Sherlock Holmes and The Sword of Osman Read Online Free Page A

endangered.’
    â€˜Why not give some small nod to the Kaiser’s aspirations, Sir Edward?’ I asked. ‘Why not accommodate the wretched fellow? Let him have a few African colonies, some islands in the Pacific - and the commercial advantages you mention, a railway to Bagdad perhaps. The Times reports the Kaiser craves Agadir. Why not let him have it?’
    â€˜I’m asked that almost daily by “the German Party” in the House,’ came the wry reply. ‘His Majesty’s Government has no strong objection to seeing the black, white and red flag flying over a few extra colonies in Africa, nor any special reason to deny the Kaiser a railway to Bagdad or a presence in the Pacific, if only that were enough. But as to Agadir becoming a German port - you of all people should not tolerate a division of German destroyers on the flank of our sea routes to India.’
    He turned to look steadily at my comrade.
    â€˜A lot depends on you, Mr. Holmes,’ he said, his voice low. ‘Despite our scruples, we must sup with the Ottoman Devil, maintain the status quo for a while longer until the consequences for our Empire of a collapse of his Empire become clearer. All England should wish you well.’
    Sir Edward waved at the horse-trap.
    â€˜Gentlemen, I’d offer you a ride to your next destination were I not in heavy demand at the House of Commons.’
    With a further nod, he clambered into the carriage and gave a signal to the horse. Holmes called out, ‘A request, Sir Edward - can you get a photographic enlargement of the sword to me? And a translation of the inscriptions?’
    Sir Edward’s free arm stretched upward in assent. The trap and painting clattered away along Albert Road at a good pace and rounded a bend. The Dark Continent with its great herds of elephants, the odd-toed ungulates on the Luangwa, the Tsavo man-eating lions, hippos on the Shire River, dust, blood, haunted baobab trees, Pygmies, sleeping sickness, malaria, snail fever, the smell of camp-fires long extinguished, all would have to wait.
    Ahead of us lay a vast Mussulman dynastic Empire more than six centuries old. As a youth I had been entranced by oriental paintings in the National Gallery, in particular an oil of the massed beauty of the Harem women, a scene to rival the pages of the Thousand Nights And A Night , the silk and satin of the dresses sparkling with jewellery, the lines of black eunuchs, a sultan in scarlet robes edged with sable, a diamond-studded dagger at his waist. Instead of natives hiding in impenetrable bamboo there would be minarets amid gigantic black-green cypresses, bazaars, dervishes in sugar-coned hats, men in pumpkin-shaped turbans like giant white tomatoes and pashas staring out over the deep blue Sea of the Golden Horn wearing fezzes bright as poppy fields. At least my new camera and a magnificent new pair of powerful Ross 12X military binoculars would be of use anywhere.
    ***
    The following day Holmes forwarded a letter from his brother Mycroft to my Chambers. It began, ‘Dear Sherlock, I am delighted to hear the Foreign Secretary has engaged you on the Ottoman case. Your time will not be misspent. This is more than a chivalric emprise. England as the Gouvernante of the Levant has her obligations and interests to protect. The great trade routes of east and west, Peking, Samarkand, Kieff, Zanzibar, Vienna, all converge upon Constantinople. On your arrival in the heart of the Ottoman Empire you will find intrigue, counter-intrigue, lies, deceit, cupidity and malicious gossip. Every quarter of the city is honeycombed with foreign agents, some political, many economic. They and counter-agents are numerous as cockroaches, all spying on each other. All have washed up in Constantinople seeking concessions - telegraphs, railways, bridges, banks. Some are friendly towards Britain, some are certainly not.
    â€˜A dragoman by the name of Eric Shelmerdine will be waiting for you