解説　場面 197「沼を見渡して」

"A dog!" said Holmes. "By Jove, a curly-haired spaniel. Poor Mortimer will never see his pet again. Well, I do not know that this place contains any secret which we have not already fathomed. He could hide his hound, but he could not hush its voice, and hence came those cries which even in daylight were not pleasant to hear. On an emergency he could keep the hound in the out-house at Merripit, but it was always a risk, and it was only on the supreme day, which he regarded as the end of all his efforts, that he dared do it. This paste in the tin is no doubt the luminous mixture with which the creature was daubed. It was suggested, of course, by the story of the family hell-hound, and by the desire to frighten old Sir Charles to death. No wonder the poor devil of a convict ran and screamed, even as our friend did, and as we ourselves might have done, when he saw such a creature bounding through the darkness of the moor upon his track. It was a cunning device, for, apart from the chance of driving your victim to his death, what peasant would venture to inquire too closely into such a creature should he get sight of it, as many have done, upon the moor? I said it in London, Watson, and I say it again now, that never yet have we helped to hunt down a more dangerous man than he who is lying yonder"—he swept his long arm towards the huge mottled expanse of green-splotched bog which stretched away until it merged into the russet slopes of the moor.

「犬だ」とホームズは言った。「おやまあ、巻き毛のスパニエルだ。気の毒なモーティマーは、もう二度と自分の愛犬に会えないだろう。さて、この場所に、私たちがまだ解明していない秘密が残っているとは思えない。彼は猟犬を隠すことはできても、声を消すことはできなかった。それで、真昼ですら聞いて心地よいとは言えない、あの叫び声が響いたのだ。緊急時には猟犬をメリピットの離れに置くこともできたが、常に危険はあった。そして彼がそれをあえてしたのは、自分の努力のすべてが終わる日と見ていた、あの決定的な日だけだった。この缶の中の糊は、間違いなく怪物の体へ塗られた発光性の混合物だ。むろんその発想は、一族の地獄の猟犬の物語と、老サー・チャールズを恐怖で死なせたいという望みから得たものだ。気の毒な脱獄囚が、あの怪物が荒れ地の闇を跳びはねて自分を追うのを見て、私たちの友人と同じように、いや私たち自身もそうしたかもしれないように、逃げながら叫んだのも無理はない。巧妙な仕掛けだった。獲物を死へ追いやれるかどうかは別として、荒れ地でそんな怪物の姿を見たら、それを見た多くの人間と同じように、どの農民があえて近づいて詳しく調べようとするだろう。ワトソン、私はロンドンでも言ったが、今ももう一度言う。私たちが追跡に手を貸した人間の中で、向こうに横たわっている男ほど危険な人物は、かつてひとりもいなかった」——彼は長い腕を、緑のまだらに覆われた巨大な沼の広がり、あずき色の荒れ地の斜面に溶け込むまで続く広がりへ向けて、大きく振った。