1 00:00:00,360 --> 00:00:05,839 Speaker 1: The Glorious Scott. I have some papers here, said my 2 00:00:05,879 --> 00:00:08,599 friend Shark Holmes, as we sat one winter's night on 3 00:00:08,679 --> 00:00:11,919 either side of the fire, which I really think, Watson, 4 00:00:12,240 --> 00:00:14,199 that it would be worth your while to glance over. 5 00:00:15,160 --> 00:00:18,399 These are the documents in the extraordinary case of the 6 00:00:18,440 --> 00:00:22,519 Glorious Scott. And this is the message which struck Justice 7 00:00:22,559 --> 00:00:25,640 of the piece Trevor dead with horror when he read it. 8 00:00:26,879 --> 00:00:29,519 He had picked from a drawer a little tarnished cylinder, 9 00:00:30,039 --> 00:00:32,479 and undoing the tape, he handed me a short note 10 00:00:32,600 --> 00:00:36,679 scrawled upon a half sheet of slate gray paper. The 11 00:00:36,759 --> 00:00:39,399 supply of game for London is going steadily up, it 12 00:00:39,560 --> 00:00:43,079 ran head keeper Hudson. We believe has been now told 13 00:00:43,119 --> 00:00:46,119 to receive all orders for fly paper and for preservation 14 00:00:46,240 --> 00:00:49,840 of your hen pheasant's life. As I glanced up from 15 00:00:49,880 --> 00:00:53,840 reading this enigmatical message, I saw Holmes chuckling at the 16 00:00:53,880 --> 00:00:58,320 expression upon my face. You look a little bewildered, said he. 17 00:01:00,079 --> 00:01:02,159 I cannot see how such a message as this could 18 00:01:02,159 --> 00:01:05,519 inspire horror. It seems to me to be rather grotesque 19 00:01:05,560 --> 00:01:11,280 than otherwise very likely. Yet the fact remains that the reader, 20 00:01:11,599 --> 00:01:14,920 who was a fine robust old man, was not cleaned 21 00:01:14,920 --> 00:01:16,640 down by it as if it had been the butt 22 00:01:16,760 --> 00:01:20,439 end of a pistol. You arise my curiosity, said I, 23 00:01:21,159 --> 00:01:23,040 But why did you just say now that there were 24 00:01:23,120 --> 00:01:27,920 very particular reasons why I should study this case, because 25 00:01:27,959 --> 00:01:30,480 it was the first in which I was ever engaged. 26 00:01:31,760 --> 00:01:34,560 I had often endeavored to elicit from my companion what 27 00:01:34,680 --> 00:01:37,799 had first turned his mind in the direction of criminal research, 28 00:01:38,400 --> 00:01:41,000 but had never caught him before in a communicative humor. 29 00:01:42,000 --> 00:01:45,079 Now he sat forward in this arm chair and spread 30 00:01:45,079 --> 00:01:48,079 out the documents upon his knees. Then he lit his 31 00:01:48,159 --> 00:01:51,719 pipe and sat for some time, smoking and turning them over. 32 00:01:53,879 --> 00:01:56,760 You never heard me talk of Victor. Trevor, he asked. 33 00:01:57,519 --> 00:01:59,599 He was the only friend I made during the two 34 00:01:59,680 --> 00:02:02,400 years I was at college. I was never a very 35 00:02:02,400 --> 00:02:05,840 sociable fellow, Watson, always rather fond of moping in my 36 00:02:05,959 --> 00:02:08,919 rooms and working out my own little methods of thought, 37 00:02:09,560 --> 00:02:11,560 so that I never mixed much with the men of 38 00:02:11,560 --> 00:02:16,879 my year bar fencing and boxing. I had few athletic tastes, 39 00:02:17,439 --> 00:02:19,800 and then my line of study was quite distinct from 40 00:02:19,800 --> 00:02:22,039 that of the other fellows, so that we had no 41 00:02:22,120 --> 00:02:26,240 points of contact at all. Trevor was the only man 42 00:02:26,319 --> 00:02:29,400 I knew, and that only through the accident of his 43 00:02:29,520 --> 00:02:32,199 bull terrier freezing on to my ankle one morning as 44 00:02:32,240 --> 00:02:35,520 I went down to chapel. It was a prosaic way 45 00:02:35,560 --> 00:02:39,080 of forming a friendship, but it was effective. I was 46 00:02:39,159 --> 00:02:42,560 laid by the heels for ten days, but Trevor used 47 00:02:42,599 --> 00:02:45,680 to come in to inquire after me. At first it 48 00:02:45,719 --> 00:02:49,120 was only a minute's chat, but soon his visits lengthened, 49 00:02:49,800 --> 00:02:52,199 and before the end of the term we were close friends. 50 00:02:53,159 --> 00:02:56,479 He was a hearty, full blooded fellow, full of spirits 51 00:02:56,520 --> 00:02:59,919 and energy, the very opposite to me in most respects, 52 00:03:00,599 --> 00:03:03,159 but we had some subjects in common, and it was 53 00:03:03,199 --> 00:03:05,000 a bond of union when I found that he was 54 00:03:05,039 --> 00:03:09,199 as friendless as I. Finally he invited me down to 55 00:03:09,240 --> 00:03:13,159 his father's place at Donnithorpe in Norfolk, and I accepted 56 00:03:13,159 --> 00:03:17,479 his hospitality for a month of the long vacation. Old 57 00:03:17,520 --> 00:03:20,840 Trevor was evidently a man of some wealth and consideration, 58 00:03:21,680 --> 00:03:25,719 a j P and a landed proprietor. Donnithorpe is a 59 00:03:25,759 --> 00:03:28,599 little hamlet just to the north of Langnere in the 60 00:03:28,639 --> 00:03:32,280 country of the Broads. The house was an old fashioned, 61 00:03:32,479 --> 00:03:36,280 wide spread oak beamed brick building, with a fine lime 62 00:03:36,360 --> 00:03:39,560 lined avenue. Leading up to it. There was excellent wild 63 00:03:39,639 --> 00:03:43,680 duck shooting in the fens, remarkably good fishing, a small 64 00:03:43,719 --> 00:03:47,400 but select library taken over, as I understand, from a 65 00:03:47,400 --> 00:03:51,520 former occupant, and a tolerable cook, so that he would 66 00:03:51,560 --> 00:03:53,919 be a fastidious man who could not put in a 67 00:03:53,960 --> 00:03:58,520 pleasant month there. Trevsenior was a widower and my friend 68 00:03:58,599 --> 00:04:01,919 his only son. There had been a daughter, I heard, 69 00:04:02,080 --> 00:04:04,319 but she had died of diphtheria while on a visit 70 00:04:04,360 --> 00:04:09,080 to Birmingham. The father interested me extremely. He was a 71 00:04:09,120 --> 00:04:12,080 man of little culture, but with a considerable amount of 72 00:04:12,199 --> 00:04:17,600 rude strength, both physically and mentally. He knew hardly any books, 73 00:04:18,040 --> 00:04:20,720 but he had traveled far, had seen much of the world, 74 00:04:21,600 --> 00:04:24,720 and had remembered all that he had learned in person. 75 00:04:24,800 --> 00:04:26,959 He was a thick set, burly man, with a shock 76 00:04:27,000 --> 00:04:31,160 of grizzled hair, a brown, weather beaten face, and blue 77 00:04:31,160 --> 00:04:35,040 eyes which were keen to the verge of fierceness. Yet 78 00:04:35,120 --> 00:04:38,120 he had a reputation for kindness and charity on the 79 00:04:38,160 --> 00:04:41,040 country side, and was noted for the leniency of his 80 00:04:41,120 --> 00:04:46,439 sentences from the bench. One evening, shortly after my arrival, 81 00:04:46,800 --> 00:04:49,120 we were sitting over a glass of port after dinner, 82 00:04:49,639 --> 00:04:52,279 when young Trevor began to talk about those habits of 83 00:04:52,319 --> 00:04:56,560 observation and inference which I had already formed into a system, 84 00:04:56,720 --> 00:04:59,160 although I had not yet appreciated the part which they 85 00:04:59,199 --> 00:05:01,879 were to play in my life life. The old man 86 00:05:01,920 --> 00:05:05,199 evidently thought that his son was exaggerating in his description 87 00:05:05,319 --> 00:05:07,959 of one or two trivial feats which I had performed. 88 00:05:09,000 --> 00:05:12,759 Come now, mister Holmes, said he, laughing good humoredly. I 89 00:05:12,800 --> 00:05:15,879 am an excellent subject. If you can deduce anything from me, 90 00:05:17,399 --> 00:05:20,360 I fear there is not very much, I answered, I 91 00:05:20,439 --> 00:05:22,480 might suggest that you have gone about in fear of 92 00:05:22,480 --> 00:05:27,079 some personal attack within the last twelve months. The laugh 93 00:05:27,160 --> 00:05:29,519 faded from his lips, and he stared at me in 94 00:05:29,560 --> 00:05:35,439 great surprise. Well that's true enough, said he. You know, Victor, 95 00:05:35,839 --> 00:05:39,240 turning to his son, when we broke up that poaching gang, 96 00:05:39,560 --> 00:05:42,639 they swore a kniphus and Sir Edward Holly has actually 97 00:05:42,680 --> 00:05:45,879 been attacked. I have always been on my guard since then, 98 00:05:46,360 --> 00:05:49,360 though I have no idea how you know it. You 99 00:05:49,439 --> 00:05:53,120 have a very handsome stick, I answered, by the inscription, 100 00:05:53,240 --> 00:05:55,279 I observed that you had not had it more than 101 00:05:55,279 --> 00:05:58,480 a year but you have taken some pains to bore 102 00:05:58,519 --> 00:06:01,240 the head of it and poor melted lead into the hole, 103 00:06:01,839 --> 00:06:05,120 so as to make it a formidable weapon. I argued 104 00:06:05,120 --> 00:06:07,759 that you would not take such precautions unless you had 105 00:06:07,800 --> 00:06:13,639 some danger to fear. Anything else, he asked, smiling, you 106 00:06:13,720 --> 00:06:17,079 have boxed a good deal in your youth, right again, 107 00:06:17,720 --> 00:06:20,240 How did you know it is my nose knocked a 108 00:06:20,279 --> 00:06:24,480 little out of the strait, No, said I, it is 109 00:06:24,519 --> 00:06:28,240 your ears. They have the peculiar flattening and thickening which 110 00:06:28,279 --> 00:06:32,959 marks the boxing man. Anything else, You have done a 111 00:06:33,000 --> 00:06:36,600 good deal of digging by your callosities, made all my 112 00:06:36,680 --> 00:06:40,120 money at the goldfields. You have been in New Zealand 113 00:06:40,879 --> 00:06:46,600 right again. You have visited Japan, quite true, and you 114 00:06:46,720 --> 00:06:50,240 have been most intimately associated with some one whose initials 115 00:06:50,240 --> 00:06:54,240 were j A, and whom you afterwards were eager to 116 00:06:54,519 --> 00:06:59,759 entirely forget. Mister Trevis stood slowly up, fixed his large 117 00:06:59,759 --> 00:07:02,360 blae two eyes upon me with a strange, wild stare, 118 00:07:03,120 --> 00:07:05,879 and then pitched forward with his face among the nutshells 119 00:07:05,920 --> 00:07:09,759 which strewed the cloth in a dead faint. You can 120 00:07:09,800 --> 00:07:12,720 imagine Watson, how shocked both his son and I were 121 00:07:13,800 --> 00:07:16,480 his attack did not last long, however, for when we 122 00:07:16,560 --> 00:07:19,120 undid his collar and sprinkled the water from one of 123 00:07:19,120 --> 00:07:22,040 the finger glasses over his face, he gave a gasp 124 00:07:22,199 --> 00:07:27,279 or two and sat up, Ah, boys, said he forcing 125 00:07:27,279 --> 00:07:31,160 a smile. I hope I haven't frightened you. Strong as 126 00:07:31,160 --> 00:07:33,560 I look, there is a weak place in my heart, 127 00:07:34,000 --> 00:07:36,560 and it does not take much to knock me over. 128 00:07:37,480 --> 00:07:39,959 I don't know how you manage this, mister Holmes, but 129 00:07:40,000 --> 00:07:42,399 it seems to me that all the detectives of fact 130 00:07:42,480 --> 00:07:45,959 and of fancy would be children in your hands. That's 131 00:07:46,000 --> 00:07:48,360 your line of life, sir, And you may take the 132 00:07:48,399 --> 00:07:50,920 word of a man who has seen something of the world, 133 00:07:52,360 --> 00:07:56,959 and that recommendation, with the exaggerated estimate of my ability 134 00:07:57,040 --> 00:08:00,560 with which he prefaced it was, if you will believe me, Watson, 135 00:08:01,120 --> 00:08:03,759 the very first thing which ever made me feel that 136 00:08:03,839 --> 00:08:06,120 a profession might be made out of what had up 137 00:08:06,160 --> 00:08:10,560 to that time been the merest hobby. At the moment, however, 138 00:08:10,959 --> 00:08:13,319 I was too much concerned at the sudden illness of 139 00:08:13,360 --> 00:08:17,319 my host to think of anything else. I hope that 140 00:08:17,360 --> 00:08:21,079 I've said nothing to pain you said, I, well, you 141 00:08:21,240 --> 00:08:25,040 certainly touched upon rather a tender point might I ask 142 00:08:25,160 --> 00:08:29,120 how you know and how much you know? He spoke 143 00:08:29,199 --> 00:08:31,839 now in a half jesting fashion, but a look of 144 00:08:31,920 --> 00:08:35,480 terror still lurked at the back of his eyes. It 145 00:08:35,559 --> 00:08:39,399 is simplicity itself, said I. When you bared your arm 146 00:08:39,519 --> 00:08:41,679 to draw that fish into the boat, I saw that 147 00:08:41,799 --> 00:08:44,879 j A had been tattooed in the bend of the elbow. 148 00:08:45,799 --> 00:08:49,159 The letters were still legible, but it was perfectly clear 149 00:08:49,200 --> 00:08:53,240 from their blurred appearance, and from the staining of the 150 00:08:53,360 --> 00:08:57,559 skin around them, that efforts had been made to obliterate them. 151 00:08:57,879 --> 00:09:00,720 It was obvious then that those in this had once 152 00:09:00,799 --> 00:09:04,039 been very familiar to you, and that you had afterwards 153 00:09:04,120 --> 00:09:08,440 wished to forget them. What an eye you have, he cried, 154 00:09:08,799 --> 00:09:11,679 with a sigh of relief. It is just as you say, 155 00:09:12,480 --> 00:09:15,480 but we won't talk of it. Of all ghosts, the 156 00:09:15,480 --> 00:09:19,120 ghosts of our old lovers are the worst. Come into 157 00:09:19,159 --> 00:09:23,559 the billiard room and have a quiet cigar. From that day, 158 00:09:23,879 --> 00:09:26,440 amid all his cordiality, there was always a touch of 159 00:09:26,480 --> 00:09:30,639 suspicion in mister Trevor's manner towards me. Even his son remarked, 160 00:09:30,679 --> 00:09:33,840 it you've given the governor such a turn, said he, 161 00:09:34,240 --> 00:09:36,080 that he'll never be sure again of what you know 162 00:09:36,320 --> 00:09:39,240 and what you don't know. He did not mean to 163 00:09:39,320 --> 00:09:42,120 show it, I am sure, but it was so strongly 164 00:09:42,159 --> 00:09:44,519 in his mind that it peeped out at every action. 165 00:09:46,039 --> 00:09:49,080 At last, I became so convinced that I was causing 166 00:09:49,120 --> 00:09:52,080 him uneasiness that I drew my visit to a close. 167 00:09:53,039 --> 00:09:56,039 On the very day. However, before I left, an incident 168 00:09:56,080 --> 00:09:58,960 occurred which proved in the sequel to be of importance. 169 00:10:00,320 --> 00:10:02,720 We were sitting out upon the lawn and garden chairs, 170 00:10:03,240 --> 00:10:05,960 the three of us, basking in the sun and admiring 171 00:10:05,960 --> 00:10:08,879 the view across the broads, when a maid came out 172 00:10:08,919 --> 00:10:10,399 to say that there was a man at the door 173 00:10:10,440 --> 00:10:14,720 who wanted to see mister Trevor. What is his name, 174 00:10:15,240 --> 00:10:19,039 asked my host. He would not give any What does 175 00:10:19,080 --> 00:10:22,320 he want? Then he says that you know him, and 176 00:10:22,399 --> 00:10:26,120 that he only wants a moment's conversation. Show him round here. 177 00:10:27,240 --> 00:10:30,840 An instant afterwards, there appeared a little wizened fellow with 178 00:10:30,879 --> 00:10:34,519 a cringing manner and a shambling style of walking. He 179 00:10:34,519 --> 00:10:37,000 wore an open jacket with a splotch of tar on 180 00:10:37,039 --> 00:10:41,240 the sleeve, a red and black check shirt, dungaree trousers 181 00:10:41,279 --> 00:10:45,039 and heavy boots badly worn. His face was thin and 182 00:10:45,120 --> 00:10:49,080 brown and crafty, with a perpetual smile upon it, which 183 00:10:49,120 --> 00:10:52,679 showed an irregular line of yellow teeth, and his crinkled 184 00:10:52,759 --> 00:10:55,840 hands were half closed in a way that is distinctive 185 00:10:55,879 --> 00:11:00,360 of sailors. As he came slouching across the lawn, I 186 00:11:00,440 --> 00:11:03,240 heard mister Trevor made a sort of hiccuping noise in 187 00:11:03,279 --> 00:11:06,639 his throat, and jumping out of his chair, he ran 188 00:11:06,679 --> 00:11:09,919 into the house. He was back in a moment, and 189 00:11:10,000 --> 00:11:13,919 I smelt a strong reek of brandy as he passed me. Well, 190 00:11:13,960 --> 00:11:16,519 my man, said he, What can I do for you? 191 00:11:17,679 --> 00:11:20,519 The sailor stood looking at him with puckered eyes and 192 00:11:20,559 --> 00:11:24,480 with the same loose lipped smile upon his face. You 193 00:11:24,600 --> 00:11:29,320 don't know me, he asked. Why, dear me, it is surely, Hudson, 194 00:11:29,639 --> 00:11:33,320 said mister Trevor, in a tone of surprise. Hudson, it is, sir, 195 00:11:33,840 --> 00:11:36,960 said the seaman. Why. It's thirty years or more since 196 00:11:36,960 --> 00:11:39,679 I saw you last. Here you are in your house 197 00:11:40,080 --> 00:11:42,320 and me still picking my salt meat out of the 198 00:11:42,360 --> 00:11:46,360 harness cask. Tut. You will find that I have not 199 00:11:46,480 --> 00:11:50,960 forgotten old times. Cried mister Trevor, and walking towards the sailor, 200 00:11:51,399 --> 00:11:55,240 he said something in a low voice. Go into the kitchen, 201 00:11:55,679 --> 00:11:58,840 he continued out loud, and you will get food and drink. 202 00:11:59,480 --> 00:12:01,879 I have no doubt that I shall find you a situation. 203 00:12:03,279 --> 00:12:07,120 Thank you, sir, said the seaman, touching his forelock. I'm 204 00:12:07,240 --> 00:12:09,679 just off a two yearer in an eight knot tramp, 205 00:12:10,320 --> 00:12:13,559 short handed at that, and I want a rest. I 206 00:12:13,639 --> 00:12:17,840 thought i'd get it either with mister Bedders or with you, Ah, 207 00:12:17,879 --> 00:12:22,279 cried Trevor. You know where mister Beddrows is. Bless you, sir, 208 00:12:22,879 --> 00:12:25,360 I know where all my old friends are, said the 209 00:12:25,399 --> 00:12:28,919 fellow with a sinister smile, and he slouched off after 210 00:12:28,960 --> 00:12:33,200 the maid to the kitchen. Mister Trevor mumbled something to 211 00:12:33,320 --> 00:12:35,960 us about having been shipmate with the man when he 212 00:12:36,039 --> 00:12:38,799 was going back to the diggings, and then leaving us 213 00:12:38,799 --> 00:12:43,159 on the lawn he went indoors. An hour later, when 214 00:12:43,159 --> 00:12:46,639 we entered the house, we found him stretched dead drunk 215 00:12:46,720 --> 00:12:50,720 upon the dining room's sofa. The whole instant left a 216 00:12:50,720 --> 00:12:53,879 most ugly impression upon my mind, and I was not 217 00:12:54,080 --> 00:12:57,440 sorry next day to leave Donithorpe behind me. For I 218 00:12:57,480 --> 00:13:00,159 felt that my presence must be a source of embarrass 219 00:13:00,440 --> 00:13:04,759 to my friend. All this occurred during the first month 220 00:13:04,799 --> 00:13:08,200 of the long vacation. I went up to my London rooms, 221 00:13:08,519 --> 00:13:11,360 where I spent seven weeks working out a few experiments 222 00:13:11,399 --> 00:13:15,759 in organic chemistry. One day, however, when the autumn was 223 00:13:15,799 --> 00:13:19,679 far advanced and the vacation drawing to a close, I 224 00:13:19,759 --> 00:13:23,080 received a telegram from my friend imploring me to return 225 00:13:23,120 --> 00:13:26,080 to Donnithorpe, and saying that he was in great need 226 00:13:26,120 --> 00:13:30,240 of my advice and assistance. Of course, I dropped everything 227 00:13:30,639 --> 00:13:34,000 and set out for the north once more. He met 228 00:13:34,080 --> 00:13:36,759 me with the dog cart at the station, and I 229 00:13:36,759 --> 00:13:39,120 saw at a glance that the last two months had 230 00:13:39,120 --> 00:13:42,360 been very trying ones for him. He had grown thin 231 00:13:42,559 --> 00:13:45,679 and care worn, and had lost the loud, cheery manner 232 00:13:45,720 --> 00:13:49,440 for which he had been remarkable. The governor is dying. 233 00:13:49,960 --> 00:13:54,080 With the first words, he said, impossible, I cried, what 234 00:13:54,279 --> 00:13:58,919 is the matter. Apoplexy, nervous shock. He's been on the 235 00:13:59,039 --> 00:14:01,960 verge all day. I doubt if we shall find him alive. 236 00:14:03,159 --> 00:14:05,759 I was, as you may think, Watson, horrified at this 237 00:14:05,879 --> 00:14:11,200 unexpected news. What has caused it? I asked, Ah, that 238 00:14:11,360 --> 00:14:13,840 is the point, jump in and we can talk it 239 00:14:13,879 --> 00:14:17,639 over while we drive. You remember that fellow who came 240 00:14:17,720 --> 00:14:21,960 upon the evening before you left us perfectly? Do you 241 00:14:22,039 --> 00:14:24,039 know who it was that we let into the house 242 00:14:24,080 --> 00:14:28,919 that day? I have no idea. It was the devil Holmes, 243 00:14:29,440 --> 00:14:34,480 he cried. I stared at him in astonishment. Yes, it 244 00:14:34,600 --> 00:14:37,519 was the devil himself. We have not had a peaceful 245 00:14:37,559 --> 00:14:41,279 hour since, not one. The Governor has never held up 246 00:14:41,320 --> 00:14:44,000 his head from that evening, and now the life has 247 00:14:44,039 --> 00:14:47,360 been crushed out of him, and his heart broken all 248 00:14:47,399 --> 00:14:52,720 through this accursed Hudson. What power had he then? Ah, 249 00:14:53,120 --> 00:14:55,000 that is what I would give so much to know, 250 00:14:56,360 --> 00:15:00,519 the kindly, charitable, good old governor. How could he have 251 00:15:00,559 --> 00:15:03,480 fallen into the clutches of such a ruffian. But I 252 00:15:03,519 --> 00:15:06,360 am so glad that you have come homes. I trust 253 00:15:06,480 --> 00:15:09,919 very much to your judgment and discretion, and I know 254 00:15:10,000 --> 00:15:13,360 that you will advise me for the best. We were 255 00:15:13,440 --> 00:15:16,480 dashing along the smooth white country road, with a long 256 00:15:16,600 --> 00:15:19,240 stretch of the broads in front of us, glimmering in 257 00:15:19,279 --> 00:15:22,360 the red light of the setting sun. From a grove 258 00:15:22,440 --> 00:15:25,600 upon our left, I could already see the high chimneys 259 00:15:25,799 --> 00:15:29,720 and the flag staff which marked the squire's dwelling. My 260 00:15:29,840 --> 00:15:33,519 father made the fellow gardener, said my companion, and then 261 00:15:34,159 --> 00:15:36,919 as that did not satisfy him, he was promoted to 262 00:15:36,960 --> 00:15:39,919 be butler. The house seemed to be at his mercy, 263 00:15:40,399 --> 00:15:42,559 and he wandered about and did what he chose in it. 264 00:15:43,240 --> 00:15:46,919 The maids complained of his drunken habits and his vile language. 265 00:15:47,639 --> 00:15:50,720 The dad raised their wages all round to recompense them 266 00:15:50,759 --> 00:15:53,919 for the annoyance. The fellow would take the boat and 267 00:15:54,000 --> 00:15:57,639 my father's best gun and treat himself to little shooting trips, 268 00:15:58,240 --> 00:16:02,039 and all this with such a sneering, leering, insolent face, 269 00:16:02,120 --> 00:16:04,399 that I would have knocked him down twenty times over 270 00:16:04,679 --> 00:16:07,159 if he'd been a man of my own age. I 271 00:16:07,279 --> 00:16:09,600 tell you, Holmes, I have had to keep a tight 272 00:16:09,639 --> 00:16:12,600 hold upon myself all this time, and now I am 273 00:16:12,639 --> 00:16:15,600 asking myself whether if I had let myself go a 274 00:16:15,600 --> 00:16:20,039 little more, I might not have been a wiser man. Well, 275 00:16:20,080 --> 00:16:22,679 matters went from bad to worse with us, and this 276 00:16:22,879 --> 00:16:27,159 animal Hudson became more and more intrusive, until at last, 277 00:16:27,559 --> 00:16:30,639 on making some insolent reply to my father in my presence, 278 00:16:30,679 --> 00:16:33,919 one day I took him by the shoulders and turned 279 00:16:34,000 --> 00:16:36,799 him out of the room. He slunk away with a 280 00:16:36,840 --> 00:16:40,600 livid face and two venomous eyes which uttered more threats 281 00:16:40,679 --> 00:16:43,919 than his tongue could do. I don't know what passed 282 00:16:43,919 --> 00:16:46,639 between the poor dad and him after that, but the 283 00:16:46,759 --> 00:16:48,919 dad came to me next day and asked me whether 284 00:16:48,919 --> 00:16:53,759 I would mind apologizing to Hudson. I refused, as you 285 00:16:53,759 --> 00:16:56,799 can imagine, and asked my father how he could allow 286 00:16:56,879 --> 00:17:00,120 such a wretch to take such liberties with himself and 287 00:17:00,159 --> 00:17:04,960 his household. Ah, my boy, said he. It is all 288 00:17:05,119 --> 00:17:07,599 very well to talk, but you don't know how I 289 00:17:07,599 --> 00:17:11,400 am placed. But you shall know, Victor, I'll see that 290 00:17:11,480 --> 00:17:14,839 you shall know, come what may. You wouldn't believe harm 291 00:17:14,880 --> 00:17:17,960 of your poor old father, would you, lad? He was 292 00:17:18,079 --> 00:17:20,519 very much moved and shut himself up in the study 293 00:17:20,519 --> 00:17:23,519 all day, where I could see through the window that 294 00:17:23,599 --> 00:17:28,720 he was writing busily. That evening, there came what seemed 295 00:17:28,759 --> 00:17:31,640 to me to be a grand release for Hudson told 296 00:17:31,720 --> 00:17:34,480 us that he was going to leave us. He walked 297 00:17:34,519 --> 00:17:37,160 into the dining room as we sat after dinner and 298 00:17:37,240 --> 00:17:40,119 announced his intention in the thick voice of a half 299 00:17:40,200 --> 00:17:46,359 drunken man. I've had enough Norfolk, said he. I'll run down, 300 00:17:46,440 --> 00:17:49,880 sir mister Bedrow's in Hampshire. He'll be as glad to 301 00:17:49,920 --> 00:17:54,000 see me as you were. I dare say, you're not 302 00:17:54,160 --> 00:17:57,799 going away in an unkind spirit, Hudson, I hope, said 303 00:17:57,799 --> 00:18:01,000 my father, with a tameness which made my blood boil. 304 00:18:01,920 --> 00:18:07,160 I've not ut my apology, said he sulkily, glancing in 305 00:18:07,200 --> 00:18:11,759 my direction. Victor, you will acknowledge that you have used 306 00:18:11,799 --> 00:18:15,599 this worthy fellow rather roughly, said the dad, turning to me. 307 00:18:17,039 --> 00:18:19,960 On the contrary, I think that we have both shown 308 00:18:20,039 --> 00:18:25,519 extraordinary patience towards him, I answered, Oh, you do, do you? 309 00:18:26,119 --> 00:18:31,680 He snarls, Very good, mate, We'll see about that. He 310 00:18:31,720 --> 00:18:34,480 slouched out of the room, and half an hour afterwards 311 00:18:34,519 --> 00:18:37,279 left the house, leaving my father in a state of 312 00:18:37,440 --> 00:18:42,119 pitiable nervousness. Night after night I heard him pacing his room, 313 00:18:42,759 --> 00:18:45,039 and it was just as he was recovering his confidence 314 00:18:45,559 --> 00:18:49,799 that the blow did at last fall, and how, I 315 00:18:49,880 --> 00:18:54,839 asked eagerly, in a most extraordinary fashion, A letter arrived 316 00:18:54,839 --> 00:18:59,480 from my father yesterday evening, bearing the Fordingbridge postmark. My 317 00:18:59,559 --> 00:19:02,559 father read it, clapped both his hands to his head 318 00:19:02,960 --> 00:19:06,440 and began running around the room in little circles, like 319 00:19:06,480 --> 00:19:08,440 a man who has been driven out of his senses. 320 00:19:09,240 --> 00:19:11,799 When I at last drew him down on to the sofa, 321 00:19:11,920 --> 00:19:14,880 his mouth and eyelids were all puckered on one side, 322 00:19:15,359 --> 00:19:18,720 and I saw that he had a stroke. Doctor Fordham 323 00:19:18,759 --> 00:19:21,759 came over at once. We put him to bed, but 324 00:19:21,839 --> 00:19:25,000 the paralysis has spread. He has shown no sign of 325 00:19:25,039 --> 00:19:28,519 returning consciousness, and I think that we shall hardly find 326 00:19:28,599 --> 00:19:33,799 him alive. You horrify me, Trevor. I cried, what then 327 00:19:33,839 --> 00:19:36,119 could have been in this letter to cause so dreadful 328 00:19:36,119 --> 00:19:41,359 a result? Nothing there lies the inexplicable part of it. 329 00:19:42,119 --> 00:19:47,519 The message was absurd and trivial. Ah, my god, it 330 00:19:47,599 --> 00:19:51,000 is as I feared. As he spoke. We came round 331 00:19:51,039 --> 00:19:53,640 the curve of the avenue and saw in the fading 332 00:19:53,720 --> 00:19:56,720 light that every blind in the house had been drawn down. 333 00:19:57,799 --> 00:20:00,200 As we dashed up to the door, my friend his 334 00:20:00,240 --> 00:20:04,640 face convulsed with grief. A gentleman in black emerged from it. 335 00:20:06,160 --> 00:20:10,920 When did it happen? Doctor asked Trevor. Almost immediately after 336 00:20:10,960 --> 00:20:15,519 you left? Did he recover consciousness for an instant before 337 00:20:15,559 --> 00:20:19,960 the end? Any message for me? Only that the papers 338 00:20:20,000 --> 00:20:23,680 were in the back drawer of the Japanese cabinet. My 339 00:20:23,799 --> 00:20:26,200 friend ascended with the doctor to the chamber of death, 340 00:20:26,599 --> 00:20:30,440 while I remained in the study, turning the whole matter 341 00:20:30,599 --> 00:20:34,400 over and over in my head, and feeling as somber 342 00:20:34,440 --> 00:20:37,279 as ever I had done in my life. What was 343 00:20:37,319 --> 00:20:41,440 the past of this Trevor, pugilist, traveler and gold digger? 344 00:20:42,119 --> 00:20:44,200 And how had he placed himself in the power of 345 00:20:44,240 --> 00:20:48,599 this acid faced seaman? Why too, should he faint at 346 00:20:48,599 --> 00:20:51,920 an allusion to the half effaced initials upon his arm 347 00:20:52,000 --> 00:20:54,720 and die of fright when he had a letter from Fordingham. 348 00:20:55,880 --> 00:20:59,160 Then I remembered that Fordingham was in Hampshire, and that 349 00:20:59,240 --> 00:21:02,279 this mister bed whom the seamen had gone to visit 350 00:21:02,799 --> 00:21:06,559 and presumably to blackmail, had also been mentioned as living 351 00:21:06,599 --> 00:21:10,319 in Hampshire. The letter then might either come from Hudson 352 00:21:10,519 --> 00:21:13,559 the seaman, saying that he had betrayed the guilty secret 353 00:21:13,640 --> 00:21:17,079 which appeared to exist, or it might come from Bedows 354 00:21:17,599 --> 00:21:20,839 warning an old confederate that such a betrayal was imminent. 355 00:21:22,200 --> 00:21:25,240 So far it seemed clear enough. But then how could 356 00:21:25,279 --> 00:21:28,720 this letter be trivial and grotesque as described by the Sun. 357 00:21:29,599 --> 00:21:32,440 He must have misread it. If so, it must have 358 00:21:32,480 --> 00:21:35,759 been one of those ingenious secret codes which mean one 359 00:21:35,799 --> 00:21:39,079 thing while they seemed to mean another. I must see 360 00:21:39,079 --> 00:21:41,880 this letter if there were a hidden meaning in it. 361 00:21:42,480 --> 00:21:45,720 I was confident that I could pluck it forth. For 362 00:21:45,759 --> 00:21:48,359 an hour I sat pondering over it in the gloom, 363 00:21:48,640 --> 00:21:51,160 until at last a weeping maid brought in a lamp, 364 00:21:51,440 --> 00:21:54,720 and close at her heels came my friend Trevor, pale 365 00:21:54,920 --> 00:21:58,440 but composed with these very papers which lie upon my 366 00:21:58,519 --> 00:22:02,839 knee held in his grass. He sat down opposite to me, 367 00:22:03,480 --> 00:22:05,799 drew the lamp to the edge of the table, and 368 00:22:05,960 --> 00:22:09,200 handed me a short note scribbled as you see upon 369 00:22:09,200 --> 00:22:13,079 a single sheet of gray paper. The supply of game 370 00:22:13,119 --> 00:22:17,400 for London is going steadily up, it ran Headkeeper Hudson. 371 00:22:17,440 --> 00:22:20,359 We believe has been now told to receive all orders 372 00:22:20,359 --> 00:22:24,400 for fly paper and for preservation of your hen pheasant's life. 373 00:22:26,400 --> 00:22:29,119 I dare say my face looked as bewildered as yours 374 00:22:29,160 --> 00:22:32,960 did just now when first I read this message. Then 375 00:22:33,000 --> 00:22:36,759 I re read it very carefully. It was evidently as 376 00:22:36,799 --> 00:22:40,440 I had thought, and some secret meaning must lie buried 377 00:22:40,519 --> 00:22:44,519 in this strange combination of words. Or could it be 378 00:22:44,599 --> 00:22:47,599 that there was a prearranged significance to such phrases as 379 00:22:48,119 --> 00:22:52,680 fly paper and hen pheasant. Such a meaning would be 380 00:22:52,799 --> 00:22:56,799 arbitrary and could not be deduced in any way. And 381 00:22:56,920 --> 00:22:59,799 yet I was loath to believe that this was the case, 382 00:23:00,559 --> 00:23:03,119 and the presence of the word Hudson seemed to show 383 00:23:03,200 --> 00:23:05,880 that the subject of the message was as I had guessed, 384 00:23:06,359 --> 00:23:09,000 and that it was from Bedow's rather than the sailor. 385 00:23:10,279 --> 00:23:14,759 I tried it backwards, but the combination life pheasant's hen 386 00:23:15,440 --> 00:23:20,119 was not encouraging. Then I tried alternate words, but neither 387 00:23:20,200 --> 00:23:24,680 thee or four nor supply game London promised to throw 388 00:23:24,720 --> 00:23:28,680 any light upon it. And then in an instant the 389 00:23:28,759 --> 00:23:31,079 key of the riddle was in my hands, and I 390 00:23:31,160 --> 00:23:34,400 saw that every third word, beginning with the first, would 391 00:23:34,400 --> 00:23:37,799 give a message which might well drive old Trevor to despair. 392 00:23:39,240 --> 00:23:42,480 It was short and terse, the warning, as I now 393 00:23:42,519 --> 00:23:47,039 read it to my companion. The game is up. Hudson 394 00:23:47,079 --> 00:23:52,359 has told all fly for your life. Victor. Trevor sank 395 00:23:52,400 --> 00:23:55,720 his face into his shaking hands. It must be that, 396 00:23:56,079 --> 00:24:00,279 I suppose, said he, this is worse than death, for 397 00:24:00,359 --> 00:24:03,519 it means disgrace as well. But what is the meaning 398 00:24:03,559 --> 00:24:08,400 of these head keepers and hen pheasants. It means nothing 399 00:24:08,440 --> 00:24:10,920 to the message, but it might mean a good deal 400 00:24:10,960 --> 00:24:13,200 to us if we had no other means of discovering 401 00:24:13,200 --> 00:24:16,359 the sender. You see that he has begun by writing 402 00:24:16,839 --> 00:24:21,920 the game is and so on. Afterwards he had to 403 00:24:22,000 --> 00:24:25,400 fulfill the prearranged cipher. To fill in any two words 404 00:24:25,440 --> 00:24:29,000 in each space, he would naturally use the first words 405 00:24:29,000 --> 00:24:31,720 which came to his mind. And if there were so 406 00:24:31,799 --> 00:24:34,720 many which referred to sport among them, you may be 407 00:24:34,799 --> 00:24:38,200 tolerably sure that he is either an ardent shot or 408 00:24:38,279 --> 00:24:42,440 interested in breeding. Do you know anything of this, Beadows? 409 00:24:43,079 --> 00:24:46,759 Why now that you mention it, said he, I remember 410 00:24:46,759 --> 00:24:49,400 that my poor father used to have an invitation from 411 00:24:49,480 --> 00:24:53,359 him to shoot over his preserves every autumn. Then it 412 00:24:53,400 --> 00:24:56,400 is undoubtedly from him that the note comes, said I. 413 00:24:57,279 --> 00:24:59,759 It only remains for us to find out what this 414 00:25:00,000 --> 00:25:03,119 secret was which the sailor Hudson seems to have held 415 00:25:03,480 --> 00:25:06,680 over the heads of these two wealthy and respected men. 416 00:25:08,119 --> 00:25:11,079 Alas Holmes, I fear that it is one of sin 417 00:25:11,200 --> 00:25:14,640 and shame, cried my friend. But from you I shall 418 00:25:14,640 --> 00:25:18,079 have no secrets. Here is the statement which was drawn 419 00:25:18,160 --> 00:25:20,440 up by my father, when he knew that the danger 420 00:25:20,480 --> 00:25:23,480 from Hudson had become imminent. I found it in the 421 00:25:23,559 --> 00:25:27,440 Japanese cabinet, as he told the doctor. Take it and 422 00:25:27,519 --> 00:25:30,039 read it to me, for I have neither the strength 423 00:25:30,319 --> 00:25:33,960 nor the courage to do it myself. These are the 424 00:25:34,079 --> 00:25:37,160 very papers Watson which he handed to me, and I 425 00:25:37,200 --> 00:25:38,960 will read them to you as I read them in 426 00:25:39,000 --> 00:25:42,759 the Old Study that night to him. They are endorsed 427 00:25:42,799 --> 00:25:46,240 outside as you see some particulars of the voyage of 428 00:25:46,279 --> 00:25:49,680 the bark glorious Scott from her leaving Falmouth on the 429 00:25:49,680 --> 00:25:53,480 eighth of October eighteen fifty five to her destruction in 430 00:25:53,559 --> 00:25:58,680 north latitude fifteen degrees twenty west long twenty five degrees 431 00:25:59,039 --> 00:26:03,400 fourteen on November sixth. It is in the form of 432 00:26:03,440 --> 00:26:08,000 a letter and runs in this way, My dear dear son, 433 00:26:08,920 --> 00:26:12,039 Now that approaching disgrace begins to darken the closing years 434 00:26:12,039 --> 00:26:14,720 of my life, I can write with all truth and 435 00:26:14,759 --> 00:26:17,599 honesty that it is not the terror of the law. 436 00:26:18,799 --> 00:26:22,000 It is not the loss of my position in the county, 437 00:26:22,039 --> 00:26:23,920 nor is it my fall in the eyes of all 438 00:26:23,960 --> 00:26:26,359 who have known me, which cuts me to the heart. 439 00:26:27,359 --> 00:26:29,920 But it is the thought that you should come to 440 00:26:30,000 --> 00:26:32,960 blush for me, you who love me, and who have 441 00:26:33,119 --> 00:26:36,279 seldom I hope, had reason to do other than respect me. 442 00:26:37,160 --> 00:26:40,000 But if the blow falls, which is forever hanging over me, 443 00:26:40,599 --> 00:26:42,640 then I should wish you to read this, that you 444 00:26:42,680 --> 00:26:45,519 may know straight from me how far I have been 445 00:26:45,559 --> 00:26:49,160 to blame. On the other hand, if all should go well, 446 00:26:49,559 --> 00:26:53,880 which may kind God Almighty grant, then if by any 447 00:26:53,960 --> 00:26:57,640 chance this paper should be still undestroyed and should fall 448 00:26:57,680 --> 00:27:01,079 into your hands, I can djure you, by all you 449 00:27:01,160 --> 00:27:04,599 hold sacred, by the memory of your dear mother, and 450 00:27:04,720 --> 00:27:07,559 by the love which had been between us, to hurl 451 00:27:07,599 --> 00:27:10,480 it into the fire, and to never give one thought 452 00:27:10,519 --> 00:27:14,279 to it again. If then your eye goes on to 453 00:27:14,319 --> 00:27:17,160 read this line, I know that I shall already have 454 00:27:17,200 --> 00:27:20,599 been exposed and dragged from my home, or, as is 455 00:27:20,640 --> 00:27:23,440 more likely, for you, know that my heart is weak 456 00:27:24,039 --> 00:27:28,079 by lying, with my tongue sealed forever in death. In 457 00:27:28,119 --> 00:27:31,759 either case, the time for suppression is past, and every 458 00:27:31,799 --> 00:27:34,559 word which I tell you is the naked truth. And 459 00:27:34,680 --> 00:27:39,240 this I swear, as I hope for mercy. My name, 460 00:27:39,279 --> 00:27:42,799 dear lad is not Trevor. I was James Armitage in 461 00:27:42,880 --> 00:27:46,119 my younger days, and you can understand now are the 462 00:27:46,200 --> 00:27:48,160 shock that it was to me a few weeks ago 463 00:27:48,680 --> 00:27:51,200 when your college friend addressed me in words which seemed 464 00:27:51,240 --> 00:27:56,200 to imply that he had surprised my secret As Armitage. 465 00:27:56,200 --> 00:27:59,799 It was that I entered a London banking house, and 466 00:28:00,079 --> 00:28:03,200 as armitage, I was convicted of breaking my country's laws 467 00:28:03,640 --> 00:28:07,799 and was sentenced to transportation. Do not think very harshly 468 00:28:07,799 --> 00:28:10,599 of me, laddie. It was a debt of honor so called, 469 00:28:10,799 --> 00:28:13,440 which I had to pay, and I used money which 470 00:28:13,519 --> 00:28:16,200 was not my own to do it, in the certainty 471 00:28:16,240 --> 00:28:18,240 that I could replace it before there could be any 472 00:28:18,279 --> 00:28:22,119 possibility of its being missed. But the most dreadful ill 473 00:28:22,200 --> 00:28:25,200 luck pursued me. The money which I had reckoned upon 474 00:28:25,279 --> 00:28:28,880 never came to hand, and a premature examination of accounts 475 00:28:28,920 --> 00:28:33,400 exposed my deficit. The case might have been dealt leniently with, 476 00:28:34,079 --> 00:28:36,839 but the laws were more harshly administered thirty years ago 477 00:28:36,880 --> 00:28:40,480 than now, And on my twenty third birthday I found 478 00:28:40,519 --> 00:28:44,200 myself chained as a felon with thirty seven other convicts 479 00:28:44,240 --> 00:28:49,519 in tween debts of the bark Glorious Scott bound for Australia. 480 00:28:49,920 --> 00:28:52,799 It was the year fifty five, when the Crimean War 481 00:28:52,880 --> 00:28:55,599 was at its height, and the old convict ships had 482 00:28:55,640 --> 00:28:59,359 been largely used as transports in the Black Sea. The 483 00:28:59,440 --> 00:29:02,680 government was compelled therefore to use smaller and less suitable 484 00:29:02,759 --> 00:29:07,359 vessels for sending out their prisoners. The Glorious Scott had 485 00:29:07,359 --> 00:29:09,960 been in the Chinese tea trade, but she was an 486 00:29:10,000 --> 00:29:14,039 old fashioned, heavy bowed, broad beamed craft, and the new 487 00:29:14,079 --> 00:29:17,279 clippers had cut her out. She was a five hundred 488 00:29:17,279 --> 00:29:20,880 ton boat, and besides her thirty eight jail birds, she 489 00:29:20,920 --> 00:29:24,960 carried twenty six of a crew eighteen soldiers, a captain, 490 00:29:25,119 --> 00:29:30,400 three mates, a doctor, a chaplain, and four warders. Nearly 491 00:29:30,440 --> 00:29:32,799 a hundred souls were in her all told. When we 492 00:29:32,880 --> 00:29:36,759 set sail from Falmouth, the partitions between the cells of 493 00:29:36,759 --> 00:29:39,720 the convicts, instead of being of thick oak, as is 494 00:29:39,799 --> 00:29:44,039 usual in convict ships, were quite thin and frail. The 495 00:29:44,119 --> 00:29:46,920 man next to me upon the aft side was one 496 00:29:46,920 --> 00:29:49,440 whom I had particularly noticed when we were led down 497 00:29:49,480 --> 00:29:52,359 the quay. He was a young man with a clear, 498 00:29:52,559 --> 00:29:57,359 hairless face, a long, thin nose, and rather nutcracker jaws. 499 00:29:58,119 --> 00:30:00,920 He carried his head very jauntily in the air, had 500 00:30:00,960 --> 00:30:04,319 a swaggering style of walking, and was above all else 501 00:30:04,480 --> 00:30:08,559 remarkable for his extraordinary height. I don't think any of 502 00:30:08,599 --> 00:30:11,400 our heads would have come up to his shoulder, and 503 00:30:11,480 --> 00:30:13,559 I am sure that he could not have measured less 504 00:30:13,599 --> 00:30:17,240 than six and a half feet. It was strange, among 505 00:30:17,319 --> 00:30:19,759 so many sad and weary faces to see one which 506 00:30:19,799 --> 00:30:22,880 was full of energy and resolution. The sight of it 507 00:30:22,960 --> 00:30:25,400 was to me like a fire in a snow storm. 508 00:30:25,680 --> 00:30:28,200 I was glad then to find that he was my neighbor, 509 00:30:28,839 --> 00:30:31,680 and gladder still when in the dead of night I 510 00:30:31,720 --> 00:30:34,440 heard a whisper close to my ear and found that 511 00:30:34,480 --> 00:30:36,480 he had managed to cut an opening in the board 512 00:30:36,480 --> 00:30:41,720 which separated us. Hallo, chummy, said he, what's your name 513 00:30:42,079 --> 00:30:45,559 and what are you here for? I answered him, and 514 00:30:45,640 --> 00:30:48,680 asked in turn who I was talking with. I am 515 00:30:48,759 --> 00:30:52,519 Jack Prendergast, said he, and by God, you'll learn to 516 00:30:52,559 --> 00:30:56,079 bless my name before you've done with me. I remembered 517 00:30:56,079 --> 00:30:58,480 hearing of his case, for it was one which had 518 00:30:58,480 --> 00:31:02,480 made an immense sensation throughout the country some time before 519 00:31:02,480 --> 00:31:05,400 my own arrest. He was a man of good family 520 00:31:05,440 --> 00:31:09,640 and of great ability, but of incurably vicious habits, who had, 521 00:31:09,680 --> 00:31:12,960 by an ingenious system of fraud, obtained huge sums of 522 00:31:12,960 --> 00:31:16,519 money from the leading London merchants. Ha, ha, are you 523 00:31:16,599 --> 00:31:21,440 remember my case, said he proudly, very well. Indeed, then 524 00:31:21,440 --> 00:31:25,240 maybe you remember something queer about it? What was that? Then? 525 00:31:26,279 --> 00:31:28,359 I'd had nearly a quarter of a million, hadn't I? 526 00:31:29,359 --> 00:31:34,200 So it was said, but none was recovered. Eh? No, Well, 527 00:31:34,200 --> 00:31:38,599 where do you suppose the balances? He asked, I've no idea, 528 00:31:38,920 --> 00:31:43,000 said I. Right between my finger and thumb, he cried, 529 00:31:43,559 --> 00:31:46,200 By god, I've got more pounds to my name than 530 00:31:46,240 --> 00:31:49,000 you've had hairs on your head. And if you've money, 531 00:31:49,039 --> 00:31:51,680 my son, and know how to handle it and spread it, 532 00:31:52,160 --> 00:31:55,279 you can do anything. Now, you don't think it likely 533 00:31:55,279 --> 00:31:57,480 that a man who could do anything is going to 534 00:31:57,480 --> 00:31:59,880 wear his breeches out sitting in the stinking hole of 535 00:31:59,880 --> 00:32:02,680 a rat gutted, beetle ridden, moldy old coffin of a 536 00:32:02,759 --> 00:32:06,960 China coaster. No, sir, such a man will look after 537 00:32:07,039 --> 00:32:10,440 himself and will look after his chums. You may lay 538 00:32:10,480 --> 00:32:13,319 to that, you hold on to him, and you may 539 00:32:13,400 --> 00:32:17,079 kiss the book that he'll haul you through. That was 540 00:32:17,119 --> 00:32:19,480 his style of talk, And at first I thought it 541 00:32:19,519 --> 00:32:23,720 meant nothing. But after a while, when he had tested 542 00:32:23,720 --> 00:32:27,559 me and sworn me in with all possible solemnity. He 543 00:32:27,640 --> 00:32:29,839 let me understand that there really was a plot to 544 00:32:29,880 --> 00:32:33,200 gain command of the vessel. A dozen of the prisoners 545 00:32:33,200 --> 00:32:37,039 had hatched it before they came aboard. Prendergast was the leader, 546 00:32:37,559 --> 00:32:41,599 and his money was the motive power. I'd a partner, 547 00:32:41,839 --> 00:32:44,799 said he a rare good man, as true as a 548 00:32:44,920 --> 00:32:47,720 stop to a barrel. He's got the DIBs he has. 549 00:32:48,160 --> 00:32:49,839 And where do you think he is at this moment? 550 00:32:50,599 --> 00:32:54,759 Why he's the chaplain of this ship, the chaplain no less. 551 00:32:55,400 --> 00:32:57,960 He came aboard with a black coat and his papers right, 552 00:32:58,279 --> 00:33:00,599 and money enough in his box to buy the thing 553 00:33:00,720 --> 00:33:03,759 right up from keel to main truck. The crew are 554 00:33:03,839 --> 00:33:07,039 his body and soul. He could buy em at so 555 00:33:07,200 --> 00:33:09,920 much a gross with a cash discount, and he did 556 00:33:09,960 --> 00:33:12,920 it before ever they signed on. He's got two of 557 00:33:12,920 --> 00:33:16,359 the warders, and Maria the second mate, and he'd get 558 00:33:16,359 --> 00:33:19,680 the captain himself if he thought him worth it. What 559 00:33:19,720 --> 00:33:22,559 are we to do? Then? I asked, what d'ye think? 560 00:33:22,839 --> 00:33:25,440 Said he. We'll make the coats of some of these 561 00:33:25,480 --> 00:33:29,240 soldiers redder than ever the tailor did. But they are armed, 562 00:33:29,480 --> 00:33:33,480 said I, and so shall we be my boy. There's 563 00:33:33,519 --> 00:33:35,880 a brace of pistols for every mother's son of us. 564 00:33:36,240 --> 00:33:38,359 And if we can't carry this ship with the crew 565 00:33:38,359 --> 00:33:40,799 at our back, it's time we were all sent to 566 00:33:40,839 --> 00:33:44,240 a young missus boarding school. You speak to your mate 567 00:33:44,279 --> 00:33:46,160 upon the left to night and see if he is 568 00:33:46,200 --> 00:33:49,720 to be trusted. I did so, and found my other 569 00:33:49,759 --> 00:33:51,680 neighbor to be a young fellow in much the same 570 00:33:51,759 --> 00:33:56,279 position as myself, whose crime had been forgery. His name 571 00:33:56,359 --> 00:34:00,359 was Evans, but he afterwards changed it like myself, and 572 00:34:00,440 --> 00:34:02,839 he is now a rich and prosperous man in the 573 00:34:02,880 --> 00:34:05,759 south of England. He was ready enough to join the 574 00:34:05,759 --> 00:34:09,719 conspiracy as the only means of saving ourselves. And before 575 00:34:09,719 --> 00:34:11,960 we had crossed the bay there were only two of 576 00:34:11,960 --> 00:34:15,360 the prisoners who were not in the secret. One of 577 00:34:15,400 --> 00:34:18,119 these was of weak mind, and we did not dare 578 00:34:18,159 --> 00:34:21,280 to trust him, and the other was suffering from jaundice 579 00:34:21,639 --> 00:34:25,079 and could not be of any use to us. From 580 00:34:25,079 --> 00:34:27,159 the beginning, there was really nothing to prevent us from 581 00:34:27,199 --> 00:34:30,000 taking possession of the ship. The crew were a set 582 00:34:30,039 --> 00:34:33,920 of Ruffians specially picked for the job. The sham chaplain 583 00:34:34,039 --> 00:34:37,000 came into our cells to exhort us, carrying a black 584 00:34:37,039 --> 00:34:40,920 bag supposed to be full of tracts, and so often 585 00:34:41,079 --> 00:34:43,360 did he come that by the third day we had 586 00:34:43,400 --> 00:34:46,039 each stowed away at the foot of our beds a file, 587 00:34:46,559 --> 00:34:51,079 a brace of pistols, a pound of powder, and twenty slugs. 588 00:34:51,880 --> 00:34:54,840 Two of the warders were agents of Prendergast, and the 589 00:34:54,880 --> 00:34:58,519 second mate was his right hand man, the captain. The 590 00:34:58,559 --> 00:35:03,519 two mates, two warders, Lieutenant Martin, his eighteen soldiers, and 591 00:35:03,559 --> 00:35:07,159 the doctor were all that we had against us. Yet, 592 00:35:07,679 --> 00:35:11,039 safe as it was, we determined to neglect no precaution 593 00:35:11,599 --> 00:35:15,360 and to make our attack suddenly by night. It came, however, 594 00:35:15,400 --> 00:35:20,000 more quickly than we expected, and in this way, one evening, 595 00:35:20,039 --> 00:35:23,000 about the third week after our start, the doctor had 596 00:35:23,000 --> 00:35:25,920 come down to see one of the prisoners who was ill, and, 597 00:35:26,039 --> 00:35:28,199 putting his hand down on the bottom of his bunk, 598 00:35:28,719 --> 00:35:32,079 he felt the outline of the pistols. If he had 599 00:35:32,079 --> 00:35:35,679 been silent, he might have blown the whole thing. But 600 00:35:35,760 --> 00:35:38,360 he was a nervous little chap so he gave a 601 00:35:38,400 --> 00:35:41,800 cry of surprise and turned so pale that the man 602 00:35:41,920 --> 00:35:44,800 knew what was up in an instant and seized him. 603 00:35:45,039 --> 00:35:47,360 He was gagged before he could give the alarm, and 604 00:35:47,480 --> 00:35:50,599 tied down upon the bed. He had unlocked the door 605 00:35:50,639 --> 00:35:52,679 that led to the deck, and we were through it 606 00:35:52,719 --> 00:35:55,840 in a rush. The two sentries were shot down, so 607 00:35:56,039 --> 00:35:57,880 was a corporal who came running to see what was 608 00:35:57,920 --> 00:36:00,960 the matter. There were two more souls at the door 609 00:36:00,960 --> 00:36:03,599 of the state room, and their muskets seemed not to 610 00:36:03,639 --> 00:36:06,599 be loaded, for they never fired upon us, and they 611 00:36:06,599 --> 00:36:09,719 were shot while trying to fix their bayonets. Then we 612 00:36:09,800 --> 00:36:12,920 rushed on into the captain's cabin, but as we pushed 613 00:36:12,920 --> 00:36:16,480 open the door, there was an explosion from within, and 614 00:36:16,519 --> 00:36:19,199 there he lay with his brains smeared over the chart 615 00:36:19,239 --> 00:36:22,559 of the Atlantic, which was pinned upon the table, while 616 00:36:22,559 --> 00:36:25,480 the chaplain stood with a smoking pistol in his hand 617 00:36:25,519 --> 00:36:29,119 at his elbow. The two mates had both been seized 618 00:36:29,119 --> 00:36:32,239 by the crew, and the whole business seemed to be settled. 619 00:36:33,679 --> 00:36:35,960 The stateroom was next to the cabin, and we flocked 620 00:36:36,000 --> 00:36:39,440 in there and flopped down on the settees, all speaking together, 621 00:36:39,599 --> 00:36:41,559 for we were just mad with the feeling that we 622 00:36:41,559 --> 00:36:45,880 were free once more. There were lockers all round, and Wilson, 623 00:36:46,159 --> 00:36:49,239 the sham chaplain, knocked one of them in and pulled 624 00:36:49,280 --> 00:36:52,519 out a dozen of brown sherry. We cracked off the 625 00:36:52,519 --> 00:36:55,400 necks of the bottles, poured the stuff out into tumblers, 626 00:36:55,760 --> 00:36:58,719 and were just tossing them off, when in an instant, 627 00:36:59,079 --> 00:37:02,280 without warning, there came the roar of muskets in our ears, 628 00:37:02,599 --> 00:37:04,880 and the saloon was so full of smoke that we 629 00:37:04,880 --> 00:37:08,679 couldn't see across the table. When it cleared again, the 630 00:37:08,800 --> 00:37:13,599 place was a shambles. Wilson and eight others were wriggling 631 00:37:13,599 --> 00:37:15,880 on the top of each other on the floor, and 632 00:37:16,000 --> 00:37:18,840 the blood and the brown sherry on that table turned 633 00:37:18,840 --> 00:37:21,639 me sick now when I think of it. We were 634 00:37:21,679 --> 00:37:24,400 so cowed by the sight that I think we should 635 00:37:24,400 --> 00:37:26,199 have given the job up if it had not been 636 00:37:26,199 --> 00:37:29,760 for Prendigast. He bellowed like a bull and rushed for 637 00:37:29,840 --> 00:37:32,079 the door, with all that were left alive at his heels. 638 00:37:32,719 --> 00:37:35,039 Out we ran, and there on the poop were the 639 00:37:35,079 --> 00:37:38,880 lieutenant and ten of his men. The swinging skylights above 640 00:37:38,880 --> 00:37:41,360 the saloon table had been a bit open, and they 641 00:37:41,400 --> 00:37:44,280 had fired on us through the slit. We got on 642 00:37:44,320 --> 00:37:46,519 them before they could load, and they stood to it 643 00:37:46,599 --> 00:37:48,920 like men. But we had the upper hand of them, 644 00:37:49,320 --> 00:37:52,960 and in five minutes it was all over. My God, 645 00:37:53,639 --> 00:37:57,280 was there ever a slaughter house like that ship. Prendigass 646 00:37:57,360 --> 00:37:59,960 was like a raging devil, and he picked the soldiers 647 00:38:00,079 --> 00:38:02,719 up as if they had been children, and threw them overboard, 648 00:38:02,800 --> 00:38:07,000 alive or dead. There was one sergeant that was horribly wounded, 649 00:38:07,360 --> 00:38:10,880 and yet kept on swimming for a surprising time, until 650 00:38:10,960 --> 00:38:14,440 some one in mercy blew out his brains. When the 651 00:38:14,440 --> 00:38:16,840 fighting was over, there was no one left of our 652 00:38:16,960 --> 00:38:20,079 enemies except just the warders, the mates, and the doctor. 653 00:38:21,599 --> 00:38:25,159 It was over them that the great quarrel arose. There 654 00:38:25,159 --> 00:38:26,920 were many of us who were glad enough to win 655 00:38:27,000 --> 00:38:29,480 back our freedom, and yet who had no wish to 656 00:38:29,480 --> 00:38:32,360 have murder on our souls. It was one thing to 657 00:38:32,440 --> 00:38:34,840 knock the soldiers over with their muskets in their hands, 658 00:38:35,320 --> 00:38:37,519 and it was another to stand by while men were 659 00:38:37,559 --> 00:38:42,039 being killed in cold blood. Eight of us, five convicts 660 00:38:42,079 --> 00:38:45,000 and three sailors, said that we would not see it done. 661 00:38:45,719 --> 00:38:48,280 But there was no moving Prendigast and those who were 662 00:38:48,280 --> 00:38:51,280 with him. Our only chance of safety lay in making 663 00:38:51,280 --> 00:38:53,639 a clean job of it, said he, And he would 664 00:38:53,679 --> 00:38:55,599 not leave a tongue with powert of wag in a 665 00:38:55,639 --> 00:38:59,000 witness box. It nearly came to our sharing the fate 666 00:38:59,000 --> 00:39:01,840 of the prisoners. But at last he said that if 667 00:39:01,840 --> 00:39:04,760 we wished, we might take a boat and go. We 668 00:39:04,920 --> 00:39:07,519 jumped at the offer, for we were already sick of 669 00:39:07,559 --> 00:39:10,519 these bloodthirsty doings, and we saw that there would be 670 00:39:10,559 --> 00:39:13,960 worse before it was done. We were given a suit 671 00:39:14,039 --> 00:39:17,800 of sailor togs each, a barrel of water, two casks, 672 00:39:18,039 --> 00:39:20,880 one of junk and one of biscuits, and a compass. 673 00:39:21,800 --> 00:39:24,639 Prendegas threw us over a chart, told us that we 674 00:39:24,639 --> 00:39:28,280 were shipwrecked mariners whose ship had founded in latitude fifteen 675 00:39:28,320 --> 00:39:32,199 degrees and long twenty five degrees west, and then cut 676 00:39:32,199 --> 00:39:35,760 the painter and let us go. And now I come 677 00:39:35,800 --> 00:39:38,440 to the most surprising part of my story, my dear son. 678 00:39:39,880 --> 00:39:43,320 The seamen had hauled the four yard aback during the rising, 679 00:39:43,880 --> 00:39:46,840 but now as we left them, they brought it square again. 680 00:39:47,440 --> 00:39:49,400 And as there was a light wind from the north 681 00:39:49,480 --> 00:39:52,960 and east, the bark began to draw slowly away from us. 682 00:39:54,119 --> 00:39:57,599 Our boat lay rising and falling upon the long, smooth rollers, 683 00:39:58,039 --> 00:40:00,639 and Evans and I, who were the most educated of 684 00:40:00,679 --> 00:40:03,599 the party, were sitting in the sheets, working out our 685 00:40:03,639 --> 00:40:07,400 position and planning what coast we should make, for it 686 00:40:07,519 --> 00:40:10,440 was a nice question, for the Cape de Verdes were 687 00:40:10,480 --> 00:40:13,159 about five hundred miles to the north of US, and 688 00:40:13,199 --> 00:40:16,760 the African coast about seven hundred to the east. On 689 00:40:16,840 --> 00:40:19,079 the whole, As the wind was coming round to the north, 690 00:40:19,800 --> 00:40:22,920 we thought that Sierra Leone might be best, and turned 691 00:40:22,920 --> 00:40:25,840 our head in that direction. The bark being at that 692 00:40:26,000 --> 00:40:30,679 time nearly hulled down on our starboard quarter. Suddenly, as 693 00:40:30,679 --> 00:40:32,880 we looked at her, we saw a dense black cloud 694 00:40:32,880 --> 00:40:35,519 of smoke shoot up from her, which hung like a 695 00:40:35,559 --> 00:40:39,320 monstrous tree upon the sky line. A few seconds later, 696 00:40:39,920 --> 00:40:43,159 a roar like thunder burst upon our ears, and as 697 00:40:43,159 --> 00:40:46,519 the smoke thinned away, there was no sign left of 698 00:40:46,559 --> 00:40:50,480 the glorious scot. In an instant we swept the boat's 699 00:40:50,559 --> 00:40:53,320 head round again and pulled with all our strength for 700 00:40:53,440 --> 00:40:55,840 the place where the hayze, still trailing over the water 701 00:40:56,440 --> 00:41:00,239 marked the scene of this catastrophe. It was a long 702 00:41:00,360 --> 00:41:03,119 hour before we reached it, and at first we feared 703 00:41:03,119 --> 00:41:05,280 that we had come too late to save any one. 704 00:41:05,880 --> 00:41:09,000 A splintered boat and a number of crates and fragments 705 00:41:09,000 --> 00:41:12,440 of spars rising and falling on the waves showed us 706 00:41:12,440 --> 00:41:15,280 where the vessel had founded, but there was no sign 707 00:41:15,360 --> 00:41:18,719 of life, and we had turned away in despair when 708 00:41:18,760 --> 00:41:21,199 we heard a cry for help and saw at some 709 00:41:21,280 --> 00:41:24,559 distance a piece of wreckage with a man lying stretched 710 00:41:24,599 --> 00:41:28,519 across it. When we pulled him aboard the boat, he 711 00:41:28,599 --> 00:41:31,440 proved to be a young seaman of the name of Hudson, 712 00:41:31,960 --> 00:41:34,719 who was so burned and exhausted that he could give 713 00:41:34,800 --> 00:41:37,679 us no account of what had happened until the following morning. 714 00:41:39,559 --> 00:41:42,440 It seemed that after we had left, Prendergast and his 715 00:41:42,519 --> 00:41:46,000 gang had proceeded to put to death the five remaining prisoners. 716 00:41:46,760 --> 00:41:49,880 The two warders had been shot and thrown overboard, and 717 00:41:49,960 --> 00:41:54,239 so also had the third mate. Prendergast then descended into 718 00:41:54,280 --> 00:41:57,519 the tween decks and with his own hands, cut the 719 00:41:57,519 --> 00:42:01,920 throat of the unfortunate surgeon. There only remained the first mate, 720 00:42:02,199 --> 00:42:05,559 who was a bold and active man. When he saw 721 00:42:05,599 --> 00:42:08,639 the convict approaching him with the bloody knife in his hand, 722 00:42:09,239 --> 00:42:12,159 he kicked off his bonds, which he had somehow contrived 723 00:42:12,159 --> 00:42:15,719 to loosen, and rushing down the deck, he plunged into 724 00:42:15,719 --> 00:42:19,599 the after hold. A dozen convicts, who descended with their 725 00:42:19,639 --> 00:42:22,400 pistols in search of him, found him with a match 726 00:42:22,440 --> 00:42:25,880 box in his hand. Seated beside an open powder barrel, 727 00:42:26,360 --> 00:42:29,280 which was one of a hundred carried on board, and 728 00:42:29,360 --> 00:42:31,559 swearing that he would blow all hands up if he 729 00:42:31,639 --> 00:42:36,559 were in any way molested. An instant later the explosion occurred, 730 00:42:37,280 --> 00:42:40,079 though Hudson thought it was caused by the misdirected bullet 731 00:42:40,119 --> 00:42:42,559 of one of the convicts rather than the mate's match. 732 00:42:43,760 --> 00:42:46,119 Be the cause what it may, it was the end 733 00:42:46,159 --> 00:42:49,119 of the glorious Scot and of the rabble who held 734 00:42:49,119 --> 00:42:53,079 command of her. Such in a few words, my dear boy, 735 00:42:53,199 --> 00:42:55,719 is the history of this terrible business in which I 736 00:42:55,800 --> 00:42:59,199 was involved. Next day we were picked up by the 737 00:42:59,239 --> 00:43:04,159 brig Hotsp, bound for Australia, whose captain found no difficulty 738 00:43:04,199 --> 00:43:06,719 in believing that we were the survivors of a passenger 739 00:43:06,760 --> 00:43:11,239 ship which had founded the transport ship. Gloria Scott was 740 00:43:11,280 --> 00:43:13,760 set down by the Admiralty as being lost at sea, 741 00:43:14,480 --> 00:43:16,559 and no word has ever leaked out as to her 742 00:43:16,599 --> 00:43:21,360 true fate. After an excellent voyage, the Hotspur landed us 743 00:43:21,400 --> 00:43:24,880 at Sydney, where Evans and I changed our names and 744 00:43:24,920 --> 00:43:27,880 made our way to the Diggings, where among the crowds 745 00:43:27,880 --> 00:43:30,960 who were gathered from all nations, we had no difficulty 746 00:43:31,000 --> 00:43:35,000 in losing our former identities. The rest I need not relate. 747 00:43:35,719 --> 00:43:39,920 We prospered, We traveled, We came back as rich colonials 748 00:43:39,920 --> 00:43:43,840 to England, and we bought country estates. For more than 749 00:43:43,840 --> 00:43:47,400 twenty years we have led peaceful and useful lives, and 750 00:43:47,519 --> 00:43:51,800 we hoped that our past was forever buried imagined. Then 751 00:43:51,840 --> 00:43:54,960 my feelings when in the seamen who came to us, 752 00:43:55,360 --> 00:43:58,440 I recognized instantly the man who had been picked off 753 00:43:58,440 --> 00:44:02,800 the wreck, tracked us down somehow, and had set himself 754 00:44:02,840 --> 00:44:07,039 to live upon our fears. You will understand now how 755 00:44:07,079 --> 00:44:09,159 it was that I strove to keep the peace with him, 756 00:44:09,639 --> 00:44:11,840 and you will, in some measure sympathize with me in 757 00:44:11,920 --> 00:44:14,960 the fears which fill me now that he has gone 758 00:44:15,000 --> 00:44:18,519 from me to his other victim, with threats upon his tongue. 759 00:44:19,719 --> 00:44:22,079 Underneath is written in a hand so shaky as to 760 00:44:22,079 --> 00:44:26,079 be hardly legible. Beddo's writes in cipher to say, H 761 00:44:26,280 --> 00:44:30,280 as told all, sweet Lord, have mercy on our souls. 762 00:44:33,000 --> 00:44:35,199 That was the narrative which I read that night to 763 00:44:35,280 --> 00:44:39,119 young Trevor, and I think Watson that under the circumstances 764 00:44:39,119 --> 00:44:42,159 it was a dramatic one. The good fellow was heart 765 00:44:42,239 --> 00:44:45,519 broken at it and went out to the Terai tea planting, 766 00:44:46,079 --> 00:44:49,239 where I hear that he is doing well. As to 767 00:44:49,280 --> 00:44:52,800 the Sailor and Bedos, neither of them was ever heard 768 00:44:52,840 --> 00:44:55,119 of again after that day on which the letter of 769 00:44:55,199 --> 00:45:00,239 warning was written. They both disappeared utterly and completely. No 770 00:45:00,320 --> 00:45:03,360 complaint had been lodged with the police, so that Beddos 771 00:45:03,360 --> 00:45:06,719 had mistaken a threat for a deed. Hudson had been 772 00:45:06,760 --> 00:45:10,000 seen lurking about, and it was believed by the police 773 00:45:10,039 --> 00:45:12,119 that he had done away with Bedows and had fled 774 00:45:13,280 --> 00:45:17,079 for myself. I believe that the truth was exactly the opposite. 775 00:45:17,920 --> 00:45:21,639 I think that it is most probable that Bedow's, pushed 776 00:45:21,639 --> 00:45:25,199 to desperation, and believing himself to have been already betrayed, 777 00:45:25,800 --> 00:45:29,079 had revenged himself upon Hudson and had fled from the 778 00:45:29,119 --> 00:45:31,400 country with as much money as he could lay his 779 00:45:31,480 --> 00:45:34,920 hands on. Those are the facts of the case, Doctor, 780 00:45:35,519 --> 00:45:37,280 and if they are of any use to your collection, 781 00:45:37,880 --> 00:45:41,280 I am sure that they are very heartily at your service. 782 00:45:43,480 --> 00:45:44,960 End of the Glorious Scott