Read all about the pajama suicide.
Here you are, governor. Thank you, sir. Thank you.
Read all about it, another pajama suicide.
Here you are, governor. Paper? Read all about the pajama suicide.
Ah!
But dash it all, Susan. Its as crime,
suicide is a crime.
Where are the police? Where is Sherlock Holmes?
That's what I've been thinking, Robert.
Where is Sherlock Holmes?
I've got one, Watson.
Play him, Holmes, play him.
Its a beauty.
Don't let him get away.
Blast.
I've lost him.
I'm sorry you lost him, old man.
What are you doing, old fellow?
Just changing my fly.
Don't be mendacious, Watson.
Who? Me mendacious?
Yes, when a man slips away four times in an hour to change his fly
and still has the same fly on his hook
I call that being mendacious.
Perhaps it is, as a matter of fact I felt a bit faint.
- A touch of the sun. - A touch of humbug.
- Humbug? - Yes, your hat's on backwards.
Oh, is it?
Ah, just as I thought,
you've been reading about those filthy pajama murders again,
and you gave me your solemn word of honor.
- Did you, did you say murders? - I did.
- The paper says suicide. - Nonsense, Watson.
Suicides invariably leave notes behind them.
Not one of these men left so much as a word.
After all a fellow hasn't got time to dash off a note
before throwing himself in front of a bus.
But these people didn't throw themselves under busses.
Each and every one of them went quietly to bed
behind locked doors.
And each and every one of them rose up suddenly in the night
and killed himself.
- I never thought of that. - Obviously.
Neither did Scotland Yard.
You know, Watson,
there's something uncanny about it.
Something monstrous and horrible,
something that drives these poor fellows to their so-called suicide,
and when you drive a man to suicide that's murder.
You amaze me, Holmes.
I'd say haven't we better get back to London at once
with all this murder afoot?
I'm sorry, Watson,
the pleasures of the chase are no longer for me.
I'm through with crime now and forever.
You...you don't mean that.
Yes, unfortunately.
But why?
Watson, I have a confession to make to you.
I'm no longer equal to it.
Lately, I've been subject to the most alarming dizzy spells.
Not a swimming sensation,
difficulty maintaining your balance when you stand upright?
Precisely, and you know what that leads to.
- Cerebral hemorrhages if you don't look out. - Exactly.
That means get back to London as quick as we can.
I'll take you to see Armitage.
Not until we've had our fun, old boy.
If this is to be our last holiday together
I'd like to get my fill of it.
Oh, sorry, old fellow. I'm afraid I upset you with that beastly newspaper.
Oh, think nothing of it.
At least you know now why I left London
in amidst the most shocking crime wave since Jack the Ripper.
Watson!
Holmes!
Would you like a paper, sir? Read all about it.
The name of Ronald Boyce Carter must be added to the list of suicides
that have shocked London in recent months.
It is indeed regrettable that Mr. Sherlock Holmes--
Bah!
You know Susan, that fellow Holmes had no business dying just now.
It's an outrage, a dashed outrage.
Poor man.
I hear they're going to send all his things to the British Museum.
Things, what do you mean things?
You mean his old books and discarded whiskers?
No, Robert. What would the British Museum do with his whiskers?
It's his scrapbooks they're going to exhibit
and all his records.
The strange death of ex-President Murillo.
The Giant Rat of Sumatra.
What a ghastly affair.
You know in some ways, Mrs. Hudson,
those were the happiest days of my life.
Now, now, Dr. Watson. Don't get down in the dumps.
What can't be cured must be endured, you know.
You're right, my dear, you're right.
Sentiment. Pure sentiment
Silly of me, I know.
[bell ringing]
Oh, dear.
That must be the van from the museum
and his things aren't even half packed.
You go down, my dear, and hold them off for 15 minutes.
And then they can come up and take it all away.
But I don't want them to take it all away.
It's like tearing a piece out of my heart.
Oh, there, there, my dear. I know, I know.
What's she sniffling about?
Oh, you know how woman are, huh.
No control.
I didn't expect to see you here, Lestrade.
British Museum, you know, had to have protection.
They rang up Scotland Yard.
- I just happened to be there. - Hmm?
All right, well I didn't want every Tom, Dick and Harry handling his things.
No, no, of course not, of course not.
- Ratty old chair, ain't it? - Repulsive.
Well, sir, there's nothing ratty about it.
Perhaps you're right, doctor.
Many a times I seen him sprawled out in it.
Ah, ah, ah.
Oh.
Funny duck he was.
I was saying to my old woman only this morning
if it hadn't been for him I'd still be a sergeant.
Pity you didn't mention it when he was alive.
Perhaps we understood each other better than you think, doctor.
All these old pipes.
What'd you let him fall in that blasted river?
Why didn't you jump in after him, you big blunderhead?
Blunderhead! That's very offensive, Lestrade.
Me jump in? I wasn't there.
When I got there, he wasn't there. He had gone.
He'd gone.
Oh, sorry, doctor.
Take no notice, I'm...
That's all right, Lestrade.
- Lestrade. - What.
Would you like to have one of his pipes?
I wouldn't mind.
Well, help yourself.
Thank you, doctor.
You picked a very old one.
It's the one I want.
Its the one I remember best.
I'll be stepping downstairs to the vans for a bit, doctor.
[knocking at the door]
Take your time with the packing, doctor,
there's no hurry, you know. The British Museum will still be there.
[knocking continuos] What's the row about?
A registered package for Mr. Sherlock Holmes.
- Oh, he'll sign for it. - Thank you, sir.
Here you are. Bring it here.
Mind signing here, sir?
Pencils these days, not worth the paper they write on.
That's right.
- You got a knife? - No, I ain't.
Well, wait a minute.
All right.
Cool dummy. So this is where he hung out.
These were his rooms.
Not much of a room if you ask me.
Well, who's asking you?
Here, that's mine.
I've lost things like that before.
Oh, well, I suppose it suited him, all right.
All right, all right, all right.
He was no great shakes as a tick from what I heard.
Just one of them easy chair Johnnies.
What sat on his tail and let everybody else do the dirty work.
That'll be enough.
Mind you, I ain't saying he didn't get the credit.
But newspapers can be bought, can't they now?
You insect. You dare to imply--
All right, all right, all right, governor.
Keep your shirt on.
I got a right to my opinion
and it's my opinion that Mr. Sherlock Holmes
was nothing more but an old herring gut.
You...you say that again.
An herring gut, and old herring gut.
Up to get you, worm.
We'll see whose a herring gut.
It's all right, Watson.
I take it back. Call off your dogs.
Holmes! Holmes.
It's all right, old boy. Don't look like that.
Get a hold of yourself. Here, have a drink.
My word, you made a shambles of this room.
How could you play such a trick on me?
You brought it on yourself, old man.
Throwing open my records to the public,
tipping off every criminal in the country.
The shear addleheadedness, you've surpassed yourself.
Don't you realize the dynamite that's in those records?
I had to stop you.
Even if I had to come back from the dead to do it.
I'll never forgive you for this, Holmes,
not until my dying day.
It was a filthy trick, I grant you, but I had to see you.
No one every looks twice at a postman, you know.
If the books are ready, doctor--
You can put them under lock and key at The Yard, Inspector.
What? I'm seeing things.
How are you, Lestrade?
Well, strike me up a gum tree.
Just when we thought we had you nicely dead and buried.
What a sell.
My return from the dead was absolutely necessary, Inspector?
Necessary, me Aunt Dinahs bustle.
You'd give yourself a treat acting about all over the place.
What's the game anyway?
Very briefly this.
It's obvious that the so-called pajama suicides are really murders,
brilliantly conceived and executed.
They're very near to being perfect crimes.
Where's my calabash?
Oh well, never mind.
Indubitably these murders are the work of a well-organized gang
and directing them is one of the most fiendishly clever minds in all Europe today.
- Any notion who? - I suspect a woman.
Do you have tobacco around this place, Watson?
Yes, I've packed it.
A woman? You amaze me, Holmes. Why a woman?
Because the method, whatever it is,
is peculiarly subtle and cruel.
Feline, not canine.
Poppy-cock.
Canine, feline, quinine,
when a bloke does himself in that's suicide.
Unless the bloke is driven to suicide
and then that case it's murder.
Driven, that sounds like a woman doesn't it?
Definitely, a female Moriarity.
Clever, ruthless,
and above all cautious.
Therefore my first step was to give her enough rope
by passing out of the picture.
I see.
- When the cat is away, mice begin to play. - Precisely.
Posh, you and your theories.
Anyone would think you had eyes in the back of your head.
You can keep the pipe, Lestrade.
Sorry, old man. I gave it to him.
Very right and proper, Watson.
Thank you, Mr. Holmes.
Now, what features have these pajama suicides in common?
Poor fellows just die in the middle of the night.
- Nobody near them. - Behind locked doors.
And they're all well-to-do more or less.
Right, and each and every one of them it seems
was fond of the pleasures of the gaming table.
Keep that in mind, it's highly significant.
It gives us our one and only lead.
Lead to what?
My dear Lestrade,
if we are to set a trap for this femme fatale
I see no reason why we shouldn't bait it with the kind of food she likes?
- Got a pencil, Watson? - No, I gave it back to the postman.
Here, take this one. Don't break the point this time.
Now, write what I dictate, and you Lestrade,
I trust you'd see that it gets into the newspapers.
Murders.
- Ready, Watson? - Go ahead.
The distinguished native officer, Rajni Singh,
Colonel of the maharajah of Lumpur's own lancers,
has just arrived in London.
Rajni Singh, I never heard of the gent.
He was just born, Watson.
Oh, I see.
- Huh? - Carry on, old boy.
In spite of his well-known devotion to the goddess of chance...
"In spite of his well-known devotion to the goddess of chance,
Rajni Singh insists that his visit to our shores
in solely in the hope that British surgeons may restore his left arm
paralyzed in the service of the Empire."
Sounds rather a nice person to know, doesn't he?
Exciting.
I have to get a new line of small talk.
What do they do in India, Norman?
- Oh, ride elephants. - Oh, how cumbersome.
You must see that he gets a card to the urban casino.
Number 20, black, even, pass.
Make your bets, ladies and gentlemen,
make your bets.
Make your bets, ladies and gentlemen.
S'il vous plaît.
May I?
By all means, madam.
You changed my luck I hope.
Make your bets, ladies and gentlemen,
make your bets.
Number 7, red, odd, miss.
How ghastly.
The fortune of war, madam.
So sorry I didn't bring you luck.
But you have brought me the charm of your presence, madam.
Excuse me.
Make your bets, ladies and gentlemen,
make your bets.
- Blank check please. - Name please?
Rajni Singh.
One hundred pounds.
Excuse me.
How's your luck, my sweet?
I think it will cut up rather large.
Make your bets, ladies and gentlemen.
Oh Norman, you have this gentleman's place.
So sorry.
Thank you.
- Sixteen. - Oh, not sixteen again.
- You play? - Nineteen.
I feel lucky. I almost wish that you--
Would play 19.
Wish me luck.
It's kind of you to be concerned for a stranger.
But no one from your country is like a stranger to me.
Make your bets.
You see, my father was Captain Spedding of the Bangle Lancers.
I was born at Sri Lanka.
In the Casmia.
It is there the most beautiful women in the world are born.
That's all now, no more.
Number 16, red, even, miss.
If only I'd let you alone.
It is fate, madam. One cannot fight it.
- If you wish to take my place, sir. - Thank you.
Goodnight, madam, and good-bye.
Make your bets, ladies and gentlemen,
make your bets.
Don't.
Oh, you mustn't.
A struggle would be unseemly, madam.
Another time. If you'll excuse me.
No, please.
Things will look very different in the morning, I assure you.
- That is easy to say. - Oh, but I know.
I've been in the same situation myself.
You?
Sometime ago I lost all my money.
Nasty jolt, isn't it?
The money, madam, it is nothing.
But honor, that is everything.
Honor?
'Tis not easy to confess.
I am as you may not know a soldier of some distinction.
Could you believe that just now I drew a check.
It is worthless.
Oh, I'm so sorry.
Haven't you any funds at all?
Nothing,
not even enough to pay my bill at the hotel.
No friends?
Not here in London.
Well, haven't you anything you can raise money on, jewels or--
You think of native princes, madam.
Such is not my good fortune.
- Perhaps an insurance policy. - No, nothing,
only a little five thousand pounds.
I cannot borrow on it. It has not been long enough in force.
Nonsense, it's perfectly simple if you know the right people.
I can send you to someone if you wish?
Is it possible?
Of course you have to pay interest,
a mere five percent.
All you do is make your policy over to the man who accommodates you.
Make him your beneficiary.
- In the event of my death? -Yes,
but you're not going to die, are you?
It would impertinent, madam,
to take my life out of your hands.
How strange that a man's life should lie in such little hand.
So soft.
I may come tomorrow and see you to thank you, madam. Please.
Your flowers are lovely, Rajni Singh.
So fragrant.
It is your room that is fragrant, madam,
with memories of my native land.
It is all so real, so nostalgic.
Mother India.
Mother of mysteries.
- May I-- - By all means.
They're just some photographs my uncle picked up years ago.
I have them out to keep my memories of India fresh.
These mountain peaks, I do not seem to place them.
They're Coracurons in the northeast.
The pillars of Parvati, the natives call them.
Oh yes, I recognize them now.
This low, rambling structure, what is it?
The shrine of the sacred cow.
Oh yes, a place of holy meditation.
Do you take milk and sugar?
Neither, thank you.
Tea should be taken pure, I think
so as not to disguise its flavor.
I quite agree with you.
I do not like disguises.
Biscuit?
Ah, thank you. Thank you.
It's so tiresome only to have one hand.
I'm so sorry.
I should have remembered.
It is not my poor hand I wish you to remember madam,
it is I.
Oh, but I shall...always.
Ladies have been known to forget, you know.
That is why I have brought you this.
Oh, you shouldn't
Why not, the man you sent me to
advanced me five hundred pounds on my worthless policy
and all I could think of was you. Please.
I really shouldn't, but I must see it.
Oh, how simply breathtaking.
You like it?
Why I'm mad about it.
You must let me take it back to the jeweler,
have it properly marked.
A.S. or just Andrea?
Just Andrea,
but do let me wipe it. My finger marks are all over it.
No, no, no, they are precious to me.
Your tea must be cold.
- Do let me-- - Thank you.
Oh,
how horrible of me.
'Tis nothing I assure you, madam.
But your poor hand.
I shall never forgive myself.
It is I who am clumsy, madam.
Hello you nice people.
My half-brother Norman Locke.
Rajni Singh.
- I'm delighted. - How do you do?
I'm so sorry, we have nothing in the house for burns.
I so seldom get burned.
Please, I shall go to the chemist.
au revoir, Madame, 'til we meet again.
Soon I hope.
Don't bother to see me out. Thank you.
I say, I never burn anyone unintentionally.
Neither do I.
I wanted to see him use that left arm and he did.
He's no more a cripple than you are.
He's onto us, Norman.
Does he know that you're onto him?
He does if he's the man I think he is.
Don't be cryptic, darling.
Look at that.
What of it? It's Rajni Singh.
Now look at this.
It can't be Sherlock Holmes. He's dead.
Is he, Norman? I doubt it.
But if you were to say to me tomorrow
Sherlock Holmes is dead...
Here we are. All right and tight.
Nothing can get through there.
I don't understand.
If you want to keep them out how do you expect them to get in?
My dear Lestrade, my purpose is fairly simple.
I merely wish to duplicate the conditions
under which the so-called pajama murders occurred.
Locked doors sealed windows,
and no opening through which any human agency
could possibly enter this room.
I don't dole with that.
Where there's a murder there's got to be a murderer.
- That's the way I look at it. - Precisely, but it's the murderer I'm after.
It's the means of murder.
The secret and terrible machinery of these crimes.
Now you don't expect anyone to pop out of that?
I expect nothing and everything.
Keep your eye on that alley.
- I may be coming down sudden-like see. - Right.
Now, if you'll be so good as to wait outside
I'll put Sherlock Holmes to bed.
- I'd feel a lot easier in the mind-- - Goodnight, Lestrade.
Just stay within call.
It happens awful quick when it happens.
Goodnight.
[whistling]
Lestrade, quick.
- Mr. Holmes. - It's all right, old boy, here I am.
- That's just a mask I had made. - Oh.
There's your killer.
Quick, down the backstairs to the alleyway.
Stop anyone that tries to leave, and I'll cover the roof.
Stay where you are!
You winged him proper, Mr. Holmes. He's dead as a doornail.
Not a mark of identification on him.
Too bad, I wish we had him alive.
What do you make of these?
Air holes, aye?
- Looks like he must have carried-- - Something but what?
The instrument of death was a spider.
There's no doubt about it, Lestrade,
and the bite of the creature drove these pajama suicides to kill themselves.
How did he get into your room?
Through this ventilator.
Now don't tell me that, and address in his pocket?
Hardly.
This screen was removed from the mouth of the ventilator,
obviously to emit something much larger than a spider.
We only know half of the machinery of these crimes.
Out of the light.
Great Scott!
[whistles] Little one, ain't it.
The footprint of a child.
[singing] Oh, paper, sir. Yes.
Read all about it
Sherlock Holmes, he ain't dead, no not at all.
Dr. Watson would neither confirm nor deny
the report that he had seen his friend
since his startling disappearance.
The good Doctor maintains a profound silence.
??
[knocking]
Come in.
Good morning.
Good morning, sir.
Mr. Holmes, I presume?
Oh, no. Dr. Livingston, is the name.
How are you, Mr. Stanley?
I am very happy to meet you, Dr. Livingston.
My name is Adam Gilflower from the Bureau of Entomology.
Oh, a bug hunter. Let me take those.
Won't you sit down, Mr. Gilphilly.
Gilflower is the name, sir.
Oh, Flower, yes, yes.
Goes with insects, flora and fauna.
I see you don't like to face the light, Mr. Philgilley.
My eyes give me a great deal of trouble, sir.
Oh, I'm sorry to hear that.
That's too bad, that's too bad.
They're useful things, eyes.
They rest the glasses.
I have an appointment with Mr. Holmes.
Will he be here soon?
Will he? He certainly will, Mr. Wallflower.
As a matter of fact, he's here now.
You're sitting on him. (quack)
Oh, don't bother to get up. You tell ducky-wucky all about it.
- I don't understand. - Not half you don't you old herring gut.
I beg your pardon?
Of all the transparent old fakers I ever saw.
Gilflower, what a name to pick.
Gilflower, Bilflower, Bull Frog,
Giggle Waggle, Wiggle Waggle.
Why, you can do better than that. A child can see through you.
Those dark glasses, that preposterous wig,
come out from behind those silly whiskers.
- I know you-- - Watson!
Holmes!
My dear fellow, you've surpassed yourself.
I think you owe Mr. Gilflower an apology.
The man's stark mad.
But not dangerous I assure you.
My name is Holmes.
I know your time is precious but my business is urgent.
Thank you for coming so promptly.
I believe you know more about spiders than any man in London.
Oh, I shouldn't say quite that, Mr. Holmes.
Do you believe you could identify this specimen
and tell me something of its manners and its morals.
Hmm, this poor fellow has been very roughly handled.
Have you a magnifying glass?
Yes, ah...Oh.
Here it is, Holmes. I'm sorry.
Oh, come, come, old fellow.
Don't look so down in the mouth.
The game is afoot and I shall need you.
- Will you really, Holmes? - Naturally.
Here you are, sir.
Hmm, extraordinary.
Mr. Holmes, where did you find this creature?
You recognize it?
The deadliest insect known to science.
It is the lycosa carnivora.
Habitat the upper regions of the Obongo River.
Its bite is fatal?
Hideously.
Human beings are its chosen prey
and its venom once injected into the blood stream
causes such excruciating agony
that the victim is driven to self-destruction.
Does the bite of this creature leave any trace?
Only if you know what to look for,
two small punctures hardly visible to the naked eye.
And its venom disappears in the bloodstream.
- Completely. - Extraordinary thing
Tell me, sir, could one get hold of a live specimen
of the lycosa carnivora in London?
Oh, I doubt it.
Now hold on. Ordway might help.
- Matthew Ordway, of Vernon Villa. - Write it down, Watson.
Matthew Ordway, Vernon Villa, New Road, Chipping Walton.
Mr. Ordway is slightly eccentric
- but that shouldn't trouble you. - Huh?
He has a remarkable collection of spiders.
You might tell him that I sent you.
Thank you, Mr. Gilflower.
That's very kind of you and very helpful.
Oh, don't mention, sir.
I'm a law-abiding citizen always willing to help in any hazard.
Good-day, Mr. Totson.
Totson, that's not very funny.
I think it's understandable, Watson.
Now to work. Where's my schedule?
Here it is.
Look up the trains to Chipping Wharton, will you? There's a good fellow.
A visit to Matthew Ordway and his spiders is indicated.
If Ordway has disposed of any lycosa carnivora in the last few months
and he can tell us who took them.
Found that train to Chipping Wharton yet, Watson?
The wretched train start and they go but
they never seem to arrive.
My case precisely.
I know the means of these murders, I know the motive,
I know the woman who directs the murder ring.
Then it is a woman?
A fiend, Watson.
She selects her victims from those desperately in need of money.
Persuades them to pawn their insurance policies
with her various accomplices
and then kills them, by means of lycosa carnivora.
Incredible.
No more incredible than nature herself. Here, let me have that.
After all, nature provides the means
our spider woman merely uses it.
You amaze me, Holmes.
Hasn't she some difficulty in realizing these policies later on?
Not she.
In due time, two years under English law,
her victims' beneficiaries come forward and cash in,
never the same man twice, mind you.
Do you know that for a fact?
As well as I know my own name,
and yet I haven't one shred of evidence
to connect this woman with her crimes.
- You're in my light, old boy. - Oh, sorry.
Here we are, Chipping Walton.
Arrive-- [knocking at the door]
Come in.
There's a lady outside to see you, Mr. Holmes.
A Ms. Spedding.
Oh.
Ask her to come in.
All right, sir.
Mr. Holmes?
Oh yes, I recognize you now from your picture in the papers.
I was so relieved to hear you were alive.
How very kind of you.
My name is Adrea Spedding.
- Won't you come in? - Thank you.
My little nephew, Mr. Holmes.
How are you, my lad?
I'm playing nurse today.
I'm sure you'll give an exceptional performance, Ms. Spedding.
Poor child, he's a mute.
Vocal chords paralyzed from birth.
Oh, how unfortunate.
Say, he's scratched his hand, hasn't he?
Yes, he's always climbing into the most unlikely places.
Run along, dear, and sit in that chair. There's a good boy.
Right over there.
What are you doing, my boy? That's me.
Sit down.
Oh, I beg your pardon. My colleague, Dr. Watson.
Ms. Adrea Spedding.
How do you do? It's a great pleasure.
Mr. Holmes, my business is of utmost privacy.
I assure you, Dr. Watson, is the very soul of discretion.
- Won't you sit down? - Thank you.
And now, Ms. Spedding, how can I be of service to you?
Well, I hardly know where to begin.
Perhaps I'm unduly alarmed
but you see a friend of mine has disappeared.
Indeed.
I've tried to get in touch with him in his room but he's not there,
and he seems to have left no word.
His name?
Rajni Singh.
He was from India.
Rajni Singh.
I seem to have heard of him.
Oh, Mr. Holmes,
I'm terrible afraid I shall never see him again.
Oh, come now, Ms. Spedding.
I'm sure you won't have to look far.
Look at all the pretty butterflies.
Perhaps you're right.
Larry, stop that!
Oh, you naughty boy. Put on your shoes and socks.
No, let him go barefoot. Boys like to.
Didn't you, Watson?
Didn't I what?
Like to go barefoot?
Yes, I always ran through the dewy grass in the early mornings.
They used to call me twinkle toes.
I'm sure you were a beautiful baby, Watson.
Now, tell me, Ms. Spedding,
just why are you so concerned about this Rajni Singh?
Well, you see, he pawned his insurance policy to get a loan.
The minute I found he was missing
I went to the loan shark and redeemed the policy?
Why?
I didn't want to put temptation in the way
of people who might profit by his death.
How very thoughtful of you.
If you could find Rajni Singh,
you might return this policy to him with the compliments of a friend.
Of course, you're going to be paid for your trouble.
I have every confidence, Ms. Spedding,
that you're not one to leave a score unsettled.
Larry, let it go.
Come here.
He seems possessed to catch flies.
Now, if you'll put on your shoes and socks,
Auntie will give you a nice sweet.
You have quite a way with children.
Oh, I bribe him shamefully.
This will be third today, would you believe it?
American candy, hard to get.
There.
Now mind you don't get your fingers sticky.
Cunning little beggar.
One could almost tuck him into a suitcase.
- He must be a great comfort to you. - Oh, he is.
- Cigarette? - Thank you.
Oh, what a lovely case.
Yes, isn't it?
I picked it up quite by accident.
Wasn't a mark on it except some negligible fingerprints
that the police couldn't identify.
You may have it, Ms. Spedding.
Why give it to me?
Should we call it a trophy of the chase?
Oh, I really shouldn't.
Breathtaking, isn't it?
I owe you a great deal for this, Mr. Holmes.
Larry?
Don't drop the paper on the floor, dear.
Put it in the fire. There's a good boy.
Come along, dear, we must be going now.
- Good-bye, Dr. Watson. - Good-bye.
So please to have met you.
I do hope he hasn't been a nuisance.
Not at all. He's a dear little fellow.
Mr. Holmes, 'til we meet again.
Soon I hope.
- Good-bye. - Good-bye.
Fine figure of a woman, aye, Holmes?
- You think so? - Yes.
She reminds me of a little nurse I used to know in Withmore Street.
Very attractive girl.
What would you say if I told you she was the spider woman?
I wouldn't believe you.
If she was she'd have at least eight legs, wouldn't she?
- Oh, a bit of a cough. - Blasted impertinent.
- What, Holmes? - Bringing that policy here.
Getting me in my own den.
Ah...
...about that train, Watson?
I don't know.
Ah...the place we were going?
Going to see a man, Ordway about something...
Breathe Watson,
breathe deeply.
What...what was it, Holmes?
Death, my dear fellow.
We've been entering Ms. Adrea Spedding.
The most diabolically clever way of administering a lethal dose I've ever encountered.
I still don't understand.
Look here, Watson.
This little confection has two wrappers.
The inner one made of wax paper, the outer with silver paper.
It was between these two wrappers, Ms. Spedding concealed the powder
that nearly cost us our lives.
I can taste those beastly fumes still.
What powder?
Redix pedis diabolus,
in other words, devil's foot,
a very rare vegetable poison from Central Africa.
Devil...I remember that,
- The Cornish horror. - That's right, Watson.
I feel like a cup of tea.
By Jove, we're lucky we're still alive, aye.
For how long I wonder.
Here we are, Watson.
What do you mean "Here we are Watson?"
Here we are where?
Miles away from anywhere.
Well, I fancy a collector of spiders
might not be too welcome in a crowded neighborhood.
I think you're right, Holmes.
Matthew Ordway can identify the persons
to whom he sold these spiders.
[knocking at the door]
Who's there? What do you want?
You Matthew Ordway?
Never you mind who I am. Who are you?
My name is Sherlock Holmes. This is my friend, Dr. Watson.
How do you do, sir?
How do I know you're what you say you are?
- Who sent you here? - Adam Gilflower.
Why didn't you say so. I'll be right down.
He seems a bit frightened, Holmes.
Yes, I don't like the look of it, Watson.
Come in, Mr. Holmes, you're right in the line of fire, hurry.
Line of fire?
'Twas providence sent you, Mr. Holmes.
They're after me.
Who are after you?
The men to whom he sold the lycosa carnivora, of course.
- How do you know? - Elementary, my dear sir.
Who else would threaten a man of your proprietary and standing.
Mr. Holmes, I'll swear to you
when I first sold him those spiders
I had no idea the use they'd put them to.
- Then you read about the pajama suicides? - That's it.
And putting two and two together refused to sell them any more.
That's right, but only today they were here.
I was afraid for my life.
The truth now, Ordway, did you or did you not
sell them any more of these creatures?
I swear I didn't, Mr. Holmes.
I've got all that's left of the shipment downstairs now.
I'll show them to you.
I hope you don't mind, the heat I mean.
Have to keep it this way.
Tropical creatures, you know.
Must be kept comfortable.
Same temperature as where they come from.
Humid, very humid.
Come along, gentlemen, don't be afraid.
Everything is perfectly safe.
Now...
Here's where we keep the ly...
- The big fellows, you know. - Quite so.
These glass cages get all steamy.
There we are. Ugly looking brutes, aren't they?
Positively obscene.
But they're poison is very valuable to doctors and the like.
So I hear.
Now over here
we have some fine, healthy specimens of the Black Widow.
- You've heard of them? - Frequently.
Dapper little devils, aren't they?
Female of the species, aye?
They eat their mates I'm told.
- What an unpleasant habit. - Oh, yes.
Tell me Ordway, have you any specimens of a mendexsplagrante?
- Of what? - The mendexsplegrante.
Oh, no, I'm sorry. I sold the last one we had yesterday,
but I can get you one.
Wait a minute, Ordway.
I think I see one on your shoulder.
Take it off!
- Take it off! - Steady, man. Steady.
- Yes, a perfect specimen. - What is this?
I'll tell you.
The mendexsplegrante is let in for flagrant liar.
When you told me you could get me one
I knew you for what you were, a flagrant liar.
Here Watson, take care of this.
You call these glass cases cages.
Any scientist would call them terrariums.
You said the poison of the lycosa carnivora
was valuable to doctors.
Any scientist would say
the virus was valuable to toxicologists.
You said you were told the Black Widows eat their mates.
Any scientist would know it.
Obviously, you're not Matthew Ordway.
- Who are you? - Wouldn't you like to know?
Look out, Watson, those insects are deadly.
Look out, Holmes!
He's gone.
- Blast his eyes. - Come along.
Close the door, will you, Watson.
Our job now is to find the real Matthew Ordway,
if he's still alive.
It's Ordway beyond a doubt.
Poor chaps been dead for some time.
Clever devils.
They knew he was the one link between them and the spiders.
Now that link is broken.
What have you found, Holmes?
Some sort of record Ordway kept.
Looks like a journal of his travels,
dates, places, all in Central Africa.
Look here.
"Obongo,
Lyco, Carniv...poison,
immune,
little, dogl,
faithful to."
"Obongo, Lyco, Ca, immune, little dog, faithful."
Sounds like a crossword puzzle.
"Little, dog, faithful to."
- Whose little dog I wonder. - The word isn't dog, Watson,
it's dog with an L after it.
Now what word begins with d-o-g and has an L after it.
Dogle. Oh, it has a g and an e.
No, dog-like, that's it, dog-like.
Now what it is that Ordway could have
had with him in the jungles of Central Africa
immune to the virus of the lycosa carnivora
that was both dog-like and faithful?
Oh, why not a little dog?
No, no, no, a dog wouldn't be immune.
Never mind, we'll go into that later.
Ring up the local police. Have them take charge here.
Right you are.
Don't see a phone anywhere.
Try that door.
No, no sign of one in there.
Looks as if old Ordway must have gone in for anatomy on the side.
That's curious.
His main interest was invertebrates, not vertebrates.
And why chart the skeleton of a child?
Because it isn't.
- What's that? - It isn't a child.
Are you sure?
Look at all these teeth.
No, no, no the skull of a normal child of this size,
five or six-years old,
would be much larger in proportion to the circumference of the chest.
- Watson, I've got it. - Got what?
That devil of a woman, bringing that child to Baker Street
- to throw me off the track. - What track.
She knew I had found that tiny footprint.
- She wanted me to think it was the footprint of a child. - I don't follow you, Holmes.
Watson, I've been blind.
Mole an owl or bat.
Look here, "Obongo, lycosa carnivora, poison,
immune, little, dog-like, faithful to their masters."
What on earth are you talking about?
Able to creep through the smallest openings.
The perfect instrument for the spider murders.
Watson, if you ever see me getting too cock-sure again,
fancying myself more clever than Adrea Spedding.
Just whisper one word to me.
- What word, Holmes? - Pigmy.
[crowd noise]
No good, old man, it's like looking for a pigmy in a haystack.
Patience, Watson.
Of all places in which we may find a pigmy. A side show is the most likely.
Hello, I've found it.
Found what?
That place is closed.
That's the most significant thing about it.
In an arcade where space is so valuable.
A booth like that
wouldn't remain empty a single day
therefore, I'd say the place has been closed
within the last 12 hours,
and for good reason.
Our friends have got the wind up.
They're trying to get away.
Or perhaps are gone already.
I don't think so.
[toy gun shots]
Over here quick, don't look back.
What's the matter, Holmes. What's up?
Don't ask questions. Go ring up Lestrade.
Tell him to come on the double
and wait for me here in front of this shooting gallery.
- Where you going? - I don't quite know.
Oh Watson, while you're waiting, don't attract attention.
Try to be as inconspicuous as possible.
- Right, Holmes. - Hurry.
Hey sir, try your luck on Mussolini, Hiro Hito, or Hitler
Hit'em where their hearts ought to be
and listen to the hollow sound.
[toy gun shots]
Thank you.
And now ladies and gentlemen,
step up here and see the great Wanda,
the gypsy fortune teller.
She'll tell you but half she won't.
I say governor, come on, come on over, take a chance.
How about you lady? Come on.
The pride of Bolivia.
The truth won't hurt you, ya know.
Come on, see the great Wanda...
- One of those little dolls please. - Yes, sir.
- They're cute, ain't they? - Oh, very.
Thank you, sir.
Step up ladies and gentlemen, and see Wanda,
the great gypsy fortune teller.
Come on, she won't half tell you something.
Are you afraid? Come on...
Give me one of those dolls please.
Yes, sir.
Just to think that they're going to the kiddies, sir.
I'm sure it will be appreciated.
Thank you.
Come on, ladies and gentlemen, come on and see the great Wanda,
the gypsy fortune teller.
Come on, she'll give you a look into the future now, she will.
Come on, governor, bring the missus. in.
Afraid of the truth? That won't hurt you. Come on.
How about you lady, come on.
Come on. Just think, it's a tenner.
A tenner for having your fortune told.
Come on. She'll give you a great look into the future...
Your future is in your own hands, sir.
How fortunate.
This way, sir.
Down that passage to the door at the far end.
Thank you.
He's on his way.
Come in, Mr. Holmes.
Don't stand in the drafty corridor.
I should hate to have you take cold
and die of natural causes.
That would defeat the ends of injustice, wouldn't it?
You see, we've been expecting you.
Obviously.
But what made you think I'd come here alone?
You're somewhat over-developed sense of drama, Mr. Holmes.
- Oh? - Yes.
If we permitted you to trail us here
there was always a chance you might bring along reinforcement.
So I took steps to make things a little more...dramatic.
Melodramatic is the word.
The business with the doll. This was a little overdone.
Yet it intrigued your interest and brought you here alone.
You're an exceedingly clever woman, Ms. Spedding.
Elementary, my dear Mr. Holmes.
On the other hand,
if I hadn't come here alone I should never have got in
and you would have been on your way.
A sensible idea under any circumstances.
On the contrary.
It'd be such a bore living the rest of my life
looking back over my shoulder.
So you decided to let me catch up with you.
Precisely.
One of us had to be eliminated.
The choice was not too difficult.
You know, Ms. Spedding, I find it hard to believe
that anyone clever enough to use the lycosa carnivora
and that creature in the suitcase for the purpose of murder
should be reduced to anything as conventional as a bullet
even though the use of a back room of a shooting gallery
shows a certain amount of imagination.
Thank you.
However, it will be nothing so trite I assure you.
The difficulty, of course, was to liquidate you
without seeming to have a hand in this business.
An interesting problem.
- You have, of course, arrived at the solution. - Naturally.
A positive inspiration, Mr. Holmes.
We shall allow the British public to be your executioner.
Ingenious, isn't it?
Ingenious but uninspired.
If you don't mind my saying so it lacks the personal touch.
Taylor?
Him and his meet me here and meet me there.
Where is he anyhow?
I'm blessed if I know.
He said wait here by the shooting gallery
and look inconspicuous.
Inconspicuous?
Oh.
[whistling]
He said inconspicuous, Lestrade, not half-witted.
Watch out there.
Dr. Watson and Lestrade are out in front.
What luck.
The perfect irony.
The personal touch you said the whole thing lacked.
Perhaps Dr. Watson will be your executioner.
Turn it off Taylor.
Hit'em where their hearts ought to be
and hear the hollow sound.
What do you say, Doctor, just while we're waiting?
My dear fellow, you're playing into the hands
of one of the best rifle shots in England.
I say, the target stopped.
All right, grandpa, keep your hat on.
Just a minute mechanical problem.
My dear fellow, one can't shoot at a sitting bird.
- Can one? - No, doctor.
Remove that gong.
You see, when this steel plate is removed
there's nothing to prevent the bullets from going
straight into your heart.
Do you mind, Mr. Holmes?
We'll stop up front long enough to see the job is done.
Bradley, don't forget the suitcases.
All right, Taylor, start the machinery.
[toy rifle shots]
I say, I wonder where Holmes is.
He's been a long time.
Well, if he said he'll be here he'll be here.
There's no good saying he won't.
Hmm.
I guess I'll get Hitler the next time.
Not bad, Doctor, not bad.
I'm even better with an elephant gun.
Oh, he's gone again.
I'll get him this time.
[shot hitting gong]
Elementary, my dear Ms. Spedding.
I replaced the gong. Don't move anyone!
Your men here, Lestrade?
[constable whistle blowing] All right, lads.
Sergeant, take care of that suitcase.
There's valuable evidence inside it and it's alive.
I'll take care of it, sir.
Needn't put those things on, Lestrade,
she'll go quietly.
Thank you, Mr. Holmes.
I say, Holmes,
where have you been all this time?
I've been going 'round and 'round in a circle.
- Circle? - Yes, but my heart wasn't in it.
Remarkable woman.
Audacious and deadly as one of her own spiders.
Audacious? Stupid, I call it.
Fancy trying to commit a murder in a place like this
- with all these people about. - That's where you're wrong, old boy.
In an isolated place a cry for help or a single shot
might very well arouse the curiosity of at least one casual witness.
But in an arcade like this
people are bent only on pleasure
and will instinctively disregard any deviation from the normal
that doesn't immediately concern them.
Yes, Watson,
Ms. Spedding deserves credit
for picking the most logical spot in the world
- to commit my murder. - Oh, where is that?
In the middle of a crowd.