The Giant Rat of Sumatra Part VIIIa-IX

"Well, it looks like my work has ended here," Holmes looked up at the night sky.

"Thanks for your help, Mr. Holmes," Magus Steinenfrank handed him a cigar.

Holmes put the cigar in his pocket.

"Really, Mr. Holmes, there are probably better places you can put that cigar," Vittoria Donna Gina adjusted her dress.

"Oh, and would you be willing to show me those places, Vittoria?" Holmes winked at the magician's assistant.

"I think it's time we were on our way," Hemlock the Magician grabbed Vittoria's hand and dragged her to a carriage marked Hemlock's Magic Show where he pushed her inside.

"But you will take our case, won't you, Mr. Holmes?" the lawyers Morrison and Dodd cried simultaneously, "you'll find out who or what destroyed our client's steam engine aboard the Matilda Briggs?".

"Yes, I'll take the case," Holmes took out a pouch of his pipe tobacco.

"Oh joy! Oh joy!" Morrison and Dodd joined arms and did an Irish jig with one another.

"I hope you don't think three's a crowd," Captain Heelander joined in.

Morrison and Dodd stopped dancing.

They turned to Holmes, "Anything you need? Do you need something to inspect the engine on the Matilda Briggs again?".

"My work on the Matilda Briggs is finished," Holmes blew smoke rings, "to find who or what destroyed the Matilda Briggs' yellow and orange painted steam engine, it is necessary to follow the circus."

Holmes looked in the direction of the circus caravan caged coach which was covered with a black cloth.



* * *


Stamford, Lincolnshire is an ancient town located approximately 100 miles to the north of London along the old Great North Road leading to York and Edinburgh.

It is situated on the River Welland in a south-westerly protrusion of Lincolnshire between Rutland to the north and west and Peterborough to the south.

The Steinenfrank Circus was located down in what was called The Meadows- a lovely green area along the River Welland.

The townsfolk of Stamford wandered to and fro between the cages.

Children chased after clowns and jugglers.

And Hemlock the Magician stood guard beside the cage covered in black cloth.

"It seems to me, Mr. Holmes, that Hemlock seems to have an unusual interest in the contents of that cage," Fred Clegg the veterinary surgeon stated to the great Sherlock Holmes.

Holmes had asked Fred Clegg to accompany him as he investigated the Steinenfrank Circus as he was sure that whatever caused the destruction of one of the ship Matilda Briggs' steam engines was a large animal of some sort.

Who better to have on hand than a veterinarian?

"I think there's a cat killer loose in Stamford again," one of the townspeople remarked to another, "remember last year how the cats were found dead with their fur skinned."

"Yes, that's true," another man said, "but the cats' bodies were always found. Albeit with their fur missing. These past few days, the cats have just vanished without a trace. No part of their bodies found."

"I tell you, it's the Devil himself that's eating these cats," said a rather eccentric looking gentleman with a big shiny nose, "he's got big ears and big eyes and big teeth and a big tail and big whiskers..."

"Whiskers? The Devil has whiskers? I heard tell the Devil has got big ears and big eyes and big teeth and a big tail but I ain't heard nothing about him having big whiskers. Ain't in Scripture I tell you," insisted one man.

"I don't think Scripture mentions anything about the Devil having those other things either," said the town's newspaper publisher.

The man with the big shiny nose waved his finger at the publisher of the Stamford Mercury, "I don't know what Scripture says. I know as much about Scripture as does my parish Vicar but I know what my eyes saw. The Devil is big and black. Huge in size. His ears reach the spires of Saint Martin's Church. His teeth are enormous. He could eat the altar of Saint Martin's in one gulp. And his tail is about 30 feet long."

"You've been drinking too much again, Mr. Smith," a woman grabbed hold of his collar and dragged him away from the group.

"But Eliza, I haven't," the man with the big shiny nose protested.

"Better not let him out of the house again tonight, Mrs. Smith," the other men laughed.

"These cat disappearances in town that have happened the past few days," Holmes lit his pipe, "what do you make of them, Clegg?".

"A mystery to me, Mr. Holmes," Clegg replied, "but it sounds from what I've heard from upset pet owners in town, that at least 30 cats have disappeared the past four days. Personally I think it's some sort of animal that's eating them."

"I agree with you, Clegg," Holmes nodded, "And it's rather ironic when one thinks about it."

"Ironic, Mr. Holmes?" Clegg looked quizzically at the consulting detective.

"Yes, given what I think is the animal who's been eating them," Holmes looked in the direction of the enormously large covered cage- the cage with the black cloth- guarded by the Man in the Golden Mask- Hemlock the Magician.

To be continued.