"Because, my dear Watson, I had the strongest possible reason forwishing certain people to think that I was there when I was reallyelsewhere."
"And you thought the rooms were watched?"
"I KNEW that they were watched."
"By whom?"
"By my old enemies, Watson. By the charming society whose leader liesin the Reichenbach Fall. You must remember that they knew, and onlythey knew, that I was still alive. Sooner or later they believed that Ishould come back to my rooms. They watched them continuously, and thismorning they saw me arrive."
"How do you know?"
"Because I recognised their sentinel when I glanced out of my window. Heis a harmless enough fellow, Parker by name, a garroter by trade, and aremarkable performer upon the Jew's harp. I cared nothing for him. ButI cared a great deal for the much more formidable person who was behindhim, the bosom friend of Moriarty, the man who dropped the rocks overthe cliff, the most cunning and dangerous criminal in London. That isthe man who is after me to-night, Watson, and that is the man who isquite unaware that we are after HIM."
My friend's plans were gradually revealing themselves. From thisconvenient retreat the watchers were being watched and the trackerstracked. That angular shadow up yonder was the bait and we were thehunters. In silence we stood together in the darkness and watched thehurrying figures who passed and repassed in front of us. Holmes wassilent and motionless; but I could tell that he was keenly alert, andthat his eyes were fixed intently upon the stream of passers-by. It wasa bleak and boisterous night, and the wind whistled shrilly down thelong street. Many people were moving to and fro, most of them muffled intheir coats and cravats. Once or twice it seemed to me that I had seenthe same figure before, and I especially noticed two men who appearedto be sheltering themselves from the wind in the doorway of a housesome distance up the street. I tried to draw my companion's attentionto them, but he gave a little ejaculation of impatience and continuedto stare into the street. More than once he fidgeted with his feet andtapped rapidly with his fingers upon the wall. It was evident to methat he was becoming uneasy and that his plans were not working outaltogether as he had hoped. At last, as midnight approached andthe street gradually cleared, he paced up and down the room inuncontrollable agitation. I was about to make some remark to him whenI raised my eyes to the lighted window and again experienced almost asgreat a surprise as before. I clutched Holmes's arm and pointed upwards.
"The shadow has moved!" I cried.
It was, indeed, no longer the profile, but the back, which was turnedtowards us.
Three years had certainly not smoothed the asperities of his temper orhis impatience with a less active intelligence than his own.
"Of course it has moved," said he. "Am I such a farcical bungler,Watson, that I should erect an obvious dummy and expect that some ofthe sharpest men in Europe would be deceived by it? We have been inthis room two hours, and Mrs. Hudson has made some change in that figureeight times, or once in every quarter of an hour. She works it from thefront so that her shadow may never be seen. Ah!" He drew in his breathwith a shrill, excited intake. In the dim light I saw his head thrownforward, his whole attitude rigid with attention. Outside, the streetwas absolutely deserted. Those two men might still be crouching in thedoorway, but I could no longer see them. All was still and dark, saveonly that brilliant yellow screen in front of us with the black figureoutlined upon its centre. Again in the utter silence I heard that thin,sibilant note which spoke of intense suppressed excitement. An instantlater he pulled me back into the blackest corner of the room, and Ifelt his warning hand upon my lips. The fingers which clutched me werequivering. Never had I known my friend more moved, and yet the darkstreet still stretched lonely and motionless before us.
But suddenly I was aware of that which his keener senses had alreadydistinguished. A low, stealthy sound came to my ears, not from thedirection of Baker Street, but from the back of the very house in whichwe lay concealed. A door opened and shut. An instant later stepscrept down the passage--steps which were meant to be silent, but whichreverberated harshly through the empty house. Holmes crouched backagainst the wall and I did the same, my hand closing upon the handleof my revolver. Peering through the gloom, I saw the vague outline of aman, a shade blacker than the blackness of the open door. He stood foran instant, and then he crept forward, crouching, menacing, into theroom. He was within three yards of us, this sinister figure, and I hadbraced myself to meet his spring, before I realized that he had no ideaof our presence. He passed close beside us, stole over to the window,and very softly and noiselessly raised it for half a foot. As he sank tothe level of this opening the light of the street, no longer dimmed bythe dusty glass, fell full upon his face. The man seemed to be besidehimself with excitement. His two eyes shone like stars and hisfeatures were working convulsively. He was an elderly man, with a thin,projecting nose, a high, bald forehead, and a huge grizzled moustache.An opera-hat was pushed to the back of his head, and an evening dressshirt-front gleamed out through his open overcoat. His face was gauntand swarthy, scored with deep, savage lines. In his hand he carried whatappeared to be a stick, but as he laid it down upon the floor it gavea metallic clang. Then from the pocket of his overcoat he drew a bulkyobject, and he busied himself in some task which ended with a loud,sharp click, as if a spring or bolt had fallen into its place. Stillkneeling upon the floor he bent forward and threw all his weight andstrength upon some lever, with the result that there came a long,whirling, grinding noise, ending once more in a powerful click. Hestraightened himself then, and I saw that what he held in his hand wasa sort of gun, with a curiously misshapen butt. He opened it at thebreech, put something in, and snapped the breech-block. Then, crouchingdown, he rested the end of the barrel upon the ledge of the open window,and I saw his long moustache droop over the stock and his eye gleam asit peered along the sights. I heard a little sigh of satisfaction ashe cuddled the butt into his shoulder, and saw that amazing target, theblack man on the yellow ground, standing clear at the end of his foresight. For an instant he was rigid and motionless. Then his fingertightened on the trigger. There was a strange, loud whiz and a long,silvery tinkle of broken glass. At that instant Holmes sprang like atiger on to the marksman's back and hurled him flat upon his face. Hewas up again in a moment, and with convulsive strength he seized Holmesby the throat; but I struck him on the head with the butt of my revolverand he dropped again upon the floor. I fell upon him, and as I held himmy comrade blew a shrill call upon a whistle. There was the clatter ofrunning feet upon the pavement, and two policemen in uniform, with oneplain-clothes detective, rushed through the front entrance and into theroom.
"That you, Lestrade?" said Holmes.
"Yes, Mr. Holmes. I took the job myself. It's good to see you back inLondon, sir."
"I think you want a little unofficial help. Three undetected murders inone year won't do, Lestrade. But you handled the Molesey Mystery withless than your usual--that's to say, you handled it fairly well."
We had all risen to our feet, our prisoner breathing hard, with astalwart constable on each side of him. Already a few loiterers hadbegun to collect in the street. Holmes stepped up to the window, closedit, and dropped the blinds. Lestrade had produced two candles and thepolicemen had uncovered their lanterns. I was able at last to have agood loo
k at our prisoner.
It was a tremendously virile and yet sinister face which was turnedtowards us. With the brow of a philosopher above and the jaw of asensualist below, the man must have started with great capacities forgood or for evil. But one could not look upon his cruel blue eyes, withtheir drooping, cynical lids, or upon the fierce, aggressive nose andthe threatening, deep-lined brow, without reading Nature's plainestdanger-signals. He took no heed of any of us, but his eyes were fixedupon Holmes's face with an expression in which hatred and amazement wereequally blended. "You fiend!" he kept on muttering. "You clever, cleverfiend!"
"Ah, Colonel!" said Holmes, arranging his rumpled collar; "'journeys endin lovers' meetings,' as the old play says. I don't think I have had thepleasure of seeing you since you favoured me with those attentions as Ilay on the ledge above the Reichenbach Fall."
The Colonel still stared at my friend like a man in a trance. "Youcunning, cunning fiend!" was all that he could say.
"I have not introduced you yet," said Holmes. "This, gentlemen, isColonel Sebastian Moran, once of Her Majesty's Indian Army, and the bestheavy game shot that our Eastern Empire has ever produced. I believeI am correct, Colonel, in saying that your bag of tigers still remainsunrivalled?"
The fierce old man said nothing, but still glared at my companion; withhis savage eyes and bristling moustache he was wonderfully like a tigerhimself.
"I wonder that my very simple stratagem could deceive so old a shikari,"said Holmes. "It must be very familiar to you. Have you not tethered ayoung kid under a tree, lain above it with your rifle, and waited forthe bait to bring up your tiger? This empty house is my tree and youare my tiger. You have possibly had other guns in reserve in case thereshould be several tigers, or in the unlikely supposition of your own aimfailing you. These," he pointed around, "are my other guns. The parallelis exact."
Colonel Moran sprang forward, with a snarl of rage, but the constablesdragged him back. The fury upon his face was terrible to look at.
"I confess that you had one small surprise for me," said Holmes. "I didnot anticipate that you would yourself make use of this empty house andthis convenient front window. I had imagined you as operating from thestreet, where my friend Lestrade and his merry men were awaiting you.With that exception all has gone as I expected."
Colonel Moran turned to the official detective.
"You may or may not have just cause for arresting me," said he, "but atleast there can be no reason why I should submit to the gibes of thisperson. If I am in the hands of the law let things be done in a legalway."
"Well, that's reasonable enough," said Lestrade. "Nothing further youhave to say, Mr. Holmes, before we go?"
Holmes had picked up the powerful air-gun from the floor and wasexamining its mechanism.