INITIALIZATION Knowledgebase: ki-dev Base Query: can you explain the tomb? Model: gemini-1.5-pro-preview-0409 Use Curl?: None ================================================== QUESTIONING Clarity Score: 2 Give follow-up?: True Follow-up query: Can you specify which tomb you are asking about? For example, is it a historical tomb or a specific tomb from a movie or book? ================================================== ROUTING Query type: summary ================================================== RAG PARAMETERS Max Context To Include: 100 Lowest Score to Consider: 0.1 ================================================== VECTOR SEARCH ALGORITHM TO USE Use MMR search?: True Use Similarity search?: False ================================================== PRIMER Primer: You are a highly intelligent personal assistant. Your role is to act as an expert at summarization and analysis. In your responses to enterprise users, prioritize clarity, trustworthiness, and appropriate formality. Be honest by admitting when a topic falls outside your scope of knowledge, and suggest alternative avenues for obtaining information when necessary. Make effective use of chat history to avoid redundancy and enhance response relevance, continuously adapting to integrate all necessary details in your interactions. Use as much tokens as possible to provide a detailed response. Your answer must be in English language. Your tone must be neutral. Your writing style must be standard. ================================================== FINAL QUERY Final Query: CONTEXT: ########## File: The%20Tomb.txt Page: 1 Context: The Tomb by H. P. Lovecraft In relating the circumstances which have led to my confinement within this refuge for the demented, I am aware that my present position will create a natural doubt of the authenticity of my narrative. It is an unfortunate fact that the bulk of humanity is too limited in its mental vision to weigh with patience and intelligence those isolated phenomena, seen and felt only by a psychologically sensitive few, which lie outside its common experience. Men of broader intellect know that there is no sharp distinction betwixt the real and the unreal; that all things appear as they do only by virtue of the delicate individual physical and mental media through which we are made conscious of them; but the prosaic materialism of the majority condemns as madness the flashes of supersight which penetrate the common veil of obvious empricism. My name is Jervas Dudley, and from earliest childhood I have been a dreamer and a visionary. Wealthy beyond the necessity of a commercial life, and temperamentally unfitted for the formal studies and social recreation of my acquaintances, I have dwelt ever in realms apart from the visible world; spending my youth and adolescence in ancient and little known books, and in roaming the fields and groves of the region near my ancestral home. I do not think that what I read in these books or saw in these fields and groves was exactly what other boys read and saw there; but of this I must say little, since detailed speech would but confirm those cruel slanders upon my intellect which I sometimes overhear from the whispers of the stealthy attendants around me. It is sufficient for me to relate events without analyzing causes. I have said that I dwelt apart from the visible world, but I have not said that I dwelt alone. This no human creature may do; for lacking the fellowship of the living, he inevitably draws upon the companionship of things that are not, or are no longer, living. Close by my home there lies a singular wooded hollow, in whose twilight deeps I spent most of my time; reading, thinking, and dreaming. Down its moss-covered slopes my first steps of infancy were taken, and around its grotesquely gnarled oak trees my first fancies of boyhood were woven. Well did I come to know the presiding dryads of those trees, and often have I watched their wild dances in the struggling beams of a waning moon but of these things I must not now speak. I will tell only of the lone tomb in the darkest of the hillside thickets; the deserted tomb of the Hydes, an old and exalted family whose last direct descendant had been laid within its black recesses many decades before my birth. The vault to which I refer is of ancient granite, weathered and discolored by the mists and dampness of generations. Excavated back into the hillside, the structure is visible only at the entrance. The door, a ponderous and forbidding slab of stone, hangs upon rusted iron hinges, and is fastened ajar in a queerly sinister way by means of heavy iron chains and padlocks, according to a gruesome fashion of half a century ago. The abode of the race whose scions are here inurned had once crowned the declivity which holds the tomb, but had long since fallen victim to the flames which sprang up from a stroke of lightning. Of the midnight storm which destroyed this gloomy mansion, the older inhabitants of the region sometimes speak in hushed and uneasy voices; alluding to what they call 'divine wrath' in a manner that in later years vaguely increased the always strong fascination which I had felt for the forest-darkened sepulcher. One man only had perished in the fire. When the last of the Hydes was buried in this place of shade and stillness, the sad urnful of ashes had come from a distant land, to which the family had repaired when the mansion burned down. No one remains to lay flowers before the granite portal, and few care to brave the depressing shadows which seem to linger strangely about the water-worn stones. I shall never forget the afternoon when first I stumbled upon the half-hidden house of death. It was in midsummer, when the alchemy of nature transmutes the sylvan landscape to one vivid and almost homogeneous mass of green; when the senses are well-nigh intoxicated with the surging seas of moist verdure and the subtly indefinable odors of the soil and the vegetation. In such surroundings the mind loses its perspective; time and space become trivial and unreal, and echoes of a forgotten prehistoric past beat insistently upon the enthralled consciousness. #################### File: The%20Tomb.txt Page: 1 Context: Accordingly my watches by the dank portal became less persistent, and much of my time was spent in other though equally strange pursuits. I would sometimes rise very quietly in the night, stealing out to walk in those church-yards and places of burial from which I had been kept by my parents. What I did there I may not say, for I am not now sure of the reality of certain things; but I know that on the day after such a nocturnal ramble I would often astonish those about me with my knowledge of topics almost forgotten for many generations. It was after a night like this that I shocked the community with a queer conceit about the burial of the rich and celebrated Squire Brewster, a maker of local history who was interred in 1711, and whose slate headstone, bearing a graven skull and crossbones, was slowly crumbling to powder. In a moment of childish imagination I vowed not only that the undertaker, Goodman Simpson, had stolen the silver-buckled shoes, silken hose, and satin small-clothes of the deceased before burial; but that the Squire himself, not fully inanimate, had turned twice in his mound-covered coffin on the day after interment. But the idea of entering the tomb never left my thoughts; being indeed stimulated by the unexpected genealogical discovery that my own maternal ancestry possessed at least a slight link with the supposediy extinct family of the Hydes. Last of my paternal race, I was likewise the last of this older and more mysterious line. I began to feel that the tomb was mine, and to look forward with hot eagerness to the time when I might pass within that stone door and down those slimy stone steps in the dark. I now formed the habit of listening very intently at the slightly open portal, choosing my favorite hours of midnight stillness for the odd vigil. By the time I came of age, I had made a small clearing in the thicket before the mold-stained facade of the hillside, allowing the surrounding vegetation to encircle and overhang the space like the walls and roof of a sylvan bower. This bower was my temple, the fastened door my shrine, and here I would lie outstretched on the mossy ground, thinking strange thoughts and dreaming strange dreams. The night of the first revelation was a sultry one. I must have fallen asleep from fatigue, for it was with a distinct sense of awakening that I heard the voices. Of these tones and accents I hesitate to speak; of their quality I will not speak; but I may say that they presented certain uncanny differences in vocabulary, pronunciation, and mode of utterance. Every shade of New England dialect, from the uncouth syllables of the Puritan colonists to the precise rhetoric of fifty years ago, seemed represented in that shadowy colloquy, though it was only later that I noticed the fact. At the time, indeed, my attention was distracted from this matter by another phenomenon; a phenomenon so fleeting that I could not take oath upon its reality. I barely fancied that as I awoke, a light had been hurriedly extinguished within the sunken sepulcher. I do not think I was either astounded or panic-stricken, but I know that I was greatly and permanently changed that night. Upon returning home I went with much directness to a rotting chest in the attic, wherein I found the key which next day unlocked with ease the barrier I had so long stormed in vain. It was in the soft glow of late afternoon that I first entered the vault on the abandoned slope. A spell was upon me, and my heart leaped with an exultation I can but ill describe. As I closed the door behind me and descended the dripping steps by the light of my lone candle, I seemed to know the way; and though the candle sputtered with the stifling reek of the place, I felt singularly at home in the musty, charnel-house air. Looking about me, I beheld many marble slabs bearing coffins, or the remains of coffins. Some of these were sealed and intact, but others had nearly vanished, leaving the silver handles and plates isolated amidst certain curious heaps of whitish dust. Upon one plate I read the name of Sir Geoffrey Hyde, who had come from Sussex in 1640 and died here a few years later. In a conspicuous alcove was one fairly well preserved and untenanted casket, adorned with a single name which brought me both a smile and a shudder. An odd impulse caused me to climb upon the broad slab, extinguish my candle, and lie down within the vacant box. #################### File: The%20Tomb.txt Page: 1 Context: As the phantom of the burning house faded, I found myself screaming and struggling madly in the arms of two men, one of whom was the spy who had followed me to the tomb. Rain was pouring down in torrents, and upon the southern horizon were flashes of lightning that had so lately passed over our heads. My father, his face lined with sorrow, stood by as I shouted my demands to be laid within the tomb, frequently admonishing my captors to treat me as gently as they could. A blackened circle on the floor of the ruined cellar told of a violent stroke from the heavens; and from this spot a group of curious villagers with lanterns were prying a small box of antique workmanship, which the thunderbolt had brought to light. Ceasing my futile and now objectless writhing, I watched the spectators as they viewed the treasure-trove, and was permitted to share in their discoveries. The box, whose fastenings were broken by the stroke which had unearthed it, contained many papers and objects of value, but I had eyes for one thing alone. It was the porcelain miniature of a young man in a smartly curled bag-wig, and bore the initials 'J. H.' The face was such that as I gazed, I might well have been studying my mirror. On the following day I was brought to this room with the barred windows, but I have been kept informed of certain things through an aged and simple-minded servitor, for whom I bore a fondness in infancy, and who, like me, loves the churchyard. What I have dared relate of my experiences within the vault has brought me only pitying smiles. My father, who visits me frequently, declares that at no time did I pass the chained portal, and swears that the rusted padlock had not been touched for fifty years when he examined it. He even says that all the village knew of my journeys to the tomb, and that I was often watched as I slept in the bower outside the grim facade, my half-open eyes fixed on the crevice that leads to the interior. Against these assertions I have no tangible proof to offer, since my key to the padlock was lost in the struggle on that night of horrors. The strange things of the past which I have learned during those nocturnal meetings with the dead he dismisses as the fruits of my lifelong and omnivorous browsing amongst the ancient volumes of the family library. Had it not been for my old servant Hiram, I should have by this time become quite convinced of my madness. But Hiram, loyal to the last, has held faith in me, and has done that which impels me to make public at least part of my story. A week ago he burst open the lock which chains the door of the tomb perpetually ajar, and descended with a lantern into the murky depths. On a slab in an alcove he found an old but empty coffin whose tarnished plate bears the single word: Jervas. In that coffin and in that vault they have promised me I shall be buried. #################### File: The%20Tomb.txt Page: 1 Context: All day I had been wandering through the mystic groves of the hollow; thinking thoughts I need not discuss, and conversing with things I need not name. In years a child of ten, I had seen and heard many wonders unknown to the throng; and was oddly aged in certain respects. When, upon forcing my way between two savage clumps of briars, I suddenly encountered the entrance of the vault, I had no knowledge of what I had discovered. The dark blocks of granite, the door so curiously ajar, and the funeral carvings above the arch, aroused in me no associations of mournful or terrible character. Of graves and tombs I knew and imagined much, but had on account of my peculiar temperament been kept from all personal contact with churchyards and cemeteries. The strange stone house on the woodland slope was to me only a source of interest and speculation; and its cold, damp interior, into which I vainly peered through the aperture so tantalizingly left, contained for me no hint of death or decay. But in that instant of curiosity was born the madly unreasoning desire which has brought me to this hell of confinement. Spurred on by a voice which must have come from the hideous soul of the forest, I resolved to enter the beckoning gloom in spite of the ponderous chains which barred my passage. In the waning light of day I alternately rattled the rusty impediments with a view to throwing wide the stone door, and essayed to squeeze my slight form through the space already provided; but neither plan met with success. At first curious, I was now frantic; and when in the thickening twilight I returned to my home, I had sworn to the hundred gods of the grove that at any cost I would some day force an entrance to the black, chilly depths that seemed calling out to me. The physician with the iron-grey beard who comes each day to my room, once told a visitor that this decision marked the beginning of a pitiful monomania; but I will leave final judgment to my readers when they shall have learnt all. The months following my discovery were spent in futile attempts to force the complicated padlock of the slightly open vault, and in carefully guarded inquiries regarding the nature and history of the structure. With the traditionally receptive ears of the small boy, I learned much; though an habitual secretiveness caused me to tell no one of my information or my resolve. It is perhaps worth mentioning that I was not at all surprised or terrified on learning of the nature of the vault. My rather original ideas regarding life and death had caused me to associate the cold clay with the breathing body in a vague fashion; and I felt that the great and sinister family of the burned-down mansion was in some way represented within the stone space I sought to explore. Mumbled tales of the weird rites and godless revels of bygone years in the ancient hall gave to me a new and potent interest in the tomb, before whose door I would sit for hours at a time each day. Once I thrust a candie within the nearly closed entrance, but could see nothing save a flight of damp stone steps leading downward. The odor of the place repelled yet bewitched me. I felt I had known it before, in a past remote beyond all recollection; beyond even my tenancy of the body I now possess. The year after I first beheld the tomb, I stumbled upon a worm-eaten translation of Plutarch's Lives in the book-filled attic of my home. Reading the life of Theseus, I was much impressed by that passage telling of the great stone beneath which the boyish hero was to find his tokens of destiny whenever he should become old enough to lift its enormous weight. The legend had the effect of dispelling my keenest impatience to enter the vault, for it made me feel that the time was not yet ripe. Later, I told myself, I should grow to a strength and ingenuity which might enable me to unfasten the heavily chained door with ease; but until then I would do better by conforming to what seemed the will of Fate. #################### File: The%20Tomb.txt Page: 1 Context: At last came that which I had long feared. My parents, alarmed at the altered manner and appearance of their only son, commenced to exert over my movements a kindly espionage which threatened to result in disaster. I had told no one of my visits to the tomb, having guarded my secret purpose with religious zeal since childhood; but now I was forced to exercise care in threading the mazes of the wooded hollow, that I might throw off a possible pursuer. My key to the vault I kept suspended from a cord about my neck, its presence known only to me. I never carried out of the sepulcher any of the things I came upon whilst within its walls. One morning as I emerged from the damp tomb and fastened the chain of the portal with none too steady hand, I beheld in an adjacent thicket the dreaded face of a watcher. Surely the end was near; for my bower was discovered, and the objective of my nocturnal journeys revealed. The man did not accost me, so I hastened home in an effort to overhear what he might report to my careworn father. Were my sojourns beyond the chained door about to be proclaimed to the world? Imagine my delighted astonishment on hearing the spy inform my parent in a cautious whisper that I had spent the night in the bower outside the tomb; my sleep-filmed eyes fixed upon the crevice where the padlocked portal stood ajar! By what miracle had the watcher been thus deluded? I was now convinced that a supernatural agency protected me. Made bold by this heaven-sent circumstance, I began to resume perfect openness in going to the vault; confident that no one could witness my entrance. For a week I tasted to the full joys of that charnel conviviality which I must not describe, when the thing happened, and I was borne away to this accursed abode of sorrow and monotony. I should not have ventured out that night; for the taint of thunder was in the clouds, and a hellish phosphoresence rose from the rank swamp at the bottom of the hollow. The call of the dead, too, was different. Instead of the hillside tomb, it was the charred cellar on the crest of the slope whose presiding demon beckoned to me with unseen fingers. As I emerged from an intervening grove upon the plain before the ruin. I beheld in the misty moonlight a thing I had always vaguely expected. The mansion, gone for a century, once more reared its stately height to the raptured vision; every window ablaze with the splendor of many candles. Up the long drive rolled the coaches of the Boston gentry, whilst on foot came a numerous assemblage of powdered exquisites from the neighboring mansions. With this throng I mingled, though I knew I belonged with the hosts rather than with the guests. Inside the hall were music, laughter, and wine on every hand. Several faces I recognized; though I should have known them better had they been shriveled or eaten away by death and decomposition. Amidst a wild and reckless throng I was the wildest and most abandoned. Gay blasphemy poured in torrents from my lips, and in shocking sallies I heeded no law of God, or nature. Suddenly a peal of thunder, resonant even above the din of the swinish revelry, clave the very roof and laid a hush of fear upon the boisterous company. Red tongues of flame and searing gusts of heat engulfed the house; and the roysterers, struck with terror at the descent of a calamity which seemed to transcend the bounds of unguided nature, fled shrieking into the night. I alone remained, riveted to my seat by a groveling fear which I had never felt before. And then a second horror took possession of my soul. Burnt alive to ashes, my body dispersed by the four winds, I might never lie in the tomb of the Hydesi Was not my coffin prepared for me? Had I not a right to rest till eternity amongst the descendants of Sir Geoffrey Hyde? Aye! I would claim my heritage of death, even though my soul go seeking through the ages for another corporeal tenement to represent it on that vacant slab in the alcove of the vault. Jervas Hyde should never share the sad fate of Palinurus! #################### File: asdfasdfasdfsaf123123131.txt Page: 1 Context: asdfasdfasdfsaf123123131 #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 3 Context: The Valley Of Fearby #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 5 Context: CONTENTSPART 1—The Tragedy of BirlstoneChapter 1 The Warning2 Sherlock Holmes Discourses3 The Tragedy of Birlstone4 Darkness5 The People Of the Drama6 A Dawning Light7 The SolutionPART 2—The Scowrers1 The Man2 The Bodymaster3 Lodge 341, Vermissa4 The Valley of Fear5 The Darkest Hour6 Danger7 The Trapping of Birdy Edwards Epilogue #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 7 Context: re speaking of thisman Porlock.""Ah, yes—the so-called Porlock is a link in the chain some little way from itsgreat attachment. Porlock is not quite a sound link—between ourselves. He is theonly flaw in that chain so far as I have been able to test it.""But no chain is stronger than its weakest link." #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 7 Context: eyes of thelaw—and there lie the glory and the wonder of it! The greatest schemer of alltime, the organizer of every deviltry, the controlling brain of the underworld, abrain which might have made or marred the destiny of nations—that's the man!But so aloof is he from general suspicion, so immune from criticism, soadmirable in his management and self-effacement, that for those very words thatyou have uttered he could hale you to a court and emerge with your year'spension as a solatium for his wounded character. Is he not the celebrated authorof The Dynamics of an Asteroid, a book which ascends to such rarefied heightsof pure mathematics that it is said that there was no man in the scientific presscapable of criticizing it? Is this a man to traduce? Foul-mouthed doctor andslandered professor—such would be your respective roles! That's genius,Watson. But if I am spared by lesser men, our day will surely come.""May I be there to see!" I exclaimed devoutly. "But you were speaking of thism #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 8 Context: is instance'?""Because there are many ciphers which I would read as easily as I do theapocrypha of the agony column: such crude devices amuse the intelligencewithout fatiguing it. But this is different. It is clearly a reference to the words ina page of some book. Until I am told which page and which book I ampowerless.""But why 'Douglas' and 'Birlstone'?""Clearly because those are words which were not contained in the page inquestion.""Then why has he not indicated the book?" #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 13 Context: ed to him. His tall, bony figure gavepromise of exceptional physical strength, while his great cranium and deep-set,lustrous eyes spoke no less clearly of the keen intelligence which twinkled outfrom behind his bushy eyebrows. He was a silent, precise man with a dour natureand a hard Aberdonian accent.Twice already in his career had Holmes helped him to attain success, his own #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 15 Context: on is dead. I aminterested; but, as you observe, I am not surprised."In a few short sentences he explained to the inspector the facts about the letterand the cipher. MacDonald sat with his chin on his hands and his great sandyeyebrows bunched into a yellow tangle."I was going down to Birlstone this morning," said he. "I had come to askyou if you cared to come with me—you and your friend here. But from what yousay we might perhaps be doing better work in London.""I rather think not," said Holmes."Hang it all, Mr. Holmes!" cried the inspector. "The papers will be full of theBirlstone mystery in a day or two; but where's the mystery if there is a man inLondon who prophesied the crime before ever it occurred? We have only to layour hands on that man, and the rest will follow.""No doubt, Mr. Mac. But how do you propose to lay your hands on the so-called Porlock?"MacDonald turned over the letter which Holmes had handed him. "Posted in #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 18 Context: ed. He was always warmed by genuine admiration—thecharacteristic of the real artist. "What about Birlstone?" he asked."We've time yet," said the inspector, glancing at his watch. "I've a cab at thedoor, and it won't take us twenty minutes to Victoria. But about this picture: Ithought you told me once, Mr. Holmes, that you had never met ProfessorMoriarty.""No, I never have.""Then how do you know about his rooms?""Ah, that's another matter. I have been three times in his rooms, twice waitingfor him under different pretexts and leaving before he came. Once—well, I canhardly tell about the once to an official detective. It was on the last occasion thatI took the liberty of running over his papers—with the most unexpected results." #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 19 Context: "You found something compromising?""Absolutely nothing. That was what amazed me. However, you have nowseen the point of the picture. It shows him to be a very wealthy man. How did heacquire wealth? He is unmarried. His younger brother is a station master in thewest of England. His chair is worth seven hundred a year. And he owns aGreuze.""Well?""Surely the inference is plain.""You mean that he has a great income and that he must earn it in an illegalfashion?""Exactly. Of course I have other reasons for thinking so—dozens of exiguousthreads which lead vaguely up towards the centre of the web where thepoisonous, motionless creature is lurking. I only mention the Greuze because itbrings the matter within the range of your own observation.""Well, Mr. Holmes, I admit that what you say is interesting: it's more thaninteresting—it's just wonderful. But let us have it a little clearer if you can. Is itforgery, coining, burglary—where does the money come from?""Have you ever read of Jonathan Wi #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 21 Context: ast there was a fitting object for those remarkable powers which, like allspecial gifts, become irksome to their owner when they are not in use. That razorbrain blunted and rusted with inaction. #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 22 Context: one which presented some very perplexing and extraordinaryfeatures. That's absolutely all we have at present, Mr. Holmes." #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 22 Context: a snorter. Don't waste a moment ingetting started. If you can bring Mr. Holmes, please do so; for he will find somethingafter his own heart. We would think the whole thing had been fixed up for theatricaleffect if there wasn't a dead man in the middle of it. My word! it is a snorter.""Your friend seems to be no fool," remarked Holmes."No, sir, White Mason is a very live man, if I am any judge.""Well, have you anything more?""Only that he will give us every detail when we meet.""Then how did you get at Mr. Douglas and the fact that he had been horriblymurdered?""That was in the enclosed official report. It didn't say 'horrible': that's not arecognized official term. It gave the name John Douglas. It mentioned that hisinjuries had been in the head, from the discharge of a shotgun. It also mentionedthe hour of the alarm, which was close on to midnight last night. It added that thecase was undoubtedly one of murder, but that no arrest had been made, and thatthe case was one which presented #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 23 Context: e roseupon the ruins of the feudal castle. #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 23 Context: m the woods around. These woods are locally supposed to be the extremefringe of the great Weald forest, which thins away until it reaches the northernchalk downs. A number of small shops have come into being to meet the wantsof the increased population; so there seems some prospect that Birlstone maysoon grow from an ancient village into a modern town. It is the centre for aconsiderable area of country, since Tunbridge Wells, the nearest place ofimportance, is ten or twelve miles to the eastward, over the borders of Kent.About half a mile from the town, standing in an old park famous for its hugebeech trees, is the ancient Manor House of Birlstone. Part of this venerablebuilding dates back to the time of the first crusade, when Hugo de Capus built afortalice in the centre of the estate, which had been granted to him by the RedKing. This was destroyed by fire in 1543, and some of its smoke-blackenedcorner stones were used when, in Jacobean times, a brick country house roseupon the ruins #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 23 Context: "Then, with your permission, we will leave it at that, Mr. Mac. Thetemptation to form premature theories upon insufficient data is the bane of ourprofession. I can see only two things for certain at present—a great brain inLondon, and a dead man in Sussex. It's the chain between that we are going totrace."Chapter 3The Tragedy of BirlstoneNow for a moment I will ask leave to remove my own insignificantpersonality and to describe events which occurred before we arrived upon thescene by the light of knowledge which came to us afterwards. Only in this waycan I make the reader appreciate the people concerned and the strange setting inwhich their fate was cast.The village of Birlstone is a small and very ancient cluster of half-timberedcottages on the northern border of the county of Sussex. For centuries it hadremained unchanged; but within the last few years its picturesque appearanceand situation have attracted a number of well-to-do residents, whose villas peepout from the woods around. #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 24 Context: The Manor House, with its many gables and its small diamond-panedwindows, was still much as the builder had left it in the early seventeenthcentury. Of the double moats which had guarded its more warlike predecessor,the outer had been allowed to dry up, and served the humble function of akitchen garden. The inner one was still there, and lay forty feet in breadth,though now only a few feet in depth, round the whole house. A small stream fedit and continued beyond it, so that the sheet of water, though turbid, was neverditch-like or unhealthy. The ground floor windows were within a foot of thesurface of the water.The only approach to the house was over a drawbridge, the chains andwindlass of which had long been rusted and broken. The latest tenants of theManor House had, however, with characteristic energy, set this right, and thedrawbridge was not only capable of being raised, but actually was raised everyevening and lowered every morning. By thus renewing the custom of the oldfeudal d #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 27 Context: from the village. The three men entered the fatal room together, while the horror-stricken butler followed at their heels, closing the door behind him to shut outthe terrible scene from the maid servants.The dead man lay on his back, sprawling with outstretched limbs in thecentre of the room. He was clad only in a pink dressing gown, which covered hisnight clothes. There were carpet slippers on his bare feet. The doctor kneltbeside him and held down the hand lamp which had stood on the table. Oneglance at the victim was enough to show the healer that his presence could bedispensed with. The man had been horribly injured. Lying across his chest was acurious weapon, a shotgun with the barrel sawed off a foot in front of thetriggers. It was clear that this had been fired at close range and that he hadreceived the whole charge in the face, blowing his head almost to pieces. Thetriggers had been wired together, so as to make the simultaneous discharge moredestructive.The country policeman w #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 31 Context: "And so have I," said the butler. "Many a time when the master has rolled uphis sleeves I have noticed that very mark. I've often wondered what it could be.""Then it has nothing to do with the crime, anyhow," said the sergeant. "Butit's a rum thing all the same. Everything about this case is rum. Well, what is itnow?"The butler had given an exclamation of astonishment and was pointing at thedead man's outstretched hand."They've taken his wedding ring!" he gasped."What!""Yes, indeed. Master always wore his plain gold wedding ring on the littlefinger of his left hand. That ring with the rough nugget on it was above it, andthe twisted snake ring on the third finger. There's the nugget and there's thesnake, but the wedding ring is gone.""He's right," said Barker."Do you tell me," said the sergeant, "that the wedding ring was below theother?""Always!""Then the murderer, or whoever it was, first took off this ring you call thenugget ring, then the wedding ring, and afterwards put the nugget #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 32 Context: Chapter 4DarknessAt three in the morning the chief Sussex detective, obeying the urgent callfrom Sergeant Wilson of Birlstone, arrived from headquarters in a light dog-cartbehind a breathless trotter. By the five-forty train in the morning he had sent hismessage to Scotland Yard, and he was at the Birlstone station at twelve o'clockto welcome us. White Mason was a quiet, comfortable-looking person in a loosetweed suit, with a clean-shaved, ruddy face, a stoutish body, and powerful bandylegs adorned with gaiters, looking like a small farmer, a retired gamekeeper, oranything upon earth except a very favourable specimen of the provincialcriminal officer."A real downright snorter, Mr. MacDonald!" he kept repeating. "We'll havethe pressmen down like flies when they understand it. I'm hoping we will get ourwork 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 thatwill come home to you, Mr. #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 36 Context: beyond it."I've had a good look, Mr. Holmes," said White Mason. "There is nothingthere, no sign that anyone has landed—but why should he leave any sign?" #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 36 Context: time, Mr. White Mason, I claim the right to work in my own way and give myresults at my own time—complete rather than in stages.""I am sure we are honoured by your presence and to show you all we know,"said White Mason cordially. "Come along, Dr. Watson, and when the time comeswe'll all hope for a place in your book."We walked down the quaint village street with a row of pollarded elms oneach side of it. Just beyond were two ancient stone pillars, weather-stained andlichen-blotched bearing upon their summits a shapeless something which hadonce been the rampant lion of Capus of Birlstone. A short walk along thewinding drive with such sward and oaks around it as one only sees in ruralEngland, then a sudden turn, and the long, low Jacobean house of dingy, liver-coloured brick lay before us, with an old-fashioned garden of cut yews on eachside of it. As we approached it, there was the wooden drawbridge and thebeautiful broad moat as still and luminous as quicksilver in the cold, wintersuns #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 36 Context: the cold, wintersunshine.Three centuries had flowed past the old Manor House, centuries of births andof homecomings, of country dances and of the meetings of fox hunters. Strangethat now in its old age this dark business should have cast its shadow upon thevenerable walls! And yet those strange, peaked roofs and quaint, overhunggables were a fitting covering to grim and terrible intrigue. As I looked at thedeep-set windows and the long sweep of the dull-coloured, water-lapped front, Ifelt that no more fitting scene could be set for such a tragedy."That's the window," said White Mason, "that one on the immediate right ofthe drawbridge. It's open just as it was found last night.""It looks rather narrow for a man to pass.""Well, it wasn't a fat man, anyhow. We don't need your deductions, Mr.Holmes, to tell us that. But you or I could squeeze through all right."Holmes walked to the edge of the moat and looked across. Then he examinedthe stone ledge and the grass border beyond it."I've had #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 37 Context: "Exactly. Why should he? Is the water always turbid?""Generally about this colour. The stream brings down the clay.""How deep is it?""About two feet at each side and three in the middle.""So we can put aside all idea of the man having been drowned in crossing.""No, a child could not be drowned in it."We walked across the drawbridge, and were admitted by a quaint, gnarled,dried-up person, who was the butler, Ames. The poor old fellow was white andquivering from the shock. The village sergeant, a tall, formal, melancholy man,still held his vigil in the room of Fate. The doctor had departed."Anything fresh, Sergeant Wilson?" asked White Mason."No, sir.""Then you can go home. You've had enough. We can send for you if we wantyou. The butler had better wait outside. Tell him to warn Mr. Cecil Barker, Mrs.Douglas, and the housekeeper that we may want a word with them presently.Now, gentlemen, perhaps you will allow me to give you the views I have formedfirst, and then you will be able to arri #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 38 Context: "Is it suicide, or is it murder—that's our first question, gentlemen, is it not? Ifit were suicide, then we have to believe that this man began by taking off hiswedding ring and concealing it; that he then came down here in his dressinggown, trampled mud into a corner behind the curtain in order to give the ideasomeone had waited for him, opened the window, put blood on the—""We can surely dismiss that," said MacDonald."So I think. Suicide is out of the question. Then a murder has been done.What we have to determine is, whether it was done by someone outside or insidethe house.""Well, let's hear the argument.""There are considerable difficulties both ways, and yet one or the other itmust be. We will suppose first that some person or persons inside the house didthe crime. They got this man down here at a time when everything was still andyet no one was asleep. They then did the deed with the queerest and noisiestweapon in the world so as to tell everyone what had happened—a weapon thatw #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 41 Context: ons?""Exactly.""And why the missing ring?""Quite so.""And why no arrest? It's past two now. I take it for granted that since dawnevery constable within forty miles has been looking out for a wet stranger?""That is so, Mr. Holmes.""Well, unless he has a burrow close by or a change of clothes ready, they canhardly miss him. And yet they have missed him up to now!" Holmes had gone tothe window and was examining with his lens the blood mark on the sill. "It isclearly the tread of a shoe. It is remarkably broad; a splay-foot, one would say.Curious, because, so far as one can trace any footmark in this mud-stained #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 42 Context: corner, one would say it was a more shapely sole. However, they are certainlyvery indistinct. What's this under the side table?""Mr. Douglas's dumb-bells," said Ames."Dumb-bell—there's only one. Where's the other?""I don't know, Mr. Holmes. There may have been only one. I have not noticedthem for months.""One dumb-bell—" Holmes said seriously; but his remarks were interruptedby a sharp knock at the door.A tall, sunburned, capable-looking, clean-shaved man looked in at us. I hadno difficulty in guessing that it was the Cecil Barker of whom I had heard. Hismasterful eyes travelled quickly with a questioning glance from face to face."Sorry to interrupt your consultation," said he, "but you should hear the latestnews.""An arrest?""No such luck. But they've found his bicycle. The fellow left his bicyclebehind him. Come and have a look. It is within a hundred yards of the hall door."We found three or four grooms and idlers standing in the drive inspecting abicycle which had been drawn out fr #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 43 Context: ays up.Mr. Douglas seldom went to London or left the village; but on the day beforethe crime he had been shopping at Tunbridge Wells. He (Ames) had observedsome restlessness and excitement on the part of Mr. Douglas that day; for he hadseemed impatient and irritable, which was unusual with him. He had not gone tobed that night; but was in the pantry at the back of the house, putting away thesilver, when he heard the bell ring violently. He heard no shot; but it was hardlypossible he would, as the pantry and kitchens were at the very back of the houseand there were several closed doors and a long passage between. Thehousekeeper had come out of her room, attracted by the violent ringing of thebell. They had gone to the front of the house together.As they reached the bottom of the stair he had seen Mrs. Douglas coming #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 45 Context: to offend it. He could only suppose thatthe legend upon the placard had some reference to this secret society."How long were you with Douglas in California?" asked InspectorMacDonald."Five years altogether.""He was a bachelor, you say?" #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 45 Context: servants, they had all gone to bed, and the alarm did not reach them until justbefore the police arrived. They slept at the extreme back of the house, and couldnot possibly have heard anything.So far the housekeeper could add nothing on cross-examination savelamentations and expressions of amazement.Cecil Barker succeeded Mrs. Allen as a witness. As to the occurrences of thenight before, he had very little to add to what he had already told the police.Personally, he was convinced that the murderer had escaped by the window. Thebloodstain was conclusive, in his opinion, on that point. Besides, as the bridgewas up, there was no other possible way of escaping. He could not explain whathad become of the assassin or why he had not taken his bicycle, if it were indeedhis. He could not possibly have been drowned in the moat, which was at noplace more than three feet deep.In his own mind he had a very definite theory about the murder. Douglas wasa reticent man, and there were some chapters in #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 49 Context: re was one small point," remarked Sherlock Holmes. "When you enteredthe room there was only a candle lighted on the table, was there not?""Yes, that was so.""By its light you saw that some terrible incident had occurred?""Exactly.""You at once rang for help?""Yes.""And it arrived very speedily?""Within a minute or so." #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 50 Context: ho has endured a great shock; but her manner was composed, andthe finely moulded hand which she rested upon the edge of the table was assteady as my own. Her sad, appealing eyes travelled from one to the other of uswith a curiously inquisitive expression. That questioning gaze transformed itselfsuddenly into abrupt speech."Have you found anything out yet?" she asked.Was it my imagination that there was an undertone of fear rather than of hopein the question?"We have taken every possible step, Mrs. Douglas," said the inspector. "Youmay rest assured that nothing will be neglected.""Spare no money," she said in a dead, even tone. "It is my desire that everypossible effort should be made.""Perhaps you can tell us something which may throw some light upon thematter." #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 52 Context: usual. 'Sometimes I think that we never shall,'he has answered.""Surely you asked him what he meant by the Valley of Fear?""I did; but his face would become very grave and he would shake his head. 'Itis bad enough that one of us should have been in its shadow,' he said. 'PleaseGod it shall never fall upon you!' It was some real valley in which he had livedand in which something terrible had occurred to him, of that I am certain; but Ican tell you no more.""And he never mentioned any names?""Yes, he was delirious with fever once when he had his hunting accident threeyears ago. Then I remember that there was a name that came continually to hislips. He spoke it with anger and a sort of horror. McGinty was the name—Bodymaster McGinty. I asked him when he recovered who BodymasterMcGinty was, and whose body he was master of. 'Never of mine, thank God!' heanswered with a laugh, and that was all I could get from him. But there is aconnection between Bodymaster McGinty and the Valley of Fear."" #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 53 Context: e question might as well have been spoken. Then, with a bow, sheswept from the room."She's a beautiful woman—a very beautiful woman," said MacDonaldthoughtfully, after the door had closed behind her. "This man Barker hascertainly been down here a good deal. He is a man who might be attractive to awoman. He admits that the dead man was jealous, and maybe he knew besthimself what cause he had for jealousy. Then there's that wedding ring. You can'tget past that. The man who tears a wedding ring off a dead man's—What do yousay to it, Mr. Holmes?"My friend had sat with his head upon his hands, sunk in the deepest thought.Now he rose and rang the bell. "Ames," he said, when the butler entered, "whereis Mr. Cecil Barker now?" #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 54 Context: ne of his quick feline pounces, he placed the slipper upon theblood mark on the sill. It exactly corresponded. He smiled in silence at hiscolleagues.The inspector was transfigured with excitement. His native accent rattled likea stick upon railings."Man," he cried, "there's not a doubt of it! Barker has just marked thewindow himself. It's a good deal broader than any bootmark. I mind that yousaid it was a splay-foot, and here's the explanation. But what's the game, Mr. #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 55 Context: Holmes—what's the game?""Ay, what's the game?" my friend repeated thoughtfully.White Mason chuckled and rubbed his fat hands together in his professionalsatisfaction. "I said it was a snorter!" he cried. "And a real snorter it is!"Chapter 6A Dawning LightThe three detectives had many matters of detail into which to inquire; so Ireturned alone to our modest quarters at the village inn. But before doing so Itook a stroll in the curious old-world garden which flanked the house. Rows ofvery ancient yew trees cut into strange designs girded it round. Inside was abeautiful stretch of lawn with an old sundial in the middle, the whole effect sosoothing and restful that it was welcome to my somewhat jangled nerves.In that deeply peaceful atmosphere one could forget, or remember only assome fantastic nightmare, that darkened study with the sprawling, bloodstainedfigure on the floor. And yet, as I strolled round it and tried to steep my soul in itsgentle balm, a strange incident occurred, which b #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 55 Context: nt occurred, which brought me back to the tragedyand left a sinister impression in my mind.I have said that a decoration of yew trees circled the garden. At the endfarthest from the house they thickened into a continuous hedge. On the other sideof this hedge, concealed from the eyes of anyone approaching from the directionof the house, there was a stone seat. As I approached the spot I was aware ofvoices, some remark in the deep tones of a man, answered by a little ripple offeminine laughter.An instant later I had come round the end of the hedge and my eyes lit uponMrs. Douglas and the man Barker before they were aware of my presence. Herappearance gave me a shock. In the dining-room she had been demure anddiscreet. Now all pretense of grief had passed away from her. Her eyes shone #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 58 Context: obviously impossible."You may argue—but I have too much respect for your judgment, Watson, tothink that you will do so—that the ring may have been taken before the man waskilled. The fact that the candle had been lit only a short time shows that therehad been no lengthy interview. Was Douglas, from what we hear of his fearlesscharacter, a man who would be likely to give up his wedding ring at such shortnotice, or could we conceive of his giving it up at all? No, no, Watson, theassassin was alone with the dead man for some time with the lamp lit. Of that I #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 59 Context: doing fromquarter to eleven, when the sound of the shot brought them down, until quarterpast eleven, when they rang the bell and summoned the servants. What werethey doing, and why did they not instantly give the alarm? That is the questionwhich faces us, and when it has been answered we shall surely have gone someway to solve our problem.""I am convinced myself," said I, "that there is an understanding between #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 60 Context: e, who deceive everyone upon this point, andconspire to murder the husband. He happens to be a man over whose head somedanger hangs—""We have only their word for that." #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 61 Context: se that there was a guilty secret, a really shameful secret in thelife of this man Douglas. This leads to his murder by someone who is, we willsuppose, an avenger, someone from outside. This avenger, for some reasonwhich I confess I am still at a loss to explain, took the dead man's wedding ring.The vendetta might conceivably date back to the man's first marriage, and the #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 61 Context: Holmes looked thoughtful. "I see, Watson. You are sketching out a theory bywhich everything they say from the beginning is false. According to your idea,there was never any hidden menace, or secret society, or Valley of Fear, or BossMacSomebody, or anything else. Well, that is a good sweeping generalization.Let us see what that brings us to. They invent this theory to account for thecrime. They then play up to the idea by leaving this bicycle in the park as proofof the existence of some outsider. The stain on the windowsill conveys the sameidea. So does the card on the body, which might have been prepared in thehouse. That all fits into your hypothesis, Watson. But now we come on the nasty,angular, uncompromising bits which won't slip into their places. Why a cut-offshotgun of all weapons—and an American one at that? How could they be sosure that the sound of it would not bring someone on to them? It's a mere chanceas it is that Mrs. Allen did not start out to inquire for the slamming #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 63 Context: ells. It was at Tunbridge Wellsthen that he had become conscious of some danger. It was clear, therefore, that ifa man had come over with a bicycle it was from Tunbridge Wells that he mightbe expected to have come. We took the bicycle over with us and showed it at thehotels. It was identified at once by the manager of the Eagle Commercial asbelonging to a man named Hargrave, who had taken a room there two daysbefore. This bicycle and a small valise were his whole belongings. He hadregistered his name as coming from London, but had given no address. Thevalise was London made, and the contents were British; but the man himself wasundoubtedly an American.""Well, well," said Holmes gleefully, "you have indeed done some solid workwhile I have been sitting spinning theories with my friend! It's a lesson in beingpractical, Mr. Mac.""Ay, it's just that, Mr. Holmes," said the inspector with satisfaction."But this may all fit in with your theories," I remarked. #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 66 Context: untry inncould do for us. I was already asleep when I was partly awakened by hisentrance."Well, Holmes," I murmured, "have you found anything out?"He stood beside me in silence, his candle in his hand. Then the tall, leanfigure inclined towards me. "I say, Watson," he whispered, "would you be afraidto sleep in the same room with a lunatic, a man with softening of the brain, anidiot whose mind has lost its grip?""Not in the least," I answered in astonishment."Ah, that's lucky," he said, and not another word would he utter that night.Chapter 7 #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 67 Context: ou will no doubt remember, that I should notpresent you with half-proved theories, but that I should retain and work out myown ideas until I had satisfied myself that they were correct. For this reason I amnot at the present moment telling you all that is in my mind. On the other hand, Isaid that I would play the game fairly by you, and I do not think it is a fair gameto allow you for one unnecessary moment to waste your energies upon aprofitless task. Therefore I am here to advise you this morning, and my advice toyou is summed up in three words—abandon the case."MacDonald and White Mason stared in amazement at their celebratedcolleague."You consider it hopeless!" cried the inspector."I consider your case to be hopeless. I do not consider that it is hopeless toarrive at the truth.""But this cyclist. He is not an invention. We have his description, his valise,his bicycle. The fellow must be somewhere. Why should we not get him?" #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 68 Context: e Manor House.""Well, what happened?""Ah, I can only give you a very general answer to that for the moment. By theway, I have been reading a short but clear and interesting account of the oldbuilding, purchasable at the modest sum of one penny from the localtobacconist."Here Holmes drew a small tract, embellished with a rude engraving of theancient Manor House, from his waistcoat pocket."It immensely adds to the zest of an investigation, my dear Mr. Mac, whenone is in conscious sympathy with the historical atmosphere of one'ssurroundings. Don't look so impatient; for I assure you that even so bald anaccount as this raises some sort of picture of the past in one's mind. Permit me togive you a sample. 'Erected in the fifth year of the reign of James I, and standingupon the site of a much older building, the Manor House of Birlstone presentsone of the finest surviving examples of the moated Jacobean residence—'""You are making fools of us, Mr. Holmes!" #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 69 Context: "Tut, tut, Mr. Mac!—the first sign of temper I have detected in you. Well, Iwon't read it verbatim, since you feel so strongly upon the subject. But when Itell you that there is some account of the taking of the place by a parliamentarycolonel in 1644, of the concealment of Charles for several days in the course ofthe Civil War, and finally of a visit there by the second George, you will admitthat there are various associations of interest connected with this ancient house.""I don't doubt it, Mr. Holmes; but that is no business of ours.""Is it not? Is it not? Breadth of view, my dear Mr. Mac, is one of theessentials of our profession. The interplay of ideas and the oblique uses ofknowledge are often of extraordinary interest. You will excuse these remarksfrom one who, though a mere connoisseur of crime, is still rather older andperhaps more experienced than yourself.""I'm the first to admit that," said the detective heartily. "You get to your point,I admit; but you have such a deuced r #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 73 Context: tin the fatal study. Everything else was dark and still."How long is this to last?" asked the inspector finally. "And what is it we arewatching for?" #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 73 Context: taccusation, the brutal tap upon the shoulder—what can one make of such adenouement? But the quick inference, the subtle trap, the clever forecast ofcoming events, the triumphant vindication of bold theories—are these not thepride and the justification of our life's work? At the present moment you thrillwith the glamour of the situation and the anticipation of the hunt. Where wouldbe that thrill if I had been as definite as a timetable? I only ask a little patience,Mr. Mac, and all will be clear to you.""Well, I hope the pride and justification and the rest of it will come before weall get our death of cold," said the London detective with comic resignation.We all had good reason to join in the aspiration; for our vigil was a long andbitter one. Slowly the shadows darkened over the long, sombre face of the oldhouse. A cold, damp reek from the moat chilled us to the bones and set our teethchattering. There was a single lamp over the gateway and a steady globe of lightin the fatal study. #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 73 Context: We passed along the outer bounds of the Manor House park until we came toa place where there was a gap in the rails which fenced it. Through this weslipped, and then in the gathering gloom we followed Holmes until we hadreached a shrubbery which lies nearly opposite to the main door and thedrawbridge. The latter had not been raised. Holmes crouched down behind thescreen of laurels, and we all three followed his example."Well, what are we to do now?" asked MacDonald with some gruffness."Possess our souls in patience and make as little noise as possible," Holmesanswered."What are we here for at all? I really think that you might treat us with morefrankness."Holmes laughed. "Watson insists that I am the dramatist in real life," said he."Some touch of the artist wells up within me, and calls insistently for a well-staged performance. Surely our profession, Mr. Mac, would be a drab and sordidone if we did not sometimes set the scene so as to glorify our results. The bluntaccusation, the bru #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 74 Context: the writingtable."This is what we are after, Mr. Barker—this bundle, weighted with a dumb-bell, which you have just raised from the bottom of the moat." #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 74 Context: herman lands a fish—some large, round object which obscured the light as itwas dragged through the open casement."Now!" cried Holmes. "Now!"We were all upon our feet, staggering after him with our stiffened limbs,while he ran swiftly across the bridge and rang violently at the bell. There wasthe rasping of bolts from the other side, and the amazed Ames stood in theentrance. Holmes brushed him aside without a word and, followed by all of us,rushed into the room which had been occupied by the man whom we had beenwatching.The oil lamp on the table represented the glow which we had seen fromoutside. It was now in the hand of Cecil Barker, who held it towards us as weentered. Its light shone upon his strong, resolute, clean-shaved face and hismenacing eyes."What the devil is the meaning of all this?" he cried. "What are you after,anyhow?"Holmes took a swift glance round, and then pounced upon a sodden bundletied together with cord which lay where it had been thrust under the writingtable."T #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 75 Context: is the inner pocket prolonged into the lining in such fashion asto give ample space for the truncated fowling piece. The tailor's tab is on theneck—'Neal, Outfitter, Vermissa, U. S. A.' I have spent an instructive afternoonin the rector's library, and have enlarged my knowledge by adding the fact that #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 75 Context: t would be dried to-morrow, which had, of course, the effect thatwhoever had hidden the bundle would most certainly withdraw it the momentthat darkness enabled him to do so. We have no less than four witnesses as towho it was who took advantage of the opportunity, and so, Mr. Barker, I thinkthe word lies now with you."Sherlock Holmes put the sopping bundle upon the table beside the lamp andundid the cord which bound it. From within he extracted a dumb-bell, which hetossed down to its fellow in the corner. Next he drew forth a pair of boots."American, as you perceive," he remarked, pointing to the toes. Then he laidupon the table a long, deadly, sheathed knife. Finally he unravelled a bundle ofclothing, comprising a complete set of underclothes, socks, a gray tweed suit,and a short yellow overcoat."The clothes are commonplace," remarked Holmes, "save only the overcoat,which is full of suggestive touches." He held it tenderly towards the light. "Here,as you perceive, is the inner pocket #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 75 Context: Barker stared at Holmes with amazement in his face. "How in thunder cameyou to know anything about it?" he asked."Simply that I put it there.""You put it there! You!""Perhaps I should have said 'replaced it there,'" said Holmes. "You willremember, Inspector MacDonald, that I was somewhat struck by the absence of adumb-bell. I drew your attention to it; but with the pressure of other events youhad hardly the time to give it the consideration which would have enabled you todraw deductions from it. When water is near and a weight is missing it is not avery far-fetched supposition that something has been sunk in the water. The ideawas at least worth testing; so with the help of Ames, who admitted me to theroom, and the crook of Dr. Watson's umbrella, I was able last night to fish up andinspect this bundle."It was of the first importance, however, that we should be able to prove whoplaced it there. This we accomplished by the very obvious device of announcingthat the moat would be dried to- #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 77 Context: ray eyes, a strong, short-clipped, grizzled moustache, a square, projecting chin, and a humorous mouth.He took a good look at us all, and then to my amazement he advanced to me andhanded me a bundle of paper."I've heard of you," said he in a voice which was not quite English and notquite American, but was altogether mellow and pleasing. "You are the historianof this bunch. Well, Dr. Watson, you've never had such a story as that passthrough your hands before, and I'll lay my last dollar on that. Tell it your ownway; but there are the facts, and you can't miss the public so long as you havethose. I've been cooped up two days, and I've spent the daylight hours—as muchdaylight as I could get in that rat trap—in putting the thing into words. You'rewelcome to them—you and your public. There's the story of the Valley of Fear.""That's the past, Mr. Douglas," said Sherlock Holmes quietly. "What wedesire now is to hear your story of the present.""You'll have it, sir," said Douglas. "May I smoke #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 78 Context: aste ourselves upon asearch that you knew to be an absurd one?""Not one instant, my dear Mr. Mac. Only last night did I form my views ofthe case. As they could not be put to the proof until this evening, I invited youand your colleague to take a holiday for the day. Pray what more could I do?When I found the suit of clothes in the moat, it at once became apparent to methat the body we had found could not have been the body of Mr. John Douglas atall, but must be that of the bicyclist from Tunbridge Wells. No other conclusionwas possible. Therefore I had to determine where Mr. John Douglas himselfcould be, and the balance of probability was that with the connivance of his wifeand his friend he was concealed in a house which had such conveniences for afugitive, and awaiting quieter times when he could make his final escape.""Well, you figured it out about right," said Douglas approvingly. "I thoughtI'd dodge your British law; for I was not sure how I stood under it, and also I sawmy chanc #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 80 Context: is suit of clothes, andin a quarter of an hour Barker and I had put my dressing gown on him and he layas you found him. We tied all his things into a bundle, and I weighted them withthe only weight I could find and put them through the window. The card he hadmeant to lay upon my body was lying beside his own."My rings were put on his finger; but when it came to the wedding ring," he #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 81 Context: earto Barker and to my wife; but they understood enough to be able to help me. Iknew all about this hiding place, so did Ames; but it never entered his head toconnect it with the matter. I retired into it, and it was up to Barker to do the rest."I guess you can fill in for yourselves what he did. He opened the windowand made the mark on the sill to give an idea of how the murderer escaped. Itwas a tall order, that; but as the bridge was up there was no other way. Then,when everything was fixed, he rang the bell for all he was worth. What happenedafterward you know. And so, gentlemen, you can do what you please; but I'vetold you the truth and the whole truth, so help me God! What I ask you now ishow do I stand by the English law?"There was a silence which was broken by Sherlock Holmes."The English law is in the main a just law. You will get no worse than yourdeserts from that, Mr. Douglas. But I would ask you how did this man know thatyou lived here, or how to get into your house, or wh #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 82 Context: a time, far from the Sussex Manor House of Birlstone, and far also from the yearof grace in which we made our eventful journey which ended with the strangestory of the man who had been known as John Douglas. I wish you to journeyback some twenty years in time, and westward some thousands of miles inspace, that I may lay before you a singular and terrible narrative—so singularand so terrible that you may find it hard to believe that even as I tell it, even sodid it occur.Do not think that I intrude one story before another is finished. As you readon you will find that this is not so. And when I have detailed those distant eventsand you have solved this mystery of the past, we shall meet once more in thoserooms on Baker Street, where this, like so many other wonderful happenings,will find its end. #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 86 Context: slantwise to the light, the glint upon the rims of the copper shells within thedrum showed that it was fully loaded. He quickly restored it to his secret pocket,but not before it had been observed by a working man who had seated himselfupon the adjoining bench."Hullo, mate!" said he. "You seem heeled and ready."The young man smiled with an air of embarrassment."Yes," said he, "we need them sometimes in the place I come from.""And where may that be?""I'm last from Chicago.""A stranger in these parts?""Yes.""You may find you need it here," said the workman."Ah! is that so?" The young man seemed interested."Have you heard nothing of doings hereabouts?""Nothing out of the way.""Why, I thought the country was full of it. You'll hear quick enough. Whatmade you come here?""I heard there was always work for a willing man.""Are you a member of the union?""Sure.""Then you'll get your job, I guess. Have you any friends?""Not yet; but I have the means of making them.""How's that, then?" #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 87 Context: "I am one of the Eminent Order of Freemen. There's no town without a lodge,and where there is a lodge I'll find my friends."The remark had a singular effect upon his companion. He glanced roundsuspiciously at the others in the car. The miners were still whispering amongthemselves. The two police officers were dozing. He came across, seated himselfclose to the young traveller, and held out his hand."Put it there," he said.A hand-grip passed between the two."I see you speak the truth," said the workman. "But it's well to make certain."He raised his right hand to his right eyebrow. The traveller at once raised his lefthand to his left eyebrow."Dark nights are unpleasant," said the workman."Yes, for strangers to travel," the other answered."That's good enough. I'm Brother Scanlan, Lodge 341, Vermissa Valley. Gladto see you in these parts.""Thank you. I'm Brother John McMurdo, Lodge 29, Chicago. Bodymaster J.H. Scott. But I am in luck to meet a brother so early.""Well, there are plenty of u #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 90 Context: ifting smoke, while the strengthand industry of man found fitting monuments in the hills which he had spilled bythe side of his monstrous excavations. But the town showed a dead level of meanugliness and squalor. The broad street was churned up by the traffic into ahorrible rutted paste of muddy snow. The sidewalks were narrow and uneven.The numerous gas-lamps served only to show more clearly a long line ofwooden houses, each with its veranda facing the street, unkempt and dirty.As they approached the centre of the town the scene was brightened by a rowof well-lit stores, and even more by a cluster of saloons and gaming houses, inwhich the miners spent their hard-earned but generous wages."That's the Union House," said the guide, pointing to one saloon which rosealmost to the dignity of being a hotel. "Jack McGinty is the boss there.""What sort of a man is he?" McMurdo asked."What! have you never heard of the boss?""How could I have heard of him when you know that I am a stranger in th #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 93 Context: Chapter 2The BodymasterMcMurdo was a man who made his mark quickly. Wherever he was the folkaround soon knew it. Within a week he had become infinitely the most importantperson at Shafter's. There were ten or a dozen boarders there; but they werehonest foremen or commonplace clerks from the stores, of a very differentcalibre from the young Irishman. Of an evening when they gathered together hisjoke was always the readiest, his conversation the brightest, and his song thebest. He was a born boon companion, with a magnetism which drew goodhumour from all around him.And yet he showed again and again, as he had shown in the railway carriage,a capacity for sudden, fierce anger, which compelled the respect and even thefear of those who met him. For the law, too, and all who were connected with it,he exhibited a bitter contempt which delighted some and alarmed others of hisfellow boarders.From the first he made it evident, by his open admiration, that the daughter ofthe house had won his hear #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 96 Context: ve it? Vat about Milman and VanShorst, and the Nicholson family, and old Mr. Hyam, and little Billy James, andthe others? Prove it! Is there a man or a voman in this valley vat does not knowit?""See here!" said McMurdo earnestly. "I want you to take back what you'vesaid, or else make it good. One or the other you must do before I quit this room. #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 101 Context: quartersin the morning." #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 104 Context: ked-looking revolver."See here, my joker," said he, "if I thought you were playing any game on us,it would be short work for you.""This is a strange welcome," McMurdo answered with some dignity, "for theBodymaster of a lodge of Freemen to give to a stranger brother.""Ay, but it's just that same that you have to prove," said McGinty, "and Godhelp you if you fail! Where were you made?""Lodge 29, Chicago.""When?""June 24, 1872.""What Bodymaster?" #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 105 Context: from aninner pocket. #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 111 Context: imate as the weeks went by.In his bedroom at his new abode McMurdo felt it safe to take out the coiningmoulds, and under many a pledge of secrecy a number of brothers from thelodge were allowed to come in and see them, each carrying away in his pocketsome examples of the false money, so cunningly struck that there was never theslightest difficulty or danger in passing it. Why, with such a wonderful art at hiscommand, McMurdo should condescend to work at all was a perpetual mysteryto his companions; though he made it clear to anyone who asked him that if helived without any visible means it would very quickly bring the police upon histrack.One policeman was indeed after him already; but the incident, as luck wouldhave it, did the adventurer a great deal more good than harm. After the firstintroduction there were few evenings when he did not find his way to McGinty'ssaloon, there to make closer acquaintance with "the boys," which was the jovial #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 114 Context: companyconsisted of young fellows from eighteen to twenty-five, the ready and capableagents who carried out the commands of their seniors. Among the older menwere many whose features showed the tigerish, lawless souls within; but lookingat the rank and file it was difficult to believe that these eager and open-facedyoung fellows were in very truth a dangerous gang of murderers, whose mindshad suffered such complete moral perversion that they took a horrible pride intheir proficiency at the business, and looked with deepest respect at the man whohad the reputation of making what they called "a clean job." #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 115 Context: To their contorted natures it had become a spirited and chivalrous thing tovolunteer for service against some man who had never injured them, and whomin many cases they had never seen in their lives. The crime committed, theyquarrelled as to who had actually struck the fatal blow, and amused one anotherand the company by describing the cries and contortions of the murdered man.At first they had shown some secrecy in their arrangements; but at the timewhich this narrative describes their proceedings were extraordinarily open, forthe repeated failures of the law had proved to them that, on the one hand, no onewould dare to witness against them, and on the other they had an unlimitednumber of stanch witnesses upon whom they could call, and a well-filledtreasure chest from which they could draw the funds to engage the best legaltalent in the state. In ten long years of outrage there had been no singleconviction, and the only danger that ever threatened the Scowrers lay in thevictim himself #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 117 Context: t arm, which still smarted heavily. There on the flesh of theforearm was a circle with a triangle within it, deep and red, as the branding ironhad left it. One or two of his neighbours pulled up their sleeves and showed theirown lodge marks."We've all had it," said one; "but not all as brave as you over it.""Tut! It was nothing," said he; but it burned and ached all the same.When the drinks which followed the ceremony of initiation had all beendisposed of, the business of the lodge proceeded. McMurdo, accustomed only tothe prosaic performances of Chicago, listened with open ears and more surprisethan he ventured to show to what followed. #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 120 Context: k who has bought the property of this man that we have driven out of thedistrict?" #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 121 Context: ose with gloom upon his brow. #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 122 Context: ocket."LAW AND ORDER!That's how he heads it."REIGN OF TERROR IN THE COAL AND IRON DISTRICT"Twelve years have now elapsed since the first assassinations which proved theexistence of a criminal organization in our midst. From that day these outrages havenever ceased, until now they have reached a pitch which makes us the opprobrium of #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 123 Context: the civilized world. Is it for such results as this that our great country welcomes to itsbosom the alien who flies from the despotisms of Europe? Is it that they shallthemselves become tyrants over the very men who have given them shelter, and that astate of terrorism and lawlessness should be established under the very shadow of thesacred folds of the starry Flag of Freedom which would raise horror in our minds ifwe read of it as existing under the most effete monarchy of the East? The men areknown. The organization is patent and public. How long are we to endure it? Can weforever live—""Sure, I've read enough of the slush!" cried the chairman, tossing the paperdown upon the table. "That's what he says of us. The question I'm asking you iswhat shall we say to him?""Kill him!" cried a dozen fierce voices."I protest against that," said Brother Morris, the man of the good brow andshaved face. "I tell you, Brethren, that our hand is too heavy in this valley, andthat there will come a poi #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 123 Context: have had for some time! You'veno heart yourself, and you try to take the heart out of others. It will be an ill dayfor you, Brother Morris, when your own name comes on our agenda paper, andI'm thinking that it's just there that I ought to place it."Morris had turned deadly pale, and his knees seemed to give way under himas he fell back into his chair. He raised his glass in his trembling hand and drank #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 124 Context: g betweenthe brightly lit windows. From within came the clanking of the printing press."Here, you," said Baldwin to McMurdo, "you can stand below at the door andsee that the road is kept open for us. Arthur Willaby can stay with you. Youothers come with me. Have no fears, boys; for we have a dozen witnesses that #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 137 Context: the last time, and make one strong endeavour to draw him from those evilinfluences which were sucking him down. She went to his house, as he had oftenbegged her to do, and made her way into the room which he used as his sitting-room. He was seated at a table, with his back turned and a letter in front of him.A sudden spirit of girlish mischief came over her—she was still only nineteen.He had not heard her when she pushed open the door. Now she tiptoed forwardand laid her hand lightly upon his bended shoulders.If she had expected to startle him, she certainly succeeded; but only in turn tobe startled herself. With a tiger spring he turned on her, and his right hand wasfeeling for her throat. At the same instant with the other hand he crumpled up thepaper that lay before him. For an instant he stood glaring. Then astonishmentand joy took the place of the ferocity which had convulsed his features—aferocity which had sent her shrinking back in horror as from something whichhad never before #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 142 Context: crossroads which is beyond its boundary. Here three men were waiting, withwhom Lawler and Andrews held a short, eager conversation. Then they allmoved on together. It was clearly some notable job which needed numbers. Atthis point there are several trails which lead to various mines. The strangers tookthat which led to the Crow Hill, a huge business which was in strong handswhich had been able, thanks to their energetic and fearless New Englandmanager, Josiah H. Dunn, to keep some order and discipline during the longreign of terror.Day was breaking now, and a line of workmen were slowly making their way,singly and in groups, along the blackened path.McMurdo and Scanlan strolled on with the others, keeping in sight of themen whom they followed. A thick mist lay over them, and from the heart of itthere came the sudden scream of a steam whistle. It was the ten-minute signalbefore the cages descended and the day's labour began.When they reached the open space round the mine shaft there wer #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 142 Context: o answer; but the lad Andrews stepped forward and shot him inthe stomach. The hundred waiting miners stood as motionless and helpless as ifthey were paralyzed. The manager clapped his two hands to the wound anddoubled himself up. Then he staggered away; but another of the assassins fired, #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 143 Context: lieve. The horrible screams of the deadmanager's wife pursued them as they hurried to the town. McMurdo wasabsorbed and silent; but he showed no sympathy for the weakening of hiscompanion. #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 144 Context: dle employees who were membersof the all-powerful society. Coffin notices hung outside his door had notweakened his resolution, and so in a free, civilized country he found himselfcondemned to death.The execution had now been duly carried out. Ted Baldwin, who sprawlednow in the seat of honour beside the Bodymaster, had been chief of the party.His flushed face and glazed, blood-shot eyes told of sleeplessness and drink. Heand his two comrades had spent the night before among the mountains. Theywere unkempt and weather-stained. But no heroes, returning from a forlornhope, could have had a warmer welcome from their comrades.The story was told and retold amid cries of delight and shouts of laughter.They had waited for their man as he drove home at nightfall, taking their stationat the top of a steep hill, where his horse must be at a walk. He was so furred tokeep out the cold that he could not lay his hand on his pistol. They had pulledhim out and shot him again and again. He had screamed #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 144 Context: "Sure, it is like a war," he repeated. "What is it but a war between us andthem, and we hit back where we best can."There was high revel in the lodge room at the Union House that night, notonly over the killing of the manager and engineer of the Crow Hill mine, whichwould bring this organization into line with the other blackmailed and terror-stricken companies of the district, but also over a distant triumph which had beenwrought by the hands of the lodge itself.It would appear that when the County Delegate had sent over five good mento strike a blow in Vermissa, he had demanded that in return three Vermissa menshould be secretly selected and sent across to kill William Hales of Stake Royal,one of the best known and most popular mine owners in the Gilmerton district, aman who was believed not to have an enemy in the world; for he was in all waysa model employer. He had insisted, however, upon efficiency in the work, andhad, therefore, paid off certain drunken and idle employees who we #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 147 Context: house; but all was still within.Then he leaned the powder bag against it, ripped a hole in it with his knife, andattached the fuse. When it was well alight he and his two companions took totheir heels, and were some distance off, safe and snug in a sheltering ditch,before the shattering roar of the explosion, with the low, deep rumble of thecollapsing building, told them that their work was done. No cleaner job had everbeen carried out in the bloodstained annals of the society.But alas that work so well organized and boldly carried out should all havegone for nothing! Warned by the fate of the various victims, and knowing that hewas marked down for destruction, Chester Wilcox had moved himself and hisfamily only the day before to some safer and less known quarters, where a guardof police should watch over them. It was an empty house which had been torndown by the gunpowder, and the grim old colour sergeant of the war was stillteaching discipline to the miners of Iron Dike."Leave him to #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 154 Context: sebefore you as it has reached me." #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 154 Context: nd discussed, than that a blowshould fall upon us without warning which would destroy us all. I haveinformation that the most powerful and richest organizations in this state havebound themselves together for our destruction, and that at this very momentthere is a Pinkerton detective, one Birdy Edwards, at work in the valleycollecting the evidence which may put a rope round the necks of many of us, andsend every man in this room into a felon's cell. That is the situation for thediscussion of which I have made a claim of urgency."There was a dead silence in the room. It was broken by the chairman."What is your evidence for this, Brother McMurdo?" he asked."It is in this letter which has come into my hands," said McMurdo. He readthe passage aloud. "It is a matter of honour with me that I can give no furtherparticulars about the letter, nor put it into your hands; but I assure you that thereis nothing else in it which can affect the interests of the lodge. I put the casebefore you as it h #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 155 Context: dwin," he said. "You and Ihave had our differences, but you have said the true word to-night.""Where is he, then? Where shall we know him?""Eminent Bodymaster," said McMurdo, earnestly, "I would put it to you thatthis is too vital a thing for us to discuss in open lodge. God forbid that I shouldthrow a doubt on anyone here; but if so much as a word of gossip got to the earsof this man, there would be an end of any chance of our getting him. I would askthe lodge to choose a trusty committee, Mr. Chairman—yourself, if I mightsuggest it, and Brother Baldwin here, and five more. Then I can talk freely ofwhat I know and of what I advise should be done."The proposition was at once adopted, and the committee chosen. Besides thechairman and Baldwin there were the vulture-faced secretary, Harraway, TigerCormac, the brutal young assassin, Carter, the treasurer, and the brothersWillaby, fearless and desperate men who would stick at nothing. #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 162 Context: the order were concerned, and with no notion of justice or honesty to anyonebeyond. The treasurer, Carter, was a middle-aged man, with an impassive, rathersulky expression, and a yellow parchment skin. He was a capable organizer, andthe actual details of nearly every outrage had sprung from his plotting brain. Thetwo Willabys were men of action, tall, lithe young fellows with determinedfaces, while their companion, Tiger Cormac, a heavy, dark youth, was fearedeven by his own comrades for the ferocity of his disposition. These were themen who assembled that night under the roof of McMurdo for the killing of thePinkerton detective.Their host had placed whisky upon the table, and they had hastened to primethemselves for the work before them. Baldwin and Cormac were already half-drunk, and the liquor had brought out all their ferocity. Cormac placed his handson the stove for an instant—it had been lighted, for the nights were still cold."That will do," said he, with an oath."Ay," said Bald #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 163 Context: ded bear and plunged forthe half-opened door. A levelled revolver met him there with the stern blue eyes #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 163 Context: "Hush!" McMurdo raised his hand in caution. An exulting glance went roundthe circle, and hands were laid upon hidden weapons."Not a sound, for your lives!" McMurdo whispered, as he went from theroom, closing the door carefully behind him.With strained ears the murderers waited. They counted the steps of theircomrade down the passage. Then they heard him open the outer door. Therewere a few words as of greeting. Then they were aware of a strange step insideand of an unfamiliar voice. An instant later came the slam of the door and theturning of the key in the lock. Their prey was safe within the trap. Tiger Cormaclaughed horribly, and Boss McGinty clapped his great hand across his mouth."Be quiet, you fool!" he whispered. "You'll be the undoing of us yet!"There was a mutter of conversation from the next room. It seemedinterminable. Then the door opened, and McMurdo appeared, his finger upon hislip.He came to the end of the table and looked round at them. A subtle changehad come over him. #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 164 Context: s. When Ireached this place I learned that I was wrong and that it wasn't a dime novel afterall. So I stayed to look after it. I never killed a man in Chicago. I never minted adollar in my life. Those I gave you were as good as any others; but I never spentmoney better. But I knew the way into your good wishes and so I pretended toyou that the law was after me. It all worked just as I thought."So I joined your infernal lodge, and I took my share in your councils. Maybe #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 165 Context: my of God and man in these parts. It took a man to getbetween you and the poor devils of men and women that you held under yourgrip. There was just one way of doing it, and I did it. You call me a traitor; but Iguess there's many a thousand will call me a deliverer that went down into hellto save them. I've had three months of it. I wouldn't have three such monthsagain if they let me loose in the treasury at Washington for it. I had to stay till Ihad it all, every man and every secret right here in this hand. I'd have waited alittle longer if it hadn't come to my knowledge that my secret was coming out. Aletter had come into the town that would have set you wise to it all. Then I had toact and act quickly."I've nothing more to say to you, except that when my time comes I'll die theeasier when I think of the work I have done in this valley. Now, Marvin, I'll keepyou no more. Take them in and get it over."There is little more to tell. Scanlan had been given a sealed note to be left atthe #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 167 Context: ofthe moated Manor House. His face was drawn and haggard."I've had bad news—terrible news, Mr. Holmes," said he."I feared as much," said Holmes."You have not had a cable, have you?""I have had a note from someone who has.""It's poor Douglas. They tell me his name is Edwards; but he will always beJack Douglas of Benito Canyon to me. I told you that they started together forSouth Africa in the Palmyra three weeks ago.""Exactly.""The ship reached Cape Town last night. I received this cable from MrsDouglas this morning:—"Jack has been lost overboard in gale off St Helena. No one knows howaccident occurred.—Ivy Douglas." #################### File: The-Valley-of-Fear.pdf Page: 169 Context: "Do you tell me that we have to sit down under this? Do you say that no onecan ever get level with this king-devil?""No, I don't say that," said Holmes, and his eyes seemed to be looking farinto the future. "I don't say that he can't be beat. But you must give me time—you must give me time!"We all sat in silence for some minutes, while those fateful eyes still strainedto pierce the veil. ########## """QUERY: can you explain the tomb?""" Consider the chat history for relevant information. Use all information included. Use as much tokens as needed. 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