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