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"The flitting fog, the shimmering, is to be blessed and not damned," Melchisedech said. "It means that some of the most direful things are not of absolute finality at this time, We will find the experts at once, wherever they are, and we will procure their services. See to it, Gorshok! See to it, Brannagan! See to it, myself!" Well, they got such as they could of the experts in scrutiny and detection. Some of these were indeed fictitious, and they were routed out of their fictional graves. Some of them were authentic persons behind fictional disguises, and these were plucked either out of life or out of death. All the better ones insisted on anonymity before they would give advice: so these will appear under code names. So it happens that they will all be called by the names of famous detectives, whether these are their code names or their real names. They are here called Philo Vance, Father Brown, Doctor Thorndyke, Max Carrados, and Professor Augustus S.F.X. Van Dusen. And thus they advised how to keep a person from entering: "Fireplaces are often the keys to situations like this," Professor Augustus S.F.X. Van Dusen, also known as 'The Thinking Machine' said. "I always regretted that I could not use a fireplace in my famous 'The Problem of Cell 13', but fireplaces are so seldom found in standard jail cells. When one considers a room or a building or a ship, one says 'This is still a cube, however much it is distorted. We still have the problem of entering or leaving a cube. And a cube is made up of four sides, distorted maybe, and a top and a bottom; or four bulkheads and an overhead and a deck if it is a ship. Something coming into this cube must come in through one of the sides, or through the top or the bottom'. Aha, yes, that is the classic statement. But now comes the classic exception that is so often forgotten: 'Have you remembered the fireplace?' More people have gone wrong by not remembering fireplaces than by any other thing. A fireplace is not really a wall, and it is not really a ceiling, but what is it? Are there any fireplaces on The Argo?" "There are a few," Kasmir Gorshok said. "I suspect that most of them are subjective or state of mind fireplaces. Every study, every den, every wardroom, on ship or off, has to have a fireplace. There is no satisfaction in such a place without one. But a fireplace need not have an exit to the outside world. A sorcerer in particular has to have a fireplace. He uses the shapes that appear in it for the assembly and selecting of his thoughts and figures. He will also use it as a Sorcerer's Furnace or as an Alchemist's Retort. He will use it for conjuring, or just because a sorcerer would be lost without a fire and a fireplace. There are a number of sorcerers affiliated with The Argo, so there are a number of fireplaces on her. But as I say, they need not have outlets to the exterior world. They may be subjective fireplaces, blind fireplaces." "Blind spirits may enter by blind fireplaces," the Professor said, "and I believe that we are dealing with such here. And once they are inside, they can turn themselves into almost anything. A fireplace is neither a wall nor a ceiling, but it is a forgotten entry place between the two. Do you sorcerers or masters have access to or command of any firedrakes?" "Oh certainly," Kasmir said. "'We can command all the firedrakes we wish, and they will come." "Then set a firedrake to guard each fireplace," the Professor said. "Take ordinary precautions about all the other entrances. Make sure that he who would come aboard does not have an ally on ship already. Watch all these things, and the code-named 'Man of Mystery' will not be able to come onto The Argo." "The thing to keep track of is who goes out and who comes in," said the person using the name of 'Max Carrados the Blind Detective'. "Do not trust anyone. If more persons come in than go out, then there are additions to the people here. Sound every alarm then, for you have an illegal entry. Break down the security into sections. Make it check for every person, even for yourself, most especially for yourself. And the person who has more entries than exits is himself the guilty one. If you yourself come in more times than you go out, then you may be the culprit, you may be the invader, you may be the 'Man of Mystery'. Watch particularly whether you do not sometimes use a disguise when you come in. Sawed-off shotguns, strategically placed, are a good solution to this problem. They will blast and kill anyone who has an entry that is not balanced by a previous exit." "Always notice the frame of a picture or of a problem closely," said the person using the code name of Doctor Thorndyke. "Always distrust a person who says that an answer must be either inside or outside of the framework of a problem or a question. Perhaps the answer is neither inside nor outside the framework. Perhaps there are two different meanings to being 'inside' a frame. A thing may be in or inside a frame, and yet not be in the space enclosed by the frame. Especially if the frame is made out of five eighth inch hardwood moulding, the answer may be hidden within the frame itself. You will have to take the ship apart and examine it plank by plank and stick by stick and nail by nail. Examine them all minutely and individually. The ship is its own framework. You recall that in my 'The Case of Oscar Brodski' that I said '...the danger of delay; the vital importance of instant action before that frail and fleeting thing that we call a clue has time to evaporate'. I suggest that you apprehend the 'Man of Mystery' first of all." "But we still don't know who he is, that is to say, we don't know who he will be," Melchisedech said. "In that case, find out who he is first of all," said the doctor, "and then apprehend him second of all." "One of the answers is to be found in the eighth movement of Andreyev's Zauberkonzert," said th eexpert who was codenamed Philo Vance. "Or, really, the answer may be found in the eighth movement of anything at all, but not so clearly. If you have any feeling for African Violets, you will clearly understand the answer. I would recommend, however, that African Violets be felt for themselves alone. See my celebrated monogram 'The Unutility of African Violets'. A consummate cribbage boardman will know the answer instantly, as will a master of the Round-The-Mountain manoeuvre at American checkers." "I dispute you there, Mr. Vance," said Melchisedech Duffey. "I am the master of the Round-The-Mountain trick at checkers, but I do not know the answer to the problem of keeping the person codenamed 'The Man of Mystery' off of The Argo. Myself, when I really know the answer to a thing, I can usually state it in three words." "Oh certainly, I could do that also," Philo Vance said. "Well, what are your three words, Philo?" Duffey asked him. "Get a dog," said the master of detection. "The hardest man to throw out of a place is the man who is already outside," said codenamed Father Brown, "and the hardest man to prevent entering a place is the man who is already inside. Well, it's been a pleasure, gentlemen. And since Philo and the others have already solved the problem for you, I will bid you all good day. Remind me not to walk directly off the ship until a plank or ladder or device of some sort is provided. I am absent-minded about such things, and sometimes I get a good drenching that way. You know that the original meaning of 'drench' in Old English is to drown, but I don't want to apply this meaning to myself." "But has the problem been solved?" Brannagan asked. "Do we know how to deal with the 'Man of Mystery' and how to keep him off our Ship? What, after all, has Philo Vance told us?" "Perhaps an English Bulldog would be the best sort of dog in this case," Father Brown said. "If you know one you can trust, get him. The English Bulldog will most quickly realize it when something familiar begins to turn into something strange and wrong. Deal with it quickly when that moment arrives." "I'll do it," Melchisedech said. "I'll get an English Bulldog. I [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ] |