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The "Gloria Scott" - The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle · The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes

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Speaker 1: The Glorious Scott. I have some papers here, said my
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Speaker 1: friend Shark Holmes, as we sat one winter's night on
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Speaker 1: either side of the fire, which I really think, Watson,
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Speaker 1: that it would be worth your while to glance over.
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Speaker 1: These are the documents in the extraordinary case of the
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Speaker 1: Glorious Scott. And this is the message which struck Justice
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Speaker 1: of the piece Trevor dead with horror when he read it.
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Speaker 1: He had picked from a drawer a little tarnished cylinder,
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Speaker 1: and undoing the tape, he handed me a short note
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Speaker 1: scrawled upon a half sheet of slate gray paper. The
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Speaker 1: supply of game for London is going steadily up, it
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Speaker 1: ran head keeper Hudson. We believe has been now told
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Speaker 1: to receive all orders for fly paper and for preservation
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Speaker 1: of your hen pheasant's life. As I glanced up from
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Speaker 1: reading this enigmatical message, I saw Holmes chuckling at the
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Speaker 1: expression upon my face. You look a little bewildered, said he.
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Speaker 1: I cannot see how such a message as this could
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Speaker 1: inspire horror. It seems to me to be rather grotesque
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Speaker 1: than otherwise very likely. Yet the fact remains that the reader,
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Speaker 1: who was a fine robust old man, was not cleaned
1:14
Speaker 1: down by it as if it had been the butt
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Speaker 1: end of a pistol. You arise my curiosity, said I,
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Speaker 1: But why did you just say now that there were
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Speaker 1: very particular reasons why I should study this case, because
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Speaker 1: it was the first in which I was ever engaged.
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Speaker 1: I had often endeavored to elicit from my companion what
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Speaker 1: had first turned his mind in the direction of criminal research,
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Speaker 1: but had never caught him before in a communicative humor.
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Speaker 1: Now he sat forward in this arm chair and spread
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Speaker 1: out the documents upon his knees. Then he lit his
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Speaker 1: pipe and sat for some time, smoking and turning them over.
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Speaker 1: You never heard me talk of Victor. Trevor, he asked.
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Speaker 1: He was the only friend I made during the two
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Speaker 1: years I was at college. I was never a very
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Speaker 1: sociable fellow, Watson, always rather fond of moping in my
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Speaker 1: rooms and working out my own little methods of thought,
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Speaker 1: so that I never mixed much with the men of
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Speaker 1: my year bar fencing and boxing. I had few athletic tastes,
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Speaker 1: and then my line of study was quite distinct from
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Speaker 1: that of the other fellows, so that we had no
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Speaker 1: points of contact at all. Trevor was the only man
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Speaker 1: I knew, and that only through the accident of his
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Speaker 1: bull terrier freezing on to my ankle one morning as
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Speaker 1: I went down to chapel. It was a prosaic way
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Speaker 1: of forming a friendship, but it was effective. I was
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Speaker 1: laid by the heels for ten days, but Trevor used
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Speaker 1: to come in to inquire after me. At first it
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Speaker 1: was only a minute's chat, but soon his visits lengthened,
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Speaker 1: and before the end of the term we were close friends.
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Speaker 1: He was a hearty, full blooded fellow, full of spirits
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Speaker 1: and energy, the very opposite to me in most respects,
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Speaker 1: but we had some subjects in common, and it was
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Speaker 1: a bond of union when I found that he was
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Speaker 1: as friendless as I. Finally he invited me down to
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Speaker 1: his father's place at Donnithorpe in Norfolk, and I accepted
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Speaker 1: his hospitality for a month of the long vacation. Old
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Speaker 1: Trevor was evidently a man of some wealth and consideration,
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Speaker 1: a j P and a landed proprietor. Donnithorpe is a
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Speaker 1: little hamlet just to the north of Langnere in the
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Speaker 1: country of the Broads. The house was an old fashioned,
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Speaker 1: wide spread oak beamed brick building, with a fine lime
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Speaker 1: lined avenue. Leading up to it. There was excellent wild
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Speaker 1: duck shooting in the fens, remarkably good fishing, a small
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Speaker 1: but select library taken over, as I understand, from a
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Speaker 1: former occupant, and a tolerable cook, so that he would
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Speaker 1: be a fastidious man who could not put in a
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Speaker 1: pleasant month there. Trevsenior was a widower and my friend
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Speaker 1: his only son. There had been a daughter, I heard,
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Speaker 1: but she had died of diphtheria while on a visit
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Speaker 1: to Birmingham. The father interested me extremely. He was a
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Speaker 1: man of little culture, but with a considerable amount of
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Speaker 1: rude strength, both physically and mentally. He knew hardly any books,
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Speaker 1: but he had traveled far, had seen much of the world,
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Speaker 1: and had remembered all that he had learned in person.
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Speaker 1: He was a thick set, burly man, with a shock
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Speaker 1: of grizzled hair, a brown, weather beaten face, and blue
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Speaker 1: eyes which were keen to the verge of fierceness. Yet
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Speaker 1: he had a reputation for kindness and charity on the
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Speaker 1: country side, and was noted for the leniency of his
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Speaker 1: sentences from the bench. One evening, shortly after my arrival,
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Speaker 1: we were sitting over a glass of port after dinner,
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Speaker 1: when young Trevor began to talk about those habits of
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Speaker 1: observation and inference which I had already formed into a system,
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Speaker 1: although I had not yet appreciated the part which they
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Speaker 1: were to play in my life life. The old man
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Speaker 1: evidently thought that his son was exaggerating in his description
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Speaker 1: of one or two trivial feats which I had performed.
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Speaker 1: Come now, mister Holmes, said he, laughing good humoredly. I
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Speaker 1: am an excellent subject. If you can deduce anything from me,
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Speaker 1: I fear there is not very much, I answered, I
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Speaker 1: might suggest that you have gone about in fear of
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Speaker 1: some personal attack within the last twelve months. The laugh
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Speaker 1: faded from his lips, and he stared at me in
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Speaker 1: great surprise. Well that's true enough, said he. You know, Victor,
5:35
Speaker 1: turning to his son, when we broke up that poaching gang,
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Speaker 1: they swore a kniphus and Sir Edward Holly has actually
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Speaker 1: been attacked. I have always been on my guard since then,
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Speaker 1: though I have no idea how you know it. You
5:49
Speaker 1: have a very handsome stick, I answered, by the inscription,
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Speaker 1: I observed that you had not had it more than
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Speaker 1: a year but you have taken some pains to bore
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Speaker 1: the head of it and poor melted lead into the hole,
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Speaker 1: so as to make it a formidable weapon. I argued
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Speaker 1: that you would not take such precautions unless you had
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Speaker 1: some danger to fear. Anything else, he asked, smiling, you
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Speaker 1: have boxed a good deal in your youth, right again,
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Speaker 1: How did you know it is my nose knocked a
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Speaker 1: little out of the strait, No, said I, it is
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Speaker 1: your ears. They have the peculiar flattening and thickening which
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Speaker 1: marks the boxing man. Anything else, You have done a
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Speaker 1: good deal of digging by your callosities, made all my
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Speaker 1: money at the goldfields. You have been in New Zealand
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Speaker 1: right again. You have visited Japan, quite true, and you
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Speaker 1: have been most intimately associated with some one whose initials
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Speaker 1: were j A, and whom you afterwards were eager to
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Speaker 1: entirely forget. Mister Trevis stood slowly up, fixed his large
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Speaker 1: blae two eyes upon me with a strange, wild stare,
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Speaker 1: and then pitched forward with his face among the nutshells
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Speaker 1: which strewed the cloth in a dead faint. You can
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Speaker 1: imagine Watson, how shocked both his son and I were
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Speaker 1: his attack did not last long, however, for when we
7:16
Speaker 1: undid his collar and sprinkled the water from one of
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Speaker 1: the finger glasses over his face, he gave a gasp
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Speaker 1: or two and sat up, Ah, boys, said he forcing
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Speaker 1: a smile. I hope I haven't frightened you. Strong as
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Speaker 1: I look, there is a weak place in my heart,
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Speaker 1: and it does not take much to knock me over.
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Speaker 1: I don't know how you manage this, mister Holmes, but
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Speaker 1: it seems to me that all the detectives of fact
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Speaker 1: and of fancy would be children in your hands. That's
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Speaker 1: your line of life, sir, And you may take the
7:48
Speaker 1: word of a man who has seen something of the world,
7:52
Speaker 1: and that recommendation, with the exaggerated estimate of my ability
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Speaker 1: with which he prefaced it was, if you will believe me, Watson,
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Speaker 1: the very first thing which ever made me feel that
8:03
Speaker 1: a profession might be made out of what had up
8:06
Speaker 1: to that time been the merest hobby. At the moment, however,
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Speaker 1: I was too much concerned at the sudden illness of
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Speaker 1: my host to think of anything else. I hope that
8:17
Speaker 1: I've said nothing to pain you said, I, well, you
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Speaker 1: certainly touched upon rather a tender point might I ask
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Speaker 1: how you know and how much you know? He spoke
8:29
Speaker 1: now in a half jesting fashion, but a look of
8:31
Speaker 1: terror still lurked at the back of his eyes. It
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Speaker 1: is simplicity itself, said I. When you bared your arm
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Speaker 1: to draw that fish into the boat, I saw that
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Speaker 1: j A had been tattooed in the bend of the elbow.
8:45
Speaker 1: The letters were still legible, but it was perfectly clear
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Speaker 1: from their blurred appearance, and from the staining of the
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Speaker 1: skin around them, that efforts had been made to obliterate them.
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Speaker 1: It was obvious then that those in this had once
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Speaker 1: been very familiar to you, and that you had afterwards
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Speaker 1: wished to forget them. What an eye you have, he cried,
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Speaker 1: with a sigh of relief. It is just as you say,
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Speaker 1: but we won't talk of it. Of all ghosts, the
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Speaker 1: ghosts of our old lovers are the worst. Come into
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Speaker 1: the billiard room and have a quiet cigar. From that day,
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Speaker 1: amid all his cordiality, there was always a touch of
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Speaker 1: suspicion in mister Trevor's manner towards me. Even his son remarked,
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Speaker 1: it you've given the governor such a turn, said he,
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Speaker 1: that he'll never be sure again of what you know
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Speaker 1: and what you don't know. He did not mean to
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Speaker 1: show it, I am sure, but it was so strongly
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Speaker 1: in his mind that it peeped out at every action.
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Speaker 1: At last, I became so convinced that I was causing
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Speaker 1: him uneasiness that I drew my visit to a close.
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Speaker 1: On the very day. However, before I left, an incident
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Speaker 1: occurred which proved in the sequel to be of importance.
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Speaker 1: We were sitting out upon the lawn and garden chairs,
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Speaker 1: the three of us, basking in the sun and admiring
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Speaker 1: the view across the broads, when a maid came out
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Speaker 1: to say that there was a man at the door
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Speaker 1: who wanted to see mister Trevor. What is his name,
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Speaker 1: asked my host. He would not give any What does
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Speaker 1: he want? Then he says that you know him, and
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Speaker 1: that he only wants a moment's conversation. Show him round here.
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Speaker 1: An instant afterwards, there appeared a little wizened fellow with
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Speaker 1: a cringing manner and a shambling style of walking. He
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Speaker 1: wore an open jacket with a splotch of tar on
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Speaker 1: the sleeve, a red and black check shirt, dungaree trousers
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Speaker 1: and heavy boots badly worn. His face was thin and
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Speaker 1: brown and crafty, with a perpetual smile upon it, which
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Speaker 1: showed an irregular line of yellow teeth, and his crinkled
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Speaker 1: hands were half closed in a way that is distinctive
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Speaker 1: of sailors. As he came slouching across the lawn, I
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Speaker 1: heard mister Trevor made a sort of hiccuping noise in
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Speaker 1: his throat, and jumping out of his chair, he ran
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Speaker 1: into the house. He was back in a moment, and
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Speaker 1: I smelt a strong reek of brandy as he passed me. Well,
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Speaker 1: my man, said he, What can I do for you?
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Speaker 1: The sailor stood looking at him with puckered eyes and
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Speaker 1: with the same loose lipped smile upon his face. You
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Speaker 1: don't know me, he asked. Why, dear me, it is surely, Hudson,
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Speaker 1: said mister Trevor, in a tone of surprise. Hudson, it is, sir,
11:33
Speaker 1: said the seaman. Why. It's thirty years or more since
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Speaker 1: I saw you last. Here you are in your house
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Speaker 1: and me still picking my salt meat out of the
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Speaker 1: harness cask. Tut. You will find that I have not
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Speaker 1: forgotten old times. Cried mister Trevor, and walking towards the sailor,
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Speaker 1: he said something in a low voice. Go into the kitchen,
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Speaker 1: he continued out loud, and you will get food and drink.
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Speaker 1: I have no doubt that I shall find you a situation.
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Speaker 1: Thank you, sir, said the seaman, touching his forelock. I'm
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Speaker 1: just off a two yearer in an eight knot tramp,
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Speaker 1: short handed at that, and I want a rest. I
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Speaker 1: thought i'd get it either with mister Bedders or with you, Ah,
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Speaker 1: cried Trevor. You know where mister Beddrows is. Bless you, sir,
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Speaker 1: I know where all my old friends are, said the
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Speaker 1: fellow with a sinister smile, and he slouched off after
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Speaker 1: the maid to the kitchen. Mister Trevor mumbled something to
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Speaker 1: us about having been shipmate with the man when he
12:36
Speaker 1: was going back to the diggings, and then leaving us
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Speaker 1: on the lawn he went indoors. An hour later, when
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Speaker 1: we entered the house, we found him stretched dead drunk
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Speaker 1: upon the dining room's sofa. The whole instant left a
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Speaker 1: most ugly impression upon my mind, and I was not
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Speaker 1: sorry next day to leave Donithorpe behind me. For I
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Speaker 1: felt that my presence must be a source of embarrass
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Speaker 1: to my friend. All this occurred during the first month
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Speaker 1: of the long vacation. I went up to my London rooms,
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Speaker 1: where I spent seven weeks working out a few experiments
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Speaker 1: in organic chemistry. One day, however, when the autumn was
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Speaker 1: far advanced and the vacation drawing to a close, I
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Speaker 1: received a telegram from my friend imploring me to return
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Speaker 1: to Donnithorpe, and saying that he was in great need
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Speaker 1: of my advice and assistance. Of course, I dropped everything
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Speaker 1: and set out for the north once more. He met
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Speaker 1: me with the dog cart at the station, and I
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Speaker 1: saw at a glance that the last two months had
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Speaker 1: been very trying ones for him. He had grown thin
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Speaker 1: and care worn, and had lost the loud, cheery manner
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Speaker 1: for which he had been remarkable. The governor is dying.
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Speaker 1: With the first words, he said, impossible, I cried, what
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Speaker 1: is the matter. Apoplexy, nervous shock. He's been on the
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Speaker 1: verge all day. I doubt if we shall find him alive.
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Speaker 1: I was, as you may think, Watson, horrified at this
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Speaker 1: unexpected news. What has caused it? I asked, Ah, that
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Speaker 1: is the point, jump in and we can talk it
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Speaker 1: over while we drive. You remember that fellow who came
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Speaker 1: upon the evening before you left us perfectly? Do you
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Speaker 1: know who it was that we let into the house
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Speaker 1: that day? I have no idea. It was the devil Holmes,
14:29
Speaker 1: he cried. I stared at him in astonishment. Yes, it
14:34
Speaker 1: was the devil himself. We have not had a peaceful
14:37
Speaker 1: hour since, not one. The Governor has never held up
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Speaker 1: his head from that evening, and now the life has
14:44
Speaker 1: been crushed out of him, and his heart broken all
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Speaker 1: through this accursed Hudson. What power had he then? Ah,
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Speaker 1: that is what I would give so much to know,
14:56
Speaker 1: the kindly, charitable, good old governor. How could he have
15:00
Speaker 1: fallen into the clutches of such a ruffian. But I
15:03
Speaker 1: am so glad that you have come homes. I trust
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Speaker 1: very much to your judgment and discretion, and I know
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Speaker 1: that you will advise me for the best. We were
15:13
Speaker 1: dashing along the smooth white country road, with a long
15:16
Speaker 1: stretch of the broads in front of us, glimmering in
15:19
Speaker 1: the red light of the setting sun. From a grove
15:22
Speaker 1: upon our left, I could already see the high chimneys
15:25
Speaker 1: and the flag staff which marked the squire's dwelling. My
15:29
Speaker 1: father made the fellow gardener, said my companion, and then
15:34
Speaker 1: as that did not satisfy him, he was promoted to
15:36
Speaker 1: be butler. The house seemed to be at his mercy,
15:40
Speaker 1: and he wandered about and did what he chose in it.
15:43
Speaker 1: The maids complained of his drunken habits and his vile language.
15:47
Speaker 1: The dad raised their wages all round to recompense them
15:50
Speaker 1: for the annoyance. The fellow would take the boat and
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Speaker 1: my father's best gun and treat himself to little shooting trips,
15:58
Speaker 1: and all this with such a sneering, leering, insolent face,
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Speaker 1: that I would have knocked him down twenty times over
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Speaker 1: if he'd been a man of my own age. I
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Speaker 1: tell you, Holmes, I have had to keep a tight
16:09
Speaker 1: hold upon myself all this time, and now I am
16:12
Speaker 1: asking myself whether if I had let myself go a
16:15
Speaker 1: little more, I might not have been a wiser man. Well,
16:20
Speaker 1: matters went from bad to worse with us, and this
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Speaker 1: animal Hudson became more and more intrusive, until at last,
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Speaker 1: on making some insolent reply to my father in my presence,
16:30
Speaker 1: one day I took him by the shoulders and turned
16:34
Speaker 1: him out of the room. He slunk away with a
16:36
Speaker 1: livid face and two venomous eyes which uttered more threats
16:40
Speaker 1: than his tongue could do. I don't know what passed
16:43
Speaker 1: between the poor dad and him after that, but the
16:46
Speaker 1: dad came to me next day and asked me whether
16:48
Speaker 1: I would mind apologizing to Hudson. I refused, as you
16:53
Speaker 1: can imagine, and asked my father how he could allow
16:56
Speaker 1: such a wretch to take such liberties with himself and
17:00
Speaker 1: his household. Ah, my boy, said he. It is all
17:05
Speaker 1: very well to talk, but you don't know how I
17:07
Speaker 1: am placed. But you shall know, Victor, I'll see that
17:11
Speaker 1: you shall know, come what may. You wouldn't believe harm
17:14
Speaker 1: of your poor old father, would you, lad? He was
17:18
Speaker 1: very much moved and shut himself up in the study
17:20
Speaker 1: all day, where I could see through the window that
17:23
Speaker 1: he was writing busily. That evening, there came what seemed
17:28
Speaker 1: to me to be a grand release for Hudson told
17:31
Speaker 1: us that he was going to leave us. He walked
17:34
Speaker 1: into the dining room as we sat after dinner and
17:37
Speaker 1: announced his intention in the thick voice of a half
17:40
Speaker 1: drunken man. I've had enough Norfolk, said he. I'll run down,
17:46
Speaker 1: sir mister Bedrow's in Hampshire. He'll be as glad to
17:49
Speaker 1: see me as you were. I dare say, you're not
17:54
Speaker 1: going away in an unkind spirit, Hudson, I hope, said
17:57
Speaker 1: my father, with a tameness which made my blood boil.
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Speaker 1: I've not ut my apology, said he sulkily, glancing in
18:07
Speaker 1: my direction. Victor, you will acknowledge that you have used
18:11
Speaker 1: this worthy fellow rather roughly, said the dad, turning to me.
18:17
Speaker 1: On the contrary, I think that we have both shown
18:20
Speaker 1: extraordinary patience towards him, I answered, Oh, you do, do you?
18:26
Speaker 1: He snarls, Very good, mate, We'll see about that. He
18:31
Speaker 1: slouched out of the room, and half an hour afterwards
18:34
Speaker 1: left the house, leaving my father in a state of
18:37
Speaker 1: pitiable nervousness. Night after night I heard him pacing his room,
18:42
Speaker 1: and it was just as he was recovering his confidence
18:45
Speaker 1: that the blow did at last fall, and how, I
18:49
Speaker 1: asked eagerly, in a most extraordinary fashion, A letter arrived
18:54
Speaker 1: from my father yesterday evening, bearing the Fordingbridge postmark. My
18:59
Speaker 1: father read it, clapped both his hands to his head
19:02
Speaker 1: and began running around the room in little circles, like
19:06
Speaker 1: a man who has been driven out of his senses.
19:09
Speaker 1: When I at last drew him down on to the sofa,
19:11
Speaker 1: his mouth and eyelids were all puckered on one side,
19:15
Speaker 1: and I saw that he had a stroke. Doctor Fordham
19:18
Speaker 1: came over at once. We put him to bed, but
19:21
Speaker 1: the paralysis has spread. He has shown no sign of
19:25
Speaker 1: returning consciousness, and I think that we shall hardly find
19:28
Speaker 1: him alive. You horrify me, Trevor. I cried, what then
19:33
Speaker 1: could have been in this letter to cause so dreadful
19:36
Speaker 1: a result? Nothing there lies the inexplicable part of it.
19:42
Speaker 1: The message was absurd and trivial. Ah, my god, it
19:47
Speaker 1: is as I feared. As he spoke. We came round
19:51
Speaker 1: the curve of the avenue and saw in the fading
19:53
Speaker 1: light that every blind in the house had been drawn down.
19:57
Speaker 1: As we dashed up to the door, my friend his
20:00
Speaker 1: face convulsed with grief. A gentleman in black emerged from it.
20:06
Speaker 1: When did it happen? Doctor asked Trevor. Almost immediately after
20:10
Speaker 1: you left? Did he recover consciousness for an instant before
20:15
Speaker 1: the end? Any message for me? Only that the papers
20:20
Speaker 1: were in the back drawer of the Japanese cabinet. My
20:23
Speaker 1: friend ascended with the doctor to the chamber of death,
20:26
Speaker 1: while I remained in the study, turning the whole matter
20:30
Speaker 1: over and over in my head, and feeling as somber
20:34
Speaker 1: as ever I had done in my life. What was
20:37
Speaker 1: the past of this Trevor, pugilist, traveler and gold digger?
20:42
Speaker 1: And how had he placed himself in the power of
20:44
Speaker 1: this acid faced seaman? Why too, should he faint at
20:48
Speaker 1: an allusion to the half effaced initials upon his arm
20:52
Speaker 1: and die of fright when he had a letter from Fordingham.
20:55
Speaker 1: Then I remembered that Fordingham was in Hampshire, and that
20:59
Speaker 1: this mister bed whom the seamen had gone to visit
21:02
Speaker 1: and presumably to blackmail, had also been mentioned as living
21:06
Speaker 1: in Hampshire. The letter then might either come from Hudson
21:10
Speaker 1: the seaman, saying that he had betrayed the guilty secret
21:13
Speaker 1: which appeared to exist, or it might come from Bedows
21:17
Speaker 1: warning an old confederate that such a betrayal was imminent.
21:22
Speaker 1: So far it seemed clear enough. But then how could
21:25
Speaker 1: this letter be trivial and grotesque as described by the Sun.
21:29
Speaker 1: He must have misread it. If so, it must have
21:32
Speaker 1: been one of those ingenious secret codes which mean one
21:35
Speaker 1: thing while they seemed to mean another. I must see
21:39
Speaker 1: this letter if there were a hidden meaning in it.
21:42
Speaker 1: I was confident that I could pluck it forth. For
21:45
Speaker 1: an hour I sat pondering over it in the gloom,
21:48
Speaker 1: until at last a weeping maid brought in a lamp,
21:51
Speaker 1: and close at her heels came my friend Trevor, pale
21:54
Speaker 1: but composed with these very papers which lie upon my
21:58
Speaker 1: knee held in his grass. He sat down opposite to me,
22:03
Speaker 1: drew the lamp to the edge of the table, and
22:05
Speaker 1: handed me a short note scribbled as you see upon
22:09
Speaker 1: a single sheet of gray paper. The supply of game
22:13
Speaker 1: for London is going steadily up, it ran Headkeeper Hudson.
22:17
Speaker 1: We believe has been now told to receive all orders
22:20
Speaker 1: for fly paper and for preservation of your hen pheasant's life.
22:26
Speaker 1: I dare say my face looked as bewildered as yours
22:29
Speaker 1: did just now when first I read this message. Then
22:33
Speaker 1: I re read it very carefully. It was evidently as
22:36
Speaker 1: I had thought, and some secret meaning must lie buried
22:40
Speaker 1: in this strange combination of words. Or could it be
22:44
Speaker 1: that there was a prearranged significance to such phrases as
22:48
Speaker 1: fly paper and hen pheasant. Such a meaning would be
22:52
Speaker 1: arbitrary and could not be deduced in any way. And
22:56
Speaker 1: yet I was loath to believe that this was the case,
23:00
Speaker 1: and the presence of the word Hudson seemed to show
23:03
Speaker 1: that the subject of the message was as I had guessed,
23:06
Speaker 1: and that it was from Bedow's rather than the sailor.
23:10
Speaker 1: I tried it backwards, but the combination life pheasant's hen
23:15
Speaker 1: was not encouraging. Then I tried alternate words, but neither
23:20
Speaker 1: thee or four nor supply game London promised to throw
23:24
Speaker 1: any light upon it. And then in an instant the
23:28
Speaker 1: key of the riddle was in my hands, and I
23:31
Speaker 1: saw that every third word, beginning with the first, would
23:34
Speaker 1: give a message which might well drive old Trevor to despair.
23:39
Speaker 1: It was short and terse, the warning, as I now
23:42
Speaker 1: read it to my companion. The game is up. Hudson
23:47
Speaker 1: has told all fly for your life. Victor. Trevor sank
23:52
Speaker 1: his face into his shaking hands. It must be that,
23:56
Speaker 1: I suppose, said he, this is worse than death, for
24:00
Speaker 1: it means disgrace as well. But what is the meaning
24:03
Speaker 1: of these head keepers and hen pheasants. It means nothing
24:08
Speaker 1: to the message, but it might mean a good deal
24:10
Speaker 1: to us if we had no other means of discovering
24:13
Speaker 1: the sender. You see that he has begun by writing
24:16
Speaker 1: the game is and so on. Afterwards he had to
24:22
Speaker 1: fulfill the prearranged cipher. To fill in any two words
24:25
Speaker 1: in each space, he would naturally use the first words
24:29
Speaker 1: which came to his mind. And if there were so
24:31
Speaker 1: many which referred to sport among them, you may be
24:34
Speaker 1: tolerably sure that he is either an ardent shot or
24:38
Speaker 1: interested in breeding. Do you know anything of this, Beadows?
24:43
Speaker 1: Why now that you mention it, said he, I remember
24:46
Speaker 1: that my poor father used to have an invitation from
24:49
Speaker 1: him to shoot over his preserves every autumn. Then it
24:53
Speaker 1: is undoubtedly from him that the note comes, said I.
24:57
Speaker 1: It only remains for us to find out what this
25:00
Speaker 1: secret was which the sailor Hudson seems to have held
25:03
Speaker 1: over the heads of these two wealthy and respected men.
25:08
Speaker 1: Alas Holmes, I fear that it is one of sin
25:11
Speaker 1: and shame, cried my friend. But from you I shall
25:14
Speaker 1: have no secrets. Here is the statement which was drawn
25:18
Speaker 1: up by my father, when he knew that the danger
25:20
Speaker 1: from Hudson had become imminent. I found it in the
25:23
Speaker 1: Japanese cabinet, as he told the doctor. Take it and
25:27
Speaker 1: read it to me, for I have neither the strength
25:30
Speaker 1: nor the courage to do it myself. These are the
25:34
Speaker 1: very papers Watson which he handed to me, and I
25:37
Speaker 1: will read them to you as I read them in
25:39
Speaker 1: the Old Study that night to him. They are endorsed
25:42
Speaker 1: outside as you see some particulars of the voyage of
25:46
Speaker 1: the bark glorious Scott from her leaving Falmouth on the
25:49
Speaker 1: eighth of October eighteen fifty five to her destruction in
25:53
Speaker 1: north latitude fifteen degrees twenty west long twenty five degrees
25:59
Speaker 1: fourteen on November sixth. It is in the form of
26:03
Speaker 1: a letter and runs in this way, My dear dear son,
26:08
Speaker 1: Now that approaching disgrace begins to darken the closing years
26:12
Speaker 1: of my life, I can write with all truth and
26:14
Speaker 1: honesty that it is not the terror of the law.
26:18
Speaker 1: It is not the loss of my position in the county,
26:22
Speaker 1: nor is it my fall in the eyes of all
26:23
Speaker 1: who have known me, which cuts me to the heart.
26:27
Speaker 1: But it is the thought that you should come to
26:30
Speaker 1: blush for me, you who love me, and who have
26:33
Speaker 1: seldom I hope, had reason to do other than respect me.
26:37
Speaker 1: But if the blow falls, which is forever hanging over me,
26:40
Speaker 1: then I should wish you to read this, that you
26:42
Speaker 1: may know straight from me how far I have been
26:45
Speaker 1: to blame. On the other hand, if all should go well,
26:49
Speaker 1: which may kind God Almighty grant, then if by any
26:53
Speaker 1: chance this paper should be still undestroyed and should fall
26:57
Speaker 1: into your hands, I can djure you, by all you
27:01
Speaker 1: hold sacred, by the memory of your dear mother, and
27:04
Speaker 1: by the love which had been between us, to hurl
27:07
Speaker 1: it into the fire, and to never give one thought
27:10
Speaker 1: to it again. If then your eye goes on to
27:14
Speaker 1: read this line, I know that I shall already have
27:17
Speaker 1: been exposed and dragged from my home, or, as is
27:20
Speaker 1: more likely, for you, know that my heart is weak
27:24
Speaker 1: by lying, with my tongue sealed forever in death. In
27:28
Speaker 1: either case, the time for suppression is past, and every
27:31
Speaker 1: word which I tell you is the naked truth. And
27:34
Speaker 1: this I swear, as I hope for mercy. My name,
27:39
Speaker 1: dear lad is not Trevor. I was James Armitage in
27:42
Speaker 1: my younger days, and you can understand now are the
27:46
Speaker 1: shock that it was to me a few weeks ago
27:48
Speaker 1: when your college friend addressed me in words which seemed
27:51
Speaker 1: to imply that he had surprised my secret As Armitage.
27:56
Speaker 1: It was that I entered a London banking house, and
28:00
Speaker 1: as armitage, I was convicted of breaking my country's laws
28:03
Speaker 1: and was sentenced to transportation. Do not think very harshly
28:07
Speaker 1: of me, laddie. It was a debt of honor so called,
28:10
Speaker 1: which I had to pay, and I used money which
28:13
Speaker 1: was not my own to do it, in the certainty
28:16
Speaker 1: that I could replace it before there could be any
28:18
Speaker 1: possibility of its being missed. But the most dreadful ill
28:22
Speaker 1: luck pursued me. The money which I had reckoned upon
28:25
Speaker 1: never came to hand, and a premature examination of accounts
28:28
Speaker 1: exposed my deficit. The case might have been dealt leniently with,
28:34
Speaker 1: but the laws were more harshly administered thirty years ago
28:36
Speaker 1: than now, And on my twenty third birthday I found
28:40
Speaker 1: myself chained as a felon with thirty seven other convicts
28:44
Speaker 1: in tween debts of the bark Glorious Scott bound for Australia.
28:49
Speaker 1: It was the year fifty five, when the Crimean War
28:52
Speaker 1: was at its height, and the old convict ships had
28:55
Speaker 1: been largely used as transports in the Black Sea. The
28:59
Speaker 1: government was compelled therefore to use smaller and less suitable
29:02
Speaker 1: vessels for sending out their prisoners. The Glorious Scott had
29:07
Speaker 1: been in the Chinese tea trade, but she was an
29:10
Speaker 1: old fashioned, heavy bowed, broad beamed craft, and the new
29:14
Speaker 1: clippers had cut her out. She was a five hundred
29:17
Speaker 1: ton boat, and besides her thirty eight jail birds, she
29:20
Speaker 1: carried twenty six of a crew eighteen soldiers, a captain,
29:25
Speaker 1: three mates, a doctor, a chaplain, and four warders. Nearly
29:30
Speaker 1: a hundred souls were in her all told. When we
29:32
Speaker 1: set sail from Falmouth, the partitions between the cells of
29:36
Speaker 1: the convicts, instead of being of thick oak, as is
29:39
Speaker 1: usual in convict ships, were quite thin and frail. The
29:44
Speaker 1: man next to me upon the aft side was one
29:46
Speaker 1: whom I had particularly noticed when we were led down
29:49
Speaker 1: the quay. He was a young man with a clear,
29:52
Speaker 1: hairless face, a long, thin nose, and rather nutcracker jaws.
29:58
Speaker 1: He carried his head very jauntily in the air, had
30:00
Speaker 1: a swaggering style of walking, and was above all else
30:04
Speaker 1: remarkable for his extraordinary height. I don't think any of
30:08
Speaker 1: our heads would have come up to his shoulder, and
30:11
Speaker 1: I am sure that he could not have measured less
30:13
Speaker 1: than six and a half feet. It was strange, among
30:17
Speaker 1: so many sad and weary faces to see one which
30:19
Speaker 1: was full of energy and resolution. The sight of it
30:22
Speaker 1: was to me like a fire in a snow storm.
30:25
Speaker 1: I was glad then to find that he was my neighbor,
30:28
Speaker 1: and gladder still when in the dead of night I
30:31
Speaker 1: heard a whisper close to my ear and found that
30:34
Speaker 1: he had managed to cut an opening in the board
30:36
Speaker 1: which separated us. Hallo, chummy, said he, what's your name
30:42
Speaker 1: and what are you here for? I answered him, and
30:45
Speaker 1: asked in turn who I was talking with. I am
30:48
Speaker 1: Jack Prendergast, said he, and by God, you'll learn to
30:52
Speaker 1: bless my name before you've done with me. I remembered
30:56
Speaker 1: hearing of his case, for it was one which had
30:58
Speaker 1: made an immense sensation throughout the country some time before
31:02
Speaker 1: my own arrest. He was a man of good family
31:05
Speaker 1: and of great ability, but of incurably vicious habits, who had,
31:09
Speaker 1: by an ingenious system of fraud, obtained huge sums of
31:12
Speaker 1: money from the leading London merchants. Ha, ha, are you
31:16
Speaker 1: remember my case, said he proudly, very well. Indeed, then
31:21
Speaker 1: maybe you remember something queer about it? What was that? Then?
31:26
Speaker 1: I'd had nearly a quarter of a million, hadn't I?
31:29
Speaker 1: So it was said, but none was recovered. Eh? No, Well,
31:34
Speaker 1: where do you suppose the balances? He asked, I've no idea,
31:38
Speaker 1: said I. Right between my finger and thumb, he cried,
31:43
Speaker 1: By god, I've got more pounds to my name than
31:46
Speaker 1: you've had hairs on your head. And if you've money,
31:49
Speaker 1: my son, and know how to handle it and spread it,
31:52
Speaker 1: you can do anything. Now, you don't think it likely
31:55
Speaker 1: that a man who could do anything is going to
31:57
Speaker 1: wear his breeches out sitting in the stinking hole of
31:59
Speaker 1: a rat gutted, beetle ridden, moldy old coffin of a
32:02
Speaker 1: China coaster. No, sir, such a man will look after
32:07
Speaker 1: himself and will look after his chums. You may lay
32:10
Speaker 1: to that, you hold on to him, and you may
32:13
Speaker 1: kiss the book that he'll haul you through. That was
32:17
Speaker 1: his style of talk, And at first I thought it
32:19
Speaker 1: meant nothing. But after a while, when he had tested
32:23
Speaker 1: me and sworn me in with all possible solemnity. He
32:27
Speaker 1: let me understand that there really was a plot to
32:29
Speaker 1: gain command of the vessel. A dozen of the prisoners
32:33
Speaker 1: had hatched it before they came aboard. Prendergast was the leader,
32:37
Speaker 1: and his money was the motive power. I'd a partner,
32:41
Speaker 1: said he a rare good man, as true as a
32:44
Speaker 1: stop to a barrel. He's got the DIBs he has.
32:48
Speaker 1: And where do you think he is at this moment?
32:50
Speaker 1: Why he's the chaplain of this ship, the chaplain no less.
32:55
Speaker 1: He came aboard with a black coat and his papers right,
32:58
Speaker 1: and money enough in his box to buy the thing
33:00
Speaker 1: right up from keel to main truck. The crew are
33:03
Speaker 1: his body and soul. He could buy em at so
33:07
Speaker 1: much a gross with a cash discount, and he did
33:09
Speaker 1: it before ever they signed on. He's got two of
33:12
Speaker 1: the warders, and Maria the second mate, and he'd get
33:16
Speaker 1: the captain himself if he thought him worth it. What
33:19
Speaker 1: are we to do? Then? I asked, what d'ye think?
33:22
Speaker 1: Said he. We'll make the coats of some of these
33:25
Speaker 1: soldiers redder than ever the tailor did. But they are armed,
33:29
Speaker 1: said I, and so shall we be my boy. There's
33:33
Speaker 1: a brace of pistols for every mother's son of us.
33:36
Speaker 1: And if we can't carry this ship with the crew
33:38
Speaker 1: at our back, it's time we were all sent to
33:40
Speaker 1: a young missus boarding school. You speak to your mate
33:44
Speaker 1: upon the left to night and see if he is
33:46
Speaker 1: to be trusted. I did so, and found my other
33:49
Speaker 1: neighbor to be a young fellow in much the same
33:51
Speaker 1: position as myself, whose crime had been forgery. His name
33:56
Speaker 1: was Evans, but he afterwards changed it like myself, and
34:00
Speaker 1: he is now a rich and prosperous man in the
34:02
Speaker 1: south of England. He was ready enough to join the
34:05
Speaker 1: conspiracy as the only means of saving ourselves. And before
34:09
Speaker 1: we had crossed the bay there were only two of
34:11
Speaker 1: the prisoners who were not in the secret. One of
34:15
Speaker 1: these was of weak mind, and we did not dare
34:18
Speaker 1: to trust him, and the other was suffering from jaundice
34:21
Speaker 1: and could not be of any use to us. From
34:25
Speaker 1: the beginning, there was really nothing to prevent us from
34:27
Speaker 1: taking possession of the ship. The crew were a set
34:30
Speaker 1: of Ruffians specially picked for the job. The sham chaplain
34:34
Speaker 1: came into our cells to exhort us, carrying a black
34:37
Speaker 1: bag supposed to be full of tracts, and so often
34:41
Speaker 1: did he come that by the third day we had
34:43
Speaker 1: each stowed away at the foot of our beds a file,
34:46
Speaker 1: a brace of pistols, a pound of powder, and twenty slugs.
34:51
Speaker 1: Two of the warders were agents of Prendergast, and the
34:54
Speaker 1: second mate was his right hand man, the captain. The
34:58
Speaker 1: two mates, two warders, Lieutenant Martin, his eighteen soldiers, and
35:03
Speaker 1: the doctor were all that we had against us. Yet,
35:07
Speaker 1: safe as it was, we determined to neglect no precaution
35:11
Speaker 1: and to make our attack suddenly by night. It came, however,
35:15
Speaker 1: more quickly than we expected, and in this way, one evening,
35:20
Speaker 1: about the third week after our start, the doctor had
35:23
Speaker 1: come down to see one of the prisoners who was ill, and,
35:26
Speaker 1: putting his hand down on the bottom of his bunk,
35:28
Speaker 1: he felt the outline of the pistols. If he had
35:32
Speaker 1: been silent, he might have blown the whole thing. But
35:35
Speaker 1: he was a nervous little chap so he gave a
35:38
Speaker 1: cry of surprise and turned so pale that the man
35:41
Speaker 1: knew what was up in an instant and seized him.
35:45
Speaker 1: He was gagged before he could give the alarm, and
35:47
Speaker 1: tied down upon the bed. He had unlocked the door
35:50
Speaker 1: that led to the deck, and we were through it
35:52
Speaker 1: in a rush. The two sentries were shot down, so
35:56
Speaker 1: was a corporal who came running to see what was
35:57
Speaker 1: the matter. There were two more souls at the door
36:00
Speaker 1: of the state room, and their muskets seemed not to
36:03
Speaker 1: be loaded, for they never fired upon us, and they
36:06
Speaker 1: were shot while trying to fix their bayonets. Then we
36:09
Speaker 1: rushed on into the captain's cabin, but as we pushed
36:12
Speaker 1: open the door, there was an explosion from within, and
36:16
Speaker 1: there he lay with his brains smeared over the chart
36:19
Speaker 1: of the Atlantic, which was pinned upon the table, while
36:22
Speaker 1: the chaplain stood with a smoking pistol in his hand
36:25
Speaker 1: at his elbow. The two mates had both been seized
36:29
Speaker 1: by the crew, and the whole business seemed to be settled.
36:33
Speaker 1: The stateroom was next to the cabin, and we flocked
36:36
Speaker 1: in there and flopped down on the settees, all speaking together,
36:39
Speaker 1: for we were just mad with the feeling that we
36:41
Speaker 1: were free once more. There were lockers all round, and Wilson,
36:46
Speaker 1: the sham chaplain, knocked one of them in and pulled
36:49
Speaker 1: out a dozen of brown sherry. We cracked off the
36:52
Speaker 1: necks of the bottles, poured the stuff out into tumblers,
36:55
Speaker 1: and were just tossing them off, when in an instant,
36:59
Speaker 1: without warning, there came the roar of muskets in our ears,
37:02
Speaker 1: and the saloon was so full of smoke that we
37:04
Speaker 1: couldn't see across the table. When it cleared again, the
37:08
Speaker 1: place was a shambles. Wilson and eight others were wriggling
37:13
Speaker 1: on the top of each other on the floor, and
37:16
Speaker 1: the blood and the brown sherry on that table turned
37:18
Speaker 1: me sick now when I think of it. We were
37:21
Speaker 1: so cowed by the sight that I think we should
37:24
Speaker 1: have given the job up if it had not been
37:26
Speaker 1: for Prendigast. He bellowed like a bull and rushed for
37:29
Speaker 1: the door, with all that were left alive at his heels.
37:32
Speaker 1: Out we ran, and there on the poop were the
37:35
Speaker 1: lieutenant and ten of his men. The swinging skylights above
37:38
Speaker 1: the saloon table had been a bit open, and they
37:41
Speaker 1: had fired on us through the slit. We got on
37:44
Speaker 1: them before they could load, and they stood to it
37:46
Speaker 1: like men. But we had the upper hand of them,
37:49
Speaker 1: and in five minutes it was all over. My God,
37:53
Speaker 1: was there ever a slaughter house like that ship. Prendigass
37:57
Speaker 1: was like a raging devil, and he picked the soldiers
38:00
Speaker 1: up as if they had been children, and threw them overboard,
38:02
Speaker 1: alive or dead. There was one sergeant that was horribly wounded,
38:07
Speaker 1: and yet kept on swimming for a surprising time, until
38:10
Speaker 1: some one in mercy blew out his brains. When the
38:14
Speaker 1: fighting was over, there was no one left of our
38:16
Speaker 1: enemies except just the warders, the mates, and the doctor.
38:21
Speaker 1: It was over them that the great quarrel arose. There
38:25
Speaker 1: were many of us who were glad enough to win
38:27
Speaker 1: back our freedom, and yet who had no wish to
38:29
Speaker 1: have murder on our souls. It was one thing to
38:32
Speaker 1: knock the soldiers over with their muskets in their hands,
38:35
Speaker 1: and it was another to stand by while men were
38:37
Speaker 1: being killed in cold blood. Eight of us, five convicts
38:42
Speaker 1: and three sailors, said that we would not see it done.
38:45
Speaker 1: But there was no moving Prendigast and those who were
38:48
Speaker 1: with him. Our only chance of safety lay in making
38:51
Speaker 1: a clean job of it, said he, And he would
38:53
Speaker 1: not leave a tongue with powert of wag in a
38:55
Speaker 1: witness box. It nearly came to our sharing the fate
38:59
Speaker 1: of the prisoners. But at last he said that if
39:01
Speaker 1: we wished, we might take a boat and go. We
39:04
Speaker 1: jumped at the offer, for we were already sick of
39:07
Speaker 1: these bloodthirsty doings, and we saw that there would be
39:10
Speaker 1: worse before it was done. We were given a suit
39:14
Speaker 1: of sailor togs each, a barrel of water, two casks,
39:18
Speaker 1: one of junk and one of biscuits, and a compass.
39:21
Speaker 1: Prendegas threw us over a chart, told us that we
39:24
Speaker 1: were shipwrecked mariners whose ship had founded in latitude fifteen
39:28
Speaker 1: degrees and long twenty five degrees west, and then cut
39:32
Speaker 1: the painter and let us go. And now I come
39:35
Speaker 1: to the most surprising part of my story, my dear son.
39:39
Speaker 1: The seamen had hauled the four yard aback during the rising,
39:43
Speaker 1: but now as we left them, they brought it square again.
39:47
Speaker 1: And as there was a light wind from the north
39:49
Speaker 1: and east, the bark began to draw slowly away from us.
39:54
Speaker 1: Our boat lay rising and falling upon the long, smooth rollers,
39:58
Speaker 1: and Evans and I, who were the most educated of
40:00
Speaker 1: the party, were sitting in the sheets, working out our
40:03
Speaker 1: position and planning what coast we should make, for it
40:07
Speaker 1: was a nice question, for the Cape de Verdes were
40:10
Speaker 1: about five hundred miles to the north of US, and
40:13
Speaker 1: the African coast about seven hundred to the east. On
40:16
Speaker 1: the whole, As the wind was coming round to the north,
40:19
Speaker 1: we thought that Sierra Leone might be best, and turned
40:22
Speaker 1: our head in that direction. The bark being at that
40:26
Speaker 1: time nearly hulled down on our starboard quarter. Suddenly, as
40:30
Speaker 1: we looked at her, we saw a dense black cloud
40:32
Speaker 1: of smoke shoot up from her, which hung like a
40:35
Speaker 1: monstrous tree upon the sky line. A few seconds later,
40:39
Speaker 1: a roar like thunder burst upon our ears, and as
40:43
Speaker 1: the smoke thinned away, there was no sign left of
40:46
Speaker 1: the glorious scot. In an instant we swept the boat's
40:50
Speaker 1: head round again and pulled with all our strength for
40:53
Speaker 1: the place where the hayze, still trailing over the water
40:56
Speaker 1: marked the scene of this catastrophe. It was a long
41:00
Speaker 1: hour before we reached it, and at first we feared
41:03
Speaker 1: that we had come too late to save any one.
41:05
Speaker 1: A splintered boat and a number of crates and fragments
41:09
Speaker 1: of spars rising and falling on the waves showed us
41:12
Speaker 1: where the vessel had founded, but there was no sign
41:15
Speaker 1: of life, and we had turned away in despair when
41:18
Speaker 1: we heard a cry for help and saw at some
41:21
Speaker 1: distance a piece of wreckage with a man lying stretched
41:24
Speaker 1: across it. When we pulled him aboard the boat, he
41:28
Speaker 1: proved to be a young seaman of the name of Hudson,
41:31
Speaker 1: who was so burned and exhausted that he could give
41:34
Speaker 1: us no account of what had happened until the following morning.
41:39
Speaker 1: It seemed that after we had left, Prendergast and his
41:42
Speaker 1: gang had proceeded to put to death the five remaining prisoners.
41:46
Speaker 1: The two warders had been shot and thrown overboard, and
41:49
Speaker 1: so also had the third mate. Prendergast then descended into
41:54
Speaker 1: the tween decks and with his own hands, cut the
41:57
Speaker 1: throat of the unfortunate surgeon. There only remained the first mate,
42:02
Speaker 1: who was a bold and active man. When he saw
42:05
Speaker 1: the convict approaching him with the bloody knife in his hand,
42:09
Speaker 1: he kicked off his bonds, which he had somehow contrived
42:12
Speaker 1: to loosen, and rushing down the deck, he plunged into
42:15
Speaker 1: the after hold. A dozen convicts, who descended with their
42:19
Speaker 1: pistols in search of him, found him with a match
42:22
Speaker 1: box in his hand. Seated beside an open powder barrel,
42:26
Speaker 1: which was one of a hundred carried on board, and
42:29
Speaker 1: swearing that he would blow all hands up if he
42:31
Speaker 1: were in any way molested. An instant later the explosion occurred,
42:37
Speaker 1: though Hudson thought it was caused by the misdirected bullet
42:40
Speaker 1: of one of the convicts rather than the mate's match.
42:43
Speaker 1: Be the cause what it may, it was the end
42:46
Speaker 1: of the glorious Scot and of the rabble who held
42:49
Speaker 1: command of her. Such in a few words, my dear boy,
42:53
Speaker 1: is the history of this terrible business in which I
42:55
Speaker 1: was involved. Next day we were picked up by the
42:59
Speaker 1: brig Hotsp, bound for Australia, whose captain found no difficulty
43:04
Speaker 1: in believing that we were the survivors of a passenger
43:06
Speaker 1: ship which had founded the transport ship. Gloria Scott was
43:11
Speaker 1: set down by the Admiralty as being lost at sea,
43:14
Speaker 1: and no word has ever leaked out as to her
43:16
Speaker 1: true fate. After an excellent voyage, the Hotspur landed us
43:21
Speaker 1: at Sydney, where Evans and I changed our names and
43:24
Speaker 1: made our way to the Diggings, where among the crowds
43:27
Speaker 1: who were gathered from all nations, we had no difficulty
43:31
Speaker 1: in losing our former identities. The rest I need not relate.
43:35
Speaker 1: We prospered, We traveled, We came back as rich colonials
43:39
Speaker 1: to England, and we bought country estates. For more than
43:43
Speaker 1: twenty years we have led peaceful and useful lives, and
43:47
Speaker 1: we hoped that our past was forever buried imagined. Then
43:51
Speaker 1: my feelings when in the seamen who came to us,
43:55
Speaker 1: I recognized instantly the man who had been picked off
43:58
Speaker 1: the wreck, tracked us down somehow, and had set himself
44:02
Speaker 1: to live upon our fears. You will understand now how
44:07
Speaker 1: it was that I strove to keep the peace with him,
44:09
Speaker 1: and you will, in some measure sympathize with me in
44:11
Speaker 1: the fears which fill me now that he has gone
44:15
Speaker 1: from me to his other victim, with threats upon his tongue.
44:19
Speaker 1: Underneath is written in a hand so shaky as to
44:22
Speaker 1: be hardly legible. Beddo's writes in cipher to say, H
44:26
Speaker 1: as told all, sweet Lord, have mercy on our souls.
44:33
Speaker 1: That was the narrative which I read that night to
44:35
Speaker 1: young Trevor, and I think Watson that under the circumstances
44:39
Speaker 1: it was a dramatic one. The good fellow was heart
44:42
Speaker 1: broken at it and went out to the Terai tea planting,
44:46
Speaker 1: where I hear that he is doing well. As to
44:49
Speaker 1: the Sailor and Bedos, neither of them was ever heard
44:52
Speaker 1: of again after that day on which the letter of
44:55
Speaker 1: warning was written. They both disappeared utterly and completely. No
45:00
Speaker 1: complaint had been lodged with the police, so that Beddos
45:03
Speaker 1: had mistaken a threat for a deed. Hudson had been
45:06
Speaker 1: seen lurking about, and it was believed by the police
45:10
Speaker 1: that he had done away with Bedows and had fled
45:13
Speaker 1: for myself. I believe that the truth was exactly the opposite.
45:17
Speaker 1: I think that it is most probable that Bedow's, pushed
45:21
Speaker 1: to desperation, and believing himself to have been already betrayed,
45:25
Speaker 1: had revenged himself upon Hudson and had fled from the
45:29
Speaker 1: country with as much money as he could lay his
45:31
Speaker 1: hands on. Those are the facts of the case, Doctor,
45:35
Speaker 1: and if they are of any use to your collection,
45:37
Speaker 1: I am sure that they are very heartily at your service.
45:43
Speaker 1: End of the Glorious Scott