The Last Deaths
But they did. The next morning we read in the
newspaper that John Openshaw was dead. A policeman
found him in the river near Waterloo station. The
The Five Orange Pips
37
police said it was an accident, but Holmes was very
angry about it.
'He came to me for help and those men murdered
him! I'm going to find them, if it's the last thing I do!'
he said to me, and he hurried out of the house.
In the evening, when he came back to Baker Street,
he was tired, but pleased. 'Watson!' he said, 'I know
the names of Openshaw's enemies! And now I'm going
to send them a surprise! This will frighten them!' He
We read in the newspaper that John Openshaw was dead.
38
Sherlock Holmes Short Stories
took five pips from an orange and put them in an
envelope. On it he wrote 'S.H. for J.C.'
'I'm sending the pips, not from the K.K.K., but from
me, Sherlock Holmes, to Captain James Calhoun. His
ship is called the Star. He and his men are sailing back
to Georgia, USA, now.'
'How did you find him, Holmes?' I asked.
'Ship's papers,' he said. 'I've looked at hundreds of
them today. Only one ship, the Star, was in the three
ports at the right times, and this morning the Star left
London to sail back to Georgia. I found out that the
captain and two of his men, all Americans, weren't on
the ship last night, so I'm sure they killed poor John
Openshaw. When they arrive in America, they'll get
the pips and then the police will catch them!'
Sherlock Holmes is a very clever detective, but he
can do nothing about the weather. The winter storms
at sea that year were worse than ever, and so the Star
never arrived in Georgia, and nobody saw the captain
or his men again. The murderers of John Openshaw
did not get the pips, but, in the end, death came to
them.
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