福爾摩斯探案經典:《恐怖谷》第4章Part6
"Well, we can adopt it as a working hypothesis and then see how far our difficulties disappear. An agent from such a society makes his way into the house, waits for Mr. Douglas, blows his head nearly off with this weapon, and escapes by wading the moat, after leaving a card beside the dead man, which will, when mentioned in the papers, tell other members of the society that vengeance has been done. That all hangs together. But why this gun, of all weapons?"
"Exactly."
"And why the missing ring?"
"Quite so."
"And why no arrest? It's past two now. I take it for granted that since dawn every constable within forty miles has been looking out for a wet stranger?"
"That is so, Mr. Holmes."
"Well, unless he has a burrow close by or a change of clothes ready, they can hardly miss him. And yet they HAVE missed him up to now!" Holmes had gone to the window and was examining with his lens the blood mark on the sill. "It is clearly the tread of a shoe. It is remarkably broad; a splay-foot, one would say. Curious, because, so far as one can trace any footmark in this mud-stained corner, one would say it was a more shapely sole. However, they are certainly very indistinct. What's this under the side table?"
"Mr. Douglas's dumb-bells," said Ames.
"Dumb-bell--there's only one. Where's the other?"
"I don't know, Mr. Holmes. There may have been only one. I have not noticed them for months."
"One dumb-bell--" Holmes said seriously; but his remarks were interrupted by a sharp knock at the door. A tall, sunburned, capable-looking, clean-shaved man looked in at us. I had no difficulty in guessing that it was the Cecil Barker of whom I had heard. His masterful eyes travelled quickly with a questioning glance from face to face.
"Sorry to interrupt your consultation," said he, "but you should hear the latest news."
"An arrest?"
"No such luck. But they've found his bicycle. The fellow left his bicycle behind him. Come and have a look. It is within a hundred yards of the hall door."
We found three or four grooms and idlers standing in the drive inspecting a bicycle which had been drawn out from a clump of evergreens in which it had been concealed. It was a well used Rudge-Whitworth, splashed as from a considerable journey. There was a saddlebag with spanner and oilcan, but no clue as to the owner.
"It would be a grand help to the police," said the inspector, "if these things were numbered and registered. But we must be thankful for what we've got. If we can't find where he went to, at least we are likely to get where he came from. But what in the name of all that is wonderful made the fellow leave it behind? And how in the world has he got away without it? We don't seem to get a gleam of light in the case, Mr. Holmes."
"Don't we?" my friend answered thoughtfully. "I wonder!"
“好，我們可以把它當作一個合理的假設吧。由此出發，看一看我們的疑難究竟能解決多少。那個團體派來的一個人設法鑽進莊園，守候着道格拉斯先生，用這支火槍幾乎打掉了他的腦袋，然後蹚過護城河逃跑了。他所以要在死者身旁留下一張卡片，無非爲了一個目的，報紙上一登出來，那個團體的其他黨徒就能知道：仇已報了。這些事情都是連貫在一起的。可是，武器有的是，他爲什麼單單要用這種火槍呢？”
“是啊。”
“還有，丟失的戒指又是怎麼回事呢？”
“對呀。”
“現在已經兩點多了，爲什麼還沒有拿獲兇手呢？我認爲肯定從天亮以後，方圓四十英里內，每一個警察都在搜尋一個渾身溼淋淋的外來人。”
“福爾摩斯先生，正是這樣。”
“好，除非他在附近有個藏身之處，或者事先準備好一套替換的衣服，他們是不會讓他溜掉的。但現在他們不是已經把他放過了嗎？"福爾摩斯走到窗旁，用他的放大鏡察看窗臺上的血跡，說道，“很顯然這是一個鞋印，很寬——大概是八字腳。真怪呀，不管是誰到這沾滿泥污的牆角來察看腳印，他都會說這個鞋底式樣倒不錯。可是，當然了，很不清楚。旁邊這桌子底下是什麼呢？”
“是道格拉斯先生的啞鈴，"艾姆斯說道。
“啞鈴？這裏只有一個。另外那個啞鈴在哪兒呢？”
“我不知道，福爾摩斯先生。也可能本來就只有一隻。我有好幾個月沒看到這東西了。”
“一隻啞鈴……"福爾摩斯嚴肅地說，可是話還沒說完，就被一陣急劇的敲門聲打斷了。一個身材高大、曬得黝黑、外表精幹、臉颳得精光的人探頭看着我們。我一下子就猜出來了，這就是我聽人講過的塞西爾·巴克。他用傲慢的疑問目光迅速掃視了大家一眼。
“對不起，打斷了你們的談話，"巴克說道，“不過，諸位應該聽聽最新的情況了。”
“逮着兇手了嗎？”
“沒有這樣的好事。不過人們已經找到他的自行車了。這傢伙把他的自行車扔下了。請你們來看看，放在大廳門外一百碼的地方。”
我們看到三四個僕人和幾個閒漢站在馬車道上查看那輛自行車，車子原是藏在常青樹叢裏，後來才被拖出來的。這是一輛用得很舊的拉奇·惠特沃思牌的自行車。車上濺着不少泥漿，好象騎過相當遠的路。車座後面有一個工具袋，裏面有扳子和油壺，可是究竟車主是誰，卻沒有什麼線索。
“如果這些東西都曾登記、編號，對警方就很有幫助了，”警官說道，“不過咱們能得到這些東西，也就應該感激不盡了。即使我們弄不清他到什麼地方去了，至少我們很可能弄清他是從哪兒來的了。不過，這個傢伙究竟爲什麼要丟下這輛車子呢？這倒是件怪事。他不汽車子，又是怎麼走的呢？福爾摩斯先生，我們這件案子似乎還看不出一點眉目來呢。”
“真看不出一點眉目來嗎？"我的朋友若有所思地答道，“我看不一定！”
