Iron County register., 1894-08-23
PART II.
sY A. CONAN DOYLE

i ~ AOAS Udo dt 1S1SG COluc. udO INV
enemies within my power. Together
they could protect each other, but
singly they were at my mercy. 1 did
not act, however, with undue precip-
itation. My plans were already
formed. There is no satisfaction in
| vengeance unless the offender has
time to realize who it is that strikes
him. and why retribution has come up
| on him. / had my plans arranged by
| which should have the opportunity
of making the man who had wronged
me understand that his old sin had
found him out. 1t chanced that some
| days before a gentleman who had been
engaged in looking over some houses
in the Brixton road had dropped the
key of one of them in my carriage. 1t
| was claimed that same evening and re-
turned; but in the interval had taken
| moulding of it, and had a duplicate
constructed. By means of this l had
, access to at least one spot in this great
city where l could rely upon being
free from interruption. How to get
Drebber to that house was the diff
cult problem which l had now to solve.
''He walked down the road and went
into one or two liquor-shops, staying
for nearly half an hour in the last of
them. When he came out he staggered
in his walk, and was evidently pretty
well on. There was a hanson just in
front of me, and he hailed it. l fol-
lowed it SO close that the nose of my
horse was within a yard of his driver
the whole way. We ratified across Wa
terloo bridge and through miles of
streets, until, to my astonishment, we
found ourselves back in the terrace in
which he had boarded. l could not
imagine what his intention was in re-
turning there; but 1 went on and
pulled up my cab hundred yards or
SO from the house. He entered it and
his hanson drove away. Give me
glass of water, if you please. My
mouth gets dry with the talking"
handed him the glass and he drank
it down.
'"That's better" he said. 'sWell, 1
waited for a quarter of an hour or
more, when suddenly there came q
noise like people struggling inside the
house. Next moment the door was
flung open and two men appeared, one
of whom was Drebber, and the other
was young chap whom 1 had never
seen before. This fellow had Drebber
by the collar, and when they came to
the head of the steps he gave him a
shove and kick which sent him half
across the road. You hound,' he cried,
shaking his stick at him. I'll teach you
to insult an honest girl. He was so
hot that 1 think he would have
thrashed Drebber with his cudgel, only
that the cur staggered away down the
road as fast as his legs would carry
him. He ran as far as the corner. and
then, seeing my cab, he hailed me and
jumped in. Drive me to Halliday's
private hotel said he.
''When had him fairly inside my
cab my heart jumped so with Joy that
1 feared lest at this last moment my
aneurism might go wrong. 1 drove
along slowly, weighing in my own mind
what it was best to do. / might take
him right out into the country, and
there in some deserted lane have my
last interview with him. I had almost
decided upon this, when he solved the
problem for me. The craze for drink
had seized him again, and he ordered
me to pull up outside gin palace. He
went in, leaving word that I should
wall lux uSIc hc Icludiucl uue
til closing time, and when he came out
he was SO far gone that 1 knew the
game was in my own hands.
Don't imagine that 1 intended to
kill him in cold blood. 1t would only
have been rigid justice if had done
SO, but could not bring myself to do
it. / had long determined that he
should have a show for his life if he
chose to take advantage of it. Among
the many billets which have filled in
America during my wandering life,
was once a janitor and sweep-out CT
the laboratory at York college. One
day the professor was lecturing on
poisons, and he showed his students
some alkaloid, as he called it, which
he had extracted from some South
American arrow poison, and which
was SO powerful that the least grain
meant instant death. l spotted the
bottle in which this preparation was
kept, and when they were all gone l
helped myself to little of it. was a
fairly good dispenser. so 1 worked this
alkaloid into small, soluble pills. and
each pill put in a box with similar
pill made without poison. l deter
mined at the time that, when had my
chance, my gentlemen should each
have draw out of one of these boxes,
while 1 ate the pill that remained. 1t
would be quite as deadly, and good
deal less noisy than firing across
handkerchief. From that day l had
always my pill-boxes about with me,
and the time had now come when
was to use them.
1T was nearer one than twelve, and
a wild, bleak night, blowing hard and
raining in torrents. Dismal as it was |
outside, I was glad within-so glad |
that l could have shouted out from |
pure exultation. If any of you gentle |
men have ever pined for thing and
longed for it during twenty long years,
and then suddenly found it within |
your reach, You would understand my |
feelings. lit n cigar and puffed at it |
to steady my nerves, but my hands !
were trembling and my temples throb-
bing with excitement. AS l drove, |
could see old John Ferrier and sweet |
Lucy looking at me out of the dark |
ness and smiling at me, just as plain as
l see you all in this room. All the way |
they were ahead of me, one on each |
side of the horse, until l pulled up at |
the house in the Brixton road.
There was not a soul to be seen, nor |
sound to be heard except the drip |
ping of the rain. When looked in at |