Sherlock Holmes and the Giant Rat of Sumatra (15 page)

As I made for my coat and hat, Holmes turned away and dismissed me with an airy flick of his fingers. I made sure that the door closed behind me with a most resounding thud.

By the time that I had stepped out on to the street once more, I found that the early-morning turmoil had lessoned somewhat and that my passage was to be considerably clearer. I turned into Marylebone Road once again and began moving instinctively in an easterly direction. I passed the magnificent waxworks exhibition of Madame Tussauds and before long, as I reached the entrance to the park, I realized that I was being drawn inexorably towards Russell Square!

I was not certain as to the reason for this diversion of mine or even what my expectations would be once I reached Collier’s hotel. Yet as I passed the turning into Gower Street I was suddenly consumed with a sense of dread that would not be allayed, and I turned away from my intended path. I decided there and then that it would better for me not to complete my journey; instead I would explore the Church of Christ the King, in Gordon Square, a building that had always held a certain fascination for me.

It was then that I caught a fleeting glimpse of a familiar figure in a crimson cape!

On this occasion there was little doubt in my mind as to the identity of this mysterious apparition and at once I took up the chase. I also committed the fundamental error of calling after him as I did so and, of course he immediately took flight. Being a highly skilled warrior, my quarry proved to be remarkably fleet of foot and I soon found myself losing ground to him.

I realized at once that there was no reasonable chance of my actually catching him, yet I remained resolute in my pursuit. Woburn Square turned into Woburn Place and at each corner that we turned I could not catch more that a tantalizing image of the tail of the cape as it disappeared into the next street. At last and inevitably I did arrive at my original destination, now breathless and perspiring freely. Not surprisingly, the object of my quest was nowhere to be seen.

As soon as I had fully recovered my composure I crossed the road towards Collier’s hotel and I immediately recognized Sergeant Rutherford, Lestrade’s ‘best man’, who had been left to stand vigil on the steps outside. I questioned him rigorously regarding the comings and goings at the hotel entrance that morning and he confirmed that he had not noticed anyone untoward within a hundred yards of the place. He also informed me that the rear entrance was used exclusively for tradesmen’s deliveries and that it remained under lock and key when not in use.

I left the officer to his duties and smoked a cigarette while I weighed up my options. There was little doubt in my mind that my futile pursuit of Tilat would have affected Holmes’s plans in one of two ways. Tilat would now be aware that any attempt that he might now make to meet Collier would no longer remain undetected. He would surely abandon his plans for recovering the beladau and go to ground before returning once more to his people in the East. All would be lost and I was certain that Holmes would be inconsolable.

On a more positive note, there was a realistic chance that Tilat would now become desperate and throw caution to the wind. This, of course, would greatly increase the chances of the Irregulars coming across Tilat’s bolt hole and I would need to return to Baker Street before we received word from them.

I threw my cigarette to the gutter and decided to satisfy myself as to Collier’s welfare before taking a cab back to our rooms. I was
gratified to note that due vigilance was being observed by the concierge, and that I was not allowed to mount the stairs until Rutherford had confirmed my identity to him. Collier’s room was situated on a secluded corridor on the second floor. The only window that serviced the corridor was tiny and secure and I realized that Collier had chosen well.

Collier called out in order to confirm that it was safe to let me in, and appeared most relieved to see me once he had eventually turned the key to his door. I was shocked to note the effect that this period of seclusion had had on his appearance. He was clearly in need of a shave and a hairbrush. An untouched tray of food and his emaciated grey countenance told of at least one day without food. An ashtray full of the ends of his distinctive cheroots informed me of the manner in which he had spent his time. Of course this was confirmed by the dense fog of smoke that now pervaded the room. This was made worse by the windows being left closed and locked, as a precaution.

‘Oh Doctor, perhaps you can let me know for how much longer I am to remain incarcerated?’ he exclaimed, pulling upon my coat collar as he beseeched me for information. ‘Sergeant Rutherford has been very kind and efficient, but he is hardly very forthcoming.’

‘My dear fellow, it shall not be for much longer, I can assure you. Mr Holmes’s plans are now well progressed and he is confident that the danger that now threatens you will soon be removed for ever.’ I placed a reassuring hand upon the young man’s shoulders, to help to confirm my statement. I then informed him of the events that had taken place at the shipping office and the involvement of the Baker Street Irregulars without revealing anything that might have disturbed him further.

‘Thank you, Doctor.’ Collier smiled weakly. ‘Please inform Mr Holmes that whatever the nature of the dark forces that are abroad, I would like to be present at the death.’

I was greatly moved by the intensity and the sincerity of Collier’s request.

‘I believe that you have earned at least that much,’ I assured him. ‘You should be fully prepared for a call from Sergeant Rutherford, for from the moment that it comes there will be little or no time to lose!’

With that I shook him by the hand and took my leave. ‘Gunner’ King ensured me a speedy return to 221B, but when I burst in upon Holmes I found him in a most melancholy frame of mind. I would not have normally expected any form of an apology from my proud friend; a wave of his hand towards the table by the side of my chair was the nearest that I was ever likely to receive from him.

I followed his gesture and discovered that the table contained a glass of my favourite port and one of his finest cigars. It seemed as if he had not moved a jot throughout my absence, for he still sat with his back to the door. He turned now, slowly and diffidently towards me, so that he could witness my reaction. I could not help but smile at his attempt at reconciliation and he knew it.

‘Ha, Watson! I had hoped that my humble offering would tempt you into returning to the fold.’

‘It was very kind of you,’ I grudgingly conceded.

Realizing that I was not to be so easily won over, he ran across to me and offered to put a light to my cigar.

‘Watson, you should not be too dismayed at my harsh treatment of your literary skills. After all, as you so correctly observed, my mood has not been best served by this interminable waiting. Besides which, your work has much merit in it and you should remember that I certainly have no proficiency in the skills of a scribe.’

With these words the whole matter was duly dismissed from Holmes’s mind and he set to making his plans preparatory to receiving word from the Irregulars. Before he was able to proceed
further, however, I thought it best to inform him without delay of my encounter, on the way to Russell Square and the state of affairs at Collier’s hotel. I fully expected to receive another vitriolic condemnation for having placed his plans in jeopardy, but again I was to be pleasantly surprised.

‘Well, well, so it fell to you, friend Watson, to accelerate the turning of the wheels. I should not be at all surprised if we were to receive word from Wiggins before the morning.’ Without another word Holmes picked up his violin and treated me to a delightful rendition of Bruch’s sublime concerto. Under the circumstances it seemed miraculous to me that he was able to do so without hitting a single false note.

By the time that the supper things had been removed all thoughts of Bruch had been long forgotten and Holmes began to pace the room once more as his frustration steadily increased. I tried to distract myself from his angst by diving into the morning papers once again. However, after an hour or so had passed and I had had little success, I found that the effects of the fire and my port were gradually luring me to my room. I decided to abandon Holmes to his prowling and his pipes and a short while later I fell into a wonderful sound sleep.

My consciousness had neither the time nor the inclination for troubling thoughts or dreams and I was only disturbed from my slumber when a vicelike grip fastened itself upon my left shoulder. With a groan I rolled myself slowly over on to my back, to find Holmes glaring down upon me with the glint of excitement shining from his tired eyes. He could barely suppress a smile of anticipation at the thought of the imminent conclusion to the case.

‘Watson, our journey is nearly over. Do stir yourself, for Lestrade and “Gunner” King are awaiting us in a cab on the street below!’

‘Holmes, why is it that the defining moment in every case
seems to occur at half past four in the morning?’ I asked wearily, once I had glanced at my clock.

‘Do not concern yourself with such things, for time is of the very essence,’ Holmes reminded me as he left my room.

A moment later, before I had even pulled back my blanket, he was back and calling through the door.

‘Do not forget to take all precautions.’ By which he was prompting me to ensure that my loaded army revolver was with me when I left the room. My years of army life had trained me for preparation at a moment’s notice. Consequently I was dressed and my revolver was loaded and primed for action in less than four minutes.

I patted my coat pocket for reassurance as I closed my bedroom door behind me.

B
y the time that I had reached the cab, King already had his whip poised above his head and we set off at once at a cracking gallop towards Daniel Collier’s hotel.

Young Wiggins was perched on a seat opposite to that of Holmes and a zealous Lestrade made up the quartet. As I shuffled into my seat Wiggins was in the process of describing to Holmes the lengths that he and the other Irregulars had gone to in tracking down the elusive man from Sumatra.

‘It weren’t easy, Mr ’Olmes, I can tell yer. Me an’ the lads must ’ave been up and down the water’s edge a dozen times or more before we find ’im. Them docklands ain’t no walk in the park, in the dead of night, neither.

‘But we put the word about, you see, and when young Corky ’eard of a run-down old ware’ouse down near the Canary docks he got as close as he dare so he could get a good dekko. From what you told me about his get-up, Corky knew ’e ain’t made no mistake!’

By the time that Wiggins had finished his report, Holmes was chuckling to himself at Wiggins’s notion that he would need persuasion to hand over the proper wage for the job.

‘You have all done exceptionally well; however, I will still
require you to point out to us the exact situation of the warehouse before we deposit you at a safe distance from whatever might occur.’ As he spoke, Holmes began to count out the coins into the extended and eager palm of the young street Arab.

‘That’s very generous of you, Mr ’olmes. The lads will be pleased and no mistake.’

‘Do not forget your promise that the bonus is to spent on new mittens for you all.’ Holmes smiled.

‘Mr ’Olmes,’ Wiggins responded in a tone of mock indignation, ‘as if me and the lads would squander it on anything else!’

Holmes cast him a momentary look of suspicion before turning his attention to the man from Scotland Yard.

‘Now, Inspector, are you able to confirm that all of your arrangements have been set in motion?’

‘I am, Mr Holmes. I will have a dozen men or more cordoning off the entire area, in case this fellow should slip past us, and I have arranged for two of these new police steam launches to patrol the waters to ensure that he does not make it to the
Bellerophon
.’

I should point out here that, just prior to my entering the cab Wiggins had been explaining how he had also ascertained that Tilat had arranged a passage for himself aboard a small Greek schooner, the
Bellerophon
, which was scheduled to depart for the East at first light that very morning! Evidently my near confrontation, with Tilat had brought events forward considerably and ‘Gunner’ King seemed to be well aware of the urgency, if his current rate of progress was anything to judge by.

‘You have done well, Inspector. Every eventuality has now been anticipated and I am certain that this affair can be brought to a satisfactory conclusion on this very morning!’ Holmes enthusiastically declared.

We arrived at Collier’s hotel in what, I am certain, was record time. We were gratified to see that the dishevelled young archaeologist
met us at the cab most promptly, with the ever vigilant Sergeant Rutherford in a close attendance. With our party now complete, we set off for Canary Wharf!

The deserted streets were bathed in the cold grey light of a dozen gas lamps, which gradually became rarer and dimmer as we drew ever closer to the river. The echoes from the horse’s hoofs seemed to resound throughout every corner of the city and we soon realized that the element of surprise would surely be lost unless we slowed the speed of our approach. King was not unmindful of this and as we slowed to a walk I could sense the growing tension amongst the occupants of the cab.

Lestrade stared blindly ahead of him, unmindful of his surroundings as his mind played out every possible eventuality that he could imagine. Judging by the forlorn look on his face, none of them was good. For his part, Collier just seemed to be glad that he was at last able to escape the claustrophobic confines of his room. He was fired by the prospect of some excitement and he was constantly twisting the barrel of his revolver, as if there was a chance that he had missed a bullet on the last occasion he had checked them.

Wiggins was incessantly straining his neck through the window, so that he was able to give us as much warning as he could, before we came too close to Tilat’s hideout. Rutherford was every inch the resolute professional. He moved not a jot and his large, impassive face did not betray a single thought or emotion.

Holmes sat quite still, with his eyes tightly shut. A strange enigmatic smile, which occasionally touched his lips, seemed to indicate that the thought of the imminent confrontation had calmed his fraught nerves. All the while he was softly humming a few chords from the Bruch concerto that he had treated me to earlier.

The distant muffled groan of a ship’s fog horn warned us that we were now close to the water. Holmes’s eyes suddenly sprang
open, as if they had suddenly been released. He immediately offered cigarettes to each one of us, even to the boy, and I, for one, accepted mine with an unbecoming fervour. After all, a man can only get so much comfort from a cold hunk of metal in his pocket!

A thick dawn fog, which was flirting with the surface of the Thames, began to encroach beyond the waterline and one of its effects was to accentuate the penetrating echo from our horse’s hoofs. Mercifully, Wiggins grabbed Holmes’s coat sleeve at this moment and Holmes tapped softly on the roof of the cab. King promptly brought us to a halt.

Holmes ushered Wiggins from the cab and as he closed the door behind them he asked the rest of us to await his return.

‘I shall return for you once I have established that the way ahead is clear. King, it is imperative that you keep your noble beast as still and as silent as he is at the moment.’ Holmes ran his hand along the horse’s long and matted mane and, with the gangly urchin leading the way, the two of them were soon swallowed up by the all-embracing fog, which was thickening by the minute.

King had ensured that we were some way from a gas lamp when he had eventually pulled over, so that my watch was rendered useless in the near-darkness. I could, therefore, only guess as to the length of time that Holmes was away from the cab, but it certainly appeared to be considerably longer than the thirty minutes that he had subsequently assured me that it had been.

The tense and stilted silence within the cab was eventually broken by the sound of soft, muffled footsteps, which were coming towards us from the direction of the river. We assumed that the sound came from the feet of Holmes and Wiggins; however, we were still much relieved at the sight of Holmes’s smiling and eager face as he presented it through the open cab window.

‘Stealth and absolute silence are of the absolute essence if we are to thwart our opponent with the minimum of effort,’ Holmes
warned us as he beckoned us from the cab with a crook of his finger.

It was decided that ‘Gunner’ King was to remain at the ready with his cab, so that we were prepared for the eventuality of needing an urgent departure. The former artillery man pulled up his muffler and tugged down his cap as he set himself for what might have proved to be a lengthy vigil. Before we set off Holmes dispatched young Wiggins to return home, or to whichever door way would serve as one that night. We stood watching him flit from corner to corner, skilfully avoiding the glare of the gas lights, until we were certain that he was safely away from the area. Then we turned our attention to the river front and the matter at hand.

Naturally Holmes led the way, followed by Lestrade, Collier, myself, with Sergeant Rutherford holding back by a few yards at the rear. As far as the rest of us were concerned Holmes was surely leading us into the dark unknown. Every one of the narrow and cobbled alleyways that we were creeping along seemed to become ever darker and narrower as they sloped away before us towards the docks.

The thickening fog rendered the cobble stones damp and treacherous and they seemed to become looser and further apart the more we progressed. Consequently it became increasingly difficult for us to maintain a sure footing and I, for one, lost mine on several occasions. The sound of barges setting off their warning horns gradually became more frequent and, though muffled by the fog, noticeably louder.

The need for a cautious silence was now more obvious than ever before and when Sergeant Rutherford could no longer contain his raw booming cough, Holmes turned and glared a warning in his direction. The big man mumbled an embarrassed apology and wrapped his scarf around his mouth.

In this manner we continued for a few more yards until Holmes indicated that he wanted us to crouch down low as a
further precaution against being seen. We followed his lead and our progress became yet slower and more uncomfortable. At last Holmes raised his hand above his head, which indicated that he wanted our tiny column to come to a halt.

We immediately closed up behind him, apart from Rutherford who continued to hold back. Holmes pointed towards a ramshackle, disused warehouse, which was situated directly upon the water’s edge. It was a red brick, two-storey building, whose metal roof was much corroded by mist and its large wooden door was only connected to its frame by a single hinge.

To the right of the building I could just make out the distinctive and ghostly outline of the
Matilda Briggs
. I watched for a moment while the chill breeze blowing up from the estuary was causing the fog to dance around the tips of the ship’s bare masts in strange spectral patterns.

Berthed to the left of the steam clipper could be seen the smaller shape of a schooner. We subsequently discovered that she was the
Bellerophon
, the very ship upon which Tilat had arranged to escape. We could make out activity on the deck, which confirmed Wiggins’s assertion that she was planning a dawn departure; we could only hope that Tilat had not yet taken up his berth. A moment later we realized that our fears were unfounded.

‘It would seem that Wiggins has surely hit the mark,’ Holmes whispered. ‘See, even now a light burning inside the hut is clearly visible.’

Sure enough, we could just make out the dull orange glow of an oil flame seeping out around the edges of the precarious door. We all exchanged glances of relief, for we now realized that the object of our stealthy visit was undoubtedly still at home!

‘Watson and I will now approach the warehouse door,’ Holmes said, also indicating that my revolver should be at the ready by glancing towards the pocket of my overcoat.

‘That task should surely fall to Rutherford and myself, seeing as
we are the only members of the official force presently on the scene.’ However, Lestrade’s barely audible objections were irrelevant as Holmes was already halfway to the warehouse entrance and I was close on his heels. I fingered my revolver repeatedly as I crept up behind him and laid a firm grip upon its handle the moment Holmes had placed his hand upon the surface of the door.

From the very instant that the door began to move we realized that any hope that we might have had of catching the room’s occupant unawares was surely lost. Despite Holmes’s extreme caution there was no disguising the shuddering shriek that the rusty hinge immediately emitted. Holmes changed his tack at once and with a full swing of his boot he sent the door hurling to the ground with an almighty crash!

The remainder of our party caught up with us without delay and, with weapons drawn, we all entered the warehouse ready and prepared for the inevitable confrontation. I would not say that we were actually disappointed when this did not occur, because we each let out a deep sigh of released tension, once we had realized that the room was completely empty. Nevertheless it was disheartening to recognize that all of our efforts at apprehending Tilat appeared to have been thwarted at the very moment of our anticipated success.

It was left to Holmes to raise our flagging spirits once more.

‘Do not distress yourselves unduly, gentlemen, for all is not yet lost,’ he announced with an anticipatory smile.

‘How can you make such a statement?’ I turned on Holmes irritably. ‘The man we are after is nowhere to be seen!’

‘You know my method, Watson, and when I say to you that Tilat is still within our reach, you should know that I am not making an empty gesture of encouragement. Look around you and observe.’

Holmes raised the flap at the front of his lantern to add to the light generated by the small oil lamp in the far corner of the room.
The extra illumination revealed very little to me. The damp empty chamber was chill from neglect, and the plaster was crumbling away from its warped walls. A few broken tea chests were scattered around the room, their contents emptied or decomposed long ago. Then I noticed a small bundle, held together with string, that was lying on the floor close to the lamp. There was every indication that it might have been a collection of personal belongings. There was nothing more.

‘I can see nothing that would raise my expectations.’ I shook my head dejectedly.

‘Look at the remains of the oil in the lamp, Watson. Can you not see that it is almost full?’

‘Of course! The lamp has only been alight for a few minutes,’ I declared.

‘That and the fact that his meagre luggage is still here means that Tilat must be very close by. We would have noticed him if he had attempted to board the schooner,’ Holmes added.’

‘Perhaps we should examine his belongings while we have the opportunity?’ Lestrade suggested.

As usual Holmes was a step ahead of the official detective and he had already positioned his lamp on the floor next to the bundle when Sergeant Rutherford suddenly burst in upon us.

‘You had better come quickly and have a look at this,’ he called. ‘I do not know what to make of it, I am sure.’

Holmes jumped up from the floor and we all followed Rutherford back outside.

We found him pointing towards the rooftop of an adjacent warehouse that was no more than a stone’s throw away from the
Bellerophon
. Every so often a glimpse of the three-quarter moon was revealed by a momentary clearing in the constantly shifting fog. We followed the line of Rutherford’s arm and as the moon was revealed, for the briefest of instants, its cold, silvery light highlighted a startling sight.