Free Sherlock Holmes: Cthulhu Mythos Adventures (Sherlock Holmes Adventures Book 2) by Ralph E. Vaughan

have a reputation for advancing wildly fanciful occult theories.”
    Sherrington raised his glass in a comradely toast and vaguely shrugged his thin shoulders. It was useless to deny the obvious.
    “Unfortunately, Mr Holmes, your position is as logical as it is unassailable,” the Brigadier agreed. “All right, call this malicious force ‘Shudde M’ell,’ if you must. What do we do now? Call Scotland Yard? The Thames River Police? The Admiralty?”
    “No, I think not, at least for the moment,” Holmes replied. “But you do have…”
    A soft knock at the door interrupted them, and Ah Ling entered carrying a message form, which she handed to Knight. He unfolded it, read it and scowled fiercely.
    “Blasted fool!” the Brigadier snarled, crushing the paper between his fists, then snapping it open. “Damned fool!”
    “What is it, Brigadier?’ Sherlock Holmes demanded.
    “It’s Archie Wallace,” the Brigadier explained, glancing down at the message form. “He’s received some information, a ‘tip’ he calls it, of activity in Whitechapel and gone down there alone.”
    “My word,” Sherrington breathed. “That could get sticky.”
     
    III
     
    The odd trio of Sherlock Holmes, Brigadier General Knight and Roger Sherrington set out for Whitechapel without delay, but first made a stop at Grennel and Son, Machinists, a shop in an alley off East India Dock Road. Holmes borrowed from them a device in a teakwood cabinet with brass fittings and handles, as well as bulls-eye lanterns fitted with gas mantles, and a satchel.
    “What in the world is that, Mr Holmes?” Sherrington asked when Holmes and the Brigadier returned to the carriage.
    “This,” Holmes explained, as he opened the case, revealing the complicated machinery within, “is an electrically activated sensor for detecting the transmission of sounds underwater.”
    Sherrington frowned, for he was not in the least mechanically minded and viewed most inventions of this modern age with healthy doses of distrust and unease. In fact, he really only felt comfortable with a G and T in one hand and an ancient tome in the other.
    “It seems I’ve heard of such devices, a few years ago, in Lake Geneva, chap by the name of…” The Brigadier as he searched his mental storehouse for the proper fact.
    “Colladon,” Holmes supplied.
    “That’s it!” the Brigadier said. “Daniel Colladon. Swiss.”
    Sherlock Holmes nodded, checking the connecting wires to the voltaic cells as well as a long insulated cable to which was attached a metal disc about the size of a cricket ball.
    “Edward Grennel and his son, William, are clever, inventive and imaginative,” Holmes said. “When they and those like them can no longer thrive in our free society, the sun will at last set upon the Empire. I do not entirely understand the inner workings of this device, but the younger Grennel has instructed me fully in its operation and interpretation.”
    “If I recall correctly, Colladon and his co-worker, some damn Frenchman or another, used a device like this to listen to fish, or some such thing,” the Brigadier said.
    “Actually, I believe he used it was to determine the speed of sound through water,” Sherrington added.
    Both Holmes and the Brigadier looked at the young clubman, eyebrows raised.
    “Oh, come now, chaps,” Sherrington chided. “Surely you don’t think I spend all my time reading ancient occult tomes, chasing ghosts, and drinking gin martinis, do you?”
    “It is that determination of sound’s speed underwater which allows this device to indicate velocity, that is, speed and direction,” Holmes said as he suppressed a slight smile.
    “Your aim, then, is to track the…” The Brigadier shot a skeptical glance in Sherrington’s direction. “…the beast as it makes its way through the lost rivers beneath Whitechapel.”
    “Or the sewers,” Holmes added. “I fear the term ‘river’ is a bit of a kindness these days, for the lost channels are