Sherlock Holmes in Russia Read Online Free PDF Page A

well as members of the administration.
    Daily, as soon as work ended, Sherlock Holmes used to vanish till late at night. The result of his walkabout was that no worker could visit any member of the administration without Holmes noticing.
    One evening Holmes approached me, saying, ‘My dear Watson, the time has come for us to meet the mine detectives who do the secret watching.’
    â€˜Why, have you noticed something?’
    â€˜There are one or two things,’ he answered. ‘I have a feeling that Piotr Haritonovitch isn’t quite right when he says that the men who watch secretly are wrongfully trying to implicate the mine manager. I watched him for several days and noticed a very clever manoeuvre on his part.’
    â€˜Namely?’ I prompted.
    â€˜I noticed that he stopped for longer to watch work in progress where gold was densest. Let’s assume this is normal practice, but then he always finds an excuse to send away the supervisor on the spot. Of course, this shouldn’t be surprising either, as the manager is more likely to see something than asupervisor tired from a day’s supervision, but, in fact, this is not how it is. The labourers steal nuggets so skilfully that the attention of the supervisor has to wander for only a brief moment and the nugget vanishes. And our manager frequently pays no attention anyway. But then, late at night, two labourers he places at the best spots visit him.’
IV
    That very evening we dropped in on Piotr Haritonovitch.
    â€˜May I meet your so-called investigators?’ asked Holmes with the touch of a smile.
    â€˜Of course,’ was the answer. ‘Do you wish to see them here?’
    â€˜Are there many?’
    â€˜Not really. Only two.’
    â€˜Then let’s have them here,’ said Holmes with a nod.
    Piotr Haritonovtch Hromikh went off and was back twenty minutes later accompanied by two ordinary mine labourers.
    Holmes asked him to leave us alone with these investigators, which the owner did. He then proceeded to cross-examine the two men. From what they said, Holmes learned that the manager bought gold only from two workmen. These two workmen, in their turn, bought up stolen gold from the rest of the mineworkers in exchange for spirits given them by the manager. The whole operation was carried out so carefully that there was no evidence leading to the manager. As regards how much gold was stolen, this could only be established by the number of drunkards. At first it was thought that the gold was traded with spirits traders, but then it transpired there wasn’t a single one anywhere near the mine. And despite that, mine workers were drunk on this mine more often than elsewhere.
    Further investigation led to the conclusion that the stolen gold was most likely gathered up by two labourers. This was done socunningly that their identities could only be guessed at by the ingratiating manner shown them by their fellow-workers. As to how the gold was handed over and paid for, that was never detected. This is why there was no direct evidence against them. Several sudden, unexpected searches brought no results.
    In the meantime, it was noted that these two workmen were in the manager’s distinct favour and often visited him. The manager made no attempt to conceal this favouritism. He said the two are exemplary workers, behave well, work better than anyone, don’t drink, have a positive influence on everyone, settle all minor disputes between the men and the administration which inevitably arise given the difficult existence in the mine.
    Holmes heard them out with considerable attention.
    â€˜You say that the number of drunkards or the amount of spirits consumed is an indication of the approximate quantity of alcohol stolen to be traded for stolen gold, is that not so?’ he asked when he had ended his cross-examination.
    â€˜Yes,’ said one of the investigators. ‘We keep a precise record of