空屋（13）

“At last, when you had all formed your inevitable and totally erroneous conclusions, you departed for the hotel and I was left alone. I had imagined that I had reached the end of my adventures, but a very unexpected occurrence showed me that there were surprises still in store for me. A huge rock, falling from above, boomed past me, struck the path, and bounded over into the chasm. For an instant I thought that it was an accident; but a moment later, looking up, I saw a man's head against the darkening sky, and another stone struck the very ledge upon which I was stretched, within a foot of my head. Of course, the meaning of this was obvious. Moriarty had not been alone. A confederate—and even that one glance had told me how dangerous a man that confederate was—had kept guard while the Professor had attacked me. From a distance, unseen by me, he had been a witness of his friend's death and of my escape. He had waited, and then, making his way round to the top of the cliff, he had endeavoured to succeed where his comrade had failed.

“I did not take long to think about it, Watson. Again I saw that grim face look over the cliff, and I knew that it was the precursor of another stone. I scrambled down on to the path. I don't think I could have done it in cold blood. It was a hundred times more difficult than getting up. But I had no time to think of the danger, for another stone sang past me as I hung by my hands from the edge of the ledge. Halfway down I slipped, but by the blessing of God I landed, torn and bleeding, upon the path. I took to my heels, did ten miles over the mountains in the darkness, and a week later I found myself in Florence with the certainty that no one in the world knew what had become of me.

“你作出了完全错误的结论就离开那里回旅馆去了，最后就剩下我一个人。我以为我的险遇到此结束了。可是发生了非常突然的事故，使我预感到还有叫我吃惊的事情就要来到。一块巨大的岩石由上面落下来，轰隆一声从我身边擦过去，砸中下面那条小道，又蹦起来掉进深渊。我当时还以为这块岩石是偶然掉下来的。过了一会儿，我抬头望见昏暗的天空中露出一个人头。这时又落下来一块石头，砸在我躺着的地方，离我的头部不到一英尺。当然，这意味着什么就很清楚了。莫里亚蒂并非单人行动。在他对我下手的时候，还有一个一党一羽在守望，而我一眼就看出了这个一党一羽是个多么危险的家伙。他躲在我看不见的地方亲眼目睹了他的朋友淹死和我逃脱的情况。他一直等着，然后绕道上了崖顶，企图实现他朋友未能得逞的打算。

“我思考这一切并没有耽搁多少时间，华生。我又看见那张冷酷的脸从崖顶朝下张望，这是有另一块石头要落下来的预兆。我对准崖下的小道往下爬。我不认为自己当时能满不在乎地爬下去，这比往上爬更难百倍。但是我没时间考虑往下爬的危险，因为就在我双手攀住岩架边沿、身一体悬空吊起的时候，又有一块石头呼地一声从我身边落下去。我爬到一半的地方脚踩空了。幸好上帝保佑，我掉在那条窄道上，摔得头破血流。我爬起来就逃之夭夭，在山里摸黑走了十英里。一星期以后，我到了佛罗伦萨，这一来包管世界上谁也不知道我的下落。