

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
farmhouse. 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. Wher-
ever 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.
One summer evening 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.
L
146 A STUDY IN SCARLET.

" I am off, Lucy," he said, taking her two hands

in his, and gazing tenderly down into her face ; " [
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

" ONE SUMMER EVENING HE CAME GALLOPING DOWN THE ROAD."

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
 A STUDY IN SCARLET. 147

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, fling-
ing 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, gaz-
ing 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.

HREE weeks had

passed since
Jefferson Hope
and his com-
rades had de-
parted 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 arrange-
ment more than any argument
" ARMED MEN, MASKED,
STEALTHY AND NOISELESS.""
could have done. He had
always determined, deep down in his resolute
heart, that nothing would ever induce him to allow
148
 A STUDY IN SCARLET. 149

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 sub-
ject, 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 Vehmgericht, 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 omni-
potent, 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
150 A STUDY IN SCARLET.

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 exer-
cised 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 pro-
duced such terrible results served to increase rather
 A STUDY IN SCARLET 151

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 repa-
ration. 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 wheat-fields, 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
152 A STUDY IN SCARLET.

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 condi-
tion : 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 at-
tended 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 an-
swered. " 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
 A STUDY IN SCARLET. 153

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 de-
prive her of all choice. We Elders have many
heifers,* 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

* Heber C. Kemball, in one of his sermons, alludes to his

hundred wives under this endearing epithet.
154 A STUDY IN SCARLET.

were better for you, John Ferrier," he thundered,

" that you and she were now lying blanched skele-
tons upon the Sierra Blanco, than that you should

" HE WAS PASSING THROUGH THE DOOR, WHEN HE TURNED, WITH FLUSHED
FACE AND FLASHING EYES . "

put your weak wills against the orders of the Holy

Four ! "
With a threatening gesture of his hand, he turned
 A STUDY IN SCARLET. 155

from the door, and Ferrier heard his heavy steps

scrunching along the shingly path.
He was still sitting with his elbow upon his
knee, 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 be-

"
HE WAS STILL SITTING WITH HIS ELBOW UPON HIS KNEE."

side 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
156 A STUDY IN SCARLET.

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 man-
age 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 ? "
 A STUDY IN SCARLET. 157

" 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 buck-shot 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 afeard 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 fasten-
ing of the doors that night, and that he carefully
cleaned and loaded the rusty old shot-gun which
hung upon the wall of his bedroom.
 ૨૦૭ રિલજનરT ON

CHAPTER IV.

A FLIGHT FOR LIFE .

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 Jeffer-
son Hope. In it he
" A SMALL SQUARE OF PAPER PINNED ON ΤΟ told the young man
THE COVERLET OF HIS BED." of the imminent dan-
ger 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.
158
 A STUDY IN SCARLEI. 159

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 rock-
ing-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 pockets whistling a popular hymn.
Both of them nodded to Ferrier as he entered, and
the one in the rocking-chair commenced the con-
versation .
" 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

160 A STUDY IN SCARLET.

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 be-
tween 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,
 A STUDY IN SCARLET. 161

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,

"" YOU SHALL SMART FOR THIS ! ' STANGERSON

CRIED, WHITE WITH RAGE. "
Gro.HuterySon
and would have rushed upstairs for his gun had
not Lucy seized him by the arm and restrained him.
M
162 A STUDY IN SCARLET.

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 some one 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.
 A STUDY IN SCARLET. 163

He expected that he would receive some mes-

sage 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 amend-
ment, 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 ap-
parently, 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
164 A STUDY IN SCARLET.

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 con-
spicuous 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 rail-
ings. With all his vigilance John Ferrier could
not discover whence these daily warnings pro-
ceeded. 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 clat-
tered 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.
Singlehanded, and with his limited knowledge of
the mountains which surrounded the settlement, he
 A STUDY IN SCARLET. 165

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 ap-
peared to be no avoiding the blow which hung over
him. Yet the old man never wavered in his reso-
lution 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 net-
work 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.
Some one was evidently tapping very gently upon
one of the panels of the door. Was it some mid-
night assassin who had come to carry out the mur-
derous orders of the secret tribunal ? Or was it
156 A STUDY IN SCARLET.

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
 Gro HutchisSong Sie
HE SAW TO HIS ASTONISHMENT A MAN LYING FLAT UPON HIS FACE. "
167
 A STUDY IN SCARLET. 169

have had no time for bit or sup for eight-and-forty

hours." He flung himself upon the 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 ? "
170 A STUDY IN SCARLET.

" 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 daugh-
ter 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 com-
pleted 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 ofhis tunic. " If they are too many
 A STUDY IN SCARLET. 171

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 extin-
guished, 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, Jeffer-
son 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 cornfield. 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.
172 A STUDY IN SCARLET.

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 ! "
 A STUDY IN SCARLET. 173

Once on the high road, they made rapid pro-

gress. Only once did they meet any one, 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 any one 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 his rugged surface
like the ribs of some petrified monster. On the
other hand a wild chaos of boulders and débris
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
174 A STUDY IN SCARLET.

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 over-
looked 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 Mor-
mon experiences had taught him that that was the
highest authority to which he could refer.
" Nine to seven," cried the sentinel.
" Seven to 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
 A STUDY IN SCARLET. 175

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.

night their course lay

through intricate defiles
and over irregular and
rock - strewn paths .
More than once they lost
their way, but Hope's inti-
mate knowledge of the moun-
tains enabled them to regain
the track once more. When
morning broke, a scene of
marvellous though savage
beauty lay before them. In
everydirection the greatsnow-
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
' A GREAT BOULDER CRASHED
"
the larch and the pine seemed
DOWN ON HIM.
to be suspended over their
176
 A STUDY IN SCARLET. 177

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. " Every-
thing 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 pro-
tection 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
N
178 A STUDY IN SCARLET.

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, how-
ever, 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. Choos-
ing 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 background. Then the inter-
vening 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
 A STUDY IN SCARLET. 179

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 appear-
ance, 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
180 A STUDY IN SCARLET.

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 ob-
scurity 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 recognise 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
 A STUDY IN SCARLET. ISI

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 smoulder-
ing 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, show-
ing that a large party of mounted men had over-
taken 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 al-
most persuaded himself that they must have done
so, when his eye fell upon an object which made
182 A STUDY IN SCARLET.

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 ap-
proached 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.

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
 A STUDY IN SCARLET. 183

have learned from the Indians amongst whom he

had lived. As he stood by the desolate fire, he felt

co,H.
" THE INSCRIPTION UPON THE PAPER WAS BRIEF, BUT TO THE POINT. "

that the only one thing which could assuage his

grief would be thorough and complete retribution,
184 A STUDY IN SCARLET.

brought by his own hand upon his enemies. His

strong will and untiring energy should, he de-
termined, 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 horse-
back. At night he flung himself down among the
rocks, and snatched a few hours of sleep ; but be-
fore 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 ap-
proached, he recognised 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.
 A STUDY IN SCARLET. 185

" I am Jefferson Hope," he said. " You re-

member me."
The Mormon looked at him with undisguised
astonishment-indeed, it was difficult to recognise
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 sur-
prise 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 ? "
186 A STUDY IN SCARLET.

" Married yesterday-that's what those flags are

for on the Endowment House. There was some
words between young Drebber and young Stanger-
son as to which was to have her. They'd both
been in the party that followed them, and Stanger-
son 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 ex-
pression, 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 pro-
perty, did not affect any great grief at his bereave
 A STUDY IN SCARLET. 187

ment ; 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

30

' SNATCHING UP HER HAND, HE TOOK THE WEDDING- RING FROM HER FINGER.'

room. Without a glance or a word to the cower-

ing 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, snatch-
ing up her hand, he took the wedding-ring from her
finger. " She shall not be buried in that," he cried
188 A STUDY IN SCARLET.

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 moun-
tain 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 al-
ways without success. Then they adopted the pre-
caution of never going out alone or after night- fall,
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.
 A STUDY IN SCARLET. 189

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, how-
ever, 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 wear-
ing 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 circum-
stances 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
190 A STUDY IN SCARLET.

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 blood-
hound, with his mind wholly set upon the one
object to 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, look-
ing from his window, had recognised the vagrant
in the street, and had read murder in his eyes. He
 A STUDY IN SCARLET. 191

hurried before a justice of the peace, accompanied

by Stangerson, who had become his private secre-
tary, 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.

prisoner's
furious resist-
ance did not
apparently
indicate any
ferocity in his
disposition
towards our-
selves, 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 Sher
"" WHO AM I ?' "
192
 A STUDY IN SCARLET. 193

lock 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 ankles. 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 power-
fully 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
194 A STUDY IN SCARLET.

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 magis-
trates in the course of the week," he said ; " in the
meantime, 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 think-
ing 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
:
 A STUDY IN SCARLET. 195

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 imme-
diate danger ? " the former asked.
" 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 aneur-
ism 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
196 A STUDY IN SCARLET.

to lie to you. Every word I say is the absolute

truth, and how you use it is a matter of no con-
sequence 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 marry-
ing 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
 A STUDY IN SCARLET. 197

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 tomorrow, 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 cab-owner'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
198 A STUDY IN SCARLET.

had grown my beard, and there was no chance

of their recognising 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 behindhand 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 nap-
ping. I watched them late and early, but never
saw the ghost of a chance ; but I was not discour-
aged, 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
 A STUDY IN SCARLET. 199

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 Liverpoc
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 re-
minded 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 an-
swered that he would be back on the platform
before eleven, and made his way out of the station.
200 A STUDY IN SCARLET.

" 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 ven-
geance 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 look-
ing 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 interrup-
tion. 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
 A STUDY IN SCARLET. 201

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 talk-
ing."
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
202 A STUDY IN SCARLET.

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
crdered 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
poisons, 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 dis-
penser, so I worked this alkaloid into small,
soluble pills, and each pill I put in a box with a
 A STUDY IN SCARLET. 203

similar pill made without the poison. I determined

at the time that when I had my chance my gentle-
men 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.
204 A STUDY IN SCARLET.

" 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 and, for either you or I shall never
 A STUDY IN SCARLET. 205

see to-morrow's sun rise.' He shrunk still farther

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
on 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
206 A STUDY IN SCARLET.

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
Hu

" HE COWERED AWAY WITH WILD CRIES AND PRAYERS FOR MERCY. "
207
 A STUDY IN SCARLET. 209

ring, and found that it was not there. I was thun-

derstruck 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 ar-
rived there, I walked right into the arms of a
police-officer who was coming out, and only man-
aged 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 Stanger-
son, 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.
I 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
P
210 A STUDY IN SCARLET.

chance of safety which that offered him, he sprang

from his bed and flew at my throat. In self-de-

Gro Hutchison.
" HE SPRANG FROM HIS BED AND FLEW AT MY THROAT."

fence I stabbed him to the heart. It would have

been the same in any case, for Providence would
 A STUDY IN SCARLET. 211

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 stand-
ing 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 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 detec-
tives, 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
212 A STUDY IN SCARLET.

can tell my own secrets," he said, " but I don't get

other people into trouble. I saw your advertise-
ment, 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, gentleman," 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 .

had all been

warned to
appear before
the magistrates
upon the
Thursday ; but

WE when
Thursday
came
was

sion
no

for
testimony. A
higher Judge
the

there
occa-

our

had taken the

matter in hand,
and Jefferson
" A HIGHER JUDGE HAD TAKEN THE MATTER
IN HAND."
Hope had been
summoned before a tribunal where strict justice
would be meted out to him. On the very night
213
214 A STUDY IN SCARLET,

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 adver-
tisement 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 be-
lieve that you have done. Never mind," he con-
tinued, 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 instruc-
tive 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 STUDY IN SCARLET. 215

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 de-
scribe 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 con-
sciousness 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 your-
self. 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
216 A STUDY IN SCARLET

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 gentle-
man'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
 A STUDY IN SCARLET. 217

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 be-
fore it came upon him. Men who die from heart
disease, or any sudden natural cause, never by any
chance exhibit agitation upon their features. Hav-
ing 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 de-
liberately, and the perpetrator had left his tracks
all over the room, showing that he had been there
218 A STUDY IN SCARLET.

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 inquired in his telegram to Cleve-
land 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 examina-
tion 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 Trichi-
nopoly 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
 A STUDY IN SCARLET. 219

of the police at Cleveland, limiting my inquiry 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 any
one 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 con-
siderations 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
220 A STUDY IN SCARLET.

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 recognised. You should publish an
account of the case. If you won't, I will for you."
" You may do what you like, Doctor," he an-
swered. " 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
 CoHurrbinson. Sc.Gl.
"" YOU MAY DO WHAT YOU LIKE, DOCTOR.' "
221
 A STUDY IN SCARLET. 223

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 be-
longed, 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 ex-
pected that a testimonial of some sort will be
presented to the two officers as a fitting recogni-
tion 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 testi-
monial ! "
" Never mind," I answered ; " I have all the facts
in my journal, and the public shall know them.
224 A STUDY IN SCARLET.

In the meantime you must make yourself con-

tented by the consciousness of success, like the
Roman miser-

" " Populus me sibilat, at mihi plaudo

Ipse domi simul ac nummos contemplar in arca. ' "
23-8747
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