黑彼得（4）

“He was summoned once for a savage assault upon the old vicar, who had called upon him to remonstrate with him upon his conduct. In short, Mr. Holmes, you would go far before you found a more dangerous man than Peter Carey, and I have heard that he bore the same character when he commanded his ship. He was known in the trade as Black Peter, and the name was given him, not only on account of his swarthy features and the colour of his huge beard, but for the humours which were the terror of all around him. I need not say that he was loathed and avoided by every one of his neighbours, and that I have not heard one single word of sorrow about his terrible end.

“You must have read in the account of the inquest about the man's cabin, Mr. Holmes; but perhaps your friend here has not heard of it. He had built himself a wooden outhouse—he always called it ‘the cabin’—a few hundred yards from his house, and it was here that he slept every night. It was a little, single-roomed hut, sixteen feet by ten. He kept the key in his pocket, made his own bed, cleaned it himself, and allowed no other foot to cross the threshold. There are small windows on each side, which were covered by curtains and never opened. One of these windows was turned towards the high road, and when the light burned in it at night the folk used to point it out to each other and wonder what Black Peter was doing in there. That's the window, Mr. Holmes, which gave us one of the few bits of positive evidence that came out at the inquest.

“You remember that a stonemason, named Slater, walking from Forest Row about one o'clock in the morning—two days before the murder—stopped as he passed the grounds and looked at the square of light still shining among the trees. He swears that the shadow of a man's head turned sideways was clearly visible on the blind, and that this shadow was certainly not that of Peter Carey, whom he knew well. It was that of a bearded man, but the beard was short and bristled forwards in a way very different from that of the captain. So he says, but he had been two hours in the public-house, and it is some distance from the road to the window. Besides, this refers to the Monday, and the crime was done upon the Wednesday.

“有一次教区牧师到他家中指责他行为不一良，他大骂这位老牧师，因而被传讯。简而言之，福尔摩斯先生，你要想找一个比彼得·加里更蛮横的人是不容易的，我听说他当船长的时候一性一格也是这样的。海员们都叫他黑彼得。给他起这个名字，不仅因为他的面孔以及大一胡一子是黑色的，而且因为他周围的人都怕他的坏脾气。不用说，每个邻居都憎恶他，避开他，他悲惨地死了以后，我没有听到过有谁说过一句表示惋惜的话。

“福尔摩斯先生，您一定在那份调查报告中读到过，这个人有一间小木屋；或许您的这位朋友还没有听说过这点。他在他家的外面造了一间木头小屋，他总叫它'小船舱'，离开他家有几百码远，他每天晚上在这儿睡觉。这是一个单间小房，长十六英尺宽十英尺。钥匙放在自己的口袋里，被褥自己收拾自己洗，从来不准许任何人迈进他的门槛。屋子每面都有小窗户，上面挂着窗帘，窗户从来不打开。有一个窗户对着大路，每当夜晚小屋里点上灯的时候，人们常望着这间小房，并且猜想他在做什么。福尔摩斯先生，调查所能得到的，不过是这间小房的窗户所提供的几点情况。

“您还会记得，在出事前两天，清晨一点钟的时候，有个叫斯雷特的石匠，从弗里斯特住宅区走来，路过这个小房，他停下来看了一下，窗户内的灯光照在外面的几棵树上。石匠发誓说：

'从窗帘上清楚地看见有一个人的头左右摆一动，并且这个影子一定不是彼得·加里的，因为他很熟悉彼得。这是一个长满一胡一须的人头，但是和这位船长的一胡一须大不一样，这人的一胡一须是短的，并且向前翘着。'石匠是这样说的，他在小酒店待了两个小时，酒店设在大路上，离开木屋的窗户有一段距离。这是星期一的事，谋杀是在星期三发生的。