“There now!” said Holmes bitterly as he emerged panting andwhite with vexation from the tide of vehicles. “Was ever suchbad luck and such bad management, too? Watson, Watson, if youare an honest man you will record this also and set it against mysuccesses!”
“Who was the man?”
“I have not an idea.”
“A spy?”
“Well, it was evident from what we have heard that Baskervillehas been very closely shadowed by someone since he has beenin town. How else could it be known so quickly that it was theNorthumberland Hotel which he had chosen? If they had followedhim the first day I argued that they would follow him also thesecond. You may have observed that I twice strolled over to thewindow 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 verydeep, and though I have not finally made up my mind whetherit is a benevolent or a malevolent agency which is in touch withus, I am conscious always of power and design. When our friendsleft I at once followed them in the hopes of marking down theirinvisible attendant. So wily was he that he had not trusted himselfupon foot, but he had availed himself of a cab so that he couldloiter behind or dash past them and so escape their notice. Hismethod had the additional advantage that if they were to take acab he was all ready to follow them. It has, however, one obviousdisadvantage.”
“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 notseriously imagine that I neglected to get the number? No. 2704 isour 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 andwalked in the other direction. I should then at my leisure havehired a second cab and followed the first at a respectful distance,or, better still, have driven to the Northumberland Hotel andwaited there. When our unknown had followed Baskerville homewe should have had the opportunity of playing his own game uponhimself and seeing where he made for. As it is, by an indiscreeteagerness, which was taken advantage of with extraordinaryquickness and energy by our opponent, we have betrayed ourselvesand lost our man.”
We had been sauntering slowly down Regent Street during thisconversation, and Dr. Mortimer, with his companion, had longvanished in front of us.
“There is no object in our following them,” said Holmes. “Theshadow has departed and will not return. We must see whatfurther 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 itwas a false one. A clever man upon so delicate an errand has no usefor a beard save to conceal his features. Come in here, Watson!”
He turned into one of the district messenger offices, where hewas warmly greeted by the manager.
“Ah, Wilson, I see you have not forgotten the little case in whichI had the good fortune to help you?”
“No, sir, indeed I have not. You saved my good name, andperhaps 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 tohave change of this five-pound note.”
A lad of fourteen, with a bright, keen face, had obeyed thesummons of the manager. He stood now gazing with greatreverence 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 yousee?”
“Yes, sir.”
“You will visit each of these in turn.”
“Yes, sir.”
“You will begin in each case by giving the outside porter oneshilling. Here are twenty-three shillings.”
“Yes, sir.”
“You will tell him that you want to see the waste-paper ofyesterday. You will say that an important telegram has miscarriedand that you are looking for it. You understand?”
“Yes, sir.”
“But what you are really looking for is the centre page of theTimes with some holes cut in it with scissors. Here is a copy ofthe Times. It is this page. You could easily recognize it, could younot?”
“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-threeshillings. You will then learn in possibly twenty cases out of thetwenty-three that the waste of the day before has been burnedor removed. In the three other cases you will be shown a heap ofpaper and you will look for this page of the Times among it. Theodds are enormously against your finding it. There are ten shillingsover in case of emergencies. Let me have a report by wire at BakerStreet before evening. And now, Watson, it only remains for us tofind out by wire the identity of the cabman, No. 2704, and thenwe will drop into one of the Bond Street picture galleries and fillin the time until we are due at the hotel.”
Three Broken Threads
Sherlock Holmes had, in a very remarkable degree, the power ofdetaching his mind at will. For two hours the strange business inwhich we had been involved appeared to be forgotten, and he wasentirely absorbed in the pictures of the modern Belgian masters.
He would talk of nothing but art, of which he had the crudestideas, from our leaving the gallery until we found ourselves at theNorthumberland 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?” saidHolmes.
“Not in the least.”
The book showed that two names had been added after that ofBaskerville. One was Theophilus Johnson and family, of Newcastle;the other Mrs. Oldmore and maid, of High Lodge, Alton.
