The deputy sheriff's story continues, and the situation of the second victim is what he mainly describes. Bobby Charlton, a acquirer who travels between Hastings Forest and Edinburgh, a small person working for those acquirers. He always comes to Hastings Forest to help his employer acquire the harvest of local farmers. Therefore, many people know him. This short middle-aged man is a cheerful and cheerful man who likes jokes very much. He likes to have him very much. On this day, he also lives in a room in a local hotel that he has been booked for a long time. At seven o'clock in the morning, the owner knocks on the door to prepare to serve breakfast for the old customer, but he has no response after knocking on the door and shouting for a few times without responding.
"Old Ferguson didn't think it was wrong at that time. He just thought Bobby might have fainted, so he opened the door with the spare key and found that the chain behind the door was locked. He had to ask the helper Rooney to help break the door, and then they called the police......" The deputy sheriff took another sip of whiskey, and his speech was getting fluent and relaxed.
"What was inside when they found the body?" Sherlock Holmes didn't say anything. He just sat crossing his fingers in the rocking chair thinking, and Watson asked this. "The door was locked from the inside and tied a chain, the window was closed, and the pin was inside. The chimney of the fireplace was very narrow, and a person could not climb out and would get stuck in the middle. Bobby was lying on the floor in the center of the room, without a head. There was no sign of fighting in the room, and the bedding on the bed was not messy. Bobby's head was facing the bed. It should have been cut off when he was about to go to bed - or the sharp blade swung from behind. We did not find the head of the body in the room......" At this point, the deputy sheriff shivered.
"Then your sheriff has no way?" Sherlock Holmes said with a smile, the deputy sheriff was a little depressed and ashamed, "Yes, we can't find any evidence pointing to the prisoner..."
Bo Fu looked at the scene in the picture, and also picked up the cup in his hand and took a sip. Then he twisted his fingers to close the picture, got up and walked out. "Check out..." Bo Fu pressed the call bell on the counter downstairs. "Call me a carriage to the train station." This time Bo Fu will also watch this story from a close distance.
And in 221 Baker Street b, when the deputy sheriff finished speaking, Holmes only asked one question: "Is the scene still preserved? It doesn't matter if the body is removed." After receiving the deputy sheriff's affirmative answer, Holmes turned around and called, "Warson. Go and book two train tickets. We are going to Hastings Forest."
Later on the day, Holmes, Watson and the deputy sheriff boarded the train - but in fact they were on the same train with Bofu... but it was not the same car. Bofu still spread out a dirty tabloid and read it with relish. The other guests in the box - one of them was a black-haired and dark-eyed traveler from the big East Asian country, while the other two were English women, who were not old. Seeing Bofu concentrate on reading the tabloid, they all covered their mouths with fans and whispered...
"The true meaning of life lies in boring tabloids... When one day there is no interest in this pornographic and boring tabloid, it is almost time to end." Bo Fu raised his head and saw the two young ladies opposite him, and said seriously. The British also had a sense of humor. At that time, the two women laughed, and the man sitting next to Bo Fu from the same place would also laugh out loud. With the jokes, several people quickly became familiar with each other and began to chat happily. Bo Fu's vast knowledge was far beyond the current one.
The knowledge of the times once again became the center of the conversation. He did not talk loudly, but just talked to the two women casually, and by the way, he spread out the topics and told some stories. Then he used scientific knowledge to nonsense, successfully attracting the attention of the other three people. The atmosphere of the conversation was very warm, and even attracted the conductors of the front and back private rooms and even the train crew of this car. As five or six people listened together, a low laugh broke out from time to time. It should be said that everyone present, except for Bo Fu, believed that his experience of taking the train this time was the most pleasant one ever.
The train was quite long this time. At dusk, he finally arrived at the station. Bo Fu waved goodbye to the two ladies. As for the fellow villager who had already arrived at the station and got off the train halfway. Then Bo Fu also asked the carriage to pull him to the most comfortable hotel in the local area to book a room, "Please give me whiskey and roast lamb legs, and send it to the room." He ordered the waiter.
After dinner, Bofu walked towards the Hastings Forest. For Bofu, who could travel through space at will, this path was nothing. He soon stood in the abandoned manor in the forest. The dark forest under the moonlight, and the shadows of the branches of the trees were like ghosts' tentacles, making the abandoned manor located in the middle of the woods, which became very strange and terrifying. Bofu stood in the middle of the manor and looked around. The main building of the manor had long collapsed, and the broken walls were scattered throughout the manor. The only thing that remained basically intact was a pavilion originally located in the garden - it had just penetrated several large holes on the top. Although the pool below the fountain on one side was still intact, the four walls were already cracked. The spring water flowing from the collapsed fountain stone sculpture flowed out of the cracks.
, windingly merged into a small stream of water, flowing into the woods outside the manor - there was a pond covered by green algae. The entire manor showed a decadent and desolate atmosphere under the reflection of the moonlight, but all this had no effect on Bo Fu. His eyes looked at the ruins that were originally the hall, where there was a darkness, and at first glance there was nothing unusual about the naked eye, but if you really looked closely, there was a feeling like the dark bottom in the deepest nightmare that seemed to be the dark bottom that would spread to the back of a person. The darkness had no fixed form, and it looked like the shadow of ordinary moonlight. However, if someone took two photos within ten minutes apart, he would find that the dark form was completely different... It was constantly deformed, but if he used the naked eye, he would be confused.
Bo Fu looked at the darkness, watching it constantly twisting and deforming, becoming larger and darker and more darker. The darkness had expanded to the point where it enveloped the ruins of the hall. Now even ordinary people could see unusual places. The neighing sound came from the darkness. The sound was not loud but it was very penetrating. "A big horse..." Bo Fu said, and then he watched a huge dark horse rushing out of the darkness. The fully armed black horse was carrying a knight in black armor, holding a huge knight's heavy sword in his hand. It was really majestic - but he had no head.........
The headless knight urged the dark horse to speed in the manor. The dull sound of horse hooves spread far in the quiet night, but the sound was very low, as if stepping on the heart of a person. Unless the ordinary people listened very carefully, it was just a faint vibration. Bo Fu stood in the middle of the courtyard, watching the headless knight running around. The horse hooves on the ground burned blue sparks, as the sound of horse hooves became more and more intense. The earth of the manor cracked and crawled out of it.
The skeleton warriors in armor were burning transparent blue flames, red fireballs were burning in their dark eye sockets, and yellow bones held sharp swords in their hands, and with the sound of friction between the joints, these skeleton warriors lined up in neat rows. Bo Fu applauded gently, but the headless knight and the skeleton soldiers under his command seemed to be completely ignored. Their figures were moving forward, and as they moved forward, they merged into the darkness like smoke...
Bo Fu smiled and looked in one direction, "No hunting tonight... but some people seemed to be a little helpless."
Sherlock Holmes and Watson lived in another hotel. The local sheriff did not show up at all, but the deputy sheriff accompanied them to the second crime scene to check. The bodies in the room had been removed, and the remaining blood on the ground had been cleaned, but no one moved the other things. Sherlock Holmes took out a magnifying glass, Watson held a kerosene lamp to help him illuminate - although the kerosene lamp in the room had been turned on, Holmes lay on Bobby
The place where he fell, he carefully looked at the floor with a magnifying glass, and then he stood up and looked up at the lights and windows above his head. At the window lattice, he looked carefully with a magnifying glass again. Finally, he signaled that Watson could turn off the kerosene lamp in his hand. Under the lighting conditions in the room, Sherlock Holmes looked at the fireplace, then turned around and walked out, and said to the deputy sheriff as he walked: "Can I ask the hotel owner to talk to the helper?"
Ten minutes later, the hotel owner Ferguson was already sitting opposite Holmes. He was a little nervous and stared at Holmes' mouth. "Please don't be too nervous, Mr. Ferguson. Take a sip first. I have a few questions to ask you." Holmes lit his pipe and took a sip, pointing to a glass of whiskey in front of Ferguson and said.
"Mr. Ferguson, do you know the victim Mr. Bobby Charlton?"
"Yes, sir. I have known him for twelve years. He lives in me every year when he comes here to do business, and it is in the same room."
"So you know what he is doing here?"
"Yes, sir. He comes here every year to buy local specialties, and the amount is very large. sir." Hotel owner Ferguson began to relax a little.
"So do you know how much he brought?" Sherlock Holmes smiled and took out the pipe in his mouth and asked.
"Sorry, I don't know, sir. He never showed us what he brought. But I know that when he bought it here, he sometimes paid cash, and sometimes paid promissory notes from the bank."
"When did you find his body?"
"Every morning at seven o'clock, I will serve Mr. Bobby for breakfast. This has been the case for twelve years. That morning I delivered the breakfast like this, but the door was locked and a chain was inserted. I called Mr. Bobby but he did not answer, so I called Rooney downstairs, opened the door with the key, and broke the chain with Rooney, and then we found Mr. Bobby lying on the ground." At this point, Ferguson picked up the wine glass and took a big sip.
"When was the last time you met Mr. Bobby?"
"At nine o'clock the day before, Mr. Bobby had a habit that he would return to the room at nine o'clock and lock the door."
"What did you do after the body was discovered?"
"I asked Rooney to call the police, sir. I stayed here and moved nothing!" The hotel owner Ferguson replied fluently.
"Okay, thank you for telling me so much." Sherlock Holmes signaled that Ferguson could leave. Then a sturdy young man walked in. "You are looking for me? Sir. My name is Rooney."
"Please sit, Mr. Rooney. Take a sip. I have some questions to ask you." Rooney was very nervous. He looked at the deputy sheriff standing aside. Then nodded and indicated that he had no problem.
Holmes asked Ferguson again, except that he did not know Mr. Bobby very much. Ferguson's answer was the same. He also met Mr. Bobby the night before - but it was eight o'clock, and then he went to the kitchen behind to help deal with the potatoes to use tomorrow. Then at 9:05 the next morning, the boss Mr. Ferguson asked him to go up and then helped to break open Mr. Bobby's door. Then he saw Mr. Bobby's headless body. Then Mr. Ferguson asked him to go to the local police station to call someone.
When Rooney also left, Holmes stretched. "Deputy Sheriff, there is no problem now. I think we have to rest for one night, and then tomorrow I will check the first scene. After seeing it, I should be able to give you an answer. Oh! By the way, that homeless man can let him go, he is not a prisoner."
Bofu had already returned from strolling under the moonlight at this time, and there was always a faint sound of horse hooves along the way, until he stepped out of the Hastings Forest and stepped onto the road to the nearest farm. Bofu turned a corner. When he stepped again, he was already at the entrance of the hotel. Bofu nodded to the waiter behind the counter, and then went up the stairs and entered his room.
Just dawn the next day, Bofu was still sleeping soundly on the bed, but Holmes and Watson had already gotten into the police carriage and headed to the first crime scene. The carriage ran for about half an hour and stopped. The deputy sheriff jumped out of the carriage and walked in front. When he walked to a ditch on the side of the road, he signaled that Holmes was the first crime scene.
Sherlock Holmes walked to the edge of the ditch. It was a dry and very shallow ditch, about a width of one person, about one inch deep, with rough sand and ordinary weeds on both sides of the ditch. The ditch was parallel to the highway, and the highway was about three inches higher than the ground of the ditch. The ditch was about three feet away from the highway. The deputy sheriff was lying directly in the ditch, saying that this was the position and appearance of the corpse when they arrived. Sherlock Holmes smiled and asked the deputy sheriff's height, and finally took out a magnifying glass and checked carefully in the ditch. "Are there many local people coming and going on this road?" Sherlock Holmes straightened his waist and asked.
"Not many, because this road is half a forest along the edge of Hastings Forest, and there was only one farm pig farm here, so only local farmers come and go to deliver feed or take care of pigs. Old Terry is one of these people," replied the deputy sheriff.
Sherlock Holmes stood up straight and watched the road extending far away. On one side was a vast and undulating grassland and on the other side were dense and almost black woods. "That fork..." Holmes pointed, "Where does that fork lead to?"
"Oh, that's the one that leads to Hastings Manor. The place has been abandoned for hundreds of years. Only a bunch of stones and half-collapsed houses were left, and no one lives there. Because the locals say that it was the territory of the headless knight," said the deputy sheriff, and then he muttered, "Nonsense..."
But Holmes had already begun to walk towards the fork in the road. Watson followed him, and Holmes's hawkeye looked around and suddenly he lay down and looked carefully at the traces on the ground with a magnifying glass...... "Interesting horseshoe prints..."
"What did you say? Sherlock Holmes."
"Nothing, Watson. It's just something trivial..."
During the next trip, Holmes kept staring at a certain direction on the ground, but his footsteps were fast. Soon they walked into the Hastings Forest. The forest covered most of the sunlight, but there were not many shrubs and weeds on the fork, which clearly led to the depths of the forest. The three of them quickly reached the end of the fork, which was a considerable manor with an ancient atmosphere, but the plants growing on the ruins of the manor meant that this place had been abandoned for a long time.
Sherlock Holmes took Watson to check around the manor, but there was no need to look carefully to feel that there was no human breath here......The manor was obviously burned by flames, and the things that could be taken away for hundreds of years had been taken away. All the rest were stones and some wood as part of the building. The scale of the manor heyday could also be seen on the scattered stones and the semi-collapsed houses. "The locals said it was Sir Hastings' manor a long time ago. He was a local fief noble...... It has been at least two hundred years..." The deputy sheriff, who was a local manor, explained to Sherlock Holmes in a low voice. She did not take out the magnifying glass, and he looked at the collapsed buildings and quickly turned back.
After leaving the forest and standing by the carriage, Sherlock Holmes said to the deputy sheriff: "Send us back to the hotel first. I need time to organize it. When tomorrow, I think I can give you an answer."
Bofu was just now eating his breakfast with great interest - a lot of bacon, a large bottle of milk, slices of bread and jam.