Welcome to Storytime Classics! In this video, we present The Five Orange Pips, the fifth story from The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and published in 1891. This chilling mystery introduces us to a case involving sinister threats and a secret society. When young John Openshaw seeks Holmes’ help after receiving a strange letter containing five orange pips, Holmes realizes he’s facing a far darker and more dangerous conspiracy than he initially thought.
Though this is Part 5 of our audiobook series, viewers can watch The Five Orange Pips as a standalone story. If you’d like to explore the earlier cases, including A Scandal in Bohemia, The Red-Headed League, A Case of Identity, and The Boscombe Valley Mystery, you can find them on our Dailymotion and YouTube channel!
📚 About The Five Orange Pips:
In this gripping tale, John Openshaw's uncle and father die under mysterious circumstances after receiving letters containing five orange pips and the letters "K.K.K." After John himself receives a similar letter, he turns to Sherlock Holmes for help. As Holmes investigates the case, he uncovers links to an American secret society and a trail of murder and revenge that crosses the Atlantic. The story is one of the darker entries in the Sherlock Holmes series, with a menacing atmosphere and a sense of foreboding danger.
✨ Trivia and Interesting Facts:
The Five Orange Pips is one of the rare cases where Sherlock Holmes is unable to prevent tragedy, adding a sense of vulnerability to his otherwise infallible character.
The story is one of the few in the Holmes canon that features the Ku Klux Klan, an American secret society, as part of the plot’s background.
The use of coded messages and symbols, such as the orange pips, reflects Conan Doyle’s fascination with secret societies and cryptic communication.
This is one of the most suspenseful and eerie stories in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, and it has inspired numerous adaptations in radio, television, and other media.
First published in The Strand Magazine in November 1891, it is one of the more macabre and tragic stories in the Sherlock Holmes collection.
Credits: an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez
Text sourced from Project Gutenberg (www.gutenberg.org).
#sherlockholmes #TheFiveOrangePips #detectivefiction #arthurconandoyle #classicmystery #audiobook #victorianmystery #crimefiction #storytimeclassics #sherlockholmesaudiobook #fullaudiobook #literaryclassics
Though this is Part 5 of our audiobook series, viewers can watch The Five Orange Pips as a standalone story. If you’d like to explore the earlier cases, including A Scandal in Bohemia, The Red-Headed League, A Case of Identity, and The Boscombe Valley Mystery, you can find them on our Dailymotion and YouTube channel!
📚 About The Five Orange Pips:
In this gripping tale, John Openshaw's uncle and father die under mysterious circumstances after receiving letters containing five orange pips and the letters "K.K.K." After John himself receives a similar letter, he turns to Sherlock Holmes for help. As Holmes investigates the case, he uncovers links to an American secret society and a trail of murder and revenge that crosses the Atlantic. The story is one of the darker entries in the Sherlock Holmes series, with a menacing atmosphere and a sense of foreboding danger.
✨ Trivia and Interesting Facts:
The Five Orange Pips is one of the rare cases where Sherlock Holmes is unable to prevent tragedy, adding a sense of vulnerability to his otherwise infallible character.
The story is one of the few in the Holmes canon that features the Ku Klux Klan, an American secret society, as part of the plot’s background.
The use of coded messages and symbols, such as the orange pips, reflects Conan Doyle’s fascination with secret societies and cryptic communication.
This is one of the most suspenseful and eerie stories in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, and it has inspired numerous adaptations in radio, television, and other media.
First published in The Strand Magazine in November 1891, it is one of the more macabre and tragic stories in the Sherlock Holmes collection.
Credits: an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez
Text sourced from Project Gutenberg (www.gutenberg.org).
#sherlockholmes #TheFiveOrangePips #detectivefiction #arthurconandoyle #classicmystery #audiobook #victorianmystery #crimefiction #storytimeclassics #sherlockholmesaudiobook #fullaudiobook #literaryclassics
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FunTranscript
00:00The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
00:01By Arthur Conan Doyle
00:03The Five Orange Pips
00:05When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes cases between the years 82 and 90,
00:11I am faced by so many which present strange and interesting features that it is no easy matter to know which to choose and which to leave.
00:20Some, however, have already gained publicity through the papers,
00:23and others have not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend possessed in so high a degree.
00:29And which it is the object of these papers to illustrate.
00:33Some, too, have baffled his analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without an ending,
00:40while others have been but partially cleared up and have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to him.
00:51There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable in its details and so startling in its results
00:57that I am tempted to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are points in connection with it which never have been
01:02and probably never will be entirely cleared up.
01:05The year 87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater or less interest, of which I retained the records.
01:13Among my headings under this one 12 months, I find an account of the adventure of the Peridol Chamber,
01:19of the Amateur Mendicant Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a furniture warehouse,
01:25of the facts connected with the loss of the British bark Sophie Anderson,
01:29of the singular adventures of the Grice Pattersons in the island of Uffa,
01:33and finally of the Camberwell poisoning case.
01:36In the latter, as may be remembered, Sherlock Holmes was able,
01:40by winding up the dead man's watch,
01:42to prove that it had been wound up two hours before,
01:45and that therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time.
01:49A deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the case.
01:53All these I may sketch out at some future date,
01:55but none of them present such singular features as the strange train of circumstances
02:00which I have now taken up my pen to describe.
02:02It was in the latter days of September,
02:05and the equinoctial gales had set in with exceptional violence.
02:08All day the wind had screamed, and the rain had beaten against the windows,
02:13so that even here in the heart of great,
02:15handmade London we were forced to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life,
02:19and to recognize the presence of those great elemental forces
02:23which shriek at mankind through the bars of a civilization,
02:27like untamed beasts in a cage.
02:29As evening drew in, the storm grew higher and louder,
02:33and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in the chimney.
02:36Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime,
02:42while I at the other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea stories,
02:46until the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text,
02:50and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of the sea waves.
02:55My wife was on a visit to her mother's,
02:57and for a few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker Street.
03:01Why, said I, glancing up at my companion, that was surely the bell.
03:07Who could come tonight? Some friend of yours, perhaps?
03:10Accept yourself, I have none, he answered.
03:13I do not encourage visitors.
03:15A client, then?
03:17If so, it is a serious case.
03:19Nothing less would bring a man out on such a day, and at such an hour.
03:23But I take it that it is more likely to be some crony of the landladies.
03:28Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however,
03:31for there came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door.
03:35He stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself,
03:38and towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit.
03:42Come in, said he.
03:43The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the outside,
03:47well-groomed and trimly clad,
03:49with something of refinement and delicacy in his bearing.
03:53The streaming umbrella which he held in his hand,
03:55and his long-shining waterproof told of the fierce weather through which he had come.
04:00He looked about him anxiously in the glare of the lamp,
04:03and I could see that his face was pale and his eyes heavy,
04:07like those of a man who was weighed down with some great anxiety.
04:11I owe you an apology, he said, raising his golden pince-nez to his eyes.
04:16I trust that I am not intruding.
04:18I fear that I have brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug chamber.
04:23Give me your coat and umbrella, said Holmes.
04:27They may rest here on the hook and will be dry presently.
04:30You have come up from the southwest.
04:32I see.
04:33Yes, from Horsham.
04:35That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is quite distinctive.
04:40I have come for advice.
04:42That is easily God.
04:43And help.
04:44That is not always so easy.
04:46I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes.
04:47I heard from Major Printergast how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal.
04:52Ah, of course.
04:54He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards.
04:57He said that you could solve anything.
04:58He said too much.
05:00That you were never beaten.
05:01I have been beaten four times, three times by men, and once by a woman.
05:06But what is that compared with the number of your successes?
05:09It is true that I have been generally successful.
05:12Then you may be so with me.
05:13I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favor me with some details as
05:18to your case.
05:19It is no ordinary one.
05:21None of those which come to me are.
05:23I am the last court of appeal.
05:25And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you have ever listened to a
05:30more mysterious and inexplicable chain of events than those which have happened in
05:35my own family.
05:36You fill me with interest, said Holmes.
05:39Pray give us the essential facts from the commencement.
05:41And I can afterwards question you as to those details which seem to me to be most important.
05:47The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out towards the blaze.
05:51My name, said he, is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, as far as I can understand,
05:58little to do with this awful business.
06:00It is a hereditary matter.
06:02So in order to give you an idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the affair.
06:06You must know that my grandfather had two sons, my uncle Elias and my father Joseph.
06:13My father had a small factory at Coventry, which he enlarged at the time of the invention
06:17of bicycling.
06:18He was a patentee of the Openshaw Unbreakable Tire, and his business met with such success
06:24that he was able to sell it and to retire upon a handsome competence.
06:28My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and became a planter in Florida,
06:34where he was reported to have done very well.
06:36At the time of the war, he fought in Jackson's army, and afterwards under hood, where he rose
06:41to be a colonel.
06:42When Lee laid down his arms, my uncle returned to his plantation, where he remained for three
06:47or four years.
06:50About 1869 or 1870, he came back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham.
06:55He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his reason for leaving them
07:00was his aversion to the Negroes, and his dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise
07:05to them.
07:06He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of
07:13a most retiring disposition.
07:15During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I doubt if ever he set foot in the town.
07:20He had a garden and two or three fields round his house, and there he would take his exercise,
07:25though very often for weeks on end he would never leave his room.
07:29He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very heavily, but he would see no society and
07:35did not want any friends, not even his own brother.
07:38He didn't mind me.
07:39In fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the time when he saw me first I was a youngster
07:43of twelve or so.
07:45This would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years in England.
07:50He begged my father to let me live with him, and he was very kind to me in his way.
07:55When he was sober, he used to be fond of playing backgammon and drafts with me, and he would
08:00make me his representative both with the servants and with the tradespeople, so that by the time
08:04that I was sixteen, I was quite master of the house.
08:07I kept all the keys, and could go where I liked, and do what I liked, so long as I did
08:12not disturb him and his privacy.
08:14There was one singular exception, however, for he had a single room, a lumber room up
08:20among the attics, which was invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me
08:25or anyone else to enter.
08:26With a boy's curiosity, I have peeped through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more
08:32than such a collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such a room.
08:36One day, it was in March, 1883, a letter with a foreign stamp lay upon the table in front
08:43of the colonel's plate.
08:44It was not a common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all paid in ready
08:49money, and he had no friends of any sort.
08:51From India, said he as he took it up, Pondicherry postmark.
08:55What can this be?
08:56Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little dried, orange pips, which pattered down
09:02upon his plate.
09:03I began to laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight of his face.
09:08His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his skin the color of putty, and he glared
09:14at the envelope which he still held in his trembling hand.
09:17Cape, Cape, Cape.
09:18He shrieked, and then, My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me.
09:24What is it, Uncle?
09:26I cried.
09:27Death, said he, and rising from the table, he retired to his room, leaving me palpitating
09:33with horror.
09:33I took up the envelope and saw a scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap just above
09:39the gum.
09:40The letter K three times repeated.
09:42There was nothing else save the five dried pips.
09:45What could be the reason of his overpowering terror?
09:48I left the breakfast table, and as I ascended the stair, I met him coming down with an old
09:53rusty key, which must have belonged to the attic in one hand, and a small brass box like
09:58a cash box in the other.
10:00They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still, said he with an oath.
10:05Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my room today, and send down to Fordham the Horsham
10:10lawyer.
10:11I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived, I was asked to step up to the room.
10:15The fire was burning brightly, and in the grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes as
10:21of burned paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it.
10:26As I glanced at the box, I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was printed the treble
10:31K, which I had read in the morning upon the envelope.
10:34I wish you, John, said my uncle, to witness my will.
10:38I leave my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to my brother, your
10:44father, once it will, no doubt, descend to you.
10:48If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good, if you find you cannot, take my advice, my
10:54boy, and leave it to your deadliest enemy.
10:57I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't say what turn things are going
11:01to take.
11:02Kindly sign the paper where Mr. Fordham shows you.
11:05I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with him.
11:09The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest impression upon me, and I pondered
11:14over it, and turned it every way in my mind, without being able to make anything of it.
11:19Yet I could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left behind, though the sensation
11:24grew less keen as the weeks passed, and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our
11:30lives.
11:31I could see a change in my uncle, however, he drank more than ever, and he was less inclined
11:36for any sort of society.
11:38Most of his time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the inside, but sometimes
11:43he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy, and would burst out of the house and tear about
11:47the garden with a revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, and that
11:53he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by man or devil.
11:57When these hot fits were over, however, he would rush tumultuously in at the door and
12:03lock and bar it behind him, like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror
12:08which lies at the roots of his soul.
12:10At such times I have seen his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though
12:16it were new rays from a basin.
12:18Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to abuse your patience, there
12:23came a night when he made one of those drunken sallies from which he never came back.
12:27We found him.
12:29When we went to search for him, face downward in a little green scum pool, which lay at the
12:35foot of the garden, there was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep,
12:41so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, brought in a verdict of suicide.
12:46But I, who knew how he winced from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade
12:52myself that he had gone out of his way to meet it.
12:54The matter passed, however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and of
13:00some fourteen thousand pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank.
13:04One moment.
13:05Holmes interposed.
13:06Your statement is, I foresee, one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened.
13:12Let me have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and the date of his supposed
13:16suicide.
13:18The letter arrived on March 10, 1883.
13:21His death was seven weeks later, upon the night of May 2.
13:26Pray proceed.
13:27Indeed, when my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my request, made a careful
13:33examination of the attic, which had been always locked up.
13:37We found the brass box there, although its contents had been destroyed.
13:41On the inside of the cover was a paper label, with the initials of K. K. came repeated upon
13:46it, and letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register written beneath.
13:52These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had been destroyed by Colonel
13:57Openshaw.
13:58For the rest, there was nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many scattered papers
14:04and notebooks bearing upon my uncle's life in America.
14:07Some of them were of the wartime, and showed that he had done his duty well, and had borne
14:12the repute of a brave soldier.
14:14Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the southern states, and were mostly concerned
14:19with politics, for he had evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpetbag politicians
14:24who had been sent down from the north.
14:26Well, it was the beginning of 84 when my father came to live at Horsham, and all went as well
14:31as possible with us, until the January of 85.
14:34On the fourth day after the new year, I heard my father give a sharp cry of surprise as we
14:40sat together at the breakfast table.
14:41There he was, sitting with a newly opened envelope in one hand and five dried, orange pips in
14:48the outstretched palm of the other one.
14:50He had always laughed at what he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but
14:54he looked very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon himself.
14:58Why?
14:59What on earth does this mean, John?
15:01He stammered.
15:02My heart had turned to lead.
15:04It is Cape, Cape K, said I.
15:07He looked inside the envelope.
15:09So it is, he cried.
15:10Here are the very letters.
15:12But what is this written above them?
15:14Put the papers on the sundial.
15:15I read, peeping over his shoulder.
15:18What papers?
15:19What sundial?
15:20He asked.
15:21The sundial in the garden.
15:23There is no other, said I.
15:25But the papers must be those that are destroyed.
15:28Poo, said he, gripping hard at his courage.
15:31We are in a civilized land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind.
15:36Where does the thing come from?
15:37From Dundee, I answered, glancing at the postmark.
15:41Some preposterous practical joke, said he.
15:44What have I to do with sundials and papers?
15:46I shall take no notice of such nonsense.
15:49I should certainly speak to the police, I said, and be laughed at for my pains.
15:54Nothing of the sort.
15:56Then let me do so.
15:57No, I forbid you.
15:59I won't have a fuss made about such nonsense.
16:02It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate man.
16:05I went about, however, with a heart which was full of forebodings.
16:10On the third day after the coming of the letter, my father went from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who was in command of one of the forts upon Ports Downhill.
16:20I was glad that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from danger when he was away from home.
16:26In that, however, I was in error.
16:28Upon the second day of his absence, I received a telegram from the Major, imploring me to come at once.
16:35My father had fallen over one of the deep chalk pits which abound in the neighborhood, and was lying senseless with a shattered skull.
16:42I hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered his consciousness.
16:48He had, as it appears, been returning from Ferrum in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, and the chalk pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in bringing in a verdict of death from accidental causes.
17:01Carefully, as I examined every fact connected with his death, I was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of murder.
17:09There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads.
17:17And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been woven round him.
17:25In this sinister way, I came into my inheritance.
17:28You will ask me why I did not dispose of it?
17:31I answer, because I was well-convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as pressing in one house as in another.
17:43It was in January, 85, that my poor father met his end, and two years and eight months have elapsed since then.
17:50During that time, I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that this curse had passed away from the family,
17:56and that it had ended with the last generation.
17:59I had begun to take comfort too soon.
18:02However, yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in which it had come upon my father.
18:07The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and turning to the table, he shook out upon it five little dried orange pips.
18:16This is the envelope, he continued.
18:19The postmark is London, Eastern Division.
18:21Within are the very words which were upon my father's last message.
18:26Cape, cape, cape, and then put the papers on the sundial.
18:29What have you done?
18:30Asked Holmes.
18:31Nothing.
18:32Nothing.
18:33To tell the truth, he sank his face into his thin, white hands.
18:38I have felt helpless.
18:39I have felt like one of those poor rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it.
18:43I seem to be in the grasp of some, resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight and no precautions can guard against.
18:52Tut.
18:52Tut, cried Sherlock Holmes.
18:54You must act, man, or you are lost.
18:57Nothing but energy can save you.
19:00This is no time for despair.
19:02I have seen the police.
19:03Ah.
19:04But they listened to my story with a smile.
19:06I am convinced that the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with the warnings.
19:19Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air.
19:21Incredible imbecility, he cried.
19:23They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in the house with me.
19:28Has he come with you tonight?
19:30No.
19:30His orders were to stay in the house.
19:33Again, Holmes raved in the air.
19:35Why did you come to me?
19:36He said.
19:37And above all, why did you not come at once?
19:40I did not know.
19:41It was only today that I spoke to Major Printergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to you.
19:47It is really two days since you had the letter.
19:50We should have acted before this.
19:52You have no further evidence, I suppose, than that which you have placed before us.
19:58No suggestive detail which might help us.
20:00There is one thing, said John Openshaw.
20:03He rummaged in his coat pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discolored, blue-tinted paper, he laid it out upon the table.
20:11I have some remembrance, said he, that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the ashes were of this particular color.
20:21I found this single sheet upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction.
20:33Beyond the mention of Pips, I do not see that it helps us much.
20:37I think myself that it is a page from some private diary.
20:41The writing is undoubtedly my uncle's.
20:44Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from a book.
20:52It was headed, March, 1869, and beneath were the following enigmatical notices.
20:57Fourth, Hudson came, same old platform.
21:02Seventh, set the pips on Macaulay, Paramore, and John Swain of St. Augustine.
21:07Ninth, Macaulay cleared.
21:09Tenth, John Swain cleared.
21:12Twelfth, visited Paramore.
21:14All well?
21:15Thank you, said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it to our visitor.
21:20And now you must on no account lose another instant.
21:23We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told me.
21:27You must get home instantly and act.
21:30What shall I do?
21:31There is but one thing to do.
21:33It must be done at once.
21:35You must put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass box which you have described.
21:40You must also put in a note to say that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that this is the only one which remains.
21:47You must assert that in such words as will carry conviction with them.
21:51Having done this, you must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed.
21:56Do you understand?
21:58Entirely.
21:59Do not think of revenge or anything of the sort at present.
22:03I think that we may gain that by means of the law.
22:06But we have our web to weave, while theirs is already woven.
22:10The first consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens you.
22:14The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the guilty parties.
22:18I thank you, said the young man, rising and pulling on his overcoat.
22:23You have given me fresh life and hope.
22:25I shall certainly do as you advise.
22:28Do not lose an instant.
22:30And, above all, take care of yourself in the meanwhile, for I do not think that there could be a doubt that you were threatened by a very real and imminent danger.
22:39How do you go back?
22:40By train from Waterloo.
22:41It is not yet nine.
22:43The streets will be crowded.
22:45So I trust that you may be in safety.
22:47And yet you cannot guard yourself too closely.
22:50I am armed.
22:51That is well.
22:52Tomorrow, I shall set to work upon your case.
22:55I shall see you at Horsham, then?
22:57No.
22:58Your secret lies in London.
23:00It is there that I shall seek it.
23:02Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news as to the box and the papers.
23:08I shall take your advice in every particular.
23:11He shook hands with us and took his leave.
23:14Outside, the wind still screamed, and the rain splashed and pattered against the windows.
23:20This strange, wild story seemed to have come to us from amid the mad elements, blown in upon us like a sheet of seaweed in a gale, and now to have been reabsorbed by them once more.
23:31Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk forward, and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire.
23:39Then he lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair, he watched the blue smoke rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling.
23:46I think, Watson, he remarked at last, that of all our cases we have had none more fantastic than this.
23:53Save, perhaps, the sign of four.
23:55Well, yes.
23:56Save, perhaps, that.
23:57And yet this John Openshaw seems to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the Shultos.
24:04But have you, I asked, formed any definite conception as to what these perils are?
24:10There can be no question as to their nature, he answered.
24:13Then what are they?
24:14Who is this K-K-K?
24:16And why does he pursue this unhappy family?
24:19Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the arms of his chair, with his fingertips together.
24:25The ideal reasoner, he remarked, would, when he had once been shown a single fact in all its bearings,
24:32deduce from it not only all the chain of events which led up to it, but also all the results which would follow from it.
24:39As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole animal by the contemplation of a single bone.
24:43So the observer who has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both before and after.
24:52We have not yet grasped the results which the reason alone can attain to.
24:56Problems may be solved in the study which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the aid of their senses.
25:02To carry the art, however, to its highest pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to utilize all the facts which have come to his knowledge.
25:12And this in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and encyclopedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment.
25:23It is not so impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have endeavored in my case to do.
25:33If I remember rightly, you on one occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits in a very precise fashion.
25:42Yes, I answered laughing.
25:44It was a singular document.
25:45Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero.
25:49I remember, botany variable, geology profound as regards the mud stains from any region within 50 miles of town, chemistry eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature, and crime records unique, violin player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco.
26:10Those, I think, were the main points of my analysis.
26:13Holmes grinned at the last item.
26:15Well, he said, I say now, as I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-addict stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the rest he can put away in the lumber room of his library, where he can get it if he wants it.
26:28Now, for such a case as the one which has been submitted to us tonight, we need certainly to muster all our resources.
26:36Kindly hand me down the letter K of the American Encyclopedia, which stands upon the shelf beside you.
26:43Now, let us consider the situation and see what may be deduced from it.
26:47In the first place, we may start with a strong presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for leaving America.
26:55Men at his time of life do not change all their habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for the lonely life of an English provincial town.
27:05His extreme love of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from America.
27:17As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by considering the formidable letters which were received by himself and his successors.
27:25Did you remark the postmarks of those letters?
27:28The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the third from London.
27:33From East London, what do you deduce from that?
27:37They are all seaports.
27:38That the rider was on board of a ship.
27:41Excellent.
27:42We have already a clue.
27:43There can be no doubt that the probability, the strong probability, is that the rider was on board of a ship.
27:49And now let us consider another point.
27:51In the case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and its fulfillment.
27:57In Dundee, it was only some three or four days.
28:00Does that suggest anything?
28:02A greater distance to travel.
28:04But the letter had also a greater distance to come.
28:07Then I do not see the point.
28:09There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man or men are is a sailing ship.
28:14It looks as if they always send their singular warning or token before them when starting upon their mission.
28:20You see how quickly the deed followed the sign when it came from Dundee.
28:25If they had come from Pondicherry in a steamer, they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter.
28:31But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed.
28:34I think that those seven weeks represented the difference between the mailboat which brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the rider.
28:42It is possible.
28:43More than that.
28:44It is probable.
28:45And now you see the deadly urgency of this new case and why I urged young Openshaw to caution.
28:52The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which it would take the senders to travel the distance.
28:57But this one comes from London and therefore we cannot count upon delay.
29:02Good God!
29:03I cried.
29:04What can it mean, this relentless persecution?
29:07The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital importance to the person or persons in the sailing ship.
29:15I think that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them.
29:18A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way as to deceive a coroner's jury.
29:24There must have been several in it.
29:26And they must have been men of resource and determination.
29:29Their papers they mean to have be the holder of them who it may.
29:33In this way you see Kate.
29:35Kate, Kate ceases to be the initials of an individual and becomes the badge of a society.
29:41But of what society?
29:42Have you never?
29:44Said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and sinking his voice.
29:47Have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?
29:49I never have.
29:51Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee.
29:54Here it is, said he presently.
29:56Ku Klux Klan.
29:58A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to the sound produced by cocking a rifle.
30:03This terrible secret society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the southern states after the Civil War.
30:08And it rapidly formed local branches in different parts of the country.
30:12Notably in Tennessee, Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia and Florida.
30:18Its power was used for political purposes.
30:21Principally for the terrorizing of the Negro voters.
30:23And the murdering and driving from the country of those who were opposed to its views.
30:27Its outrages were usually preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic but generally recognized shape.
30:35A sprig of oak leaves in some parts.
30:38Melon seeds or orange pips in others.
30:40On receiving this, the victim might either openly abjure his former ways or might fly from the country.
30:47If he braved the matter out, death would unfailingly come upon him.
30:52And usually in some strange and unforeseen manner.
30:56So perfect was the organization of the society.
30:59And so systematic its methods.
31:01That there is hardly a case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with impunity.
31:06Or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the perpetrators.
31:10For some years, the organization flourished in spite of the efforts of the United States government and of the better classes of the community in the South.
31:19Eventually, in the year 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.
31:27You will observe, said Holmes, laying down the volume, that the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers.
31:38It may well have been cause and effect.
31:41It is no wonder that he and his family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track.
31:47You can understand that this register and diary may implicate some of the first men in the South.
31:53And that there may be many who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered.
31:56Then the page we have seen is such as we might expect.
32:00Iran, if I remember right, sent the pips to A, B, and C.
32:05That is, sent the society's warning to them.
32:08Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared or left the country.
32:12And finally that C was visited with, I fear, a sinister result for C.
32:16Well, I think, doctor, that we may let some light into this dark place.
32:21And I believe that the only chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have told him.
32:27There is nothing more to be said or to be done tonight.
32:30So hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable ways of our fellow men.
32:39It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the great city.
32:47Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came down.
32:50You will excuse me for not waiting for you, said he.
32:53I have, I foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of young Openshaws.
32:59What steps will you take?
33:01I asked.
33:02It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries.
33:05I may have to go down to Horsham, after all.
33:08You will not go there first?
33:10No.
33:10I shall commence with the city.
33:12Just ring the bell, and the maid will bring up your coffee.
33:15As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and glanced my eye over it.
33:21It rested upon a heading which sent a chill to my heart.
33:24Holmes, I cried.
33:25You are too late.
33:27Ah, said he, laying down his cup.
33:29I feared as much.
33:31How is it done?
33:32He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved.
33:36My eye caught the name of Openshaw and the heading, Tragedy Near Waterloo Bridge.
33:42Here is the account.
33:43Between nine and ten last night, police constable Cook of the H Division, on duty near Waterloo
33:49Bridge, heard a cry for help and a splash in the water.
33:53The night, however, was extremely dark and stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several
33:58passers-by, it was quite impossible to effect a rescue.
34:02The alarm, however, was given, and by the aid of the water police, the body was eventually
34:08recovered.
34:09It proved to be that of a young gentleman whose name, as it appears from an envelope which
34:14was found in his pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham.
34:19It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch the last train from Waterloo
34:24Station, and that in his haste and the extreme darkness, he missed his path and walked over
34:29the edge of one of the small landing places for river steamboats.
34:32The body exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that the deceased had
34:37been the victim of an unfortunate accident, which should have the effect of calling the
34:42attention of the authorities to the condition of the riverside landing stages.
34:45We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and shaken than I had ever
34:51seen him.
34:52That hurts my pride, Watson, he said at last.
34:55It is a petty feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride.
34:59It becomes a personal matter with me now.
35:01And, if God sends me health, I shall set my hand upon this gang, that he should come to
35:07me for help, and that I should send him away to his death.
35:11He sprang from his chair and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a flush
35:16upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and unclasping of his long, thin hands.
35:22They must be cunning devils, he exclaimed at last.
35:26How could they have decoyed him down there?
35:28The embankment is not on the direct line to the station.
35:32The bridge, no doubt, was too crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose.
35:38Well, Watson, we shall see who will win in the long run.
35:41I am going out now.
35:43To the police?
35:44No, I shall be my own police.
35:47When I have spun the web, they may take the flies, but not before.
35:51All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in the evening before I returned
35:56to Baker Street.
35:57Sherlock Holmes had not come back yet.
36:00It was nearly ten o'clock before he entered, looking pale and worn.
36:04He walked up to the sideboard, and tearing a piece from the loaf, he devoured it voraciously,
36:10washing it down with a long draft of water.
36:13You are hungry, I remarked, starving.
36:16It had escaped my memory.
36:18I have had nothing since breakfast.
36:20Nothing?
36:21Not a bike.
36:22I had no time to think of it.
36:23And how have you succeeded?
36:25Well, you have a clue?
36:26I have them in the hollow of my hand.
36:29Young Openshaw shall not long remain unavenged.
36:33Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish trademark upon them.
36:37It is well thought of.
36:39What do you mean?
36:40He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces, he squeezed out the pips upon
36:44the table.
36:45Of these, he took five and thrust them into an envelope.
36:49On the inside of the flap, he wrote, S-H-4-J-Mo.
36:54Then he sealed it and addressed it to Captain James Calhoun.
36:57Bark Lone Star, Savannah, Georgia.
37:00That will await him when he enters port.
37:03Said he, chuckling.
37:05It may give him a sleepless night.
37:07He will find it as sure a precursor of his fate, as Openshaw did before him.
37:11And who is this Captain Calhoun?
37:13The leader of the gang.
37:15I shall have the others.
37:16But he first.
37:18How did you trace it, then?
37:19He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with dates and names.
37:24I have spent the whole day.
37:26Said he, over Lloyd's registers and files of the old papers.
37:29Following the future career of every vessel which touched upon a cherry in January and
37:34February in 83.
37:36There were 36 ships of fair tonnage which were reported there during those months.
37:40Of these one, the Lone Star instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported
37:47as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to one of the states of
37:51the Union.
37:52Texas, I think.
37:53I was not, and am not sure which.
37:56But I knew that the ship must have an American origin.
37:59What then?
38:00I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the Bark Lone Star was there in January
38:0485, my suspicion became a certainty.
38:08I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present in the Port of London.
38:12Yes.
38:13The Lone Star had arrived here last week.
38:16I went down to the Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by the early
38:20tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah.
38:24I wired to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and as the wind is
38:28easterly, I have no doubt that she is now past the Goodwins and not very far from the
38:34Isle of Wight.
38:35What will you do then?
38:35Oh, I have my hand upon him.
38:38He and the two mates are, as I learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship.
38:43The others are Finns and Germans.
38:45I know, also, that they were all three away from the ship last night.
38:49I had it from the Stevedore, who has been loading their cargo.
38:53By the time that their sailing ship reaches Savannah, the mailboat will have carried this
38:57letter.
38:57And the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these three gentlemen are badly
39:02wanted here upon a charge of murder.
39:04There is ever a flaw.
39:06However, in the best laid of human plans, and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to
39:11receive the orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as resolute as
39:16themselves, was upon their track.
39:19Very long and very severe were the equinoctial gales that year.
39:23We waited long for news of the lone star of Savannah, but none ever reached us.
39:28We did it last year that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a shattered stern post of a boat
39:33was seen swinging in the trough of a wave, with the letters L.S. carved upon it.
39:39And that is all which we shall ever know of the fate of the lone star.
39:42So if we were to watch this sweet park, put along with the dice of the rough вкус and the
39:52hair part, put along with theeau in the inlet, he'll hear it from his pauses.
39:54And that was useful for theğim cui archipelago
39:55to see all the frutar that are often since Windows 1020, and that is not suspected.