The Baker Street Boys - The Case of the Disappearing Detective (11 page)

“Well, he sure made a fool outta me.”

“And indeed out of me. I must confess that I stepped right into his snare. He is certainly a worthy opponent, but he failed to include one important factor in his calculations: my brilliant assistants.”

“Hurrah!” the Stationmaster cried. “Hurrah for the Baker Street Boys!”

And the adults in the room all cheered loudly.

A moment later, there was a knock at the door and the Sergeant entered. “Good news!” he announced. “The villains’ steamboat has been intercepted at the next lock down the river. My officers have apprehended two men, and taken them into custody.”

“Congratulations, sir!” the Stationmaster called out.

“Well done, Sergeant,” said Lestrade.

Sherlock Holmes held up his hand. “Two men, you say?”

“Yes, sir. The Fenians, undoubtedly.”

“And the third man?” Mr Holmes asked.

“There was no third man aboard the launch, sir. Only the two Fenians.”

“I see.” Mr Holmes nodded calmly, the ghost of a smile flickering across his lips. “So,” he continued, “he lives to fight another day. Well, we shall see. For the moment, anyway, we may celebrate another victory.”

The Boys travelled back to London in the luxury of a first class carriage, with a large hamper of delicious refreshments to eat and drink on the way. Apart from Shiner, that is, who rode on the footplate of the engine, along with the driver and fireman, and was even allowed to pull levers and turn wheels and sound the train’s whistle as they passed through towns and villages. It was a journey he wished would never end.

Later, after a sumptuous feast provided by Mr Holmes, they were fitted out with new clothes, which Queenie said were far too good for every day and must be kept for special occasions.

The first special occasion was that very evening, when they were taken to a West End variety theatre, where they sat in the best seats to watch the show. They all enjoyed every minute of it, laughing and clapping and cheering, and joining in the songs. But Sparrow enjoyed it most of all, for the star of the show, at the top of the bill, was his hero, Little Tich.

After so much excitement, some of the Boys found it hard to sleep that night. Queenie woke up sometime in the small hours, and left her bed to get a drink of water from the big stone jar that they kept near the stove. She found Beaver sitting on his own at the table, with a furrowed brow, writing something by the light of a candle. The tip of his tongue poked out of the side of his mouth and he was concentrating so hard that he did not hear her until she spoke. When she did, he jumped violently.

“Beaver?” she asked. “What you doin’?”

He looked up a little sheepishly. “Thought I’d try and write down all what’s happened these last couple of days. Like Dr Watson does for Mr Holmes.”

“That’s a good idea,” Queenie said. “Have you got a name for it?”

Beaver sucked his pencil for a minute, thinking hard. Then he grinned. “Yeah,” he said. “I think I’ll call it ‘The Case of the Disappearing Detective’.”

S
HERLOCK
H
OLMES
, the famous detective, was invented in 1887 by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who wrote no fewer than sixty stories about him. Sir Arthur gave Holmes and his friend Dr John Watson rooms at number 221b Baker Street, London, which has since become one of the best-known addresses in the whole world.

The Baker Street Boys – or the Baker Street Irregulars, as Sherlock Holmes sometimes called them – were mentioned in the very first story and in three others. Their leader, Wiggins, was the only one to be given a name by Conan Doyle. The other children have all been created by Anthony Read for this series of original adventures.

W
INDSOR
S
TATION
was rebuilt in 1897 by the Great Western Railway Company to mark Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee, when she celebrated sixty years on the throne of Great Britain. It is now a shopping centre known as Windsor Royal Station, but trains still run from it, and still cross the bridge over the River Thames that is featured in this story. A full-size replica of the railway engine that pulled Queen Victoria’s royal train stands in the middle of the station.

Anthony Read studied at the Central School of Speech and Drama in London, and was an actor manager at the age of eighteen. He worked in advertising, journalism and publishing and as a television producer before becoming a full-time writer. Anthony has more than two hundred screen credits to his name, for programmes that include
Sherlock Holmes
,
The Professionals
and
Doctor Who
. He has also written non-fiction, and won the Wingate Literary Prize for
Kristallnacht

The Baker Street Boys
is based on Anthony’s original television series for children, broadcast by the BBC in the 1980s, for which he won the Writers’ Guild TV Award. The series was inspired by references to the “Baker Street Irregulars”, a group of young crime-solvers who helped the detective Sherlock Holmes in the classic stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.