Mrs. Munro replied, “At least ten miles, Jack. And it’s up and down the whole way. But don’t worry, Mr. Holmes, you can take the shortcut directly to the top of Jinba. It’s a bit demanding but the forest is pleasant, and the views are out of this world.”
Yet again, she looked Holmes in the eye and smiled at him.
“I shall look forward to it, madam,” he replied and smiled back. “Permit me to ask, if you will, what then is the final race? If a ten-mile course across mountain tops is only the penultimate, what could possibly be more demanding?”
Mr. Munro did not immediately answer. He then lowered his head and spoke in a quiet voice. “I fear, sir, that I am not at liberty yet to disclose that. It is still being negotiated. Some diplomatic issues, you know.”
“Oh Jack,” chimed in Mrs. Munro. “This is Sherlock Holmes you’re talking to; the world’s most famous detective. He must know more secrets than anyone else in your Empire. You can tell him.”
“More secrets,” Munro replied, “than anyone, my dear? With the exception of his older brother, I would think. Right, Mr. Holmes? Yes, right, well then, I shall tell you. The final race is to the top of the highest mountain in the nation.”
“You mean,” I blurted, “they have to run to the top of Mount Fuji?”
“Precisely, doctor. That is what I mean. Now there’s a challenge and a half, don’t you think?”
I said nothing and just nodded, the thought dawning on me that we might have to climb Fuji as well if we were to be there to award the prizes. Holmes’s thinking took a different tack.
“You must forgive me, Excellency, but what could be the diplomatic issues connected with such a race? I am aware that the mountain is sacred to the people of Japan, but hundreds of visiting foreigners climb it every summer, do they not?”
“Right, Mr. Holmes. Right. But they do not encounter the Emperor of Japan waiting at the summit to congratulate them.”
I let out a low whistle of awe. “I must say, that would be a diplomatic coup. Might you truly be able to pull that one off, Mr. Munro?”
“If we do, it will not depend on anything we do. I assume that you have heard that the Russian fleet has been spotted in the East China Sea?”
“I was aware of that,” said Holmes. This was surprising, since it was news to me.
“The Prime Minister,” whispered the Envoy, “has called up every ship in the Japanese Navy. Within a few days, there will be a battle royal somewhere on the high seas. If Russia is victorious, the Emperor will not likely be seen in public for a decade. If Japan wins, which our intelligence now tells us is a possibility, then his presence at our event will be quite the opportunity for the country to strut its place on the world’s stage. Our position, of course, is entirely neutral, and I will have to leave it to your imagination as to who we are favoring.”
“Favoring is one thing,” said Holmes. “But who are you betting on?”
“Ah ha, Mr. Holmes, now that is pushing me too far. Terribly sorry, old chap, but I’ll have to order you another gin and tonic and let your famous mind think on that one.” He slapped his hand down on the table, let out a brief laugh, and called the waiter.
As we stood and prepared to part, Mr. Munro approached us and placed his hand on Holmes’s shoulder.
“I noticed on your itinerary that you will be spending a few days down around Hakone and Atami. While you are there, you really must try the hot springs and the onsen. Really, quite relaxing. And if, by chance, you hear anything about a British cultural attaché, do let me know. I appear to have lost one. He was last seen some two months ago on his way to the camellia flower festival on Oshima Island and has not been seen or heard from since. His name is Sean O’Neill, lovely chap. All friendly and outgoing, but not exactly the brightest star in the sky. Typically Irish, you know. Thanks awfully, gentlemen.”
Chapter Nine Russian to a Conclusion
OUR TRAVELS TO VARIOUS PLACES in the country began the following week. A full day on the train took us to Sendai, a large regional city on the east coast about two hundred miles north of Tokyo. It prided itself on its university but otherwise was primarily a fishing center. Holmes delivered his lecture, translated as always by Tommy, in one of the large lecture halls at the Tohoku College. To my surprise, there were women students as well as men present. Finding such enlightened liberal practices this far away from the nation’s capital was quite commendable.
The city also had a long and pleasant beach from whence the fishing boats depart every morning, dark and early, and return at the end of the day bearing their catch. The prevailing winds from the west render the sea usually calm and tranquil. Indeed, as Holmes and I stood on the sand and looked out over the endless, blue, peaceful Pacific, I contemplated how this place must have brought serenity to the soul for centuries and would, I was sure, do so for centuries to come.
The calendar read the twenty-ninth of May and the warm summer season had begun. A soft breeze blew I from the sea, enhancing my sense of tranquility. My pleasant contemplations were not to last and were loudly interrupted by Tommy’s shouting. I turned to seeing him running up the beach toward us, waving a piece of paper in his hand.
“Sherlock-san! Dr. John-san!” he was screaming. “Please! Look! Very important!”
He kept sprinting until he reached and then, all out of breath, he thrust the telegram into Holmes’s hand. Holmes read it quickly and then handed it to me.
“A nice little note from Mycroft,” he said.
It ran:
SHERLOCK: JAPANESE AND RUSSIAN NAVIES BATTLED YESTERDAY AT TSUSHIMA. RUSSIAN FLEET DESTROYED. JAPAN VICTORIOUS WITH FEW LOSSES. IMPORTANCE OF EVENT CANNOT BE OVERSTATED. NOW CRITICAL THAT ALL PARTIES RELATED TO HIS MAJESTY’S GOVERNMENT APPEAR COMPLETELY NEUTRAL, INCLUDING OUR SUSPECT. I CANNOT MOVE ON SUSPECT WITHOUT PROOF. GET IT FOR ME, AND NOT YOUR MERE CONJECTURE. M. H.
I looked at Holmes in disbelief. “This is amazing, Holmes. The Czar sent his entire Baltic Fleet to re-capture Port Arthur. It is an enormous loss for the Russians.”
“And a monumental victory for the Japanese, a veritable sea change,” he replied. He then took me by the arm and led me out of earshot of Tommy.
“Watson, if it is found out that our charming missionary is a Russian agent, then all hell will break loose, and Japan might very well declare Great Britain a hostile nation. We need to find out just what she has been doing and do so rather quickly.”
I nodded my agreement, and we moved off the lovely sand and back into the city.
Two days later we met again with Redvers Humphrey in his Legation office. The news of the incredible victory was all over the newspapers. Posters were plastered onto every available piece of wall, and the flag of Japan had been raised and attached to every possible pole. The people of Tokyo, who are normally inscrutable in their passivity, were beaming with smiles. The portable shrines, whose removal from the temples happened only on sacred occasions, were being carried through the streets, followed by jubilant crowds, all dressed in traditional celebratory garb and banging and blowing on anything that would make a noise.
“You are wanting to know,” he said, “how this event will affect your obligations. Am I correct?”
“Most certainly,” said Holmes.
“Really not much at all. It is going to have a much more significant effect on all of us who will remain here after you are gone. You are wondering why I say that?”
“In wonder and amazement.”
“Ah, I thought you would be. We have just had word from Whitehall that His Majesty is now prepared to recognize Japan as a major world power. You do know what that means for our Legation, I assume.”
“I fear I do not, Minister.”
“No? Pity. It means that our Legation will disappear and be no more.”
That sounded absurd, and I interjected and said as much.
“Oh no, Dr. Watson, it is entirely reasonable. You see our humble office will have the title of Legation removed and will soon be elevated t
o a full-fledged Embassy. Our Envoy will soon be promoted to an Ambassador. Now, I am sure you are about to ask me what the Americans are going to do. Am I correct, Mr. Holmes?”
“You took the words right out of my mouth, Minister.”
“The Americans are going to follow our example and do the same thing. They will also recognize Japan as the power it is, on the same level as they do France, or Italy, or even the Court of St. James. You will agree that this is a highly significant turn of events in global diplomacy, will you not, Mr. Holmes?”
“Yes, Minister; in total agreement.”
“Now then, shall we deal with the more … ah … sensitive matters at hand?”
“I recall that those matters were the purpose of our meeting you.”
“Quite so. Now then, since we last met, I have intercepted several more messages sent by a certain lady to a certain arithmetic teacher and had the phrases written in Russian all translated. Would you wish to see them, Mr. Holmes?”
“Yes, Minister. I would so wish.”
He motioned to us to have a seat in front of his desk. He strutted to the other side, sat down, and handed a file to Holmes. I watched as Holmes opened it. The contents consisted of about twenty items, all made up of two pages of papers and pinned together.
“The top page, gentlemen,” Humphrey said, “is the copy our helpful Quaker lady made of the messages sent by Mrs. Federov-Munro. The attached page contains the translations from the Russian that she used in the salutations and closings. I believe that you will find them very revealing.”
The one on the top was the most recent. It read:
Милая моя:
How brilliant of you to hold back from winning the race. It is an excellent strategy to let the others underestimate you. But now you move on to the next level. I will be there again to cheer you on.
Ты чудесная. Your Effie.
The page underneath it explained:
Милая моя in our script reads: milaya moya. It means “My Sweet.”
The second one hit closer to home and read:
Любимая моя:
Did you enjoy the talks given by Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson at your school? I have listened to them as well. They are quite entertaining, even for Englishmen. I was imagining you, Солнышко моё, as you listened to them.
Ты чудесная, Your Effie.
The third one was particularly alarming and read:
Ангел мой,
The first battle will soon be upon us. You must do everything we have practiced and what your leader has told you. If you do, we will be victorious. Ты такая добрая, but you must also be determined. We are one with each other.
Люблю тебя всем сердцем, всей душою,
Your Effie
The other notes were all of the same order. In my notebook, I copied down the various phrases used in the Cyrillic script, the words as they would appear in Latin script and the translations provided. They were all very personal and affectionate, distressingly so.
Зайчик моя - zaichik moya - My bunny:
Радость моя - radost moya - My joy
Солнышко моё - solnyshka moyo - My sunshine
Милая моя - milaya moya - My sweet
Любимая моя - lyubimaya moya - My sweetheart
Дорогая моя - dorogaya moya - My dear
Ангел мой - angel moy - My angel
Ты такая красивая - ti takaya krasivaya - You are [so] beautiful
Ты красивая - ti krasivaya - You are lovely
Ты чудесная - ti chudesnaya - You are wonderful
Ты милая -ti milaya - You are sweet
Ты нежная - ti nezhnaya - You are gentle
Ты такая добрая - ti takaya dobraya - You are kind
Я тебя люблю - ya tebya lyublyu - I love you
Люблю тебя всем сердцем, всей душою - lyublyu tebya vsem sertsem, vsey dushoyu – I love you with all my heart, with all my soul
Любовь моя, приди ко мне - lyubov moya, pridi ka mne - Come to me, my love
Моё сердце полно любви - moyo sertse polno lyubvi - My heart is full of love
Я буду всегда любить тебя - ya budu vsegda lyubit tebya - I will always love you
“Do you see what I mean, gentlemen? The contents may be coded but the illicit connection between the lady and the teacher is rather blatant, is it not?”
I agreed. “It is, rather. But you are certain that these messages were sent to the math teacher?”
“Of course we are, doctor. Who else would be able to understand Russian?”
Holmes merely nodded and said nothing.
“Now, gentlemen, I have saved the most incriminating until the last. Read this.”
He thrust and final note that he had been withholding from us into Holmes’s chest.
It read:
Ангел мой:
The news of the battle and the loss to Russia has made our presence in Japan very dangerous. I am working on a plan to have us escape and live in England. You, like the child of the moon that you are, must leave your family of bamboo cutters and return to your new home beyond the summit of Fuji. But it must wait until your final great victory at the summit, in which you will trounce all your opponents.
Я буду всегда любить тебя,
Your Effie.
Holmes’s face was impassive, as it often becomes when matters of great pitch and moment are presented to him. He merely nodded to the Minister and said, “I assume that we may keep these copies?”
“You may, Mr. Holmes, and I am sure that you will now ask if you have the entire file.”
“I assumed that I had.”
“Ah, well you assumed wrongly. There is one more that remains a mystery. It was written almost entirely in code, and we have not yet been able to crack it. But we shall, by George, we shall.”
He handed a final page to us. It ran as follows:
My diligent one:
The problem you must solve may be expressed as:
6x2 + 11x – 35 = 0
To the best of my memory, the solution is:
The solution is x = –7/2, 5/3
I hope this is helpful to you.
I do love you, my brilliant one,
Your Effie.
Both Holmes and I stared at it. I could not resist making the obvious observation.
“It’s all Greek to me.”
Holmes gave me a sideways look. “Oh, please, Watson, please.”
But then he smiled. “To me as well. But I assume that the Minister’s codebreakers will solve it forthwith. Am I correct in assuming that, Minister?”
“Quite so. Quite so indeed, Mr. Holmes. Of course, you may keep that copy and apply your decoding skills to it if you wish. I assume that you possess such skills, do you not?”
“I assure you, Minister, that my skills are every bit as up to snuff as those of your staff.”
“Ah, splendid. I shall be eager to hear from you.”
We departed and walked back to the hotel.
“Really Holmes, I never knew that you had studied code-breaking. You never cease to amaze me.”
“I know absolutely nothing about it.”
“But you just told the Minister …”
“I told him I had the same level of skills as his staff, and that, I am quite certain, is the truth.”
Chapter Ten Down By the Bay
A TELEGRAM FROM THE MINISTER was delivered to Holmes the following morning. It read:
MR. HOLMES: AS YOUR ITINERARY SHOWS THAT YOU WILL MAKE A CIRCUIT OF TOKYO BAY THIS COMING WEEK, KINDLY MAKE INQUIRIES CONCERNING OUR MISSING ATTACHÉ, SEAN O’NEILL. HIS DISAPPEARANCE IS LIKELY RELATED TO THE FILE I GAVE YOU. WE ARE COUNTING ON YOU. HUMPHREY.
Two days later we began a circumnavigation of
Tokyo Bay, stopping at towns in Chiba, and then taking the ferry across from Tateyama to the island of Oshima. I was quite taken up with the local customs, food, flowers, and history. I even took time out to climb to the top of the Mount Mihara volcano crater on Oshima.
Holmes, on the other hand, was lost in thought, delivering his lectures almost mechanically. As soon as he was free of official functions he retreated to his room and yet again opened the file regarding Mrs. Munro.
“Your thoughts, please, Watson,” he said to me as we stood at the rail of the ferry while it crossed the mouth of Tokyo Bay from the island of Oshima to the port of Ito on the Izu Peninsula. I should have obliged him by talking about the missing attaché, but my thoughts were entirely elsewhere. I was looking out to the western horizon. As the morning mists cleared the massive, awesome cone of Mount Fuji appeared at the edge of the world. It must have been over one hundred miles away, but it towered over the rest of the landscape. “My goodness, Holmes, I gasped. Is that not one of the most magnificent sites of nature you have ever seen?”
Holmes raised his gaze briefly to the horizon and then returned to his notes.
“Kindly leave your wonderment to later, Watson. Right now I need your attention to the matters at hand. Now then, this is what we know so far.”
I sighed, gave a parting look in adoration to the sacred mountain and began to listen to Holmes’s recitation of the data to date.
“It has been suggested to us that there might be some connection to the disappearance of this O’Neill fellow to the international conflict and intrigue that has beset this corner of the globe for the past two years. I have put my mind to work on this for several days, yet task it mightily as I can, I am not able to see any logical connection. The little island of Oshima has no more than a few fishing boats and a commendable school or two. The towns we are making our way to are famous for their hot springs and serve primarily as vacation spots for the Japanese people of modest means and foreign visitors. Rather like Brighton without the monstrous pier. All of the ports and islands that are the cause of conflict with the Russians are on the other side of the country. What could this pleasant little region possibly offer to anyone? Flowers, fish, and public baths may all be enjoyable parts of Japanese life, but strategically there is nothing to be gained. What think you, doctor?”
Sherlock Holmes Never Dies- Collection Four Page 30
