The Isle of Devils (58 page)


        
So many of Holmes and Watson’s adventures were initiated during stormy weather, and elements of those descriptions are also found in this chapter, such that one wonders if he exaggerated some of those latter storms with remembrances of the great one on Bermuda (e.g.
The Five Orange Pips, The Problem of Thor Bridge, & The Adventures of Charles Edward Milverton and the Golden Pince-Nez
).


        
Watson’s war wounds would ache wearily at every sudden turn of the weather for at least twelve years after Maiwand (
The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor
).


        
Watson and Holmes were both fans of hard-boiled eggs for breakfast (
The Problem of Thor Bridge & The Adventure of the Retired Colourman
).


        
Like Watson before his walk about town, Holmes would obsess about the barometer and whether it would rain before he had a chance to explore the grounds where Charles McCarthy met his end (
The Boscombe Valley Mystery
).


        
One method by which we attempted to prove the authenticity of the Bermuda Manuscript was to try to match up the hurricane described with Watson with those known to have affected Bermuda during the year 1880. We almost determined the manuscript was a fake when it became clear that the only hurricane to hit the island that year occurred on August 29. This storm was accompanied by winds of ‘appalling violence,’ destroyed numerous homes and four churches, and ruined the local fruit crop. Since Watson clearly must have still been recuperating in the Peshawar base hospital on that day, this seemed an insurmountable problem. However, it was later pointed out that we have only Mr. Boyle’s word that the storm on that night was a true ‘hurricane.’ It may have simply been a very intense tropical storm, and the relatively inexperienced Watson would have had no frame of reference to determine otherwise. Thus, the ‘hurricane argument’ has little bearing on the potential authenticity of the Bermuda Manuscript.


        
The irony is that Watson would never discover the identity of the murderer in the
Mystery of Edwin Drood
, since Dickens died before he could finish it. Of course, it is possible that Watson was reading the ‘James version’ of the novel. In 1873, a young American by the name of Thomas James published a version of
Drood
which he claimed had been 'ghost-written' by Dickens’ spirit speaking through him. This created a great sensation and mixed reviews, but some critics, including Watson’s first literary agent Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, praised this version for its similarity in style to Dickens' work.


        
Mrs. Foster was not the only lady of the Canon to own a Derby tea-set. Mrs. Mary Maberley also considered it one of her prized possessions (
The Adventure of the Three Gables
).


        
Watson must have adopted Dr. Nemcek’s remedy of hot water and lemon, and taught it to Holmes, who offers Stanley Hopkins a cup during one of his visits to Baker Street (
The Adventure of the Golden Pince-Nez
).


        
Clearly Watson was too much of a gentleman to ever admit to Holmes that he found German music too introspective, since it was Holmes’ favorite (
The Red-Headed League
).


        
Now that we have Watson’s reaction to Lucy’s playing, we know what Watson was talking about when he told Holmes that “a well-played violin is like a treat for the gods” (Chapter I,
A Study in Scarlet
).


        
Given his general fondness for gaming, Watson was probably an avid whist-player, and he makes reference to it on multiple occasions in the Canon (including
The Red-Headed League & The Adventures of the Empty House, Devil’s Foot, & Mazarin Stone
). 


        
Clarets were often drunk by Watson and Holmes (
The Cardboard Box & The Adventure of the Dying Detective
).


        
Watson did not forget his experience with this comet vintage, for he later described Holmes “with a pleased and yet critical face, like a connoisseur who has just taken his first sip of a comet vintage” (
The Stock-Broker’s Clerk
).

CHAPTER IX: MURDER


        
The cause of Watson’s constricted pupils would be apparent to any medical man. Watson would one day have the unfortunate experience of caring for Isa Whitney, whose opium habit would cause him many physical symptoms, the least of which were his pin-point pupils (
The Man with the Twisted Lip
). 


        
Although he made a hash of it due to his discomfiture over the proximity of Mary Morstan, Watson tried to recommend castor oil in large doses as a sedative for Thaddeus Sholto (Chapter IV,
The Sign of the Four
).


        
The use of brandy as a restorative was not uncommon during the Victorian Era. Amongst the times it was used in the Canon includes when Watson administered it to Percy Phelps (
The Naval Treaty
), Victor Hatherley (
The Adventure of the Engineer’s Thumb
), and Dr.
Thorneycroft
Huxtable (
The Adventure of the Priory School
).  Doctor Roylott half-heartedly used it on Julia Stoner (
The Adventure of the Speckled Band
). Holmes self-administered a dash after being half-strangled by Alec Cunningham (
The Reigate Squires
) and of course, it was used by Holmes to restore Watson after his first and only faint (
The Adventure of the Empty House)
. Mr. Melas, on the other hand, was so far gone, that he required the combination of both brandy and ammonia (
The Greek Interpreter
).


        
As an experienced army physician, Watson sadly would have had far too much experience with the effects of
rigor mortis
, the knowledge of which was also applied in the cases of Bartholomew Sholto (Chapter VI,
The Sign of the Four
) and the so-called Blessington, actually the bank robber Sutton (
The Resident Patient
).

CHAPTER X: A TANGLED SKEIN


        
‘A Tangled Skein’ is clearly one of Watson’s favorite terms, for he used it in multiple tales (
The Adventures of the Creeping Man & Wisteria Lodge
, plus Chapter IX of
The Hound of the Baskervilles)
. Even Holmes picked up on it and used it when he wrote one of his own tales (
The Adventure of the Lion’s Mane)
. 


        
Amongst Watson’s many attributes must be accounted both his bravery and his willingness to accept whatever task or risk was asked of him (demonstrated in many places, but directly referred to by the third-person author – presumably Sir Arthur Conan Doyle – of
The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone
).


        
The list of places that Dumas lived in as he tried to stay one step ahead of his pursuers has similarities to the movements of Drebber and Stangerson (Chapter V,
A Study in Scarlet
). The Dacre Hotel is where the Prince of Colonna lived while in London (
The Adventure of the Six Napoleons
). The Hôtel du Louvre is where the international agent Hugo Oberstein received his letters (
The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans
). The Hôtel Dulong is where Holmes recuperated after his triumph in the affairs of the Netherland-Sumatra Company and of the colossal schemes of Baron Maupertins (
The Reigate Squires
). Lady Frances Carfax stayed at the Hôtel National (
The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax
).


        
The translucent emerald-green jadeite derives primarily from two sources: Burma and Guatemala. While Watson was more likely to be familiar with the Burmese jade exported into China, in retrospect this was a missed clue that Dumas had spent time in Mesoamerica.


        
Twenty gold sovereigns corresponded to twenty pounds sterling. Since twenty shillings equaled one pound, this translated to four hundred shillings, or almost thirty-five days of half-pay (eleven shillings, six pence) for Watson. This was quite a bit of money to be carrying around, since in 2010 terms, twenty pounds was the equivalent of approximately £8400 ($13250). The
twenty fifty-pound notes was an almost inconceivable amount of money (£420000 or $660,000).


        
Receipted accounts also help solve the mystery of the death of Mr. John Straker (
Silver Blaze
). The bank of Cox & Co. at Charing Cross was, of course, the famous location where Watson eventually stored the unpublished adventures of Sherlock Holmes
(The Problem of Thor Bridge
). It merged with Lloyd’s Bank in 1923.


        
Including Fabian LaRue, New Orleans was the abode of unsavory characters such as the murderer Samson (Chapter I,
A Study in Scarlet
).


        
The mysterious slip of handwritten paper reproduced in the Bermuda Manuscript is reminiscent of the fragment written by the Cunninghams (
The Reigate Squires
) or the partial telegram of Godfrey Staunton (
The Adventure of the Missing Three-Quarter
).