“It is a swamp adder!” cried Holmes; “the deadliest snake inIndia. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violencedoes, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls intothe pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this creature backinto its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to some place ofshelter and let the county police know what has happened.”
As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man’slap, and throwing the noose round the reptile’s neck he drew itfrom its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm’s length, threw it intothe iron safe, which he closed upon it.
Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, ofStoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a narrativewhich has already run to too great a length by telling how webroke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed her bythe morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, of howthe slow process of official inquiry came to the conclusion thatthe doctor met his fate while indiscreetly playing with a dangerouspet. The little which I had yet to learn of the case was told me bySherlock Holmes as we travelled back next day.
“I had,” said he, “come to an entirely erroneous conclusionwhich shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is toreason from insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, andthe use of the word ‘band,’ which was used by the poor girl, nodoubt, to explain the appearance which she had caught a hurriedglimpse of by the light of her match, were sufficient to put meupon an entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that Iinstantly reconsidered my position when, however, it becameclear to me that whatever danger threatened an occupant of theroom could not come either from the window or the door. Myattention was speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you,to this ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to thebed. The discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed wasclamped to the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that therope was there as a bridge for something passing through the holeand coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred tome, and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor wasfurnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I wasprobably on the right track. The idea of using a form of poisonwhich could not possibly be discovered by any chemical testwas just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless manwho had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such apoison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be anadvantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who coulddistinguish the two little dark punctures which would show wherethe poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of thewhistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morninglight revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by theuse of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned.
He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that hethought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the ropeand land on the bed. It might or might not bite the occupant,perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but sooner orlater she must fall a victim.
“I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered hisroom. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been inthe habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessaryin order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the safe,the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough tofinally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallicclang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfatherhastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant.
Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I tookin order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hissas I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the lightand attacked it.”
“With the result of driving it through the ventilator.”
“And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its masterat the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home androused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first personit saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr.
Grimesby Roylott’s death, and I cannot say that it is likely toweigh very heavily upon my conscience.”
The Adventure of the Engineer’s Thumb
Of all the problems which have been submitted to myfriend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years ofour intimacy, there were only two which I was the means ofintroducing to his notice—that of Mr. Hatherley’s thumb, andthat of Colonel Warburton’s madness. Of these the latter may haveafforded a finer field for an acute and original observer, but theother was so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its detailsthat it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, evenif it gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methodsof reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. Thestory has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers,but, like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking whenset forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when thefacts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clearsgradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leadson to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made adeep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardlyserved to weaken the effect.