Tag: SIGN

May 10, 1857: Sepoy Mutiny began at Meerut [SIGN]

Well, I was never in luck’s way long. Suddenly, without a note of warning, the great mutiny broke upon us. One month India lay as still and peaceful, to all appearance, as Surrey or Kent; the next there were two hundred thousand black devils let loose, and the country was a perfect hell. Of course you know all about it, gentlemen – a deal more than I do, very like, since reading is not in my line. I only know what I saw with my own eyes. Our plantation was at a place called Muttra, near the border of the North-west Provinces. Night after night the whole sky was alight with the burning bungalows and day after day we had small companies of Europeans passing through our estate with their wives and children, on their way to Agra, where were the nearest troops.

Date information provided by the volume A Day-by-Day Chronology of Mr. Sherlock Holmes, according to Zeisler and Christ, compiled and edited by William S Dorn.

April 19, 1888: Holmes, Watson, and Altheney Jones chased the launch Aurora down the river Thames. [SIGN]

“And there is the Aurora,” exclaimed Holmes, “and going like the devil! Full speed ahead, engineer. Make after that launch with the yellow light. By Heaven, I shall never forgive myself if she proves to have the heels of us!”

April 19, 1888: Tonga was shot and killed by Holmes or Watson (or both). [SIGN]

“Fire if he raises his hand,” said Holmes, quietly.

We were within a boat’s-length by this time, and almost within touch of our quarry. I can see the two men now as they stood: the white man with his legs far apart, shrieking out curses, and the unhallowed dwarf with his hideous face and his strong, yellow teeth gnashing at us in the light of our lantern.

It was well that we had so clear a view of him. Even as we looked he plucked out from under his covering a short, round piece of wood, like a school-ruler, and clapped it to his lips. Our pistols rang out together. He whirled round, threw his arms in the air, and, with a kind of choking cough, fell sideways into the stream. I caught one glimpse of his venomous, menacing eyes amid the white swirl of the waters.

Date provided by A Day-by-Day Chronology of Mr. Sherlock Holmes, according to Zeisler and Christ, compiled and edited by William S Dorn.

April 17, 1888: The launch Aurora disappeared. [SIGN]

He was approaching the door of the house, when it opened, and a little curly-headed lad of six came running out, followed by a stoutish, red-faced woman with a large sponge in her hand.
“You come back and be washed, Jack,” she shouted. “Come back, you young imp; for if your father comes home and finds you like that he’ll let us hear of it.”
“Dear little chap!” cried Holmes, strategically. “What a rosy-cheeked young rascal! Now, Jack, is there anything you would like?”
The youth pondered for a moment.
“I’d like a shillin’,” said he.
“Nothing you would like better?”
“I’d like two shillin’ better,” the prodigy answered, after some thought.
“Here you are, then! Catch! – A fine child, Mrs. Smith!”
“Lor’ bless you, sir, he is that, and forward. He gets a’most too much for me to manage, ‘specially when my man is away days at a time.”
“Away, is he?” said Holmes, in a disappointed voice. “I am sorry for that, for I wanted to speak with Mr. Smith.”
“He’s been away since yesterday mornin’, sir, and, truth to tell, I am beginning to feel frightened about him. But if it was about a boat, sir, maybe I could serve as well.”
“I wanted to hire his steam-launch.”
“Why, bless you, sir, it is in the steam-launch that he has gone. That’s what puzzles me; for I know there ain’t no more coals in her than would take her to about Woolwich and back. If he’d been away in the barge I’d ha’ thought nothin’; for many a time a job has taken him as far as Gravesend, and then if there was much doin’ there he might ha’ stayed over. But what good is a steam-launch without coals?”

So, what will Holmes and Watson do? How will they find the Aurora (besides looking east next to the Denver? Bad inside Colorado joke!!)

To find out the answer to Holmes’s dilemma, check out the Tid Bits column tomorrow, the 18th. Also coming later, another puzzling contradiction that makes this story a mishmash of scholarly debate!

Source: A Day by Day Chronology of Sherlock Holmes according to Ziesler and Christ by William S Dorn DWNP, BSI.

April 17, 1888: Toby led Holmes and Watson on a creosote trail. [SIGN]
(Source: A Day by Day Chronology of Sherlock Holmes according to Ziesler and Christ by William S Dorn DWNP, BSI.)

One of the errors mentioned in this story in the Canon involves Watson going to pick up Toby the bloodhound from Old Sherman to try to trail the creosote. The quotes from the story that apply to the problem are:

Chapter 5: The Tragedy of Pondicherry Lodge

[The room] appeared to have been fitted up as a chemical laboratory. A double line of glass-stoppered bottles was drawn up upon the wall opposite the door, and the table was littered over with Bunsen burners, test-tubes, and retorts. In the corners stood carboys of acid in wicker baskets. One of these appeared to leak or to have been broken, for a stream of dark-coloured liquid had trickled out from it, and the air was heavy with a peculiarly pungent, tar-like odour.

Chapter 6: Sherlock Holmes Gives a Demonstration

He whipped out his lens and a tape measure, and hurried about the room on his knees, measuring, comparing, examining, with his long, thin nose only a few inches from the planks, and his beady eyes gleaming and deep-set like those of a bird. So swift, silent, and furtive were his movements, like those of a trained bloodhound picking out a scent, that I could not but think what a terrible criminal he would have made had he turned his energy and sagacity against the law instead of exerting them in its defence. As he hunted about he kept muttering to himself, and finally he broke out into a loud crow of delight.

“We are certainly in luck,” he said. “We ought to have very little trouble now. Number One has had the misfortune to tread in the creosote. You can see the outline of the edge of his small foot here at the side of this evil-smelling mess. The carboy has been cracked, you see, and the stuff has leaked out.”

“What then?” I asked.

“Why, we have got him, that’s all,” said he. “I know a dog that would follow that scent to the world’s end. If a pack can track a trailed herring across a shire, how far can a specially-trained hound follow so pungent a smell as this? […]”

Chapter 6: Sherlock Holmes Gives a Demonstration

I wish you to go to No. 3, Pinchin Lane, down near the water’s edge at Lambeth. The third house on the right-hand side is a bird-stuffer’s; Sherman is the name. You will see a weasel holding a young rabbit in the window. Knock old Sherman up, and tell him, with my compliments, that I want Toby at once. You will bring Toby back in the cab with you.”

“A dog, I suppose?”

“Yes, a queer mongrel, with a most amazing power of scent. I would rather have Toby’s help than that of the whole detective force of London.”

Chapter 7: The Episode of the Barrel

Pinchin Lane was a row of shabby, two-storied brick houses in the lower quarter of Lambeth. I had to knock for some time at No. 3 before I could make any impression. At last, however, there was the glint of a candle behind the blind, and a face looked out at the upper window.

“Go on, you drunken vagabond,” said the face. “If you kick up any more row, I’ll open the kennels and let out forty-three dogs upon you.”

“If you’ll let one out, it’s just what I have come for,” said I.

“Go on!” yelled the voice. “So help me gracious, I have a wiper in this bag, an’ I’ll drop it on your ‘ead if you don’t hook it!”

Can any one tell us what a wiper is that it might need to be carried in a bag and threaten anyone Prevailing Sherlockian scholarly research indicates the word was supposed to be Viper and was a typo, misprint, or a certain Doctor’s handwriting was very hard to read, or the same certain Doctor/Author could not spell well.

April 15, 1888: Tonga killed Bartholomew Sholto with a poison dart. [SIGN]

Source
A Day by Day Chronology of Sherlock Holmes according to Ziesler and Christ by William S Dorn DWNP, BSI.

“Chips” writes:

The Sign of Four – my favorite of the long stories.

I enjoyed the story because it incorporated every thing that would take me from my daily life on the plains of Kansas to the fog covered streets of London and then into the warmth of my new home, 221B Baker Street, with my two favorite companions. A pretty female who needed our help. A mysterious mystery which before it was over involved a revenge plot and a stolen missing treasure of incredible fortune.

And then the Villains! A one-legged man and a murderous pygmy with a blow gun and poison darts. Coupled with a chase down a fog-covered river and these words:

“Fire if he raises his hand,” said Holmes, quietly.

We were within a boat’s-length by this time, and almost within touch of our quarry. I can see the two men now as they stood: the white man with his legs far apart, shrieking out curses, and the unhallowed dwarf with his hideous face and his strong, yellow teeth gnashing at us in the light of our lantern.

It was well that we had so clear a view of him. Even as we looked he plucked out from under his covering a short, round piece of wood, like a school-ruler, and clapped it to his lips. Our pistols rang out together. He whirled round, threw his arms in the air, and, with a kind of choking cough, fell sideways into the stream. I caught one glimpse of his venomous, menacing eyes amid the white swirl of the waters.

Then, as an after action, the treasure disappears, but Watson and Mary Morstan declared their love for each other.

Years later, I met my wife – Mary, as fate would have it. And another quote from the story ends my piece:

“Because I love you, Mary, as truly as ever a man loved a woman. Because this treasure, these riches, sealed my lips. Now that they are gone I can tell you how I love you. That is why I said, `Thank God’.”

“Then I say `Thank God,’ too,” she whispered, as I drew her to my side.

Whoever had lost a treasure, I knew that night that I had gained one.

And that describes my wife who is my life for 45 years and going strong forever.

-Ron, aka The Sign of Four