解説　場面 94「荒れ地へ戻る道」

And that was a most vague direction. I realised it as I drove back and noted how hill after hill showed traces of the ancient people. Barrymore's only indication had been that the stranger lived in one of these abandoned huts, and many hundreds of them are scattered throughout the length and breadth of the moor. But I had my own experience for a guide since it had shown me the man himself standing upon the summit of the Black Tor. That, then, should be the centre of my search. From there I should explore every hut upon the moor until I lighted upon the right one. If this man were inside it I should find out from his own lips, at the point of my revolver if necessary, who he was and why he had dogged us so long. He might slip away from us in the crowd of Regent Street, but it would puzzle him to do so upon the lonely moor. On the other hand, if I should find the hut and its tenant should not be within it I must remain there, however long the vigil, until he returned. Holmes had missed him in London. It would indeed be a triumph for me if I could run him to earth where my master had failed.

だが、それはきわめて曖昧な手がかりだった。馬車で戻りながら、丘という丘に古代人の痕跡があるのを見て、そのことを思い知った。バリモアの手がかりは、見知らぬ男が放棄された小屋の一つに住んでいるというだけで、そのような小屋は荒れ地の隅々に何百と散らばっている。しかし私自身の経験が、ブラック・トアの頂に立つ男を見せてくれていた。ならば、そこを捜索の中心にすべきだ。そこから荒れ地の小屋を一つずつ調べ、正しい小屋へ行き当たるまで続けよう。男が中にいれば、必要なら拳銃を突き付けてでも、何者で、なぜ長くわれわれにつきまとったのか、本人の口から聞き出す。リージェント街の人混みなら逃げられたかもしれないが、人気のない荒れ地で同じことをするのは難しいだろう。一方、小屋を見つけても住人がいなければ、どれほど長くなろうと、戻るまでそこで待つつもりだった。ホームズはロンドンで男を捕らえ損ねた。わが師が失敗した場所で、私が男を追い詰められれば、まさに大勝利となるだろう。