福尔摩斯探案经典:《恐怖谷》第4章Part1

At three in the morning the chief Sussex detective, obeying the urgent call from Sergeant Wilson of Birlstone, arrived from headquarters in a light dog-cart behind a breathless trotter. By the five-forty train in the morning he had sent his message to Scotland Yard, and he was at the Birlstone station at twelve o'clock to welcome us. White Mason was a quiet, comfortable-looking person in a loose tweed suit, with a clean-shaved, ruddy face, a stoutish body, and powerful bandy legs adorned with gaiters, looking like a small farmer, a retired gamekeeper, or anything upon earth except a very favourable specimen of the provincial criminal officer.
"A real downright snorter, Mr. MacDonald!" he kept repeating. "We'll have the pressmen down like flies when they understand it. I'm hoping we will get our work 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 that will come home to you, Mr. Holmes, or I am mistaken. And you also, Dr. Watson; for the medicos will have a word to say before we finish. Your room is at the Westville Arms. There's no other place; but I hear that it is clean and good. The man will carry your bags. This way, gentlemen, if you please."
He was a very bustling and genial person, this Sussex detective. In ten minutes we had all found our quarters. In ten more we were seated in the parlour of the inn and being treated to a rapid sketch of those events which have been outlined in the previous chapter. MacDonald made an occasional note; while Holmes sat absorbed, with the expression of surprised and reverent admiration with which the botanist surveys the rare and precious bloom.
"Remarkable!" he said, when the story was unfolded, "most remarkable! I can hardly recall any case where the features have been more peculiar."
"I thought you would say so, Mr. Holmes," said White Mason in great delight. "We're well up with the times in Sussex. I've told you now how matters were, up to the time when I took over from Sergeant Wilson between three and four this morning. My word! I made the old mare go! But I need not have been in such a hurry, as it turned out; for there was nothing immediate that I could do. Sergeant Wilson had all the facts. I checked them and considered them and maybe added a few of my own."
"What were they?" asked Holmes eagerly.
"Well, I first had the hammer examined. There was Dr. Wood there to help me. We found no signs of violence upon it. I was hoping that if Mr. Douglas defended himself with the hammer, he might have left his mark upon the murderer before he dropped it on the mat. But there was no stain."
"That, of course, proves nothing at all," remarked Inspector MacDonald. "There has been many a hammer murder and no trace on the hammer."
"Quite so. It doesn't prove it wasn't used. But there might have been stains, and that would have helped us. As a matter of fact there were none. Then I examined the gun. They were buckshot cartridges, and, as Sergeant Wilson pointed out, the triggers were wired together so that, if you pulled on the hinder one, both barrels were discharged. Whoever fixed that up had made up his mind that he was going to take no chances of missing his man. The sawed gun was not more than two foot long--one could carry it easily under one's coat. There was no complete maker's name; but the printed letters P-E-N were on the fluting between the barrels, and the rest of the name had been cut off by the saw."
"A big P with a flourish above it, E and N smaller?" asked Holmes.
"Exactly."
"Pennsylvania Small Arms Company--well-known American firm," said Holmes.

凌晨三点钟，苏塞克斯的侦探长，接到伯尔斯通警官威尔逊的急电，乘坐一辆轻便单马车从总部赶来，马被累得上岂不接下起。他通过清早五点四十分的那趟火车把报告送到了苏格兰场。中午十二点钟他已在伯尔斯通车站迎候我们了。怀特·梅森先生性情文静、面容安详，穿着一件宽大的花呢外套，红润的脸刮得净光，身体微胖，两条微向里弯的腿刚劲有力，穿着带绊扣的高筒靴子益发显得精神，他看起来象个矮小的庄稼汉，象个退休的猎场看守人，或是说他象个世上的什么人都行，但就是不象地方警署典型的刑事警官。
“麦克唐纳先生，真是一件极不寻常的案子。"怀特·梅森反反复复地说，“报界的人听到这件事就会象苍蝇一样赶来的。我希望在他们来管这闲事并把一切手脚印迹弄乱之前，就把咱们的工作做完。在我的记忆中，还没有遇到过象这样的案子呢。福尔摩斯先生，有某些情况是会使你感兴趣的，要不然就是我弄错了。华生医生，还有你，因为在我们结束工作之前，医生总要发表一些意见的。你们的住房在韦斯特维尔阿姆兹旅店，再找不到其它地方了，不过我听说房子倒还不错，也挺干净。仆人会把你们的行李送去的。先生们，请随我来，好吗？”
这位苏塞克斯的侦探，是一个非常活跃而又和蔼的人。走了十分钟，我们就到了住所，十分钟以后，我们就坐在小旅店休息室里，议论起这件案子的概况了。这些我已在上一章叙述过了。麦克唐纳有时做些记录，福尔摩斯坐在那里，带着吃惊和衷心钦佩的样子专心倾听着，就象植物学家鉴赏珍奇的花朵一样。
“奇怪！"在听了案情介绍以后，福尔摩斯说，“奇怪极了！我想不起来以前有什么比这更奇怪的案子了。”
“福尔摩斯先生，我早想到你会这样说的，"怀特·梅森非常高兴地说，“我们在苏塞克斯算是赶上时代了。到今早三、四点之间我从警官威尔逊手里接过这桩案子为止的全部情况我都告诉你了。我拚着老命赶来！哎呀！结果证明，我本来用不着这么紧赶慢赶的。因为这里没有我能马上做的事。警官威尔逊已经掌握了全部情况。我查对了一下，仔细研究了一番，多少还加了几点我自己的看法。”
“你的看法是什么呢？"福尔摩斯急切地问道。
“嗯，我首先把铁锤仔细检查了一下。医生伍德也在旁帮忙。铁锤上没找到施用暴力的痕迹。我原来想，或许道格拉斯先生曾用这把锤子自卫过，他就可能在把锤子丢到地毯上以前，在上面留下印痕，可是锤子上一点痕迹也没有。”
“当然，这一点儿也证明不了什么问题，"警官麦克唐纳说道，“因为有许多使用铁锤的凶杀案，铁锤上并没有留下痕迹啊。”
“完全是这样。这并不一定能证明没有用过它。不过要果真留下一些痕迹，那对我们就有用了。但事实上却没有。后来我又检查了一下枪支。这是大号铅弹火枪。正象警官威尔逊所指出的那样，扳机缚在一起，所以只要你扣动后面一个扳机，两个枪筒就会同时发射。不管是谁做的这样的处理，肯定他是下了决心决不让他的敌手逃脱厄运。这支截断的枪最多不过二英尺长，一个人能轻而易举地把它藏在大衣里。枪上虽然没有制造者的全名，可是两支枪管间的凹槽上还刻有'PEN'三个字母，名字的其它字母就被锯掉了。”
“那上面是一个花体的大写字母'P'，而'E'和'N'两个字母则较小，是吗？"福尔摩斯问道。
“一点也不错。”
“这是宾夕法尼亚小型武器制造公司，是美国的一家有①名的工厂。"福尔摩斯说。