The Valley of Fear (alternative version) | Page 6

which is surely something
gained. What other indications have we as to the nature of this large
book? The next sign is C2. What do you make of that, Watson?"
"Chapter the second, no doubt."
"Hardly that, Watson. You will, I am sure, agree with me that if the
page be given, the number of the chapter is immaterial. Also that if
page 534 finds us only in the second chapter, the length of the first one
must have been really intolerable."
"Column!" I cried.
"Brilliant, Watson. You are scintillating this morning. If it is not
column, then I am very much deceived. So now, you see, we begin to
visualize a large book printed in double columns which are each of a
considerable length, since one of the words is numbered in the
document as the two hundred and ninety- third. Have we reached the
limits of what reason can supply?"

"I fear that we have."
"Surely you do yourself an injustice. One more coruscation, my dear
Watson -- yet another brain-wave! Had the volume been an unusual one,
he would have sent it to me. Instead of that, he had intended, before his
plans were nipped, to send me the clue in this envelope. He says so in
his note. This would seem to indicate that the book is one which he
thought I would have no difficulty in finding for myself. He had it --
and he imagined that I would have it, too. In short, Watson, it is a very
common book."
"What you say certainly sounds plausible."
"So we have contracted our field of search to a large book, printed in
double columns and in common use."
"The Bible!" I cried triumphantly.
"Good, Watson, good! But not, if I may say so, quite good enough!
Even if I accepted the compliment for myself I could hardly name any
volume which would be less likely to lie at the elbow of one of
Moriarty's associates. Besides, the editions of Holy Writ are so
numerous that he could hardly suppose that two copies would have the
same pagination. This is clearly a book which is standardized. He
knows for certain that his page 534 will exactly agree with my page
534."
"But very few books would correspond with that."
"Exactly. Therein lies our salvation. Our search is narrowed down to
standardized books which anyone may be supposed to possess."
"Bradshaw!"
"There are difficulties, Watson. The vocabulary of Bradshaw is nervous
and terse, but limited. The selection of words would hardly lend itself
to the sending of general messages. We will eliminate Bradshaw. The
dictionary is, I fear, inadmissible for the same reason. What then is

left?"
"An almanac!"
"Excellent, Watson! I am very much mistaken if you have not touched
the spot. An almanac! Let us consider the claims of Whitaker's
Almanac. It is in common use. It has the requisite number of pages. It
is in double column. Though reserved in its earlier vocabulary, it
becomes, if I remember right, quite garrulous towards the end." He
picked the volume from his desk. "Here is page 534, column two, a
substantial block of print dealing, I perceive, with the trade and
resources of British India. Jot down the words, Watson! Number
thirteen is 'Mahratta.' Not, I fear, a very auspicious beginning. Number
one hundred and twenty-seven is 'Government'; which at least makes
sense, though somewhat irrelevant to ourselves and Professor Moriarty.
Now let us try again. What does the Mahratta government do? Alas! the
next word is 'pig's-bristles.' We are undone, my good Watson! It is
finished!"
He had spoken in jesting vein, but the twitching of his bushy eyebrows
bespoke his disappointment and irritation. I sat helpless and unhappy,
staring into the fire. A long silence was broken by a sudden
exclamation from Holmes, who dashed at a cupboard, from which he
emerged with a second yellow-covered volume in his hand.
"We pay the price, Watson, for being too up-to-date!" he cried. "We are
before our time, and suffer the usual penalties. Being the seventh of
January, we have very properly laid in the new almanac. It is more than
likely that Porlock took his message from the old one. No doubt he
would have told us so had his letter of explanation been written. Now
let us see what page 534 has in store for us. Number thirteen is 'There,'
which is much more promising. Number one hundred and twenty-seven
is 'is' -- 'There is'" -- Holmes's eyes were gleaming with excitement, and
his thin, nervous fingers twitched as he counted the words -- "'danger.'
Ha! Ha! Capital! Put that down, Watson. 'There is danger -- may --
come -- very -- soon -- one.' Then we have the name 'Douglas' -- 'rich --
country -- now