"And now there's this affair of the letter to me at the hotel. I
suppose that fits into its place."
"It seems to show that someone knows more than we do about what goes
on upon the moor," said Dr. Mortimer.
"And also," said Holmes, "that someone is not ill-disposed towards
you, since they warn you of danger."
"Or it may be that they wish, for their own purposes, to scare me
away."
"Well, of course, that is possible also. I am very much indebted to
you, Dr. Mortimer, for introducing me to a problem which presents
several interesting alternatives. But the practical point which we
now have to decide, Sir Henry, is whether it is or is not advisable
for you to go to Baskerville Hall."
"Why should I not go?"
"There seems to be danger."
"Do you mean danger from this family fiend or do you mean danger from
human beings?"
"Well, that is what we have to find out."
"Whichever it is, my answer is fixed. There is no devil in hell, Mr.
Holmes, and there is no man upon earth who can prevent me from going
to the home of my own people, and you may take that to be my final
answer." His dark brows knitted and his face flushed to a dusky red
as he spoke. It was evident that the fiery temper of the Baskervilles
was not extinct in this their last representative. "Meanwhile," said
he, "I have hardly had time to think over all that you have told me.
It's a big thing for a man to have to understand and to decide at one
sitting. I should like to have a quiet hour by myself to make up my
mind. Now, look here, Mr. Holmes, it's half-past eleven now and I am
going back right away to my hotel. Suppose you and your friend, Dr.
Watson, come round and lunch with us at two. I'll be able to tell you
more clearly then how this thing strikes me."
"Is that convenient to you, Watson?"
"Perfectly."
"Then you may expect us. Shall I have a cab called?"
"I'd prefer to walk, for this affair has flurried me rather."
"I'll join you in a walk, with pleasure," said his companion.
"Then we meet again at two o'clock. Au revoir, and good-morning!"
We heard the steps of our visitors descend the stair and the bang of
the front door. In an instant Holmes had changed from the languid
dreamer to the man of action.
"Your hat and boots, Watson, quick! Not a moment to lose!" He rushed
into his room in his dressing-gown and was back again in a few
seconds in a frock-coat. We hurried together down the stairs and into
the street. Dr. Mortimer and Baskerville were still visible about two
hundred yards ahead of us in the direction of Oxford Street.
"Shall I run on and stop them?"
"Not for the world, my dear Watson. I am perfectly satisfied with
your company if you will tolerate mine. Our friends are wise, for it
is certainly a very fine morning for a walk."
He quickened his pace until we had decreased the distance which
divided us by about half. Then, still keeping a hundred yards behind,
we followed into Oxford Street and so down Regent Street. Once our
friends stopped and stared into a shop window, upon which Holmes did
the same. An instant afterwards he gave a little cry of satisfaction,
and, following the direction of his eager eyes, I saw that a hansom
cab with a man inside which had halted on the other side of the
street was now proceeding slowly onward again.
"There's our man, Watson! Come along! We'll have a good look at him,
if we can do no more."
At that instant I was aware of a bushy black beard and a pair of
piercing eyes turned upon us through the side window of the cab.
Instantly the trapdoor at the top flew up, something was screamed to
the driver, and the cab flew madly off down Regent Street. Holmes
looked eagerly round for another, but no empty one was in sight. Then
he dashed in wild pursuit amid the stream of the traffic, but the
start was too great, and already the cab was out of sight.
"There now!" said Holmes bitterly as he emerged panting and white
with vexation from the tide of vehicles. "Was ever such bad luck and
such bad management, too? Watson, Watson, if you are an honest man
you will record this also and set it against my successes!"
"Who was the man?"
"I have not an idea."
"A spy?"
"Well, it was evident from what we have heard that Baskerville has
been very closely shadowed by someone since he has been in town. How
else could it be known so quickly that it was the Northumberland
Hotel which he had chosen? If they had followed him the first day I
argued that they would follow him also the second. You may have
observed that I twice strolled over to the window while Dr. Mortimer
was reading his legend."
"Yes, I remember."
"I was looking out for loiterers in the street, but I saw none. We
are dealing with a clever man, Watson. This matter cuts very deep,
and though I have not finally made up my mind whether it is a
benevolent or a malevolent agency which is in touch with us, I am
conscious always of power and design. When our friends left I at once
followed them in the hopes of marking down their invisible attendant.
So wily was he that he had not trusted himself upon foot, but he had
availed himself of a cab so that he could loiter behind or dash past
them and so escape their notice. His method had the additional
advantage that if they were to take a cab he was all ready to follow
them. It has, however, one obvious disadvantage."
"It puts him in the power of the cabman."
"Exactly."
"What a pity we did not get the number!"
"My dear Watson, clumsy as I have been, you surely do not seriously
imagine that I neglected to get the number? No. 2704 is our man. But
that is no use to us for the moment."
"I fail to see how you could have done more."
"On observing the cab I should have instantly turned and walked in
the other direction. I should then at my leisure have hired a second
cab and followed the first at a respectful distance, or, better
still, have driven to the Northumberland Hotel and waited there. When
our unknown had followed Baskerville home we should have had the
opportunity of playing his own game upon himself and seeing where he
made for. As it is, by an indiscreet eagerness, which was taken
advantage of with extraordinary quickness and energy by our opponent,
we have betrayed ourselves and lost our man."
We had been sauntering slowly down Regent Street during this
conversation, and Dr. Mortimer, with his companion, had long vanished
in front of us.
"There is no object in our following them," said Holmes. "The shadow
has departed and will not return. We must see what further cards we
have in our hands and play them with decision. Could you swear to
that man's face within the cab?"
"I could swear only to the beard."
"And so could I--from which I gather that in all probability it was a
false one. A clever man upon so delicate an errand has no use for a
beard save to conceal his features. Come in here, Watson!"
He turned into one of the district messenger offices, where he was
warmly greeted by the manager.
"Ah, Wilson, I see you have not forgotten the little case in which I
had the good fortune to help you?"
"No, sir, indeed I have not. You saved my good name, and perhaps my
life."
"My dear fellow, you exaggerate. I have some recollection, Wilson,
that you had among your boys a lad named Cartwright, who showed some
ability during the investigation."
"Yes, sir, he is still with us."
"Could you ring him up?--thank you! And I should be glad to have
change of this five-pound note."
A lad of fourteen, with a bright, keen face, had obeyed the summons
of the manager. He stood now gazing with great reverence at the
famous detective.
"Let me have the Hotel Directory," said Holmes. "Thank you! Now,
Cartwright, there are the names of twenty-three hotels here, all in
the immediate neighbourhood of Charing Cross. Do you see?"
"Yes, sir."
"You will visit each of these in turn."
"Yes, sir."
"You will begin in each case by giving the outside porter one
shilling. Here are twenty-three shillings."
"Yes, sir."
"You will tell him that you want to see the waste-paper of yesterday.
You will say that an important telegram has miscarried and that you
are looking for it. You understand?"
"Yes, sir."
"But what you are really looking for is the centre page of the Times
with some holes cut in it with scissors. Here is a copy of the Times.
It is this page. You could easily recognize it, could you not?"
"Yes, sir."
"In each case the outside porter will send for the hall porter, to
whom also you will give a shilling. Here are twenty-three shillings.
You will then learn in possibly twenty cases out of the twenty-three
that the waste of the day before has been burned or removed. In the
three other cases you will be shown a heap of paper and you will look
for this page of the Times among it. The odds are enormously against
your finding it. There are ten shillings over in case of emergencies.
Let me have a report by wire at Baker Street before evening. And now,
Watson, it only remains for us to find out by wire the identity of
the cabman, No. 2704, and then we will drop into one of the Bond
Street picture galleries and fill in the time until we are due at the
hotel."
CHAPTER V
Three Broken Threads
Sherlock Holmes had, in a very remarkable degree, the power of
detaching his mind at will. For two hours the strange business in
which we had been involved appeared to be forgotten, and he was
entirely absorbed in the pictures of the modern Belgian masters. He
would talk of nothing but art, of which he had the crudest ideas,
from our leaving the gallery until we found ourselves at the
Northumberland Hotel.
"Sir Henry Baskerville is upstairs expecting you," said the clerk.
"He asked me to show you up at once when you came."
"Have you any objection to my looking at your register?" said Holmes.
"Not in the least."
The book showed that two names had been added after that of
Baskerville. One was Theophilus Johnson and family, of Newcastle; the
other Mrs. Oldmore and maid, of High Lodge, Alton.
"Surely that must be the same Johnson whom I used to know," said
Holmes to the porter. "A lawyer, is he not, gray-headed, and walks
with a limp?"
"No, sir; this is Mr. Johnson, the coal-owner, a very active
gentleman, not older than yourself."
"Surely you are mistaken about his trade?"
"No, sir! he has used this hotel for many years, and he is very well
known to us."
"Ah, that settles it. Mrs. Oldmore, too; I seem to remember the name.
Excuse my curiosity, but often in calling upon one friend one finds
another."
"She is an invalid lady, sir. Her husband was once mayor of
Gloucester. She always comes to us when she is in town."
"Thank you; I am afraid I cannot claim her acquaintance. We have
established a most important fact by these questions, Watson," he
continued in a low voice as we went upstairs together. "We know now
that the people who are so interested in our friend have not settled
down in his own hotel. That means that while they are, as we have
seen, very anxious to watch him, they are equally anxious that he
should not see them. Now, this is a most suggestive fact."
"What does it suggest?"
"It suggests--halloa, my dear fellow, what on earth is the matter?"
As we came round the top of the stairs we had run up against Sir
Henry Baskerville himself. His face was flushed with anger, and he
held an old and dusty boot in one of his hands. So furious was he
that he was hardly articulate, and when he did speak it was in a much
broader and more Western dialect than any which we had heard from him
in the morning.
"Seems to me they are playing me for a sucker in this hotel," he
cried. "They'll find they've started in to monkey with the wrong man
unless they are careful. By thunder, if that chap can't find my
missing boot there will be trouble. I can take a joke with the best,
Mr. Holmes, but they've got a bit over the mark this time."
"Still looking for your boot?"
"Yes, sir, and mean to find it."
"But, surely, you said that it was a new brown boot?"
"So it was, sir. And now it's an old black one."
"What! you don't mean to say--?"
"That's just what I do mean to say. I only had three pairs in the
world--the new brown, the old black, and the patent leathers, which I
