Sherlock Holmes and the Ghosts of Bly by Donald Thomas Read Free Book Online Page A

half-a-dozen matchsticks had been trodden into the ground. But Holmes was examining something I should have missed. In two places close together was the dottle from the bowl of a pipe, which someone had knocked out in order to refill it. Whoever it was had also spat several times on the soil.
    â€œIt seems that he stayed long enough to finish one pipe, light and smoke another, then knock that out as well before he left,” I said enthusiastically.
    Holmes straightened up.
    â€œThe number of matches may be more significant. If you look about you, this is far the best cover for a man to strike matches on a windy day. There is nowhere else. Even lower down in the lee of the railway embankment you could not do it with a south-westerly blowing half a gale.”
    â€œNot Reginald Winter,” I said, “He has a study to smoke in. More likely it was one or two of the boys taking shelter here for an illegal smoke.”
    He shook his head.
    â€œDear old Watson, you have such an eye for the obvious! I am quite sure that the boys of St Vincent’s stunt their growth by furtive smoking as surely as in any other school. However, I suggest that they are a little young for pipes. In any case, a packet of cigarettes is so much easier to conceal than a pipe with its cleaner, pouch of tobacco and all the rest of the paraphernalia.”
    I looked at the ground again.
    â€œWhy should Winter come here?”
    Holmes chuckled.
    â€œThe answer to that question will illuminate a good deal—when we find it. What we have here is a man alone. He takes shelter, knocks out his pipe and refills it. He smokes it through and knocks it out again. He must have passed some time here—half an hour I daresay. I suggest he can only have been here as a spy.”
    â€œWhen did he do it?” I asked, “That may tell us whether he was a spy or not!”
    Holmes looked about him.
    â€œEven concealed by these bushes, it takes him several attempts on that windy day to strike a match and light his pipe. See for yourself. Of the six matches lying there, four have burnt only at the tip because they were blown out at once. Only one has burnt far enough down its length to be effective in lighting a pipe. During the time he was here, the casual movements of his feet trod four of the matches into damp earth. I also observe that our smoker spat several times. It is a frequent accompaniment to the lighting of a pipe filled with strong tobacco. On Mr Winter’s mantelpiece you may have noticed an unopened packet of strong Old Glory Navy Cut. Many smokers use shag, but they are veterans rather than schoolboys.”
    â€œAll of which does not put Reginald Winter here on Sunday afternoon.”
    â€œQuite true. It is John Fisher who does that, without knowing it. Before he left us yesterday I asked him to supply me with a copy of Admiralty weather station reports for the past week from coastal stations between Plymouth and Dover. They arrived by first post this morning. Dame Fortune has placed a coastal station at Osborne Royal Naval College. It is about a dozen miles north of here as the crow flies. The weather last week produced light but constant rain. A force five wind from the Western Approaches picked up at noon on Sunday and blew until the small hours of Monday morning. Since then the reports record dry and mild weather with a light southwest wind.”
    â€œIn other words, the usual climate for May.”
    â€œI daresay. But if that evidence is to be trusted, it restricts our smoker’s occupation of this place to Sunday afternoon or evening. The boys are permitted to walk across the field on Sunday afternoon but you may be sure they and their headmaster are at chapel on Sunday evening. If Winter was here, I have no doubt he was spying on them. Perhaps to catch them meeting or talking to those whom they should not meet or talk to. I have scanned the regulations that Fisher was also good enough to supply. Any word