福尔摩斯探案全集哪个版本最好 福尔摩斯探案经典:《恐怖谷》第13章Part3

福尔摩斯探案经典:《恐怖谷》第13章Part3  

"Maybe he won't e. Maybe he'll get a sniff of danger
" said the secretary.
"He'll e
never fear
" McMurdo answered. "He is as eager to e as you can be to see him. Hark to that!"
They all sat like wax figures
some with their glasses arrested halfway to their lips. Three loud knocks had sounded at the door.
"Hush!" McMurdo raised his hand in caution. An exulting glance went round the circle
and hands were laid upon their weapons.
"Not a sound
for your lives!" McMurdo whispered
as he went from the room
closing the door carefully behind him.
With strained ears the murderers waited. They counted the steps of their rade down the passage. Then they heard him open the outer door. There were a few words as of greeting. Then they were aware of a strange step inside and of an unfamiliar voice. An instant later came the slam of the door and the turning of the key in the lock. Their prey was safe within the trap. Tiger Cormac laughed horribly
and Boss McGinty clapped his great hand across his mouth.
"Be quiet
you fool!" he whispered. "You'll be the undoing of us yet!"
There was a mutter of conversation from the next room. It seemed interminable. Then the door opened
and McMurdo appeared
his finger upon his lip.
He came to the end of the table and looked round at them. A subtle change had e over him. His manner was as of one who has great work to do. His face had set into granite firmness. His eyes shone with a fierce excitement behind his spectacles. He had bee a visible leader of men. They stared at him with eager interest; but he said nothing. Still with the same singular gaze he looked from man to man.
"Well!" cried Boss McGinty at last. "Is he here? Is Birdy Edwards here?"
"Yes
" McMurdo answered slowly. "Birdy Edwards is here. I am Birdy Edwards!"
There were ten seconds after that brief speech during which the room might have been empty
so profound was the silence. The hissing of a kettle upon the stove rose sharp and strident to the ear. Seven white faces
all turned upward to this man who dominated them
were set motionless with utter terror. Then
with a sudden shivering of glass
a bristle of glistening rifle barrels broke through each window
while the curtains were torn from their hangings.
At the sight Boss McGinty gave the roar of a wounded bear and plunged for the half-opened door. A levelled revolver met him there with the stern blue eyes of Captain Marvin of the Mine Police gleaming behind the sights. The Boss recoiled and fell back into his chair.
"You're safer there
Councillor
" said the man whom they had known as McMurdo. "And you
Baldwin
if you don't take your hand off your pistol
you'll cheat the hangman yet. Pull it out
or by the Lord that made me--There
that will do. There are forty armed men round this house
and you can figure it out for yourself what chance you have. Take their pistols
Marvin!"
There was no possible resistance under the menace of those rifles. The men were disarmed. Sulky
sheepish
and amazed
they still sat round the table.