were stationed close to Hyderabad, and both shared a similar evangelical faith. I will bet a pound to a penny that they shared the same garrison chapel and, not surprisingly, a determination to rid the world of Colonel Rawdon Moran.”
He stopped for a moment, as if to check that the room was truly empty, and then looked round at me.
“After Carey’s death, Putney-Wilson adopted his absurd role of Samuel Dordona in order to hunt down the murderer of his wife. So far, he has done his best to get himself killed and accomplished nothing. No doubt he has resigned his commission, but the best place for him is safely back in India.”
“And our nocturnal visitors?”
He shrugged and stared at the shrivelled head in its jar of formalin.
“Simple observation would have drawn them here. We entered Carlyle Mansions, the apartment of the murder, in public view. Who more likely to keep secret watch than the murderers? We have publicly associated ourselves with Sergeant Albert Gibbons, late of the Royal Marines, confidential courier—as and when required—to the Provost Marshal General. Who more likely to keep watch on us than those who knew his history? Did you really think we should not be noticed? For my own part I have counted upon it and should be disappointed if it were not so!”
“Even though the opposite apartment in Landor Mansions was not occupied?”
“Precisely because it was not. It had been taken by a certain ‘Mr. Ramon,’ that foolish anagram of ‘Moran.’ It seems he is not yet in the country, but how dearly he wants us to know the game has begun. This pickled head is his doing. Learn to know his mind. Moran is master of the revels, and mankind are his puppets. He reminds us tonight that we are his creatures, our very lives are at his beck and call. After Carlyle Mansions, did you truly believe we should hear no more of the matter?”
“I had hoped so. I did not quite see it as you do.”
“Did you not? For myself, I was so sure of it that I have slept tonight—or rather I have not slept—with an efficient little Laroux pistolet under my pillow. It is a firearm better suited to a lady’s corsage but handy enough in the circumstances. One cannot be too careful. Now let us see what we have.”
He stood back a little from the window, regarding the severed and cloven head in its jar as though it might have been a work of art. After a moment or two, he passed judgment.
“Phrenologically, I feel quite sure that this fellow’s origin is East African, though not, I believe, the Somali coast. That aquiline nose and the proud angle of the jaw would tempt me to suggest Ethiopia or even perhaps one of the many itinerant tribes of the southern Sudan. I would hazard that as a guess.”
“Holmes! Who cares where the damned thing came from? What matters is that it is here!”
“I care greatly,” he said in a murmur. Then he leant forward a little for a view of the yard with its outhouse. “And you say that you saw the message on the slates below us?”
“It is on the roof, just down there.”
He shook his head.
“I only ask because I fear it is there no longer. It is a foolish but effective trick of writing on ice or dew or anything which will vanish in the warmer air. It makes the inscription useless as evidence and usually casts doubt on the credibility of the witness. As it will do upon you, if you repeat the story outside these walls.”
“Fortunately, I can remember what was written, word for word!”
“Of course you can!” he cried soothingly, “and I should believe you without hesitation, in any case. But do you not see? It was essential to their purpose that you should read it while it was still there. I am quite sure that they watched you as you did so. They may be watching still, for all we know. That message—that challenge indeed—was the whole purpose behind tonight’s charade. As for the rest.…”
“I come in silence and I kill without a sound,” I repeated; “I vanish like smoke upon the wind.…”
“Just so. Certainly neither of us heard them come or go.”
“Beware all, I warn but once!”
“Of course, they could not leave without a threat of that kind. These are men of some quality, Watson, however criminally deranged. We should do well to remember that.”
“And we still have no evidence of