孤身骑车人（4）

“And now, Mr. Holmes, I come at last to the special  thing which has caused me to ask your advice to-day.  You must know that every Saturday forenoon I ride on my  bicycle to Farnham Station in order to get the 12.22 to  town. The road from Chiltern Grange is a lonely one,  and at one spot it is particularly so, for it lies for  over a mile between Charlington Heath upon one side and  the woods which lie round Charlington Hall upon the  other. You could not find a more lonely tract of road  anywhere, and it is quite rare to meet so much as a  cart, or a peasant, until you reach the high road near  Crooksbury Hill. Two weeks ago I was passing this place  when I chanced to look back over my shoulder, and about  two hundred yards behind me I saw a man, also on a  bicycle. He seemed to be a middle-aged man, with a  short, dark beard. I looked back before I reached  Farnham, but the man was gone, so I thought no more  about it. But you can imagine how surprised I was, Mr.  Holmes, when on my return on the Monday I saw the same  man on the same stretch of road. My astonishment was  increased when the incident occurred again, exactly as  before, on the following Saturday and Monday. He always  kept his distance and did not molest me in any way, but  still it certainly was very odd. I mentioned it to Mr.  Carruthers, who seemed interested in what I said, and  told me that he had ordered a horse and trap, so that  in future I should not pass over these lonely roads  without some companion.

“The horse and trap were to have come this week, but  for some reason they were not delivered, and again I  had to cycle to the station. That was this morning. You  can think that I looked out when I came to Charlington  Heath, and there, sure enough, was the man, exactly as  he had been the two weeks before. He always kept so far  from me that I could not clearly see his face, but it  was certainly someone whom I did not know. He was  dressed in a dark suit with a cloth cap. The only thing  about his face that I could clearly see was his dark  beard. To-day I was not alarmed, but I was filled with  curiosity, and I determined to find out who he was and  what he wanted. I slowed down my machine, but he slowed  down his. Then I stopped altogether, but he stopped  also. Then I laid a trap for him. There is a sharp  turning of the road, and I pedalled very quickly round  this, and then I stopped and waited. I expected him to  shoot round and pass me before he could stop. But he  never appeared. Then I went back and looked round the  corner. I could see a mile of road, but he was not on  it. To make it the more extraordinary, there was no  side road at this point down which he could have gone. ”

“现在，福尔摩斯先生，我终于谈到今天来向你请教的具体事情上了。你一定知道，我每星期六上午骑车到法纳姆车站，赶十二点二十二分的火车进城。我从奇尔特恩农庄出来，那条路很偏僻，有一段尤其荒凉，这一段有一英里多长，一边是查林顿石南灌木地带，另一边是查林顿庄园外圈的树林。你再也找不到比这段路更荒凉的地方了。在你没有到达靠近克鲁克斯伯里山公路以前，极难遇到一辆马车、一个农民。两星期以前，我从这地方经过，偶然回头一望，见身后两百码左右有个男人在骑车，看起来是个中年人，蓄着短短的黑一胡一子。在到法纳姆以前，我又回头一看，那人已经消失，所以我也没再想这件事。不过，福尔摩斯先生，我星期一返回时又在那段路上看到那个人。你可想而知我该多么惊奇了。而下一个星期六和星期一，又和上次丝毫不差，这事又重演了一遍，我愈发惊异不止了。那个人始终保持一定距离，决不打扰我，不过这毕竟十分古怪。我把这事告诉了卡拉瑟斯先生，他看来十分重视我说的事，告诉我他已经订购了一骑马和一辆轻便马车，所以将来我再过那段偏僻道路时，不愁没有伴侣了。

“马和轻便马车本来应该在这个星期就到，可不知什么原因，卖主没有一交一货，我只好还是骑车到火车站。这是今天早晨的事。我来到查林顿石南灌木地带，向远处一看，一点也不错，那人就在那地方，和两个星期以前一模一样。他总是离我很远，我看不清他的脸，但肯定不是我认识的人。他穿一身黑衣服，戴布帽。我只能看清他脸上的黑一胡一子。今天我不害怕了，而是满腹疑一团一，我决心查明他是什么人，要干什么事。我放慢了我的车速，他也放慢了他的车速。后来我停车不骑了，他也停车不骑了。于是我心生一计来对付他。路上有一处急转弯，我便紧蹬一阵拐过弯去，然后停车等候他。我指望他很快拐过弯来，并且来不及停车，超到我前面去。但他根本没露面。我便返回去，向转弯处四处张望。我可以望见一英里的路程，可是路上不见他的踪影。尤其令人惊异的是，这地方并没有岔路，他是无法走开的。”