WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.400 --> 00:00:07.160 Two, the Tiger of San Pedro. A cold and melancholy 2 00:00:07.240 --> 00:00:10.000 walk of a couple of miles brought us to a 3 00:00:10.080 --> 00:00:14.800 high wooden gate which opened into a gloomy avenue of chestnuts. 4 00:00:15.960 --> 00:00:19.280 The curved and shadow drive led us to a low, 5 00:00:19.359 --> 00:00:24.399 dark house, pitch black against a slate colored sky. From 6 00:00:24.399 --> 00:00:26.600 the front window, upon the left of the door, there 7 00:00:26.640 --> 00:00:29.800 peeped a glimmer of a feeble light. There is a 8 00:00:29.800 --> 00:00:34.119 constable impossession, said Baines. I'll knock at the window. He 9 00:00:34.159 --> 00:00:37.039 stepped across the grass plot and tapped with his hand 10 00:00:37.079 --> 00:00:40.479 on the pane. Through the fogged glass eye dimly saw 11 00:00:40.520 --> 00:00:43.079 a man spring up from a chair beside the fire, 12 00:00:43.920 --> 00:00:47.719 and heard a sharp cry from within the room. An 13 00:00:47.759 --> 00:00:51.679 instant later, a white faced, hard breathing policeman had opened 14 00:00:51.719 --> 00:00:56.560 the door, the candle wavering in his trembling hand. What's 15 00:00:56.600 --> 00:01:00.600 the matter, Walters asked Baines sharply. The man mopped his 16 00:01:00.679 --> 00:01:04.599 forehead with his handkerchief and gave a long sigh of relief. 17 00:01:05.519 --> 00:01:08.120 I'm glad you've come, sir. It has been a long evening, 18 00:01:08.200 --> 00:01:10.000 and I don't think my nerve is as good as 19 00:01:10.000 --> 00:01:12.599 it was your nerve. Walters. I should not have thought 20 00:01:12.640 --> 00:01:15.280 you had a nerve in your body. Well, sir, it's 21 00:01:15.319 --> 00:01:18.079 this lonely, silent house and the queer thing in the kitchen. 22 00:01:18.280 --> 00:01:20.040 Then when you tapped at the window, I thought it 23 00:01:20.120 --> 00:01:23.840 had come again. But what had come again? The devil, sir? 24 00:01:24.000 --> 00:01:27.280 For all I know it was at the window? What 25 00:01:27.480 --> 00:01:30.680 was at the window? And when it was just about 26 00:01:30.719 --> 00:01:34.040 two hours ago the light was just fading. I was 27 00:01:34.079 --> 00:01:37.040 sitting reading in the chair. I don't know what made 28 00:01:37.040 --> 00:01:38.640 me look up, but there was a face looking in 29 00:01:38.680 --> 00:01:41.319 at me through the lower pane. Lord, sir, what a 30 00:01:41.359 --> 00:01:45.200 face it was. I'll see it in my dreams. Tut tut, Walters. 31 00:01:45.760 --> 00:01:48.920 This is not talk for a police constable. I know, sir, 32 00:01:49.000 --> 00:01:52.040 I know, but it shook me, sir, and there's no 33 00:01:52.200 --> 00:01:55.799 use to deny it. It wasn't black, sir. No is 34 00:01:55.799 --> 00:01:59.439 it white, nor any color that I know, but a 35 00:01:59.519 --> 00:02:03.359 kind of queer shade like clay who with a splash 36 00:02:03.400 --> 00:02:06.480 of milk in it. Then there was the size of it. 37 00:02:06.480 --> 00:02:09.199 It was twice yours, sir, And the look of it, 38 00:02:10.199 --> 00:02:13.360 the great staring goggle eyes and the line of white 39 00:02:13.439 --> 00:02:15.599 teeth like a hungry beast. I tell you, sir, I 40 00:02:15.599 --> 00:02:18.199 couldn't move a finger, and I'll get my breath till 41 00:02:18.199 --> 00:02:21.159 it whisked away and was gone out. I ran and 42 00:02:21.199 --> 00:02:24.560 through the shrubbery, but thank god there was no one there. 43 00:02:25.360 --> 00:02:27.439 If I didn't know you were a good man, Walters, 44 00:02:27.520 --> 00:02:29.680 I should put a black mark against you for this. 45 00:02:31.080 --> 00:02:34.039 If it were the devil himself, a constable arm duty 46 00:02:34.639 --> 00:02:37.159 should never thank God that he could not lay his 47 00:02:37.240 --> 00:02:40.360 hands upon him. I suppose the whole thing is not 48 00:02:40.439 --> 00:02:44.639 a vision and a touch of nerves that at least 49 00:02:44.840 --> 00:02:51.000 is very easily settled, said Holmes, lighting his little pocket lantern. Yes, 50 00:02:51.400 --> 00:02:54.280 he reported, after a short examination of the grass bed, 51 00:02:54.759 --> 00:02:57.800 a number twelve shoe. I should say, if he was 52 00:02:57.840 --> 00:03:00.520 all on the same scale as his foot, he must 53 00:03:00.560 --> 00:03:04.400 certainly have been a giant. What became of him? He 54 00:03:04.439 --> 00:03:06.759 seems to have broken through the shrubbery and made for 55 00:03:06.800 --> 00:03:10.479 the road, well, said the inspector, with a grave and 56 00:03:10.599 --> 00:03:14.400 thoughtful face. Whoever he may have been, and whatever he 57 00:03:14.479 --> 00:03:18.000 may have wanted, he's gone for the present, and we 58 00:03:18.120 --> 00:03:21.400 have more immediate things to attend to. Now, mister Holmes, 59 00:03:21.400 --> 00:03:23.840 with your permission, I will show you round the house. 60 00:03:25.759 --> 00:03:28.759 The various bedrooms and sitting rooms had yielded nothing to 61 00:03:28.800 --> 00:03:33.240 a careful search. Apparently the tenants had brought little or 62 00:03:33.280 --> 00:03:36.319 nothing with them, and all the furniture, down to the 63 00:03:36.319 --> 00:03:40.280 smallest details, had been taken over with the house. A 64 00:03:40.319 --> 00:03:43.439 good deal of clothing with the stamp of Marx and Co. 65 00:03:43.759 --> 00:03:48.400 High Hoburn, had been left behind. Telegraphic inquiries had been 66 00:03:48.439 --> 00:03:51.840 already made, which showed that Marx knew nothing of his customer, 67 00:03:52.520 --> 00:03:55.680 save that he was a good payer. Odds and ends, 68 00:03:55.800 --> 00:03:58.560 some pipes, a few novels, two of them in Spanish, 69 00:03:58.919 --> 00:04:02.560 an old fashioned pin fire revolver, and a guitar were 70 00:04:02.599 --> 00:04:06.639 among the personal property. Nothing in all this, said Baines, 71 00:04:06.800 --> 00:04:10.360 stalking candle in hand from room to room. But now, 72 00:04:10.400 --> 00:04:15.599 mister Elmes, I invite your attention to the kitchen. It 73 00:04:15.639 --> 00:04:18.079 was a gloomy, high ceilinged room at the back of 74 00:04:18.120 --> 00:04:22.800 the house, with a straw litter in one corner, which 75 00:04:22.839 --> 00:04:26.560 served apparently as a bed for the cook. The table 76 00:04:26.680 --> 00:04:30.720 was piled with half eaten dishes and dirty plates, the 77 00:04:30.759 --> 00:04:34.079 debris of last night's dinner. Look at this, said Baines, 78 00:04:34.160 --> 00:04:36.720 What do you make of it? He held up his 79 00:04:36.800 --> 00:04:40.600 candle before an extraordinary object, which stood at the back 80 00:04:40.600 --> 00:04:44.720 of the dresser. It was so wrinkled and shrunken and 81 00:04:44.759 --> 00:04:48.480 withered that it was difficult to say what it might 82 00:04:48.519 --> 00:04:52.800 have been. One could but say that it was black 83 00:04:52.879 --> 00:04:56.480 and leathery, and that it bore some resemblance to a 84 00:04:56.560 --> 00:05:02.839 dwarfish human figure. At first, as I examined it, I 85 00:05:02.920 --> 00:05:07.639 thought that it was a mummified Negro baby, and then 86 00:05:07.720 --> 00:05:13.399 it seemed a very twisted and ancient monkey. Finally I 87 00:05:13.480 --> 00:05:15.959 was left in doubt as to whether it was animal 88 00:05:16.439 --> 00:05:20.759 or human. A double band of white shells were strung 89 00:05:20.839 --> 00:05:24.920 round the center of it. Very interesting, very interesting, indeed, 90 00:05:25.120 --> 00:05:30.879 said Holmes, peering at this sinister relic anything more. In silence, 91 00:05:31.000 --> 00:05:34.360 bains led the way to the sink and held forward 92 00:05:34.399 --> 00:05:39.720 his candle. The limbs and body of some large white bird, 93 00:05:40.600 --> 00:05:44.199 torn savagely to pieces, with the feathers still on, were 94 00:05:44.279 --> 00:05:48.439 littered all over it. Holmes pointed to the wattles on 95 00:05:48.519 --> 00:05:52.879 the severed head a white cock, said he most interesting. 96 00:05:53.600 --> 00:05:58.519 It is really a very curious case. But mister Baines 97 00:05:58.560 --> 00:06:02.120 had kept his most sinister exhibit to the last. From 98 00:06:02.160 --> 00:06:05.800 under the sink he drew a zinc pail which contained 99 00:06:05.800 --> 00:06:09.480 a quantity of blood. Then from the table. He took 100 00:06:09.480 --> 00:06:13.879 a platter heaped with small pieces of charred bone. Something 101 00:06:13.920 --> 00:06:18.160 has been killed, and something has been burned. We raked 102 00:06:18.199 --> 00:06:21.439 all these out of the fire. We had a doctor 103 00:06:21.439 --> 00:06:26.319 in this morning. He says that they are not human homes, 104 00:06:26.399 --> 00:06:29.800 smiled and rubbed his hands. I must congratulate you, Inspector, 105 00:06:29.800 --> 00:06:34.279 on handling so distinctive and instructive a case. Your powers, 106 00:06:34.959 --> 00:06:38.560 if I may say so, without offense, seem superior to 107 00:06:38.639 --> 00:06:44.879 your opportunities. Inspector Baines's small eyes twinkled with pleasure. Your right, 108 00:06:45.040 --> 00:06:49.439 mister Holmes, We stagnate in the provinces. A case of 109 00:06:49.480 --> 00:06:52.240 this sort gives a man a chance, and I hope 110 00:06:52.240 --> 00:06:54.199 that I shall take it. What do you make of 111 00:06:54.240 --> 00:06:57.279 these bones? A lamb, I should say, or a kid 112 00:06:57.839 --> 00:07:02.360 and the white cock? Curious, mister Baines, very curious, I 113 00:07:02.399 --> 00:07:06.680 should say, almost unique, Yes, sir, there must have been 114 00:07:06.720 --> 00:07:09.759 some very strange people with some very strange ways in 115 00:07:09.800 --> 00:07:13.879 this house. One of them is dead. Did his companions 116 00:07:13.920 --> 00:07:17.160 follow him and kill him? If they did, we should 117 00:07:17.160 --> 00:07:20.360 have them, for every port is watched. But my own 118 00:07:20.439 --> 00:07:23.720 views are different, Yes, sir, my own views are very different. 119 00:07:24.079 --> 00:07:26.560 You have a theory then, and I'll work it myself, 120 00:07:26.600 --> 00:07:29.480 mister Holmes, as only due to my own credit to 121 00:07:29.560 --> 00:07:32.240 do so. Your name is made, but I still have 122 00:07:32.360 --> 00:07:35.120 to make mine. I should be glad to be able 123 00:07:35.160 --> 00:07:38.639 to say afterwards that I had solved it without your help. 124 00:07:39.600 --> 00:07:43.279 Holmes laughed, good humoredly. Well, well, inspect Sir, said he 125 00:07:43.839 --> 00:07:46.600 do you follow your path, and I will follow mine. 126 00:07:47.399 --> 00:07:50.160 My results are always very much at your service, if 127 00:07:50.199 --> 00:07:52.839 you care to apply to me for them. I think 128 00:07:52.920 --> 00:07:54.959 that I have seen all that I wish in this house, 129 00:07:55.839 --> 00:07:59.519 and that my time may be more profitably employed elsewhere. 130 00:08:00.279 --> 00:08:05.199 Au revoir and good luck. I could tell, by numerous 131 00:08:05.240 --> 00:08:08.480 subtle signs which might have been lost upon any one 132 00:08:08.519 --> 00:08:12.639 but myself, that Holmes was on a hot scent, as 133 00:08:12.680 --> 00:08:16.079 impassive as ever to the casual observer, there were none 134 00:08:16.120 --> 00:08:19.839 the less a subdued eagerness and suggestion of tension in 135 00:08:19.879 --> 00:08:24.279 his brightened eyes and brisker manner, which assured me that 136 00:08:24.439 --> 00:08:29.120 the game was afoot. After his habit, he said nothing, 137 00:08:30.040 --> 00:08:33.639 and after mine I asked no questions, sufficient for me 138 00:08:33.759 --> 00:08:36.759 to share the sport and lend my humble help to 139 00:08:36.799 --> 00:08:41.000 the capture without distracting that intent brain, with needless interruption, 140 00:08:41.960 --> 00:08:45.919 all would come round to me in due time. I 141 00:08:46.000 --> 00:08:50.799 waited therefore, but to my ever deepening disappointment, I waited 142 00:08:50.840 --> 00:08:54.440 in vain. Day succeeded day, and my friend took no 143 00:08:54.559 --> 00:08:58.440 step forward. One morning he spent in town, and I 144 00:08:58.519 --> 00:09:01.159 learned from a casual reference that he had visited the 145 00:09:01.200 --> 00:09:05.559 British Museum. Save for this one excursion, he spent his 146 00:09:05.679 --> 00:09:09.480 days in long and often solitary walks, or in chatting 147 00:09:09.519 --> 00:09:13.120 with a number of village gossips whose acquaintance he had cultivated. 148 00:09:13.919 --> 00:09:16.399 I'm sure, Watson, a week in the country will be 149 00:09:16.559 --> 00:09:20.639 invaluable to you, he remarked. It is very pleasant to 150 00:09:20.679 --> 00:09:23.360 see the first green shoots upon the hedges and the 151 00:09:23.399 --> 00:09:26.960 catkins on the hazels. Once again, with a spud, a 152 00:09:27.039 --> 00:09:30.559 tin box and an elementary book on botany, there are 153 00:09:30.720 --> 00:09:34.440 instructive days to be spent. He prowled about with this 154 00:09:34.559 --> 00:09:37.600 equipment himself, but it was a poor show of plants, 155 00:09:37.639 --> 00:09:41.399 which he would bring back of an evening. Occasionally, in 156 00:09:41.440 --> 00:09:45.519 our rambles we came across Inspector Baines. His fat red 157 00:09:45.519 --> 00:09:49.480 face wreathed itself in smiles, and his small eyes glittered 158 00:09:49.600 --> 00:09:53.519 as he greeted my companion. He said little about the case, 159 00:09:54.519 --> 00:09:57.360 but from that little we gathered that he also was 160 00:09:57.399 --> 00:10:02.080 not dissatisfied at the course of events. I must admit, however, 161 00:10:02.840 --> 00:10:06.799 that I was somewhat surprised when, some five days after 162 00:10:06.840 --> 00:10:10.200 the crime, I opened my morning paper to find in 163 00:10:10.360 --> 00:10:17.159 large letters the ox Shot mystery a solution arrest of 164 00:10:17.279 --> 00:10:21.519 supposed assassin. Holmes sprang in his chair as if he 165 00:10:21.559 --> 00:10:24.519 had been stung. When I read the headlines by Jove, 166 00:10:24.639 --> 00:10:28.080 he cried, you don't mean that Baines has got him, Apparently, 167 00:10:28.320 --> 00:10:32.919 said I as I read the following report. Great excitement 168 00:10:33.080 --> 00:10:36.799 was caused in Esha and the neighboring district when it 169 00:10:36.919 --> 00:10:39.840 was learned late last night that an arrest had been 170 00:10:39.840 --> 00:10:44.279 effected in connection with the ox Shot murder. It will 171 00:10:44.279 --> 00:10:48.720 be remembered that mister Garcia of Wisteria Lodge was found 172 00:10:48.799 --> 00:10:52.639 dead on ox Shot Common, his body showing signs of 173 00:10:52.679 --> 00:10:56.639 extreme violence, and that on the same night his servant 174 00:10:56.720 --> 00:11:01.200 and his cook fled, which appeared to show their participation 175 00:11:01.320 --> 00:11:05.000 in the crime. It was suggested, but never proved, that 176 00:11:05.120 --> 00:11:08.440 the deceased gentleman may have had valuables in the house 177 00:11:09.399 --> 00:11:12.200 and that their abstraction was the motive of the crime. 178 00:11:13.000 --> 00:11:16.279 Every effort was made by Inspector Baines, who has the 179 00:11:16.279 --> 00:11:20.720 case in hand, to ascertain the hiding place of the fugitives, 180 00:11:21.159 --> 00:11:23.559 and he had good reason to believe that they had 181 00:11:23.600 --> 00:11:26.639 not gone far, but were lurking in some retreat which 182 00:11:26.639 --> 00:11:30.960 had been already prepared. It was certain from the first, however, 183 00:11:31.320 --> 00:11:35.320 that they would eventually be detected, as the cook, from 184 00:11:35.399 --> 00:11:38.320 the evidence of one or two tradespeople who have caught 185 00:11:38.320 --> 00:11:41.279 a glimpse of him through the window, was a man 186 00:11:41.320 --> 00:11:47.200 of most remarkable appearance, being a huge and hideous mulatto 187 00:11:47.240 --> 00:11:52.240 with the yellowish features of a pronounced negroid type. This 188 00:11:52.279 --> 00:11:54.399 man has been seen since the crime, for he was 189 00:11:54.440 --> 00:11:58.200 detected and pursued by Constable Walters on the same evening 190 00:11:58.960 --> 00:12:04.240 when he had the ordain to revisit Wisteria Lodge. Inspector Baines, 191 00:12:04.279 --> 00:12:06.919 considering that such a visit must have some purpose in 192 00:12:07.000 --> 00:12:10.720 view and was likely therefore to be repeated, abandoned the 193 00:12:10.759 --> 00:12:15.840 house but left an ambuscade in the shrubbery. The man 194 00:12:16.000 --> 00:12:19.440 walked into the trap and was captured last night after 195 00:12:19.480 --> 00:12:24.320 a struggle in which Constable Downing was badly bitten by 196 00:12:24.360 --> 00:12:28.039 the savage. We understand that when the prisoner is brought 197 00:12:28.039 --> 00:12:31.559 before the magistrates, a remand will be applied for by 198 00:12:31.559 --> 00:12:35.200 the police, and that great developments are hoped from his capture. 199 00:12:36.240 --> 00:12:39.440 Really we must see Baines at once, cried Holmes, picking 200 00:12:39.519 --> 00:12:42.600 up his hat. We will just catch him before he starts. 201 00:12:43.639 --> 00:12:46.080 We hurried down the village street and found, as we 202 00:12:46.159 --> 00:12:50.279 had expected, that the inspector was just leaving his lodgings. 203 00:12:50.879 --> 00:12:53.919 You've seen the paper, mister Holmes, he asked, holding one 204 00:12:53.919 --> 00:12:56.600 out to us. Yes, Bains I've seen it. Pray don't 205 00:12:56.639 --> 00:12:58.639 think it a liberty if I give you a word 206 00:12:58.639 --> 00:13:02.759 of friendly warning. Of warning, mister Holmes, I have looked 207 00:13:02.759 --> 00:13:05.519 into this case with some care, and I am not 208 00:13:05.639 --> 00:13:09.399 convinced that you are on the right lines. I don't 209 00:13:09.440 --> 00:13:12.279 want you to commit yourself too far unless you are sure. 210 00:13:12.799 --> 00:13:15.919 You're very kind, mister Holmes. I assure you I speak 211 00:13:15.960 --> 00:13:18.840 for your good. It seemed to me that something like 212 00:13:18.879 --> 00:13:22.039 a wink quivered for an instant over one of mister 213 00:13:22.120 --> 00:13:26.120 Baines's tiny eyes. We agreed to work on our own lines. 214 00:13:26.120 --> 00:13:29.360 Mister Holmes. That's what I am doing. Oh, very good 215 00:13:29.480 --> 00:13:32.960 said Holmes. Don't blame me, no, sir. I believe you 216 00:13:33.039 --> 00:13:36.120 mean well by me. But we all have our own systems. 217 00:13:36.120 --> 00:13:39.600 Mister Holmes, you have yours, and maybe I have mine. 218 00:13:40.240 --> 00:13:43.399 Let us say no more about it. You're welcome always 219 00:13:43.440 --> 00:13:46.639 to my news. This fellow is a perfect savage, as 220 00:13:46.679 --> 00:13:49.399 strong as a cart horse, and as fierce as the devil. 221 00:13:50.240 --> 00:13:53.519 He chewed Downing's thumb nearly off before they could master him. 222 00:13:54.120 --> 00:13:56.279 He hardly speaks a word of English, and we can 223 00:13:56.320 --> 00:13:59.120 get nothing out of him but grunts. And you think 224 00:13:59.159 --> 00:14:02.519 you have evidence that he murdered his late master. I 225 00:14:02.559 --> 00:14:06.399 didn't say so, mister Olms. I didn't say so. We 226 00:14:06.519 --> 00:14:09.279 all have our little ways. You try yours and I 227 00:14:09.320 --> 00:14:13.600 will try mine. Thus the agreement. Holmes shrugged his shoulders 228 00:14:13.639 --> 00:14:16.960 as we walked away together. I can't make the man out. 229 00:14:17.720 --> 00:14:21.000 He seems to be riding for a fall well, as 230 00:14:21.000 --> 00:14:23.200 he says, we must each try our own way and 231 00:14:23.360 --> 00:14:27.000 see what comes of it. But there's something in Inspector 232 00:14:27.000 --> 00:14:31.240 Banes which I can't quite understand. Just sit down in 233 00:14:31.279 --> 00:14:34.720 that chair, Watson, said Sherlock Holmes, when we had returned 234 00:14:34.759 --> 00:14:37.759 to our apartment at the ball. I want to put 235 00:14:37.799 --> 00:14:41.080 you in touch with the situation, as I may need 236 00:14:41.120 --> 00:14:44.159 your help tonight. Let me show you the evolution of 237 00:14:44.159 --> 00:14:45.879 this case so far as I have been able to 238 00:14:45.919 --> 00:14:49.360 follow it simple as it has been in its leading features, 239 00:14:49.759 --> 00:14:53.000 it has nonetheless presented surprising difficulties in the way of 240 00:14:53.000 --> 00:14:56.480 an arrest. There are gaps in that direction which we 241 00:14:56.639 --> 00:14:59.600 have still to fill. We will go back to the 242 00:14:59.679 --> 00:15:02.679 note which was handed into Garcia upon the evening of 243 00:15:02.679 --> 00:15:06.480 his death. We may put aside this idea of Baines's 244 00:15:06.559 --> 00:15:09.799 that Garcia's servants were concerned in the matter. The proof 245 00:15:09.840 --> 00:15:12.159 of this lies in the fact that it was he 246 00:15:12.720 --> 00:15:16.720 who had arranged for the presence of Scott Eccles, which 247 00:15:16.720 --> 00:15:19.320 could only have been done for the purpose of an alibi. 248 00:15:19.960 --> 00:15:24.000 It was Garcia, then, who had an enterprise, and apparently 249 00:15:24.039 --> 00:15:26.679 a criminal enterprise, in hand that night, in the course 250 00:15:26.679 --> 00:15:30.519 of which he met his death. I say criminal because 251 00:15:30.519 --> 00:15:33.600 only a man with a criminal enterprise desires to establish 252 00:15:33.600 --> 00:15:37.120 an alibi, who then is most likely to have taken 253 00:15:37.159 --> 00:15:40.279 his life surely the person against whom the criminal enterprise 254 00:15:40.440 --> 00:15:43.080 was directed. So far, it seems to me that we 255 00:15:43.120 --> 00:15:46.080 are on safe ground. We can now see a reason 256 00:15:46.159 --> 00:15:50.840 for the disappearance of Garcia's household. They were all confederates 257 00:15:50.919 --> 00:15:54.480 in the same unknown crime. If it came off when 258 00:15:54.559 --> 00:15:59.000 Garcia returned, any possible suspicion would be warded off by 259 00:15:59.000 --> 00:16:02.039 the Englishman's ever dance, and all would be well. But 260 00:16:02.159 --> 00:16:04.759 the attempt was a dangerous one, and if Garcia did 261 00:16:04.840 --> 00:16:07.440 not return by a certain hour, it was probable that 262 00:16:07.519 --> 00:16:11.600 his own life had been sacrificed. It had been arranged, therefore, 263 00:16:11.679 --> 00:16:14.200 that in such a case his two subordinates were to 264 00:16:14.200 --> 00:16:17.320 make for some pre arranged spot where they could escape 265 00:16:17.320 --> 00:16:21.600 investigation and be in a position afterwards to renew their attempt. 266 00:16:22.519 --> 00:16:26.519 That would fully explain the facts, would it not? The 267 00:16:26.600 --> 00:16:32.080 whole inexplicable tangle seemed to straighten out before me, I wondered, 268 00:16:32.399 --> 00:16:35.000 as I always did, how it had not been obvious 269 00:16:35.039 --> 00:16:39.919 to me before? But why should one servant return? We 270 00:16:39.960 --> 00:16:43.919 can imagine that in the confusion of flight, something precious, 271 00:16:44.440 --> 00:16:46.679 something which he could not bear to part with, had 272 00:16:46.759 --> 00:16:51.919 been left behind. That would explain his persistence, would it not? Well? 273 00:16:52.720 --> 00:16:56.360 What is the next step? The next step is the 274 00:16:56.440 --> 00:17:00.720 note received by Garcia at the dinner. It indicates a 275 00:17:00.799 --> 00:17:05.640 confederate at the other end, now where was the other end? 276 00:17:07.000 --> 00:17:09.359 I have already shown you that it could only lie 277 00:17:09.440 --> 00:17:12.880 in some large house, and that the number of large 278 00:17:12.920 --> 00:17:16.480 houses is limited. My first days in this village were 279 00:17:16.519 --> 00:17:19.400 devoted to a series of walks, in which, in the 280 00:17:19.400 --> 00:17:23.160 intervals of my botanical researches, I made a reconnaissance of 281 00:17:23.200 --> 00:17:26.200 all the large houses and an examination of the family 282 00:17:26.319 --> 00:17:31.480 history of the occupants. One house, and only one, riveted 283 00:17:31.599 --> 00:17:35.599 my attention. It is the famous old Jacobean grange of 284 00:17:35.799 --> 00:17:39.440 High Gable, one mile on the farther side of Oxshot, 285 00:17:40.319 --> 00:17:42.279 and less than half a mile round the scene of 286 00:17:42.279 --> 00:17:47.200 the tragedy. The other mansions belong to prosaic and respectable 287 00:17:47.240 --> 00:17:52.480 people who live far aloof from Romance. But mister Henderson 288 00:17:52.599 --> 00:17:55.680 of High Gable was, by all accounts a curious man 289 00:17:55.720 --> 00:18:01.400 to whom curious adventures might befall traded. My attention. Therefore 290 00:18:01.480 --> 00:18:06.200 upon him and his household a singular set of people. 291 00:18:06.240 --> 00:18:10.119 Watson the man himself, the most singular of them all. 292 00:18:11.240 --> 00:18:14.839 I managed to see him on a plausible pretext. But 293 00:18:14.920 --> 00:18:18.079 I seemed to read in his dark, deep set, brooding 294 00:18:18.160 --> 00:18:21.400 eyes that he was perfectly aware of my true business. 295 00:18:22.720 --> 00:18:25.640 He is a man of fifty, strong, active, with iron 296 00:18:25.680 --> 00:18:29.640 gray hair, great bunched black eyebrows, the step of a deer, 297 00:18:30.079 --> 00:18:34.720 and the air of an emperor. A fierce, masterful man 298 00:18:34.799 --> 00:18:39.079 with a red hot spirit behind his parchment face. He 299 00:18:39.160 --> 00:18:42.759 is either a foreigner or has lived long in the tropics, 300 00:18:42.799 --> 00:18:46.839 for he is yellow and sapless, but tough as whip cord. 301 00:18:47.440 --> 00:18:51.440 His friend and secretary, mister Lucas, is undoubtedly a foreigner, 302 00:18:52.240 --> 00:18:58.839 chocolate brown, wily, suave and catlike, with a poisonous gentleness 303 00:18:58.839 --> 00:19:03.319 of speech. You see, Watson, we have come already upon 304 00:19:03.400 --> 00:19:08.039 two sets of foreigners, one at Wisteria Lodge and one 305 00:19:08.240 --> 00:19:12.599 at high Gable, So our gaps are beginning to close. 306 00:19:13.599 --> 00:19:17.640 These two men, close and confidential friends, are the center 307 00:19:17.680 --> 00:19:21.720 of the household. But there is one other person who, 308 00:19:21.759 --> 00:19:26.000 for our immediate purpose, may be even more important. Henderson 309 00:19:26.039 --> 00:19:31.039 has two children, girls of eleven and thirteen. Their governess 310 00:19:31.160 --> 00:19:35.279 is a Miss Burnett, an English woman of forty or thereabouts. 311 00:19:35.920 --> 00:19:40.839 There is also one confidential manservant. This little group forms 312 00:19:40.880 --> 00:19:44.319 the real family, for they travel about together, and Henderson 313 00:19:44.440 --> 00:19:48.079 is a great traveler, always on the move. It is 314 00:19:48.119 --> 00:19:51.000 only within the last weeks that he has returned after 315 00:19:51.039 --> 00:19:54.599 a year's absence to High Gable. I may add that 316 00:19:54.640 --> 00:19:58.200 he is enormously rich, and whatever his whims may be, 317 00:19:58.440 --> 00:20:02.079 he can very easily satisfy them. For the rest His 318 00:20:02.200 --> 00:20:04.799 house is full of butler's footmen, made servants, and the 319 00:20:04.880 --> 00:20:08.839 usual overfed, underworked staff of a large English country house. 320 00:20:09.680 --> 00:20:12.559 So much I learned, partly from village gossip and partly 321 00:20:12.640 --> 00:20:16.279 from my own observation. There are no better instruments than 322 00:20:16.359 --> 00:20:20.599 discharged servants with a grievance, and I was lucky enough 323 00:20:20.599 --> 00:20:23.880 to find one. I call it luck, but it would 324 00:20:23.880 --> 00:20:26.240 not have come my way had I not been looking 325 00:20:26.279 --> 00:20:29.680 out for it. As Baines remarks, we all have our systems. 326 00:20:30.400 --> 00:20:33.359 It was my system which enabled me to find John Warner, 327 00:20:33.799 --> 00:20:37.079 late gardener of High Gable, sacked in a moment of 328 00:20:37.119 --> 00:20:41.480 temper by his imperious employer. He in turn had friends 329 00:20:41.559 --> 00:20:46.119 among the indoor servants, who unite in their fear and 330 00:20:46.200 --> 00:20:49.079 dislike of their master. So I had my key to 331 00:20:49.119 --> 00:20:54.119 the secrets of the establishment. Curious people, Watson, I don't 332 00:20:54.119 --> 00:20:58.720 pretend to understand it all yet, but very curious people. Anyway. 333 00:20:59.599 --> 00:21:01.839 It's a double winged house, and the servants live on 334 00:21:01.839 --> 00:21:04.720 one side. The family. On the other there's no link 335 00:21:04.880 --> 00:21:09.559 between the two save for Henderson's own servant, who serves 336 00:21:09.599 --> 00:21:13.680 the family's meals. Everything is carried to a certain door, 337 00:21:14.240 --> 00:21:18.480 which forms the one connection. Governess and children hardly go 338 00:21:18.599 --> 00:21:22.000 out at all, except into the garden. Henderson never, by 339 00:21:22.039 --> 00:21:26.759 any chance, walks alone. His dark secretary is like his shadow. 340 00:21:27.759 --> 00:21:30.160 The gossip among the servants is that their master is 341 00:21:30.240 --> 00:21:33.759 terribly afraid of something. Sold is old to the devil 342 00:21:33.799 --> 00:21:37.240 in exchange for money, says Warner, and expects his creditor 343 00:21:37.279 --> 00:21:40.480 to come up and claim his own. Where they came 344 00:21:40.519 --> 00:21:45.079 from or who they are, nobody has an idea. They 345 00:21:45.119 --> 00:21:49.079 are very violent. Twice Henderson has lashed at folk with 346 00:21:49.160 --> 00:21:52.720 his dog whip, and only his long purse and heavy 347 00:21:52.799 --> 00:21:57.720 compensation have kept him out of the courts. Well, now, Watson, 348 00:21:57.799 --> 00:22:01.279 let us judge the situation by this new in. We 349 00:22:01.359 --> 00:22:03.720 may take it that the letter came out of this 350 00:22:03.880 --> 00:22:08.319 strange household and was an invitation to Garcia to carry 351 00:22:08.359 --> 00:22:12.839 out some attempt which had already been planned. Who wrote 352 00:22:12.920 --> 00:22:17.000 the note? It was someone within the citadel, and it 353 00:22:17.079 --> 00:22:21.480 was a woman who then but miss Burnet the governess. 354 00:22:22.200 --> 00:22:25.079 All our reasoning seems to point that way. At any rate, 355 00:22:25.160 --> 00:22:27.920 we may take it as a hypothesis and see what 356 00:22:27.960 --> 00:22:31.599 consequences it would entail. I may add that Miss Burnet's 357 00:22:31.599 --> 00:22:34.920 age and character make it certain that my first idea 358 00:22:35.000 --> 00:22:37.519 that there might be a love interest in our story 359 00:22:38.240 --> 00:22:41.279 is out of the question. If she wrote the note, 360 00:22:41.319 --> 00:22:44.680 she was presumably the friend and confederate of Garcia. What 361 00:22:44.920 --> 00:22:47.640 then might she be expected to do if she heard 362 00:22:47.680 --> 00:22:51.039 of his death? If he met it in some Nefario's enterprise, 363 00:22:51.119 --> 00:22:54.880 her lips might be sealed still in her heart. She 364 00:22:55.000 --> 00:22:58.519 must retain bitterness and hatred against those who had killed him, 365 00:22:58.920 --> 00:23:01.880 and would presumably help so far as she could, to 366 00:23:01.960 --> 00:23:06.839 have revenge upon them. Could we see her then and 367 00:23:06.880 --> 00:23:10.559 try to use her? That was my first thought. But 368 00:23:10.640 --> 00:23:13.440 now we come to a sinister fact. Miss Burnet has 369 00:23:13.480 --> 00:23:15.960 not been seen by any human eye since the night 370 00:23:16.000 --> 00:23:21.039 of the murder. From that evening she has utterly vanished. 371 00:23:21.960 --> 00:23:25.960 Is she alive, Has she perhaps met her end on 372 00:23:26.039 --> 00:23:28.480 the same night as the friend whom she had summoned, 373 00:23:29.039 --> 00:23:32.519 or is she merely a prisoner? There is the point 374 00:23:32.599 --> 00:23:36.319 which we still have to decide. You will appreciate the 375 00:23:36.319 --> 00:23:39.519 difficulty of the situation Watson, there is nothing upon which 376 00:23:39.519 --> 00:23:42.759 we can apply for a warrant. Our whole scheme might 377 00:23:42.799 --> 00:23:47.920 seem fantastic if laid before a magistrate. The woman's disappearance 378 00:23:47.960 --> 00:23:52.000 counts for nothing, since in that extraordinary household, any member 379 00:23:52.039 --> 00:23:55.799 of it might be invisible for a week, and yet 380 00:23:55.799 --> 00:23:58.240 she may, at the present moment be in danger of 381 00:23:58.319 --> 00:24:01.079 her life. All I can do is to watch the 382 00:24:01.160 --> 00:24:05.480 house and leave my agent Warner on guard at the gates. 383 00:24:06.079 --> 00:24:09.119 We can't let such a situation continue. If the law 384 00:24:09.160 --> 00:24:12.480 can do nothing, we must take the risk ourselves. What 385 00:24:12.559 --> 00:24:16.519 do you suggest? I know which is her room? It 386 00:24:16.640 --> 00:24:20.559 is accessible from the top of an outhouse. My suggestion 387 00:24:20.839 --> 00:24:23.839 is that you and I go to night and see 388 00:24:23.880 --> 00:24:26.759 if we can strike at the very heart of the mystery. 389 00:24:28.240 --> 00:24:31.039 It was not I must confess a very alluring prospect. 390 00:24:32.440 --> 00:24:35.359 The old house, with its atmosphere of murder, the singular 391 00:24:35.400 --> 00:24:40.119 and formidable inhabitants, the unknown dangers of the approach, and 392 00:24:40.160 --> 00:24:42.799 the fact that we were putting ourselves legally in a 393 00:24:42.839 --> 00:24:48.319 false position, all combined to damp my ardor But there 394 00:24:48.400 --> 00:24:50.960 was something in the ice cold reasoning of homes which 395 00:24:50.960 --> 00:24:53.599 made it impossible to shrink from any adventure which he 396 00:24:53.759 --> 00:24:57.599 might recommend. One knew that thus, and only thus could 397 00:24:57.599 --> 00:25:02.000 a solution be found. I clasped his hand in silence, 398 00:25:02.759 --> 00:25:05.920 and the die was cast. But it was not destined 399 00:25:05.920 --> 00:25:10.319 that our investigation should have so adventurous an ending. It 400 00:25:10.400 --> 00:25:12.720 was about five o'clock and the shadows of the march 401 00:25:12.799 --> 00:25:17.160