the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly playing with a dangerous pet. The

little which I had yet to learn of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as

we travelled back next day.


“I had,” said he, “come to an entirely erroneous conclusion

which shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from

insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of the word

‘band,’ which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to explain the

appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of by the light of her match,

were sufficient to put me upon an entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the

merit that I instantly reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear

to me that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not come

either from the window or the door. My attention was speedily drawn, as I have

already remarked to you, to this ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung

down to the bed. The discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was

clamped to the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was

there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and coming to the bed.

The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, and when I coupled it with my

knowledge that the doctor was furnished with a supply of creatures from India,

I felt that I was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of

poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical test was just

such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless man who had had an Eastern

training. The rapidity with which such a poison would take effect would also,

from his point of view, be an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner,

indeed, who could distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show

where the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the whistle. Of

course he must recall the snake before the morning light revealed it to the