“Subtle enough and horrible enough.When a doctor does go wrong he is the first of criminals.He has nerve and he has knowledge.Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession.This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson,that we shall be able to strike deeper still.But we shall have horrors enough before the night is over;for goodness’ sake let us have a quiet pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more cheerful.”
About nine o’clock the light among the trees was extinguished,and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House.Two hours passed slowly away, and then, suddenly,just at the stroke of eleven,a single bright light shone out right in front of us.
“That is our signal,” said Holmes,springing to his feet;“it comes from the middle window.”
As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord,explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance,and that it was possible that we might spend the night there.A moment later we were out on the dark road,a chill wind blowing in our faces,and one yellow light twinkling in front of us through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand.
There was little difficulty in entering the grounds,for unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall.Making our way among the trees, we reached the lawn,crossed it, and were about to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness.
“My God!” I whispered; “did you see it?”
Holmes was for the moment as startled as I.His hand closed like a vice upon my wrist in his agitation.Then he broke into a low laugh and put his lips to my ear.
“It is a nice household,” he murmured.“That is the baboon.”
I had forgotten the strange pets which the Doctor affected.There was a cheetah, too;perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders at any moment.I confess that I felt easier in my mind when,after following Holmes’ example and slipping off my shoes,I found myself inside the bedroom.My companion noiselessly closed the shutters,moved the lamp onto the table,and cast his eyes round the room.All was as we had seen it in the daytime.Then creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand,he whispered into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to distinguish the words:
“The least sound would be fatal to our plans.”
I nodded to show that I had heard.
“We must sit without light.He would see it through the ventilator.”
I nodded again.
“Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it.Have your pistol ready in case we should need it.I will sit on the side of the bed,and you in that chair.”
I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table.
Holmes had brought up a long thin cane,and this he placed upon the bed beside him.By it he laid the box of matches and the stump of a candle.Then he turned down the lamp,and we were left in darkness.
How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil?I could not hear a sound,not even the drawing of a breath,and yet I knew that my companion sat open-eyed,within a few feet of me,in the same state of nervous tension in which I was myself.The shutters cut off the least ray of light,and we waited in absolute darkness.
From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird,and once at our very window a long drawn catlike whine,which told us that the cheetah was indeed at liberty.Far away we could hear the deep tones of the parish clock,which boomed out every quarter of an hour.How long they seemed, those quarters!Twelve struck, and one and two and three,and still we sat waiting silently for whatever might befall.
Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. Then suddenly another sound became audible—a very gentle, soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with his cane at the bell-pull.
“You see it, Watson?” he yelled. “You see it?”
But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I heard a low,clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it had died away into the silence from which it rose.
“What can it mean?” I gasped.
“It means that it is all over,” Holmes answered.“And perhaps, after all, it is for the best.Take your pistol, and we will enter Dr. Roylott’s room. ”
With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the corridor.Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply from within.Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his heels,with the cocked pistol in my hand.
It was a singular sight which met our eyes.On the table stood a dark-lantern with the shutter half open,throwing a brilliant beam of light upon the iron safe,the door of which was ajar. Beside this table,on the wooden chair, sat Dr.Grimesby Roylott clad in a long grey dressing-gown,his bare ankles protruding beneath,and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers.Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion.
“The band!the speckled band!” whispered Holmes.
I took a step forward.In an instant his strange headgear began to move,and there reared itself from among his hair the squat diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent.
“It is a swamp adder!” cried Holmes; “the deadliest snake in India.He has died within ten seconds of being bitten.Violence does, in truth, recoil upon the violent,and the schemer falls into the pit which he digs for another.Let us thrust this creature back into its den,and we can then remove Miss Stoner to some place of shelter and let the county police know what has happened.”
As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man’s lap,and throwing the noose round the reptile’s neck he drew it from its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm’s length, threw it into the iron safe, which he closed upon it.
Such are the true facts of the death of Dr.Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran.It is not necessary that I should prolong a narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back next day.