A. Conan Doyle Original Transcriber’s Note: This etext is prepared directly from an 1887 edition, and care has been to duplicate the original exactly, including typographical and punctuation vagaries. Additions to the text include adding the underscore character to indicate italics, and textual end-notes in square braces. Project Gutenberg Editor’s Note: In reproofing and moving old PG files such as this to the present PG directory system it is the policy to reformat the text to conform to present PG Standards. In this case however, in consideration of the note above of the original transcriber describing his care to ...Read More

CHAPTER II. THE SCIENCE OF DEDUCTION. WE met next day as he had arranged, and inspected the rooms at 221B, 5 Baker Street, of which he had spoken at our meeting. They consisted of a couple of comfortable bed-rooms and a single large airy sitting-room, cheerfully furnished, and illuminated by two broad windows. So desirable in every way were the apartments, and so moderate did the terms seem when divided between us, that the bargain was concluded upon the spot, and we at once entered into possession. That very evening I moved my things round from the hotel, and ...Read More

CHAPTER III. THE LAURISTON GARDEN MYSTERY 6 I CONFESS that I was considerably startled by this fresh proof of practical nature of my companion’s theories. My respect for his powers of analysis increased wondrously. There still remained some lurking suspicion in my mind, however, that the whole thing was a pre-arranged episode, intended to dazzle me, though what earthly object he could have in taking me in was past my comprehension. When I looked at him he had finished reading the note, and his eyes had assumed the vacant, lack-lustre expression which showed mental abstraction. “How in the world ...Read More

CHAPTER IV. WHAT JOHN RANCE HAD TO TELL. IT was one o’clock when we left No. 3, Lauriston Gardens. Holmes led me to the nearest telegraph office, whence he dispatched a long telegram. He then hailed a cab, and ordered the driver to take us to the address given us by Lestrade. “There is nothing like first hand evidence,” he remarked; “as a matter of fact, my mind is entirely made up upon the case, but still we may as well learn all that is to be learned.” “You amaze me, Holmes,” said I. “Surely you are not as ...Read More

CHAPTER V. OUR ADVERTISEMENT BRINGS A VISITOR. OUR morning’s exertions had been too much for my weak health, and was tired out in the afternoon. After Holmes’ departure for the concert, I lay down upon the sofa and endeavoured to get a couple of hours’ sleep. It was a useless attempt. My mind had been too much excited by all that had occurred, and the strangest fancies and surmises crowded into it. Every time that I closed my eyes I saw before me the distorted baboon-like countenance of the murdered man. So sinister was the impression which that face ...Read More

CHAPTER VI. TOBIAS GREGSON SHOWS WHAT HE CAN DO. THE papers next day were full of the “Brixton Mystery,” they termed it. Each had a long account of the affair, and some had leaders upon it in addition. There was some information in them which was new to me. I still retain in my scrap-book numerous clippings and extracts bearing upon the case. Here is a condensation of a few of them:— The Daily Telegraph remarked that in the history of crime there had seldom been a tragedy which presented stranger features. The German name of the victim, the ...Read More

CHAPTER VII. LIGHT IN THE DARKNESS. THE intelligence with which Lestrade greeted us was so momentous and so unexpected, we were all three fairly dumfoundered. Gregson sprang out of his chair and upset the remainder of his whiskey and water. I stared in silence at Sherlock Holmes, whose lips were compressed and his brows drawn down over his eyes. “Stangerson too!” he muttered. “The plot thickens.” “It was quite thick enough before,” grumbled Lestrade, taking a chair. “I seem to have dropped into a sort of council of war.” “Are you—are you sure of this piece of intelligence?” stammered ...Read More

PART II. The Country of the Saints. CHAPTER I. ON THE GREAT ALKALI PLAIN. IN the central portion of great North American Continent there lies an arid and repulsive desert, which for many a long year served as a barrier against the advance of civilisation. From the Sierra Nevada to Nebraska, and from the Yellowstone River in the north to the Colorado upon the south, is a region of desolation and silence. Nor is Nature always in one mood throughout this grim district. It comprises snow-capped and lofty mountains, and dark and gloomy valleys. There are swift-flowing rivers which ...Read More

CHAPTER II. THE FLOWER OF UTAH. THIS is not the place to commemorate the trials and privations endured by immigrant Mormons before they came to their final haven. From the shores of the Mississippi to the western slopes of the Rocky Mountains they had struggled on with a constancy almost unparalleled in history. The savage man, and the savage beast, hunger, thirst, fatigue, and disease—every impediment which Nature could place in the way, had all been overcome with Anglo-Saxon tenacity. Yet the long journey and the accumulated terrors had shaken the hearts of the stoutest among them. There was ...Read More

CHAPTER III. JOHN FERRIER TALKS WITH THE PROPHET. THREE weeks had passed since Jefferson Hope and his comrades had from Salt Lake City. John Ferrier’s heart was sore within him when he thought of the young man’s return, and of the impending loss of his adopted child. Yet her bright and happy face reconciled him to the arrangement more than any argument could have done. He had always determined, deep down in his resolute heart, that nothing would ever induce him to allow his daughter to wed a Mormon. Such a marriage he regarded as no marriage at all, ...Read More

CHAPTER IV. A FLIGHT FOR LIFE. ON the morning which followed his interview with the Mormon Prophet, John Ferrier in to Salt Lake City, and having found his acquaintance, who was bound for the Nevada Mountains, he entrusted him with his message to Jefferson Hope. In it he told the young man of the imminent danger which threatened them, and how necessary it was that he should return. Having done thus he felt easier in his mind, and returned home with a lighter heart. As he approached his farm, he was surprised to see a horse hitched to each ...Read More

CHAPTER V. THE AVENGING ANGELS. ALL night their course lay through intricate defiles and over irregular and rock-strewn paths. than once they lost their way, but Hope’s intimate knowledge of the mountains enabled them to regain the track once more. When morning broke, a scene of marvellous though savage beauty lay before them. In every direction the great snow-capped peaks hemmed them in, peeping over each other’s shoulders to the far horizon. So steep were the rocky banks on either side of them, that the larch and the pine seemed to be suspended over their heads, and to need ...Read More

CHAPTER VI. A CONTINUATION OF THE REMINISCENCES OF JOHN WATSON, M.D. OUR prisoner’s furious resistance did not apparently indicate ferocity in his disposition towards ourselves, for on finding himself powerless, he smiled in an affable manner, and expressed his hopes that he had not hurt any of us in the scuffle. “I guess you’re going to take me to the police-station,” he remarked to Sherlock Holmes. “My cab’s at the door. If you’ll loose my legs I’ll walk down to it. I’m not so light to lift as I used to be.” Gregson and Lestrade exchanged glances as if ...Read More

CHAPTER VII. THE CONCLUSION. WE had all been warned to appear before the magistrates upon the Thursday; but when Thursday came there was no occasion for our testimony. A higher Judge had taken the matter in hand, and Jefferson Hope had been summoned before a tribunal where strict justice would be meted out to him. On the very night after his capture the aneurism burst, and he was found in the morning stretched upon the floor of the cell, with a placid smile upon his face, as though he had been able in his dying moments to look back ...Read More