The sun. [volume] (Morris, Stevens County, Minn.) 1882-1895, 1894-06-21
CHAPTER. II-fcontinueaA


understand what that is. Here in
London we have lots of government de-
tectives and lots of private ones. When
these fellows are Mt fault they come to
ME, and l manage to put them on the
right scent. They lay all the evidence
before me, AMI l am generally able.
by the help of my knowledge If the
history of crime, to set them straiebt.
There is a strong family Resemblance
about misdeeds, and if you have all
the details of thousand at your finger
ends, 1T is odd if you can't unravel the
thousand and first. Lestrade is well
known detective. He got hims Elf into
a fog recently over a forgery case,
and that was what brought him here
And these other people?"
They are mostly sent out by pri-
vate inquiry agencies. They are all
people who are in trouble about some
thing and want n little enlightening.
listen to their story, they listen to
my comments, and then 1 pocket my
fee"
But do you mean to say" / said,
that without leaving your room you
can unrayel some knot which other men
can make nothing of, although they
have seen every detail for themselves?"
Quite SO. have kind of intuition
that way. Now and again case tulns
up which is a little more complex. Then
| have to hustle about and see things
with my own eyes. You see 1 have
a lot of special knowledge Which
apply to the problem, and which IA
cilitates matters wonderfully. Those
rules of deduction laid down in tllat ar
ticle which aroused your scorn are in
valuable to me in practical work. OBJ
Seryation win me s second nature.
You appeared to be surprised when
told you, on our first meeting that
you had come from Afghanistan.
You were told, no doubt"
Nothing of the sort l knew YOU
came from Afghanistan. From long
habit the train of thoughts ran so
swiftly through my mind that / ar
rived at the conclusion without being
conscious of intermediate steps. There
were such steps, however. The train
OF reasoning ran. Here is a gentleman
Of q medical type, but with the air
Of military man. Clearly an army
doctor, then. He has just come from
the tropics, for his face is dark, and
that is not the natural tint of his skin,
for his wrists are fair. He has under
gone hardship and sickness, as his bag
gard face says clearly. His left arm
has been injured. He holds it in a stiff
and unnatural manner. Where in the
tropics could an English army doctor
have seen such hardship and got his
arm wounded? Clearly in Afghanis-
TAM The whole train of thought did
not occupy second. l then remarked
that you came from Afghanistan, and
you were astonished'
1T is simple enough, as you explain
it, / said, smiling. You remind me of
Edgar Allan Poe's Dupin' | had no
idea that such individuals did exist
outside of stories I"
Sherlock Holmes rose and lit his pine.
mo doubt you think you are comDli-
menting me in comparing me to Du-
pin," he observed. Nov, IN my opin-
ion, Dupin was very inferior fellow.
That trick of his of breaking in on
his friends thoughts with an apropos
remark after a quarter of an hours
silence is really very snowy and super
fetal. He had some analytic genius,
no doubt, but he was by no means
such phenomenon as Poe appeared
to imagine.
"Haye you read Gaboriau's works ?"
asked. Does Lecoq come UP to
your idea Of q detectiveY'
Sherlock Holmes shifted sardonically.
'tLecOq was q miserable bungler," he
said in an angry voice; "he had only
one thing to recommend him, { nd that
was his energy. The book made me
positively ill. The question was how
to identify an unknown prisoner. l
could have done it in twenty -four hours
Lecoq took six months or so. 1t might
be made a textbook for detectives to
teach them what to avoid"
I felt rather indignant at having two
characters whom had admired treat
ed in this cavalier style, walked over
to the window aud stood looking out
into the busy street This fellow may
be very clever" / said to myself, but
he is certainly very conceited."
There are no crimes and no crimi-
nails in these days." he said, querulous-
". What is the use of having brains
In our profession? 1 know we'll that
I have it in me to make my name fam
ous No man lives or has ever lived
who has brought the same amount of
study and of natural talent to the detec-
ton of crime which have done. And
what is the result? There is no crime
to detect, or, at most, some bungling
villainy with a motive so transparent
that even Scotland Yard official can
see through it,
/ was still annoyed at his bumptious
style of conversation. thought 1t best
to change the topic.
81 wonder what the fellow is looking
II in 70 ,tnlx nY,t
plainly dressed individual who was
the street, looking anxiously at the
numbers. He had large blue envel-
ope in his hand, and was evidently the
bearer of a message.
"You mean the retired sergeant of
marines" said Sherlock Holmes.
Drag and hogHcer thought TO my
self, He knows that / cannot verify
his guess"
The thought had hardly passed
| through my mind when the man whom
we were watching caught sight of the
number on our door, and ran rapidly
acr3ss the roadway. We heard a loud
knock, a deep voice below, and heavy
steps ascending the stairs.
For Mr.. Sherlock Holiness" he said,
stepping into the room and handing
my friend the letter.
Here was an opportunity Of taking
the conceit out Of him. He little
| thought of this when he made that
random shot May I ask. my lad"
1 said, blandly, what your trade may
be?'
"Commissionaire, sir" he said, gruff-
ly. Uniform away for repairs"
eAld you were| / asked, with a
slightly is1alioiQus glance at my COM
panion.
"A sergeant, sir, Royal Marine Light
Infantry, sir. No answer? Right, sir. :
He clicked his heels together, raised
hiS hand in n Ca1utn and was gone