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the shelling from the enemys mortars was severe . . . and having but little mortar powder we were unable to reply effectually . . . . i regret that our ordnance supplies are so scanty . . . . no powder for the mortars no suitable fuses for the fire on charleston no shells for the 30pounder parrotts a most useful gun for silencing the enemys fire no material for making cartridge bags or grease for lubricating the projectiles . . . . more ammunition for the 300pounder the most useful guns in these works is also very much needed . . . . |
within the last 2 days the work . . . has been greatly interfered with by a corps of sharpshooters . . . stationed on fort sumter . the bullets came in very thick when i was at the front this morning . . . . |
penang lawyer . to james mortimer m . r . c . s . from his friends of the c . c . h . 1884 . |
well watson what do you make of it ? |
how did you know what i was doing ? i believe you have eyes in the back of your head . |
i have at least a wellpolished silverplated coffeepot in front of me but tell me watson what do you make of our visitors stick ? since we have been so unfortunate as to miss him and have no notion of his errand this accidental souvenir becomes of importance . let me hear you reconstruct the man by an examination of it . |
i think that dr . mortimer is a successful elderly medical man wellesteemed since those who know him give him this mark of their appreciation . |
good ! excellent ! |
i think also that the probability is in favour of his being a country practitioner who does a great deal of his visiting on foot . |
why so ? |
because this stick though originally a very handsome one has been so knocked about that i can hardly imagine a town practitioner carrying it . the thickiron ferrule is worn down so it is evident that he has done a great amount of walking with it . |
perfectly sound ! |
and then again there is the friends of the c . c . h . i should guess that to be the something hunt the local hunt to whose members he has possibly given some surgical assistance and which has made him a small presentation in return . |
really watson you excel yourself i am bound to say that in all the accounts which you have been so good as to give of my own small achievements you have habitually underrated your own abilities . it may be that you are not yourself luminous but you are a conductor of light . some people without possessing genius have a remarkable power of stimulating it . i confess my dear fellow that i am very much in your debt . |
interesting though elementary there are certainly one or two indications upon the stick . it gives us the basis for several deductions . |
has anything escaped me ? i trust that there is nothing of consequence which i have overlooked ? |
i am afraid my dear watson that most of your conclusions were erroneous . when i said that you stimulated me i meant to be frank that in noting your fallacies i was occasionally guided towards the truth . not that you are entirely wrong in this instance . the man is certainly a country practitioner . and he walks a good deal . |
then i was right . |
to that extent . |
but that was all . |
no no my dear watson not allby no means all . i would suggest for example that a presentation to a doctor is more likely to come from a hospital than from a hunt and that when the initials c . c . are placed before that hospital the words charing cross very naturally suggest themselves . |
you may be right . |
the probability lies in that direction . and if we take this as a working hypothesis we have a fresh basis from which to start our construction of this unknown visitor . |
well then supposing that c . c . h . does stand for charing cross hospital what further inferences may we draw ? |
do none suggest themselves ? you know my methods . apply them ! |
i can only think of the obvious conclusion that the man has practised in town before going to the country . |
mortimer james m . r . c . s . 1882 grimpen dartmoor devon . housesurgeon from 1882 to 1884 at charing cross hospital . winner of the jackson prize for comparative pathology with essay entitled is disease a reversion ? corresponding member of the swedish pathological society . author of some freaks of atavism lancet 1882 . do we progress ? journal of psychology march 1883 . medical officer for the parishes of grimpen thorsley and high barrow . |
no mention of that local hunt watson but a country doctor as you very astutely observed . i think that i am fairly justified in my inferences . as to the adjectives i said if i remember right amiable unambitious and absentminded . it is my experience that it is only an amiable man in this world who receives testimonials only an unambitious one who abandons a london career for the country and only an absentminded one who leaves his stick and not his visitingcard after waiting an hour in your room . |
and the dog ? |
has been in the habit of carrying this stick behind his master . being a heavy stick the dog has held it tightly by the middle and the marks of his teeth are very plainly visible . the dogs jaw as shown in the space between these marks is too broad in my opinion for a terrier and not broad enough for a mastiff . it may have beenyes by jove it is a curlyhaired spaniel . |
my dear fellow how can you possibly be so sure of that ? |
for the very simple reason that i see the dog himself on our very doorstep and there is the ring of its owner . dont move i beg you watson . he is a professional brother of yours and your presence may be of assistance to me . now is the dramatic moment of fate watson when you hear a step upon the stair which is walking into your life and you know not whether for good or ill . what does dr . james mortimer the man of science ask of sherlock holmes the specialist in crime ? come in ! |
i am so very glad i was not sure whether i had left it here or in the shipping office . i would not lose that stick for the world . |
a presentation i see |
yes sir . |
from charing cross hospital ? |
from one or two friends there on the occasion of my marriage . |
dear dear thats bad ! |
why was it bad ? |
only that you have disarranged our little deductions . your marriage you say ? |
yes sir . i married and so left the hospital and with it all hopes of a consulting practice . it was necessary to make a home of my own . |
come come we are not so far wrong after all and now dr . james mortimer |
mister sir mistera humble m . r . c . s . |
and a man of precise mind evidently . |
a dabbler in science mr . holmes a picker up of shells on the shores of the great unknown ocean . i presume that it is mr . sherlock holmes whom i am addressing and not |
no this is my friend dr . watson . |
glad to meet you sir . i have heard your name mentioned in connection with that of your friend . you interest me very much mr . holmes . i had hardly expected so dolichocephalic a skull or such wellmarked supraorbital development . would you have any objection to my running my finger along your parietal fissure ? a cast of your skull sir until the original is available would be an ornament to any anthropological museum . it is not my intention to be fulsome but i confess that i covet your skull . |
you are an enthusiast in your line of thought i perceive sir as i am in mine i observe from your forefinger that you make your own cigarettes . have no hesitation in lighting one . |
i presume sir that it was not merely for the purpose of examining my skull that you have done me the honour to call here last night and again today ? |
no sir no though i am happy to have had the opportunity of doing that as well . i came to you mr . holmes because i recognized that i am myself an unpractical man and because i am suddenly confronted with a most serious and extraordinary problem . recognizing as i do that you are the second highest expert in europe |
indeed sir ! may i inquire who has the honour to be the first ? |
to the man of precisely scientific mind the work of monsieur bertillon must always appeal strongly . |
then had you not better consult him ? |
i said sir to the precisely scientific mind . but as a practical man of affairs it is acknowledged that you stand alone . i trust sir that i have not inadvertently |
just a little i think dr . mortimer you would do wisely if without more ado you would kindly tell me plainly what the exact nature of the problem is in which you demand my assistance . |
i have in my pocket a manuscript |
i observed it as you entered the room |
it is an old manuscript . |
early eighteenth century unless it is a forgery . |
how can you say that sir ? |
you have presented an inch or two of it to my examination all the time that you have been talking . it would be a poor expert who could not give the date of a document within a decade or so . you may possibly have read my little monograph upon the subject . i put that at 1730 . |
the exact date is 1742 . this family paper was committed to my care by sir charles baskerville whose sudden and tragic death some three months ago created so much excitement in devonshire . i may say that i was his personal friend as well as his medical attendant . he was a strongminded man sir shrewd practical and as unimaginative as i am myself . yet he took this document very seriously and his mind was prepared for just such an end as did eventually overtake him . |
you will observe watson the alternative use of the long s and the short . it is one of several indications which enabled me to fix the date . |
baskerville hall 1742 . |
it appears to be a statement of some sort . |
yes it is a statement of a certain legend which runs in the baskerville family . |
but i understand that it is something more modern and practical upon which you wish to consult me ? |
most modern . a most practical pressing matter which must be decided within twentyfour hours . but the manuscript is short and is intimately connected with the affair . with your permission i will read it to you . |
well ? |
do you not find it interesting ? |
to a collector of fairy tales . |
now mr . holmes we will give you something a little more recent . this is the devon county chronicle of may 14th of this year . it is a short account of the facts elicited at the death of sir charles baskerville which occurred a few days before that date . |
those are the public facts mr . holmes in connection with the death of sir charles baskerville . |
i must thank you for calling my attention to a case which certainly presents some features of interest . i had observed some newspaper comment at the time but i was exceedingly preoccupied by that little affair of the vatican cameos and in my anxiety to oblige the pope i lost touch with several interesting english cases . this article you say contains all the public facts ? |
it does . |
then let me have the private ones . |
footprints ? |
footprints . |
a mans or a womans ? |
mr . holmes they were the footprints of a gigantic hound ! |
you saw this ? |
as clearly as i see you . |
and you said nothing ? |
what was the use ? |
how was it that no one else saw it ? |
the marks were some twenty yards from the body and no one gave them a thought . i dont suppose i should have done so had i not known this legend . |
there are many sheepdogs on the moor ? |
no doubt but this was no sheepdog . |
you say it was large ? |
enormous . |
but it had not approached the body ? |
End of preview. Expand
in Dataset Viewer.
This is the English version of the Gutenberg Dialogue Dataset.
For further information about the dataset please see this paper: https://arxiv.org/abs/2004.12752
If you use this dataset in your work, please cite the paper above.
NB: A copy of the english dataset that you can find from here https://github.com/ricsinaruto/gutenberg-dialog?tab=readme-ov-file
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