1 The Warning

The Valley of Fear.

恐惧之谷。

Chapter 1 The Warning It was the morning of January 7, 1888, and Sherlock Holmes and I were having breakfast in our Baker Street home. Holmes, however, wasn't eating. He was studying a slip of paper as his ham and eggs cooled on his plate. "This is Porlock's handwriting," he said. "I can tell from the way he's written the letter e." "Who's Porlock?" I asked. "Porlock, Watson, is a pilot fish who swims with the great white shark we know as Moriarty." "You mean Moriarty the mathematics professor, who you claim is also a criminal?"

那是1888年1月7日的早晨，歇洛克·福尔摩斯和我正在贝克街的家中吃早饭。 福尔摩斯却没有吃东西。 当他的火腿和鸡蛋在盘子里冷却时，他正在研究一张纸条。 “这是波尔洛克的笔迹，”他说。 “我可以从他写字母e的方式看出来。” “Porlock是谁?”我问。“华生，波洛克是一条领航鱼，和我们所知的莫里亚蒂大白鲨一起游来游去。” “你是说那个数学教授莫里亚蒂吗？你说他也是个罪犯？”

"He's more than a criminal, Watson. He's the Napoleon of Crime, the brain behind an enormous underworld empire, and Porlock is one of his underlings—one who happens to send me valuable information from time to time about his master's plans. This message, however, is rather baffling. What to you make of it?" I looked over his shoulder at the strange note, which ran as follows: 534 C2 13 127 36 31 4 17 21 41 26 DOUGLAS 109 293 5 37 9 BIRLSTONE 47 "It looks like some sort of code," I said.

“他不仅仅是个罪犯，华生。 他是犯罪界的拿破仑，是一个庞大的黑社会帝国背后的主脑，波尔洛克是他的下属之一——他偶尔会给我送来有关他主人计划的宝贵情报。 然而，这一信息令人相当困惑。 你怎么看？”我越过他的肩膀看了看那张奇怪的纸条，上面写着：“这看起来像是某种密码，”我说。

"I agree," nodded Holmes. "I suspect these numbers refer to words and pages in a book." "What book?" I asked. "If he told us that, it wouldn't be much of a code, would it?" Holmes said. "First rule of codes, Watson: never include the code's key with the message. He'll have supplied the book's name in this other letter." Holmes ripped open a second envelope, then frowned. He showed it to me. The letter read: Dear Mr. Holmes, I must stop these communications. It's too dangerous—he suspects me. Sorry. Fred Porlock. "Poor Porlock," I said. "I suppose the coded message is useless to us now." "Maybe not," said Holmes, examining it carefully. "Perhaps we can deduce the book from these numbers. If 534 is a page number, then we know it's a big book. And C2 must, I think, mean column 2. What's a big book laid out in columns that everyone has on their shelves? Any ideas, Watson?"

“我同意，”福尔摩斯点点头。“我怀疑这些数字指的是一本书中的单词和页数。” “什么书?”我问。“如果他告诉我们这些，那就算不上什么暗号了，不是吗？”福尔摩斯说。 “密码的第一条规则，沃森：永远不要把密码的密钥和信息放在一起。 他会在另一封信里提供这本书的名字。” 福尔摩斯撕开第二个信封，皱起了眉头。 他给我看了。信上写道：亲爱的福尔摩斯先生，我必须停止这些通信。 太危险了——他怀疑我了。 对不起。弗雷德Porlock。“可怜的波尔洛克，”我说。 “我想密码信息现在对我们毫无用处了。” “也许不是，”福尔摩斯一边说一边仔细地检查着。 “也许我们可以从这些数字中推断出这本书。 如果534是页码，那么我们就知道这是一本大书。 我想C2一定是指第二列。 每个人的书架上都有一本列着的大书是什么？ 你有什么主意吗，华生？”

"The Bible?" I suggested. Holmes shook his head. "These are criminals, remember?" "An almanac?" "Exactly what I was thinking." Holmes plucked this year's Whitaker's Almanac from his bookshelf and turned to page 534, column 2. As I read out the numbers in Porlock's message, he wrote out the corresponding words, and a message began to appear...

“《圣经》?”我建议。福尔摩斯摇了摇头。 “他们是罪犯，记得吗？”“一个年鉴吗?”“我就是这么想的。” 福尔摩斯从书架上拿出今年的《惠特克年鉴》，翻到第534页第2栏。 当我读出波洛克留言中的数字时，他写下了相应的单词，于是一条留言就出现了……

There is danger. May come very soon to one Douglas, a rich country gentleman at Birlstone House. "We've cracked it!" declared Holmes in triumph. "And only just in time it seems, for it sounds like this Douglas fellow may be in trouble." Just then, the door opened and in came Inspector Alec MacDonald of London's Metropolitan Police. MacDonald was a stern- looking man who Holmes had assisted in the past.

有危险。可能很快就会到伯尔斯通府上一个叫道格拉斯的有钱乡绅那儿去。 福尔摩斯得意洋洋地说：“我们把它解开了！” “而且似乎来得正是时候，因为听起来这个叫道格拉斯的家伙可能有麻烦了。” 正在这时，门开了，伦敦警察厅的亚历克·麦克唐纳探长走了进来。 麦克唐纳是个神情严肃的人，福尔摩斯过去曾协助过他。