The Return of Sherlock Holmes | Page 7

whole, then, it was best that I should risk the climb.
It was not a pleasant business, Watson. The fall roared beneath me. I
am not a fanciful person, but I give you my word that I seemed to hear
Moriarty's voice screaming at me out of the abyss. A mistake would
have been fatal. More than once, as tufts of grass came out in my hand
or my foot slipped in the wet notches of the rock, I thought that I was
gone. But I struggled upwards, and at last I reached a ledge several feet
deep and covered with soft green moss, where I could lie unseen in the
most perfect comfort. There I was stretched when you, my dear Watson,
and all your following were investigating in the most sympathetic and
inefficient manner the circumstances of my death.

"At last, when you had all formed your inevitable and totally erroneous
conclusions, you departed for the hotel and I was left alone. I had
imagined that I had reached the end of my adventures, but a very
unexpected occurrence showed me that there were surprises still in
store for me. A huge rock, falling from above, boomed past me, struck
the path, and bounded over into the chasm. For an instant I thought that
it was an accident; but a moment later, looking up, I saw a man's head
against the darkening sky, and another stone struck the very ledge upon
which I was stretched, within a foot of my head. Of course, the
meaning of this was obvious. Moriarty had not been alone. A
confederate -- and even that one glance had told me how dangerous a
man that confederate was -- had kept guard while the Professor had
attacked me. From a distance, unseen by me, he had been a witness of
his friend's death and of my escape. He had waited, and then, making
his way round to the top of the cliff, he had endeavoured to succeed
where his comrade had failed.
"I did not take long to think about it, Watson. Again I saw that grim
face look over the cliff, and I knew that it was the precursor of another
stone. I scrambled down on to the path. I don't think I could have done
it in cold blood. It was a hundred times more difficult than getting up.
But I had no time to think of the danger, for another stone sang past me
as I hung by my hands from the edge of the ledge. Halfway down I
slipped, but by the blessing of God I landed, torn and bleeding, upon
the path. I took to my heels, did ten miles over the mountains in the
darkness, and a week later I found myself in Florence with the certainty
that no one in the world knew what had become of me.
"I had only one confidant -- my brother Mycroft. I owe you many
apologies, my dear Watson, but it was all-important that it should be
thought I was dead, and it is quite certain that you would not have
written so convincing an account of my unhappy end had you not
yourself thought that it was true. Several times during the last three
years I have taken up my pen to write to you, but always I feared lest
your affectionate regard for me should tempt you to some indiscretion
which would betray my secret. For that reason I turned away from you
this evening when you upset my books, for I was in danger at the time,
and any show of surprise and emotion upon your part might have
drawn attention to my identity and led to the most deplorable and

irreparable results. As to Mycroft, I had to confide in him in order to
obtain the money which I needed. The course of events in London did
not run so well as I had hoped, for the trial of the Moriarty gang left
two of its most dangerous members, my own most vindictive enemies,
at liberty. I travelled for two years in Tibet, therefore, and amused
myself by visiting Lhassa and spending some days with the head Llama.
You may have read of the remarkable explorations of a Norwegian
named Sigerson, but I am sure that it never occurred to you that you
were receiving news of your friend. I then passed through Persia,
looked in at Mecca, and paid a short but interesting visit to the Khalifa
at Khartoum, the results of which I have communicated to the Foreign
Office. Returning to France I spent some months in a research into the
coal-tar derivatives, which I conducted in a laboratory at Montpelier, in
the South of France. Having concluded this to my satisfaction, and
learning that only one