黑彼得（3）

“Dear me! I must have a look at the matter.”

“I wish to heavens that you would, Mr. Holmes. It's my first big chance, and I am at my wit's end. For goodness' sake come down and lend me a hand.”

“Well, well, it just happens that I have already read all the available evidence, including the report of the inquest, with some care. By the way, what do you make of that tobacco-pouch found on the scene of the crime? Is there no clue there?”

Hopkins looked surprised.

“It was the man's own pouch, sir. His initials were inside it. And it was of seal-skin—and he an old sealer.”

“But he had no pipe.”

“No, sir, we could find no pipe; indeed, he smoked very little. And yet he might have kept some tobacco for his friends.”

“No doubt. I only mention it because if I had been handling the case I should have been inclined to make that the starting-point of my investigation. However, my friend Dr. Watson knows nothing of this matter, and I should be none the worse for hearing the sequence of events once more. Just give us some short sketch of the essentials.”

Stanley Hopkins drew a slip of paper from his pocket.

“I have a few dates here which will give you the career of the dead man, Captain Peter Carey. He was born in '45—fifty years of age. He was a most daring and successful seal and whale fisher. In 1883 he commanded the steam sealer Sea Unicorn, of Dundee. He had then had several successful voyages in succession, and in the following year, 1884, he retired. After that he travelled for some years, and finally he bought a small place called Woodman's Lee, near Forest Row, in Sussex. There he has lived for six years, and there he died just a week ago to-day.

“There were some most singular points about the man. In ordinary life he was a strict Puritan—a silent, gloomy fellow. His household consisted of his wife, his daughter, aged twenty, and two female servants. These last were continually changing, for it was never a very cheery situation, and sometimes it became past all bearing. The man was an intermittent drunkard, and when he had the fit on him he was a perfect fiend. He has been known to drive his wife and his daughter out of doors in the middle of the night, and flog them through the park until the whole village outside the gates was aroused by their screams.

 

“哎呀，我倒要来侦查一下这个案件。”

“福尔摩斯先生，我巴不得您这样做。这是我所遇到的第一个重大案件，可是我却毫无办法。看在上帝的面上，请您去帮助一下吧。”

“好，好，我刚好仔细读过目前所有的材料，包括那份侦查报告。顺便问一下，你怎样看待那个在犯罪现场发现的烟丝袋？那上面有没有线索呢？”

霍普金好象吃了一惊。

“先生，那是那个人自己的烟丝袋。袋子的里面有他姓名的第一个字母。是用海豹皮做的，因为他是一个捕海豹的老手。”

“可是他没有烟斗吧？”

“没有，先生，我们没有找到烟斗。他确实很少一抽一烟，他或许会为他的朋友准备一点烟。”

“有这种可能一性一的。我之所以提到烟丝袋，是因为如果我来处理这个案件，我倾向于把这个袋子做为侦查的开始。我的朋友华生大夫对于此案一无所知，至于我，再听一次事件的经过并无坏处，所以请你给我们简短地叙述一下主要情况。”

斯坦莱·霍普金从口袋中拿出一张纸条。

“我这里有份年谱说明彼得·加里船长一生做了什么事。他生于一八四五年，现年五十岁。他善于捕海豹和鲸鱼。一八八三年他当了丹迪港的捕海豹船'海上独角兽'号的船长。他连续出航了数次，全很有成绩。在第二年，一八八四年，他退休了。他旅行了几年，最后他在苏塞克斯郡，靠近弗里斯特住宅区，买了一小块地方，叫屋得曼李。在这里他住了六年，在上周被害死——

“这个人有一些很特殊的地方。在日常生活中他过的是严格的清教徒式的生活，他是一个沉默、一陰一郁的人。他家中有妻子，一个二十多岁的女儿，还有两个女佣人。佣人常常更换，因为环境使人感到不愉快，有时使人不能忍受。这个人时常喝醉，一喝醉就成了一个地地道道的恶魔。人们都知道他有时半夜把妻子和女儿赶出屋门，打得她们满园子跑，直到全村的人被尖一叫一声惊醒。