Further Notes From the Dispatch Box of John H Watson MD (The Dispatch Box of John H Watson, MD)

by Hugh Ashton

  “ Well, Watson, here we are,” he said, gazing down into the shallow hole thus revealed. A roulette wheel and a folded piece of green baize, on which it was possible to discern the markings of a roulette table, were revealed. A small wooden box beside the cloth proved to contain gambling chips, similar to the one that we had discovered earlier. “ This is what we came to seek,” he said, lifting out the roulette wheel.

  He sat on his haunches for some time, examining the wheel, from time to time picking it up and examining the underside before spinning it, sometimes with the ball and sometimes without.

  “ I think I have it now, Watson,” he told me. “ Pray, select a number between one and thirty-six.”

  “ Twenty-four,” I told him.

  “ Very good. And I choose seventeen.” He spun the wheel and threw the ball into the dish, where it rocketed back and forth until the wheel slowed and stopped, and the ball came to rest in the slot against which stood the number “ 17”. “ Ha ! ” he exclaimed. “ Again ? ”

  “ Very well,” I said, more than a little astounded by this. “ I now choose seventeen.”

  “ And I choose thirty-five.” He repeated the action of the croupier, and this time also, his prediction was proved correct as the ball entered and stayed in the “ 35” slot. “ One more time ? ”

  “ Twelve,” I said, by now totally bewildered.

  “ Let me also choose twelve,” he said. Not altogether to my surprise, though to my continued confusion, the ball selected “ 12” as its resting place.

  “ Explain,” I demanded.

  For answer, he turned the wheel upside down and showed me a small iron disk attached to the underside. “ A powerful magnet,” he explained, and turned the wheel over once more. “ Now observe this,” he told me, showing the cross-shaped handle used by the croupier to spin the wheel. He spun the handle, and the wheel moved accordingly. “ But now,” and he pressed down on the handle, now turning it independently of the wheel. “ Do you mark this ? One of the arms of the cross is marked with a small dot. When I move the handle in this way, I am moving another magnet inside the wheel which will be attracted to the magnet on the underside. The dot on the handle indicates the position of the magnet. Therefore, if I wish the ball to land on “ 12”, I point the dot at that slot. In this way, the flow of the game can be controlled, allowing a gambler to win enough to retain his—or in this case, her—interest and keep him or her at the table for long enough to lose money over the long term.”

  “ How did you know what to look for ? ” I asked.

  “ It is my business to know of such things, though I had never seen an actual example before now.”

  As we spoke, to my horror, I heard the sound of the back door, by which we had entered the house, being opened. I froze, as did Holmes.

  “ If it is the police, say nothing,” Holmes advised me. “ Allow me to explain matters.”

  “ And if it is not ? ”

  “ It may be only a tramp seeking shelter for the night. But then again, it may not. You are armed ? ”

  I shook my head. “ My revolver is back at Baker-street. It was my feeling that were we to be apprehended by the police, it would have gone ill enough with us, given that you were carrying tools to be used for breaking and entering. It struck me that my being armed with a revolver in addition to your equipping yourself as a housebreaker would hardly make the police well-disposed towards us.”

  Holmes shrugged. “ I, too, am unarmed.”

  By now, the footsteps had reached the door of the room, and a dark figure filled the doorway.

  “ Mr. Holmes, I presume ? ” came a deep voice with a trace of a foreign accent.

  “ You have the advantage of me,” replied Holmes calmly. “ May I ask how you became aware of my presence ? ”

  “ De Vries told us you had followed him to the Friesland the other night, and told us to expect you here tonight.”

  I was astounded by this speech, but Holmes merely threw back his head and laughed heartily.

  “ Mr. de Vries is obviously a man of talent and perception.”

  “ You’ve got that right,” came another, gruffer, voice from behind the first speaker. Another shape appeared, that of a squat, somewhat bow-legged man, who could be seen to be carrying what appeared to be a club or cosh of some kind in his right hand. “ De Vries is a d_____ sight cleverer than you have ever been, Mr. Holmes. And there’s not going to be much time for you to change that situation, because you and Doctor Watson there are going to stay in this house for a little time—until you ship on board the Friesland.”

  “ And then ? ” asked Holmes mildly.

  “ Then you go to feed the fishes in the North Sea.” The speaker advanced, and I beheld a bestial face, crowned with a shock of dark hair. He gripped the bludgeon firmly in an attitude that spoke of menace, and I had little doubt that this was the weapon that had been responsible for the death of Ripley, the journalist. “ Now if you’ll just turn round and face the wall and put your hands behind your back, Mr. Holmes, and you too, Doctor.”

  I felt that I had little choice but to obey, and Holmes likewise followed suit a second or two later. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see the first man approach Holmes, a length of cord looped around his hands. Acting, I must assume, by sense and sound, since his face was to the wall, Holmes suddenly turned, lashing out at the man with the rope, and receiving for his pains a crack on his head with the bludgeon delivered by the other of our captors, which dropped him like a sack of sand. I instinctively let out a cry, and moved to help him, but received a blow on my own head, and I sank to the ground as everything turned black about me.

  When I awoke, I was in the same room as before, sitting on the floor with my hands tied behind me. I attempted to move my hands, but discovered that they were tied to something against which my back was leaning. On turning my head—which occasioned some pain—I discovered that Sherlock Holmes and I were sitting back-to-back, our hands and feet tied in such a way as to almost immobilise us. I groaned aloud, and to my relief, heard Holmes’ voice in reply.

  “ I am glad to have company,” he said, in that light somewhat mocking tone which I knew betokened an underlying seriousness of manner. “ Are you hurt ? ”

  “ My head aches somewhat ? And you ? ”

  “ The same. I have been attempting for some time to rid us of these bonds, but whoever tied us knows his job only too well. Now you are awake, if you can stand, and I along with you, it may be possible to free ourselves. With some difficulty, and not a little pain on my side, we managed to struggle to our feet, but after some ten minutes’ manipulation, even Holmes was forced to admit that there was little or no chance of escaping from the ropes, either those securing our hands or those fastening our feet.

  “ I am sorry,” he sighed, as we sank to the floor. “ Sorry to have brought you into this. I must ask your pardon.”

  “ Freely given,” I answered him. “ You warned me in advance that this could prove hazardous, and I accepted the danger without reservation.”

  “ Then I am at least a little relieved,” he said to me. “ It is one thing to put oneself in danger, but quite another to expose one’s friends to unacceptable risks without their knowledge or their consent.”

  The matter appeared to be troubling him, and I ascribed his concern at least in part to the blow to the head that I had seen him receive. I endeavoured to reassure him as to my condition and my feelings, but I had little way of knowing if my words had had any effect.

  “ I am devilish thirsty,” he said to me at one point. “ I hope they do not intend to let us die of hunger and thirst.”

  It was hard to know what reply to make to this observation, and I made none. The dawn appeared to be breaking, as a little light was now coming through the narrow gaps in the curtain covering the window, leading me to believe that we had been unconscious for a few hours. The silence became oppressive, and was not relieved by Holmes’ humming of a monotonous little ditty that he repeated
time and again, but I had not the heart to request him to cease.

  Without warning, the door was flung open, and the man whom Holmes had attempted to attack entered the room. “ Both awake now, are you ? On your feet, then.”

  “ You could untie us first,” I suggested, but this was met with a stony glare.

  “ On your feet,” he repeated, and with difficulty, Holmes and I struggled to our feet, still roped together, back-to-back.

  “ This way,” snarled our captor, pointing to the door. With difficulty, Holmes and I managed to evolve a method of moving our bound feet together which involved shuffling sideways. It was a painfully slow process, and we were ordered to make our way past the back of the house along the path running beside the river. Once or twice I stumbled, but Holmes’ quick reactions kept us from falling, and we eventually reached the road where the carriage we had seen previously was waiting. We were ordered summarily into the carriage, but found it impossible, roped as we were, to enter without assistance, which was grudgingly given. Once we had been pushed inside, the only place for us was on the floor between the seats.

  The carriage door was slammed shut, and we were left alone in the interior as the carriage jolted.

  “ Watson,” Holmes said to me in a low tone, and I could perceive the excitement in his voice. “ The men who have captured us are fools.”

  “ Why do you say that ? ” I answered him, in the same tone.

  “ Because as we were making our way here, I could feel that my housebreaker’s kit was still with me. They have overlooked it, for whatever reason I cannot say. I was not aware of its presence while we were in the room back there just then, but when we stumbled for the second time, I could feel it in my left-hand pocket. It is impossible for me to reach it, but I think it should be possible for you to do so.”

  By dint of following Holmes’ instructions, I could manoeuvre myself into a position where I was able to extract the roll of tools from his pocket. The rocking of the carriage as we travelled made it difficult for me to retrieve it, but at length it lay on the floor between our backs, and I could sense Holmes’ hands picking at it and extracting a small blade. In a matter of a few minutes, the pressure on my wrists was relaxed, and I was able to massage my aching wrists in front of my face. Holmes’ hands were likewise freed, I saw, and he turned and smiled at me.

  “ We must give the impression that we are still bound,” he told me. “ The bonds on our ankles must be untied, and then retied with a knot I will use that will make us appear to be captive, but will allow us to free our legs with a little extra pressure. Untie your ropes now. Do not cut them.”

  It was a few minutes before Holmes had the ropes on our legs adjusted as he wanted them. “ Keep your hands out of sight behind your back,” he told me, “ as if we were still captive. But before you do that, take this, and slip it inside your coat.” He passed me a heavy metal jemmy. “ You may find this useful. Now, let us assume the position which our captors expect.”

  In the event, it was not long before the carriage drew to a stop, and we were roughly assisted out of the carriage. I guessed from the sounds and smells that we were in the area of the docks, and this was confirmed when we shuffled along in our crab-like gait towards the gangplank of a ship that could only be the Friesland. I heard the sound of Dutch voices as we made our painful way up the gangplank.

  “ When I give the word, break your leg bonds in the fashion in which I instructed you, and use that jemmy in the best way that occurs to you,” Holmes hissed at me as we reached the deck.

  Waiting for us on board was a tall figure wearing a sailor’s pea-coat and a sailor’s cap, whom I recognised by his full beard as de Vries.

  “ Well, Mr. Holmes,” he greeted my friend, in an voice that betrayed hardly any trace of a foreign accent. “ So glad you could visit me here. And Doctor Watson, too. You are equally welcome, of course. I regret the fact that your sojourn with us will be necessarily brief, and you will be unable to complete the crossing to Rotterdam. But no matter.”

  During this mocking speech, I had observed Holmes’ eyes seeking around us. “ Now, Watson ! ” he cried, and moved quickly to free his feet from the bonds that wrapped them, darting to seize a boathook attached to the end of a long pole, and using it to knock to the deck the taller of our two guards. For my part, I was a little slower than Holmes, but was able to rid myself of the ropes, and pulled the jemmy from its hiding-place inside my coat. It was with a sense of satisfaction that I turned, my weapon in my hand, to the other cudgel-wielding brute, who stood, his mouth hanging stupidly open, seemingly almost unable to move, rigid with surprise. He raised a feeble hand to attempt to prevent me, but it was with a sense of great satisfaction that I was able to repay, with interest, the blows that he had inflicted earlier on Holmes and myself, and he joined his companion on the deck.

  I turned to de Vries, but Holmes had anticipated my move, and had the Dutchman pinned against a bulkhead, the boathook held horizontally and pressed against the other’s throat.

  “ You will never get off this boat alive,” growled de Vries.

  “ Oh, I think that will be easy enough to arrange,” smiled Holmes. “ Watson, please do me the favour of examining the contents of our host’s right-hand coat pocket. I advise you to use a little caution in the removal of what you may find there.”

  The Dutchman thrashed his arms in an attempt to stop my hands from entering the pocket, but Holmes applied a warning pressure to the shaft of the boathook, and the struggles soon ceased. To my surprise, I removed a heavy Enfield revolver, which I hefted, replacing the jemmy in my pocket.

  “ A British Army pistol ? ” I said.

  “ Hardly surprising,” Holmes laughed. “ Since you are so familiar with such weapons, Watson, you are best placed to make use of it in such a way as to make Sir Godfrey believe that any attempt to stop us leaving this ship with him as our prisoner will have a very painful result.”

  “ Sir Godfrey ? ” I exclaimed in astonishment. “ What on earth are you talking about ? ”

  “ See here,” said Holmes, releasing his grip on the boathook with one hand, and whipping off the other’s cap, to reveal a neatly trimmed, but balding, head of hair. “ And here,” he added, seizing and tugging at the Dutchman’s beard, which, to my complete amazement, came away in his hand, revealing a clean-shaven face that I recognised as that of Sir Godfrey Leighbury ! “ A very pleasant little run on your part, Sir Godfrey,” said Holmes, “ but one which has come to an end, I think.”

  “ Hardly that,” replied the other, as I suddenly felt the burly arm of one of the Friesland’s sailors encircle my neck and squeeze hard, causing me to drop the pistol. Holmes, I saw, was in a similar plight, with another of the sailors restraining him. We were unable to make any move as Sir Godfrey leaned forward and retrieved the gun. “ Mine, I believe,” he remarked cheerfully, pocketing the weapon once more. “ It is a little cold on deck,” he went on. “ Maybe you would be more comfortable in my cabin ? ” He gave an order in Dutch, and Holmes and I were ignominiously frogmarched to a small cabin in the superstructure of the steamship.

  Sir Godfrey sat himself behind a desk in the cabin, and placed the revolver meaningfully in front of him. “ I will order these two,” jerking his head towards our two giant captors, “ to leave this cabin and wait by the door. They will, however, be quick to enter once they hear the sound of this pistol, which I will fire at you should you attempt to attack or get the better of me. In the case of either of these events occurring, you may be certain that your next words will be your last. Do you understand ? ”

  Holmes and I grudgingly showed our understanding and he spoke once again in Dutch, leaving the three of us alone in the cabin.

  “ I had sooner that you had not penetrated my disguise in front of the men. Still, what’s done is done, and I am sure you felt you were acting for the best. So,” and here he leaned forward, and smiled unpleasantly, “ what may I tell you ? Or maybe it would be better if you were to i
nform me of what you know, since it will be the last chance that you will have to show off your much-praised powers.”

  “ I know that you and your wife are behind the scheme to remove works of art from this country to the Netherlands, using these works of art to pay gambling debts incurred at an illegal gaming-house operated by you,” answered Holmes.

  “ Correct as far as it goes,” acknowledged Sir Godfrey.

  “ I also believe that this is not a child of your own brain, but was proposed to you by a certain Mynheer Besselink when you were posted to the Embassy at The Hague.”

  The effect on the other was extraordinary. He started forward in his chair, and gripped the edge of the desk, his knuckles turning white. “ How do you know of Besselink and his link to me ? ” he cried. “ I was under the impression that his name was unknown outside certain restricted circles.”

  “ My dear Sir Godfrey, it is my job to know what others would sooner keep hidden. The name of Jan Besselink has been known to me for some years as one of the foremost dealers in stolen artworks operating in the whole of Europe. I am reasonably certain that he advanced you funds that you had lost while gambling somewhere, and you were unable to pay, for whatever reason. He therefore suggested to you that you open your own gaming-house on your return to London, and pay back your debts with the money you took from your—shall I call them clients ? Your wife was to act as a buttoner.”

  “ I do not understand the term, Holmes,” I said.

  “ In the language of the underworld, a person who pretends to be a gambler, but is actually in the employ of the person or persons organising the gambling, encouraging others to lay down their money, is often referred to as a ‘ buttoner’. It would seem to me that Lady Celia played that part to perfection, encouraging her friends to visit the house in Finsbury, where they would invariably lose their money, and be forced to part with the family heirlooms in order to settle their debts. This followed from the substitution and sale of the van Dyck painting and of the diamonds in the brooch.”