The Adventure of the Dying Detective | Page 4

you not call in a doctor?"
"He wouldn't have it, sir. You know how masterful he is. I didn't dare to disobey him. But
he's not long for this world, as you'll see for yourself the moment that you set eyes on
him."
He was indeed a deplorable spectacle. In the dim light of a foggy November day the sick
room was a gloomy spot, but it was that gaunt, wasted face staring at me from the bed
which sent a chill to my heart. His eyes had the brightness of fever, there was a hectic
flush upon either cheek, and dark crusts clung to his lips; the thin hands upon the coverlet
twitched incessantly, his voice was croaking and spasmodic. He lay listlessly as I entered
the room, but the sight of me brought a gleam of recognition to his eyes.
"Well, Watson, we seem to have fallen upon evil days," said he in a feeble voice, but
with something of his old carelessness of manner.
"My dear fellow!" I cried, approaching him.
"Stand back! Stand right back!" said he with the sharp imperiousness which I had
associated only with moments of crisis. "If you approach me, Watson, I shall order you
out of the house."
"But why?"
"Because it is my desire. Is that not enough?"
Yes, Mrs. Hudson was right. He was more masterful than ever. It was pitiful, however, to
see his exhaustion.
"I only wished to help," I explained.
"Exactly! You will help best by doing what you are told."
"Certainly, Holmes."
He relaxed the austerity of his manner.
"You are not angry?" he asked, gasping for breath.
Poor devil, how could I be angry when I saw him lying in such a plight before me?
"It's for your own sake, Watson," he croaked.
"For MY sake?"
"I know what is the matter with me. It is a coolie disease from Sumatra--a thing that the
Dutch know more about than we, though they have made little of it up to date. One thing
only is certain. It is infallibly deadly, and it is horribly contagious."

He spoke now with a feverish energy, the long hands twitching and jerking as he
motioned me away.
"Contagious by touch, Watson--that's it, by touch. Keep your distance and all is well."
"Good heavens, Holmes! Do you suppose that such a consideration weighs with me of an
instant? It would not affect me in the case of a stranger. Do you imagine it would prevent
me from doing my duty to so old a friend?"
Again I advanced, but he repulsed me with a look of furious anger.
"If you will stand there I will talk. If you do not you must leave the room."
I have so deep a respect for the extraordinary qualities of Holmes that I have always
deferred to his wishes, even when I least understood them. But now all my professional
instincts were aroused. Let him be my master elsewhere, I at least was his in a sick room.
"Holmes," said I, "you are not yourself. A sick man is but a child, and so I will treat you.
Whether you like it or not, I will examine your symptoms and treat you for them."
He looked at me with venomous eyes.
"If I am to have a doctor whether I will or not, let me at least have someone in whom I
have confidence," said he.
"Then you have none in me?"
"In your friendship, certainly. But facts are facts, Watson, and, after all, you are only a
general practitioner with very limited experience and mediocre qualifications. It is painful
to have to say these things, but you leave me no choice."
I was bitterly hurt.
"Such a remark is unworthy of you, Holmes. It shows me very clearly the state of your
own nerves. But if you have no confidence in me I would not intrude my services. Let me
bring Sir Jasper Meek or Penrose Fisher, or any of the best men in London. But someone
you MUST have, and that is final. If you think that I am going to stand here and see you
die without either helping you myself or bringing anyone else to help you, then you have
mistaken your man."
"You mean well, Watson," said the sick man with something between a sob and a groan.
"Shall I demonstrate your own ignorance? What do you know, pray, of Tapanuli fever?
What do you know of the black Formosa corruption?"
"I have never heard of either."
"There are many problems of disease, many strange pathological possibilities, in the East,
Watson." He paused after each sentence to collect his failing strength. "I have learned so

much during some recent researches which have a medico-criminal aspect. It was in the
course of