"No doubt," said I. "Of course." I had picked up the original ciphermessage and was bending my brows over it. "It's pretty maddening tothink that an important secret may lie here on this slip of paper, andthat it is beyond human power to penetrate it."
Sherlock Holmes had pushed away his untasted breakfast and lit theunsavoury pipe which was the companion of his deepest meditations. "Iwonder!" said he, leaning back and staring at the ceiling. "Perhapsthere are points which have escaped your Machiavellian intellect. Letus consider the problem in the light of pure reason. This man'sreference is to a book. That is our point of departure."
"A somewhat vague one."
"Let us see then if we can narrow it down. As I focus my mind upon it,it seems rather less impenetrable. What indications have we as to thisbook?"
"None."
"Well, well, it is surely not quite so bad as that. The cipher messagebegins with a large 534, does it not? We may take it as a workinghypothesis that 534 is the particular page to which the cipher refers.So our book has already become a large book which is surely somethinggained. What other indications have we as to the nature of this largebook? The next sign is C2. What do you make of that, Watson?"
"Chapter the second, no doubt."
"Hardly that, Watson. You will, I am sure, agree with me that if thepage be given, the number of the chapter is immaterial. Also that ifpage 534 finds us only in the second chapter, the length of the firstone must have been really intolerable."
"Column!" I cried.
"Brilliant, Watson. You are scintillating this morning. If it is notcolumn, then I am very much deceived. So now, you see, we begin tovisualize a large book printed in double columns which are each of aconsiderable length, since one of the words is numbered in the documentas the two hundred and ninety-third. Have we reached the limits of whatreason can supply?"
"I fear that we have."
"Surely you do yourself an injustice. One more coruscation, my dearWatson--yet another brain-wave! Had the volume been an unusual one, hewould have sent it to me. Instead of that, he had intended, before hisplans were nipped, to send me the clue in this envelope. He says so inhis note. This would seem to indicate that the book is one which hethought I would have no difficulty in finding for myself. He hadit--and he imagined that I would have it, too. In short, Watson, it isa very common book."
"What you say certainly sounds plausible."
"So we have contracted our field of search to a large book, printed indouble columns and in common use."
"The Bible!" I cried triumphantly.
"Good, Watson, good! But not, if I may say so, quite good enough! Evenif I accepted the compliment for myself I could hardly name any volumewhich would be less likely to lie at the elbow of one of Moriarty'sassociates. Besides, the editions of Holy Writ are so numerous that hecould hardly suppose that two copies would have the same pagination.This is clearly a book which is standardized. He knows for certain thathis page 534 will exactly agree with my page 534."
"But very few books would correspond with that."
"Exactly. Therein lies our salvation. Our search is narrowed down tostandardized books which anyone may be supposed to possess."
"Bradshaw!"
"There are difficulties, Watson. The vocabulary of Bradshaw is nervousand terse, but limited. The selection of words would hardly lend itselfto the sending of general messages. We will eliminate Bradshaw. Thedictionary is, I fear, inadmissible for the same reason. What then isleft?"
"An almanac!"
"Excellent, Watson! I am very much mistaken if you have not touched thespot. An almanac! Let us consider the claims of Whitaker's Almanac. Itis in common use. It has the requisite number of pages. It is in doublecolumn. Though reserved in its earlier vocabulary, it becomes, if Iremember right, quite garrulous towards the end." He picked the volumefrom his desk. "Here is page 534, column two, a substantial block ofprint dealing, I perceive, with the trade and resources of BritishIndia. Jot down the words, Watson! Number thirteen is 'Mahratta.' Not,I fear, a very auspicious beginning. Number one hundred andtwenty-seven is 'Government'; which at least makes sense, thoughsomewhat irrelevant to ourselves and Professor Moriarty. Now let us tryagain. What does the Mahratta government do? Alas! the next word is'pig's-bristles.' We are undone, my good Watson! It is finished!"
He had spoken in jesting vein, but the twitching of his bushy eyebrowsbespoke his disappointment and irritation. I sat helpless and unhappy,staring into the fire. A long silence was broken by a suddenexclamation from Holmes, who dashed at a cupboard, from which heemerged with a second yellow-covered volume in his hand.
"We pay the price, Watson, for being too up-to-date!" he cried. "We arebefore our time, and suffer the usual penalties. Being the seventh ofJanuary, we have very properly laid in the new almanac. It is more thanlikely that Porlock took his message from the old one. No doubt hewould have told us so had his letter of explanation been written. Nowlet us see what page 534 has in store for us. Number thirteen is'There,' which is much more promising. Number one hundred andtwenty-seven is 'is'--'There is'"--Holmes's eyes were gleaming withexcitement, and his thin, nervous fingers twitched as he counted thewords--"'danger.' Ha! Ha! Capital! Put that down, Watson. 'There isdanger--may--come--very--soon--one.' Then we have the name 'Douglas'--'rich--country--now--at--Birlstone--House--Birlstone--confidence--is--pressing.' There, Watson! What do you think of pure reason and itsfruit? If the greengrocer had such a thing as a laurel wreath, Ishould send Billy round for it."
I was staring at the strange message which I had scrawled, as hedeciphered it, upon a sheet of foolscap on my knee.
"What a queer, scrambling way of expressing his meaning!" said I.
"On the contrary, he has done quite remarkably well," said Holmes."When you search a single column for words with which to express yourmeaning, you can hardly expect to get everything you want. You arebound to leave something to the intelligence of your correspondent. Thepurport is perfectly clear. Some deviltry is intended against oneDouglas, whoever he may be, residing as stated, a rich countrygentleman. He is sure--'confidence' was as near as he could get to'confident'--that it is pressing. There is our result--and a veryworkmanlike little bit of analysis it was!"
Holmes had the impersonal joy of the true artist in his better work,even as he mourned darkly when it fell below the high level to which heaspired. He was still chuckling over his success when Billy swung openthe door and Inspector MacDonald of Scotland Yard was ushered into theroom.
Those were the early days at the end of the '80's, when Alec MacDonaldwas far from having attained the national fame which he has nowachieved. He was a young but trusted member of the detective force, whohad distinguished himself in several cases which had been entrusted tohim. His tall, bony figure gave promise of exceptional physicalstrength, while his great cranium and deep-set, lustrous eyes spoke noless clearly of the keen intelligence which twinkled out from behindhis bushy eyebrows. He was a silent, precise man with a dour nature anda hard Aberdonian accent.
Twice already in his career had Holmes helped him to attain success,his own sole reward being the intellectual joy of the problem. For thisreason the affection and respect of the Scotchman for his amateurcolleague were profound, and he showed them by the frankness with whichhe consulted Holmes in every difficulty. Mediocrity knows nothinghigher than itself; but talent instantly recognizes genius, andMacDonald had talent enough for his profession to enable him toperceive that there was no humiliation in seeking the assistance of onewho already stood alone in Europe, both in his gifts and in hisexperience. Holmes was not prone to friendship, but he was tolerant ofthe big Scotchman, and smiled at the sight of