Part Five
Bird in hand
Only after three unsuccessful all-night vigils to determine the meaning of the strange events occurring near the castle were we rewarded. We were waiting at the edge of one of the fields to the north of the castle. There was no moon and few sounds. Suddenly Holmes grasped my arm, saying, ‘Listen, can you hear it?’
At first I heard nothing and then I began to hear a hissing and threshing sound. The noise grew louder and louder and a great wind beat about our heads. A menacing black shape passed above us and then alighted in the adjacent field. ‘Now’s our chance!’ cried Holmes. ‘Come on, Watson.’
Our progress was arrested by a formidable hedge and it was some time before we broke through and rushed toward the strange shape that stood amid the wheat. It loomed dark and foreboding. I could not really understand what I was seeing. There was an arrangement of posts and bars surrounding a number of cylindrical shapes. However, the most remarkable features were four great arms that curved outward and downward from the centre of the machine. I could have been looking at a monstrous four-legged spider. A figure all in black was on top of the strange contraption. It was holding a large can and pouring a liquid into a container mounted at the juncture of the four great arms.
Holmes cautioned silence and we started to creep toward our goal. Suddenly we were spotted. The can was hurled to the ground. A lever must have been pulled and before we could advance further the great arms began to whirl and straighten up. Holmes was well ahead of me. The machine began to rise. Holmes made an athletic leap and gained a handhold on one of the bars. I was too late. I stood breathless beneath the machine as it rose. A fierce wind from the spinning arms beat against my head. I could just see Holmes clinging on as the awesome machine rose higher and higher, moved away and was lost from sight.
The dark of night had swallowed the machine and Holmes. There was nothing I could do to save my friend. I returned to the manor. There a search party was formed and set out at my direction toward where I assumed the machine had gone. Not until dawn did we come across Holmes. He was staggering across a field. His clothes were torn and he had a number of cuts and bruises. He said little as we carried him back to the house.
Later in the morning Holmes recovered sufficiently to recount his aerial adventure. ‘When I grasped the machine I had to gain a firm hold because I realized that it was leaving the ground. I had hardly achieved a safe position when I was set upon by the occupant. He was lithe and strong. We struggled together. He was intent on hurling me from the craft. I knew that if for a moment I were to relax my grip, I would be doomed. As we fought, the machine plunged and rolled alarmingly. Without its master’s hand on the levers it was possessed with the desire to dash itself onto the ground. I cannot recall what happened after that. All I remember is finding myself lying on the wet grass and feeling rather ill used.’
I listened intently to Holmes’ amazing account of his fight in the sky.
‘Did you have the opportunity to observe how the machine managed to rise from the ground and then, as it were, fly across the fields?’
‘No chance, Watson. I was far too occupied in frustrating my opponent’s attempt to evict me from the machine. However, I could not fail to be aware of the whirling and glowing mechanism just above my head and that I was being forced toward it.’
‘Have you any idea where the machine is?’
‘None. Now if we could return to where you found me I imagine it is not far away from there.’
Mindful of Mycroft’s warning that the nature of the device should not be revealed as public information, Wellbos suggested that only he should accompany us in our search. We retraced our tracks and arrived at the place where Holmes had been found. From that point onward, despite his injuries, he was able to exercise his undoubted skill as a tracker. He followed his own very faint footsteps and other clues until we reached the place where he had found himself lying on the ground. From there we spread out and moved in the direction indicated by Holmes. I was not surprised to note that we were moving toward the castle. A little further on we found a heap of tangled metal. The pipes, bars, rods and cylinders were all mixed up together. However, there were no traces of the man who had tried to kill Holmes.
Holmes moved from clue to clue. A spot of blood, a footprint, a broken branch and other signs that indicated that someone had moved away from the wreckage and toward the castle. His cousin held him back, saying, ‘No, it is much too dangerous to go any further. We shall either be shot at or caught in mantraps. Even worse, we could be set upon by ferocious dogs. We must wait for reinforcements.’
‘Yes, I agree,’ replied Holmes. ‘It is not so important now that we know the machine will never reach Dover.’
Part Six
Explanations
A number of officials from Horse Guards and the Aldershot balloon factory examined the wreckage of the machine. Its tangled remains were gathered up and taken away.
Later that day we stood outside the castle gate. We were accompanied by the county police and the detectives from Scotland Yard who had been instructed to work under the direction of Holmes. At the shout, ‘Open in the Queen’s name,’ the great gate of the castle was opened. Only a few servants were to be found. Of those who had devised and built the flying machine there was no trace. However we discovered a great quantity of different chemicals and machinery of various types.
‘The one person we must find is the Professor Bactrac referred to in the letter that was intercepted,’ said Holmes. ‘Mycroft tells me that he is a most distinguished scientist. At the same time he is a recluse which is why his absence from his home has not been noticed. It is surmised that he has been kidnapped and held in the castle and forced under duress to develop the flying machine. We are now faced with the question of where he is now.’
During our search of the apartments of the castle, Holmes observed a number of sycamore seeds lying on the stone floors. He stood looking down at them for some time and then said, ‘Observe that the seeds form a line leading to the wainscoting under that large painting.’
Not unexpectedly, considering the Tudor origins of that part of the castle, a secret entrance was revealed leading into a series of windowless rooms. We found many machines and materials.
We also found Professor Bactrac.
In reply to our questions he explained, ‘I was kidnapped and forced to develop a flying machine. I have no idea who my captors were. They threatened me with dreadful consequences if I did not obey them. I was given some notes written in German. From them I had to develop the design into a practicable machine. Apparently it was the invention of a scientist at Gõttingen. I was never told his name. I am most grateful to you gentlemen for rescuing me.’
‘Professor, you owe your deliverance to the acute observation of none other than Sherlock Holmes,’ said Lestrade. ‘It was he who observed the trail of sycamore seeds leading to the panel in the wainscoting.’
‘Indeed! I have been most fortunate,’ he replied.
As I was examining one of the many engineering drawings and documents we had found, I observed that written under the title and number on some of the drawings was the name James Fastnett; on others there was just a set of initials.
‘Professor Bactrac,’ I said, pointing to some of the drawings, ‘who is Fastnett, and whose initials are those appended to some of the drawings?’
‘Fastnett was an engineer, and the initials are those of the other engineer who translated the inventor’s notes and prepared the necessary engineering drawings, though I was never told his name. In addition to building the machine, they were both charged with venturing into the air with it. I believe that Fastnett met with an accident when testing the machine.’
Later we reviewed the case.
‘Well, Holmes,’ said I, ‘this appears to have solved the mystery of the unidentified man found under the tree, although we have not accounted for his fatal injuries. Also, I suppose we must presume that the fellow who tried t
o kill you survived the terrible crash to earth and has fled.’
Holmes replied, ‘They say that when your life is threatened and the end is near you recall many things from the past. When I wrestled with the driver of the machine, and death came close in the form of the hot whirring machinery, I remembered the dreadful injury to the man’s head. My head was about to suffer the same fate. I would be struck and hurled overboard. That is most certainly what happened to Fastnett. The poor fellow must have inadvertently raised his head too high. He was more than likely dead before he crashed through the branches of the oak tree.’
‘That explains much. Except there is one point I do not understand. Why were you so interested in the sycamore seeds found in his pockets?’
‘At the time I had no possible idea. It was only when I saw the machine for the first time did I notice that the lifting sails, even though bent in half, were identical with the shape of a sycamore seed. The seeds scattered about the castle had most likely been discarded during experiments with different shapes of lifting sails.’
‘Then we were correct in assuming in the first place that the machine was capable of rising vertically from the ground, and you mentioned the need to alight at intervals in order to replenish its container of fuel. I know little of mechanical matters although at least I can appreciate that, were the fuel supply to be suddenly empty, the machine would fall violently to the ground.’
‘Yes, Watson, that is quite so. This is where the seeds played their part in our adventure. You see, the professor had obviously observed what we all know: namely, that a pair of sycamore seeds spins round as it descends so as to slow its fall and allow the wind to disperse it away from the tree. When deprived of the power from the engine, the lifting sails of the machine behaved as if they were sycamore seeds, thereby lowering the machine gently to the ground.’
‘It was most observant of you to detect the line of seeds pointing toward the secret door.’
‘Indeed they did provide a clue but only to remind me that the wainscoting in old houses often have panels, projections and other decorative features that when pressed cause a hidden door to open. We would no doubt eventually have found the door after a systematic examination of the woodwork. I just happened to come upon the opening device purely by chance.’
‘Chance indeed,’ I commented and raised another point. ‘I recall you deduced that some horsemen had added to the flattening of the crops by making peculiar traces.’
‘Again a chanced observation. It had little to do with the saucer shape made by the machine. I deduced that one of the horses ridden by someone from the castle had been frightened and the rider had had some difficulty in controlling it.’
‘And another thing, Holmes. Why did you pay particular attention to the ground in the second field? Was that an important clue?’
‘Indeed it was. I detected traces of the aroma of oranges. Although I was not sure at the time, later I recalled the distinctive smell of Kohlenstoff’s powerful liquid used to produce artificial diamonds. That is what provided the immense power needed to elevate the aerial craft.’
Needless to say, Holmes received a letter of commendation from the Prime Minister along with a suggestion that he should consider accepting a title. The latter was greeted with a laugh and the comment, ‘Even if I were to be offered, however unlikely, a dukedom, I would refuse. If people wish to add just “Mr” to my name let them. Whatever I am called or will be called is of little interest to me. I doubt that it would affect my powers of deduction.’
This was a particularly remarkable case which Holmes had successfully solved, one in which he wrestled with a criminal up in the air, and realized that mankind was about to conquer the skies.
Notes
‘Horse Guards’, a location, refers to the offices of the commander in chief of the army and his staff. Not until ten years later would extensive reforms result in the establishment of an army council headed by the chief of the general staff.
Tracks in the Snow
In which a serpent is confronted.
Part One
High pressure steam
When I awoke I could see through my bedroom window that it was very dark outside. I glanced at the clock and was surprised how late it was. Looking again, I saw that London was enveloped, or rather was being suffocated, by one of its notorious fogs.
As I went down to breakfast I could hear Holmes and Mrs Hudson having, as they say, ‘words’.
‘Mr Holmes, I am not at all pleased to find such a mess in my kitchen.’
‘Come, come, I was only trying out a new formula that I am certain will revolutionize the detection of adulterated milk. As you must well know, there are unscrupulous dairymen who add chalk and water.’
‘Adulterated milk, Mr Holmes! You’ll find no such thing in my pantry.’
I stopped on the stairs until both parties had come to an agreement over Holmes’ use of the kitchen as a laboratory. My friend said very little as we breakfasted. I could tell from his manner that he had not prevailed against all of Mrs Hudson’s severe reservations concerning using the kitchen. Outside, the dense fog muted the usual rumble and clatter of vehicles and the shouts of people in Baker Street.
For more times than I can remember, breakfast was often that time of day when a letter or an important visitor arrived which would prove to be the starting point for another of our adventures among the webs of crime and mystery that had to be untangled. This was to be another such breakfast.
Mrs Hudson brought in a card. Holmes took one glance and said, ‘Please show Mr Ashendon up.’
Our visitor was a small rotund person of uncertain age. His ulster and hat were well worn and not particularly clean. Holmes, for a reason I could not understand at the time, was most deferential to our visitor and they were obviously well acquainted. He offered him one of his best cigars and some cognac. Despite his appearance, he appeared at ease in lighting the cigar and savouring the bouquet and regarding the colour of the cognac. He settled back in my favourite chair and said, ‘Holmes, your help is needed and needed quickly.’
‘Ashendon, I see from the name written against yours on this card that your visit and request for help is concerned with a matter of state.’
‘It is indeed. Charles Woolnough has disappeared. He must be found. It is now over a week since he left his house.’
‘Woolnough! I am not familiar with the name. Who is he?’
‘A scientist who is consulted by many companies when they have problems with steam engines. He has not been seen or heard from for two weeks.’
‘Steam engines, you say?’
‘Not just any steam engines. They are a type that uses steam at extremely high pressure. He is the foremost authority on the subject and that is why he must be found, presuming he is still alive, because he is working on the development of engines for Her Majesty’s ships that will enable them to steam halfway round the world without the need to stop to take on more coal.’
‘Serious, indeed,’ remarked Holmes. ‘Surely he is not the only engineer involved? There must be others with whom he works that could carry on the important development in the event of anything untoward happening to him?’
‘None, Holmes, none. The ideas are his alone. He does all his research in his house in Hampshire. There is great concern at the Admiralty that he may have been kidnapped by agents of a foreign power who would very much like to get their hands on the details of his engine, and in particular its revolutionary boiler. In the meantime there are warships in the yards whose machinery is only half finished. Every day that Woolnough is away the greater the chance that a foreign power may learn the secret and will gain an advantage over the Royal Navy.’
‘My brother’s name on your card is sufficient incentive to offer my services without delay. Shall we start our investigation at Woolnough’s house? If he agrees, I should like Doctor Watson to come with us.’
‘Yes, the house is the best place to start and Doctor Watson is most welcome to com
e along. The Hampshire constabulary will be advised of our intention.’
I indicated my willingness to accompany Holmes and Ashendon and, once again, have the opportunity to be a Boswell to Holmes.
Part Two
Sand and pines
The next morning we met Ashendon at Waterloo station. Despite, as he told us, being an experienced traveller by train, he was as baffled as we were by the confusing arrangement and numbering of the platforms. We had to spend some time going from platform to platform in order to be certain we had found the Southampton train and would not be carried to some remote branch line terminus in the wilds of Surrey or even Dartmoor.
Once started the journey was uneventful. We alighted at a station some twenty miles to the south of Winchester. A short cab ride and we arrived at the house of the missing scientist where we were welcomed by Mrs Proud the housekeeper and by Inspector Andrew of the local constabulary.
The first questions put to the housekeeper elicited that the scientist had had a visitor whose visiting card had disturbed him.
‘Mrs Proud, you say that your master was very upset when he looked at the visiting card,’ said Holmes.
Sherlock Holmes at the Breakfast Table Page 15