Приключения Шерлока Холмса / The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (сборник). Артур Конан ДойлЧитать онлайн книгу.

      “Do not go asleep; your life may depend upon it. Have your revolver ready. I will sit on the side of the bed, and you in that chair.”

      I took out my revolver and put it on the table.

      Holmes had brought a long thin cane, which he put upon the bed beside him. He also put there a box of matches and a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left in darkness.

      I shall never forget that awful night! I could not hear a sound, but I knew that my companion sat beside me, as nervous as I was myself. We waited in absolute darkness. How long seemed those hours! The clock of the village church struck twelve, and one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for we did not know what.

      Suddenly there was light up in the opening of the ventilator. It was followed by a strong smell of burning oil and metal. Someone in the next room had lit a lamp. I heard somebody move there, and then all was silent again, though the smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat listening. Then suddenly I heard another sound – a very low hissing sound. The moment we heard it, Holmes struck a match, and lashed with his cane at the bell-rope.

      “You see it, Watson?” he shouted. “You see it?”

      But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I heard a low, clear whistle, but I could not see anything in the sudden light. I could, however, see that Holmes stopped striking and was looking up at the ventilator when suddenly there came the most horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It grew louder and louder, a horrible cry of pain and fear and anger. They say that that cry could be heard in the village.

      “What can it mean?” I whispered.

      “It means that it is all over,” Holmes answered. “And perhaps, after all, it is for the best. Take your revolver, and we will enter Dr. Roylott’s room.”

      With a serious face he lit the lamp and went down the corridor. Twice he struck at the door of Dr. Roylott’s room without any answer. Then he entered, I followed him, with the revolver in my hand.

      On the table stood a lamp, throwing light upon the safe, the door of which was ajar. Beside this table, on the chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott. In his hand he had the long lash which we had seen during the day. Round his head he had a yellow speckled band. As we entered he did not move.

      “The band! the speckled band!” whispered Holmes.

      I took a step forward. In a moment the strange band began to move, among his hair we saw the head of a snake.

      “It is the deadliest snake in India!” cried Holmes; “He died ten seconds after he was bitten. The schemer falls into the pit which he digs for another[28]. Let us put it back into the safe, and we can then let the police know what has happened.”

      As he spoke he drew lash from the dead man’s hand, and throwing the loop round the reptile’s head he drew it from Dr. Roylott’s head, threw it into the safe, and closed it.

      Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran. It is not necessary for me to tell how we accompanied the terrified girl to the morning train which took her to her aunt.

      The police came to the conclusion that the doctor met his end while playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I did not know of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back next day.

      “I came,” said he, “to an absolutely wrong conclusion which shows, my dear Watson, how important it always is to have evidence. The gypsies in Stoke Moran, the word ‘band,’ which was used by the poor girl, put me upon an entirely wrong scent[29]. However, soon it became clear to me that danger could not come either from the window or the door. The ventilator and the bell-rope which hung down to the bed drew my attention. The discovery that the bell did not ring, and that the bed was fastened to the floor, gave me an idea that the rope was there as a bridge for something to pass through the opening and to come to the bed. The idea of a snake occurred to me at once, and when I recalled that the doctor kept animals from India, I felt that I was probably right. The idea of using poison which could not be discovered by any chemical test could occur to a clever man who had lived in India. Not every policeman could see the two little dark spots left by the snake’s teeth. Then I thought of the whistle. He had used it to call the snake back to him, he had, probably, trained the snake to go through the ventilator by the use of the milk which we saw, to go down the rope and onto the bed. It might or might not bite the girl, perhaps he did it every night for a week, but sooner or later the snake must bite the poor girl.

      “I had come to these conclusions before ever I entered his room. His chair showed me that he had been standing on it, which of course would be necessary to reach the ventilator. The safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of lash showed that I was right. The metallic sound heard by Miss Stoner was that of the closing door of the safe upon the snake. I came to the right conclusion, and you know what I did to finish the case. I heard the snake hiss as I have no doubt you did also, and I lit the light and attacked it.”

      “And you drove it through the ventilator.”

      “And it turned upon its master at the other side. The snake was angry, so it attacked the first person it saw. In this way I am no doubt responsible for Dr. Grimesby Roylott’s death, and I cannot say that I am very sorry about it.”

      Exercises

      1. Answer the questions:

      1. What did Holmes and Dr. Watson do after they got into the house?

      2. How long did they have to wait for Dr. Roylott to start acting?

      3. What did Dr. Watson hear and smell after a long wait?

      4. What did Sherlock Holmes do after there was a hissing sound?

      5. What did they see in Dr. Roylott’s room?

      6. Did Sherlock Holmes come to the correct conclusion at once? What put him on a wrong scent at first?

      7. When did the idea of a snake occur to the detective?

      8. Was Sherlock Holmes sorry about his role in the affair?