WE were fairly accustomed to receive weird telegrams at Baker Street, but I have a particular recollection of one which reached us on a gloomy February morning some seven or eight years ago and gave Mr.Sherlock Holmes a puzzled quarter of an hour.It was addressed to him, and ran thus:--"Please await me.Terrible misfortune.Right wing three-quarter missing; indispensable to morrow.-- OVERTON.""Strand post-mark and dispatched ten-thirty-six," said Holmes, reading it over and over."Mr.Overton was evidently considerably excited when he sent it, and somewhat incoherent in consequence.
Well, well, he will be here, I dare say, by the time I have looked through the TIMES, and then we shall know all about it.Even the most insignificant problem would be welcome in these stagnant days."Things had indeed been very slow with us, and I had learned to dread such periods of inaction, for I knew by experience that my companion's brain was so abnormally active that it was dangerous to leave it without material upon which to work.
For years I had gradually weaned him from that drug mania which had threatened once to check his remarkable career.Now I knew that under ordinary conditions he no longer craved for this artificial stimulus, but I was well aware that the fiend was not dead, but sleeping; and I have known that the sleep was a light one and the waking near when in periods of idleness I have seen the drawn look upon Holmes's ascetic face, and the brooding of his deep-set and inscrutable eyes.Therefore I blessed this Mr.Overton, whoever he might be, since he had come with his enigmatic message to break that dangerous calm which brought more peril to my friend than all the storms of his tempestuous life.
As we had expected, the telegram was soon followed by its sender, and the card of Mr.Cyril Overton, of Trinity College, Cambridge, announced the arrival of an enormous young man, sixteen stone of solid bone and muscle, who spanned the doorway with his broad shoulders and looked from one of us to the other with a comely face which was haggard with anxiety.
"Mr.Sherlock Holmes?"
My companion bowed.
"I've been down to Scotland Yard, Mr.Holmes.
I saw Inspector Stanley Hopkins.He advised me to come to you.
He said the case, so far as he could see, was more in your line than in that of the regular police.""Pray sit down and tell me what is the matter.""It's awful, Mr.Holmes, simply awful! I wonder my hair isn't grey.
Godfrey Staunton -- you've heard of him, of course? He's simply the hinge that the whole team turns on.I'd rather spare two from the pack and have Godfrey for my three-quarter line.Whether it's passing, or tackling, or dribbling, there's no one to touch him;and then, he's got the head and can hold us all together.
What am I to do? That's what I ask you, Mr.Holmes.
There's Moorhouse, first reserve, but he is trained as a half, and he always edges right in on to the scrum instead of keeping out on the touch-line.He's a fine place-kick, it's true, but, then, he has no judgment, and he can't sprint for nuts.
Why, Morton or Johnson, the Oxford fliers, could romp round him.
Stevenson is fast enough, but he couldn't drop from the twenty-five line, and a three-quarter who can't either punt or drop isn't worth a place for pace alone.No, Mr.Holmes, we are done unless you can help me to find Godfrey Staunton."My friend had listened with amused surprise to this long speech, which was poured forth with extraordinary vigour and earnestness, every point being driven home by the slapping of a brawny hand upon the speaker's knee.When our visitor was silent Holmes stretched out his hand and took down letter "S" of his commonplace book.For once he dug in vain into that mine of varied information.
"There is Arthur H.Staunton, the rising young forger,"said he, "and there was Henry Staunton, whom I helped to hang, but Godfrey Staunton is a new name to me."It was our visitor's turn to look surprised.
"Why, Mr.Holmes, I thought you knew things," said he.
"I suppose, then, if you have never heard of Godfrey Staunton you don't know Cyril Overton either?"Holmes shook his head good-humouredly.
"Great Scot!" cried the athlete."Why, I was first reserve for England against Wales, and I've skippered the 'Varsity all this year.But that's nothing! I didn't think there was a soul in England who didn't know Godfrey Staunton, the crack three-quarter, Cambridge, Blackheath, and five Internationals.
Good Lord! Mr.Holmes, where HAVE you lived?"Holmes laughed at the young giant's naive astonishment.
"You live in a different world to me, Mr.Overton, a sweeter and healthier one.My ramifications stretch out into many sections of society, but never, I am happy to say, into amateur sport, which is the best and soundest thing in England.However, your unexpected visit this morning shows me that even in that world of fresh air and fair play there may be work for me to do;so now, my good sir, I beg you to sit down and to tell me slowly and quietly exactly what it is that has occurred, and how you desire that I should help you."Young Overton's face assumed the bothered look of the man who is more accustomed to using his muscles than his wits; but by degrees, with many repetitions and obscurities which I may omit from his narrative, he laid his strange story before us.
