My friend’s plans were gradually revealing themselves. From this convenient retreat, the watchers were being watched and the trackers tracked. That angular shadow up yonder was the bait, and we were the hunters. In silence we stood together in the darkness and watched the hurrying figures who passed and repassed in front of us. Holmes was silent and motionless; but I could tell that he was keenly alert, and that his eyes were fixed intently upon the stream of passers-by. It was a bleak and boisterous night, and the wind whistled shrilly down the long street. Many people were moving to and fro, most of them muffled in their coats and cravats. Once or twice it seemed to me that I had seen the same figure before, and I especially noticed two men who appeared to be sheltering themselves from the wind in the doorway of a house some distance up the street. I tried to draw my companion’s attention to them; but he gave a little ejaculation of impatience, and continued to stare into the street. More than once he fidgeted with his feet and tapped rapidly with his fingers upon the wall. It was evident to me that he was becoming uneasy, and that his plans were not working out altogether as he had hoped. At last, as midnight approached and the street gradually cleared, he paced up and down the room in uncontrollable agitation. I was about to make some remark to him, when I raised my eyes to the lighted window, and again experienced almost as great a surprise as before. I clutched Holmes’s arm, and pointed upward.

ホームズの計画が少しずつ分かりかけてきた◆この都合の良い避難先から / 監視者が監視され追跡者が追跡される◆あそこにある痩せた影はおとりで / 我々がハンターだ◆黙ったまま我々は暗闇の中を立っていた / 急ぎ足で我々の前を行き交う人の姿を見ながら◆ホームズは何も言わずじっと動かなかった / しかし彼は鋭く警戒しているのが分かった / そして彼の目は一心に通り過ぎる人の流れを見ていた◆寒くて荒れた夜だった / そして風が甲高い音を立てて長い通りを渡って行った◆沢山の人が行ったり来たりしていた / ほとんどの人はコートとマフラーに包まれていた◆一、二度私には思えた / 私が同じ人物を前に見たと / そして私は特に二人の男に気付いた / どうやら風から身を守っているようだった / 通りをいくらか行ったところにある家の戸口で◆私はホームズの注意を彼らに向けようとしたが / しかし彼は短気な小さい叫びを上げ / 道を注視し続けた◆一度ならず / 彼は足をそわそわと動かし / 壁をせかせかと指で叩いた◆彼が不安になってきたのは私には明らかだった / そして彼の計画は全体として彼の望んだようには行っていないと◆遂に / 深夜が近づき通りの人通りが徐々になくなってくると / 彼は制御できない動揺に部屋を行ったり来たりした◆私が何か彼に話し掛けようとしたとき / 私は明かりがついた窓に目を上げた / そして再び前と同じぐらい大きな驚きを経験した◆私はホームズの腕を掴み / 上を指差した

“The shadow has moved!” I cried.

「影が動いた！」 / 私は叫んだ

It was indeed no longer the profile, but the back, which was turned towards us.

それは実際横顔ではなく、こちらに背を向けた後姿だった

Three years had certainly not smoothed the asperities of his temper or his impatience with a less active intelligence than his own.

三年の月日は確かに穏やかにしていなかった / 彼の気質の辛辣さや / 彼より知力の劣る者に対する短気さを

“Of course it has moved,” said he. “Am I such a farcical bungler, Watson, that I should erect an obvious dummy, and expect that some of the sharpest men in Europe would be deceived by it? We have been in this room two hours, and Mrs. Hudson has made some change in that figure eight times, or once in every quarter of an hour. She works it from the front, so that her shadow may never be seen. Ah!” He drew in his breath with a shrill, excited intake. In the dim light I saw his head thrown forward, his whole attitude rigid with attention. Outside the street was absolutely deserted. Those two men might still be crouching in the doorway, but I could no longer see them. All was still and dark, save only that brilliant yellow screen in front of us with the black figure outlined upon its centre. Again in the utter silence I heard that thin, sibilant note which spoke of intense suppressed excitement. An instant later he pulled me back into the blackest corner of the room, and I felt his warning hand upon my lips. The fingers which clutched me were quivering. Never had I known my friend more moved, and yet the dark street still stretched lonely and motionless before us.

「もちろん動いている」 / 彼は言った◆「僕がそんな馬鹿野郎だと思うか？ / ワトソン / 僕が明らかな人形を立てて / そしてヨーロッパで一番鋭い奴らがそれに騙されると期待するような / 我々はこの部屋に二時間いる / そしてハドソン夫人はあの像を八回変えた / 十五分に一度だ◆彼女は部屋の前からその仕事をやっている / 彼女の影が見えないように◆あ！」 / 彼は鋭く興奮した様子で息を飲んだ◆薄暗い光の中で私は見た / 彼は頭を前に投げ出し、全身の姿勢は固まって注意を払っていた◆外の通りは完全に人気が消えていた◆さっきの二人の男はまだ戸口にうずくまっていたかもしれない / しかし私はもう彼らを見ることができなかった◆全ては動きがなく暗かった / ただ我々の前の明々とした黄色の窓明かりと / その真中に隈どられた黒い人影以外には◆もう一度その完全な静けさの中で / 私は細く鋭い摩擦音を聞いた / それは押し隠された非常な興奮を物語っていた◆次の瞬間 / 彼は私を一番くらい部屋の角に引っ張って行った / そして私は唇の上に彼の暖かい手を感じた◆私を掴む指は震えていた◆ホームズがこれほど動揺したのはこれまで見たことが無かった / しかし我々の前の暗い通りはいまだに寂しく動きがなかった

But suddenly I was aware of that which his keener senses had already distinguished. A low, stealthy sound came to my ears, not from the direction of Baker Street, but from the back of the very house in which we lay concealed. A door opened and shut. An instant later steps crept down the passage – steps which were meant to be silent, but which reverberated harshly through the empty house. Holmes crouched back against the wall, and I did the same, my hand closing upon the handle of my revolver. Peering through the gloom, I saw the vague outline of a man, a shade blacker than the blackness of the open door. He stood for an instant, and then he crept forward, crouching, menacing, into the room. He was within three yards of us, this sinister figure, and I had braced myself to meet his spring, before I realized that he had no idea of our presence. He passed close beside us, stole over to the window, and very softly and noiselessly raised it for half a foot. As he sank to the level of this opening, the light of the street, no longer dimmed by the dusty glass, fell full upon his face. The man seemed to be beside himself with excitement. His two eyes shone like stars, and his features were working convulsively. He was an elderly man, with a thin, projecting nose, a high, bald forehead, and a huge grizzled moustache. An opera hat was pushed to the back of his head, and an evening dress shirt-front gleamed out through his open overcoat. His face was gaunt and swarthy, scored with deep, savage lines. In his hand he carried what appeared to be a stick, but as he laid it down upon the floor it gave a metallic clang. Then from the pocket of his overcoat he drew a bulky object, and he busied himself in some task which ended with a loud, sharp click, as if a spring or bolt had fallen into its place. Still kneeling upon the floor he bent forward and threw all his weight and strength upon some lever, with the result that there came a long, whirling, grinding noise, ending once more in a powerful click. He straightened himself then, and I saw that what he held in his hand was a sort of gun, with a curiously misshapen butt. He opened it at the breech, put something in, and snapped the breech-lock. Then, crouching down, he rested the end of the barrel upon the ledge of the open window, and I saw his long moustache droop over the stock and his eye gleam as it peered along the sights. I heard a little sigh of satisfaction as he cuddled the butt into his shoulder, and saw that amazing target, the black man on the yellow ground, standing clear at the end of his foresight. For an instant he was rigid and motionless. Then his finger tightened on the trigger. There was a strange, loud whiz and a long, silvery tinkle of broken glass. At that instant Holmes sprang like a tiger on to the marksman’s back, and hurled him flat upon his face. He was up again in a moment, and with convulsive strength he seized Holmes by the throat, but I struck him on the head with the butt of my revolver, and he dropped again upon the floor. I fell upon him, and as I held him my comrade blew a shrill call upon a whistle. There was the clatter of running feet upon the pavement, and two policemen in uniform, with one plain-clothes detective, rushed through the front entrance and into the room.

しかし突然 / 私は彼のより鋭い感覚が既に聞き分けていたことに気付いた◆低いコソコソした音が私の耳に届いた / ベーカー街の方向からではなく / 我々が隠れているまさにこの家の後ろから◆扉が開かれて閉じられた◆次の瞬間 / 廊下をそっとやってくる歩みが / / 足の運びは音を立てないつもりだったが / しかし空家の中で荒々しく反響していた◆ホームズは壁に背を当ててかがんでおり / 私も同じ姿勢だった / 拳銃の握りの側に手を近づけて◆闇の中から覗くと / ぼんやりとした男の輪郭が見えた / 開いた扉の暗闇よりなお暗い影が◆彼は一瞬立ち止まった / そして彼はそっと前に出た / かがみながら / 脅すように / 部屋の中へと◆彼は我々から三ヤード以内のところにいた / この邪悪な人影は / 私は彼が飛び掛ってくるのに身構えた / 私が彼は我々がいるとは思っていないのに気付く前に◆彼は我々のすぐ横を通り過ぎ / 窓からこっそりと窓に近づき / そして非常にそっと音も無くそれを半フィート上げた◆彼がこの開口部と水平なところまでかがみ込んだ時 / 通りの光が / 埃だらけのガラスで弱められずに / 彼の顔に当たった◆男は興奮で我を忘れているようだった◆二つの目は星のように輝き / 彼の表情はひきつけを起こしたようにぴくぴくと動いていた◆彼は年配の男だった / 細い突き出た鼻 / 高く禿げ上がった額 / 太いごま塩の口ひげ◆オペラハットは頭の後ろ側に押し上げられ / そして夜会服のシャツの前が / 前を開けたコートから光った◆彼の顔は痩せて浅黒く / 深い獰猛な皺に刻まれていた◆手の中に / 彼は杖のように見えるものを持ってきていた / しかし彼が床にそれを下ろした時 / それは金属的な音を立てた◆それからコートのポケットから彼は大きな物体を取り出し / 忙しく何か作業をしていた / それは大きな鋭いカチッと言う音で終了した / バネかボルトがあるべき場所に収まったような◆まだ床にひざまずいたまま / 彼は前かがみになって全体重と筋力を何かのレバーに掛けた / その結果 / ぐるぐる回るような擦れるような長い音が聞こえてきた / そしてもう一度勢い良いカチッという音で終わった◆彼はそれから立ち上がり / そして私は彼が手に銃のようなものを持っているのを見た / 奇妙に不恰好な銃尻をした◆彼は銃尾を開き / 何かを入れ / 銃尾の留め金をカチッと止めた◆それから / かがみ込むと / 彼は銃身の端を開いた窓の桟に置き / 私は見た / 彼の長い口ひげが銃床に垂れかかり / 照準にそって覗く時に彼の目が光るのを◆私は彼が小さく満足気に息を漏らすのを聞いた / 銃尻を肩に抱きかかえる時に / そしてあの恐るべき目標を見た / 黄色い背景に浮かぶ黒い人影を / 彼の照準の先にはっきりと立っている◆一瞬彼は硬直し動きが止まった◆その時彼の指が引き金を引いた◆奇妙な大きなヒュッという音と割れたガラスが銀の鈴を長く鳴らすような音がした◆その瞬間 / ホームズは射手の背中に虎のように跳びかかった / そして彼をうつ伏せに叩き付けた◆すぐに彼は立ち上がり / 必死の力でホームズの喉を掴んだ / しかし私が拳銃の尻で頭を殴り / 彼は再び床に倒れた◆私は彼の上に覆い被さり / 彼を確保した時 / ホームズは甲高く笛を吹いた◆歩道を掛けてくる足音が聞こえ / 制服の警官が二人と / 平服の警部一人が / 正面入り口から部屋になだれ込んで来た

“That you, Lestrade?” said Holmes.

「君か、レストレード？」 / ホームズは言った

“Yes, Mr. Holmes. I took the job myself. It’s good to see you back in London, sir.”

「ええ、ホームズさん◆この仕事は自分でやりました◆ロンドンに戻ってきたのは嬉しいですね」

“I think you want a little unofficial help. Three undetected murders in one year won’t do, Lestrade. But you handled the Molesey Mystery with less than your usual – that’s to say, you handled it fairly well.”

「君もちょっと私的な援助を必要としているだろう？◆一年に三件の殺人に気付かないのはちょっといかんな、レストレード◆しかしモルゼイ事件は普段の君に似合わず / / 言うならば / 本当に上手く解決したな」