The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes | Page 3

she was accustomed to hand the meals. It
was already opened, and Hunter was seated at the small table inside.
She had begun to tell him of what had happened, when the stranger
came up again.
"'Good-evening,' said he, looking through the window. 'I wanted to
have a word with you.' The girl has sworn that as he spoke she noticed
the corner of the little paper packet protruding from his closed hand.
"'What business have you here?' asked the lad.
"'It's business that may put something into your pocket,' said the other.
'You've two horses in for the Wessex Cup--Silver Blaze and Bayard.
Let me have the straight tip and you won't be a loser. Is it a fact that at
the weights Bayard could give the other a hundred yards in five

furlongs, and that the stable have put their money on him?'
"'So, you're one of those damned touts!' cried the lad. 'I'll show you
how we serve them in King's Pyland.' He sprang up and rushed across
the stable to unloose the dog. The girl fled away to the house, but as
she ran she looked back and saw that the stranger was leaning through
the window. A minute later, however, when Hunter rushed out with the
hound he was gone, and though he ran all round the buildings he failed
to find any trace of him."
"One moment," I asked. "Did the stable-boy, when he ran out with the
dog, leave the door unlocked behind him?"
"Excellent, Watson, excellent!" murmured my companion. "The
importance of the point struck me so forcibly that I sent a special wire
to Dartmoor yesterday to clear the matter up. The boy locked the door
before he left it. The window, I may add, was not large enough for a
man to get through.
"Hunter waited until his fellow-grooms had returned, when he sent a
message to the trainer and told him what had occurred. Straker was
excited at hearing the account, although he does not seem to have quite
realized its true significance. It left him, however, vaguely uneasy, and
Mrs. Straker, waking at one in the morning, found that he was dressing.
In reply to her inquiries, he said that he could not sleep on account of
his anxiety about the horses, and that he intended to walk down to the
stables to see that all was well. She begged him to remain at home, as
she could hear the rain pattering against the window, but in spite of her
entreaties he pulled on his large mackintosh and left the house.
"Mrs. Straker awoke at seven in the morning, to find that her husband
had not yet returned. She dressed herself hastily, called the maid, and
set off for the stables. The door was open; inside, huddled together
upon a chair, Hunter was sunk in a state of absolute stupor, the
favorite's stall was empty, and there were no signs of his trainer.
"The two lads who slept in the chaff-cutting loft above the
harness-room were quickly aroused. They had heard nothing during the

night, for they are both sound sleepers. Hunter was obviously under the
influence of some powerful drug, and as no sense could be got out of
him, he was left to sleep it off while the two lads and the two women
ran out in search of the absentees. They still had hopes that the trainer
had for some reason taken out the horse for early exercise, but on
ascending the knoll near the house, from which all the neighboring
moors were visible, they not only could see no signs of the missing
favorite, but they perceived something which warned them that they
were in the presence of a tragedy.
"About a quarter of a mile from the stables John Straker's overcoat was
flapping from a furze-bush. Immediately beyond there was a
bowl-shaped depression in the moor, and at the bottom of this was
found the dead body of the unfortunate trainer. His head had been
shattered by a savage blow from some heavy weapon, and he was
wounded on the thigh, where there was a long, clean cut, inflicted
evidently by some very sharp instrument. It was clear, however, that
Straker had defended himself vigorously against his assailants, for in
his right hand he held a small knife, which was clotted with blood up to
the handle, while in his left he clasped a red and black silk cravat,
which was recognized by the maid as having been worn on the
preceding evening by the stranger who had visited the stables. Hunter,
on recovering from his stupor, was also quite positive as to the
ownership of the cravat. He was equally certain that the same stranger
had, while standing at the window, drugged his curried