The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle, Arthur Doyle: summary

It is only few hours before Christmas, Holmes cracks a wrongfully convicted in jewel robbery. The stolen blue carbuncle has found accidentally in a goose's body. A rookie thief tries to store the stone in a goose. 

The The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle: summary

Peterson had found a hat and a good fat goose. In fact, the very honest commissionaire, had found them at four o’clock on Christmas morning. In front of him, he saw, in the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the corner of the street, a row broke out between this stranger and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the man’s hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him.

Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken window, and seeing an official-looking person in rushing towards him, dropped his goose, took his shoes, and vanished amid the labyrinth of the small street.

Peterson brought the goose to Holmes that morning. The detective just retained the hat of unknown gentlemen who lost his Christmas dinner. It was true that for Mrs. Henry baker was printed upon a small card which was tied to the bird’s left hand, and it was the initial ‘H.B’ were legible upon the lining of the hat; but as there were some thousand s of Bakers and some hundreds of Henry Baker in the city, it was not easy to restore lost property to any of them.

Then Peterson’s wife found a diamond in its crop. It was a thousand pounds. He had read the advertisement on the paper that five days earlier, a rich countess had announced the reward for her lost jewel’s case in Alpha Inn.  

John Horner, twenty-six-year-old man, a plumber, abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess the valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle in her hotel room. Upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect that he had shown Horner up to the dressing room of the rich countess upon the day of robbery in order that he might solder the second bar of grate, which was loose. The inspector gave evidence as to the arrest of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence of the strongest terms. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion during the proceeding, fainted away at the conclusion and was carried out of court.

Holmes indicated that the jewel robbery case had been a police-court. Then he ordered Peterson to lie undoubtedly an advertisement for the goose and hat in all the evening papers. A large man with rounded shoulder, a massive head, and a broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of grizzled brown, came at the door of the Baker Street. The man declared that both the hat and the goose belonged to him. His rusty back frock-coat was buttoned right up in front. He spoke in slow staccato fashion, and choosing his words with care, and gave impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had ill-usage at the hands of fortune. 

There were a few of goose salesmen who frequent to the hotel. The goose was not his, but he got them from another goose salesman name Mr. Breckinridge. The three of them went to the market. One of the largest stalls bore name of Breckinridge upon it and the proprietor, a horsy-looking man, with sharp face and trim side-whiskers, was helping a boy to put up the shutters. Holmes’s question had provoked a burst of anger from the salesman, but finally he answered where he got the geese. All the bird that went to the Alpha Inn were the town bred. The trader showed Holmes the list of the town supplier from his book. They found name of Mrs. Oakshott on the book, she was the one who has sold the geese to the Alpha Inn that day.

The man at the Mrs. Oakshott’s address claimed himself as the brother of the owner. His sister had married to a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton Road, where she fattened fowls for the market.

One day, he had met a friend who had just served his jail time. They fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they could get rid of what they stole. He stole the stone from the hotel and went to right on his friend’s place. He believed his ex con friend could turn the stone into money. Suddenly the idea came into his head which showed him how he could beat the best detective that ever lived. 

After giving a fake name, the little man with half-frightened, finally declared his real name, it was James Ryder. Holmes brought both Ryder and Baker to his office. Some weeks before Jim’s sister had ordered him to pick of her geese for a Christmas present. He picked a big white goose, thrust the stone down into its throat as far as his finger could reach. It was a big white goose with a barred tail, but there were twenty six of them. Jim carried the goose all the way to his friend’s place. His friend laughed until he chocked. There was no sign of stone after opened the goose. He rushed back to her sister, there was not a bird to be seen there. All of them had gone to the dealer named Breckinridge. The dealer had sold the lot at once. The Horner case was collapsed, Jim was sent to jail.

*****

March 30, 2018

Sekapur Sirih

Saat setiap orang sibuk dalam persiapan perayaan Malam Natal, sebuah kejadian tidak terduga menguak kasus perampokan batu mulia di sebuah hotel. Padahal kasusnya sudah selesai di meja persidangan, dan seseorang telah dikurung. Kasus salah tangkap berhasil dipecahkan dan diungkap detektif Holmes. Kisah yang cukup singkat menarik, di sini digambarkan kepedulian dan keprihatinan Holmes pada korban salah tangkap hingga ia rela seharian melacak dan memecahkan kasus, hanya beberapa jam sebelum Malam Natal. 

Detektif itu menilai peradilan buruk diberlakukan pada orang lemah seperti Horner, seorang tukang pipa, tanpa bukti kuat, harus dijadikan pelaku dan dikurung, hingga Holmes menyebutnya pengadilan-polisi. Mungkin ini adalah protes sosial penulis Doyle atas apa yang terjadi ketika itu (1800-an), tidak menampik juga masih banyak ditemui di jaman teknologi  sekarang, apalagi pada negara-negara berkembang seperti di negara kita. 

Terjemahan dalam Bahasa Indonesia, Blue Carbuncle, Arthur Doyle: ringkasan

Holmes baru saja didatangi oleh Peterson, seorang kawan yang dikenal sangat jujur. Dia baru saja menemukan sebuah topi tua dan seekor angsa gemuk di jalan. Pria berseragam itu baru saja pulang dari sebuah pesta perayaan saat ia berpapasan dengan seseorang yang terbirit-birit meninggalkan topi dan angsanya. Peristiwanya terjadi masih sangat subuh, sekitar pukul empat pagi, di Hari Natal. Sepertinya angsa itu akan menjadi hidangan keluarga pria tadi nanti malam.

Lelaki bertopi memegang angsa dan tidak sengaja tersenggol orang lain di sebuah gang sempit, lelaki itu terhempas jatuh dan merusak jendela di sampingnya. Peterson berusaha mendekatinya berniat menolongnya, namun lelaki itu ketakutan melihat Peterson dalam pakaian seragam. Diselimuti rasa takut karena telah merusak jendela, ia beranjak lari sekencangnya, meninggalkan angsa dan topinya yang terjatuh.

Peterson segera mendatangi kawannya Holmes. Peterson pun disuruh membawa pulang angsa bersamanya. Topi masih tertinggal di ruangan Holmes saat Watson tiba di Jalan Baker. Peterson kembali lagi ke tempat detektif, ia sangat tergesa-gesa diselimuti rasa takut. Pada saat istrinya menyembelih angsa, ditemukan sebuah batu mulia, bernilai mahal.

Lima hari lalu, Peterson sendiri membaca berita di sebuah surat kabar, tentang kisah perampokan batu mulia yang terjadi di Alpha Inn. Seorang kaya berdarah biru telah kehilangan batu mulia, perhiasan berwarna biru di dalam kamar hotel, ketika ia tiba di kamarnya barang-barangnya sudah acak-acakan.

Manajer hotel telah menyuruh seorang tukang pipa membereskan kerusakan. Horner pria pekerja pipa tersebut diduga telah membobol pintu samping dan diyakini polisi  menjadi pelaku perampokan. Horner mengelak semua tuduhan itu, terakhir pengadilan memutuskan ialah pelakunya, dan mengirimnya ke penjara.

Dari berita yang dibacanya, Holmes dengan cepat meragukan bahwa Horner pelakunya, menurutnya telah terjadi pengadilan polisi. Ia pun sangat iba dengan nasib pria dalam bui. Batu mulia yang ditemukan oleh Peterson semakin menarik untuk diselidiki.

Topi yang mereka temukan bertorehkan nama inisial ‘H.B’ dan sebuah tulisan pesan di kaki angsa bertuliskan ‘Untuk Ny. Henry Baker’.  Tentu saja ribuan orang bernama Baker dan ratusan bernama Henry Baker seantero kota London, sangat sulit untuk menyusurinya. Akhirnya Holmes pun memutuskan membuat sebuah iklan di surat kabar harian sore, tentang ditemukannya sebuah topi dan seekor angsa. Tak lama setelahnya, seorang lelaki bertubuh besar datang ke kantor Holmes dan mengaku dirinya adalah Henry Baker.

Ia pun menceritaan panjang lebar dan angsa itu bukan miliknya, tapi dari seorang pedagang bernama Beckinridge dan mereka pun bergegas menuju toko itu. Pelacakan asal muasal unggas dimulai. Toko Beckinridge terhitung besar di dalam pasar. Pemilik toko Beckinridge sempat menunjukkan rasa jengkel dengan pertanyaan Holmes, tapi akhirnya ia bersedia menjelaskan beberapa hal tentang pasokan unggasnya. Khusus untuk Hotel Alpha disulai dari peternak kota dan membuka daftar transaksi di buku lejernya.

Dari buku itu, terkuak siapa pemasok angsa, dan ditemukan nama Ny. Oakshott pada tanggal kejadian. Saat Holmes dan Watson menuju toko penggemukan unggas itu, mereka disambut oleh lelaki pendek mengaku bernama Robinson. Dengan wajah separuh takut akhirnya, ia mengakui nama aslinya adalah James Ryder. Holmes pun membawa Henry Baker dan James Ryder ke kantornya untuk investigasi.

Kakak James telah menikah dengan seorang bernama Oakshott dan tinggal di Jalan Brixton, di mana tempat mereka memiliki usaha penggemukan unggas sebelum dipasarkan. Kakaknya menyuruh Jim untuk mengambil seekor dari unggasnya sebagai hadiah Natal. Jim pun memilih angsa putih bersih besar berekor pendek, namun ada dua puluh enam angsa seperti itu.

Suatu hari Jim bertemu dengan temannya yang baru saja pulang dari penjara, perbincangan pun melebar hingga tentang teknik pencurian jitu. Setelah Jim mencuri batu dari hotel, ia sangat kuatir akan mudah tertangkap kalau hanya disimpan di kantongnya. Dengan cepat, terbersik pikiran memasukkan batu curian di dalam tubuh ungags, ide bagus di benaknya. Ia percaya kelihaian temannya dalam dunia pencurian dan penadahan akan segera mengubah batu itu menjadi uang. Sebelum mencapai rumah temannya, ia harus menyimpannya selihai-lihainya supaya tidak tertangkap.

Batu itu didorong masuk ke tenggorokan angsa, sejauh jangkauan jarinya. Dengan riang gembira, angsa besar dibawanya dan berangkat ke rumah temannya. Terang saja temannya terbahak-bahak menyaksikan kekonyolan Jim, tidak ditemukan tanda batu mulia di dalam angsa, ia geram dan malu. Jim pun bergegas kembali ke rumah kakaknya, menanyakan angsanya. Ternyata semua angsa telah dijual ke pedagang Breckinridge.

Holmes geram pada Jim. Kejahatannya telah mencelakai orang lain, Horner harus mendekam di bui untuk perbuatan yang tidak pernah dilakukannya. Jim mengakui perbuatannya dan merasa bersalah. Horner terbebas dari kasus yang dituduhkan dan Jim harus mendekan di penjara.

*****

30 Maret 2018