福爾摩斯探案集·血字的研究 第20期:警察欒斯的敘述(1)

Chapter 4

第四章

WHAT JOHN RANCE HAD TO TELL

警察欒斯的敘述

IT WAS one o'clock when we left No. 3, Lauriston Gardens.

我們離開勞瑞斯頓花園街3號的時(shí)候，已是午后一點(diǎn)鐘了。

Sherlock Holmes led me to the nearest telegraph office, whence he dispatched a long telegram.

福爾摩斯同我到附近的電報(bào)局去拍了一封長電報(bào)。

He then hailed a cab, and ordered the driver to take us to the address given us by Lestrade.

然后，他叫了一部馬車，吩咐車夫把我們送到雷斯垂德告訴我們的那個地點(diǎn)。

"There is nothing like first-hand evidence," he remarked;

福爾摩斯說："什么也比不上直接取得的證據(jù)來得重要，

"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."

其實(shí)，這個案子我早已胸有成竹了，可是咱們還是應(yīng)當(dāng)把要查明的情況弄個清楚。"

"You amaze me, Holmes," said I.

我說："福爾摩斯，你真叫我莫名其妙。

"Surely you are not as sure as you pretend to be of all those particulars which you gave."

剛才你所說的那些細(xì)節(jié)，你自己也不見得象你假裝的那樣有把握吧。"

"There's no room for a mistake," he answered.

"我的話絕對沒錯。"他回答說，

"The very first thing which I observed on arriving there was that a cab had made two ruts with its wheels close to the curb.

"一到那里，我首先便看到在馬路石沿旁有兩道馬車車輪的痕跡。

Now, up to last night, we have had no rain for a week,

由于昨晚下雨以前，一個星期都是晴天，

so that those wheels which left such a deep impression must have been there during the night.

所以留下這個深深輪跡的馬車一定是在夜間到那里的。

There were the marks of the horse's hoofs, too,

除此以外，還有馬蹄的印子。

the outline of one of which was far more clearly cut than that of the other three, showing that that was a new shoe.

其中有一個蹄印比其它三個都要清楚得多，這就說明那只蹄鐵是新?lián)Q的。

Since the cab was there after the rain began, and was not there at any time during the morning

這輛車子既然是在下雨以后到那里的，同時(shí)根據(jù)葛萊森所說，整個早晨又沒有車輛來過，

I have Gregson's word for that–it follows that it must have been there during the night,

由此可見，這輛馬車一定是昨天夜間在那里停留過；

and therefore, that it brought those two individuals to the house."

因此，也就正是這輛馬車把那兩個人送到空房那里去的。"

"That seems simple enough," said I;

"這看來好象很簡單，"我說，

"but how about the other man's height?"

"但是其中一人的身高你又是怎樣知道的呢？"

"Why, the height of a man, in nine cases out of ten, can be told from the length of his stride.

"唔，一個人的身高，十之八九可以從他的步伐的長度上知道。

It is a simple calculation enough, though there is no use my boring you with figures.

計(jì)算方法雖然很簡單，但是現(xiàn)在我一步步地教給你也沒有什么用處。

I had this fellow's stride both on the clay outside and on the dust within.

我是在屋外的粘土地上和屋內(nèi)的塵土上量出那個人步伐的距離的。

Then I had a way of checking my calculation.

接著我又發(fā)現(xiàn)了一個驗(yàn)算我的計(jì)算結(jié)果是否正確的辦法。

When a man writes on a wall, his instinct leads him to write above the level of his own eyes.

大凡人在墻壁上寫字的時(shí)候，很自然會寫在和視線相片行的地方。

Now that writing was just over six feet from the ground. It was child's play."

現(xiàn)在壁上的字跡離地剛好六英尺。簡直就象兒戲一樣的簡單。"

"And his age?" I asked.

"至于他的年齡呢？"我又問道。

"Well, if a man can stride four and a half feet without the smallest effort,

"好的，假若一個人能夠毫不費(fèi)力地一步跨過四英尺半，

he can't be quite in the sere and yellow.

他決不會是一個老頭兒。

That was the breadth of a puddle on the garden walk which he had evidently walked across.

小花園里的甬道上就有那樣寬的一個水洼，他分明是一步邁過去的，

Patent-leather boots had gone round, and Square-toes had hopped over.

而皮靴子卻是繞著走的，方頭靴子則是從上面邁過去的。

There is no mystery about it at all.

這絲毫沒有什么神秘的地方。

I am simply applying to ordinary life a few of those precepts of observation and deduction which I advocated in that article.

我只不過是把我那篇文章中所提出的一些觀察事物和推理的方法應(yīng)用到日常生活上去罷了。

Is there anything else that puzzles you?"

你還有什么不解的地方嗎？"

"The finger-nails and the Trichinopoly," I suggested.

"手指甲和印度雪茄煙呢？"我又提醒他說。

"The writing on the wall was done with a man's forefinger dipped in blood.

"墻上的字是一個人用食指蘸著血寫的。

My glass allowed me to observe that the plaster was slightly scratched in doing it,

我用放大鏡看出寫字時(shí)有些墻粉被刮了下來。

which would not have been the case if the man's nail had been trimmed.

如果這個人指甲修剪過，決不會是這樣的。

I gathered up some scattered ash from the floor.

我還從地板上收集到一些散落的煙灰，

It was dark in colour and flaky –such an ash is only made by a Trichinopoly.

它的顏色很深而且是呈起狀的，只有印度雪茄的煙灰才是這樣。

I have made a special study of cigar ashes–in fact,

我曾經(jīng)專門研究過雪茄煙灰。

I have written a monograph upon the subject.

事實(shí)上，我還寫過這方面的專題論文呢。

I flatter myself that I can distinguish at a glance the ash of any known brand either of cigar or of tobacco.

我可以夸口，無論什么名牌的雪茄或紙煙的煙灰，只要我看上一眼，就能識別出來。

It is just in such details that the skilled detective differs from the Gregson and Lestrade type."

正是在這些細(xì)微末節(jié)的地方，一個干練的偵探才與葛萊森、雷斯垂德之流有所不同。"