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17 The Gloria Scott' from The Memoirs of Sherlock Ho · Sherlock Holmes

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  Speaker 1: The Adventure of the Gloria Scott. I have some papers here,
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: said my friend Sherlock Holmes, as we sat one winter's
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: night on either side of the fire, which I really think, Watson,
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  Speaker 1: it would be worth your while to glance over. These
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  Speaker 1: are the documents in the extraordinary case of the Gloria Scott.
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  Speaker 1: And this is the message which struck Justice of the
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  Speaker 1: piece Trevor dead with horror when he read it. He
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  Speaker 1: had picked from a drawer a little tarnished cylinder, and
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  Speaker 1: undoing the tape, he handed me a short note scrawled
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  Speaker 1: upon a half sheet of slate gray paper. The supply
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  Speaker 1: of game for London is going steadily up, it ran
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  Speaker 1: head keeper Hudson. We believe has been now told to
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  Speaker 1: receive all orders for fly paper and for preservation of
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  Speaker 1: your hen pheasant's life. As I glanced up from reading
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  Speaker 1: this enigmatical message, which 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,
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: who was a fine robust old man was knocked clean
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  Speaker 1: down by it, as if it had been the butt
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  Speaker 1: end of a pistol. You arouse my curiosity, said I.
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  Speaker 1: But why did you say just 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.
• 1:39
  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: That I had never caught him before in a communicative humor.
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  Speaker 1: Now he sat forward in his 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 the
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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 that I was at college. I was never a
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  Speaker 1: very sociable fellow, Watson, always rather fond of moping in
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  Speaker 1: my rooms and working out my own little methods of thought,
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  Speaker 1: so that I never mixed much with men of my
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  Speaker 1: 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
• 2:37
  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 and Trevor used
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  Speaker 1: to come in to inquire after me. At first it
• 2:54
  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 spirit
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  Speaker 1: and energy, the very opposite to me in most respects.
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  Speaker 1: But we found we had some subjects in common, and
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  Speaker 1: it was a bond of union when I found that
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  Speaker 1: he was as friendless as I. Finally he invited me
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  Speaker 1: down to his father's place at Donethorpe in Norfolk, and
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  Speaker 1: I accepted his hospitality for a month of the long vacation.
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  Speaker 1: Old Trevor was evidently a man of some wealth and consideration,
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  Speaker 1: a JP and a landed proprietor. Donethorpe is a little
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  Speaker 1: hamlet just to the north of Langmere in the country
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  Speaker 1: of the Broads. The house was an old fashioned, widespread
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  Speaker 1: oak beamed brick building with a fine lime lined avenue
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  Speaker 1: leading up to it. There was excellent wild duck shooting
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  Speaker 1: in the fens, remarkably good fishing, a small but select
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  Speaker 1: library taken over, as I understood from a former occupant
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  Speaker 1: and a tolerable cook, so that it would be a
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  Speaker 1: fastidious man who could not put in a pleasant month there.
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  Speaker 1: Trevorsenor was a widower, and my friend was his only son.
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  Speaker 1: There had been a daughter, I heard, but she had
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  Speaker 1: died of diphtheria while on a visit to Birmingham. The
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  Speaker 1: father interested me extremely. He was a man of little culture,
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  Speaker 1: but with a considerable amount of rude strength, both physically
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  Speaker 1: and mentally. He knew hardly any books, but he had
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  Speaker 1: traveled far, had seen much of the world, and had
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  Speaker 1: remembered all that he had learned in person. He was
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  Speaker 1: a thick set, burly man, with a shock of grizzled hair,
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  Speaker 1: a brown, weather beaten face, and blue eyes which were
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  Speaker 1: keen to the verge of fierceness. Yet he had a
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  Speaker 1: reputation for kindness and charity in the countryside, and was
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  Speaker 1: noted for the leniency of his sentences from the bench.
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  Speaker 1: One evening shortly after my arrival, we were sitting over
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  Speaker 1: a glass of port after dinner, when young Trevor began
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  Speaker 1: to talk about those habits of observation and inference which
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  Speaker 1: I had already formed into a system, although I had
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  Speaker 1: not yet appreciated the part which they were to play
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  Speaker 1: in my life. The old man evidently thought that his
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  Speaker 1: son was exaggerating in his description of one or two
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  Speaker 1: trivial feats which I had performed. Come now, mister Holmes,
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: said he, laughing good humoredly. I am an excellent subject.
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  Speaker 1: If you can deduce anything from me, I fear there
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  Speaker 1: is not very much, I answered, I might suggest that
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  Speaker 1: you have gone about in fear of some personal attack
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  Speaker 1: within the last twelve months. The laugh faded from his lips,
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: and he stared at me in great surprise. Well that's
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  Speaker 1: true enough, said he, You know, Victor, turning to his son.
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: When we broke up that poaching gang, they swore a
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  Speaker 1: knife us, and Sir Edward Hoby has actually been attacked.
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  Speaker 1: I've always been on my guard since then, though I
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: have no idea how you know it. You have a
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  Speaker 1: very handsome stick, I answered, by the inscription, I observed
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  Speaker 1: that you had not had it more than a year,
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: but you have taken some pains to bore the head
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  Speaker 1: of it and pour melted lead into the hole, so
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  Speaker 1: as to make it a formidable weapon. I argued that
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  Speaker 1: you would not take such precautions unless you had some
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  Speaker 1: danger to fear. Anything else, he asked, smiling, you have
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: boxed a good deal in your youth. Right again, How
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  Speaker 1: did you know it is my nose knocked a little
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  Speaker 1: out of the strait, No, said I, It is your ears.
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  Speaker 1: They have the peculiar flattening and thickening which marks the
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  Speaker 1: boxing man. Anything else. You have done a great deal
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  Speaker 1: of digging by your callosities, made all my money at
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  Speaker 1: the goldfields. You have been in New Zealand right again.
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: You have visited Japan, quite true, and you have been
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  Speaker 1: most intimately associated with someone whose initials were Ja, and
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: whom you, afterwards were eager to entirely forget. Mister Trevor
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: stood slowly up up, fixed his large blue eyes on
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  Speaker 1: me with a strange, wild stare, and then pitched forward
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  Speaker 1: on his face among the nutshells which strewed the cloth
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  Speaker 1: in a dead faint. You can imagine Watson, how shocked
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  Speaker 1: both his son and I were. His attack did not
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  Speaker 1: last long, however, for when we undid his collar and
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  Speaker 1: sprinkled the water from one of the finger glasses over
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  Speaker 1: his face, he gave a gasp or to and sat up. Ah, boys,
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: said he forcing a smile. I hope I haven't frightened you.
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  Speaker 1: Strong as I look, there is a weak place in
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  Speaker 1: my heart, and it does not take much to knock
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  Speaker 1: me over. I don't know how you manage this, mister Holmes,
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  Speaker 1: but it seems to me that all the detectives of
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  Speaker 1: fact and of fancy would be children in your hands.
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  Speaker 1: That's your line of life, sir, And you may take
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  Speaker 1: the word of a man who has seen something of
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  Speaker 1: the world, and that recommendation, with the exaggerated estimate of
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  Speaker 1: my ability with which he prefaced it was, if you
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  Speaker 1: will believe me, Watson, the very first thing which ever
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  Speaker 1: made me feel that a profession might be made out
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  Speaker 1: of what had up to that time been the merest hobby.
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  Speaker 1: At the moment, however, I was too much concerned at
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  Speaker 1: the sudden illness of my host to think of anything else.
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  Speaker 1: I hope that I have said nothing to pain you said, I, well,
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  Speaker 1: you certainly touched upon rather a tender point. Might I
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  Speaker 1: ask how you know and how much you know? He
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  Speaker 1: spoke now in a half jesting fashion, but a look
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  Speaker 1: of terror still lurked at the back of his eyes.
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  Speaker 1: It is simplicity itself, said I. When you bared your
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  Speaker 1: arm to draw that fish into the boat, I saw
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  Speaker 1: that J A had been tattooed in the bend of
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  Speaker 1: the elbow. The letters were still legible, but it was
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  Speaker 1: perfectly clear from their blurred appearance, and from the staining
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  Speaker 1: of the skin round them, that efforts had been made
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  Speaker 1: to obliterate them. It was obvious then that those initials
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  Speaker 1: had once been very familiar to you, and that you
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  Speaker 1: would afterwards wish to forget them. What an eye you have,
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  Speaker 1: he cried, with a sigh of relief. It is just
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  Speaker 1: as you say, but we won't talk of it. Of
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  Speaker 1: all ghosts, the ghosts of our old loves are the worst.
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  Speaker 1: Come into the billiard room and have a quiet cigar.
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  Speaker 1: From that day, amid all his cordiality, there was always
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  Speaker 1: a touch of suspicion in mister Trevor's manner towards me.
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  Speaker 1: Even his son remarked, it you've given the governor such
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  Speaker 1: a turn, said he that he'll never be sure again
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  Speaker 1: of what you know and what you don't know. He
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  Speaker 1: did not mean to show it, I am sure, but
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  Speaker 1: it was so strongly in his mind that it peeped
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  Speaker 1: out at every action. At last, I became so convinced
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  Speaker 1: that I was causing him uneasiness that I drew my
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  Speaker 1: visit to a close. On the very day. However, before
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  Speaker 1: I left, an incident occurred which proved in the sequel
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  Speaker 1: to be of importance. We were sitting out upon the
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  Speaker 1: lawn on garden chairs, the three of us, basking in
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  Speaker 1: the sun and admiring the view across the broads, when
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  Speaker 1: the maid came out to say that there was a
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  Speaker 1: man at the door who wanted to see mister Trevor.
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  Speaker 1: What is his name, asked my host. He would not
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  Speaker 1: give any What does he want? Then he says that
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  Speaker 1: you know him, and that he only wants a moment's conversation.
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  Speaker 1: Show him round here. An instant afterwards, there appeared a
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  Speaker 1: little wizened fellow with a cringing manner and a shambling
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  Speaker 1: style of walking. He wore an open jacket with a
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  Speaker 1: splotch of tar on the sleeve, a red and black
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  Speaker 1: check shirt, dungaree trousers and heavy boots badly worn. His
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  Speaker 1: face was thin and brown and crafty, with a perpetual
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  Speaker 1: smile upon it, which showed an irregular line of yellow teeth,
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  Speaker 1: and his crinkled hands were half closed in a way
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  Speaker 1: that is distinctive of sailors. As he came slouching across
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  Speaker 1: the lawn, I heard mister Trevor make a sort of
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  Speaker 1: hiccupping noise in his throat, and jumping up out of
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  Speaker 1: his chair, he ran into the house. He was back
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  Speaker 1: in a moment, and I smelt a strong reek of
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: brandy as he passed me. Well, my man, said he,
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  Speaker 1: What can I do for you? The sailor stood looking
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  Speaker 1: at him with pocket eyes and with the same loose
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  Speaker 1: lipped smile upon his face. You don't know me, he asked. Why,
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  Speaker 1: dear me, it is surely Hudson, said mister Trevor, in
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  Speaker 1: a tone of surprise. A'dson it is, sir, said the seaman.
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  Speaker 1: Why it's thirty years and more since I saw you last.
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  Speaker 1: Here you are in your house and me still picking
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  Speaker 1: my salt meat out of the harness cask. Tut. You
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  Speaker 1: will find that I have not forgotten old times, cried
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  Speaker 1: mister Trevor, and walking towards the sailor, he said something
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  Speaker 1: in a low voice. Go into the kitchen, he continued
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  Speaker 1: out loud, and you will get food and drink. I
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  Speaker 1: have no doubt that I shall find you a situation.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you, thank you, sir, said the seaman, touching his forelock.
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  Speaker 1: I'm just off a two years in an eight nart tramp,
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  Speaker 1: sure handed at that, and I once arrest, I thought
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  Speaker 1: I'd get it either with mister Beadows or with you. Ah,
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  Speaker 1: cried mister Trevor. You know where mister Beadows 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 slouched off. After the
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  Speaker 1: mate to the kitchen, Mister Trevor mumbled something to us
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  Speaker 1: about having been shipmates with the man when he was
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: going back to the diggings, and then leaving us on
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  Speaker 1: the lawn he went indoors. An hour later, when we
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  Speaker 1: entered the house, we found him stretched dead drunk upon
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  Speaker 1: the dining room sofa. The whole incident left a most
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  Speaker 1: ugly impression upon my mind, and I was not sorry
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  Speaker 1: next day to leave Donithorpe behind me, for I felt
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: that my presence must be a source of embarrassment to
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  Speaker 1: my friend. All this occurred during the first month of
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: the long vacation. I went up to my London rooms,
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: where I spent seven weeks working out a few experiments
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: in organic chemistry. One day, however, when the autumn was
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: far advanced and the vacation drawing to a close, I
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: received a telegram from my friend imploring me to return
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  Speaker 1: to Donithorpe, and saying that he was in great need
• 13:20
  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
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: me with the dog cart at the station, and I
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: saw at a glance that the last two months had
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: been very trying ones for him. He had grown thin
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: and care worn, and had lost the loud, cheery manner
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: for which he had been remarkable. The Governor is dying
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: were the first words he said. Impossible, I cried, what
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: is the matter. Apoplexy, nervous shock. He's been on the
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: verge all day. I doubt if we shall find him alive.
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: I was, as you may think, Watson, horrified at this
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: unexpected news. What has caused it? I asked, Ah, that
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: is the point, jump in and we can talk it
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: over while we drive. You remember that fellow who came
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: upon the evening before you left us perfectly? Do you
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: know who it was that we let into the house
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: that day? I have no idea. It was the devil Holmes,
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: he cried. I stared at him in astonishment. Yes, it
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: was the devil himself. We have not had a peaceful
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: hour since, not one. The Governor has never held up
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: his head from that evening, and now the life has
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: been crushed out of him, and his heart broken all
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: through this accursed Hudson. What power had he then? Ah,
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: that is what I would give so much to know,
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: the kindly, charitable, good old governor. How could he have
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: fallen into the clutches of such a ruffian. But I
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: am so glad that you have come, homes. I trust
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: very much to your judgment and discretion, and I know
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: that you will advise me for the best. We were
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: dashing along the smooth white country road, with the long
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: stretch of the broads in front of us, glimmering in
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: the red light of the setting sun. From a grove
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: upon our left, I could already see the high chimneys
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: and the flag staff which marked the squire's dwelling. My
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: father made the fellow gardener, said my companion, and then
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: as that did not satisfy him, he was promoted to
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: be butler. The house seemed to be at his mercy,
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: and he wandered about and did what he chose in it.
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: The maids complained of his drunken habits and his vile language.
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: The dad raised their wages all round to recompense them
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: for the annoyance. The fellow would take the boat and
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: my father's best gun, and treat himself to little shooting parties,
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: and all this with such a sneering, leering, insolent face,
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: that I would have knocked him down twenty times over
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: if he had been a man of my own age.
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: I tell you how I have had to keep a
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: tight hold upon myself all this time, and now I
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: am asking myself whether if I had let myself go
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: a little more, I might not have been a wiser man. Well,
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: matters went from bad to worse with us, and this
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: animal Hudson became more and more intrusive, until at last,
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: on his making some insolent reply to my father in
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: my presence. One day, I took him by the shoulder
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: and turned him out of the room. He slunk away
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: with a livid face and two venomous eyes which uttered
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: more threats than his tongue could do. I don't know
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: what passed between the poor dad and him after that,
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: but the dad came to me next day and asked
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: me whether I would mind apologizing to Hudson. I refused,
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: as you can imagine, and asked my father how he
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: could allow such a wretch to take such liberties with
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: himself and his household. Ah, my boy, said he. It
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: is all very well to talk, but you don't know
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: how I am placed. But you shall know. I'll see
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: that you shall know, come what may. You wouldn't believe
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: harm of your poor old father, would you, lad. He
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: was very much moved and shut himself up in the
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: study all day, where I could see through the window
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: that he was writing busily. That evening, there came what
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: seemed to me to be a grand release for Hudson
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: told us that he was going to leave us. He
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: walked into the dining room as we sat after dinner
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: and announced his intention in the thick voice of a
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: half drunken man, I've had enough of norfolk, said he.
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: I'll run down to mister Beddow's in Hampshire. He'll be
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: as glad to see me as you were. I dare
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: say you're not going away in an unkind spirit, Hudson,
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: I hope, said my father, with a tameness which made
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: my blood boil. I've not had my apology, he said, sulkily,
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: glancing in my direction. Victor, will you acknowledge that you
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: have used this worthy fellow? Rather roughly, said the dad,
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: turning to me. On the contrary, I think that we
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: have both shown extraordinary patience towards him, I answered, Oh
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: you do, do you? He snarled, Very good, mate, we'll
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: see about that. He slouched out of the room, and
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: half an hour afterwards left the house, leaving my father
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: in a state of pitiable nervousness. Night after night I
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: heard him pacing his room. And it was just as
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: he was recovering his confidence that the blow did at
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: last fall, And how, I asked eagerly, in a most
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: extraordinary fashion, A letter arrived from my father yesterday evening,
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: bearing the Fordingbridge postmark. My father read it, clapped both
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: his hands to his head, and began running round the
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: room in little circles, like a man who has been
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: driven out of his senses. When I at last drew
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: him down to the sofa, his mouth and eyelids were
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: all puckered on one side, and I saw that he
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: had a stroke. Doctor Fordham came over at once. We
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: put him to bed, but the paralysis has spread. He
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: showed no signs of returning consciousness, and I think that
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: we shall hardly find him alive. You horrify me, Trevor.
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: I cried, what then could have been in this letter
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: to cause so dreadful a result? Nothing there lies the
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: inexplicable part of it. The message was absurd and trivial. Ah,
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: my god, it is as I feared. As he spoke,
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: we came round the curve of the avenue and saw
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: in the fading light that every blind in the house
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: had been drawn down. As we dashed up to the door,
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: my friend's face convulsed with grief. A gentleman in black
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: emerged from it. When did it happen, doctor asked Trevor.
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: Almost immediately after you left? Did he recover consciousness for
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: an instant before the end? Any message for me? Only
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: that the papers were in the back drawer of the
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: Japanese cabinet. My friend ascended with the doctor to the
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: chamber of death, while I remained in the study, turning
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: the whole matter over and over in my head, and
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: feeling a somber as I had ever done in my life.
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: What was the past of this trevor pugilist, traveler and
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: gold digger? And how had he placed himself in the
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: power of this acid faced seaman? Why too should he
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: faint at an allusion to the half effaced initials upon
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: his arm and die of fright when he had a
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: letter from Fordingbridge. Then I remembered that Fordingbridge was in Hampshire,
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: and that this mister Bedows, whom the seaman had gone
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: a visit and presumably to blackmail, had also been mentioned
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: as living in Hampshire. The letter then might either come
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: from Hudson the seaman, saying that he had betrayed the
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: guilty secret which appeared to exist, or it might come
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: from Bedows warning an old confederate that such a betrayal
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: was imminent. So far it seemed clear enough. But then
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: how could the letter be trivial and grotesque as described
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: by the sun. He must have misread it. If so,
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: it must have been one of those ingenious secret codes
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: which mean one thing while they seemed to mean another.
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: I must see this letter if there were a hidden
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: meaning in it. I was confident that I could pluck
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: it forth. For an hour I sat pondering over it
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: in the gloom, until at last a weeping maid brought
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: in a lamp, and close at her heels came my
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: friend Trevor, pale, but composed with these very papers which
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: lie upon my knee. Held in his grasp. He sat
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: down opposite to me, drew the lamp to the edge
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: of the table, and handed me a short note scribbled
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: as you see upon a single sheet of gray paper.
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: The supply of game for London is going steadily up,
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: it ran head Keeper Hudson. We believe has been now
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: told to receive all orders for fly paper and for
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: preservation of your hen pheasant's life. I dare say my
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: face looked as bewildered as yours did just now when
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: first I read this message. Then I re read it
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: very carefully. It was evidently as I had thought, and
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: some second meaning must lie buried in this strange combination
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: of words. Or could it be that there was a
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: pre arranged significance to such phrases as fly paper and
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: hen pheasant. Such a meaning would be arbitrary and could
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: not be deduced in any way. And yet I was
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: loath to believe that this was the case, And the
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: presence of the word Hudson seemed to show that the
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: subject of the message was as I had guessed, and
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: that it was from Bedow's rather than the sailor. I
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: tried it backwards, but the combination life pheasant's hen was
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: not encouraging. Then I tried alternate words, but neither the
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: of four nor supply game London promised to throw any
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: light upon it. And then in an instant the key
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: of the riddle was in my hands, and I saw
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: that every third word, beginning with the first, would give
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: 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
• 23:53
  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
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: it means disgrace, as well. But what is the meaning
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: of these head keepers? And hen phessens It means nothing
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: to the message, but it might mean a good deal
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: to us if we had no other means of discovering
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: the sender. You see that he has begun by writing
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: the game is and so on. Afterwards he had to
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: fulfill the pre arranged cipher. To fill in any two
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: words in each space, he would naturally use the first
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: words which came to his mind. And if there were
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: so many which referred to sport among them, you may
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: be tolerably sure that he is either an ardent shot
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: or interested in breeding. Do you know anything of this Beddos?
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: Why now that you mention it, said he, I remember
• 24:47
  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
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: secret it was which the sailor Hudson seems to have
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: held over the heads of these two wealthy and respected men.
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: Alas Holmes, I fear that it is one of sin
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: and shame, cried my friend. But from you I shall
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: have no secrets. Here is the statement which was drawn
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: up by my father when he knew that the danger
• 25:19
  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
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: read it to me, for I have neither the strength
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: nor the courage to do it myself. These are the
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: very papers Watson which she handed to me, and I
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: will read them to you as I read them in
• 25:38
  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
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: eighth of October eighteen fifty five to her destruction in
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: north latitude fifteen degrees twenty minutes west longitude twenty five
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: degrees fourteen minutes on November sixth. It is in the
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: form of a letter and runs in this way, my
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: dear dear son, Now that approaching disgrace begins to darken
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: the closing years of my life, I can write with
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: all truth and honesty that it is not the terror
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: of the law. It is not the loss of my
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: position in the county, nor is it my fall in
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: the eyes of all who have known me, which cuts
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: me to the heart. But it is the thought that
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: you should come to blush for me, you who love
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: me and have seldom I hope, had reason to do
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: other than respect me. But if the blow falls, which
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: is forever hanging over me, then I should wish you
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: to read this, that you may know straight from me
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: how far I have been to blame. On the other hand,
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: if all should go well, which may kind God Almighty grant,
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: then if by any chance this paper should be still
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: undestroyed and should fall into your heads, I conjure you,
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: by all you hold sacred, by the memory of your
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: dear mother, and by the love which has been between us,
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: to hurl it into the fire, and to never give
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: one thought to it again. If then your eye goes
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: on to read this line, I know that I shall
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: already have been exposed and dragged from my home, or,
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: as is more likely, for you, know that my heart
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: is weak, be lying with my tongue sealed forever in death.
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: In either case, the time for suppression is past. In
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: every word which I tell you is the naked truth,
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: And this I swear, as I hope for mercy. My name,
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: dear lad is not Trevor. I was James Armitage in
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: my younger days, and you can understand now the shock
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: that it was to me a few weeks ago when
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: your college friend addressed me in words which seem to
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: imply that he had surmised my secret as Armitage. It
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: was that I entered a London banking house, and as Armitage,
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: I was convicted of breaking my country's laws and was
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: sentenced to transportation. Do not think very harshly of me, Laddie.
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: It was a debt of honor, so called, which I
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: had to pay, and I used money which was not
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: my own to do it, in the certainty that I
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: could replace it before there could be any possibility of
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: its being missed. But the most dreadful ill luck pursued me.
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: The money which I had reckoned upon never came to hand,
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: and a premature examination of accounts exposed my deficit. The
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: case might have been dealt leniently with, but the laws
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: were more harshly administered thirty years ago than now, And
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: on my twenty third birthday I found myself chained as
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: a felon with thirty seven other convicts in the tween
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: decks of the Bark Gloria Scott bound for Australia. It
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: was the year fifty five, when the Crimean War was
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: at its height, and the old convict ships had been
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: largely used as transports in the Black Sea. The government
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: was compelled there for to use smaller and less suitable
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: vessels for sending out their prisoners. The Gloria Scott had
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: been in the Chinese tea trade, but she was an
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: old fashioned, heavy bowed, broad beamed craft, and the new
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: clippers had cut her out. She was a five hundred
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: ton boat, and besides her thirty eight jail birds, she
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: carried twenty six of a crew eighteen soldiers, a captain,
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: three mates, a doctor, a chaplain and four warders. Nearly
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: one hundred souls were in her all told. When we
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: set sail from Falmouth, the partitions between the cells of
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: the convicts, instead of being of thick oak, as is
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: usual in convict ships, were quite thin and frail. The
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: man next to me upon the aft side was one
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: whom I had particularly noticed when we were led down
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: to the quay. He was a young man with a clear,
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: hairless face, a long, thin nose, and rather nutcracker jaws.
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: He carried his head very jauntily in the air and
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: a swaggering style of walking, and was above all else
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: remarkable for his extraordinary height. I don't think any of
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: our heads would come up to his shoulder, and I
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: am sure that he could not have measured less than
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: six and a half feet. It was strange, among so
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: many sad and weary faces to see one which was
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: full of energy and resolution. The sight of it, to
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: me was like a fire in a snowstorm. I was
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: glad then to find that he was my neighbor, and
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: glad as still when in the dead of night I
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: heard a whisper close to my ear and found that
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: he had managed to cut an opening in the board
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: which separated Hello, chummy, said he. What's your name and
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: what are you here for? I answered him, and asked
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: in turn who I was talking with. I'm Jack Prendergast,
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: said he, and by God, you'll learn to bless my
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: name before you've done with me. I remembered hearing of
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: his case, for it was one which had made an
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: immense sensation throughout the country some time before my own arrest.
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: He was a man of good family and of great ability,
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: but of incurably vicious habits, who had by an ingenious
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: system of fraud obtained huge sums of money from the
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: leading London merchants. Ha ha, you remember my case, said
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: he proudly, very well. Indeed, then maybe you remember something
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: queer about it? What was that? Then? I had nearly
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: a quarter of a million, hadn't I? So it was
• 31:55
  Speaker 1: said that none was recovered? Eh no, Well where do
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: you suppose the balance is? He asked, I have no idea,
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: said I. Right between my finger and thumb, he cried,
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: By god, I've got more pounds to my name than
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: you have hairs on your head. And if you've money,
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: my son, and know how to handle it and spread it,
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: you could do anything. Now, you don't think it likely
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: that a man who could do anything is going to
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: wear his breeches out sitting in the stinking hold of
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: a rat gutted beetle written moldy old coffin of a
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: China coaster. No, sir, such a man will look after
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: himself and will look after his chums. You may lay
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: to that, you hold on to him, and you may
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: kiss the book that de'll haul you through. That was
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: his style of talk, And at first I thought it
• 32:44
  Speaker 1: meant nothing. But after a while, when he had tested
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: me and sworn me in with all possible solemnity. He
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: let me understand that there really was a plot to
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: gain command of the vessel. A dozen of the prisoners
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: had hatched it before they came aboard. Frenda Gara was
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: the leader, and his money was the motive power. I'd
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: a partner, said he a rare good man, as true
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: as a stock to a barrel. He's got the DIBs
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: he has, And where do you think he is at
• 33:14
  Speaker 1: this moment? Why he's the chaplain of this ship, the
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: chaplain no less. He came aboard with a black coat
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: and his papers right, and money enough in his box
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: to buy the thing right up from keeled and main truck.
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: The crew are his body and soul. He could buy
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: them at so much a gross with a cash discount,
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: and he did it before ever they signed on. He's
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: got two of the warders, and Mercer the second mate,
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: and he'd get the captain himself if he thought him
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: worth it. What are we to do? Then? I asked,
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: what do you think? Said he. We'll make the coats
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: of some of these soldiers redder than ever the tailor did.
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: But they are armed, said I and so shall we be,
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: my boy. There's a brace of pistols for every mother's
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: son of us. And if we can't carry this ship
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: with the crew at our back, it's time we were
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: all sent to a young missus boarding school. You speak
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: to your mate on the left to night and see
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: if he is to be trusted. I did so and
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: found my other neighbor to be a young fellow in
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: much the same position as myself, whose crime had been forgery.
• 34:22
  Speaker 1: His name was Evans, that he afterwards changed it like myself,
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: and he is now a rich and prosperous man in
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: the south of England. He was ready enough to join
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: the conspiracy as the only means of saving ourselves. And
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: before we had crossed the bay there were only two
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: of the prisoners who were not in the secret. One
• 34:41
  Speaker 1: of these was of weak mind and we did not
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: dare to trust him, and the other was suffering from
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: jaundice and could not be of any use to us.
• 34:51
  Speaker 1: From the beginning, there was really nothing to prevent us
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: taking possession of the ship. The crew were a set
• 34:57
  Speaker 1: of Ruffians specially picked for the job. The sham Chaplain
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: came into ourselves to exhort us carrying a black bag
• 35:06
  Speaker 1: supposed to be full of tracts. And so often did
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: he come that by the third day we had each
• 35:12
  Speaker 1: stowed away at the foot of our bed a file,
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: a brace of pistols, a pound of powder, and twenty slugs.
• 35:20
  Speaker 1: Two of the warders were agents of Prendegast, and the
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: second mate was his right hand man, the captain. The
• 35:27
  Speaker 1: two mates, two warders, Lieutenant Martin, his eighteen soldiers, and
• 35:32
  Speaker 1: the doctor were all that we had against us. Yet,
• 35:36
  Speaker 1: save as it was, we determined to neglect no precaution
• 35:40
  Speaker 1: and to make our attack suddenly at night. It came, however,
• 35:45
  Speaker 1: more quickly than we expected, and in this way, one evening,
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: about the third week after our start, the doctor had
• 35:54
  Speaker 1: come down to see one of the prisoners who was ill, and,
• 35:57
  Speaker 1: putting his hands down the bottom of his bunk, he
• 36:00
  Speaker 1: felt the outline of the pistols. If he had been silent,
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: he might have blown the whole thing. But he was
• 36:07
  Speaker 1: a nervous little chap so he gave a cry of
• 36:09
  Speaker 1: surprise and turned so pale that the man knew what
• 36:12
  Speaker 1: was up in an instant and seized him. He was
• 36:15
  Speaker 1: gagged before he could give the alarm. And tied down
• 36:18
  Speaker 1: upon the bed. He had unlocked the door that led
• 36:21
  Speaker 1: to the deck, and we were through it in a rush.
• 36:24
  Speaker 1: The two sentries were shut down, and so was a
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: corporal who came running to see what was the matter.
• 36:30
  Speaker 1: There were two more soldiers at the door of the stateroom,
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: and their muskets seemed not to be loaded, for they
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: never fired upon us, and they were shot while trying
• 36:39
  Speaker 1: to fix their bayonets. Then we rushed on into the
• 36:42
  Speaker 1: captain's cabin, but as we pushed open the door, there
• 36:46
  Speaker 1: was an explosion from within, and there he lay with
• 36:49
  Speaker 1: his head on the chart of the Atlantic, which was
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: pinned upon the table, while the chaplain stood with a
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: smoking pistol in his hand at his elbow. Mates had
• 37:00
  Speaker 1: both been seized by the crew, and the whole business
• 37:03
  Speaker 1: seemed to be settled. The State room was next to
• 37:06
  Speaker 1: the cabin, and we flocked in there and flopped down
• 37:10
  Speaker 1: on the settees, all speaking together, for we were just
• 37:13
  Speaker 1: mad with the feeling that we were free once more.
• 37:17
  Speaker 1: There were lockers all round, and Wilson, the sham chaplain,
• 37:21
  Speaker 1: knocked one of them in and pulled out a dozen
• 37:24
  Speaker 1: of brown sherry. We cracked off the necks of the bottles,
• 37:28
  Speaker 1: poured the stuff out into tumblers, and were just tossing
• 37:31
  Speaker 1: them off when in an instant, without warning, there came
• 37:35
  Speaker 1: the roar of muskets in our ears, and the saloon
• 37:38
  Speaker 1: was so full of smoke that we could not see
• 37:40
  Speaker 1: across the table. When it cleared away again, the place
• 37:44
  Speaker 1: was a shambles. Wilson and eight others were wriggling on
• 37:47
  Speaker 1: the top of each other on the floor, and the
• 37:50
  Speaker 1: blood and the brown sherry on that table turned me
• 37:53
  Speaker 1: sick now when I think of it. We were so
• 37:56
  Speaker 1: cowed by the sight that I think we should have
• 37:58
  Speaker 1: given the job up if it had not been for Prendergast.
• 38:02
  Speaker 1: He bellowed like a bull and rushed for the door,
• 38:04
  Speaker 1: with all that were left alive at his heels. Out
• 38:07
  Speaker 1: we ran, and there on the poop were the lieutenant
• 38:10
  Speaker 1: and ten of his men. The swing skylights above the
• 38:14
  Speaker 1: saloon table had been a bit open, and they had
• 38:17
  Speaker 1: fired on us through the slit. We got on them
• 38:20
  Speaker 1: before they could load, and they stood to it like men,
• 38:24
  Speaker 1: But we had the upper hand of them, and in
• 38:26
  Speaker 1: five minutes it was all over. My God, was there
• 38:30
  Speaker 1: ever a slaughter house like that ship. Prendergast was like
• 38:34
  Speaker 1: a raging devil, and he picked the soldiers up as
• 38:37
  Speaker 1: if they had been children, and threw them overboard, alive
• 38:41
  Speaker 1: or dead. There was one sergeant that was horribly wounded,
• 38:44
  Speaker 1: and yet kept on swimming for a surprising time, until
• 38:48
  Speaker 1: someone in mercy blew out his brains. When the fighting
• 38:53
  Speaker 1: was over, there was no one left of our enemies
• 38:55
  Speaker 1: except just the warders, the mates, and the doctor. It
• 39:01
  Speaker 1: was over them that the great quarrel arose. There were
• 39:05
  Speaker 1: many of us who were glad enough to win back
• 39:07
  Speaker 1: our freedom, and yet who had no wish to have
• 39:10
  Speaker 1: murder on our souls. It was one thing to knock
• 39:14
  Speaker 1: the soldiers over with their muskets in their hands, and
• 39:17
  Speaker 1: it was another to stand by while men were being
• 39:20
  Speaker 1: killed in cold blood. Eight of us, five convicts and
• 39:26
  Speaker 1: three sailors, said that we would not see it done.
• 39:31
  Speaker 1: But there was no moving Prendegast and those who were
• 39:34
  Speaker 1: with him. Our only chance of safety lay in making
• 39:37
  Speaker 1: a clean job of it, said he, and he would
• 39:40
  Speaker 1: not leave a tongue with power to wag in a
• 39:42
  Speaker 1: witness box. It nearly came to our sharing the fate
• 39:46
  Speaker 1: of the prisoners, but at last, he said that if
• 39:49
  Speaker 1: we wished, we might take a boat and go. We
• 39:53
  Speaker 1: jumped at the offer, for we were already sick of
• 39:55
  Speaker 1: these bloodthirsty doings, and we saw that there would be
• 39:59
  Speaker 1: worse before it was done. We were given a suit
• 40:02
  Speaker 1: of sailors togs each, a barrel of water, two casks,
• 40:07
  Speaker 1: one of junk and one of biscuits, and a compass.
• 40:11
  Speaker 1: Prendergast threw us over a chart told us that we
• 40:14
  Speaker 1: were shipwrecked mariners whose ship had founded in latitude fifteen
• 40:18
  Speaker 1: degrees north and longitude twenty five degrees west, and then
• 40:23
  Speaker 1: cut the painter and let us go. And now I
• 40:28
  Speaker 1: come to the most surprising part of my story, my
• 40:31
  Speaker 1: dear son. The seamen had hauled the four yard aback
• 40:35
  Speaker 1: during the rising, and now as we left them, they
• 40:38
  Speaker 1: brought its square again. And as there was a light
• 40:41
  Speaker 1: wind from the north and east, the bark began to
• 40:45
  Speaker 1: draw slowly away from us. Our boat lay rising and
• 40:49
  Speaker 1: falling upon the long, smooth rollers, and Evans and I,
• 40:53
  Speaker 1: who were the most educated of the party, we were
• 40:56
  Speaker 1: sitting in the sheets, working out our position and planning
• 41:00
  Speaker 1: what coast we should make for it was a nice
• 41:04
  Speaker 1: question for the Cape de Verdes were about five hundred
• 41:07
  Speaker 1: miles to the north of US, and the African coast
• 41:10
  Speaker 1: about seven hundred miles to the east. On the whole,
• 41:14
  Speaker 1: as the wind was coming round to north, we thought
• 41:17
  Speaker 1: that Sierra Leone might be best, and turned our head
• 41:20
  Speaker 1: in that direction. The bark being at that time nearly
• 41:24
  Speaker 1: hulled down on our starboard quarter. Suddenly, as we looked
• 41:28
  Speaker 1: at her, we saw a dense black cloud of smoke
• 41:31
  Speaker 1: shoot up from her, which hung like a monstrous tree
• 41:35
  Speaker 1: upon the skyline. A few seconds later, a roar like
• 41:39
  Speaker 1: thunder burst upon our ears, and as the smoke thinned away,
• 41:43
  Speaker 1: there was no sign left of the glorious scot. In
• 41:47
  Speaker 1: an instant we swept the boat's head round again and
• 41:50
  Speaker 1: pulled with all our strength for the place where the
• 41:52
  Speaker 1: haze still trailing over the water marked the scene of
• 41:56
  Speaker 1: this catastrophe. It was a long hour before we reached it,
• 42:01
  Speaker 1: and at first we feared that we had come too
• 42:02
  Speaker 1: late to save anyone. A splintered boat and a number
• 42:06
  Speaker 1: of crates and fragments of spars rising and falling on
• 42:10
  Speaker 1: the waves showed us where the vessel had founded, but
• 42:13
  Speaker 1: there was no sign of life, and we had turned
• 42:16
  Speaker 1: away in despair when we heard a cry for help
• 42:20
  Speaker 1: and saw at some distance a piece of wreckage with
• 42:22
  Speaker 1: a man lying stretched across it. When we pulled him
• 42:26
  Speaker 1: aboard the boat, he proved to be a young seaman
• 42:28
  Speaker 1: of the name of Hudson, who was so burned and
• 42:31
  Speaker 1: exhausted that he could give us no account of what
• 42:34
  Speaker 1: had happened until the following morning. It seemed that after
• 42:39
  Speaker 1: we had left, Prendergast and his gang had proceeded to
• 42:42
  Speaker 1: put to death the remaining five prisoners. The two warders
• 42:47
  Speaker 1: had been shot and thrown overboard, and so also had
• 42:49
  Speaker 1: the third mate. Prendergast then descended into the tween decks and,
• 42:55
  Speaker 1: with his own hands, cut the throat of the unfortunate surgeon.
• 42:59
  Speaker 1: There only remained the first mate, who was a bold
• 43:03
  Speaker 1: and active man. When he saw the convict approaching him
• 43:07
  Speaker 1: with the bloody knife in his hand, he kicked off
• 43:09
  Speaker 1: his bonds, which he had somehow contrived to loosen, and
• 43:13
  Speaker 1: rushing down the deck, he plunged into the afterhold. A
• 43:18
  Speaker 1: dozen convicts, who descended with their pistols in search of him,
• 43:21
  Speaker 1: found him with a match box in his hand, seated
• 43:24
  Speaker 1: beside an open powder barrel, which was one of one
• 43:28
  Speaker 1: hundred carried on board, and swearing that he would blow
• 43:32
  Speaker 1: all hands up if he were in any way molested.
• 43:36
  Speaker 1: An instant later the explosion occurred, though Hudson thought it
• 43:40
  Speaker 1: was caused by the misdirected bullet of one of the
• 43:43
  Speaker 1: convicts rather than the mate's match. Be the cause what
• 43:48
  Speaker 1: it may, it was the end of the glorious Scott
• 43:51
  Speaker 1: and of the rabble who held command of her. Such
• 43:55
  Speaker 1: in a few words, my dear boy, is the history
• 43:58
  Speaker 1: of this terrible business in which I was involved. Next
• 44:02
  Speaker 1: day we were picked up by the brig Hotspur, bound
• 44:05
  Speaker 1: for Australia, whose captain found no difficulty in believing that
• 44:10
  Speaker 1: we were the survivors of a passenger ship which had
• 44:13
  Speaker 1: founded the transport ship. Gloria Scott was set down by
• 44:18
  Speaker 1: the Admiralty as being lost at sea, and no word
• 44:22
  Speaker 1: has ever leaked out as to her true fate. After
• 44:27
  Speaker 1: an excellent voyage, the Hotspur landed us at Sydney, where
• 44:31
  Speaker 1: Evans and I changed our names and made our way
• 44:35
  Speaker 1: to the Diggings, where among the crowds who were gathered
• 44:38
  Speaker 1: from all nations, we had no difficulty in losing our
• 44:41
  Speaker 1: former identities. The rest I need not relate. We prospered,
• 44:47
  Speaker 1: we traveled, We came back as rich colonials to England,
• 44:53
  Speaker 1: and we bought country estates. For more than twenty years
• 44:57
  Speaker 1: we have led peaceful and useful lives, and we hoped
• 45:01
  Speaker 1: that our past was forever buried. Imagine then my feelings
• 45:07
  Speaker 1: when in the seamen who came to us, I recognized
• 45:10
  Speaker 1: instantly the man who had been picked off the wreck.
• 45:14
  Speaker 1: He had tracked us down somehow and had set himself
• 45:18
  Speaker 1: to live upon our fears. You will understand now how
• 45:22
  Speaker 1: it was that I strove to keep peace with him,
• 45:24
  Speaker 1: and you will, in some measure sympathize with me in
• 45:27
  Speaker 1: the fears which fill me now that he has gone
• 45:30
  Speaker 1: from me to his other victim with threats upon his tongue.
• 45:34
  Speaker 1: Underneath is written in a hand so shaky as to
• 45:38
  Speaker 1: be hardly legible Bedow's rites in Cipher, to say that
• 45:43
  Speaker 1: h has told all, Sweet Lord, have mercy on our souls.
• 45:50
  Speaker 1: That was the narrative which I read that night to
• 45:53
  Speaker 1: young Trevor, and I think Watson that under the circumstances
• 45:57
  Speaker 1: it was a dramatic one. The good fellow was heartbroken
• 46:01
  Speaker 1: at it. And went out to the Terai tea planting,
• 46:04
  Speaker 1: where I hear that he is doing well. As to
• 46:07
  Speaker 1: the Sailor and Bedos, neither of them was ever heard
• 46:11
  Speaker 1: of again After that day on which the letter of
• 46:14
  Speaker 1: warning was written. They both disappeared utterly and completely. No
• 46:20
  Speaker 1: complaint had been lodged with the police, so that Bedows
• 46:24
  Speaker 1: had mistaken a threat for a deed. Hudson had been
• 46:29
  Speaker 1: seen lurking about, and it was believed by the police
• 46:33
  Speaker 1: that he had done away with Bedows and had fled
• 46:36
  Speaker 1: for myself. I believe that the truth was exactly the opposite.
• 46:41
  Speaker 1: I think it is most probable that Bedos, pushed to desperation,
• 46:45
  Speaker 1: and believing himself to have been already betrayed, had revenged
• 46:49
  Speaker 1: himself upon Hudson, and had fled from the country with
• 46:53
  Speaker 1: as much money as he could lay his hands on.
• 46:56
  Speaker 1: Those are the facts of the case, Doctor, and if
• 46:59
  Speaker 1: they are of any use to your collection, I am
• 47:02
  Speaker 1: sure that they are very heartily at your service. That
• 47:09
  Speaker 1: is the end of the Adventure of the Glorious Scott.
• 47:14
  Speaker 1: From the Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle,
• 47:20
  Speaker 1: read by Greg Wagland for Magpie Audio twenty sixteen.