دونه‌های بیشتر

Chapter two

More Pips

‘Everything went well until a year later,’ said John Openshaw. ‘But one morning my father opened a letter to find five orange pips inside it. “What does this mean, John,” he asked. His face was white.

“Look,” I said. “There’s K.K.K on the envelope. Those letters were on Uncle Elias’s envelope too!” We were both shaking and afraid.

“Yes, and this time it says ‘Put the papers in the garden’.”

“Which papers? The papers in Uncle Elias’s box? He burnt them,” I said.

“And where has this letter come from,” my father said. He looked at the envelope. “Dundee, Scotland. Well, I don’t know anything about pips or papers. I’m not going to do anything.”

“Father, you must tell the police,” I said. I remembered my uncle’s letter from India, and I was very worried.

“No, they’ll laugh at me, Let’s just forget about it,” he replied.

‘Three days later my poor father went to visit an old friend who lived some miles away. But he never came back. The police said that he was walking home in the dark when he fell down a hill. He was badly hurt, and he died soon after. They decided it was an accident, but I didn’t agree. I thought it was murder, and I could not forget the five orange pips and the strange letters to my uncle and my father.

‘But I’ve tried to forget, and I’ve lived alone in that house for nearly three years now. Then yesterday I got this.’

The young man showed us an envelope with K.K.K on the back, and five small orange pips. ‘You see,’ he said. ‘It comes from East London, and it says “Put the papers in the garden”. Those are the words that were in the letter to my father.’

‘So what did you do next,’ asked Holmes.

‘Nothing,’ answered Openshaw. He put his head in his hands. ‘I don’t know what to do. I’m afraid.’

‘Nothing,’ cried Holmes. ‘Young man, you must do something fast. You’re in danger!’

‘Well,’ I’ve talked to the police,’ said Openshaw unhappily. ‘But they laughed at me. They think that there’s nothing to worry about.’

‘How stupid they are,’ cried Holmes. ‘And why didn’t you come to me immediately? Your enemies have had almost two days to make a plan. Haven’t you found anything which will help us?’

‘Well, I found this in the locked room,’ said John Openshaw. He showed us a small, half-burnt piece of paper. ‘It was with my uncle’s papers. It’s his writing. Look, it says: March 7th 1869 Sent the pips to three people, Brown, Robinson and Williams.

March 9th Brown left.

March 10th Williams left.

March 12th Visited Robinson and finished business with him.

‘Thank you,’ said Sherlock Holmes. ‘And now you must hurry home. Put this paper into your uncle’s box, put in a letter which says that your uncle burnt all the other papers, and put the box outside in the garden. I hope your enemies will be happy with that, and then you won’t be in danger any more. How are you going home?’

‘By train from Waterloo station,’ replied Openshaw.

‘There’ll be a lot of people in the streets, so I think that you’ll be all right. But be careful.’

‘Thank you, Mr Holmes,’ said Openshaw. ‘I’ll do everything you say.’ He went out into the dark night, the wind and the rain.