The Valley of Fear | Page 6

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--at--Birlstone--House--Birlstone--
confidence--is--pressing.' There, Watson! What do you think of pure reason and its fruit?
If the green-grocer had such a thing as a laurel wreath, I should send Billy round for it."
I was staring at the strange message which I had scrawled, as he deciphered it, upon a
sheet of foolscap on my knee.
"What a queer, scrambling way of expressing his meaning!" said I.
"On the contrary, he has done quite remarkably well," said Holmes. "When you search a
single column for words with which to express your meaning, you can hardly expect to
get everything you want. You are bound to leave something to the intelligence of your
correspondent. The purport is perfectly clear. Some deviltry is intended against one
Douglas, whoever he may be, residing as stated, a rich country gentleman. He is
sure--'confidence' was as near as he could get to 'confident'--that it is pressing. There is
our result--and a very workmanlike little bit of analysis it was!"
Holmes had the impersonal joy of the true artist in his better work, even as he mourned