The Sign of Four (1890), Sherlock Holmes, a Detective Novel by Sir. Arthur Conan Doyle: summary

“Schade dass de Natur nur einen Mensch aus dir schuf, Denn zum wurdigen Mann war und zum Schelmen der Stoff. (It's too silly nature only created one of you because there was enough material to make a dignified man as well as rogue). Faust, First Part, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832), a German writer.

The story starts out with Mary Morstan, a captain’s daughter, who steps at Holmes’s door in consulting her father’s disappearance ten years ago, until that early morning she got a mysterious message. Mary’s father is a British military in India that is taking a leave. She does not find her father at his hotel when she arrives. There is no news from him since then. It is Major Sholto, the only friend in London, but he denies knowing about his homecoming. 

The investigation leads cocaine addict, Holmes, and his companion, Watson, into some evidences including iron-box treasure and a puzzle – the sign of four – the letter who writes four names: two Mohammedans, one Hindu and one white man. A wooden leg man, later recognized as an Englishman on the sign four brings his own story from plantation in Arga (India) to British jail in Andamans Island (Bay of Bengal, 340 miles of north Sumatra), to Upper Norwood, London, but, of course, detective Jones, Holmes and Watson, state it as a made up story.

At first Scotland Yard sergeant, Athelney John, is described as a clumsy detective but later he and Holmes work together to seizing the suspect in the fast boat named Aurora. Homes involved a dog in the case, and it is Toby which is successfully in tracing the killer alongside River Thames. This second novel of Doyle is published in 1890, and is also Watson’s story. Watson draws his hypothesis on Bartholomew Sholto’s body as the death from some powerful vegetable alkaloid -- some strychnine. Watson gets a wife, detective Jones gets the credit and Holmes solves the puzzle. 

Like the first novel, this book is also not easy to comprehend. There are times that I had to pause and reread paragraphs. Nevertheless, it is a strong and well-crafted story, and one that to be loved by many types of readers –those who enjoys abstruse cryptogram, historical set in the late 1800s, unpredictable character, or simply like smart and elegant mystery book with many layers unfold the pages.

The Sign of Four (1890), Sherlock Holmes, a Detective Novel by Sir. Arthur Conan Doyle: summary

Three times a day for many months he had witnessed Holmes’s addicted performance, but custom had not reconciled his mind to it. On the contrary from day to day he had become more irritable at the sight, and his conscience swelled nightly within him at the thought that he had lacked the courage to protest.

A young lady brought her case to Holmes and Watson. Miss Mary Morstan was a blonde young lady, small, dainty, well gloved, and dressed in the most perfect taste. Her father disappeared upon the third of December, 1878 nearly ten years ago. Morstan was an officer in an Indian regiment, who sent Mary home when she was quite a child. Mary was placed, however, in a comfortable boarding establishment at Edinburgh, and there she remained until she was seventeen years of age. In the year 1878 her father, who was senior captain of his regiment, obtained twelve months leave ad came home. He telegraphed her daughter from London that he had arrived all safe and directed her to come down at once giving the hotel’s name as his address.

On reaching London she drove to the hotel, and was informed that Captain Morstan was staying there but that he had gone out night before and had not returned. She waited all day without news of him, then she communicated with the police, and the next morning they advertised it in all papers. He had only one friend in London, he was Major Sholto. The major had retired some little time before and lived at Upper Norwood. She communicated him, but he did not even know that his brother officer was in London.

It was about six years ago, an advertisement had appeared in a paper asking for address of Miss Mary Morstan, and stating it that it would be to her advantage to come forward. Mrs. Cecile Forrester in the capacity of governess gave her advice to publish Mary address in the advertisement column. The same day there arrived through the post small cardboard box addressed to her, which she found to contain a very large and lustrous pearl. No word of writing was enclosed. Since then every year upon the same date there has appeared a similar box, containing similar pearl, without any clue as to the sender. Then that early morning she received a letter. She showed it to Holmes. The message asked her to meet the sender at a public place. If she was distrustful, she could bring two friends - not the police.

Major Sholto denied having heard that his friend in London, then four years later he died. Mary found Major Sholto was very particular friend of her father His letters were full of allusion to the major. Sholto and Morstan were in command of troops at the Andaman Islands (Bay of Bengal, 340 miles north of Sumatra). A curious paper was found in her father’s desk which no one could understood. It as a paper of native Indian manufacture. It was written, in very rough an coarse character,” The Sign of Four -- Jonathan Small, Mahomet Singh, Abdullah Khan, Dost Akbar.

The stranger brought them to Norwood, Sholto’s house. The little man explained about his father, Arthur Sholto. Major Sholto once in Indian Army. He retired some eleven years ago and came to live at Pondicherry Lodge in Upper Norwood. He had prospered in India and brought back with him a considerable sum of money, a large collection of valuable curiousities, and a staff of native servants. With the advantages he bought himself a house, and lived in a great luxury. He had only twin sons, they were Thaddeus and Bartholomew.

Early in 1882 Arthur Sholto received a letter from India which was a great shock to him. He nearly fainted when he opened it, and from that day he sickened to his death. He suffered for years from an enlarged spleen, but he now became rapidly worse, and then he made confession to his boys. Morstan had suffered for years from a weak heart, but he concealed it from every one. Arthur admitted that he alone knew it. When in India he and Morstan came into possession of a considerable treasure. Sholto brought it to London, and on the night of Morstan’s arrival he came straight over to claim his share. The two men had a difference opinion as to the division to the treasure, then they came  to heated words. Morstan had sprung out of his chair in a paroxysm of anger, when he suddenly pressed his hands, and he fell backward, cutting his head against the corner of the treasure-chest. He was dead.

His servant, Lal Cowdar, had heard the quarrel, and found Morstan was dead in that room. He said no one would know Sholto had killed him, but his master denied that he had killed his friend. All were asleep in the house. Lal Cowdar and Sholto disposed the body that night, and within a few days the London papers were full of the mysterious disappearance of Captain Morstan. A horrible change came over his expression, his eyes stared wildly, his jaw dropped, and he yelled at a man. The twin stared at the window. A face was looking in them out of the darkness, and he was gone. He was a bearded, hairy face, with wild cruel face eyes and an expression of concentrated malevolence. The window of Arthur’s room founded open in the morning, and upon his chest was fixed a torn piece of paper with the words ‘The Sign of Four’ scrawled across it.

At the short account of her father’s death Miss Morstan had burned deadly white, and or a moment she was about to faint. After Arthur’s death, the twin tried to find the hidden treasure. Thaddeus and Bartholomew had difference opinion on the subject, so Thaddeus left Pondicherry Lodge and took Williams with him. Yesterday, Thaddeus learned the extreme importance had occurred. The treasure had been discovered.

Pondicherry Lodge

Pondicherry Lodge stood in its own grounds and was girt round with a very high stone wall topped with broken glass. There was a grumbling sound and clanking and jarring of keys. The door swung heavily back, deep-chested man stood in the opening. McMurdo, the servant, said to him that he had no orders to accept Thaddeus’s companion. Furthermore, Bartholomew Sholto was not at home. The old Mrs. Bernstone, the housekeeper, was only woman in the house. She explained Bartholomew had locked himself in his room and would not answer her.

Bartholomew was dead in his room, and Holmes found a torn sheet of note-paper with some words scrawled upon it, ‘The Sing of Four’. Watson’s analysis said that the death from some powerful vegetable alkaloid -- some strychnine-like substance which would produce tetanus. Mr. Athelney Jones, the sergeant, arrested Thaddeus Sholto for killing his brother. The brother was dead and the jewel was gone. Thaddeus was with his brother, they was a quarrel. Thaddeus denied it and he gave a suspicious name Jonathan Small, one of the two people that night.

Watson escorted Miss Morstan back to her home. She was weak and helpless, shaken in mind and nerve. It was to take her at a disadvantage to obtrude love upon her at such time. Worse still, she was rich. If Holmes’s researchers were successful, she would be an heiress. It was nearly two o’clock when they reached Mrs. Cecil Forester’s. The servants had retired hours ago.

Holmes sent Watson to pick up a dog, the owner gave him an ugly, long-haired, lop-eared creature, half spaniel ad half lurcher, brown and white in color, with a very clumsy, waddling gait. Watson found himself back once more at Pondicherry Lodge. McMurdo had, he found, been arrested as an accessory, both he and Thaddeus Sholto had been marched off to the station. Two constables guarded narrow gate, but they allowed him to pass with the dog on his mentioning the detective’s name.  Atheley Jones has gone.

Toby, the old dog, ran along, whining eagerly, underneath its shadow, and stop finally in a corner screened by young beech. The slight smudge of blood upon the white plaster. Two officers had learned an importance secret as o buried the treasure. A map was drawn for them by an Englishman named Jonathan Small. They remembered the name from the chart in Morstan’s possession the sign of the four. One white man, the others were Hindoos and Mohammedans. They again traced the presence of some confederate in the household. Jonathan, with his wooden leg, was utterly unable to reach the lofty room of Bartholomew Sholto.

Toby led them to the end of street right down to the water’s edge, where there was a small wooden wharf. They have taken to a boat there. A wooden placard slung through the window, ‘Mordecai Smith’ was printed across it in large letters. Mr. Smith had been away, Mrs. Smith, the owner’s wife, admitted that the wooden-legged man hired the launch, Aurora. Mr. Smith, the boatman, and his son Jim left the Smith’s Wharf in the steam launch Aurora. It was said that Aurora was one of the fastest launches on the river. Holmes engaged a launch and went down the river on the track of the Aurora.

 

Holmes reported to Scotland Yard detective, Athelney Jones. Finally they caught Aurora. Holmes and Jones’ pistols rang out together. At the moment the wooden-legged man threw himself upon the rudder. The two Smiths, father and son, sat sullenly in their launch but came meekly enough when commanded. The aurora herself they hauled off and made fast to their stern. A solid iron chest of Indian workmanship stood upon the deck. Jonathan Small was arrested by Jones, the iron box was opened. It was absolutely and completely empty.

The Strange Story of Jonathan Small

Small said it was his treasure. He chose to throw the treasure into Thames rather than let it go to kith or kin of Sholto or Morstan. It was not to make them rich that he did it for Achmet.

Small was a Worcestershire man himself. When he was about eighteen, he got into a mess over a girl and could only got out of it by taking the Queen’s shilling and joining the Third Buffs, which was just starting for India. He was fool enough to go swimming in the Ganges, a crocodile took him and nipped off his leg. He was five months in hospital over it, and he was invalided out of the Army and unfitted for any active occupation. He was cripple in his twentieth. A man named Abel White, an indigo planter, wanted overseer to look after his coolies and keep them up to their work. Suddenly without a note of warning, the great mutiny broke. On month India laid as still and peaceful, to all appearance; the next there were two hundred thousand black devils let loose, and the country was a perfect hell. Night after night the whole sky was alight with the burning bungalows. White’s bungalow was burning too.

The wooden-led had a small band. He had two Punjabees. They were tall, fierce-looking chaps, Mahomet Singh and Abdullah Khan. They could speak English pretty well. Abdullah Khan and Mahomet Singh had a plan to rob a rich rajah in northern province. A pretend merchant named Achmet, was in the city Agra and desired to gain his way into fort. He had a traveler companion named Dost Akbar, a foster brother to Abdullah, who knew the secret. When the rajah put his jewels into the hands of Achmet he did it because he knew that he was a trusty man. They had the treasure box. Rajah’s man had spied on Achmet after the losing treasure. Later his body was discovered.

The four men were seized and brought to trial on a charge of murder. Not a word about the jewels came out at the trial. The murder, however, was clearly made out, and it was certain that they must all had been concerned on it. The three Sikhs got penal servitude for life, and Small was condemned to death, through his sentence was afterwards commuted to the same as the others. They had been transferred from Agra to Madras, and from there to Blair Island in the Andamans.

There was Major Sholto, Captain Morstan and Lieutenant Bromley Brown, who were in command of the native troops. Morstan and Sholto were bosom friends, those two, never far apart. Small told the major his story, the treasure. But he said the chest belonged to the first comer, the government. Later Captain Morstan involved with the conversation, there were another meeting, at which Mahomet Singh, Abdullah Khan, and Dost Akbar were all present. Major Sholto as to go to India to test the story. If he found the box he was to leave it there, to send out a small yacht provisioned for voyage, which was to lie off Rutland Island, and to which they were to make their way, and finally returned to his duties. Captain Morstan was then to apply for leave of absence, to meet the four men at Agra, and there they were to have a final division of the treasure. All that they sealed by the most solemn oaths.

The villain Sholto went off to India, but he never came back. Captain Morstan showed the four his name among a list of passengers in one of the mail-boats very shortly afterwards. His uncle had died, leaving him a fortune, and he had left the Army. Morstan went over to Agra shortly afterwards and found, as they expected, that the treasure was indeed gone. From that h lived only for vengeance. He care nothing about the law- nothing for the gallows. To escape to track down Sholto. Even Agra treasure had come to be a smaller thing than slaying Sholto.

Small escaped from the island, he took a boat. For ten days beating about on the sea, he and a friend named Tonga picked up by a trader which was going from Singapore to Jeddah with a cargo of Malay pilgrims. He adventures and drifted him to London. He had no great difficulty in finding where Sholto lived. The treasure had been found. It was up at the top of the house in Mr. Bartholomew Sholto’s chemical laboratory. He denied in killing Sholto’s son. But for all of them, Small’s story was only little drama.

Mary Morstan had done Watson the honor to accept him as a husband in prospective. For Holmes, there still remained cocaine-bottle. He looked weary, the cocaine reaction was already upon him. Then Watson tried to send him protest, but Holmes himself cited lines of Goethe:

“Schade dass de Natur nur einen Mensch aus dir schuf, Denn zum wurdigen Mann war und zum Schelmen der Stoff. (Too bad nature only created one of you because there was enough material to make a dignified man as well as rogue).

Holmes have done all the work in his business, Watson got a wife of it, Jones got the credit. Sherlock Holmes had proud of himself that there still remained the cocaine-bottle.

*******

October 31, 2017

Sekapur Sirih

Novel kedua karya Sir. Arthur Conan Doyle, diterbitkan tahun 1890. Kisah ini masih bertema misteri dan detektif, namun kali ini Sherlock Holmes dan Dr. Watson didatangi wanita muda mencari keberadaan ayahnya yang telah lama menghilang, sepuluh tahun silam. Penyidikan dari barang bukti, dan diikuti kematian seseorang, dan sebuah catatan berisikan tulisan the Sign of Four memuat nama empat orang, membawa misteri kepada pencarian harta karun. Latar belakang cerita tahun 1870-an; dari Kepulauan Andaman dan Nicobar, 340 mil (547 km) utara Sumatra, pada Teluk Bengal, termasuk wilayah India, dijadikan tempat memenjarakan para tahanan politik dan kriminal Inggris, hingga kota London. Penjara didirikan kolonial Inggris dan hingga sekarang gedung penjara tersebut masih berdiri. Tokohnya bertugas di sana dan membawa permasalahan ke kota London. Ada sedikit kemiripan cerita dengan kisah A Study in Scarlet.

  

Terjemahan dalam Bahasa Indonesia: The Sign of Four (1890), kisah detektif karya Arthur Conan Doyle, sebuah ringkasan

Perilaku kecanduan kokain dan morfin Holmes sudah menjadi pemandangan keseharian Watson. Dia semakin kehilangan keberanian menegur temannya itu. Dalam panasnya pedebatan berbagai hal, mereka didatangi seorang tamu. Wanita muda dan cantik sangat memesona dengan pakaian elegan, kehadirannya dipicu oleh sebuah pesan misterius dari seseorang yang tidak dikenalnya, meminta bertemu di depan sebuah bioskop. Mary Morstan mengetahui kehebatan Holmes dan Watson dari pengasuhnya.

Mary telah kehilangan ibunya, ayahnya sendiri seorang tentara yang ditempatkan di India. Mary kecil tumbuh di sana, hingga usianya tujuh belas tahun ia dikirim ayahnya ke sekolah berasrama di Edinburgh, Skotandia. Ayahnya memanfaatkan masa cutinya pulang ke Inggris. Setibanya di London, ia mengirim telegraf memberitahu putrinya Mary dengan alamatnya pada sebuah hotel di kota London. Mary pun mendatangi hotel tersebut, namun sayang ayahnya pergi keluar malam itu dan tidak pernah kembali. Mary menunggunya seharian, tiada kabar berita dari ayahnya. Akhirnya Mary melaporkan ke polisi dan mereka pun membuat pengumunan di semua koran di London. Kejadian itu sudah sepuluh tahun, hingga pagi hari sebelum berangkat menemui Holmes, ia menerima sepucuk pesan misterius.

Holmes dan Watson pun bersedia menemani Mary menemui orang asing yang berpesan agar tidak melibatkan polisi. Beberapa surat ditemukan pada laci, surat-surat itu menggambarkan kedekatan ayahnya dengan Mayor Sholto, satu-satunya teman ayah Mary di London. Tentu saja, polisi dan Mary telah menemui Sholto, namun pensiunan mayor itu mengelak mengetahui kepulangan Morstan ke London. Empat tahun setelah itu, Sholto pun meninggal dunia.

Sebuah kertas misterius buatan India bertuliskan ‘Sign of Four’ bertuangkan nama empat orang, namun tidak satu pun yang tahu artinya. Enam tahun silam, sebuah iklan di surat kabar meminta alamat Nn. Mary, dan atas saran pengasuhnya Mary pun mengumumkan alamatnya pada sebuah kolom koran. Sejak itu pula, sebuah paket berisikan permata besar tiba di rumahnya, tanpa ada petunjuk siapa pengirimnya. Semenjak itu pula, setiap tahunnya, ia menerima paket pada tanggal yang sama, dan hingga suatu saat berhenti.

Sebelum meninggal Mayor Sholto menceritakan kronologis kematian ayah Mary pada kedua putranya. Thaddeus Sholto adalah orang yang mengirim sepucuk surat untuk bertemu ingin menjelaskan tentang kematian ayah Mary.

Mayor Sholto dan Kapten Morstan adalah dua pejabat militer yang bertugas di India. Dan akhirnya menjalin pertemanan. Tiba masa pensiun, Mayor Sholto pulang ke London, dengan kekayaan yang dibawanya dari India membuatnya kaya raya. Ia juga membawa pembantu dari India dan beberapa pengawal. Ia tinggal di kawasan  Norwood, di sebuah rumah mewah dengan dua putra kembarnya. Hingga suatu ketika, ia menerima surat tahun 1882, membuatnya sangat kaget dan pucat pasi. Thaddeus muda juga menyaksikan reaksi ayahnya ketika itu, namun ia tidak pernah tahu isi surat itu. Tak berapa lama kemudian, Morstan tiba dari India. Morstan sedang mengambil cuti, dari hotel malam itu juga ia bergegas menemui sahabatnya Sholto. Terjadi perdebatan dalam ruangan, juga terdengar oleh kepala pembantu mereka yang berdarah India, Lal Cowdar.

Keduanya berdebat hebat soal pembagian harta, dan saat pertengkaran terjadi, Morstan emosi dan terjatuh. Morstan menderita penyakit jantung, dan tidak banyak orang mengetahuinya, ia terjatuh dan tewas seketika. Sholto ketakutan dan kuatir dituduh membunuh, ia tidak mau diseret ke penjara. Morstan tewas mendadak, hanya ia yang berada dalam ruangan itu. Pegawainya berdarah India mencurigai tuannya, apalagi ia sempat mendengar pertengkaran di kamar. Lal Cowdar dan Sholto menyingkirkan mayat Morstan  secara sembunyi-sembunyi, malam telah larut, penghuni rumah sudah terlelap. Tiada seorang pun yang tahu tentang kematian Morstan selain Sholto dan Cowdar. Tidak lama kemudian, berita hilangnya Kapten Morstan tersiar di surat kabar. Si kembar juga mengetahui kabar itu dari koran. Semenjak itu ayahnya berubah.

Waktu berlalu. Mayor Sholto tidak tahan menanggung rasa bersalah. Atas saran putranya, ia pun membuat pengumuman di surat kabar menanyakan alamat Mary, menjanjikan berita baik untuk gadis itu. Arthur Sholto mengirimkan permata, apa yang menjadi hak Mary. Namun paket pun terhenti, semenjak kematian Sholto. Lal Cowdar juga meninggal. Sepucuk pesan misterius pun tiba, memintanya untuk bertemu.

Ternyata ia adalah Thaddeus Sholto, putra dari Mayor Sholto. Ia pun menceritakan semua cerita versi ayahnya sebelum meninggal; kronologis kematian ayah Mary. Termasuk peti harta karun yang seharusnya milik Morstan dan Sholto, bila dihitung Mary akan kaya raya. Peti harta karun telah ditemukan, mereka ingin membaginya. Dalam peta itu, ditemukan empat nama yakni Jonathan Small, Mohamet Singh, Abdullah Khan, dan Dost Akbar- disebut dengan the Sign of Four (tanda empat). Tulisan tanda empat nama ditemui sama dengan yang ada pada laci Kapten Morstan.

Sejak kematian ayahnya, Bhartolomew dan Thaddeus bertikai masalah harta karun dan rahasia Kapten Morstan. Thaddeus meninggalkan rumah dan membawa pegawai setianya William. Bartholomew menempati rumah ayahnya di rumah Pondicherry Lodge di Norwood, dengan beberapa pembantu dan pengawal.

Holmes, Watson, Mary, Thaddeus dan anak buahnya tiba di rumah ayahnya. Pembantu mengatakan Barthomew mengunci diri dalam kamar dan tidak mau menjawab. Sangat mengejutkan ketika kamar berhasil dibuka, Bartholomew telah meninggal dan peti harta karun menghilang. Holmes pun menghubungi Scotland Yard, detektif Athelney Jones. Dengan investigasi yang belum matang, Jones langsung menangkap Thadeus dan membawa pembantunya yang dinilai terlibat ke kantor.

Watson menganalisa kematian Bartholomew dan diakibatkan oleh sayuran (tanaman) alkaloid (mengandung nitrogen organik meliputi obat-obatan adiktif seperti kokain, dan morfin dan beracun seperti atropine dan stychnine), strychnine racun keras. Tidak ditemukan kekerasan pada tubuhnya. Watson dan Holmes akhirnya menarik kesimpulan Jonathan Small yang diceritakan oleh Thaddeus adalah orang yang terakhir bersama saudara kembarnya malam itu, adalah nama yang sama dengan catatan pada laci Kapten Morstan. Thaddeus mengambarkan ciri Small, lelaki pincang dengan kaki kayu, bermuka bengis.

Sekarang pencarian ditujukan pada Small atau mungkin temannya. Holmes menyuruh Watson membeli seekor anjing pelacak. Toby hanyalah anjing buruk rupa, namun lihai dalam melacak bau. Tim Scotland Yard sudah pergi, tinggallah beberapa polisi penjaga kejadian pembunuhan. Toby melacak bau dan akhirnya pada sebuah pelabuhan di pinggiran sungai Thames. Pelaku rupanya telah menyewa sebuah kapal cepat, dan dikabarkan pemilik dan putranya membawa lelaki pincang itu.

Holmes pun mengontak detektif Jones, dan akhirnya memburu kapal cepat bernama Aurora, istri pemilik kapal mengakui si lelaki pincang telah menyewa kapal tersebut, suami dan putranya bersamanya. Setelah pengejaran yang tidak mudah, Aurora pun terkepung, bunyi letupan pistol menghentikan langkah Jonathan Small. Pemilik kapal Smith dan putranya mengelak terlibat dalam harta karun dan pembunuhan Bartholomew. Peti harta karun pun diambil dan Jonathan Small ditangkap. Peti dibawa ke hadapan Mary dan Thaddeus, namun peti sudah kosong. Walau mendapati peti kosong, Mary tetap bahagia, sekarang ia memiliki Watson.

Pengakuan Jonathan Small

Small adalah lahir di Inggris, pada usia mudanya ia patah hati oleh seorang gadis, lalu memutuskan untuk menjadi tentara dan ditempatkan di India. Saat Small berenang di Sungai Gangga, ia diserang buaya, dan kakinya patah. Kepincangan tidak memungkinkan menjadikannya tentara atau pekerjaan apapun. Pengusaha perkebunan kebetulan mencari seorang mandor mengawasi kuli perkebunan. Small pun menjadi mandor di atas kuda. Tuannya yang juga orang Inggris adalah orang baik. Pembrontakan pun pecah, bungalow orang Inggris dibakar di berbagai tempat, termasuk tuan pemilik kebun tempat Small bekerja.

Small pun lari dan akhirnya merekrut dua orang Punjabi bersamanya - Abdullah Khan dan Mahomet Singh. Abdullah Khan mengajaknya dalam sebuah misi perampokan harta orang kaya di propinsi bagian utara. Seseorang bernama Achmet telah menyamar menjadi pedagang, ia yang mengetahui peti harta itu, ia sudah mendapat kepercayaan raja. Saudara angkat Khan bernama Dost Akbar menjadi teman Achmet dalam penyamaran. Peti hilang, orang sekitar raja mencurigai Achmet. Gerak-geriknya pun dimata-matai, dan akhirnya temukan tewas. Keempat orang dalam ‘the sign of four’ ditangkap dan dituduh membunuh. Mereka adalah teman dari Achmet, dan direkayasa membunuh Achmet. Tidak ada yang membahas tentang peti hilang, pengadilan menetapkan hukuman seumur hidup atas tuduhan pembunuhan. Keempatnya dikirim ke penjara di Kepulauan Andaman, penjara orang Inggris, kepulauan yang terletak di Teluk Benggal dan sekitar 547 kilometer di utara Sumatra.

Small mendapat kepercayaan dan mengutarakan kisah harta karun pada Mayor Sholto. Mayor Sholto dan Kapten Morstan adalah dua dari tiga pemimpin penjara. Kabar ini pun sampai kepada Kapten Morstan yang juga sahabat Sholto. Keduanya mengatakan harta karun yang disembunyikan di kota Arga. Serangkaian rapat diadakan oleh Mayor Sholto, Kapten Morstan dan keempat napi itu. Sholto berangkat ke India untuk menguji cerita keempat orang tersebut. Dan apabila benar harta karun ada, maka pembagian akan dilakukan sesuai dengan kesepakatan bersama.

Mayor Sholto pergi ke Arga, namum sejak itu tidak perah kembali ke Andaman, ia pulang ke Inggris. Paman Mayor meninggal dunia di Inggris, mewariskan banyak harta. Sholto telah mengundurkan diri dari tugas militer. Kapten Morstan menunjukkan daftar penumpang keberangkatan kapal Sholto ke Inggris. Small sangat marah dengan penipuan yang dilakukan Sholto, kemarahannya ingin membunuh Sholto, bukan sekedar masalah harta. Small sudah tidak peduli dengan konsekuensi melarikan diri, atau melanggar hukum, yang ada dalam benaknya hanyalah api dendam.

Ia berhasil melarikan diri dengan kapal kecil, selama sepuluh hari ia dan temannya mengambang terlunta-lunta di lautan, hingga akhirnya, pedagang menyelamatkannya. Pedagang tersebut bertolak dari Singapura menuju Jeddah, kapal membawa rombongan peziarah rohani Malaysia. Dengan perjuangan, Small akhirnya tiba di London, dan tidak sulit baginya menemukan kediaman Mayor Sholto. Rumah mewah Sholto dijaga banyak pengawal. Ia susah menembus masuk menemui Sholto sewaktu hidup.

Setelah kematian Sholto, ia pun mengetahui peti harta itu telah ditemukan. Peti dibawanya lari dengan kapal Aurora, ia mengetahui kapal itu sangat cepat. Small mengosongkan peti, membuang semua permata dan harta lainnya ke dalam laut. Ia tidak rela harta itu dimiliki oleh anak-anak Sholto dan Morstan, baginya harta itu darah Achmet. Ia mengelak dituduh membunuh putra Sholto.

Menurut Detektif Jones, Watson, dan Holmes, Small telah mengarang drama sendiri, mereka tidak memercayai sama sekali. Watson sendiri tengah berbahagia hendak meminang Mary, saat yang sama Holmes tampak lemah dan loyo akibat reaksi kokain yang dikonsumsinya. Watson berusaha sehalus mungkin memprotes Holmes, apakah ada istilah untuk orang yang sehat malah memalaskan dan merusak tubuh. Holmes sendiri menjawab dan mengutip kata bijak dari Goethe:

“Schade dass de Natur nur einen Mensch aus dir schuf, Denn zum wurdigen Mann war und zum Schelmen der Stoff. (Too bad nature only created one of you because there was enough material to make a dignified man as well as rogue). Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832), penulis berkebangsaan Jerman, diambil dari Faust, First Part. Arti bebasnya: Terlalu konyol alam ini hanya menciptakan manusia sepertimu, karena alam cukup materi membuat orang mulia sama seperti membuat orang hina.

Small tetap dihadapkan ke pengadilan atas pembunuhan Bartholomew. Holmes menyelesaikan pekerjaan dengan baik, Watson mendapatkan istri, dan Jones mendapatkan kenaikan pangkat. Bagi Holmes memiliki botol kokain saja sudah membuatnya senang. 

*******

31 Oktober 2017

A Study in Scarlet, Sherlock Holmes (1887), a Classic Story by Arthur Doyle: summary

“Populus me sibilant, at mihi plaudo Ipse domi simul ac nummos contemplar in arca.”  (The public hisses at me, but I applaud myself when in my own house, and simultaneously contemplate the coins in the strong-box). The Latin words of a Roman miser, Quintus Horatius Flaccus, from his work the First Satire.

“There is nothing new under the sun. It has all been done before.” (Sherlock Holmes addressed to detective Gregson on page 21).

This is the Volume I of the Complete Novels and Stories of Sherlock Holmes by Sir. Arthur Conan Doyle, with an Introduction by Loren D. Estleman, which is presented in 1059 pages and it is published by Bantam Book. Sir. Arthur Conan Doyle, a doctor of English Irish descent who wrote about the Boer War, was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1859. His first success was A Study in Scarlet, which appeared in Beeton’s Christmas Annual for 1887.  

A Study in Scarlet is mystery novella (novel), it is not easy to comprehend. But, reader would enjoy smart conversations and narrations in this fiction. The tale is told by Dr. Watson, a veteran doctor, and is about his recently companion, an amateur consulting detective, Sherlock Holmes. Scotland Yard had asked Holmes to solve the mysterious murder of a wealthy American, and later another American, wherein Watson practically involved into the case. When it comes to the end of hypothesis – who is the murderer -- who are the two victims, then officially the case is closed. But Dr. Watson has his own conclusion, for him it is still an unsolved mystery and he writes it in his journal.

A Study in Scarlet, Sherlock Holmes (1887), a Classic Story by Arthur Doyle: summary

This is the memoirs of John H. Watson MD, late of the Army Medical Department, about Mr. Sherlock Holmes. In the year 1878 Watson took his degree of Doctor of Medicine of University of London. Having complete his study he was an assistant surgeon in Army. The regiment was stationed in India, and before he could join it, the second Afghan war had broken out.

The campaign brought honors and promotions to many, but for Watson it had nothing but misfortune and disaster. He was removed from his brigade to and attached to Berkshires, with whom he served at the fatal battle of Maiwand. There was he struck on the shoulder by a Jezail bullet, which shattered the bone and grazed the subclavian artery.

Worn with pain, weak from the prolonged hardships which he had undergone, he was removed, with a great train of wounded sufferers, to the base hospital at Peshawar. For months his life despair of, when at last he came to himself and became convalescent, he was so weak and emaciated that a medical board determined that not a day should be lost in sending him back to England.

He had neither kith nor kin in England, and was therefore as free as air. There he stayed for some time at a private hotel, leading a comfortless, meaningless existence, and spending money as he had, considerably more freely than he ought to. So alarming did his stated of finances become, that he soon realized that he must leave and rusticate somewhere in the country.

His friend Stamford introduced him to Sherlock Holmes. Holmes was working at the chemical laboratory up at the hospital. Holmes was bemoaning because he could not get someone to go halves with him in some nice rooms which he had found, and which were too much for his purse. Watson also was looking for a less expensive domicile, wanted someone to share the rooms and expense. He should prefer having partner to being alone.

For Stamford, Holmes was a little too scientific for his tastes. But for Watson, Holmes was certainly not a difficult man to live with. He was quite in his ways, and his habits were regular. It was rare for him to be after ten at night. Sometimes he spent his days at the chemical laboratory, sometimes in dissecting-rooms, and occasionally in long walks. Watson suspected him of being addicted to the use of some narcotic.

As the weeks went by, his interest in him and curiosity as to his aims in life gradually depend and increased.  In height he was rather over six feet, and so excessively lean that seemed to be considerably taller. His eyes were sharp and piercing; and his thin, hawk-like nose gave his whole expression an air of alertness and decision. His hands were invariably blotted with ink and stained with chemicals, yet he was possessed of extraordinary delicacy of touch. He was not studying medicine. He was a consulting detective. In London there had a lots of government detectives and lots of private ones. But when they were at fault, they came to Sherlock Holmes.

The Mysterious Death

Tobias Gregson, the smartest of the Scotland Yarders, had asked Holmes on Enoch J. Drebber’s case. The American man had been found death, there had been no robbery, nor was there any evidence as to how the man met his death. There were marks of blood in the room, but there was no wound upon the person.

Gregson and his associate, Lestrade, were both quick and energetic, but conventional. Watson and Holmes arrived at the crime scene. It was that of a man about forty-three or forty-four years of age, middle-sized, broad-shouldered, with crisp curling black hair, and a short, stubby beard. He was dressed in a heavy broadcloth frock coat and waistcoat, with light-colored trousers, and immaculate collar and cuffs. On his rigid face there stood an expression of horror, and, as it seemed to me, of hatred, such as I have never seen upon human features. There was no much clues, but they found cards of Enoch J. Drebber, and pocket edition of Boccaccio’s ‘Decameron,’ (Giovanni Boccaccio (1313-1375), an Italian writer, poet, and important Renaisance humanist, who wrote the famous drama the Decameron) with name of Joseph Stangerson upon the flyleaf. Two letters—one addressed to E.J. Drebber and one to Joseph Stangerson.

At the particular corner of the room a large piece had peeled off, leaving a yellow square of course plastering. Across the bare space was scrawled in blood letters a single word -- Rache. The murderer had written it with his/her own blood. Gregson had had advertisements sent to all the newspapers, and one of his men had gone to the American Exchange. Rache is the German word for revenge. But the detectives suspected Rache as John Rache, their friend and that man was duty off.

Gregson and Lestrade had watched the manoeuvres of their amateur companion with considerable curiosity and some contempt. Rance gave a violent jump while Watson and Holmes arrived at his house. John Rance appeared to be somewhat irritated. He saw the man, he was an uncommon drunk man. But the mysterious man came back to the house after leaving it. He came back for his ring. Holmes used a ring as a bait, he would not missed the finest study he ever came cross. He called it in art jargon study in a scarlet. There were the scarlet thread of murder running through the colorless of skein of life, and their duty was to unravel it and isolated it, and exposed it every inch of it.

A very old and wrinkled woman hobbled into Watson and Holmes’s apartment. She showed up with the piece of paper and claimed a gold wedding ring which advertised on paper was belonged to his granddaughter Sally. They gave the ring to her, then Holmes followed her home. But he lost the track of the old woman.

The Daily News speculation of the Drebber’s death named his secretary, Stangerson. The hat laid beside the body addressed a name of store. The shop had sent a hat to Drebber residing at Charpentier’s Boarding Establishment. Mrs. Charpentier admitted Drebber had been with the Charpentiers nearly three weeks. He and his secretary, Stangerson, had been traveling on the Continent. She noticed it from their luggage. Stangerson was a quiet and reserved man, but hi employer, Drebber, was coarse in his habits. The very night of his arrival he because very much the worse for drink.

Lestrade was on an opinion that Stangerson, the secretary, was concerned on Drebber’s death. Holmes and the team tracked him at a hotel. They found Stangerson was stabbed to death, the window of the room was open.

John Ferrier and The Mormon’s Pilgrimage

There is no inhabitants of this land of despair. As far as the eye can reach stretches the great plain-land, all dusted over with patches of alkali, and intersected by clumps of the dwarfish chaparral bushes. Here and there scattered white objects which glistened in the sun, and stand out against the dull deposit of alkali. There are bones. The formers had belonged to oxen and the latter of men. Looking down on the very scene, there stood upon eighteen hundred and forty seven, a traveler. His face was lean and haggard. The man was dying from hunger and thirsty.  

He had toiled painfully down the ravine, in the vain hope of seeing signs of water. He found a pretty little girl of about five years of age, the child was pale and wan. A great caravan upon its journey for the West reached the base of the mountain. At the sight here was a general reining up horses an unslinging of guns, while fresh horsemen came galloping up to reinforce the vanguard. One of them seized the little girl, while two others supported her gaunt companion, and assisted him towards the wagons.

John Ferrier, the wanderer, explained the little girl was not his child. Saving the girl, he acclaimed she was his daughter, and named her Lucy Ferrier. One of the rescuers claimed they were the persecuted children of God, the chosen of the Angel Moroni. Eight to thousand Mormons were on their pilgrim. The two castaways, John Ferrier and the little girl, who had shared his fortunes had been adopted as his daughter, accompanied the Mormons to the end of their great pilgrimage.

Little Lucy Ferrier was borne along pleasantly enough in Elder Stangerson’s wagon, a retreat which she shared with the Mormon’s three wives with his son. When they reached the end of their wanderings, it was unanimously agreed that he should be provide with a large and as fertile a tract of land as any of the settlers, with the exception of Young himself, and of Stangerson, Kemball, Johnston, and Drebber, who were the four principal Elders.

John Ferrier was a man of practical turn of mind, keen in his dealings and skillful w was with his hands. In three years he was better of his neighbors, in six he was well-to-do, in nine e was rich, and in twelve there were no half a dozen men in whole of Salt Lake City who could compare to him. There were some who accused him of lukewarmness in his adopted religion, and others who put it down to greed of wealth and reluctant to incur expense.

The Wealth Ferriers in Salt Lake City

Lucy Ferrier grew up within the log-hose, and assisted her adopted father in all his undertakings. It was not her father, however, who first discovered that the child had developed into a woman. Young Jefferson Hope realized a crisis came to his life after he met Lucy Ferrier. The love which had sprung up in his heart was not the sudden, changeable a fancy boy.  He called on John Ferrier that night, and many times again until his face was familiar one at the farmhouse. He had been a scout too, a trapper, a silver explorer, and a ranchman. Jefferson soon became a favorite with the old farmer, and Lucy was the happiest girl in Utah. The Mormon’s leaders found Lucy was approached by a Christian, so they wanted to unseal the girl from Jefferson. They arranged Lucy to one of the Elder’s son. Then she married to Joseph Drebber.

There were some words between young Drebber and Stangerson as to which was to have her. The prediction of the Mormon was only too well fulfilled. Whether it was the terrible death of her father or the effects of hateful marriage into which she had been forced, poor Lucy never held up her head again, but pined away, and died within a month. Her sottish husband who had married her principally for the sake of John Ferrier property.

For some months Jefferson Hope lingered among the mountains, leading a strange, wild life, and nursing in his heart the fierce desire for vengeance which possessed him. Some of younger members of Church having rebelled against authority of the Elders and the result had been the secession of a certain numbers who left Utah and became Gentiles. Among these had been Drebber and Stangerson. Rumor reported that Drebber had managed to convert a large part of hos large property, and had departed a wealthy man, while his companion, Stangerson, was comparatively poor.

The Prisoner in London

He spoke in calm and methodical manner, as though the events which he narrated were commonplace enough. Jefferson Hope told the detectives and Holmes that the two dead men deserved death. He explained the two men had killed a father and daughter, a girl was to have married him twenty years ago. She was force in marrying Drebber. He took the marriage ring from her dead finger, and vowed to punish her killer. Among the many billets which he had filled in America during his wandering life, he was once janitor and sweeper-out of the laboratory at York College. One day the professor was lecturing on poisons, and he showed his students some alkaloids. They were rich and Hope was poor, so it was no easy matter for him to follow them. When he got in London, he had no money in his pocket. He applied at a cab-owner’s office and soon got employment. He had grown his beard, and there was no chance of their recognizing him.

He remembered a German being found in New York with RACHE written up above him, and it was argued at the time in the newspapers that the secret societies must have done it. He guessed what puzzled that the New Yorkers would puzzle the Londoners, so he dipped his finger in his own blood and printed it on a convenient place on the wall. He did not find Lucy’s ring in his pocket, then he drove back for the ring.

A higher Judge had taken the matter in hand, and Jefferson Hope had been summoned before the 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 placid smile upon his face, as though he had been able in his dying moments to look back upon a useful life, and on work well done. In the investigation room Hope had admitted that he had been suffering from aortic aneurysm. He went to a doctor last week about it, and his illness was bound to burst before many days passed. He got it from over-exposure and under-feeding among Salt Lake Mountains. It had been getting worse for years and Dr. John Watson had examined that  it was true. Hope was indeed in fatal aneurysm.

Watson telegraphed to the head of police of Cleveland about Enoch Drebber. The answer was conclusive. The police said Drebber had applied for the protection of the law against old rival in love, named Jefferson Hope, and that the same Hope was at present in Europe.

Dr. Watson was in doubt to believe that the deceased man in the jail was Jefferson Hope. The perpetrator had left his tracks all over the room, showing that he had been there all the time. The man who had walked into the house with Drebber at the bloody night was none other than the man who had driven the cab. The marks in the road showed him that the horse had on in a way wandered which would have been impossible had there been anyone in charge of it. It was absurd that any sane man would carry out a deliberate crime under the very eyes, as it were, of a third person who was sure to betray him. All those consideration had led him to the conclusion that Jefferson Hope was to be found among the jarveys of the Metropolis. 

There was no reason to suppose that was going to change his name. No one knew his original one, Watson therefore organized his street detective corps, and sent them systematically to every cab proprietor in London until they ferreted out the man. The murder of Stangerson was an incident which was entirely unexpected.

******

October 20, 2017

Sepatah Kata

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle dilahirkan di Edinburgh, Skotlandia pada tahun 1859. Setelah menyelesaikan studi kedokteran di Edinburg, kemudian ia menetap di London. Namun ia memutuskan menjadi seorang penulis dengan karya pertamanya kisah Sherlock Holmes. A Study in Scarlet mengawali suksesnya dimuat pada Beeton’s Christmas Annual pada tahun 1887, disusul karya keduanya Sign in Four pada tahun 1890. Ketika ia menuliskan karya-karya lainnya bertemakan sejarah, petualangan, dan romansa mengenalkan tokohnya detektif Sherlock Holmes yang membuatnya tenar. 

Pada akhirnya, ia berada pada titik lelah dan jenuh akan tokoh Sherlock Holmes, dan membunuhnya dalam karya His Last Bow pada tahun 1893, namun penggemarnya mendesak untuk membangkitkan kembali tokoh kesayangan. Dalam kehidupan nyatanya, Arthur Doyle gemar berpetualang, sekaligus atlet, sejarawan, dan ia menghembuskan nafas terakhir pada tahun 1930.

Buku ini terdiri dari sejumlah novel dan kisah tergabung dalam volume pertama karya Arthur Conan Doyle dan diberi kata pengantar oleh Loren D. Estleman pada tahun 1986. Dari karya awal yakni A Study Scarlet, Sign Four, hingga karya terakhir the Returned of Sherlock Holmes, disampaikan dalam 1059 halaman dan diterbitkan Bantam Classic New York, 2003. Sebelumnya sudah pernah menonton karya Sherlock Holmes dalam bentuk film dibintangi Downey Jr, tapi sayang sekali saya kurang bisa menikmatinya. Buku cerdas dan indah ini cukup sulit untuk dipahami, sehingga kurang tepat bagi pembaca pemula, namun tentu saja, penggemar dan pemburu kesusastraan bertema detektif mengejar karya berkelas milik Arthur Conan Doyle.

A Study in Scarlet adalah tuturan kisah dari Dr. Watson yang tertuang dalam jurnalnya tentang simpul perkenalan dan keterlibatan dengan detektif swasta amatiran, seorang pekerja laboratorium bernama Sherlock Holmes. Karya ini lebih didominasi Dr. Watson, dapat disimpulkan bahwa karya ini tidak ada tanpa Watson. Berlatar-belakang akhir abad 19, membawa kisah pengikut Mormon dari Utah di gurun pasir Salt Lake City hingga ke kota London. Kisah terbunuhnya Amerika kaya di kota London, seseorang mengaku atas nama Jefferson Hope, berkebangsaan Amerika juga, mengaku telah membunuh dua warga Amerika berkeyakinan Mormon tersebut di tanah Inggris, dengan motif persaingan cinta di masa lalu. Berita sudah santer di sejumlah surat kabar London, dan menurut Dr. Watson bisa saja semua hanya karangan Hope, lelaki pada akhirnya ditemukan tewas juga di penjara.

Terjemahan dalam Bahasa Indonesia, A Study in Scarlet, Sherlock Holmes (1887), karya Sir Arthur Conan Doyle: ringkasan

Karya pertama dari Sir Arthur Conan Doyle dipublikasi tahun 1887. Kisah memoar dari almarhum Dr. John Watson, seorang dokter tentara tentang Tn. Sherlock Holmes. Watson lulus sekolah kedokteran tahun 1887, dan bergabung dengan dokter bedah tentara. Saat perang Afganistan berkecambuk, ia dikirim ke sana dan mengalami kecelakaan perang mengkibatkan bahunya terluka parah, tidak memungkin lagi bertugas. Ia pun pensiun dini dan dikirim balik ke kota London. Namun tiada satu pun keluarganya di sana, karena ia memang berasal dari Edinburg. Berbulan-bulan ia tinggal di hotel murah, gaji pensiunanya sangat kecil, ia pun mencari teman berbagi tempat tinggal. Seorang teman mantan tentara bernama Stamford memperkenalkannya dengan Sherlock Holmes, seseorang yang bekerja pada laboratorium kimia di sebuah rumah sakit. Belakangan ia juga menjadi detektif amatir yang terkadang dilibatkan Scotland Yard pada kasus tertentu.

Menurut Stamford Holme agak aneh, tapi ia sedang mencari teman berbagi kamar bagus karena gaji dia juga pas-pasan. Awalnya satu atap dengan Holmes bukan hal yang mudah bagi Dr. Watson. Waktu pun berlalu keduanya akhirnya menjadi satu tim dalam bisnis konsultasi detektif yang baru didirikan Holmes.

Biro Intelijn Scotland Yard menyurati Holmes, dan memintanya menyelidiki terbunuhnya seorang asing yang memiliki identitas berasal dari Cleveland Amerika Serikat. Ia ditemukan terbunuh di kamar sewaannya, tanpa ditemukan luka di tubuhnya, dan tanpa ada tanda kekerasan perampokan harta benda, namun ada tulisan darah RACHE torehan jari seseorang di lantai dan dinding. Sebagai orang yang bekerja pada laboratorium kimia di sebuah rumah sakit, Holmes mandapati korban tewas diracun.

Begitu seringnya Dr. Watson melihat mayat, namun baru kali ini ia melihat wajah jasad begitu jahat dan bengis. Lelaki itu dalam pakaian mewah, didapati idak ada indikasi perampokan. Kematian misterius ini pun menjadi tajuk berita di beberapa surat kabar ternama di kota London. Detektif Gregson sudah mengirimkan telegram ke Cleveland, namun belum ada kabar.

Ketika sudah mendapat petunjuk dari barang-barang yang dimilikinya oleh korban Drebber, penyidikan mengarah ke sebuah rumah kos-kosan yang dimiliki Ny. Charpentier. Topi mewah yang dimiliki oleh Drebber bertuliskan nama sebuah toko topi ternama di kota London. Pembukuan penjualan dan pengiriman barang mencatat kiriman topi atas nama Drebber berikut alamatnya. Pemilik rumah sewa sangat ketakutan saat Holmes dan Watson mendatanginya. Ia memang sudah mengetahui berita kematian penyewa kamarnya di surat kabar, tapi ia ketakutan, Drebber orang yang kasar dan peminum berat, dan kerap mabuk. Wanita itu juga mempelajari Drebber adalah orang kaya yang sudah berkeliling benua dan Eropah. Dari label pada barang bawaannya tertulis Copenhagen. Drebber orang kasar bertolak belakang dengan sekretarisnya Stangerson yang tidak banyak bicara.

Stangerson kebetulan tidak tinggal bersamaan dengan bosnya. Drebber sendiri telah baru beberapa minggu tinggal di rumah Charpentier. Detektif dan Holmes mendatangi hotel tempat tinggal Stangerson, namun lelaki itu telah ditemukan tewas dengan luka tikaman. Dengan penyidikan saksi yang melihat pembunuh sempat kembli ke tempat kejdia pelku Jefferson Hope ditangkap.

Salt Lake City

Sejauh mata memandang, hamparan gurun luas tidak menjanjikan kehidupan apapun. Bongkahan tulang belulang burung-burung dan manusia berserakan di atas pasir. Delapan hingga sepuluh ribuan orang tengah melakukan perjalanan ziarah, salah seorang dari mereka adalah seorang pengembara. Beberapa hari sbelumnya, ia terkapar, kehausan di gurun sepi itu. Panas terik membakar membuatnya sesekali beristirhat dalam harapan perjuangannya mencari sumber air. Ia tahu itu sia-sia, namun ia masih tetap menaruh harapan. Suara teriakan anak kecil muncul dari bawah pasir.

Gadis kecil berusia lima tahun, keluar. Berikutnya pengembara mengetahui bahwa anak itu telah kehilangan ibunya dan rombongan yang membawanya. Mereka semua telah tewas diambil gurun, tinggallah gadis itu. Gadis cantik dengan lengan sehat. Rombongan ribuan orang dalam karavan atau kereta besar, dan sekumpulan orang berkuda  mendengung dan menyemburkan pasir. Dua dari penunggang kuda menghampiri lelaki itu. Gadis kecil itu dibopong ke karavan, dan John Ferrier lemah dituntun. Ia lemas kehausan, delapan hingga puluhan ribu orang Mormon yang sedang mengadakan ziarah kerohanian ke gunung para orang suci, telah menyelamatkan hidup keduanya.

Para tetua pun menyambut John Ferrier. Pengelana  menceritakan jati dirinya dan gadis itu. Setelah menyelamatkan gadis sebatang kara itu, ia menamai putri adopsinya Lucy. Ziarah pun berakhir dan kembali ke pemukiman di Utah. Para tetua Mormon sepakat menyewakan sebidang tanah pada lelaki asing itu. Ia giat bekerja dan berpegang teguh pada janji. Dalam sepuluh tahun, ia sudah tersohor sebagai salah satu orang kaya di Salt Lake City, hampir semua orang kenal namanya. Putri adopsinya Lucy pun tumbuh menjadi gadis cantik, ia membantu pertanian ayahnya.

Banyak pula tidak menyenangi John Ferrier, ada yang menuduh ia tidak taat dengan kepercayaan barunya, lebih mencintai harta. Kecantikan Lucy memikat hati para pria, apalagi harta kekayaan ayahnya. Rumor menyebut John Ferrier gemar memainkan wanita, tapi kenyataannya ia tidak pernah menikah.

Hingga suatu masa seorang pengelana muda jatuh cinta pada Lucy. Ia seorang petualang sejati dan pencari harta karun. John Ferrie tidak begitu mudah menerima lelaki asing yang mendekati putri satu-satunya. Tidak menunggu waktu lama Hope dan ayah Lucy akrab, dan Lucy menjadi wanita paling bahagia di Utah ketika itu. Tetua Mormon tidak menyenangi kehadiran pria Kristen seperti Hope, apalagi niat untuk menikahi si cantik Lucy. 

Mereka mengatur Lucy dijodohkan pada salah seorang anak tetua. Tetua Stangerson dan Drebber memiliki istri banyak dan anak banyak. John tidak setuju dengan perjodohan paksa tetua, namun ia berhutang nyawa pada mereka. Akhirnya Lucy dinikahi anak dari tetua Drebber. Hanya beberapa bulan pernikahan ayah Lucy meninggal seperti nubuatan mereka, dan Lucy sendiri pun meninggal. Jefferson Hope sangat terpukul dengan berita kematian Lucy dan ayahnya, ia menyadari kematian keduanya tidak wajar, apalagi setelah kematian Lucy, semua properti Ferrier dijual menjadikan Drebber muda kaya raya, berfoya-foya, dan meninggalkan Utah.

Beberapa bulan sebelumnya, ada pertikaian dalam tubuh gereja Mormon, antara tetua dan anak muda. Drebber dan Stangerson muda turut memberontak dan keduanya melarikan diri ke Cleveland. Di samping itu, ada ancaman pada Drebber, rumahnya dilempari. Balas dendam dari Jefferson Hope. Rumor menyebut Drebber hidup kaya dan berkeliling benua dan berpesiar ke Eropah.

Kesaksian Tahanan

Seseorang telah ditahan dan ia mengaku bernama Jefferson Hope, ia menceritakan sema kejadian di Utah. Drebber dan Stangerson sangat ayak mati baginya. Ia meracun Drebber. Ia seorang pengembara yang seharunya menikahi Lucy, dan masa muda pengembaraan ia miskin sehingga ia menjadi ukang sapu di sebuah uniersitas di New York. Seorang Profesor kimia telah mengajari muridnya tentang reaksi racun. Ia pun mencuri zat itu dan membawanya dalam botol, dan berniat membalas dendam pada pembunuh Lucy.

Setibanya di London, Hope tidak memiliki uang, akhirnya ia melamar menjadi supir taksi. Setelah mengintai berbulan-bulan dan akhirnya ketemu dengan Drebber dan Stangerson. Hope menumbuhkan kumis sehingga Drebber dan Stangerson tidak mengenalinya. Ia menghabisi Drebber dengan racun dan membawa cincin Lucy untuk mengingatkan perbuatan pelaku. Hope mengambil cincin mas nikah dari jari dingin Lucy, dijadikan sebagai alat pengingat untuk balas dendam. Pada malam pembunuhan, ia baru sadar cincin yang sering dibawanya tertinggal dan ia kembali ke kamar Debber, cincin tidak berhasil didapat. Tulisan darah RACHE didapatnya dari New York. Menurutnya apa yang menjadi tren di New York pastilah tren di London. Kasus terbunuhnya seorang Jerman dengan meninggalkan tulisan RACHE, berarti balas dendam dalam bahasa Jerman, menjadi heboh diberitakan di surat kabar New York, menginspirasi Jefferson Hope.

Resmi menjadi tahanan, keesokan paginya Hope ditemukan tewas dalam penjara. Kasus pembunuhan pun dianggap selesai. Dua warga Utah Amerika, pengikut Mormon melarikan diri dan hidup berfoya-foya di tanah Eropah, rival asmaranya Jefferson Hope mengejarnya dan membunuh kedua pria itu yang telah membunuh gadisnya yang seharusnya menjadi istrinya dua puluh tahun silam, dan ayah, demi harta. Hope juga ditemukan tewas di penjara. Ia menderita aorta aneurism, istilah medis untuk pelebaran pembuluh darah tidak wajar berlaku pada sebuah area, disebabkan oleh melemahnya pembuluh darah. Anerism dapat saja terjadi pada arteri mana pun, namun bila pecahnya pada aorta (arteri terbesar pada manusia) dapat berakibat fatal. Hope bertahun-tahun, diterpa terik dan kelaparan di gurun Gunung Salt Lake, penyakitnya sudah menahun dan memburuk, minggu lalu dokter sudah memberitahu jika umurnya tinggal hitungan hari. Pengakuanya tersebut diiyakan oleh Dr. Wtason, Hope sedang sekarat oleh penyakit itu.

Seorang Amerika membunuh dua Mormon dari Utah dan si pembunuh pun tewas, dua pembunuhan dan tiga kematian di tanah Inggris menjadi perbincangan surat kabar. Menurut Holmes kasus ini menjadi pelajaran bagi Inggris, agar lebih berhati-hati menerima orang asing. Bagi Holmes dan Scotland Yard kasus sudah usai, namun tidak bagi Watson. Ia mengirim telegram menanyakan tentang Drebber. Pusat kepolisian Cleveland memberi keterangan dalam telegram, menjelaskan jikalau Drebber pernah meminta perlindungan atas ancaman dari rival asmara Jefferson Hope.

Banyak kejanggalan yang ditemukan Watson, termasuk pembunuh meniggalkan petunjuk secara terang-terangan: cincin dan tulisan RACHE, terlalu sempurna. Watson meragukan lelaki yang mengaku dan tewas di penjara, ia bukanlah Hope yang sesungguhnya. Watson meminta detektif jalanan mencari supir taksi bernama Jefferson Hope. Tewasnya Stangerson adalah sebuah kematian kebetulan semata. Watson menorehkan kasus ini dalam jurnalnya, kasus yang masih meninggalkan banyak pertanyaan, sang dokter memiliki hipotesa sendiri. Ia mengingatkan rekannya Holmes yang tengah puas menikmati kesuksesannya dengan kata-kata Latin yang diungkapkan oleh Quintus Horatius Flaccus dalam karyanya the First Satire.

“Populus me sibilant, at mihi plaudo Ipse domi simul ac nummos contemplar in arca.”  (The public hisses at me, but I applaud myself when in my own house, and simultaneously contemplate the coins in the strong-box). Artinya, khalayak sibuk mencibirku, tetapi saya sedang bergembira saat berada di dalam rumah sendiri, dan sibuk menghitung uang dalam peti harta.

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20 Oktober 2017