Read Online The Execution of Sherlock Holmes by Donald Thomas - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Donald Thomas
Tags: Suspense
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he arranged the under-blanket and the pillow to give some semblance of a sleeping figure beneath the thin upper layer. Enough to satisfy McIver. Then he groped in the thin mattress for the packets of medicinal charcoal that the corporal had brought him.
Lighter than air, the whispering gas was filling the upper layers of the cell and time was beginning to run against him. The length of the chain at his ankle allowed him to move into the alcove with its basin and drain, where the flame of the oil lamp still wavered. In a few moments he must extinguish it. Holmes knelt down where the waste pipe ran into a gully that led to the grating of the drain outside. However faint and tainted, it was the one supply of air. Using the canvas pillow cover, he worked quickly to form a hood that might be worn like a surgeon’s mask, tied by its tapes behind his head. It was common knowledge from his own experiments that charcoal was the best air filter, absorbing the poisonous compounds of gas. How much it would absorb or with what effect, only the next hour would tell. As he was making his preparations the bell of St. Sepulchre’s tolled three times, as if hurrying on the dawn.
Now I must break a confidence that is no longer of great matter. Sherlock Holmes contributed much to chemistry and science in general but did not care to do so under his own name. He intended that his enemies should have no idea of these interests. The world did not know that under the name of the chemist Hunter he had contributed a paper, ‘On the Effects of Pressure on the Absorption of Gases by Charcoal,’ to the Journal of the Chemical Society in 1871, where the world may still read it. In his study of history he had been much taken by the startling proposal of Lord Cochrane in 1812 to defeat Napoleon three years before Waterloo by an invasion of France under cover of ‘sulphur ships.’ To effect this, however, the attackers must be protected by a mask of some kind—and there was none. However, my friend had corresponded with the late Dr. John Tyndall in 1878, following that great man’s invention of a respirator. This enabled firemen to breathe for thirty minutes or more in smoke that would otherwise have killed them, and allowed coal miners to survive who must otherwise have been suffocated by gas.
Dr. Tyndall’s respirator consisted of a hood attached to a metal cylinder or pipe, packed with charcoal, surrounded by a layer of cotton wool, moistened with glycerine, and fitted with a piece of wire gauze at the end to hold the pad and the charcoal in place. Holmes turned down the wick and took the extinguished Hesperus lamp. He removed its glass lantern. Working with the deft fingers of a craftsman, he found the two buttons of the screw heads that tightened the metal wick holder to the base and shielded the reservoir of fuel. He undid them and carefully drew the metal sheath from its base. It tapered to a hole at the top, round which he could just measure forefinger and thumb. It was enough. Further down was a slot that admitted air to the base of the wick.
Though time was short, Holmes worked characteristically, always with haste but never in a hurry. Within the metal cylinder of the wick holder he formed a lining of loosened woolen padding from the mattress. Though he had no pure glycerine, it was a principal ingredient of the soft soap allowed him. He used the soap and a palmful of water to moisten the cotton waste at the open end of the metal cone and the lower air slot, sufficient to catch grosser particles of carbon in the air. The broken biscuits of Mostyn’s Absorbant Medical Charcoal, like small pebbles, then filled the metal cone through which he must draw breath.
Using the water jug again, he moistened the canvas pillow cover and formed it into a hood about his head. His mouth and nostrils were enclosed in the larger end of the conical wick holder, the wet canvas about his head forming a crude seal against contaminated air. Then he lay on
Lighter than air, the whispering gas was filling the upper layers of the cell and time was beginning to run against him. The length of the chain at his ankle allowed him to move into the alcove with its basin and drain, where the flame of the oil lamp still wavered. In a few moments he must extinguish it. Holmes knelt down where the waste pipe ran into a gully that led to the grating of the drain outside. However faint and tainted, it was the one supply of air. Using the canvas pillow cover, he worked quickly to form a hood that might be worn like a surgeon’s mask, tied by its tapes behind his head. It was common knowledge from his own experiments that charcoal was the best air filter, absorbing the poisonous compounds of gas. How much it would absorb or with what effect, only the next hour would tell. As he was making his preparations the bell of St. Sepulchre’s tolled three times, as if hurrying on the dawn.
Now I must break a confidence that is no longer of great matter. Sherlock Holmes contributed much to chemistry and science in general but did not care to do so under his own name. He intended that his enemies should have no idea of these interests. The world did not know that under the name of the chemist Hunter he had contributed a paper, ‘On the Effects of Pressure on the Absorption of Gases by Charcoal,’ to the Journal of the Chemical Society in 1871, where the world may still read it. In his study of history he had been much taken by the startling proposal of Lord Cochrane in 1812 to defeat Napoleon three years before Waterloo by an invasion of France under cover of ‘sulphur ships.’ To effect this, however, the attackers must be protected by a mask of some kind—and there was none. However, my friend had corresponded with the late Dr. John Tyndall in 1878, following that great man’s invention of a respirator. This enabled firemen to breathe for thirty minutes or more in smoke that would otherwise have killed them, and allowed coal miners to survive who must otherwise have been suffocated by gas.
Dr. Tyndall’s respirator consisted of a hood attached to a metal cylinder or pipe, packed with charcoal, surrounded by a layer of cotton wool, moistened with glycerine, and fitted with a piece of wire gauze at the end to hold the pad and the charcoal in place. Holmes turned down the wick and took the extinguished Hesperus lamp. He removed its glass lantern. Working with the deft fingers of a craftsman, he found the two buttons of the screw heads that tightened the metal wick holder to the base and shielded the reservoir of fuel. He undid them and carefully drew the metal sheath from its base. It tapered to a hole at the top, round which he could just measure forefinger and thumb. It was enough. Further down was a slot that admitted air to the base of the wick.
Though time was short, Holmes worked characteristically, always with haste but never in a hurry. Within the metal cylinder of the wick holder he formed a lining of loosened woolen padding from the mattress. Though he had no pure glycerine, it was a principal ingredient of the soft soap allowed him. He used the soap and a palmful of water to moisten the cotton waste at the open end of the metal cone and the lower air slot, sufficient to catch grosser particles of carbon in the air. The broken biscuits of Mostyn’s Absorbant Medical Charcoal, like small pebbles, then filled the metal cone through which he must draw breath.
Using the water jug again, he moistened the canvas pillow cover and formed it into a hood about his head. His mouth and nostrils were enclosed in the larger end of the conical wick holder, the wet canvas about his head forming a crude seal against contaminated air. Then he lay on
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