福爾摩斯探案經典:《恐怖谷》第4章Part1
At three in the morning the chief Sussex detective, obeying the urgent call from Sergeant Wilson of Birlstone, arrived from headquarters in a light dog-cart behind a breathless trotter. By the five-forty train in the morning he had sent his message to Scotland Yard, and he was at the Birlstone station at twelve o'clock to welcome us. White Mason was a quiet, comfortable-looking person in a loose tweed suit, with a clean-shaved, ruddy face, a stoutish body, and powerful bandy legs adorned with gaiters, looking like a small farmer, a retired gamekeeper, or anything upon earth except a very favourable specimen of the provincial criminal officer.
"A real downright snorter, Mr. MacDonald!" he kept repeating. "We'll have the pressmen down like flies when they understand it. I'm hoping we will get our work done before they get poking their noses into it and messing up all the trails. There has been nothing like this that I can remember. There are some bits that will come home to you, Mr. Holmes, or I am mistaken. And you also, Dr. Watson; for the medicos will have a word to say before we finish. Your room is at the Westville Arms. There's no other place; but I hear that it is clean and good. The man will carry your bags. This way, gentlemen, if you please."
He was a very bustling and genial person, this Sussex detective. In ten minutes we had all found our quarters. In ten more we were seated in the parlour of the inn and being treated to a rapid sketch of those events which have been outlined in the previous chapter. MacDonald made an occasional note; while Holmes sat absorbed, with the expression of surprised and reverent admiration with which the botanist surveys the rare and precious bloom.
"Remarkable!" he said, when the story was unfolded, "most remarkable! I can hardly recall any case where the features have been more peculiar."
"I thought you would say so, Mr. Holmes," said White Mason in great delight. "We're well up with the times in Sussex. I've told you now how matters were, up to the time when I took over from Sergeant Wilson between three and four this morning. My word! I made the old mare go! But I need not have been in such a hurry, as it turned out; for there was nothing immediate that I could do. Sergeant Wilson had all the facts. I checked them and considered them and maybe added a few of my own."
"What were they?" asked Holmes eagerly.
"Well, I first had the hammer examined. There was Dr. Wood there to help me. We found no signs of violence upon it. I was hoping that if Mr. Douglas defended himself with the hammer, he might have left his mark upon the murderer before he dropped it on the mat. But there was no stain."
"That, of course, proves nothing at all," remarked Inspector MacDonald. "There has been many a hammer murder and no trace on the hammer."
"Quite so. It doesn't prove it wasn't used. But there might have been stains, and that would have helped us. As a matter of fact there were none. Then I examined the gun. They were buckshot cartridges, and, as Sergeant Wilson pointed out, the triggers were wired together so that, if you pulled on the hinder one, both barrels were discharged. Whoever fixed that up had made up his mind that he was going to take no chances of missing his man. The sawed gun was not more than two foot long--one could carry it easily under one's coat. There was no complete maker's name; but the printed letters P-E-N were on the fluting between the barrels, and the rest of the name had been cut off by the saw."
"A big P with a flourish above it, E and N smaller?" asked Holmes.
"Exactly."
"Pennsylvania Small Arms Company--well-known American firm," said Holmes.
凌晨三點鐘，蘇塞克斯的偵探長，接到伯爾斯通警官威爾遜的急電，乘坐一輛輕便單馬車從總部趕來，馬被累得上豈不接下起。他通過清早五點四十分的那趟火車把報告送到了蘇格蘭場。中午十二點鐘他已在伯爾斯通車站迎候我們了。懷特·梅森先生性情文靜、面容安詳，穿着一件寬大的花呢外套，紅潤的臉颳得淨光，身體微胖，兩條微向裏彎的腿剛勁有力，穿着帶絆扣的高筒靴子益發顯得精神，他看起來象個矮小的莊稼漢，象個退休的獵場看守人，或是說他象個世上的什麼人都行，但就是不象地方警署典型的刑事警官。
“麥克唐納先生，真是一件極不尋常的案子。"懷特·梅森反反覆覆地說，“報界的人聽到這件事就會象蒼蠅一樣趕來的。我希望在他們來管這閒事並把一切手腳印跡弄亂之前，就把咱們的工作做完。在我的記憶中，還沒有遇到過象這樣的案子呢。福爾摩斯先生，有某些情況是會使你感興趣的，要不然就是我弄錯了。華生醫生，還有你，因爲在我們結束工作之前，醫生總要發表一些意見的。你們的住房在韋斯特維爾阿姆茲旅店，再找不到其它地方了，不過我聽說房子倒還不錯，也挺乾淨。僕人會把你們的行李送去的。先生們，請隨我來，好嗎？”
這位蘇塞克斯的偵探，是一個非常活躍而又和藹的人。走了十分鐘，我們就到了住所，十分鐘以後，我們就坐在小旅店休息室裏，議論起這件案子的概況了。這些我已在上一章敘述過了。麥克唐納有時做些記錄，福爾摩斯坐在那裏，帶着吃驚和衷心欽佩的樣子專心傾聽着，就象植物學家鑑賞珍奇的花朵一樣。
“奇怪！"在聽了案情介紹以後，福爾摩斯說，“奇怪極了！我想不起來以前有什麼比這更奇怪的案子了。”
“福爾摩斯先生，我早想到你會這樣說的，"懷特·梅森非常高興地說，“我們在蘇塞克斯算是趕上時代了。到今早三、四點之間我從警官威爾遜手裏接過這樁案子爲止的全部情況我都告訴你了。我拚着老命趕來！哎呀！結果證明，我本來用不着這麼緊趕慢趕的。因爲這裏沒有我能馬上做的事。警官威爾遜已經掌握了全部情況。我查對了一下，仔細研究了一番，多少還加了幾點我自己的看法。”
“你的看法是什麼呢？"福爾摩斯急切地問道。
“嗯，我首先把鐵錘仔細檢查了一下。醫生伍德也在旁幫忙。鐵錘上沒找到施用暴力的痕跡。我原來想，或許道格拉斯先生曾用這把錘子自衛過，他就可能在把錘子丟到地毯上以前，在上面留下印痕，可是錘子上一點痕跡也沒有。”
“當然，這一點兒也證明不了什麼問題，"警官麥克唐納說道，“因爲有許多使用鐵錘的兇殺案，鐵錘上並沒有留下痕跡啊。”
“完全是這樣。這並不一定能證明沒有用過它。不過要果真留下一些痕跡，那對我們就有用了。但事實上卻沒有。後來我又檢查了一下槍支。這是大號鉛彈火槍。正象警官威爾遜所指出的那樣，扳機縛在一起，所以只要你扣動後面一個扳機，兩個槍筒就會同時發射。不管是誰做的這樣的處理，肯定他是下了決心決不讓他的敵手逃脫厄運。這支截斷的槍最多不過二英尺長，一個人能輕而易舉地把它藏在大衣裏。槍上雖然沒有製造者的全名，可是兩支槍管間的凹槽上還刻有'PEN'三個字母，名字的其它字母就被鋸掉了。”
“那上面是一個花體的大寫字母'P'，而'E'和'N'兩個字母則較小，是嗎？"福爾摩斯問道。
“一點也不錯。”
“這是賓夕法尼亞小型武器製造公司，是美國的一家有①名的工廠。"福爾摩斯說。
