Free Sherlock Holmes and the Chinese Junk Affair and Other Stories by Roy Templeman Page A

reasoned, then, that the Chinese junk and her crew may have been on the high seas on their way back to China. However, I decided that if they were not, then the most obvious place they might be found was here in London’s Chinatown.
    ‘As Dr Watson is aware, I have a great many friends in that oriental part of London, so I had them put the word about. Results were spectacular. I found my ten Chinamen; they were the key to enable me to unlock the whole mystery. Posing as an intimate friend of Rodger Hardy, and using the subterfuge of wanting to win a bet against my friends, I was to discover all I wanted to know.
    ‘As we are all aware, the Chinese are great gamblers and I explained that I had bet my friends that I could also perform the magic trick of making a vessel vanish and reappear again. With the lure of gold sovereigns, I was able to learn unobtrusively how Rodger Hardy had worked his confidence trick which, I think we all must admit, was a piece of sheer brilliance.’
    The Cabinet ministers nodded agreement and the Prime Minister added his approval too.
    ‘I felt on learning all the facts that it wouldn’t be sufficient to be able to explain the confidence trick in words; much better and more effective to put on a demonstration. However, I reasoned it would need to be on a smaller scale, both size of the vessel, reduced, and the time taken to construct them. I say them, because I had decided to have two identical cardboard vessels made. More of that later.
    ‘The story I obtained from the Chinamen over many cups of tea and numerous visits was as follows. Rodger Hardy had bought the newly built junk in China. He had hired five experienced seamen to sail the craft across the world to Britain. The other five Chinamen were craftsmen in the art of making objects of everyday use such as a bed, table, chair, desk, rickshaws and even small houses; all made from paper and cardboard, to be burned at the funerals of rich Chinese.
    The models are life sized and so realistic that, it is said, they are impossible to distinguish from the real thing. Burning these objects at a funeral is thought to enable the deceased to arrive in the afterlife with essential goods to begin again. To cut a long story very short, Rodger Hardy, with the lure of much gold, and the promise of more when the job was done, persuaded the ten Chinamen to leave their homeland and sail to the land of the “long-nosed devils” as white men are called in China.
    ‘The five craftsmen would labour on the journey to help sail the craft under the direction of the experienced seamen, cooking the meals, pulling on the ropes and in general making themselves useful.
    ‘Of course the roles were reversed when they reached Halam Hall. The craftsmen set about making a copy of the junk whilst the seamen made themselves useful, cooking and helping in any way they could.
    ‘The Chinamen knew nothing, of course, of the real reason why the strange long-nosed Englishman should want to do this unusual thing to win a bet, but you must remember stories about the strange ways of Europeans, especially the British, had filtered for years back to China.
    ‘So the Chinese junk duly arrived at the mouth of the Thames and was met by a river pilot, who had been handsomely paid by Rodger Hardy, to be on the lookout for just such an arrival. Suitably disguised, with mast and rattan sail hidden under tarpaulins, she was towed to a preselected covered-in boathouse. There to await her brief appearance when Sir Simon would inspect her, then down to the sea and sunk, a few months later.’
    Holmes reached out, took up his glass and sipped slowly. I looked at his attentive audience, rather like children being told a story, spellbound and waiting to hear more, I thought. Holmes put down his glass and continued.
    ‘We must remember, Halam Hall is rather isolated and the only staff was a cook and her daughter, both of whom lived in the village, and an elderly gardener who came daily, also