Sherlock Holmes in Russia

‘Don’t you know?’ exclaimed the first worker. ‘Don’t you understand? Say Ilya Petrovitch stole from Feodor Nikolayevitch. Of course, that’s all done to pull the wool over the eyes because, if Feodor Nikolayevitch didn’t want anyone to steal from him, he’d mount more watchmen. But this is what is really going on. Feodor Nikolayevitch will now notice the theft and draw up a charge sheet in the presence of witnesses. The charge sheet will say, nicked by Chinese bandits. A detachment will be despatched and no Chinese bandits will be found, but money is sent to Feodor Nikolayevitch to replace the stolen sleepers. Now Ilya Petrovitch stacks up the stolen sleepers. Enter the contractor who supplies Ilya Petrovitch with sleepers and who is in on this. If Ilya Petrovitch steals a thousand sleepers, his contractor delivers a thousand less, but bills for the full number. Ilya Petrovitch now gets paid by the contractor. Out of this deal Ilya Petrovitch gets something, and Feodor Nikolayevitch gets something. It’s all the work of Chinese bandits and they’re not around! That’s how it is!’

The conversation turned toward Chinese bandits.

‘Do you hear that?’ Holmes said with a laugh, as he led me aside. ‘This is well organized, orderly thievery. I don’t know what we’ll uncover further, but so far I haven’t yet come across a single honest person.’

We walked to the little village, consisting of a few small shops and houses.

‘Shall we try that shop?’ suggested Holmes.

‘Let’s,’ I said.

We went in.

VII

Sherlock Holmes threw a quick glance round the shop and asked to be shown long underwear, singlets and boots. The owner produced all three.

‘Do you have any other sort?’ asked Holmes. He then rummaged through the entire shop and finally selected a pair of boots, two singlets and a pair of long underwear. He paid, picked up his purchases and we moved along to the next shop.

Once again Holmes rummaged and rummaged, but only bought two lemons.

One after another, we went through the other shops and came away with china from one, suspenders from another and in yet another, for some reason, cut-offs of materials for women’s dresses.

After that we found an open field.

‘Now, then, let’s have a look at our purchases,’ said Sherlock Holmes. He sat down on the grass and began to untie the packets we had brought with us.

‘I’m wondering why you had to buy all this rubbish, for which we have absolutely no use,’ I said, shrugging my shoulders.

‘You’re wrong, my dear Watson. This rubbish is very important for me,’ and he laughed. ‘Just look at this lemon, my dear Watson. It bears the mark of the Red Cross on it. Of course, the kind-hearted donor didn’t consider that his lemons would be sold in the most ordinary grocery for a few pennies, instead of getting to a wounded soldier.’

He unwrapped another packet, got out a pair of boots and pointed inside the boot leg, ‘Here, look at this, with the mark indicating it is army property. Instead of going to a half-barefooted soldier, it is being sold in a shop where even a Japanese, the country’s former enemy, can buy it.’

I looked with curiosity at the samples Holmes had collected. All the time, he went on unwrapping one item after another, saying, ‘A superb collection! Singlets from the Red Cross, long underwear, also, china bearing the hallmark of the International Association of Sleeping-cars, hmmm … undoubtedly from the train of the commander-in-chief … brace-bands of the 14 Field Hospital … Well! Well! Well!’

‘It won’t be easy for you to sort out this mess,’ I said. ‘Digging into this could take years.’

‘Undoubtedly! But for me, the important thing is to locate the common thread and the dots it goes through.’

‘What do you intend to do?’ I asked.

Holmes thought for a minute, ‘As far as I am concerned, the middlemen don’t interest me, Watson. Do you see this? I am much more interested in the suppliers and that’s why you and I, in my opinion, wouldn’t be erring greatly if, for a while, we traded in these stolen goods.’

‘How?’ I asked, because I did not understand.

‘We’ll pick some likely place where stolen goods are in greatest demand and that’s where we’ll start selling.’

‘In that case, our trip will have to take longer.’

‘Of course! We’ll send a detailed account of our intention to Zviagin, but shan’t send regular accounts of progress. He’ll forward our luggage wherever we need it. Do you agree with this, Watson?’

I could only shrug my shoulders. ‘Why do you bother to ask for my assent?’ I answered. ‘You know perfectly well that I gladly follow you everywhere.’

On this we ended our conversation.

We spent the whole of the next day travelling and our choice fell, at last, on Sliudianka station. From here, Holmes dispatched a short communication to Zviagin and, in a business-like manner, we set about preparing for trade.

VIII

Approximately ten days went by. In those ten days we managed to get a few things done.