The Five Orange Pips, a Short Story by Arthur Doyle: summary

The Five Orange Pips, a Short Story by Arthur Doyle: summary

It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows.

Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime. He was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there came a step in the passage and a taping door. The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of refinement and delicacy of his bearing. He came for advice. John Openshaw was the grandson of a remarkable man in London, a businessman. His grandfather had two sons- his father Joseph and Uncle Elias.

His father had small factory and, which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business met with success that he was able to sell it and to retire upon a handsome competence. His uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done well. At the time of war he signed in Jackson’s army, and afterwards under Hood, he rose to be a colonel. When the war was over, his uncle returned to his plantation, where he remained for three or four years. About 1870 he came back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex. He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negros, and his dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to them.

He had a garden and two or three fields round the house, and there he would take his exercise and he never leave his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very heavily, but he would see no society and did want any friends, not even his own brother. In the year of 1878, he begged his father to let John lived with him, and he was very kind to John in his way.

So by the time he was sixteen, John was quite master of the house. He kept all the keys and could go where he liked, as long as he did not disturb his uncle in privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he had a single room, a lumber room in among the attics, which was invariably locked, and which he would never permit either his nephew r anyone else to enter. With a boy’s curiosity, John peeped through the keyhole, but he was never to see more than such a collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such a room.

One day, a letter with a foreign stamp lay upon the table in front of the colonel’s plate. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his skin the color of putty, and he glared the enveloped. He was panicking when he read K.K.K. John took the envelope and saw scrawled in red ink, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else save the five dried pips. He burned the letter ask and ordered his lawyer to witness his will. He left his estate to his brother. He drank more than ever.

He was dead, when they found him. There was no violence, and the water was but two feet deep, so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, brought to a verdict of a suicide.  John’s father entered into possession of the state, and of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit on the bank.

John’s father came to live at his brother house, there he was, sitting newly opened envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips (seeds). Still, the three K letters were written above the letter. Later, John’s father met his end, there was unable of find anything which could suggest the idea of murder. Two years after his father had passed away, John had lived happily at Horsham, and he had begun to hope that the curse would be broken, and that it had ended with the last generation.

The Openshaw had got three letters in all; one from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the third from London. Holmes was already at breakfast when Watson came down. They were so shocked to read the heading of paper about John Openshaw’s death.

It was conjectured that he may hurrying down to catch the last train, and that in his haste and the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. There was no traces of violence, and it was stated was unfortunate accident.

Holmes took the five pips (seeds), and tearing it to pieces he squeezed out the seeds upon the table. Of these he took them into an envelope.  The inside of the flap he wrote ‘S.H for J.O’. Then, he sealed it and addressed it to Captain Colhum, Bark Lone Star, Savanah, Georgia. Holmes had traced files and old papers, following the future career of every vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in 1883. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which reported there during those months. One of them, the Lone Star, since, although it was reported as having cleared from London, the name was that which was given to one of the States. The ship must have an America origin.

He searched he Dundee records, and when he found that the bark Lone Star was there in January 1885, his suspicious became a certainty. The Lone star also arrived in London at the same week John’s death. He went down to Albert Dock ND found that she had been taken down the river by early morning, home ward bound to Savanah. He wired to Gravesend and learned she had passed some time ago, and as the wind is easterly, the vessel was past the Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight.

The murderer and his two mates, were, s Holmes learned, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others were Finns and Germans. By the time they reached Savanah the mail-boat would carry Holmes’s letter, and the cable would have informed the police of Savanah that the tree gentlemen were most wanted upon a charge of triple murder.

Holmes and Watson waited long for news of the Lone Star of Savanah, but none ever reached them. They just heard somewhere far out in the Atlantic a shattered stern-post of the boat was seen swinging in the wave, with letters “L.S.” carved upon it, and that was which they assumed of the fate of the Lone Star.

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Januari 12, 2018

Sepatah Kata

Cerpen Five Orange Pips, merupakan cerpen berlatar belakang 1883-1885 di Inggris. Tiga kematian misterius, peneror mengirimkan surat dengan cap pos berbeda daerah, bahkan dari India. Dalam suratnya menemukan lima biji jeruk kering serta tulisan K.K.K. Kematian John, tidak ditandai dengan lima biji jeruk, namun detektif Holmes dan Watson yakin, pelakunya adalah orang yang sama.

Terjemahan dalam Bahasa Indonesia, Five Orange Pips (Lima Biji Jeruk): resume/ringkasan

Hujan sangat deras diiringi tiupan angin kencang, suatu keheranan, apa yang memicu seseorang hingga mendatangi Sherlock Holmes dalam cuaca sedarurat itu. Anak muda itu bernama John Openshaw. Ia menceritakan kasusnya, yakni hal ganjil yang terjadi atas kematian ayah dan pamannya.

John adalah cucu orang terkemuka di London. Ayahnya, Joseph, pemilik pabrik dan bahkan usahanya mengambil andil dalam penemuan sepeda. Joseph Openshaw juga adalah pemilik paten ban handal, bisnisnya pun sangat sukses, kemudian pensiun. Berbeda dengan Elias Openshaw, sang paman, merantau ke Amerika, dan juga sukses memiliki perkebunan di sana. Perang konfedersi pecah, Elias pun bergabung dengan militer dan sempat berpangkat kolonel. Ketika perang usai, ia kembali ke bisnis awalnya, perkebunannya. Merasa tidak bahagia di sana, ia memutuskan kembali Inggris.

Dari hasil penjualan hartanya di Amerika, ia pun membeli sebidang tanah dan memiliki kebun di pedesaan Inggris. Elias peminum berat, sering menyendiri, dan bahkan tidak mau berteman dengan siapapun termasuk abangnya sendiri. Suatu saat, ia meminta kakaknya memberi ijin agar John yang ketika itu berusia 16 tahun untuk tinggal bersamanya.

John muda pun sangat senang dan nyaman tinggal di Horsham bersama pamannya. Baginya, paman Elias orang yang baik, bahkan memberi kepercayaan padanya atas semua kunci yang ada di rumah besar itu. Tapi ada satu ruangan di loteng, yang tidak bisa dijamah, John muda pun penasaran. Lewat lubang kunci, ia mengintip ruangan itu, ia tidak melihat sesuatu yang istimewa. Ia hanya melihat onggokan barang-barang berupa koleksi gading dan bundalan kertas.

Kebahagiaan John dan pamannya buyar dengan kehadiran sebuah surat dengan cap pos Pondicherry, India. Elias terkaget dan pucat mendapati tulisan K.K.K dan lima biji kering jeruk dalam amplop. Dia membakar surat itu, dan menyuruh pembantunya memanggil pengacaranya. Surat wasiat pun dibuatkan, ayah John menjadi pewarisnya, tentu saja kelak akan dimiliki John.  

Semenjak itu sang paman tidak pernah tenang lagi, kebiasaan minummya makin parah, dan hanya berdidam di kamarnya.  Mengagetkan, pamannya ditemukan meninggal di kamarnya dan tidak ditemukan tanda kekerasan pada tubuhnya. Pengadilan pun memutuskan kematian bunuh diri (walau masih menyisakan misteri bagi John), dan segala harta Elias jatuh pada kakaknya.

John dan ayahnya tinggal bahagia di rumah besar pamannya, hingga suatu hari surat datang lagi dengan 5 biji jeruk kering dan tulisan yang sama, namun kali ini cap posnya dari Dundee. John dan ayahnya sangat kaget. Hari ketiga setelah kedatangan surat, ayahnya pergi ke teman lamanya, seorang mayor. Hari kedua kepergian ayahnya, sebuah telegram datang dari mayor, menyuruhnya lekas datang. Ayahnya meninggal dan juga tidak ditemukan kekerasan pada jasadnya.

John kembali hidup tenang di Horsham, namun ia belum yakin kematian ayah dan pamannya tidak ada hubunganya dengan kelima bibit kering jeruk dan tulisan K.K.K, ia hendak memutuskan kutuk itu dari keluarganya, dan ingin hidup tenang. Akhirnya diputuskannya untuk berkonsultasi dengan detektif Holmes.

Holmes sudah mengetahui K.K.K bukanlah gang biasa, namun di mana keberadaan pelakunya. Dia juga menilai kematian tidaklah wajar. Keesokan harinya, ia dan Watson sangat kaget membaca tajuk surat kabar. John Openshaw ditemukan tewas di sungai. Diduga ia terburu-buru mengejar kereta terakhir di malam gelap, langkahnya tidak memerhatikan tepian paving, dan terjatuh ke dalam sungai, membuatnya dinyatakan tewas kecelakaan sendiri. Sebuah amplop ditemukan di kantongnya, tidak ditemukan kekerasan pada tubuhnya.

Watson dan Holmes sungguh tidak memercayai pemicu kematian John. Sang detektif pun menyelidiki keluar masuk kapal dari Pondicherry di kantor pelabuhan, dan juga dari Dundee. Tanggal surat pada cap pos dua surat, meyakinkan Holmes, bahwa hanya kapal the Lone Star milik Amerika yang berpotensi ada hubungannya dengan cap pos pada tiga surat.

Kapal Lone Star baru saja berangkat, dan diduga berlayar ke arah timur mengikuti hembusan angin. Dengan cekatan, Holmes menyurati pos pelabuhan Savanah, Amerika, agar pembunuh dan dua kawannya segera ditangkap polisi begitu tiba di Savanah, atas tuduhan pembunuhan. Dia juga mengirimkan pesan kabel ke pihak kepolisian Savanah. Lama ditunggu, the Lone Star tidak kunjung bersandar di Savanah, Amerika. Hanya saja, Holmes dan Watson sempat mendengar kabar ada serpihan kapal mengambang di Lautan Atlantik, ukiran ‘L.S’ ditemukan pada badannya, mereka berasumsi sudah menjadi nasib kapal the Lone Star.

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12 Januari 2018