The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1905-05-17
ISL Y s ADVENTURE x
THE ''GLORIA SCOTT

fire, s'Which L really think, Watson,
that it would be worth your while
to glance over. These are documents
in the extraordinary case of the Gloria
Scott, and this is the message which
struck Justice of the Peace Trevor dead
with horror when he read it,
l. He had picked from a drawer lit
tie furnished cylinder, and, undoing the
tape, he handed me short note
scrawled upon half-sheet Of slate-gray
1.-THE supply of game for London is
keeper Hudson, we believe, has been
now told to receive all orders for fly
& paper and fer feT preservation of your hen
AS I glanced up from reading this
qnigmatical message, I saw Holmes
dhuckling at the expression upon my
'EYou look a little bewildered,' said
II cannot see how such a. message as
this could inspire horror. 1t seems to
me to be rather grotesque than other
every likely. Yet the fact remains
that the reader, who was a fine, robust
old man, was knocked clean down by
IT as if it had been the butt end of a
pistol'
"You arouse my curiosity,' said 7.
,s''But why did you say. just now that
Shere were very particular reasons why
I should study this cases'
"Because it was the first in which
j was ever engaged
I had often endeavored to elicit from
my companion what had first turned his
mind in the direction of criminal re-
search, but had never caught him be-
fore in a communicative humor. Now
he sat forward in his armchair and
spread out the documents upon his
knees. Then he lit his pipe and sat for
some time smoking and turning them
over.
"You never heard me talk Of Vic
tor Trevor?" he asked. He was the
only friend I made during the two
years I was at college. I was never a
very sociable fellow, Watson, always
rather fond Of moping in my rooms and
thought, so that l never mixed much
with the men of my year. Bar fencing
and boxing I had few athletic tastes,
and then my line of study was quite dis
tinct from that ,;of the other fellows,
so that we had no points Of contact at
all. Trevor was the only man [ knew,
and that only thru the accident Of his
bull-terrier freezing on to my ankle one
morning as I went down to chapel.
cit was a prosaic way of forming a
Friendship, but it was effective. I was
laid by the heels for ten days and
Trevor used to come in to inquire after
me. At first it was only minute IS
and before the end of the term we
were close friends. He was hearty
full-blooded fellow, full Of spirits and
energy, the very opposite to me in
most respects, but we had some subjects
in common, and it was bond = Of
friendless as I. Finally, he invited
me down to his fathers place at Don
nithorpe, in Norfolk, and / accepted his
hospitality for month of the long va
cation.
cold Trevor was evidently man Of
some wealth and consideration, a J. P
and q landed proprietor. Donnithorpe
Is a little hamlet just to the north OF
.Langmere, in the country Of the Breads
Ihe house was an old-fashioned, wide
spread, oak beamed brick building, with
fine lime-lined avenue leading up tt
1t. There was, excellent wild duck
shooting in the fens, remarkably gooG
fishing a small but select library, taker
over, as I understood, from former oc
cupant, and a tolerable cook, SO that he
would be a fastidious man who coulG
not put in pleasant month there.
'Irevor, senior, was widower anc
my friend his only son.
"There had been daughter, heard
but she had died of diphtheria Will,
on visit to Birmingham. The fathe
interested me extremely. He was q maj
of little culture, but with a considerabl,
amount of rude strength, both physical
~ and mentally. He knew hardly an,
books, but he had travelled far, had sect
much Of the world, and had remembered
all that he had learned. In person h
was thick-set,r burly man with ,
shock OF grizzled hair, brown, weather
beaten face and blue eyes which wer
Keen rec to the verge Of fiereeness. Yet h
ATTY on the countryside and was note,
for the leniency of his sentences from
the bench.
Zone evening, shortly after nv ar
rival we We're sitting over a glass O
port after dinner, when young Trevo
observation and inference which I ha,
already, formed into a system, altho
had not yet appreciated the part whic
they were to play in my life The oil
man evidently, thought that his son wa
exaggerating in his description Of on
OF two trivial feats which had pei
formed. .s..~ ~. - : ~
Come, now, Mr.. Holiness said hi
laughing good -humoredly. 4 m an ez
ceilent subject, if you can deduce any
thing from me @.s-<
L fear there is not very much
answered; L might suggest that yo
have gone about in fear Of some pei
month";
"The laugh faded from his lip an
he stared at me in great surprise.
Well, that IS true enough said h,
You know, Victor turning to his sol
when we broke up that poaching gan
they swore to knife US, and Sir Edwar
Holly has actually been attacked. Nv
always been on my guard since. the1
tho have no idea how you know it.
You have a very handsome stick
I answered. by the inscription I oil
served that you had not had it MOI
than year; But you. have take
some pains to bore the head of
and pour melted lead into. the ho]
SO as to make it formidable weapon
argued that you would not take sue
precautions unless you had some da1
ger to fear
80 Anything else9' he asked, smiling
- :. 1sl!You have boxed a good deal
your youth
So Right again. How did you kno
itg Is my nose knocked little out {
the straight p
80 80 No. said I. TT is your ears. The
have the peculiar fattening and thicl
ening which marks the boxing man
Anything else?'
You have done good deal {
digging by your callosities'
Made all my money at the gol
felds.3,' 81 81 Isl X
g You have been in New Zealand
90 Right again
80 9 YOu have avisite5 Tanan