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.
******
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.
******
12 Januari 2018
12 Januari 2018
