00:29:06:25 00:29:08:25 Owner Mordecai Smith.
THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES AND DR. WATSON
By Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
The Agra Treasure
Part Two
Sherlock Holmes VASILIY LIVANOV
Dr. Watson VITALIY SOLOMIN
Mrs. Hudson RINA ZELYONAYA
Inspector Lestrade BORISLAV BRONDUKOV
I am the King. Why should I attempt to conceal it?
Why, indeed?
Your Majesty had not spoken before I was aware
that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich Sigismond von Ormstein,
Grand Duke of Cassel Felstein, and hereditary King of Bohemia.
you can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in my own person.
Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not confide it to an agent
without putting myself in his power.
I have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting you.
Then, pray consult.
Some five years ago, during a lengthy visit to Europe,
I made the acquaintance of the wellknown adventuress, Irene Adler.
The name is no doubt familiar to you.
Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor.
Please.
Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled with this young person,
and is now desirous of getting those letters back.
Precisely so.
- Was there a secret marriage? - None.
No legal papers or certificates?
- None. - Letter, maybe?
How is she to prove their authenticity?
- There is the writing. - Forgery.
- My private note-paper. - Stolen.
- My own seal. - Imitated.
My photograph.
Bought.
- I found it! - Read it.
Irene Adler. Born in New Jersey in the year 1858.
American.
Contralto! La Scala! Prima donna Imperial Opera of Warsaw.
Retired from operatic stage.
Living in London.
It's important. The photograph could have been bought.
We were both in the photograph.
That is very bad!
Your Majesty has indeed committed an indiscretion.
I was mad.
You have compromised yourself seriously.
Here it is. She has the second copy.
I was only Crown Prince then.
I was young.
You were very handsome.
I am but thirty now.
It must be recovered.
We have tried and failed.
It must be bought.
She will not sell.
Stolen, then.
Five attempts have been made.
Twice burglars in my pay ransacked her house.
Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled.
Twice she has been waylaid. There has been no result.
No sign of it?
Absolutely none.
It is quite a pretty little problem.
And what does she propose to do with the photograph?
To ruin me. I am about to be married.
To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen,
second daughter of the King of Scandinavia.
You may know the strict principles of her family.
She is herself the very soul of delicacy.
A shadow of a doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end.
And Irene Adler?
Threatens to send them the photograph.
You are sure that she has not sent it yet?
- I am sure. - And why?
She will send it on the day when the betrothal was publicly proclaimed.
That will be next Monday.
You will find me at the Langham under the name of the Count Von Kramm.
Drop me a line to let me know how you progress.
Then, as to money?
- You have carte blanche. - Absolutely?
I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom to have that photograph.
And for present expenses?
Thank you, sir.
Who is he?
A lawyer.
Who is at law here?
Nobody. This is Mr. Godfrey Norton.
He came to his woman. She has turned his head down in that part.
A very sly one.
She is a tasty morsel in the world. She is a singer.
We know such women.
She lives quietly, sings at concerts.
drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for dinner.
Drive like the devil, first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street,
and then to the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road.
Half a guinea if you do it in twenty minutes!
Yes, sir.
To the Church of St. Monica. Half a guinea if you do it in twenty minutes!
Stop!
To the Church of St. Monica. Half a sovereign if you do it in twenty minutes!
Thank God. You'll do.
What then?
Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.
Be our witness, I beg you.
I shall want your cooperation.
I shall be delighted.
- You don't mind breaking the law? - Not in the least.
Nor running a chance of arrest?
Not in a good cause.
Oh, the cause is excellent!
Excellent!
- Great, Watson. - I am your man.
I was sure that I might rely on you.
But what is it you wish?
- What time is it? - It is nearly five now.
Nearly five now. In two hours we must be on the scene of action.
- At Briony Lodge? - Exactly.
Miss Irene, or Mrs. Adler, rather
- returns from her drive at seven. - And what then?
- I will meet her. - Very good.
You must not interfere, come what may. You understand?
I am to be neutral?
To do nothing whatever.
And the matter is...
Four or five minutes afterwards the sitting-room window will open.
You are to station yourself close to that open window.
Yes.
Raise the cry of fire.
it will be taken up by people. You may then walk to the end of the street,
and I will rejoin you in ten minutes.
You may entirely rely on me.
Yes, Watson.
Women are naturally secretive,
and they like to do their own secreting.
The photograph must be in her own house.
But it has twice been burgled.
You mean they didn't find anything?
- They did not know how to look. - But how will you look?
I will not look.
I will get her to show me.
- But she will refuse. - She will not be able to.
I hear the rumble of wheels.
Please, Madam.
Please.
Now carry out my orders to the letter.
Stop it, gentlemen.
- Are you much hurt? - He is dead
Is he really?
- No, no, there's life in him! - He is breathing.
He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, mam?
Surely. Bring him into the sitting room.
Carefully.
Show gentlemen the way.
Stairs, be careful.
Hold the door.
Fire!
- Fire! - Where?
You have the photograph?
The photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the bell-pull.
And where is it now?
As I said, it is there.
When a married woman thinks that her house is on fire, she grabs at her baby,
an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box,
and Irene Adler took the photograph.
I saw a half of it.
How was my fire?
You did it very nicely, Doctor.
You are the best campaigner.
When I cried out that it was a false alarm,
she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, and I have not seen her since.
Why didn't you take the photograph?
I am in a very nice mood, Watson.
Let the king go to her to take that photograph.
Besides, the servant always watched me.
Good evening, mister Holmes.
Good evening.
A letter for you.
But...
I've heard that voice before.
''My dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes,
You really did it very well.
You took me in completely.
I am an actress and I like amusements.
Your client may rest in peace.
I love and am loved by a better man than he.
I keep the photograph only to safeguard myself.
I send a photograph which he might care to possess.
Today we leave England for ever.
I am happy that you witnessed our marriage.
Thank you again for such a performance. Very truly yours, Irene Norton,
nee ADLER.''
Have you got it?
And yes and no. Here is it.
But it's not the photograph.
- I know. - Irene Adler is married.
Married?
- When? - Yesterday.
But to whom?
To an English lawyer named Norton.
- But she could not love him. - I am in hopes that she does.
And she does not lay claim to him.
What a woman!
She would be a great queen!
Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?
From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a very different level.
Nothing could be more successful.
I know that her word is inviolate.
The photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire.
In what way I can reward you?
Your Majesty has something which I should value even more highly.
You have but to name it.
This photograph!
Irene's photograph!
Certainly, if you wish it.
To Mr. Sherlock Holmes esquire.
The victory and the defeat, my friend.
What a woman!
What happened?
The Baker Street irregulars have come.
Dreaming is over.
Please, gentlemen.
Got your message, sir and brought 'em on sharp.
One, two, three, four, five, six.
Three bob and a tanner for tickets.
Hear the instructions. I want to find a steam launch called Diana.
It is lost in the river.
White with two red streaks.
Funnel black.
I want one boy to be at Mordecai Smith's landing-stage
opposite Millbank
to say if the boat comes back.
- Is that all clear? - Yes, guv'nor.
The old scale of pay.
A guinea to the boy who finds the boat.
If the launch is above water they will find her.
They can go every-where, see everything, overhear everyone.
If ever man had an easy task, this of ours ought to be.
Wooden-legged men are not so common, but the other man must be absolutely unique.
That other man again!
Now, do consider the data.
Like what?
Everything we know.
- Diminutive footmarks. - Toes never fettered by boots.
Great agility.
Small poisoned darts.
What do you make of all this?
- A savage! - That is right, Watson.
The Andaman Islands.
Situated 340 miles to the north of Sumatra, in the Bay of Bengal.
Moist climate, coral reefs, sharks.
Convict barracks.
The aborigines of the Andaman Islands may is the smallest race on the earth.
The average height is rather below four feet.
They are a fierce, morose, and intractable people,
though capable of forming most devoted friendships.
Mind you, most devoted friendships.
We have to wait for the news from Wiggins.
You can do what you will, but I must remain on guard.
Then I shall run over to Camberwell and call upon Mrs. Cecil Forrester.
Mrs. Cecil Forrester?
Women are never to be entirely trusted - not the best of them.
If you are crossing the river you may as well return Toby,
for I don't think it is at all likely that we shall have any use for him now.
I will be back in two hours. Toby!
An argument to the previous chapters.
Toby, as a participator
will correct me if I am wrong.
I will start my story neither from your visit to Baker Street,
dear Miss Morstan,
nor from our trip to Thaddeus Sholto, where he told us about your father's
and his father's deaths.
I guess, you told Mrs. Forrester
about our trip to his brother Bartholomew Sholto.
Trust me, he died of a horrible death.
After that I took you home.
On the way home I met this nice gentleman.
Now I am talking about you, Toby.
When Toby and I came to the crime scene,
we found a new character: Scotland Yard inspector Lestrade,
who arrested everyone in the house except Sherlock Holmes,
and Thaddeus Sholto was brought to trial on a charge of murder of his brother.
What? Thaddeus Sholto was arrested?
Yes.
But we know who are the real criminals.
Do we, Toby?
There are two of them and they have fabulous feet.
One has a wooden stump, the other one has bare feet with a tarlike odour.
Three of us started chasing them.
It was Sherlock Holmes, your humble servant and this dog,
who, by the way, brought us to a large timber-yard.
Yes, yes Toby.
So, Toby brought us to the Thames.
We know that criminals left on the steam launch Diana,
which we will find soon.
We know that one of them is Jonathan Small,
the other one is a savage from the Andaman Islands.
It is a romance!
An injured lady,
half a million in treasure, a black cannibal,
and a wooden-legged ruffian.
And two knight-errants to the rescue.
Who can make the lady rich.
It is for Mr. Thaddeus Sholto that I am anxious.
Nothing else is of any consequence.
He has behaved most kindly and honourably throughout.
It is our duty to clear him of this dreadful and unfounded charge.
Holmes!
- Mr. Sherlock Holmes has gone out? - No, sir. He has gone to his room.
I am afraid for his health.
Why so, Mrs. Hudson?
After you was gone he walked and he walked, up and down, and up and down.
Then I heard him talking to himself and muttering
and every time the bell rang out he came on the stairhead,
with 'What is that, Mrs. Hudson?'
What is that, Mrs. Hudson?
Not what but who.
This is Doctor Watson, my second lodger.
And I am going to buy some cooling medicine for you, Mr. Holmes.
I am off down the river, Watson.
I have been turning it over in my mind, and I think it is worth trying.
Surely I can come with you, then?
No, you can be much more useful,
if you will remain here as my representative.
Act on your own judgment if any news should come.
- Can I rely upon you? - Most certainly.
Men sometimes speak funnily.
When Dr. Watson was tellin me about his adventures in the east,
he told me how a musket looked into his tent at the dead of night,
and how he fired a double-barrelled tiger cub at it.
Why did he say something like that, Mrs. Forrester?
My dear girl, you live with me for such a long time
that I can tell you that Dr. Watson is madly --
Miss Morstan.
I am not guilty.
Mr. Sholto, have you been set free?
I am completely innocent, Miss Morstan.
Here is the ''Standard'', read it.
- I believe you. - No, read it.
I don't know who your friends are, Miss Morstan,
but I am grateful to one of them, Mr. Holmes.
He promised to release me and he did.
I am here to thank you.
Mr. Lestrade from Scotland Yard--
Please, do not read about Scotland Yard.
I hate detectives.
But Sherlock Holmes is a detective too.
Is Dr. Watson a de... detective?
No, but it is he whom you should thank.
- Good morning. - Good morning.
- Mr. Sherlock Holmes is out. - Yes.
I would wait.
Come in.
- Would you like cigars? - No. Don't smoke in the morning.
To drink something?
A whisky, half a glass.
Half a glass?
Yes, a little.
You know my theory about this Norwood case?
I remember that you expressed one.
Well, I have been obliged to reconsider it.
I had my net drawn tightly round Mr. Sholto,
when pop he went through a hole in the middle of it.
And he left.
He was able to prove an alibi which could not be shaken.
He was never out of sight of someone--
or other.
So it could not be he who climbed over roofs
and through trapdoors.
It's a very dark case.
Very dark case.
Doctor Watson,
my professional credit is at stake.
I should be very glad of a little assistance.
We all need help sometimes.
Your friend Mr. Holmes is irregular in his methods,
he makes mistakes sometimes, but, on the whole, I think
he would have made a most promising officer.
I have had a wire from him this morning
by which I understand that he has got some clue to this Sholto business.
Here is his message.
From Poplar at twelve o'clock.
Go to Baker Street at once.
If I have not returned, wait for me.
I am close on the track of the Sholto gang.
You can come with us tonight if you want to be in at the finish.
This sounds well.
He has evidently picked up the scent again.
What is it, my man?
Is Mr. Sherlock Holmes here?
No, but I am acting for him. You can tell me any message you have for him.
It was to him himself I was to tell it.
Was it about Mordecai Smith's boat?
Yes. I knows well where it is.
I knows where the men he is after are.
I knows where the treasure is.
Then tell us.
It was to him I was to tell it.
Then you can leave us with your secrets!
I will.
I don't care about the look of either of you, and I won't tell a word.
- You cannot scare us. - Sit down, man.
You have important information, and you must not walk off.
Watson, come on.
What?
What methods you have in Scotland Yard.
You rogue!
What an actor!
Those weak legs of yours are worth ten pound a week.
I thought I knew the glint of your eye, though.
You didn't get away from us so easily, you see.
- You got my wire? - Yes, of course?
That was what brought me here.
How has your case prospered?
Nothing. I released two of my prisoners and no evidence against the other two.
Never mind. We shall give you two others in the place of them.
- I agree. - Great.
Then, in the first place I shall want, a fast police-boat -
a steam launch - to be at the Westminster Stairs at seven o'clock.
That is easily managed.
- There is more. - Yes.
Then I shall want two staunch men in case of resistance.
There will be two or three in the boat.
Great.
When we secure the men we shall get the treasure.
It would be a pleasure to my friend here to take the box round to the young lady.
to open it.
It would be a great pleasure to me.
Rather an irregular proceeding, Mister Holmes.
Half of it rightfully belongs to her,
However, the whole thing is irregular, and I suppose we must wink at it.
Perfectly. Is there anything else?
Only that I insist upon your dining with us.
I have oysters and a brace of grouse, with something a little choice in white wines.
You are not only a theorist.
Is there anything to mark it as a police-boat?
Yes, that green lamp at the side.
Then take it off.
Take the lamp off!
Cast off!
Full speed ahead!
We ought to be able to catch anything on the river.
There are not many launches to beat us.
I would have a body of police in Jacobson's Yard
and arrested them when they came down.
This man Small is a pretty shrewd fellow.
He would send a scout on ahead.
If anything made him suspicious he would lie snug for another week.
But you might have stuck to Smith, and so been led to their hiding-place.
In that case I should have wasted my day.
I think that Smith doesn't know where they live.
As long as he has liquor and good pay,
why should he ask questions?
I think you are right.
Stop!
That is Jacobson's Yard.
Suppose we go downstream a short way and lie in wait for them.
We have no right to take anything for granted.
It is certainly ten to one that they go downstream,
but we cannot be certain.
From this point we can see the entrance of the yard, and they can hardly see us.
I can see my man.
But I don't see a handkerchief.
There is a handkerchief, Holmes, it is your boy.
Full speed ahead!
Cast off!
Full speed!
- I doubt if we shall catch her. - Heap it on, stokers!
We cannot catch them!
- I think we gain a little. - I am sure of it.
We shall be up with her in a very few minutes.
In the Queen's name stop it!
You need the treasure? Get it!
Fire if he raises his hand.
Got him!
Devil!
Thank God!
We were hardly quick enough with our pistols.
Well, Jonathan Small, I am sorry that it has come to this.
And so am I, sir.
I give you my word on the book that I never raised hand against Mr. Sholto.
It was that little hell-hound Tonga, who shot one of his cursed darts into him.
I had no part in it, sir.
You had best take a pull out of my flask, for you are very wet.
Quite a family party.
I think we may all congratulate each other.
How could you expect
so small and weak a man as this black fellow to overpower Mr. Sholto
and hold him while you were climbing the rope?
You seem to know as much about it
as if you were there, sir.
If it had been the old major I would have swung for him with a light heart.
I would have thought no more of knifing him than of smoking this cigar.
But it's cursed hard
that I should be lagged over this young Sholto, with whom I had no quarrel whatever.
I think I can prove
that the man was dead before ever you reached the room.
I will prove it.
That he was, sir.
Though how you kept on it is more than I can tell.
I don't feel no malice against you for it.
But it does seem a queer thing.
I, who have a fair claim to half a million of money,
should spend the first half of my life building a breakwater in the Andamans,
and am like to spend the other half digging drains at Dartmoor.
It was an evil day for me when first I clapped eyes upon the merchant Achmet
and had to do with the Agra treasure, which never brought anything but a curse.
To him it brought murder,
to Major Sholto it brought fear and guilt,
to me it has meant slavery for life.
We will be at Vauxhall Bridge presently
and shall land you, Dr. Watson, with the treasure-box.
I need hardly tell you that I am taking a responsibility upon myself in doing this,
but of course an agreement is an agreement.
I must, however, as a matter of duty, send an inspector with you,
since you have so valuable a charge.
You will drive, no doubt?
Yes.
It is a pity there is no key, that we may make an inventory first.
Where is the key, my man?
At the bottom of the river.
What happened?
What news have you brought me?
I have brought something better than news.
I have brought you something which is worth all the news in the world.
I have brought you a fortune.
Is that the treasure then?
Yes.
This is the great Agra treasure.
Half of it is yours and half is Thaddeus Sholto's.
You will have a couple of hundred thousand each.
An annuity of ten thousand pounds.
There will be few richer young ladies in England. Is it not glorious?
If I have it, I owe it to you.
No, no, not to me but to my friend Sherlock Holmes.
With all the will in the world, I could never have followed
up-a clue which has taxed even his analytical genius.
As it was, we very nearly lost it at the last moment.
It is a shock to me to know that I had placed my friends in such horrible peril.
That is all over.
It was nothing.
I got leave to bring it with me. It would interest you to be the first to see it.
What a pretty box! This is Indian work, I suppose?
Yes, it is Benares metal-work.
And so heavy!
- Where is the key? - Small threw it into the Thames.
I must borrow Mrs. Forrester's poker.
The treasure is lost.
Thank God!
Why do you say that?
Because I love you, Mary, as truly as ever a man loved a woman.
But this treasure, these riches, sealed my lips.
Now that they are gone I can tell you how I love you.
That is why I said, 'Thank God.'
Then I say 'Thank God,' too.
The Doctor is being brought.
What is going on, Doctor Watson?
I am arrested.
This gentleman stole the treasure. Here is the box, but it is empty.
It became empty when the gentleman was in the house.
I was at the porch.
You disappointed me!
And you, dear theoretic!
It is a lie.
Where is the treasure then? Where?
- This is your doing, Small? - Yes.
I have put it away where you shall never lay hand upon it.
No living man has any right to it,
unless it is three men who are in the Andaman convict-barracks and myself.
I have acted all through for them as much as for myself.
It's been the sign of four with us always.
They would throw the treasure into the Thames
rather than let it go to kith or kin of Sholto or Morstan.
You'll find the treasure where the key is and where little Tonga is.
When I saw that your launch must catch us, I put the loot away in a safe place.
You are deceiving us, Small?
If you had wished to throw the treasure it would have been easier for you
to have thrown box and all.
Holmes?
Easier for me to throw and easier for you to recover.
The man that was clever enough to hunt me down could pick an iron box from the river.
Now that they are scattered over five miles or so, it may be a harder job.
This is a very serious matter, Small. If you had helped justice,
instead of thwarting it in this way,
you would have had a better chance at your trial.
Yes, yes.
Justice?
Where is the justice that I should give it up to those who have never earned it?
Twenty long years in that fever-ridden swamp,
all day at work under the mangrove-tree,
all night chained up in the filthy convict-huts.
That was how I earned the Agra treasure.
I would rather swing a score of times, than live in a convict's cell
and feel that another man is in a palace with the money that should be mine.
I think we should send him to a safe place, Mr. Holmes.
There is a four-wheeler and two policemen outside.
I am very grateful to you and your friend for your help.
And your presence in court is obligatory.
Get up.
Quick!
Good luck, gentlemen.
You first, Small, I'll take particular care that you don't club me with your wooden leg.
Quickly!
What about me?
Ah, yes, I'm sorry.
Your hands.
Down.
A real savage!
The Times was very wrong when they said that he is the best detective.
Miss Morstan has done me the honour
to accept me as a husband in prospective.
I feared as much.
Have you any reason to be dissatisfied with my choice?
Not at all.
I think she is one of the most charming young ladies.
But love is an emotional thing, which is opposed to cold reason.
It is obvious, my friend.
I should never marry myself,
lest I bias my judgment.
I trust that my judgment may survive the ordeal.
No, my dear friend, I'm afraid that it was the last time,
when you studied my deductive theory.
I will come back!
The division seems rather unfair.
You have done all the work in this business.
Doctor Watson gets a wife out of it.
Lestrade gets the credit.
Pray what remains for you?