📝 您未登录，登录后完成练习可保存成绩、查看最佳记录。
总字符
0
正确字符
0
错误字符
0
错误率
0.00%
耗时(秒)
0
速度 WPM
0
0 / 70
1"Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow
2blotches of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look,
3as though the weight of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, when the maid, at Holmes' request,
4showed us the boots which her master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the son's, though not the pair
5which he had then had. Having measured these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes desired to be
6led to the court-yard, from which we all followed the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. Sherlock Holmes was
7transformed when he was hot upon such a scent as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of Baker
8Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black
9lines, while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. His face was bent downward, his shoulders
10bowed, his lips compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to
11dilate with a purely animal lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated upon the matter before him
12that a question or remark fell unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, impatient snarl in reply.
13Swiftly and silently he made his way along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of the woods to the
14Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon the
15path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and
16once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and
17contemptuous, while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the conviction that every one of his actions
18was directed towards a definite end. The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water some fifty yards
19across, is situated at the boundary between the Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. Above the
20woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich
21landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden
22grass twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact
23spot at which the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, that I could plainly see the traces which
24had been left by the fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager face and peering eyes, very many
25other things were to be read upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking up a scent, and then
26turned upon my companion. "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. "I fished about with a rake. I thought there
27might be some weapon or other trace. But how on earth--" "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its
28inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it
29would all have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo and wallowed all over it. Here is where the
30party with the lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or eight feet round the body. But here are
31three separate tracks of the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his waterproof to have a better view,
32talking all the time rather to himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he was walking, and once he
33ran swiftly, so that the soles are deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his story. He ran when he
34saw his father on the ground. Then here are the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It is the
35butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too,
36quite unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course that was for the cloak. Now where did they come
37from?" He ran up and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we were well within the edge of the wood
38and under the shadow of a great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced his way to the farther side
39of this and lay down once more upon his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he remained there,
40turning over the leaves and dried sticks, gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and examining with
41his lens not only the ground but even the bark of the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among the
42moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the
43high road, where all traces were lost. "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, returning to his
44natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a word
45with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the
46cab, and I shall be with you presently." It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove back into Ross,
47Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he had picked up in the wood. "This may interest you, Lestrade," he
48remarked, holding it out. "The murder was done with it." "I see no marks." "There are none." "How do you know, then?"
49"The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been
50taken. It corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other weapon." "And the murderer?" "Is a tall man,
51left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian cigars, uses a
52cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be enough
53to aid us in our search." Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he said. "Theories are all very
54well, but we have to deal with a hard-headed British jury." "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own
55method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, and shall probably return to London by the evening
56train." "And leave your case unfinished?" "No, finished." "But the mystery?" "It is solved." "Who was the criminal,
57then?" "The gentleman I describe." "But who is he?" "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a
58populous neighbourhood." Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, "and I really cannot
59undertake to go about the country looking for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the
60laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. Here are your
61lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before I leave." Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel,
62where we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in thought with a pained expression upon his face, as
63one who finds himself in a perplexing position. "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit down
64in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't know quite what to do, and I should value your advice.
65Light a cigar and let me expound." "Pray do so." "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about young
66McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One
67was the fact that his father should, according to his account, cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his
68singular dying reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but that was all that caught the son's ear.
69Now from this double point our research must commence, and we will begin it by presuming that what the lad says is
70absolutely true."
🎉 全部完成！共 70 行