the dying man had intercepted me. I heard the sharp snap of a twisted
key. The next moment he had staggered back to his bed, exhausted and
panting after his one tremendous outflame of energy.
"You won't take the key from be by force, Watson, I've got you, my
friend. Here you are, and here you will stay until I will otherwise.
But I'll humour you." (All this in little gasps, with terrible
struggles for breath between.) "You've only my own good at heart. Of
course I know that very well. You shall have your way, but give me
time to get my strength. Not now, Watson, not now. It's four o'clock.
At six you can go."
"This is insanity, Holmes."
"Only two hours, Watson. I promise you will go at six. Are you
content to wait?"
"I seem to have no choice."
"None in the world, Watson. Thank you, I need no help in arranging
the clothes. You will please keep your distance. Now, Watson, there
is one other condition that I would make. You will seek help, not
from the man you mention, but from the one that I choose."
"By all means."
"The first three sensible words that you have uttered since you
entered this room, Watson. You will find some books over there. I am
somewhat exhausted; I wonder how a battery feels when it pours
electricity into a non-conductor? At six, Watson, we resume our
conversation."
But it was destined to be resumed long before that hour, and in
circumstances which gave me a shock hardly second to that caused by
his spring to the door. I had stood for some minutes looking at the
silent figure in the bed. His face was almost covered by the clothes
and he appeared to be asleep. Then, unable to settle down to reading,
I walked slowly round the room, examining the pictures of celebrated
criminals with which every wall was adorned. Finally, in my aimless
perambulation, I came to the mantelpiece. A litter of pipes,
tobacco-pouches, syringes, penknives, revolver-cartridges, and other
debris was scattered over it. In the midst of these was a small black
and white ivory box with a sliding lid. It was a neat little thing,
and I had stretched out my hand to examine it more closely when--
It was a dreadful cry that he gave--a yell which might have been
heard down the street. My skin went cold and my hair bristled at that
horrible scream. As I turned I caught a glimpse of a convulsed face
and frantic eyes. I stood paralyzed, with the little box in my hand.
"Put it down! Down, this instant, Watson--this instant, I say!" His
head sank back upon the pillow and he gave a deep sigh of relief as I
replaced the box upon the mantelpiece. "I hate to have my things
touched, Watson. You know that I hate it. You fidget me beyond
endurance. You, a doctor--you are enough to drive a patient into an
asylum. Sit down, man, and let me have my rest!"
The incident left a most unpleasant impression upon my mind. The
violent and causeless excitement, followed by this brutality of
speech, so far removed from his usual suavity, showed me how deep was
the disorganization of his mind. Of all ruins, that of a noble mind
is the most deplorable. I sat in silent dejection until the
stipulated time had passed. He seemed to have been watching the clock
as well as I, for it was hardly six before he began to talk with the
same feverish animation as before.
"Now, Watson," said he. "Have you any change in your pocket?"
"Yes."
"Any silver?"
"A good deal."
"How many half-crowns?"
"I have five."
"Ah, too few! Too few! How very unfortunate, Watson! However, such as
they are you can put them in your watchpocket. And all the rest of
your money in your left trouser pocket. Thank you. It will balance
you so much better like that."
This was raving insanity. He shuddered, and again made a sound
between a cough and a sob.
"You will now light the gas, Watson, but you will be very careful
that not for one instant shall it be more than half on. I implore you
to be careful, Watson. Thank you, that is excellent. No, you need not
draw the blind. Now you will have the kindness to place some letters
and papers upon this table within my reach. Thank you. Now some of
that litter from the mantelpiece. Excellent, Watson! There is a
sugar-tongs there. Kindly raise that small ivory box with its
assistance. Place it here among the papers. Good! You can now go and
fetch Mr. Culverton Smith, of 13 Lower Burke Street."
To tell the truth, my desire to fetch a doctor had somewhat weakened,
for poor Holmes was so obviously delirious that it seemed dangerous
to leave him. However, he was as eager now to consult the person
named as he had been obstinate in refusing.
"I never heard the name," said I.
"Possibly not, my good Watson. It may surprise you to know that the
man upon earth who is best versed in this disease is not a medical
man, but a planter. Mr. Culverton Smith is a well-known resident of
Sumatra, now visiting London. An outbreak of the disease upon his
plantation, which was distant from medical aid, caused him to study
it himself, with some rather far-reaching consequences. He is a very
methodical person, and I did not desire you to start before six,
because I was well aware that you would not find him in his study. If
you could persuade him to come here and give us the benefit of his
unique experience of this disease, the investigation of which has
been his dearest hobby, I cannot doubt that he could help me."
I gave Holmes's remarks as a consecutive whole and will not attempt
to indicate how they were interrupted by gaspings for breath and
those clutchings of his hands which indicated the pain from which he
was suffering. His appearance had changed for the worse during the
few hours that I had been with him. Those hectic spots were more
pronounced, the eyes shone more brightly out of darker hollows, and a
cold sweat glimmered upon his brow. He still retained, however, the
jaunty gallantry of his speech. To the last gasp he would always be
the master.
"You will tell him exactly how you have left me," said he. "You will
convey the very impression which is in your own mind--a dying man--a
dying and delirious man. Indeed, I cannot think why the whole bed of
the ocean is not one solid mass of oysters, so prolific the creatures
seem. Ah, I am wondering! Strange how the brain controls the brain!
What was I saying, Watson?"
"My directions for Mr. Culverton Smith."
"Ah, yes, I remember. My life depends upon it. Plead with him,
Watson. There is no good feeling between us. His nephew, Watson--I
had suspicions of foul play and I allowed him to see it. The boy died
horribly. He has a grudge against me. You will soften him, Watson.
Beg him, pray him, get him here by any means. He can save me--only
he!"
"I will bring him in a cab, if I have to carry him down to it."
"You will do nothing of the sort. You will persuade him to come. And
then you will return in front of him. Make any excuse so as not to
come with him. Don't forget, Watson. You won't fail me. You never did
fail me. No doubt there are natural enemies which limit the increase
of the creatures. You and I, Watson, we have done our part. Shall the
world, then, be overrun by oysters? No, no; horrible! You'll convey
all that is in your mind."
I left him full of the image of this magnificent intellect babbling
like a foolish child. He had handed me the key, and with a happy
thought I took it with me lest he should lock himself in. Mrs. Hudson
was waiting, trembling and weeping, in the passage. Behind me as I
passed from the flat I heard Holmes's high, thin voice in some
delirious chant. Below, as I stood whistling for a cab, a man came on
me through the fog.
"How is Mr. Holmes, sir?" he asked.
It was an old acquaintance, Inspector Morton, of Scotland Yard,
dressed in unofficial tweeds.
"He is very ill," I answered.
He looked at me in a most singular fashion. Had it not been too
fiendish, I could have imagined that the gleam of the fanlight showed
exultation in his face.
"I heard some rumour of it," said he.
The cab had driven up, and I left him.
Lower Burke Street proved to be a line of fine houses lying in the
vague borderland between Notting Hill and Kensington. The particular
one at which my cabman pulled up had an air of smug and demure
respectability in its old-fashioned iron railings, its massive
folding-door, and its shining brasswork. All was in keeping with a
solemn butler who appeared framed in the pink radiance of a tinted
electrical light behind him.
"Yes, Mr. Culverton Smith is in. Dr. Watson! Very good, sir, I will
take up your card."
My humble name and title did not appear to impress Mr. Culverton
Smith. Through the half-open door I heard a high, petulant,
penetrating voice.
"Who is this person? What does he want? Dear me, Staples, how often
have I said that I am not to be disturbed in my hours of study?"
There came a gentle flow of soothing explanation from the butler.
"Well, I won't see him, Staples. I can't have my work interrupted
like this. I am not at home. Say so. Tell him to come in the morning
if he really must see me."
Again the gentle murmur.
"Well, well, give him that message. He can come in the morning, or he
can stay away. My work must not be hindered."
I thought of Holmes tossing upon his bed of sickness and counting the
minutes, perhaps, until I could bring help to him. It was not a time
to stand upon ceremony. His life depended upon my promptness. Before
the apologetic butler had delivered his message I had pushed past him
and was in the room.
With a shrill cry of anger a man rose from a reclining chair beside
the fire. I saw a great yellow face, coarse-grained and greasy, with
heavy, double-chin, and two sullen, menacing gray eyes which glared
at me from under tufted and sandy brows. A high bald head had a small
velvet smoking-cap poised coquettishly upon one side of its pink
curve. The skull was of enormous capacity, and yet as I looked down I
saw to my amazement that the figure of the man was small and frail,
twisted in the shoulders and back like one who has suffered from
rickets in his childhood.
"What's this?" he cried in a high, screaming voice. "What is the
meaning of this intrusion? Didn't I send you word that I would see
you to-morrow morning?"
"I am sorry," said I, "but the matter cannot be delayed. Mr. Sherlock
Holmes--"
The mention of my friend's name had an extraordinary effect upon the
little man. The look of anger passed in an instant from his face. His
features became tense and alert.
"Have you come from Holmes?" he asked.
"I have just left him."
"What about Holmes? How is he?"
"He is desperately ill. That is why I have come."
The man motioned me to a chair, and turned to resume his own. As he
did so I caught a glimpse of his face in the mirror over the
mantelpiece. I could have sworn that it was set in a malicious and
abominable smile. Yet I persuaded myself that it must have been some
nervous contraction which I had surprised, for he turned to me an
instant later with genuine concern upon his features.
"I am sorry to hear this," said he. "I only know Mr. Holmes through
some business dealings which we have had, but I have every respect
for his talents and his character. He is an amateur of crime, as I am
of disease. For him the villain, for me the microbe. There are my
prisons," he continued, pointing to a row of bottles and jars which
stood upon a side table. "Among those gelatine cultivations some of
the very worst offenders in the world are now doing time."
"It was on account of your special knowledge that Mr. Holmes desired
to see you. He has a high opinion of you and thought that you were
the one man in London who could help him."
The little man started, and the jaunty smoking-cap slid to the floor.
"Why?" he asked. "Why should Mr. Homes think that I could help him in
his trouble?"
"Because of your knowledge of Eastern diseases."
"But why should he think that this disease which he has contracted is
Eastern?"
"Because, in some professional inquiry, he has been working among
Chinese sailors down in the docks."
Mr. Culverton Smith smiled pleasantly and picked up his smoking-cap.
"Oh, that's it--is it?" said he. "I trust the matter is not so grave
as you suppose. How long has he been ill?"
"About three days."
"Is he delirious?"
"Occasionally."
"Tut, tut! This sounds serious. It would be inhuman not to answer his
call. I very much resent any interruption to my work, Dr. Watson, but
