Speaker 1: The Five Orange Pips by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. When
I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlockombs
cases between the years eighty two and ninety, I am
faced by so many which present strange and interesting features
that it is no easy matter to know which to
choose and which to leave. Some, however, have already gained
publicity through the papers, and others have not offered a
field for those peculiar qualities which my friend possessed in
so high a degree, and which it is the object
of these papers to illustrate. Some too, have baffled his
analytical skill, and would be as narratives beginnings without an ending,
while others have been but partially cleared up, and have
their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and surmise than on
that absolute logical proof which were so dear to him.
There is, however, one of these last, which was so
remarkable in its details and so startling in its results,
that I am tempted to give some account of it,
in spite of the fact that there are points in
connection with it which have never been and probably never
will be entirely cleared up. The year eighty seven furnished
us with a long series of cases of greater or
less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my
headings under this one twelve months, I find an account
of the adventures of the Paradol Chamber of the Amateur
Mendicant Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower
vult of Furniture Warehouse, of the facts connected with the
loss of the British bark Sophie Anderson, of the singular
adventures of the Greis Pattersons in the island of Upha,
And finally of the Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter,
as may be remembered, Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding
up the dead's man's watch, to prove that it had
been wound up two hours before, and that therefore the
deceased had gone to bed within that time, a deduction
which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the case.
All these I may sketch out at some future date,
but none of them present such singular features as the
strange strain of circumstances which had now taken up my
pen to describe. It was in the latter days of
September and the equinoctial gales had set in with exceptional violence.
All day, the wind had screamed and the rain had
beaten against the windows, so that even here in the
heart of grand hand made London, we were forced to
raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life,
and to recognize the presence of those great elemental forces
which shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilization,
like untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in,
the storm grew higher and louder, and the wind cried
and sobbed like a child in the chimney. Sholockolms sat
moodily at one side of the fireplace, cross indexing his
records of crime, while I at the other, was deep
in one of Clark Russell's fine sea stories, until the
howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with
the text, and the splash of the rain to lengthen
out into the long swash of the sea waves. My
wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for
a few days I was a dweller once more in
my old quarters at Baker Street. Why said I, glancing
up at my companion, that was surely the bell who
could come to night some friend of yours, perhaps, except yourselves,
I have none, he answered, I do not encourage visitors
a cland then if so it is a serious case.
Nothing less would bring a man out on such a
day and at such an hour. But I take it
that it is more likely to be some crony of
the landlady's Sherlock. Combs was wrong in his conjecture, however,
for there came a step in the passage, and a
tapping at the door. He stretched out his long arm
to turn the lamp away from himself and towards the
vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. Come in,
said he. The man who entered was young, some two
and twenty at the outside, well groomed and trimly clad,
with something of refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The
streaming umbrella which he held in his hand, and his
long shining waterproof told of the fierce weather through which
he had come. He looked about him anxiously on the
glare of the lamp, and I could see that his
face was pale, and his eyes heavy, like those of
a man who is weighed down with some great anxiety.
I owe you an apology, he said, raising his golden
parson ney to his eyes. I trust that I am
not intruding. I fear that I have brought some traces
of the storm and rain into your snug chamber. Now
give me your coat and umbrella, said Holmes. They may
rest here on the hook and will be dry. Presently.
You have come up from the southwest. I see, yes,
from Horsham. That clay and chalk mixture which I see
upon your toe caps is quite distinctive. I've come for advice,
and that is easy to God, and help that is
not always so easy. I have heard of you, mister Holmes.
I heard from Major Prendergarst how you saved him in
the tank of the club scandal, and of course he
was wrongly accused of cheating at cards. He said that
you could solve anything. He said too much, that you
are never beaten. I have been beaten four times, three
times by men and once by a woman. But what
is that compared with the number of your successes. It
is true that I have been generally successful. Then you
may be so with me. I beg that you will
draw your chair up to the far and favor him
with some details as to your case. It is no
ordinary one. None of those which come to me are.
I am the last court of appeal. And yet I
question sir, whether, in all your experience you have ever
listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of events
than those which have happened in my own family. Hm.
You fill me with interest, said Holmes. Pray, give us
your central facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards
question you as to those details which seem to me
to be most important. The young man pulled up his
chair and pushed his way feet out towards the blaze.
My name, said, he is John Openshaw. But my own
affairs have, as far as I can understand, little to
do with this awful business. It's an hereditary matter. So
in order to give you any idea of the facts,
I must go back to the commencement of the affair.
You must know that my grandfather had two sons, my
uncle Elias and my father Joseph. My father had a
small factory at Coventry, which he enlarged at the time
of the invention of bicycling. He was a patentee of
the open Show Unbreakable tire, and his business met with
such success that he was able to sell it and
to retire upon a handsome competence. My uncle Elias emigrated
to America when he was a young man and became
a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have
done very well. At the time of the war, he
fought in Jackson's army and afterwards under Hood, where he
rose to be a colonel. When Lee laid down his arms,
my uncle returned and to his plantation, where he remained
for three or four years. About eighteen sixty nine or
eighteen seventy he came back to Europe and took a
small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. He had made a
very considerable fortune in the States, and his reason for
leaving them was his aversion to the Negroes and his
dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to them.
He was a singular man, fierce and quick tempered, very
foul mouthed when he was angry, and of a most
retiring disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham,
I doubt if he ever set foot in the town.
He had a garden and two or three fields round
his house, and there he would take his exercise, though
very often for weeks on end he would never leave
his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and
smoked very heavily, but he would see no society and
did not want any friends, not even his own brother.
He didn't mind me, in fact, he took a fancy
to me, for at the time when he saw me first,
I was a youngster of twelve or so. This would
be the year eighteen seventy eight, after he had been
eight or nine years in England. He begged my father
to let me live with him, and he was very
kind to me in his way. When he was sober.
He used to be fond of playing black gammon and
drafts with me, and he would make his representative both
with the servants and with the tradespeople, so that by
the time I was sixteen, I was quite master of
the house. I kept all the keys, and he could
go where I liked and do what I liked, so
long as I did not disturb in him his privacy.
There was one singular exception, however, for he had a
single room, a lumber room up among the attics, which
was invariably locked, and which he would never permit either
me or any one else to enter. With a boy's curiosity,
I had peeped through the keyhole, but I was never
able to see more than such a collection of old
trunks and bundles as would be expected in such a room.
One day he was in March eighteen eighty three, a
letter with a foreign stamp lay upon the table in
front of the colonel's plate. It was not a common
thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were
all paid in ready money, and he had no friends
of any sort from India, said he. He took it up.
PONDI jerry postmark, what can this be? Opening it hurriedly,
out there jumped five little dried orange pips, which pattered
down upon his plate. I began to laugh at this,
but the laugh was struck from my lips at the
sight of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes
were protruding, his skin the color of putty, and he
glared the envelope, which he still held in his trembling hand.
Kay Kay, Kay, he shrieked. And then, my god, my god,
my sins have overtaken me. What is it? Uncle? I cried? Death,
said he, and rising from the table, he retired to
his room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up
the envelope and saw scrawled in red ink upon the
inner flap, just above the gum, the letter K three
times repeated. There was nothing else save the five dried pips.
What could be the reason of his overpowering terror? I
left the breakfast table, and as I ascended the stair
I met him coming down with an old, rusty key
which must have belonged to the attic in one hand,
and a small brass box like a cash box in
the other. They may do what they like, but I'll
check me them, still, said he, with an oath, tell
Mary that I shall want a fire in my room
to day and send down to Fordham the horseom lawyer.
I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived,
I was asked to step up to the room. The
fire was burning brightly, and in the grate there was
a mass of black, fluffy ashes as of burnt paper,
while the brass box stood open and emptied beside it.
As I glanced at the box, I noticed with a
start that upon the lid was printed the treble K,
which I read in the morning upon the envelope. I
wish you, John, said my uncle, to witness my will.
I leave my state, with all its advantages and all
its disadvantages, to my brother, your father. Whence it will
no doubt descend it to you, if you can enjoy
it in peace, well and good. If you find you
cannot take my advice, my boy, and leave it to
your deadliest enemy, I am sorry to give you such
a two edged thing, but I can't say what turn
things are going to take. Kindest, sign the paper where
mister Fordham shows you. I signed the paper as directed,
and the lawyer took it away with him. The singular
incident made, as you may think, the deepest impression upon me,
and I pondered over it and turned it every way
in my mind, without being able to make anything of it.
Yet I could not shake off the vague feeling of
dread which it left behind. Though the sensation grew less
keen as the weeks passed, and nothing happened to disturb
the usual routine of our lives. I could see a
change of my uncle. However, he drank more than ever,
and he was less inclined for any sort of society
most of his time he would spend in his room
with the door locked upon the inside. But sometimes he
would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy, and would
burst out of the house and tear about the garden
with a revolver in his hand, screaming out that he
was afraid of no man, and that he was not
to be cooped up like a sheep in a pen
by man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however,
he would rush tumultuously in at the door, and lock
and bar it behind him, like a man who can
brace it out no longer against the terror which lies
at the roots of his soul. At such times I
have seen his face, even on a cold day, glisten
with moisture, as though it were new raised from a basin.
While to come to an end of the matter, mister Holmes,
and not to abuse your patience, there came a knight
when he made one of those drunken sallies from which
he never came back. We found him when we went
to search for him, face downward in a little green,
scummed pool which lay at the foot of the garden.
There was no sign of any violence, and the water
was but two feet deep, so that the jury, having
regard to his known eccentricity, brought in a verdict of suicide.
But I, who knew how he winced from the very
thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself that
he had gone out of his way to meet it.
The matter passed, however, and my father entered into possession
of the estate and of some fourteen thousand pounds which
lay to his credit at the bank. At one moment
Elmes interposed, your statement is I foresee, one of the
most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me
have the date of the reception by your uncle of
the letter and the date of his supposed suicide. The
letter arrived on March tenth, eighteen eighty three. His death
was seven weeks later, upon the night of May. The
second thank you pray proceed. When my father took over
the Harsham property, he, at my request made a careful
examination of the attic, which had always been locked up.
We found the brass box there, although its contents had
been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a
paper label with the initials of K K K repeated
upon it, and letters memoranda receipts, and a register written
beneath these, we presume indicated the nature of the papers
which had been destroyed by Colonel Openshore. For the rest,
there was nothing of much importance in the attic, save
a great many scattered papers and note books bearing upon
my uncle's life in America. Some of them were of
the wartime and showed that he had done his duty
well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier.
Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the
Southern States, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he
had evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet
bag politicians who been sent down from the North Well.
It was the beginning of eighty four when my father
came to live at Horsham, and all went as well
as possible with us until the January of eighty five.
On the fourth day after the new year, I heard
my father give a sharp cry of surprise as we
sat together at the breakfast table. There he was sitting
with a newly opened envelope in one hand and five
dried orange pips in the outstretched palm of the other.
He had always laughed at what he called my cock
and bull story about the colonel. But he looked very
scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come
upon himself. Why what, what on earth does this mean? John,
he stammered, My heart had turned to lead. It is
K K K, said I. He looked inside the envelope.
So it is, he cried. Here are the very letters,
But but what is this written above them? Put the
papers on the sun dial, I read, peeping over his shoulder.
What papers want sundial, he asked, the sundale and the garden.
There is no other, said I. But the papers must
be those that are destroyed. Uh, said he, gripping hard
at his courage. We are in a civilized land here,
and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. Where does
the thing come from from? Dundee, I answered, glancing at
the postmark. Some preposterous practical joke, said he. What have
I to do with sun dials and papers? I should
take no notice of such nonsense. I should certainly speak
to the police, I said, and be laughed up for
my pains. Nothing of the sort, then let me do so. No,
I forbid you. You won't have a fuss made about
such nonsense. It was in vain to argue with him,
for he was a very obstinate man. I went about, however,
with a heart which was full of forebodings. On the
third day after the coming of the latter, my father
went from home to visit an old friend of his,
Major Freebody, who is in command of one of the
forts upon portsdown Hill. I was glad that he should go,
for it seemed to me that he was farther from
danger when he was away from home. In that, however,
I was in error. Upon the second day of his absence,
I received a telegram from the Major imploring me to
come at once. My father had fallen over one of
the deep chalk pits which are bound in the neighborhood,
and was lying senseless with a shattered skul. I hurried
to him, but he passed away without ever having recovered
his consciousness. He had, as he appeared, been returning from
Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown
to him and the chalk pit unfenced, the jury had
no hesitation in bringing a verdict of death from accidental causes. Carefully,
as I examined every fact connected with his death, I
was unable to find anything which could suggest to the
idea of murder. There was no signs of violence, no footmarks,
no robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon
the roads. And yet I need not tell you that
my mind was far from at ease, and that I
was well nigh certain that some foul plot had been
woven round him. In this sinister way I came into
my inheritance. You will ask me why I did not
dispose of it. I answer because I was well convinced
that our troubles were in some way depended upon an
instant in my uncle's life, and that the danger would
be as pressing in one house as in another. It
was in January eighty five that my poor father met
his end, and two years and eight months have elapsed
since then. During that time I have lived happily at Horsham.
When I have begun to hope that this curse had
passed away from the family, and that it had ended
with the last generation, I begun to take comfort too soon. However,
yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in
which it had come upon my father. The young man
took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and turning to
the table, he shook out upon it five little dried
orange pips. This is the envelope. He continued to the
post markets in London Eastern Division, within the very words
which are upon my father's last message, k k ky,
and then put the papers on the sun dial. What
have you done, asked Holmes. Nothing, nothing to tell the truth.
He sank his face into his thin white hands. I
have felt helpless. I felt like one of those poor
rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem
to be in the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil
which no foresight and no precautions can guard against. Oh,
tut tut, cried Sherlock. Holmbs you must act, man, or
you are lost. Nothing but energy can save you. There
is no time for despair. I have seen the police. Ah,
they listened to my story with a smile. I am
convinced that the inspector has formed the opinion that the
letters are all practical jokes, and that the deaths of
my relations were really accidents, as a jury stated, and
were not to be connected with the warnings. Holmes shook
his clenched hands in the air. Incredible imbecility, he cried.
They have, however, allowed me a policeman who may remain
in the house with me. Has he come with you
to night? No? His orders were to stay in the
house again, Holmes raved in the air. Why did you
come to me, he cried in a bubble. Why did
you not come at once? I did not know. It
was only to day that I spoke to Major Prendergast
about my troubles, and was advised by him to come
to you. It is really two days since you had
the letter. We should have acted upon this. You have
no further evidence, I suppose, than that which you have
placed before us, no suggestive detail which might help us.
There is one thing, said John Openshaw. He rummaged in
his coat pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discolored
blue tinted paper, he laid it upon the table. I
have some remembrance, said he, that on the day when
my uncle burned the papers, I observed that the small,
un burned margins which lay amid the ashes were of
this particular color. I found this single sheet upon the
floor of his room, and I am inclined to think
that it may be one of the papers which had
perhaps fluttered out from among the others, and in that
way has escaped destruction. Beyond the mention of pips, I
do not see that it helps us much. I think
myself that it is a page from some private dary,
that the writing is undoubtly my uncle's. Holmes moved the
lamp and we both bent over the sheet of paper,
which showed by its rugged edge that it had indeed
been torn from a book. It was headed March eighteen
sixty nine, and beneath with the following enigmatical notices. Fourth
Hudson came same old platform. Seventh set the pips on Macaulay, Paramore,
and John Swain as Saint p Augustin. Ninth. McCauley cleared tenth,
John Swain clad twelfth visited Paramore. Or well, thank you,
said Holmes, fulling off the paper and returning to our visitor.
And now you must, on no ac count, lose another instant.
We cannot spare time even to discuss what you've told me.
You must get home instantly and act what shall I do?
And there is but one thing to do. You must
be done at once. You must put this piece of
paper which you've shown us into the brass box which
you've described. You must also put in it a note
to say that all the other papers are burned by
your uncle, and that this is the only one which remains.
You must assert that in such words as will carry
conviction with them. Having done this, you must at once
put the boss out upon the sundal as directed. Do
you understand entirely? Do not think of revenge or anything
of the sort at present. I think that we may
gain that by means of the law. But we have
our web but to weave while theirs is already woven.
The first consideration is to remove the pressing danger which
threatens you. The second is to clear up the mystery
and to punish the guilty parties. I thank you, said
the young man, rising and pulling on his overcoat. You
have given me fresh life and hope. I shall certainly
do as you advise, do not lose an instant, and
above all take care of yourself in the meanwhile, For
I do not think that there can be a doubt
that you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger.
How do you go back by train from Waterloo? It
is not yet nine. The streets will be cried in
so I trust that you may be in safety, and
yet you cannot guard yourself too closely. I am armed.
That is well, to morrow I shall set to work
upon your case. I shall see you at Horsham. Then,
now know you your secret lies in London. It is
there that I shall seek it. Then I shall call
upon you in a day, or or in two days,
with news as to the box and the papers. I
shall take your advice in every particular. He shook hands
with us and took his leave. Outside, the wind still screamed,
and the rain splashed and pattered against the windows. This strange,
wild story seemed to have come to us from amid
the mad elements, blown in upon us like a sheet
of seaweed in a gale, and now to have been
reabsorbed by them once more. Shelock Holmes sat for some
time in silence, with his head sunk forward and his
eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then
he lit his pipe, and, leaning back in his chair,
he watched the blue smoke rings as they chased each
other up to the ceiling. I think Watson. He remarked
at last, that of all our cases we have had
none more fantastic than this, save perhaps the sign of four. Well, yes,
save perhaps that. And yet this John Openshaw seems to
me to be walking amid even greater perils than did
the Shoulters. But but have you, i asked, formed any
definite conception as to what these perils are? Oh, there
can be no question as to their nature? He answered,
Then what are they? Who is this K K K?
And why does he pursue this unhappy family? Shelock Holmes
closed his eyes and place his elbows upon the arm
of his chair, with his fingertips together. The ideal reasoner,
he remarked, would, when he had once been shown a
single fact in all its bearings, to deduce from it
not only all the chain of events which led up
to it, but also all of the results which would
follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole
animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the
observer who has thoroughly understood one link in a series
of incidents should be able to accurately state all the
other ones, both before and after. We have not yet
grasped the results which the reason alone can attaind to.
Problems may be solved in the study which have baffled
all those which a sort a solution by the aid
of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its
highest pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be
able to utilize all the facts which have come to
his knowledge. And this in itself implies, as you will
readily see, a possession of all knowledge, which, even in
these days of free education and encyclopedias, is a somewhat
rare accomplishment. It is not so impossible, however, that a
man should possess all knowledge which is likely to be
useful to him in his work. And this I have
endeavored in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you,
on one occasion in the early days of our friendship,
defined my limits in a very precise fashion. Yes, I answered, laughing.
It was a singular document philosophy, astronomy, and politics from
March to zero. I remember botany variable geology profound as
regards the Munstain's any region within fifty miles of time.
Chemistry is centric, anatomy, unsystematic, sensational literature and crime records
unique value player, boxer, swordsman, a lawyer and self poisoner
by cocaine and tobacco. Those I think were the main
points of my analysis. Helms grinned at the last item. Well,
he said, I say now, as I said then, that
a man should keep his little brain at it, stocked
with all the furniture that he is likely to use,
and the rest he can put away in the lumber
room of his library, where he can get it if
he wants it. Now, for such a case as the
one which has been submitted to us tonight, we need
certainly to muster all our resources. Kindly hand me down
the letter K of the American Encyclopedia, which stands upon
the self shelf beside you. Thank you. Now, let us
consider the situation and see what may be deduced from it.
In the first place, we may start with a strong
presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for
leaving America. Men at his time of life do not
change all their habits and exchange willingly the charming climate
of Florida for the lonely life of an English provincial town.
His extreme love of solitude in England suggests the idea
that he was in fear of someone or something. So
we may assume, as a working hypothesis that it was
fear of someone or something which drove him from America.
As to what it was he feared, we can introduce
that by that by considering the formidable letters which were
received by himself and his successor. Did you remark the
postmarks of those letters? The first was from Pondicherry, the
second from Dundee, and the third from London, from East London?
What did it use from that? They're all seaports. That
the writer was on boarder ship. Excellent, We have already
a clue. There can be no doubt that the probabability,
that the strong probability, is that the writer was on
board a ship. And now that it is, consider another point.
In the case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapse between the
threat and its fulfillment. In Dundee it was only some
three or four days. Does that suggest anything a greater
distance to travel? But the letter had also a greater
distance to come. Then I do not see the point
there at least a presumption that the vessel in which
the man or men are is a sailing ship. It
looks as that they always sent their singular warnings or
token before them when starting upon their mission. You see
how quickly the deed followed the sign when it came
from Dundee. If they come from Pontichery in a steamer,
they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter.
But as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I
think that those seven weeks represented the difference between the
mail boat which brought the letter and the sailing vessel
which brought the writer. It is possible, more than that,
it is probable. And now you see the deadly urgency
of this new case. And why I urged Young Openshort
to caution that blow has already fallen at the end
of the time when it should have take the centers
to travel the distance. But this one comes from London,
and therefore we cannot count upon delay. God, I cried,
what can it mean? This relentless persecution. The papers which
open Shore carried are obviously of vital importance to the
person or persons in the sailing ship. I think that
it is quite clear that there must be more than
one of them. A single man could not have carried
out two deaths in such a way as to deceive
a condoner's jury. There must have been several in it,
and there must have been men of resource and determination
their papers. They mean to have to be the old
holder of them who it may. In this way you
see k k kay ceases to be the initials of
an individual and becomes the badge of a society. But
of what society? Have you never, said, shlock Colmbs, bending
forward and singing his voice. Have you never heard of
the ku Klux clan? I? Never have Holmes turned over
the leaves of the book upon his knee. Here it
is said he presently ku Klux Klan, A name derived
from the fanciful resemblance to the sand produced by cocking
a rifle. This terrible secret society was formed by some
ex Confederate soldiers in the Southern States after the Civil War,
and it rapidly formed local branches in different parts of
the country, notably in Tennessee, Louisiana, that Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida.
Its power was used for political purposes, principally for the
terrorizing of the Negro voters and the murdering and driving
for the country of those who were opposed to its views.
Its outrages were used to preceeded by a warning sent
to the marked man in some fantastic but generally recognized
shape a sprig of oak leaves in some parts, melon seeds,
or orange pips in others. On receiving this, the victim
might either openly abjure his former ways, or might fly
from the country. If he braved the matter out, death
would unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange
and unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organization of the society,
and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a
case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it
with impunity, on which any of its outrages were traced
home to the perpetrators. For some years the organization flourished,
in spite of the efforts of the United States government
and of the better classes of the community in the South. Eventually,
in the year eighteen sixty nine, the movement rather suddenly collapsed,
although there have been sporadic outbreaks of the same sought
since that date. You'll observe, said Holmes, laying down the volume,
that the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident
with the disappearance of open Share from America with their papers.
It may well have been cause and effect. It is
no wonder that Tea in his family have some of
the more implacable spirits upon their track. You can understand
that this register and diary may implicate some of the
first men in the South, and that there may be
many who will not sleep easy at night until it
is recovered. Then the page we have seen is such
as we might expect. It ran as if I remember right,
sent the pips to A, B and C, that is,
sent the society's worn into them. Then there are successive
entries that A and B cleared all left the country,
and finding that C was visited with I fear a
sinister result for C. Well, I think, doctor, that we
may let some light into this dark place. And I
believe that the only chance young Openshaw has in the
meantime is to do what I have told him. As
nothing more to be said or to be done to night.
So hand me over my violin, and let us try
to forget for half an hour the miserable weather and
the still more miserable ways of our fellow men. It
had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining
with a subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs
over the great city. Sherlock Holmes was already a breakfast
when I came down. You will excuse me for not
waiting for you, said he. I have, I foresee a
very busy day before me and looking into this case
of the young open shores. Or what steps would you take?
I asked? It will very much depend upon the results
of my first inquiries. I may have to go down
to Halsham. After all, you will not go down there first, No,
I I shall commence with the city. Just ring the
bell and the maid will bring you up your coffee.
As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the
table and glanced my eye over it. It rested upon
a heading which sent a chill to my heart. Holmes,
I cried, you are too late, ah, said he, laying
down his cup. I fear as much. How is it done?
He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was
deeply moved. My eye caught the name of Openshaw on
the heading tragedy near Waterloo Bridge. Here is the account
between nine and ten last night, Pieceuch Consctible cook of
the h Division on duty near Waterloobridge, had a cry
for help and a splash in the water. The night, however,
was extremely dark and stormy, so that, in spite of
the help of several passers by, was quite impossible to
effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was given, and by
the aid of the water police, the body was eventually recovered.
It proved to be that of a young gentleman, whose name,
as it appears from an envelope which was found in
his pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham.
It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down
to catch the last train from Waterloo station, and that
in his haste and the extreme darkness, he missed his
path and walked over the edge of one of the
small landing places for river steamboats. The body exhibited no
traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that
the to have been the victim of an unfortunate accident,
which should have the effect of calling the attention of
the authorities to the condition of the riverside landing stages.
We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed
and shaken than I have ever seen him. That hurts
my pride, Watson, he said, at last, It is a
petty feeding, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It
becomes a personal matter with me now, and and if
God sends me health, I shall set my hand upon
this gang, that he should come to me for help,
and that I should send him away to his death.
He sprang from his chair and paced about the room
in uncontrollable agitation, with a flush upon his sallow cheeks
and a nervous clasping and unclasping of his long, thin hands.
They must be cunning devils, he explained at last. How
could they have decoyed him down there? The embankment is
not on the direct line to the station. The bridge,
no doubt, was too crowded, even on such a night
for their purpose. Well, Watson, we shall see who will
will in the long run. I'm going out now to
the police. No, I should be my own place. When
I have spun the web, they may take the flies,
but not before. All day I was engaged in my
professional work, and it was late in the evening before
I returned to Baker Street. Shallow Colmbs had not come
back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he entered.
Looking pale and worn, he walked up to the sideboard, and,
tearing a piece from the loaf, he divided, voraciously, washing
it down with a long draft of water. You are hungry,
I remarked, starving. It had escaped my memory. I've had
nothing since breakfast, nothing, not a bite. I had no
time to think of it. And how have you succeeded? Well,
you have a clue. I have them in the hollow
of my hand, young openshawls shall not long remain unavenged.
Why Watson let us put their own devilish trademark upon them?
It is well thought of. What do you mean? He
took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces,
he squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these,
he took five and thrust them into an envelope. On
the inside the flap he wrote s H for j O.
Then he sealed it and addressed it to Captain James
Calhoun bark lone Star Savannah, Georgia. That will await him
when he enters port, said he chuckling. It may give
him a sleepless night. You find it as sure a
precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him. And
who is this, Captain Calhoun? The leader of the gang?
I shall have the others but he first, how did
you trace it? Then he took a large sheet of
paper from his pocket, all covered with dates and names.
I've spent the whole day, said he over Lloyd's registers
and files of the old papers, following the future career
of every vessel which touched a Pondicherry. In January and
February in eighty three, there were thirty six ships of
fair tonnage which were reported there during those months. Of these, one,
the Lone Star, instantly attracted my attention, since although it
was reported as having clear from London, the name is
that which is given to one of the states of
the Union, Texas. I think I was not, and I'm
not sure which, but I knew that the ship must
have an American origin. What then I searched the Dundee records,
and when I found that the bark Lone Star was
there in January eighty five, my suspicion became a certainty.
I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at
present in the Port of London. Yes, the Lone Star
had arrived here last week. I went down to the
Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down
the river by the early tide this morning, homeward bound
to Savannah. I wired to Gravesend and learned that she
had passed some time ago. And as the wind is easterly,
I have no doubt that she has now passed the
good winds, and not very far from the Isle of Wight.
What would you do, then, oh, I have my hand
upon him. He and the two mates are, as I learned,
the only native born Americans in the ship. The others
of Finns and Germans. I know also that they were
all three away from the ship last night. I had
it from the Stevador, who has been loading their cargo.
By the time that their sailing ship reaches Savannah, the
mail boat will have carried this letter, and the cable
will have informed the piece of Savannah that these three
gentlemen are badly wanted here. Upon a charge of murder,
there is ever a floor. However, in the best laid
of human plans, and the murderers of John Openshaw were
never to receive the orange pips which would show them
that another as a cunning and as resolute as themselves
was upon their tracks. Very long and very severe were
the equinoctial gales that here waited long for news of
the Lone Star of Savannah, but none never reached us.
We did at last hear that somewhere far out in
the Atlantic, a shattered stern post of the boat was
seen swinging in the trough of a wave. Were the
letters L S carved upon it. And that is all
which we shall ever know of the fate of the
lone Star, end of the five Orange Pips.