Title Page
The Amazing Airship Adventure
The MacDougall Twins With Sherlock Holmes
Book #1
Derrick Belanger & Brian Belanger
Publisher Information
First edition published in 2014 by MX Publishing
335 Princess Park Manor, Royal Drive, London, N11 3GX
www.mxpublishing.co.uk
Digital edition converted and distributed in 2015 by
Andrews UK Limited
www.andrewsuk.com
© Copyright 2014 Derrick Belanger and Brian Belanger
The right of Derrick Belanger and Brian Belanger to be identified as the authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1998.
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without express prior written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted except with express prior written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright Act 1956 (as amended). Any person who commits any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damage.
The opinions expressed herein are those of the authors and not of MX Publishing.
Cover Illustration by Brian Belanger
Cover Compilation by www.staunch.com
Dedication
For Rhea -
My dear friend, harsh critic, and loving daughter
London, 1897
Chapter 1: Dinner with Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes heard a loud, “knock, knock, knock,” at the door of his home. With a smile, the great detective rose from his favorite easy chair, and went to personally greet his visitors. “Mrs. Hudson and Dr. Watson,” Sherlock called to his landlady and his good friend, “do be so kind as to let me answer the door.”
Mrs. Hudson was working very hard in the kitchen, making sure the potatoes were not overly done. Dr. Watson was checking on the goose they were having for dinner. Mrs. Hudson gave Sherlock a quick nod of her head in approval, and then she went back to checking on the gravy.
Sherlock Holmes had special guests tonight, two of the best detectives he had ever worked with. These two twins, Jimmy and Emma MacDougall, had helped Sherlock Holmes send the art thief Byron Von Trapp to prison. It did not matter to Mr. Holmes that the twins were only ten years old. They were honest, brilliant, and brave.
Sherlock opened the door and greeted his friends warmly. “Hello, hello, please do come in,” he said to everyone.
The family was standing at the entryway. Mr. MacDougall felt very uncomfortable because he was wearing his best evening dress. He was a head chimney sweeper, and he preferred being in dirty clothes rather than dressing up for a dinner party. As he walked in, he said, “Hello, Mr. Holmes. Very gracious of you inviting us over like this.”
“Nedley,” Sherlock said to him, “It is my pleasure. I see you were working on State Street today.”
Mr. MacDougall looked surprised. “Why Mr. Holmes, how do you know? I washed up proper.”
“Of course you did,” Sherlock said. “Still, the color of the ash on your thumb, mixed with the smell of soot in your hair, leads me to only one conclusion about your work location.”
“And Frances,” he said to Mrs. MacDougall. “I see you were working on a new quilt today.”
Mrs. MacDougall smiled and entered the house in her flowing gray dress. “That’s right, Mr. Holmes.” Mrs. MacDougall didn’t want to hear about how Sherlock Holmes knew about her sewing. She did not like that her children were friends with the detective. They were always getting into trouble, and she was afraid one day they would get hurt.
Next came the guests of honor. Sherlock stared at the two twins. Jimmy and Emma were not identical twins, but they looked remarkably similar. Both had freckled faces, smooth fiery red hair, and sparkling blue eyes. They were both tall for their ages. Jimmy stood at five and a half feet tall, and Emma’s height was just over five feet. Both wore dark clothing, Jimmy in a black suit and Emma in a long sleeved dress.
“I see you have been practicing the violin today, Mr. Holmes,” Emma said, showing Holmes that she also could use the power of deduction.
Sherlock grinned. “Is it because of the way I am holding my left arm?”
“Naw,” Jimmy added, “It’s because we could hear you playing all afternoon.”
Sherlock laughed. Emma had the brains and skill to be just as good a detective as Mr. Holmes. Jimmy was the joker, and while he was good at using deduction to solve crimes, he preferred going undercover to catch a thief.
Suddenly, they all heard a shout of, “Don’t stand there at the door. Dinner is served.”
“We must not keep Mrs. Hudson waiting,” Emma said, and the three entered the home.
“I guess this will be a bit of a boring night,” Jimmy said to Sherlock. “No cases today.”
Sherlock laughed. “One never knows when a case might turn up.” Little did Mr. Holmes know that a case was just about to begin.
Chapter 2: The Flying Barrel
Everyone sat down at dinner and served themselves by passing the plates. As Dr. Watson scooped potatoes and cut himself a piece of goose breast, he asked the twins, “Jimmy, Emma, how is your detective work going these days?”
“Dr. Watson,” Mrs. MacDougall snapped at him, “must we talk about their cases at the dinner table? You know how I feel about them telling you about their adventures. I don’t want you writing down their stories.”
Dr. Watson was known for publishing stories about Sherlock Holmes’s most famous cases. He always wanted to write down the mysteries that the MacDougall twins solved, but Mrs. MacDougall refused to let him. She did not want her children to be famous. She wanted them to have a normal life.
“You can’t blame me for trying,” Dr. Watson laughed, and he winked at the twins. He knew they wanted to tell their stories, but they respected their mother’s wishes.
“You still should bring the twins to my office next week,” Watson continued, changing the subject. “I haven’t checked up on them in nearly six months.”
“Oh, the kids are fine, Dr. Watson,” Mr. MacDougall explained. “Not even a skinned knee on Jimmy.”
“It is still wise to have them looked after by a doctor,” Sherlock Holmes said. “Sometimes small problems you don’t see turn out to be big problems later. This reminds me of the case of the Man with the Missing Right Hand.”
“They look fine to me,” Mrs. Hudson chimed in, interrupting the detective. She did not want to hear yet another retelling of a famous case.
“I can’t get over how much the twins have grown,” Mrs. Hudson said to their parents. “I’ve watched them turn from babies into a fine young man and woman.” Mr. and Mrs. MacDougall grinned at the compliment.
“Thank you, Mrs. Hudson. Now, no more talk of detective work,” Mrs. MacDougall firmly stated, glaring directly at Holmes and Watson. “Let’s enjoy this fine dinner and talk about happy topics, no robbers tonight please.”
Everyone nodded in agreement, although Jimmy frowned, wishing the conversation would be about robbers and crime. What is the point of eating dinner with Sherlock Holmes, he wondered, if I can’t talk to him about mysteries?
The dinner conversation continued pleasantly until…
“AAAHH!” came screams from the street.
“What is it?” someone else yelled. Sherlock Holmes dashed to the window. Everyone follo
wed him. They all crowded around, looking out at the skyline.
“Emma, are you seeing what I’m seeing?” Jimmy asked his sister.
“Yes, Jimmy, I..I see it too.”
Floating above London was a strange, giant object. To Jimmy it looked like a giant flying silver barrel. It was the size of two busses put together, with great curved wings on its side, almost like someone put the barrel in the middle of an enormous boomerang. The flying object seemed to come straight out of space. It was slowly gliding over the buildings, causing shouts and cries from the streets of London below. Suddenly, the aircraft turned in the sky and swiftly swooped towards Baker Street.
“Goodness, Holmes,” Dr. Watson said. “It is heading straight for the street below.”
The detective motioned with his hand for his friend to stay quiet. He was observing everything, and he didn’t want to miss any details.
A giant crowd had gathered in Baker Street as the aircraft floated towards them. Some hansom cabs[1], a bus, and several people on horses stopped and joined the growing crowd, gazing up at the object. Some pointed, others talked. A few people fled as the object came towards them, blocking out the sun. Suddenly, the shiny silver barrel stopped right above the crowd. It hovered for a mere moment, then FLASH! A huge blinding light shot out from the bottom of the craft. Everyone screamed and scattered. The horses neighed and screeched, then bolted in opposite directions. Two hansom cabs flipped over as their horses bolted away from the blinding light. The bus flung out of control right below Sherlock Holmes and the dinner guests. The driver was able to regain control of the horses just as the bus almost crashed straight into 221 B Baker Street.
“Oh, those poor people,” Mrs. O’ Hare cried and turned away.
“At least they’re safe,” Mrs. Hudson consoled her.
“Look!” Jimmy called out. “The barrel..It’s going to crash!”
The barrel ship began to quickly lower itself onto the street below. Just as its nose was about to smash into the ground, the ship wobbled, and then, seeming to defy gravity, it suddenly shot back up into the sky. It bobbed up and down slightly, and returned to its journey above Baker Street.
“Oh! It is going to fly right by us,” Emma said excitedly.
As the ship flew up past the window, Emma got a good look at the device. Below the giant silver ship, there appeared to be a small cargo hold, with a man on what looked to be a pedal of sorts. The man seemed to be running and steering the mystery ship, as if it was a bicycle.
Just as Emma peered forward to get a better look, a blinding light flashed through the window. Everyone ducked down, moved away, and Mrs. Hudson shouted out in pain. No one could see anything. Suddenly, there was a sound of smashing glass, and something fell into the room.
1 Fun Facts: In the time period of this story, the automobile hadn’t yet been invented. Everyone traveled by train, boat, or horse drawn carriage. A hansom cab was a two wheel carriage driven by a single horse. A bus (or omnibus) was a long carriage, driven by two horses, with seats along the sides.
Chapter 3: Ransom!
Mrs. Hudson, Dr. Watson, and the MacDougall parents called out in pain. Smoke and soot filled the air of the house, and shattered glass covered the floor. “Stay calm, everyone,” the ten year old Emma reassured them. “It was the blinding flash of light from that aircraft. Your vision should return soon.”
Sure enough, Dr. Watson started seeing the return of blurry shapes, and then, when his vision returned, he saw a startling sight. The apartment was a disaster. The dinner table was flipped on its side, and the food was splattered across the floor. Poor Mr. MacDougall was covered in gravy from his hair down to his belly. “What happened?” he called out.
“When I saw the light turning towards us, I did my best to shield everyone. Unfortunately, when I flipped up the table,” Sherlock Holmes continued, “I only was able to shield the twins and myself.”
“It’s okay, Mr. Holmes,” Mrs. MacDougall assured him while removing chunks of bread that had landed in her hair. “The children are top priority. Now, what happened to your beautiful window?”
Glass shards were sticking out of the carpet on the floor, and they were even embedded in the walls and ceiling. “This caused it, mom,” explained Jimmy. He was holding up a large rock (more like a small boulder). Around the grey stone was tied a red ribbon, holding a rolled up paper. “It must have come from that thing in the sky.”
“Good job, Jimmy,” Sherlock said and grabbed the rock from the boy. He held it between his hands, lifted it towards the ceiling, and ran his finger through the grains of dirt still stuck to the rock’s body. Then, he carefully slid the scroll out from the red ribbon, unrolled it, and read it over, his face turning grim.
“What’s it say?” Mr. MacDougall asked.
Sherlock handed the letter over to Jimmy and Emma. “Take a look.”
The letter was written in a strange format. It was made up of all capital letters cut from magazines and newspapers, and then glued together to form words. The note said,
MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,
TELL YOUR BROTHER TO BRING ONE MILLION POUNDS TO 221B BAKER STREET TOMORROW AT 5 OR ELSE ALL OF LONDON WILL SUFFER!
SINCERELY,
THE MAD BOMBER
“Oh, Heavens!” Mrs. Hudson called out. “You’d better tell Mycroft at once.” Mycroft Holmes was the brother of Sherlock Holmes. He worked for the British government.
“Of course, Mrs. Hudson,” Sherlock agreed, and he then added, “If you wouldn’t mind, please wash up our guests, and find whatever food we have left in the icebox. We should still give the MacDougalls some dinner. Even with all this excitement, I’m sure their bellies still need food.”
“No need for that, Mr. Holmes,” Mr. MacDougall started to say, but Mrs. Hudson stopped him.
“Now, now, Nedley. No guest of mine is going to go hungry, and we must feed the children,” Mrs. Hudson assured him.
“Watson! We must be away at once.” Sherlock and Dr. Watson grabbed their coats. Before leaving, Sherlock whispered to Emma and Jimmy, “Look out your window tonight. The light will be blinking.”
“What are you whispering over there?” Mrs. MacDougall asked, making sure the twins were not getting into trouble.
“Just making sure they weren’t hurt, Frances,” Holmes explained to Mrs. MacDougall.
The twins nodded and didn’t say anything. The light blinking meant only one thing - Sherlock Holmes needed their help!
***
That night, after their parents were asleep, Jimmy went to Emma’s bedroom. He gave a soft, “knock-knock,” at his sister’s door, so as not to wake their parents. His father’s loud snoring echoed up the hallway.
“It took you long enough, Jimmy,” Emma said. “Sherlock may contact us at any minute.”
“I wanted to make sure mom and dad were asleep. When dad’s snores shake the house, I know I have nothing to worry about.” Jimmy and Emma laughed. Then Jimmy added, “I was going through my books on trains and coaches, and then, look what I found!”
Jimmy showed Emma a long thin book called Balloon Flight. Inside was a picture of what looked like the strange object they had seen in the sky that day.
“That thing is called an airship,” Jimmy explained. “It’s a kind of hot air balloon, but it is steerable. There are a few different types.”
Jimmy turned the page, and Emma saw pictures of three different types of airships: one looked like a balloon, one like a hot dog in the sky, and the last one looked like the flying barrel they saw in the sky that day.
“See!” Jimmy said, excitedly pointing to the third picture. “That’s a solid body airship. The frame is metal, surrounded by canvas, and it is huge. It could lift this house into the sky! I don’t think we are dealing with a normal crook. I think we are dealing with a genius.”
“I know,” Emma agreed. “The mad bomber is very smart. He cut out those newspaper clippings, so we couldn’t check his handwriting, and I believe he didn’t leave any fingerprints either. I wish I could have taken a better look at that note.”
“Well, Sherlock Holmes noticed something,” Jimmy agreed. “I could see it in his face. If you had seen the note, I know you would have seen it too. I don’t know how you two do it. Sherlock Holmes and you look at a
piece of paper, and the two of you can figure out where it came from, and who wrote on it.”
“You just have to pay attention, Jimmy. It isn’t magic. You just need to look for clues and..Wait! There he is!” Emma called, dashing to her window. She saw the silhouette of Holmes across the way.
“What’s he doing?” asked Jimmy.
Sherlock held the candle up to the window. Then, he covered the light with a hand. He kept doing this over and over again, sometimes quickly covering up the flame, and other times leaving it out longer.
“He’s sending us a coded message,” Emma said. “Jimmy?”
“Got it,” he said, handing Emma her journal. She wrote down the message Mr. Holmes was sending them.
TWINS-
I NEED YOU TO CHECK WITH YOUR SOURCES. LONDON IS IN DANGER. FIND OUT EVERYTHING YOU CAN ABOUT THE AIRSHIP.
Jimmy knew just what Sherlock Holmes wanted them to do; they had to talk with the children of London, and find out what they knew about the airship. When Sherlock Holmes needed extra help, he often asked Jimmy and Emma to check with their friends. Many times, kids saw so much more than adults, who were so busy, that they did not pay attention to the world around them. Many adults probably did not even notice the airship in the sky. They were thinking about work, or bills, or some other nonsense.
Emma and Jimmy knew that Sherlock Holmes trusted them, and they had been given an important assignment. All of London, maybe even England, depended on their success.
The Amazing Airship Adventure Page 1