Chapter I: HAD called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the (1)

autumn of last year, and found him in deep conversation with a very
stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman, with fiery red hair. With an
apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when Holmes pulled
me abruptly into the room and closed the door behind me.

“You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear Watson,”
he said, cordially.

“I was afraid that you were engaged.”

“So I am. Very much so.”

“Then I can wait in the next room.”

“Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and
helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no doubt that
he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also.”

The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of
greeting, with a quick, little, questioning glance from his small,
fat-encircled eyes.

“Try the settee,” said Holmes, relapsing into his arm-chair and
putting his finger-tips together, as was his custom when in judicial
moods. “I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love of all that
is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum routine of
everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by the enthusiasm
which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you will excuse my
saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own little
adventures.”

“Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me,” I
observed.

“You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we
went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary Sutherland,
that for strange effects and extraordinary combinations we must go
to life itself, which is always far more daring than any effort of
the imagination.”

“A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting.”

“You did, doctor, but none the less you must come round to my view,
for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you, until
your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to be right.
Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call upon me this
morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to be one of the
most singular which I have listened to for some time. You have heard
me remark that the strangest and most unique things are very often
connected not with the larger but with the smaller crimes, and
occasionally, indeed, where there is room for doubt whether any
positive crime has been committed. As far as I have heard it is
impossible for me to say whether the present case is an instance of
crime or not, but the course of events is certainly among the most
singular that I have ever listened to. Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you
would have the great kindness to recommence your narrative. I ask
you, not merely because my friend Dr. Watson has not heard the
opening part, but also because the peculiar nature of the story
makes me anxious to have every possible detail from your lips. As a
rule, when I have heard some slight indication of the course of
events, I am able to guide myself by the thousands of other similar
cases which occur to my memory. In the present instance I am forced
to admit that the facts are, to the best of my belief, unique.”

The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some
little pride, and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the
inside pocket of his great-coat. As he glanced down the
advertisement column, with his head thrust forward, and the paper
flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man, and
endeavored, after the fashion of my companion, to read the
indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance.

I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor
bore every mark of being an average commonplace British tradesman,
obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy gray shepherd’s check
trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, unbuttoned in the
front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy Albert chain, and a
square pierced bit of metal dangling down as an ornament. A frayed
top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a wrinkled velvet collar lay
upon a chair beside him. Altogether, look as I would, there was
nothing remarkable about the man save his blazing red head, and the
expression of extreme chagrin and discontent upon his features.

Sherlock Holmes’s quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook his
head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. “Beyond the
obvious facts that he has at some time done manual labor, that he
takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has been in China, and
that he has done a considerable amount of writing lately, I can
deduce nothing else.”

Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger upon
the paper, but his eyes upon my companion.

“How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr.
Holmes?” he asked. “How did you know, for example, that I did manual
labor? It’s as true as gospel, for I began as a ship’s carpenter.”

“Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger
than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more
developed.”

“Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?”

“I won’t insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that,
especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you
use an arc-and-compass breastpin.”

“Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?”

“What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for
five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the elbow
where you rest it upon the desk?”

“Well, but China?”

“The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right wrist
could only have been done in China. I have made a small study of
tattoo marks, and have even contributed to the literature of the
subject. That trick of staining the fishes’ scales a delicate pink
is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I see a Chinese coin
hanging from your watch-chain, the matter becomes even more simple.”

Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. “Well, I never!” said he. “I
thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see that
there was nothing in it, after all.”

“I begin to think, Watson,” said Holmes, “that I make a mistake in
explaining. ‘_Omne ignotum pro magnifico_,’ you know, and my poor
little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I am so
candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?”

“Yes, I have got it now,” he answered, with his thick, red finger
planted half-way down the column. “Here it is. This is what began it
all. You just read it for yourself, sir.”

I took the paper from him, and read as follows:

“TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the
late Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pa., U.S.A., there is now
another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League
to a salary of £4 a week for purely nominal services. All
red-headed men who are sound in body and mind, and above the
age of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on
Monday, at eleven o’clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of
the League, 7 Pope’s Court, Fleet Street.”

“What on earth does this mean?” I ejaculated, after I had twice read
over the extraordinary announcement.

Holmes chuckled, and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when in
high spirits. “It is a little off the beaten track, isn’t it?” said
he. “And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch, and tell us all
about yourself, your household, and the effect which this
advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note,
doctor, of the paper and the date.”

“It is _The Morning Chronicle_, of April 27, 1890. Just two months
ago.”

“Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?”

“Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock Holmes,”
said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; “I have a small
pawnbroker’s business at Coburg Square, near the city. It’s not a
very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than just
give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, but now
I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him, but that he is
willing to come for half wages, so as to learn the business.”

“What is the name of this obliging youth?” asked Sherlock Holmes.

“His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he’s not such a youth, either.
It’s hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter assistant, Mr.
Holmes; and I know very well that he could better himself, and earn
twice what I am able to give him. But, after all, if he is
satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?”

“Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who comes
under the full market price. It is not a common experience among
employers in this age. I don’t know that your assistant is not as
remarkable as your advertisement.”

“Oh, he has his faults, too,” said Mr. Wilson. “Never was such a
fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought to
be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar like a
rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his main
fault; but, on the whole, he’s a good worker. There’s no vice in
him.”

“He is still with you, I presume?”

“Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple
cooking, and keeps the place clean—that’s all I have in the house,
for I am a widower, and never had any family. We live very quietly,
sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads, and pay our
debts, if we do nothing more.

“The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. Spaulding,
he came down into the office just this day eight weeks, with this
very paper in his hand, and he says:

“‘I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.’

“‘Why that?’ I asks.

“‘Why,’ says he, ‘here’s another vacancy in the League of the
Red-headed Men. It’s worth quite a little fortune to any man who
gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than there
are men, so that the trustees are at their wits’ end what to do with
the money. If my hair would only change color, here’s a nice little
crib all ready for me to step into.’

“‘Why, what is it, then?’ I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a very
stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of my having
to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting my foot over
the door-mat. In that way I didn’t know much of what was going on
outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news.

“‘Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?’ he
asked, with his eyes open.

“‘Never.’

“‘Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one of
the vacancies.’

“‘And what are they worth?’ I asked.

“‘Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, and
it need not interfere very much with one’s other occupations.’

“Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, for
the business has not been over-good for some years, and an extra
couple of hundred would have been very handy.

“‘Tell me all about it,’ said I.

“‘Well,’ said he, showing me the advertisement, ‘you can see for
yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address
where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out,
the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah Hopkins,
who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself red-headed, and he
had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; so, when he died, it
was found that he had left his enormous fortune in the hands of
trustees, with instructions to apply the interest to the providing
of easy berths to men whose hair is of that color. From all I hear
it is splendid pay, and very little to do.’

“‘But,’ said I, ‘there would be millions of red-headed men who would
apply.’

“‘Not so many as you might think,’ he answered. ‘You see it is
really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had
started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the old
town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your
applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but
real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr.
Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be worth
your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a few
hundred pounds.’

“Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, that
my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed to me
that, if there was to be any competition in the matter, I stood as
good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent Spaulding
seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might prove
useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for the day,
and to come right away with me. He was very willing to have a
holiday, so we shut the business up, and started off for the address
that was given us in the advertisement.

“I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From
north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in his
hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. Fleet
Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope’s Court looked like
a coster’s orange barrow. I should not have thought there were so
many in the whole country as were brought together by that single
advertisement. Every shade of color they were—straw, lemon, orange,
brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; but, as Spaulding said, there were
not many who had the real vivid flame-colored tint. When I saw how
many were waiting, I would have given it up in despair; but
Spaulding would not hear of it. How he did it I could not imagine,
but he pushed and pulled and butted until he got me through the
crowd, and right up to the steps which led to the office. There was
a double stream upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some
coming back dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could, and soon
found ourselves in the office.”

“Your experience has been a most entertaining one,” remarked Holmes,
as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge pinch of
snuff. “Pray continue your very interesting statement.”

“There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs and a
deal table, behind which sat a small man, with a head that was even
redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate as he came
up, and then he always managed to find some fault in them which
would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem to be such a
very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn came, the little
man was much more favorable to me than to any of the others, and he
closed the door as we entered, so that he might have a private word
with us.

“‘This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,’ said my assistant, ‘and he is willing
to fill a vacancy in the League.’

“‘And he is admirably suited for it,’ the other answered. ‘He has
every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so
fine.’ He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and
gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he
plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my
success.

“‘It would be injustice to hesitate,’ said he. ‘You will, however, I
am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.’ With that he
seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I yelled with the
pain. ‘There is water in your eyes,’ said he, as he released me. ‘I
perceive that all is as it should be. But we have to be careful, for
we have twice been deceived by wigs and once by paint. I could tell
you tales of cobbler’s wax which would disgust you with human
nature.’ He stepped over to the window, and shouted through it at
the top of his voice that the vacancy was filled. A groan of
disappointment came up from below, and the folk all trooped away in
different directions, until there was not a red head to be seen
except my own and that of the manager.

“‘My name,’ said he, ‘is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of the
pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are you a
married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?’

“I answered that I had not.

“His face fell immediately.

“‘Dear me!’ he said, gravely, ‘that is very serious indeed! I am
sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the
propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their
maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a
bachelor.’

“My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was
not to have the vacancy after all; but, after thinking it over for a
few minutes, he said that it would be all right.

“‘In the case of another,’ said he, ‘the objection might be fatal,
but we must stretch a point in favor of a man with such a head of
hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your new
duties?’

“‘Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,’ said
I.

“‘Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!’ said Vincent Spaulding. ‘I
shall be able to look after that for you.’

“‘What would be the hours?’ I asked.

“‘Ten to two.’

“Now a pawnbroker’s business is mostly done of an evening, Mr.
Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just before
pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in the
mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, and that
he would see to anything that turned up.

“‘That would suit me very well,’ said I. ‘And the pay?’

“‘Is £4 a week.’

“‘And the work?’

“‘Is purely nominal.’

“‘What do you call purely nominal?’

“‘Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the building,
the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole position
forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You don’t comply
with the conditions if you budge from the office during that time.’

“‘It’s only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,’
said I.

“‘No excuse will avail,’ said Mr. Duncan Ross; ‘neither sickness nor
business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose your
billet.’

“‘And the work?’

“‘Is to copy out the “Encyclopædia Britannica.” There is the first
volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and
blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be
ready to-morrow?’

“‘Certainly,’ I answered.

“‘Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you once
more on the important position which you have been fortunate enough
to gain.’ He bowed me out of the room, and I went home with my
assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased at my
own good fortune.

“Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in
low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the whole
affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its object
might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past belief that
any one could make such a will, or that they would pay such a sum
for doing anything so simple as copying out the ‘Encyclopædia
Britannica.’ Vincent Spaulding did what he could to cheer me up, but
by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the whole thing. However, in
the morning I determined to have a look at it anyhow, so I bought a
penny bottle of ink, and with a quill-pen, and seven sheets of
foolscap paper, I started off for Pope’s Court.

“Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as
possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross
was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off upon
the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from time to
time to see that all was right with me. At two o’clock he bade me
good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had written, and
locked the door of the office after me.

“This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the manager
came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my week’s work.
It was the same next week, and the same the week after. Every
morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I left at two. By
degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only once of a morning,
and then, after a time, he did not come in at all. Still, of course,
I never dared to leave the room for an instant, for I was not sure
when he might come, and the billet was such a good one, and suited
me so well, that I would not risk the loss of it.

“Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about Abbots
and Archery and Armor and Architecture and Attica, and hoped with
diligence that I might get on to the B’s before very long. It cost
me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly filled a shelf
with my writings. And then suddenly the whole business came to an
end.”

“To an end?”

“Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as
usual at ten o’clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a
little square of card-board hammered on to the middle of the panel
with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself.”

He held up a piece of white card-board about the size of a sheet of
note-paper. It read in this fashion:

“THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE

is

DISSOLVED.

_October 9, 1890._”

Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the rueful
face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so completely
overtopped every other consideration that we both burst out into a
roar of laughter.

“I cannot see that there is anything very funny,” cried our client,
flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. “If you can do nothing
better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere.”

“No, no,” cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from which
he had half risen. “I really wouldn’t miss your case for the world.
It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you will excuse my
saying so, something just a little funny about it. Pray what steps
did you take when you found the card upon the door?”

“I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called at
the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything about
it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant living on
the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me what had
become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had never heard of
any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan Ross was. He answered
that the name was new to him.

“‘Well,’ said I, ‘the gentleman at No. 4.’

“‘What, the red-headed man?’

“‘Yes.’

“‘Oh,’ said he, ‘his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor,
and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new
premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.’

“‘Where could I find him?’

“‘Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 King
Edward Street, near St. Paul’s.’

“I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was a
manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever heard
of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross.”

“And what did you do then?” asked Holmes.

“I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my
assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say
that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite good
enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place without a
struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough to give
advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right away to
you.”

“And you did very wisely,” said Holmes. “Your case is an exceedingly
remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. From what you
have told me I think that it is possible that graver issues hang
from it than might at first sight appear.”

“Grave enough!” said Mr. Jabez Wilson. “Why, I have lost four pound
a week.”

“As far as you are personally concerned,” remarked Holmes, “I do not
see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary league.
On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some £30, to
say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have gained on every
subject which comes under the letter A. You have lost nothing by
them.”

“No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, and
what their object was in playing this prank—if it was a prank—upon
me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it cost them two
and thirty pounds.”

“We shall endeavor to clear up these points for you. And, first, one
or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who first
called your attention to the advertisement—how long had he been with
you?”

“About a month then.”

“How did he come?”

“In answer to an advertisement.”

“Was he the only applicant?”

“No, I had a dozen.”

“Why did you pick him?”

“Because he was handy, and would come cheap.”

“At half wages, in fact.”

“Yes.”

“What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?”

“Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face,
though he’s not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon his
forehead.”

Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. “I thought as
much,” said he. “Have you ever observed that his ears are pierced
for earrings?”

“Yes, sir. He told me that a gypsy had done it for him when he was a
lad.”

“Hum!” said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. “He is still with
you?”

“Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him.”

“And has your business been attended to in your absence?”

“Nothing to complain of, sir. There’s never very much to do of a
morning.”

“That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an opinion
upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is Saturday,
and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion.”

“Well, Watson,” said Holmes, when our visitor had left us, “what do
you make of it all?”

“I make nothing of it,” I answered, frankly. “It is a most
mysterious business.”

“As a rule,” said Holmes, “the more bizarre a thing is the less
mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless
crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is the
most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this matter.”

“What are you going to do, then?” I asked.

“To smoke,” he answered. “It is quite a three-pipe problem, and I
beg that you won’t speak to me for fifty minutes.” He curled himself
up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his hawk-like nose,
and there he sat with his eyes closed and his black clay pipe
thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. I had come to the
conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and indeed was nodding
myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his chair with the gesture of
a man who has made up his mind, and put his pipe down upon the
mantel-piece.

“Sarasate plays at the St. James’s Hall this afternoon,” he
remarked. “What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare you
for a few hours?”

“I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very absorbing.”

“Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the city first,
and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that there is a
good deal of German music on the program which is rather more to my
taste than Italian or French. It is introspective, and I want to
introspect. Come along!”

We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short
walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular story
which we had listened to in the morning. It was a pokey, little,
shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy two-storied brick
houses looked out into a small railed-in enclosure, where a lawn of
weedy grass and a few clumps of faded laurel-bushes made a hard
fight against a smoke-laden and uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt
balls and a brown board with “JABEZ WILSON” in white letters, upon a
corner house, announced the place where our red-headed client
carried on his business. Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with
his head on one side, and looked it all over, with his eyes shining
brightly between puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street,
and then down again to the corner, still looking keenly at the
houses. Finally he returned to the pawnbroker’s, and, having thumped
vigorously upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he
went up to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a
bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step in.

“Thank you,” said Holmes, “I only wished to ask you how you would go
from here to the Strand.”

“Third right, fourth left,” answered the assistant, promptly,
closing the door.

“Smart fellow, that,” observed Holmes, as we walked away. “He is, in
my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring I am
not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known something
of him before.”

“Evidently,” said I, “Mr. Wilson’s assistant counts for a good deal
in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you
inquired your way merely in order that you might see him.”

“Not him.”

“What then?”

“The knees of his trousers.”

“And what did you see?”

“What I expected to see.”

“Why did you beat the pavement?”

“My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We
are spies in an enemy’s country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg
Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it.”

The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the corner
from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a contrast to
it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was one of the
main arteries which convey the traffic of the city to the north and
west. The roadway was blocked with the immense stream of commerce
flowing in a double tide inward and outward, while the foot-paths
were black with the hurrying swarm of pedestrians. It was difficult
to realize as we looked at the line of fine shops and stately
business premises that they really abutted on the other side upon
the faded and stagnant square which we had just quitted.

“Let me see,” said Holmes, standing at the corner, and glancing
along the line, “I should like just to remember the order of the
houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of
London. There is Mortimer’s, the tobacconist, the little newspaper
shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, the
Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane’s carriage-building depot. That
carries us right on to the other block. And now, doctor, we’ve done
our work, so it’s time we had some play. A sandwich and a cup of
coffee, and then off to violin-land, where all is sweetness and
delicacy and harmony, and there are no red-headed clients to vex us
with their conundrums.”

My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a
very capable performer, but a composer of no ordinary merit. All the
afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect
happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the
music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes
were as unlike those of Holmes, the sleuth-hound, Holmes the
relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was
possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature
alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and
astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction
against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally
predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from extreme
languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was never so
truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been lounging in
his arm-chair amid his improvisations and his black-letter editions.
Then it was that the lust of the chase would suddenly come upon him,
and that his brilliant reasoning power would rise to the level of
intuition, until those who were unacquainted with his methods would
look askance at him as on a man whose knowledge was not that of
other mortals. When I saw him that afternoon so enwrapped in the
music at St. James’s Hall I felt that an evil time might be coming
upon those whom he had set himself to hunt down.

“You want to go home, no doubt, doctor,” he remarked, as we emerged.

“Yes, it would be as well.”

“And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This
business at Coburg Square is serious.”

“Why serious?”

“A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to
believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being
Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help
to-night.”

“At what time?”

“Ten will be early enough.”

“I shall be at Baker Street at ten.”

“Very well. And, I say, doctor, there may be some little danger, so
kindly put your army revolver in your pocket.” He waved his hand,
turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the crowd.

I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbors, but I was always
oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings with
Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had seen what
he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that he saw
clearly not only what had happened, but what was about to happen,
while to me the whole business was still confused and grotesque. As
I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought over it all, from
the extraordinary story of the red-headed copier of the
“Encyclopædia” down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg Square, and the
ominous words with which he had parted from me. What was this
nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? Where were we
going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from Holmes that this
smooth-faced pawnbroker’s assistant was a formidable man—a man who
might play a deep game. I tried to puzzle it out, but gave it up in
despair, and set the matter aside until night should bring an
explanation.

It was a quarter past nine when I started from home and made my way
across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker Street. Two
hansoms were standing at the door, and, as I entered the passage, I
heard the sound of voices from above. On entering his room I found
Holmes in animated conversation with two men, one of whom I
recognized as Peter Jones, the official police agent, while the
other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a very shiny hat and
oppressively respectable frock-coat.

“Ha! our party is complete,” said Holmes, buttoning up his
pea-jacket, and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack.
“Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me
introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in
to-night’s adventure.”

“We’re hunting in couples again, doctor, you see,” said Jones, in
his consequential way. “Our friend here is a wonderful man for
starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do the
running down.”

“I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase,”
observed Mr. Merryweather, gloomily.

“You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir,” said the
police agent, loftily. “He has his own little methods, which are, if
he won’t mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical and
fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It is not
too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of the
Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly correct
than the official force.”

“Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right,” said the stranger,
with deference. “Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. It is the
first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I have not had
my rubber.”

“I think you will find,” said Sherlock Holmes, “that you will play
for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and that
the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, the stake
will be some £30,000, and for you, Jones, it will be the man upon
whom you wish to lay your hands.”

“John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He’s a young
man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his profession, and
I would rather have my bracelets on him than on any criminal in
London. He’s a remarkable man, is young John Clay. His grandfather
was a royal duke, and he himself has been to Eton and Oxford. His
brain is as cunning as his fingers, and though we meet signs of him
at every turn, we never know where to find the man himself. He’ll
crack a crib in Scotland one week, and be raising money to build an
orphanage in Cornwall the next. I’ve been on his track for years,
and have never set eyes on him yet.”

“I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night.
I’ve had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I
agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is past
ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two will take
the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the second.”

Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive,
and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in the
afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit
streets until we emerged into Farringdon Street.

“We are close there now,” my friend remarked. “This fellow
Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the
matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is not a
bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. He has
one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bull-dog, and as tenacious
as a lobster if he gets his claws upon any one. Here we are, and
they are waiting for us.”

We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had found
ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, following
the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a narrow passage
and through a side door, which he opened for us. Within there was a
small corridor, which ended in a very massive iron gate. This also
was opened, and led down a flight of winding stone steps, which
terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. Merryweather stopped to
light a lantern, and then conducted us down a dark, earth-smelling
passage, and so, after opening a third door, into a huge vault or
cellar, which was piled all round with crates and massive boxes.

“You are not very vulnerable from above,” Holmes remarked, as he
held up the lantern and gazed about him.

“Nor from below,” said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon the
flags which lined the floor. “Why, dear me, it sounds quite hollow!”
he remarked, looking up in surprise.

“I must really ask you to be a little more quiet,” said Holmes,
severely. “You have already imperilled the whole success of our
expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit down
upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?”

The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a
very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his
knees upon the floor, and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens,
began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few
seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again,
and put his glass in his pocket.

“We have at least an hour before us,” he remarked; “for they can
hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed.
Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their work
the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at present,
doctor—as no doubt you have divined—in the cellar of the city branch
of one of the principal London banks. Mr. Merryweather is the
chairman of directors, and he will explain to you that there are
reasons why the more daring criminals of London should take a
considerable interest in this cellar at present.”

“It is our French gold,” whispered the director. “We have had
several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it.”

“Your French gold?”

“Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources,
and borrowed, for that purpose, 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of
France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to
unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The
crate upon which I sit contains 2000 napoleons packed between layers
of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at present than
is usually kept in a single branch office, and the directors have
had misgivings upon the subject.”

“Which were very well justified,” observed Holmes. “And now it is
time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an hour
matters will come to a head. In the mean time, Mr. Merryweather, we
must put the screen over that dark lantern.”

“And sit in the dark?”

“I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and I
thought that, as we were a _partie carrée_, you might have your
rubber after all. But I see that the enemy’s preparations have gone
so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, first of
all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, and though
we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us some harm
unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, and do you
conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a light upon
them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no compunction
about shooting them down.”

I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case behind
which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front of his
lantern, and left us in pitch darkness—such an absolute darkness as
I have never before experienced. The smell of hot metal remained to
assure us that the light was still there, ready to flash out at a
moment’s notice. To me, with my nerves worked up to a pitch of
expectancy, there was something depressing and subduing in the
sudden gloom, and in the cold, dank air of the vault.

“They have but one retreat,” whispered Holmes. “That is back through
the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have done what I
asked you, Jones?”

“I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door.”

“Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent and
wait.”

What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but an
hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must have
almost gone, and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs were weary
and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my nerves were
worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my hearing was so
acute that I could not only hear the gentle breathing of my
companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, heavier in-breath of
the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note of the bank director.
From my position I could look over the case in the direction of the
floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint of a light.

At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then it
lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, without any
warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand appeared; a
white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the center of the
little area of light. For a minute or more the hand, with its
writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then it was withdrawn
as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark again save the single
lurid spark which marked a chink between the stones.

Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending,
tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon its
side, and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed the
light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, boyish
face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand on either
side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and waist-high,
until one knee rested upon the edge. In another instant he stood at
the side of the hole, and was hauling after him a companion, lithe
and small like himself, with a pale face and a shock of very red
hair.

“It’s all clear,” he whispered. “Have you the chisel and the bags?
Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I’ll swing for it!”

Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the
collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of
rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed
upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes’s hunting crop came down
on the man’s wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone floor.

“It’s no use, John Clay,” said Holmes, blandly. “You have no chance
at all.”

“So I see,” the other answered, with the utmost coolness. “I fancy
that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his coat-tails.”

“There are three men waiting for him at the door,” said Holmes.

“Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I must
compliment you.”

“And I you,” Holmes answered. “Your red-headed idea was very new and
effective.”

“You’ll see your pal again presently,” said Jones. “He’s quicker at
climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the
derbies.”

“I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands,” remarked
our prisoner, as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. “You may
not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have the goodness,
also, when you address me always to say ‘sir’ and ‘please.’”

“All right,” said Jones, with a stare and a snigger. “Well, would
you please, sir, march up-stairs, where we can get a cab to carry
your highness to the police-station?”

“That is better,” said John Clay, serenely. He made a sweeping bow
to the three of us, and walked quietly off in the custody of the
detective.

“Really Mr. Holmes,” said Mr. Merryweather, as we followed them from
the cellar, “I do not know how the bank can thank you or repay you.
There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated in the most
complete manner one of the most determined attempts at bank robbery
that have ever come within my experience.”

“I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr.
John Clay,” said Holmes. “I have been at some small expense over
this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond
that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in many
ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of the
Red-headed League.”

* * * * *

“You see, Watson,” he explained, in the early hours of the morning,
as we sat over a glass of whiskey-and-soda in Baker Street, “it was
perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible object of
this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of the League,
and the copying of the ‘Encyclopædia,’ must be to get this not
over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of hours every
day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, really, it would be
difficult to suggest a better. The method was no doubt suggested to
Clay’s ingenious mind by the color of his accomplice’s hair. The £4
a week was a lure which must draw him, and what was it to them, who
were playing for thousands? They put in the advertisement, one rogue
has the temporary office, the other rogue incites the man to apply
for it, and together they manage to secure his absence every morning
in the week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come
for half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive
for securing the situation.”

“But how could you guess what the motive was?”

“Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a mere
vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The man’s
business was a small one, and there was nothing in his house which
could account for such elaborate preparations, and such an
expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something out of the
house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant’s fondness for
photography, and his trick of vanishing into the cellar. The cellar!
There was the end of this tangled clue. Then I made inquiries as to
this mysterious assistant, and found that I had to deal with one of
the coolest and most daring criminals in London. He was doing
something in the cellar—something which took many hours a day for
months on end. What could it be, once more? I could think of nothing
save that he was running a tunnel to some other building.

“So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I
surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was
ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. It
was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the
assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had never
set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his face. His
knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have remarked how
worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of those hours of
burrowing. The only remaining point was what they were burrowing
for. I walked round the corner, saw that the City and Suburban Bank
abutted on our friend’s premises, and felt that I had solved my
problem. When you drove home after the concert I called upon
Scotland Yard, and upon the chairman of the bank directors, with the
result that you have seen.”

“And how could you tell that they would make their attempt
to-night?” I asked.

“Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that
they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson’s presence—in other
words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential
that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the
bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than any
other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. For all
these reasons I expected them to come to-night.”