福爾摩斯探案經典:《恐怖谷》第11章Part9

"Or Herman Strauss?"
"No, nor him either."
"Well, if you won't tell us we can't make you; but I'd be glad to know."
Lawler smiled and shook his head. He was not to be drawn.
In spite of the reticence of their guests, Scanlan and McMurdo were quite determined to be present at what they called "the fun." When, therefore, at an early hour one morning McMurdo heard them creeping down the stairs he awakened Scanlan, and the two hurried on their clothes. When they were dressed they found that the others had stolen out, leaving the door open behind them. It was not yet dawn, and by the light of the lamps they could see the two men some distance down the street. They followed them warily, treading noiselessly in the deep snow.
The boarding house was near the edge of the town, and soon they were at the crossroads which is beyond its boundary. Here three men were waiting, with whom Lawler and Andrews held a short, eager conversation. Then they all moved on together. It was clearly some notable job which needed numbers. At this point there are several trails which lead to various mines. The strangers took that which led to the Crow Hill, a huge business which was in strong hands which had been able, thanks to their energetic and fearless New England manager, Josiah H. Dunn, to keep some order and discipline during the long reign of terror.
Day was breaking now, and a line of workmen were slowly making their way, singly and in groups, along the blackened path.
McMurdo and Scanlan strolled on with the others, keeping in sight of the men whom they followed. A thick mist lay over them, and from the heart of it there came the sudden scream of a steam whistle. It was the ten-minute signal before the cages descended and the day's labour began.
When they reached the open space round the mine shaft there were a hundred miners waiting, stamping their feet and blowing on their fingers; for it was bitterly cold. The strangers stood in a little group under the shadow of the engine house. Scanlan and McMurdo climbed a heap of slag from which the whole scene lay before them. They saw the mine engineer, a great bearded Scotchman named Menzies, come out of the engine house and blow his whistle for the cages to be lowered.
At the same instant a tall, loose-framed young man with a clean-shaved, earnest face advanced eagerly towards the pit head. As he came forward his eyes fell upon the group, silent and motionless, under the engine house. The men had drawn down their hats and turned up their collars to screen their faces. For a moment the presentiment of death laid its cold hand upon the manager's heart. At the next he had shaken it off and saw only his duty towards intrusive strangers.
"Who are you?" he asked as he advanced. "What are you loitering there for?"
There was no answer; but the lad Andrews stepped forward and shot him in the stomach. The hundred waiting miners stood as motionless and helpless as if they were paralyzed. The manager clapped his two hands to the wound and doubled himself up. Then he staggered away; but another of the assassins fired, and he went down sidewise, kicking and clawing among a heap of clinkers. Menzies, the Scotchman, gave a roar of rage at the sight and rushed with an iron spanner at the murderers; but was met by two balls in the face which dropped him dead at their very feet.
There was a surge forward of some of the miners, and an inarticulate cry of pity and of anger; but a couple of the strangers emptied their six-shooters over the heads of the crowd, and they broke and scattered, some of them rushing wildly back to their homes in Vermissa.
When a few of the bravest had rallied, and there was a return to the mine, the murderous gang had vanished in the mists of morning, without a single witness being able to swear to the identity of these men who in front of a hundred spectators had wrought this double crime.
Scanlan and McMurdo made their way back; Scanlan somewhat subdued, for it was the first murder job that he had seen with his own eyes, and it appeared less funny than he had been led to believe. The horrible screams of the dead manager's wife pursued them as they hurried to the town. McMurdo was absorbed and silent; but he showed no sympathy for the weakening of his companion.
"Sure, it is like a war," he repeated. "What is it but a war between us and them, and we hit back where we best can."
There was high revel in the lodge room at the Union House that night, not only over the killing of the manager and engineer of the Crow Hill mine, which would bring this organization into line with the other blackmailed and terror-stricken companies of the district, but also over a distant triumph which had been wrought by the hands of the lodge itself.
It would appear that when the County Delegate had sent over five good men to strike a blow in Vermissa, he had demanded that in return three Vermissa men should be secretly selected and sent across to kill William Hales of Stake Royal, one of the best known and most popular mine owners in the Gilmerton district, a man who was believed not to have an enemy in the world; for he was in all ways a model employer. He had insisted, however, upon efficiency in the work, and had, therefore, paid off certain drunken and idle employees who were members of the all-powerful society. Coffin notices hung outside his door had not weakened his resolution, and so in a free, civilized country he found himself condemned to death.
The execution had now been duly carried out. Ted Baldwin, who sprawled now in the seat of honour beside the Bodymaster, had been chief of the party. His flushed face and glazed, bloodshot eyes told of sleeplessness and drink. He and his two comrades had spent the night before among the mountains. They were unkempt and weather-stained. But no heroes, returning from a forlorn hope, could have had a warmer welcome from their comrades.
The story was told and retold amid cries of delight and shouts of laughter. They had waited for their man as he drove home at nightfall, taking their station at the top of a steep hill, where his horse must be at a walk. He was so furred to keep out the cold that he could not lay his hand on his pistol. They had pulled him out and shot him again and again. He had screamed for mercy. The screams were repeated for the amusement of the lodge.
"Let's hear again how he squealed," they cried.

“要不然是赫爾曼·斯特勞斯？”
“不，也不是他。”
“好，如果你們不肯說，我們也不勉強，可是我很願意知道。”
勞勒搖頭微笑。他是堅決不肯開口了。
儘管他倆緘默不言，斯坎倫和麥克默多卻決定參加他們所說的"遊戲"。所以，一天清晨，麥克默多聽到他們躡手躡腳地下了樓，便把斯坎倫叫醒，急忙穿上衣服。這時房門大開，天還沒亮，他們藉助燈光，看到那兩個人已經走到街上，麥克默多和斯坎倫便小心翼翼地尾隨踏雪而行。
他們的寓所靠近鎮邊，那兩個人很快走到鎮外邊十字路口。另有三人早在那裏等候，勞勒和安德魯斯與他們匆匆說了幾句話，便一同走了。可想而知，一定是有重大的事情，所以要用這麼多人。有幾條小徑通往各個礦場，這些人走上一條通往克勞山去的小路。那裏的礦場掌握在一個極有氣力、精明能幹的人手中，由於這個英國經理喬塞亞·鄧恩精力旺盛、不懼邪惡，所以長期以來，儘管恐怖籠罩着山谷，這裏卻依然紀律嚴明，秩序井然。
天色已經大亮，工人們慢慢上路，有的獨自一人，有的三五成羣，沿着踩黑了的小路走去。
麥克默多和斯坎倫混在人羣中慢步走去，始終保持能望到他們所尾隨的人。一股濃煙升起，隨着是一陣汽笛的刺耳尖叫聲。這是開工信號，十分鐘以後，罐籠就要降下去，勞動也就開始了。
他們來到礦井周圍空曠的地方，已經有上百名礦工等在那裏，因爲天氣嚴寒，他們不住跺腳，向手上呵氣。這幾個陌生人站在機房附近。斯坎倫和麥克默多登上一堆煤渣，可以從此處望到全景。他們看到礦務技師，這位叫做孟席斯的大鬍子蘇格蘭人，從機房走出來，吹響哨子，指揮罐籠降下去。
這時，一個身體頎長、面容誠懇、臉颳得光光的年輕人，向礦井前走去。在他走過來時，一眼看到機房旁那夥默不作聲、站着不動的人，這夥人把帽子戴得很低，豎起大衣領子遮着臉。一瞬間這個經理預感到死神把它冷酷的手撫到他的心上，但他不顧一切，只顧恪盡職責，要去驅逐這幾個闖來的陌生人。
“你們是什麼人？"他一面向前走，一面問道，“你們在這裏遊蕩什麼？”
沒有一個人回答他，可是少年安德魯斯走上前去，一槍射中他的肚子。這上百名等候上工的礦工一動也不動，手足無措地站在那裏，似乎已被嚇得目瞪口呆。這個經理雙手捂住傷口，彎下身子，搖搖晃晃地走向一旁，可是另一個兇手又開了槍，他便倒在地上，在一堆渣塊間掙扎性命了。那個蘇格蘭人孟席斯見了，大吼一聲，舉起一根大鐵扳手向兇手們打去，可是他臉上立刻中了兩槍，也倒在兇手腳旁死去。
這時一陣譁亂，一些礦工涌向前來，可是兩個陌生人向衆人頭上連發數槍，於是人羣潰散開來，一些人徑直跑回維爾米薩自己家中去了。
只有少數最膽大的人重新聚在一起，又返回礦山來。這夥殺人犯已經消逝在清晨的薄霧中，他們雖然當着上百名旁觀者的面殺害了兩條性命，卻沒有留下一點證據。
斯坎倫和麥克默多轉回家去。斯坎倫心情懊喪，因爲這還是他第一次親眼目睹殺人行兇，而且不象人家讓他相信的那樣，是一種"遊戲"。在他們趕回鎮內時，被害經理的妻子可怕的哭叫聲一直縈繞在他們耳邊。麥克默多受到很大震動，一言不發，不過他看到同伴如此懦弱，卻也不以爲然。
“真的，這象是一場戰爭，"麥克默多重複說道，“我們和他們之間不是戰爭是什麼呢？不管在什麼地方，只要能回擊就向他們回擊。”
這天夜晚，工會大樓中分會辦公室裏大肆狂歡，不僅慶祝刺殺克勞山煤礦經理和技師的勝利，這場勝利使該會黨對被勒索和嚇昏了的公司可以爲所欲爲；而且還慶祝分會本身多年來取得的勝利。
在縣代表派五名得力人手到維爾米薩來行刺時，他要求，維爾米薩祕密選派三個人去殺害斯特克羅亞爾市的威廉·黑爾斯作爲酬謝。黑爾斯是吉爾默敦地區的一個人所共知、受人愛戴的礦產主。他深信他在世上沒有敵人，因爲不管從哪方面看他都是一個模範的僱主。但是，他在工作中很講求效率，曾把一些酗酒鬧事、遊手好閒的僱員辭退了，而他們正是具有無上權勢的死酷黨的黨員。即使死亡威脅着他，也不能動搖他的決心。而在一個自由文明的國家裏，他卻被人殺害了。
他們殺人以後，特德·鮑德溫攤開四肢，半躺在身主旁邊的榮譽席上，他是這一組人的頭目。他那緋紅的面孔以及呆滯、充滿血絲的雙眼說明他沒有睡覺和飲酒過量。頭一天他和兩個同夥在山中過了一夜。他們不修邊幅，疲憊不堪。可是沒有哪些從敢死隊回來的英雄，能象他們那樣得到同夥這樣熱烈的歡迎。
他們興高采烈地一遍又一遍講說他們的傑作，伴隨而來的是興奮的叫喊聲、狂笑聲。他們在陡峭的山頂上隱藏起來，守候他們準備殺害的人黃昏回家，他們知道，這個人一定會讓他的馬在這裏緩轡而行。因爲天氣嚴寒，被害者穿着毛皮衣服，以至未來得及掏出手槍。他們把他拉下馬來，一連打了他好幾槍。他曾高聲求饒。這求饒聲被死酷黨人翻來覆去說着當作笑料。
“讓我們再聽聽他怎樣慘叫，"這些匪徒們叫喊道。