The Advantures of Sherlock Holmes, The Speckled Band

In early April in the 83', one early morning, Mrs Hudson, name Helen Stoner, came to visit Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson, begging them to solve the mystery of her sister's death. She was living with her stepfather, name Dr Roylott,who married Helen Stoner's mother in India. Helen had a twin sister by the name of Julia. Their mother died in a railway accident in England some eight years ago. After the death of their beloved mother, Dr Roylott changed and soon became a unreasonable man who quarrels with anyone who gets in his path. He even got himself in the police court, for he was a man with immense strength and uncontrollable anger.Their stepfather kept a cheetah and baboon.

Time went by and when both Julia and Helen at the age of thirty, their hair had already began to whiten. Julia led to a mysterious end of her life. Before she died, she got engaged, however, Dr Roylott had no objections against the marriage. Unfortunately, a terrible event happened within a fortnight before the day fixed for the wedding. During when, they lived at THE manor house, a very very old, and now, only one wing is inhabited. The bedrooms where Julia, Helen and their father slept were along a same corridor.

That fatal night, Dr Roylott had got int o his room early, Julia was troubled by the smell of Indian Cigars, therefore went to Helen's room where she sat for some time chatting. At eleven o'clock when Julia was about to return to her own room, she turned back and shot Helen with a question,"Have you ever heard any one whistle in the dead of the night?" Upon hearing that she sister did do so she carried on saying that in the past few nights, she heard a low whistle. After that she returned to her own room. That night, Helen sensed that some misfortune was about to hit Julia when a wild scream of a terrified woman burst out. Then, Helen rushed over to her sister's room just to hear a low whistle and a clanging sound of metal.

As Helen approached her sister's room, she saw the door unlocked, and revolved around its hinges. Julia face was blanched with terror and was swaying through and fro like a drunkard.

When Helen bent over to Julia, Julia shrieked in a voice Helen would never forger,"OH MY GOD! HELEN! IT WAS THE BAND! THE SPECKLED BAND!" Then she pointed to the doctor's room.

Now it was Helen's turn to be married. She had to sleep on the bed which her sister mysteriously died. Same thing happened, the father did not object and the last night, she heard the low whistle. The following day, she came to Sherlock Holmes and reported. So, Holmes went over and inspected the manor house and found out strange things. Firstly, the bed was fastened to the

floor. Secondly, above the bed, there was a bell with a very long rope which was for ringing the bell, was a dummy. Thirdly above the bell, their was a ventilation when the room was already exposed to the atmospheric air outside. Then when Holmes went over to Dr's room, he found at the side of the bed very long slashes made by the claws of a cat.

Then on that night, Holmes asked Helen to give a signal by lighting the lamp. Then Holmes and Dr Watson got into Helen's room and waited until close midnight. Then something happened. The smoke could smelled and then not long later, the low whistle could be heard. Without hesitation, Holmes got up and stuck a long cane into the ventilation and poke and shook the cane violently, after a while he finally settled down. Then, together with Dr Waston and Helen, Holmes went over to Dr Roylott's room to find him dead, with a speckled band on his wrist, a long snake wrapping round him. Using the cane, Holmes got the snake away from Dr Roylott and shoved it into a iron box and dialed for the cops.

How Holmes solved the case was very simpled. When Holmes saw that the bed was peculiarly, fastened to the floor and that the rope and ventilation had a story to be told to, he smelt a rat. Then with evidence from Helen, he learnt that Dr Roylott had interest in Indian animals and thus came out with a conclusion that the Dr could have tried to put a trained serpent into the ventilation connected with the room Helen was sleeping in. Then the rope from the bell would allow it to glide down towards Helen and make her a victim. Thus, in order to chase the serpent away, Holmes poked and shook the cane wildly in the ventilation to force the snake to return. Snake's instinct is to bite its closest victim and thus bit Dr. Then the rest was up to the police. Actually we can say that Sherlock Holmes had indirectly killed Dr Roylott!

This story is really one of the most interesting mystery story I have ever read.