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第20章 波思克姆比溪谷秘案6(第2页)

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"Lookhere,Watson,"hesaidwhehwascleared,"justsitdowninthisdletmepreachtoyouforalittle。Idon'tkodo,andIshouldvalueyouradvice。Lightadletmeexpound。"

"Praydoso。"

"Well,now,ihiscasetherearetwopointsaboutyoungMcCarthy'sruckusbothinstantly,althoughtheyimpressedmeinhisfavourandyouagainsthim。Ohathisfathershould,agtohisat,cry'Cooee&#him。Theotherwashissingulardyioarat。Hemumbledseveralwords,youuand,butthatwasallthatcaughttheson'sear。Nowfromthisdoublepointourresearendwewillbeginitbypresumingthatwhattheladsaysisabsolutelytrue。"

"Whatofthis'Cooee'then?"

"Well,obviouslyitothavebeeheson。Theson,asfarasheknew,wasinBristol。Itwasmerecethathewaswithihe'eanttoattracttheattentiowasthathehadtheappoih。But'Cooee'isadistinctlyAustraliandonewhichisusedbetweenAustraliaroionthatthepersoneatBoseonewhohadbeeninAustralia。"

"Whatoftherat,then?"

Sherloestookafoldedpaperfromhispodflatteoable。"ThisisamapoftheyofVictoria,"hesaid。"IwiredtoBristolforitlastnight。"Heputhishaofthemap。"Whatdoyouread?"

"ARAT,"Iread。

"Andnow?"Heraisedhishand。

"BALLARAT。"

"Quiteso。Thatwasthewordthemanuttered,andofwhionlycaughtthelasttwosyllables。Hewastryihenameofhismurderer。Soandso,ofBallarat。"

"Itiswonderful!"Iexclaimed。

"Itisobvious。Andnow,yousee,Ihadhefielddowhepossessiarmentointwhitingtheson'sstateme,wasaty。WehaveerevaguehedefiionofanAustralianfromBallaratwithagreycloak。"

"ly。"

"Andonewhowasathomei,forthepoollybeapproachedbythefarmorbytheestate,wherestrangerscouldhardlywa;

"Quiteso。"

"Thenesourexpeditionoftoday。ByaionairifliailswhichIgavetothatimbecileLestrade,astothepersonalityoftheal。"

"Buthowdidyougai;

"Youkisfouheobservationoftrifles。"

"HisheightIknowthatyhlyjudgefromthelengthofhisstride。Hisboots,too,mightbetoldfromtheirtraces。"

"Yes,theywerepeculiarboots。"

"Buthislame;

"Theimpressionhtfootwasalwayslessdistinhisleft。Heputlessweightuponit。Why?Becausehelimped-hewaslame。"

"Buthisleft-ha;

"Youwereyourselfstruckbytheheinjuryasrecordedbythesurgeo。Theblowwasstruediatelybehioside。Now,howthatbeuwerebyaleft-handedmaoodbehindthattreedurierviewbetweeherandson。Hehadevehere。Ifoundtheashofacigar,whichmyspeowledgeoftobaccoasheseopronounIndiancigar。Ihave,asyoukedsomeattentiontothis,alemonographontheashesof140differeiesofpipe,dcigarettetobagfouhenlookedroundahestumpamongthemosswherehehadtossedit。ItwasanIndiancigar,ofthevarietywhicharerolledinRotterdam。"

"Andthecigar-holder?"

"Icouldseethattheendhadnotbeeninhismouth。Thereforeheusedaholder。Thetiphadbeenotbittenoff,buttheotae,soIdedutpe;

"Holmes,"Isaid,"youhavedrawhismanfromwhiotesdyouhavesavedahumarulyasifyouhadcutthecordwhiginghim。Iseethedireoiis。。。"

"MrJoh;criedthehoteleningthed-room,andusheringinavisitor。

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