Free Secret Archives of Sherlock Holmes, The, The by June Thomson

breath and put my thoughts into a more coherent order.
    ‘Well, Holmes, in this conversation, Carruthers evidently referred to the fact that, during the siege, I and my fellow soldiers had to suffer thirty days at Kandahar with no fresh water.’
    ‘So?’ Holmes inquired, raising his eyebrows. ‘What is the point, Watson? I assume there is one.’
    Chastened by this remark, I hurried to make good my mistake.
    ‘The point is, the siege lasted twenty-four days, not thirty, and there was no shortage of water. There were enough wells in the garrison to keep all the troops supplied. Had he been there, he would have known this. If you want my opinion, I think he was using information he had picked up from soldiers who had been at the siege but who had exaggerated the facts in order to make the situation more dramatic.’
    ‘Could he not have exaggerated the facts himself?’
    ‘That is a possibility,’ I conceded, ‘but I think not.Any officer worth his rank would have kept to the truth. It is generally the other rankers who add colour and excitement to their accounts. This could explain Carruthers’ change of arrangements at the Kandahar. I think he wanted to avoid another meeting with me in case I became suspicious about him for, to be perfectly frank, Holmes, I do not believe for a moment that he was in Kandahar or even in Afghanistan.’
    Rising to his feet, Holmes took two or three turns up the room, chin in hand, and, knowing him in this reflective mood, I said nothing to interrupt his thoughts. After a few minutes of silent contemplation, he seemed to come to a decision, for he strode back to his chair by the fire where he sat down bolt upright, his eyes bright.
    ‘You say Carruthers now comes to the club on a Friday?’
    ‘Yes; according to the waiter who spoke to Thurston. He apparently arrives at eleven o’clock.’
    ‘Then I shall make sure to be in the vicinity of the Kandahar at the same hour.’
    ‘Shall I come with you?’ I asked eagerly, keen to witness Carruthers’ downfall.
    ‘No; not yet. It is too early in the case. Besides, if he saw you, he might leave at once and ruin the whole plan. Let me reconnoitre on my own to begin with. I may need your assistance later in the investigation.’
    ‘Then would you like a more detailed description ofhim?’ I asked, keen to contribute something, however small, to the inquiry.
    Holmes laughed out loud.
    ‘That is hardly necessary! The eyepatch alone should mark him out!’ he replied, much to my discomfiture.
     
    The following Friday, Holmes set off in good time to arrive at the Kandahar a little before eleven o’clock. Knowing he would not be back until after lunchtime, possibly later if he followed Carruthers after he had left the club, I tried to settle down to the exasperating business of waiting on events, an exercise in patience in which I confess I am not very accomplished.
    I tried reading the Daily Gazette in an effort to while away the time, but after an hour I gave up and, laying aside the newspaper, I decided to walk to the Metropolitan Railway station 12 in Baker Street before returning home, but a thin cold drizzle drove me back to the fireside in our Baker Street lodgings with no sign yet of Holmes.
    It was nearly four o’clock and getting dark before he finally arrived back from what had evidently been a successful foray, for I heard the street door slam shut behind him before he came bounding jubilantly up the stairs.
    ‘You were right, Watson!’ he announced, bursting into the room. ‘Carruthers is definitely a wrong ’un, as you so pertinently observed. So congratulations, my dear fellow! I do not think I could have done better myself!’
    It was praise indeed, for Holmes rarely paid compliments unless they were fully deserved, and I felt the warm blood course up into my face with pleasure.
    ‘What did you find out?’ I asked eagerly.
    ‘Oh, really, Watson! Let me tell my account from the beginning. You of all people should