俠盜羅賓漢

Chapter 4: Wanted: dead or alive!

Some years passed, and there were more than 200 outlaws living in Sherwood Forest. Robin Hood was the hero of the poor. He continued robbing the rich to give to the poor. Robin Hood called this "The Sherwood Tax ". All the rich travellers who passed through Sherwood Forest paid "'The Sherwood Tax".

The Sheriff of Nottingham sent an army of soldiers to Sherwood Forest to capture Robin Hood. But Robin and his outlaws were in the trees. They killed all the soldiers except one.

Robin and his men were the best archers of the region. They knew the forest perfectly . They were never afraid of fighting the soldiers of the wicked Sheriff of Nottingham. It was impossible to stop Robin Hood. The Sheriff was furious because the people laughed at him. He was never able to capture Robin Hood. King John was furious too. His subjects loved King Richard and hated him.

One day, King John stood on the castle walls. He spoke to all his people.

He said, "We must capture Robin Hood and his outlaws. They are our enemy. I can pay a hundred pieces of gold for Robin Hood, dead or alive!

Bring me that outlaw!"

From that day on, Robin's life was in great danger.

Chapter 5: Robin meets Maid Marian

When Robin Hood was a boy, his best friends were Marian Fitzwater and her brother, Marke. Robin played with them and taught them to use the bow and arrow. He also taught them to fight with the sword.

Robin loved only Maid Marian, and she loved only him.

One spring day Marian's father, Lord Robert Fitzwater of Malaset, said to her, "Marian, you are a beautiful maid. Soon you must marry. There is a very rich noble man who wants to marry you."

"What is his name?" Marian asked.

"His name is Sir Guy of Gisbourne, a good friend of the Sheriff of Nottingham."

When Marian heard this, she was very unhappy. This was terrible! She did not want to marry Sir Guy of Gisbourne. She loved Robin Hood and wanted to marry him.

She decided to run away to join Robin Hood. She disguised herself as a knight. Then she took her horse and went to Sherwood Forest.

Robin Hood was in the forest. He was coming from Nottingham, and was disguised as a beggar . They met in the forest. It was evening and it was almost dark. When Robin saw the knight, he asked, "What are you doing in the forest?"

"What are you doing here, beggar man?" answered the knight.

They did not recognise each other.

"This is outlaw country. Go back! You can't stay here. We don't know you." Robin said.

"I cannot go back! I am not afraid of outlaws," answered the knight, taking out a sword. "I am ready to fight you!"

And so the fight began. Both were experts with the sword. But Robin fell to the ground.

The knight said, "Now, take me to your leader. Take me to Robin Hood!"

She took off her helmet and Robin was very surprised. It was his dear Marian! Robin took off his beggar clothes. Marian recognised Robin. She,

too, was very surprised! Then, they kissed.

There was great happiness in Sherwood Forest that evening. Marian and Robin were finally together. Friar Tuck married them after a few days.

There was a big wedding celebration in the forest.

Maid Marian was now part of Sherwood Forest. She was gentle and kind to all. Everyone loved her.

福爾摩斯

Part Two

Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door opened and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed in . He looked incredibly shocked.

'The goose, Mr Holmes! The goose, sir!' he cried.

'What? Has it returned to life and flown out of your kitchen window?' said Holmes.

'Look here, sir! Look what my wife found in its stomach!' He showed us a shiny blue stone in his hand.

'By Jove , Peterson,' said Holmes, 'this is a treasure! Do you know what you have got?'

'A diamond, sir! A precious stone! It cuts glass like butter.'

'It is more than a precious stone. It's the precious stone.'

'Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle that was stolen?' I cried.

'Precisely so,' responded Holmes, 'and here is the newspaper article that tells the story:

Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery John Horner, 26-year-old plumber, has been arrested for stealing the famous blue carbuncle from the Countess of Morcar.

James Ryder, an attendant at the hotel, said that he had sent Horner to the Countess' room on the day of the robbery to repair a bar of the grate.

Ryder said that he stayed with Horner for a few minutes, but then he had to leave. When Ryder returned he saw that somebody had forced open the Countess' bureau . Ryder called the police and the police arrested Horner that same evening.

Catherine Cusack, the Countess' maid said that she heard Ryder call for help. She ran into the room and saw the same things that Ryder described to the police. In addition, the police discovered that Horner had already been charged with robberyinthepast,butHornersaysthatinthiscase he is innocent. His trial willbesoon.

'Hum! So much for the police report,' said Holmes throwing the paper on a chair. 'You see, Watson, our little deductions about the hat have become much more important and less innocent. Here is the stone: the stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr Henry Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat which we examined so carefully. Now we must discover Mr Baker's part in this mystery. To find him, the simplest thing is to put an advertisement in the evening newspaper.'

'What will you say?' I asked.

'Well,' said Holmes, '''Found at the corner of Goodge Street a goose and a black hat. Mr Henry Baker can have them if he comes to 221b Baker Street at 6:30 this evening.'"

Then Holmes sent Peterson to buy another goose to give to Baker if he came, and to put the advertisement in all the newspapers. I left to work for the day.

That evening when I returned, I saw a tall man wearing a Scotch hat waiting outside Holmes' house. We entered together.

'Mr Henry Baker, I believe,' said Holmes when he saw us.

'Please sit by the fire and get warm. Ah, Watson, you have come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr Baker?'

'Yes, sir, that is certainly my hat.'

'We have kept your things,' said Holmes, 'but we had to eat the goose.'

'You ate it!' said our visitor with excitement.

'Yes, it was going to go bad, but I bought you another goose.

It is over there, and I think it is just as good.'

'Oh, certainly, certainly!' answered Mr Baker with relief .

'Oh course,' said Holmes, 'we have the feathers, legs and stomach of your bird if you want them.'

The man laughed loudly. 'Perhaps I could keep them to remember my adventure, but, no, I don't need them. Thank you, but I will take this goose and go.'

'There is your hat, then, and there is your bird,' said Holmes. 'By the way ,

could you tell me where you got your goose from? It was a splendid bird,

and I would like to get another one like it.'

'Certainly, sir,' said Mr Baker, 'I got it at the Alpha Inn near the Museum.

You see, the owner of the inn, Mr Windigate, started a goose-club. Each week we gave him a few pence, and then at Christmas we received a goose.'

After this Mr Henry Baker picked up his hat and goose, and left.

'So much for Mr Henry Baker,' said Holmes when Baker had gone.

We decided to go immediately to the Alpha Inn to investigate the goose.

At the Alpha Inn we discovered that the goose had come from a salesman called Mr Breckinridge in Covent Garden.

So, once again, Holmes and I put on our coats and walked to Covent Garden to talk to Mr Breckinridge.

'Remember,' said Holmes as we walked to Covent Garden, 'at one end of this chain of events we have a simple goose, but at the other end of the chain there is a man who will go to prison for seven years if we cannot show that he is innocent.'

We soon found Mr Breckinridge's stall, and Holmes asked him about his geese. I was surprised when Mr Breckinridge replied angrily to Holmes'

questions.

'I have had enough. I am tired of people asking me "Where are the geese?"

and "Who did you sell the geese to?" and "How much money do you want for the geese?" Enough!'

With a little bit of difficulty, Holmes finally got the information we needed: the geese had come from Mrs Oakshott, 117 Brixton Road. We were walking away when we heard shouting from Mr Breckinridge's stall. We turned round and saw a little man in front of the stall.

'I've had enough of you and your geese! If you come here again, my dog will attack you!' shouted Mr Breckinridge at the little man.

The little man started walking away, and Holmes and I went after him.

Holmes put his hand on the man's shoulder. The little man turned around and looked frightened. He said, 'Who are you? What do you want?'

'Excuse me,' said Holmes, 'but I heard you talking to the goose salesman,

and I think I can help you.'

'You? Who are you? How could you know anything about the matter ?'

'My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other people don't know.'

'But do you know anything about this?'

'Excuse me, I know everything about this. You are trying to find some geese which were sold by Mrs Oakshott, of Brixton Road, to a salesman called Breckinridge, who then sold them to Mr Windigate of the Alpha Inn,

who then gave one of them to a member of his goose-club called Mr Henry Baker.'

'You are the man I wanted to meet,' said the little man, whose name, as we then discovered was John Ryder. Yes, John Ryder, the man who had called the police to report the stolen blue carbuncle. We then returned to Holmes'

house to discuss the matter in front of a warm fire.

'Here we are!' said Holmes happily, as we entered his room.

'Now do you want to know what happened to those geese?'

'Yes, sir,' replied Ryder.

'But you really want to know what happened to that goose —the white one with a black bar across its tail.'

Ryder shook with emotion . 'Oh sir,' he cried, 'where did it go?'

'It came here.'

'Here?'

'Yes, and it was an incredible bird. I am not surprised that you want to find that goose. It laid an egg after it died —the brightest little blue egg that you have ever seen. I have it here in my museum.'

Our visitor stood up and then almost fell down. Holmes took out the blue carbuncle, and Ryder stared at it. He did not know if he should say it was his or not.

'The game is up, Ryder. I know almost exactly what happened.

Because you worked at the Hotel Cosmopolitan you knew that the Countess of Morcar had the blue carbuncle in her room.'

'It was the Countess' maid, Catherine Cusack, who told me about it.'

'I see,' continued Holmes, 'so you and Catherine Cusack broke the grate in the Countess' room so that Horner had to come and repair it. You knew that Horner had had a part in a robbery before so that he would be blamed for this one. Then, when Horner had finished repairing the grate, you called the police and the unfortunate man was arrested. You then ...'

Ryder threw himself onto the rug and held onto Holmes' knees, 'For God's sake have mercy! Think of my father! Think of mother! It would break their hearts.'

'Get back into your chair!' said Holmes sternly . 'It is easy to say that now,

but you did not think of this poor Horner before.'

'I will go away, Mr Holmes, and without my testimony . Horner will be free.'

'Hum! We will talk about that next,' said Holmes. 'And now tell us how the blue carbuncle came into the goose, and how the goose came into the open market. Tell us the truth because that is your only chance not to go to prison.'

Ryder moved his tongue over his dry lips and began his story.

'I will tell you exactly what happened. After I had the blue carbuncle I was terrified. I did not know where to go. I thought 1 saw the police everywhere.

Finally 1 decided to go to my sister's. My sister married a man called Oakshott and lives on Brixton Road, where she fattens geese for the market. When 1 arrived she asked me what was wrong. I told her that I was upset about the robbery at the hotel.

'I then went out into the backyard where the geese are, and smoked a pipe. I had a friend called Maudsley who had been in prison. He had told me how thieves sold stolen property , so I decided to go to him with the blue carbuncle. However, I did not know how I could carry the blue carbuncle to his house. Then I had the idea to force one of the geese to swallow the stone. My sister had told me that I could have one of the geese for Christmas.

So I caught one of the geese—a big white one with a barred tail, and forced open its beak and pushed the stone in with my finger. The goose then swallowed the stone. Then I told my sister that I wanted my Christmas goose then. She thought it was a bit strange, but in the end she said I could have the goose.

'Unfortunately, while I was talking to my sister the goose escaped and went in the middle of the flock with the other geese. I caught it again,

killed it and took it to my friend Maudsley. I told him the story. We then cut open the goose, but we could not find the stone! I ran back to my sister, and asked her if there were any other white geese with barred tails. She said that there were two other ones, but she had sold them to the dealer called Breckinridge of Covent Garden.

'I went to him, and he told me that he had sold them all.

You heard him tonight. Now I will be considered a thief, and I have not even touched the blue carbuncle. God help me!' There was a moment of silence, and then Holmes got up and opened the door.

'Get out !' shouted Holmes.

'What sir? Oh thank you!' cried Ryder. 'No more words. Get out!'

And there were no more words. Ryder ran out of the room and out of the house.

'After all, Watson,' said Holmes, reaching for his pipe, 'if the police can't catch their own criminals, I don't have to do it for them. Also this Ryder will never commit another crime again. He is too frightened. Besides , this is the season of forgiveness . Chance has given us an incredibly interesting little problem, and its solution should satisfy us. And now, Doctor, we shall begin another investigation in which a bird is also the most important part: our dinner.'