"What I should do?"
"What would you do, then?"
"Engage a special."
"But it must be late."
"By no means. This train stops at Canterbury; and there is always atleast a quarter of an hour's delay at the boat. He will catch us there."
"One would think that w
e were the criminals. Let us have him arrested onhis arrival."
"It would be to ruin the work of three months. We should get the bigfish, but the smaller would dart right and left out of the net. OnMonday we should have them all. No, an arrest is inadmissible."
"What then?"
"We shall get out at Canterbury."
"And then?"
"Well, then we must make a cross-country journey to Newhaven, and soover to Dieppe. Moriarty will again do what I should do. He will get onto Paris, mark down our luggage, and wait for two days at the depot.In the meantime we shall treat ourselves to a couple of carpet-bags,encourage the manufactures of the countries through which we travel, andmake our way at our leisure into Switzerland, via Luxembourg and Basle."
At Canterbury, therefore, we alighted, only to find that we should haveto wait an hour before we could get a train to Newhaven.
I was still looking rather ruefully after the rapidly disappearingluggage-van which contained my wardrobe, when Holmes pulled my sleeveand pointed up the line.
"Already, you see," said he.
Far away, from among the Kentish woods there rose a thin spray of smoke.A minute later a carriage and engine could be seen flying along the opencurve which leads to the station. We had hardly time to take our placebehind a pile of luggage when it passed with a rattle and a roar,beating a blast of hot air into our faces.
"There he goes," said Holmes, as we watched the carriage swing androck over the points. "There are limits, you see, to our friend'sintelligence. It would have been a coup-de-maitre had he deduced what Iwould deduce and acted accordingly."
"And what would he have done had he overtaken us?"
"There cannot be the least doubt that he would have made a murderousattack upon me. It is, however, a game at which two may play. Thequestion now is whether we should take a premature lunch here, or runour chance of starving before we reach the buffet at Newhaven."
We made our way to Brussels that night and spent two days there, movingon upon the third day as far as Strasburg. On the Monday morning Holmeshad telegraphed to the London police, and in the evening we found areply waiting for us at our hotel. Holmes tore it open, and then with abitter curse hurled it into the grate.
"I might have known it!" he groaned. "He has escaped!"
"Moriarty?"
"They have secured the whole gang with the exception of him. He hasgiven them the slip. Of course, when I had left the country there was noone to cope with him. But I did think that I had put the game in theirhands. I think that you had better return to England, Watson."
"Why?"
"Because you will find me a dangerous companion now. This man'soccupation is gone. He is lost if he returns to London. If I read hischaracter right he will devote his whole energies to revenging himselfupon me. He said as much in our short interview, and I fancy that hemeant it. I should certainly recommend you to return to your practice."
It was hardly an appeal to be successful with one who was anold campaigner as well as an old friend. We sat in the Strasburgsalle-a-manger arguing the question for half an hour, but the same nightwe had resumed our journey and were well on our way to Geneva.
For a charming week we wandered up the Valley of the Rhone, and then,branching off at Leuk, we made our way over the Gemmi Pass, still deepin snow, and so, by way of Interlaken, to Meiringen. It was a lovelytrip, the dainty green of the spring below, the virgin white of thewinter above; but it was clear to me that never for one instant didHolmes forget the shadow which lay across him. In the homely Alpinevillages or in the lonely mountain passes, I could tell by his quickglancing eyes and his sharp scrutiny of every face that passed us,that he was well convinced that, walk where we would, we could not walkourselves clear of the danger which was dogging our footsteps.
Once, I remember, as we passed over the Gemmi, and walked alongthe border of the melancholy Daubensee, a large rock which had beendislodged from the ridge upon our right clattered down and roared intothe lake behind us. In an instant Holmes had raced up on to the ridge,and, standing upon a lofty pinnacle, craned his neck in every direction.It was in vain that our guide assured him that a fall of stones was acommon chance in the spring-time at that spot. He said nothing, buthe smiled at me with the air of a man who sees the fulfillment of thatwhich he had expected.
And yet for all his watchfulness he was never depressed. On thecontrary, I can never recollect having seen him in such exuberantspirits. Again and again he recurred to the fact that if he couldbe assured that society was freed from Professor Moriarty he wouldcheerfully bring his own career to a conclusion.
"I think that I may go so far as to say, Watson, that I have not livedwholly in vain," he remarked. "If my record were closed to-night I couldstill survey it with equanimity. The air of London is the sweeter for mypresence. In over a thousand cases I am not aware that I have ever usedmy powers upon the wrong side. Of late I have been tempted to look intothe problems furnished by nature rather than those more superficial onesfor which our artificial state of society is responsible. Your memoirswill draw to an end, Watson, upon the day that I crown my career bythe capture or extinction of the most dangerous and capable criminal inEurope."