Unknown (7 page)

On the third roof, Gilligan kicked
the plank, which
had
served us so well, free of the side of the buildings, to forestall
any pursuit although there was none in evi
dence.

Behind us the sounds of conflict
were dwindling and
I
assumed the forces of law and order had arrived on
the
scene, but Holmes seemed to wish to avoid the Metropolitan
Police. So the three of us regained the cobble
stones
of the street in short order and dodged through a
series
of alleys until it was safe to call a halt to our
pell-mell
rush and hail a hansom.

The driver of the conveyance bad
heard the uproar
and
questioned us regarding it. Holmes satisfied his
curiosity
with the guess that there had been a raid on a
gambling
establishment, which was certainly the truth,
though
as we well knew it had not been a police raid.

4

The
Solving of a Message

31

When the hansom delivered the
three of us to 221B Baker Street, I couldn't help thinking that the
domicile of Mrs. Hudson had never looked more appealing.

Billy, the page boy, had the door
open before we
could
ring the bell.

"I give your message to Mr.
Gilligan," he stated to
Holmes
with a shy smile.

"And how fortunate for Doctor
Watson and myself
that
you did," replied Holmes.

I echoed this thought most
emphatically, though si
lently.

In the sitting room, with glasses
in our hands, we
tried
to make some sense from the pattern of madness
that
had been the road map of the past few hours.
Holmes
seemed in no hurry as he thoughtfully extracted
shag
from the famous Persian slipper and fueled his
pipe.
Nothing could shake the habitual calmness of
Slim
Gilligan, but then nerves of steel were what had
made
him the leading cracksman of his day, until he
had
abandoned the paths of the lawless because of his association with
Sherlock Holmes. One felt that Gilligan
had
seen so much in his colorful career that no surprises
remained.

Of course, questions bombarded my
poor befuddled
brain,
but fortunately I managed to preserve my silence as the quickest
means of learning what had been going
on.

Puffing furiously on his pipe,
Holmes finally broke
the
silence.

"Your
deus-ex-machina
appearance was
most fortunate for Doctor Watson and myself, Gilligan. Our
thanks."

The former safecracker gestured
aimlessly with one
of
his abnormally long and thin arms, as though rescues
from
rooftops were a daily occurrence.

"I knew you was on the
lookout for me, Mr. 'Olmes.
When
Billy told me you was investigatin' the Nonpareil
Club,
I figgered there moight be a little excitement so
ol'
Slim sneaked up on the locale—-sorta. I was a little
leery,
you see, because of that Barker fella."

"He contacted you?"
asked Holmes.

"By post. Kinda caught me off
guard 'cause I didn't
really
know the cove."

"He's dead," stated
Holmes flatly.

A nod was Gilligan's response. He
passed a sealed
envelope
to Holmes.

"Some light is coming to dark
places," said the
sleuth.
"Barker sent you a letter for delivery here. He
also
left a communique for me in his lodging. Let me
hazard
a guess that when I consider this letter in connection with the
one already received, the true message
that
Barker intended will be revealed."

Gilligan's brow was furrowed. "But
why would 'e
given a
message to me iffen I never even knew 'im?"

"Strangely enough, Watson
here is the answer to that. Barker was one of his devoted readers.
The letter he left
me
was full of references to those cases that Watson has
recorded
for the reading public. Obviously, the late in
vestigator
from Surrey knew of our close association, Gilligan."

He showed good sense there, I
thought, for Slim Gil
ligan
was one of the staunchest of Holmes's allies. The
safecracker's
head was now nodding in understanding.

"I will study this communique
later," continued
Holmes.
"For now other vistas beckon. Have you ever heard of an object
called the Golden Bird?"

The name meant nothing to Gilligan
and he indicated
as
much.

"It is an ancient art object,
a statue of solid gold."

Gilligan's lips pursed in a silent
whistle. "Iffen some
thing
like that was 'round, I should 'ave 'eard of it."

"It is but recently in
England," said Holmes. "That is
not
just a rumor, for Watson and I saw the object to
night.
Let us try another tack, Slim. Has there been any
unusual
robbery or incident lately that comes to your
mind?"

"Well, sir, always there's
somebody tryin' to take somefing from some other bloke. But wiv most
of the stuff wot's 'appened, I could make a fair guess as to 'oo
is
involved."

"As could I," said
Holmes. "So let us consider a mi
nor
incident, something with an unusual twist but seemingly
unimportant."

Gilligan's eyes narrowed in
thought. "There was that Chinaman off the
Asian
Star."

"Chinaman?" I said,
instinctively. "We were knee-
deep
in Orientals tonight."

Holmes's questioning eyes remained
glued to Gilli
gan.

"This 'ere Chinee got 'isself
knifed. Nothin' unusual
about
that. Them 'eathens gamble for fair and they got
Tongs
and feuds wot we don't know nuffin' abaht. The reason the story comes
to moind is that there was a fuss
abaht
'is belongin's after 'e got 'isself killed. Seems 'e
'ad
this 'ere idol. 'E was a common seaman on the
Asian
Star
and 'is
fo'c'sle mates' remember it right
enough.
But the bloomin' thing disappeared. Couple o'
slant
eyes turned up claimin' the seaman was a relative
and
the idol belonged to their family. Well, one Chinee looks pretty much
like another. Maybe these blokes was
'is
relatives 'n' maybe they wa'n't."

"Was it by chance an image of
Buddha?" questioned Holmes, his eyes alight with excitement.

"That's the nyme, Mr. 'Olmes.
You 'eard abaht it,
eh?"

"No," admitted the
sleuth, "but it is common for
those
of the Buddhist faith to carry an image of their
god
with them."

He sprang to his feet crossing to
the bookshelf. "I
believe
we have a lead here."

Holmes subscribed to a number of
periodicals of a specialized nature, and I noted that he selected the
latest
"Lloyds'
Shipping Guide" from a shelf. As Gilligan and
I
exchanged puzzled glances, my friend leafed rapidly
through
the pages, then read intently for a moment be
fore
turning to us with a triumphant smile.

"This tells a story.
Asian
Star
out of Hong
Kong.
Ports of call:
Colombo, Alexandria, Constantinople,
Trieste,
Venice, Lisbon, and London. Constantinople is
the
clue, of course, since it was the last-known locale of
the
Golden Bird until it appeared here in London."

"You associate a common
seaman with the theft of
the
Bird?" I fear my voice and expression registered disbelief, a
fact that did not bother Holmes.

"My dear Watson,
reproductions of the god Buddha
can
be considerable size. Being a religious piece, it
would
arouse no suspicions, especially from customs.
But
suppose within this Buddha figure was the rela
tively
small Golden Bird?" "

Holmes's logic had an immediate
appeal. "Of course,
the
Oriental seaman was but the means to bring the
Bird
into this country." Then another thought forced it
self
upon me. "But what is the significance of the China
man,
especially since Dowson's gaming house suffered
a
full-scale attack from Orientals?"

"Let us construct a
hypothetical situation," said
Holmes,
rather smugly I thought, "though I'll wager it
turns
out to be very close to the truth. The Golden Bird was stolen in
Constantinople at the same time that the
Asian
Star
was in
port. The Bird, secreted within the Buddha, came by sea, a trip that
would require consid
erable
time. We must assume that the robbery was engi
neered
by an Oriental or someone who employs Orien
tals.
When the
Asian
Star
arrives in
Southhampton, another factor is introduced. The messenger is
mur
dered and
the Buddha disappears."

"Dowson's gang," I
exclaimed.

"Employed by someone else,
also after the art ob
ject."

"The man with the lisp?"

Even the imperturbable Gilligan
registered surprise at this remark of mine.

"I doubt it," responded
Sherlock Holmes. "I rather
picture
him as an emissary. He was in Dowson's head
quarters
with a large sum of money and the possibility
of
double-dealing is to be considered. As an employee,
if
mischance befell him Dowson and his crew would be
open
to retaliation. But that's is not of importance.
What
does seem obvious is that the original instigator of
the
robbery in Constantinople learned that it was Dowson's gang that
had hijacked the Bird. Hence, the attack
on
Dowson's establishment."

"You've got it, Holmes,"
I stated with pride. "Two
gangs
are involved in this affair."

"There's little doubt about
that," admitted my friend.
"But
again the haunting question. Such elaborate mach
inations.
So much planning and manpower involved.
Why?
I will admit that twenty-five inches or so of solid gold is worth a
tidy sum, but surely not enough to war
rant
the efforts so far expended. Dowson's organization is for hire but
they command a heavy price."