194 – Lone Star (2)
“Now that I think about it, the Lone Star is one star… …. “Considering that it’s an American ship, don’t you think it’s a very American name, Watson?”
“Holmes, I don’t really care about America. “There’s no way you would know that.”
“Actually, Watson, you are not only interested in America, but you are also not interested in most important knowledge. “I may not be able to stop your self-destructive impulses, but as a friend, my advice is that you should start cutting back on gambling now.”
“… Don’t treat people like they’re crazy about gambling. And don’t treat me like an ignorant person. First of all, Holmes, you are strange. “I am a woman who has learned a lot, doctor, doctor.”
Watson felt that his conversation with his friend Holmes was both enjoyable and exhausting at the same time. Perhaps Holmes feels the exact opposite.
It was clear to Watson that Holmes felt friendship towards him and treated him as his friend. If he hadn’t, he wouldn’t have been able to sustain his friendship with Holmes, no matter how much he enjoyed risk and how interesting his adventures with Holmes were.
The great value of her friendship was that a woman who seemed to others to be blunt, eccentric, and only showed cold, icy rationality showed herself a unique side to herself.
So, Watson sighed but asked the questions Holmes wanted. Of course, Watson himself was curious about the reason. But more important was helping Holmes as a friend.
Holmes had some of the bad habits that smart people often have. He liked to show off his knowledge, and naturally he often wanted the person he was talking to to ask about it. Isn’t it because it feels different to say it yourself?
In Watson’s opinion, there was no significant difference either way.
“So what does it mean?”
“Let’s think about the American country bumpkins we are involved with. “The southern part of the United States, well, even Watson, no matter how lacking in common sense, would know that it was a region where a civil war broke out over slaves, and that it was a rural area where cotton was grown, right?”
“I am also a person who reads newspapers and magazines and lives a good life, Holmes. From the beginning, you emphasized that common sense is useless. Even in that strange paper back then… That’s right, the human brain is like an attic, so you always have to organize your knowledge and throw away unnecessary clutter?”
When their life together in the Baker family had just begun, Holmes had picked on Watson. Watson, who had lost his memory at the time, truly believed that his friend was a weirdo who did not even know that the Earth was round.
Of course, he couldn’t help but blush when he realized too late that it was all a prank to tease Watson.
However, the ‘essay’ that Watson mentioned was an article about observations that Holmes had published in a small magazine to kill time, and Watson had naturally read it as well.
The secret of observation mentioned in the article was nothing new to me because I lived with Holmes and was always able to observe him right next to me.
However, the point about the human brain and memory that Holmes compared was quite impressive. Considering that Holmes proudly mentioned that point when talking about the writing, it was clear that it was a satisfactory expression that his friend had come up with after some careful consideration.
In response to Watson’s counterattack, Holmes raised the corner of his mouth and responded smugly in a very unlucky manner that Watson thought was very unlucky.
“Of course it is. But I’m fine. “My attic is big enough so I have room to store all the knowledge I don’t need.”
“You’re handsome, really. So what does Lone Star mean?”
“This is the flag of the U.S. State of Texas. It’s the southern part of the United States and is probably connected to the KKK. You can tell they are stupid because they don’t even have any intention of hiding it. In that sense, what is the opinion of Americans?”
Only then did Holmes turn his attention to the Americans who had been silent in the room, rubbing their black and blue bruises.
The appearance of the two people who visited Baker Street again cannot be said to be good even with empty words.
Holmes’ warning came true. Coincidentally, Professor James Moriarty held a grand welcome ceremony to welcome the two Pinkerton agents who had crossed the Atlantic from faraway America.
From the professor’s point of view, it was just a light prank and a welcome ceremony, but for the two Pinkerton agents who had gone through many adventures and dangers, it felt like a serious threat to their lives.
“After experiencing it myself… I became convinced that perhaps the young lady’s hypothesis was indeed true. “The method is a method, but the number mobilized was astounding.”
“Yesterday, while returning to the lodgings I secretly found, I was attacked four times. However, it seems that they were not really trying to kill him, but there were two gang fights disguised as drunk people and two punches disguised as pickpockets. “Once we entered the dormitory, a gunshot passed narrowly over our heads as if to welcome us, and there were three more fights on the way here.”
“Just like a well-fed cat playing with a mouse instead of killing it, the guy on top seemed to do the same. But what I’m really curious about is, how on earth did you find out his identity?”
“It’s hard to understand what you’re talking about, just a little more…” “It would be nice if you could explain it clearly.”
Huckleberry Finn seemed to feel that the other person was intentionally diverting his words in response to Holmes’ answer, and continued speaking with a sigh.
“Any way you look at it, Tom agreed, but that lady is ‘convinced’ who we should ultimately arrest. We roughly know what it means to not be able to prove it. If you work in this field, you have to follow the law as much as possible, and you need ‘proof’ to be brought to court. “You know that person personally, right?”
A moment of silence.
Watson unconsciously turned his gaze to Holmes, but he missed it. Unlike Holmes, who was silent, his attitude seemed to indicate that his partner’s question was the correct answer.
However, Holmes did not point out anything special. He remained silent for a moment, looking at the other person expressionlessly, then calmly opened his mouth.
“It’s not important right now. However, we can have positive expectations about future cooperation with Pinkerton. “Isn’t that right?”
“… I don’t agree. The lady is lucky. Tom and I have been working at Pinkerton since we were kids, right back in the Civil War. Tom and I were originally from Mississippi, so if we were unlucky, we would have been taken over by the Confederate army, but when Jim and I went to the North to look for work, the war broke out. Also, by chance, I met Mr. Pinkerton and worked directly under him.”
“Jim is a friend of ours who was a freed slave, and I hope you don’t treat him like the KKK.”
“Not really. Well, anyway, it’s time to move to watch the Lone Star sail.”
Afterwards, Watson watched his friend talk separately with Americans and hand them tightly sealed letters, but he did not go out of his way to ask questions. Now she too was used to her friend.
Rather than such trivial things, I focused more on preparing for a night walk. They had to go to the Thames Estuary at such a late hour as the ship was operating illegally.
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The night air was cold, and the port was literally as quiet as chaos. Even the coachman driving the carriage carrying Holmes and his companions grumbled as if the guests visiting the Thames Estuary at such a time were the real deal, but bowed before the sparkling gold coins that Holmes gave them.
Four men and women were walking quietly through a harbor where there were no fishermen, except for a few drunkards who occasionally fell down freezing to death on the street.
A light flashing in the distance indicated the presence of a smuggling ship, and Watson had no choice but to walk closely next to his friend, very nervous.
“Nothing happened… Right, Holmes?”
“Well, Watson. People often say that saying something like that is not a good sign. “It just so happened that the teacher prepared a farewell party for the Americans.”
“What?”
However, Watson was soon able to understand why Holmes and the Americans secretly took out their pistols.
People started to appear as if they were hiding among the ships and cargo that were tied up here and there.
The number was less than ten people. Some of them looked like drunks, while others looked like common street thugs.
“…… This is going to be a pain in the ass. Hey, let’s just pretend we don’t know each other, okay?”
Some of them had nothing in their hands, but someone was holding a dagger for cutting meat, and someone else was approaching them with their hands secretly in their inner pockets.
Huckleberry Finn, seeing this, scratched his head and quickly pointed his gun and shouted. But what was heard was ridicule.
Watson felt his heart begin to beat violently in front of the sudden threat, and he secretly turned his gaze to his friend, who was leisurely checking his pocket watch even in this situation.
“Ho… “Holmes?”
“Wait, Watson. 5… 4… 3…… 2… One… it’s okay.”
“What?”
– Boom!
Watson, who could not understand his friend’s actions, tried to ask a question, but was drowned out by a sudden explosion.
It was clearly an explosion that no one expected. Even those who came up to challenge them, disguised as members of a bad street gang, turned their heads in the direction from which the explosion was heard, as if they had not expected it.
The flames created by the explosion on the Lone Star became the harbor’s new lighthouse, illuminating them.
