"Well, Mr.Holmes," said Sir Walter Raleigh, after three rousing cheers, led by Hamlet, had been given with a will by the assembled spirits, "after this demonstration in your honor I think it is hardly necessary for me to assure you of our hearty co-operation in anything you may venture to suggest.There is still manifest, however, some desire on the part of the ever-wise King Solomon and my friend Confucius to know how you deduce that Kidd has sailed for London, from the cigar end which you hold in your hand.""I can easily satisfy their curiosity," said Sherlock Holmes, genially."I believe I have already proven that it is the end of Kidd's cigar.The marks of the teeth have shown that.Now observe how closely it is smoked--there is barely enough of it left for one to insert between his teeth.Now Captain Kidd would hardly have risked the edges of his mustache and the comfort of his lips by smoking a cigar down to the very light if he had had another; nor would he under any circumstances have smoked it that far unless he were passionately addicted to this particular brand of the weed.
Therefore I say to you, first, this was his cigar; second, it was the last one he had; third, he is a confirmed smoker.The result, he has gone to the one place in the world where these Connecticut hand-rolled Havana cigars--for I recognize this as one of them--have a real popularity, and are therefore more certainly obtainable, and that is at London.You cannot get so vile a cigar as that outside of a London hotel.If I could have seen a quarter-inch more of it, Ishould have been able definitely to locate the hotel itself.The wrappers unroll to a degree that varies perceptibly as between the different hotels.The Fortuna cigar can be smoked a quarter through before its wrapper gives way; the Felix wrapper goes as soon as you light the cigar; whereas the River, fronting on the Thames, is surrounded by a moister atmosphere than the others, and, as a consequence, the wrapper will hold really until most people are willing to throw the whole thing away.""It is really a wonderful art!" said Solomon.
"The making of a Connecticut Havana cigar?" laughed Holmes."Not at all.Give me a head of lettuce and a straw, and I'll make you a box.""I referred to your art--that of detection," said Solomon."Your logic is perfect; step by step we have been led to the irresistible conclusion that Kidd has made for London, and can be found at one of these hotels.""And only until next Tuesday, when he will take a house in the neighborhood of Scotland Yard," put in Holmes, quickly, observing a sneer on Hawkshaw's lips, and hastening to overwhelm him by further evidence of his ingenuity."When he gets his bill he will open his piratical eyes so wide that he will be seized with jealousy to think of how much more refined his profession has become since he left it, and out of mere pique he will leave the hotel, and, to show himself still cleverer than his modern prototypes, he will leave his account unpaid, with the result that the affair will be put in the hands of the police, under which circumstances a house in the immediate vicinity of the famous police headquarters will be the safest hiding-place he can find, as was instanced by the remarkable case of the famous Penstock bond robbery.A certain churchwarden named Hinkley, having been appointed cashier thereof, robbed the Penstock Imperial Bank of 1,000,000 pounds in bonds, and, fleeing to London, actually joined the detective force at Scotland Yard, and was detailed to find himself, which of course he never did, nor would he ever have been found had he not crossed my path."Hawkshaw gazed mournfully off into space, and Le Coq muttered profane words under his breath.
"We're not in the same class with this fellow, Hawkshaw," said Le Coq."You could tap your forehead knowingly eight hours a day through all eternity with a sledge-hammer without loosening an idea like that.""Nevertheless I'll confound him yet," growled the jealous detective.
"I shall myself go to London, and, disguised as Captain Kidd, will lead this visionary on until he comes there to arrest me, and when these club members discover that it is Hawkshaw and not Kidd he has run to earth, we'll have a great laugh on Sherlock Holmes.""I am anxious to hear how you solved the bond-robbery mystery," said Socrates, wrapping his toga closely about him and settling back against one of the spiles of the wharf.
