The Complete Canon - The complete Sherlock Holmes

A Study In Scarletshould be provided with as large and as fertile a tractof land as any of the settlers, with the exception ofYoung himself, and of Stangerson, Kemball, Johnston,and Drebber, who were the four principal Elders.On the farm thus acquired John Ferrier built himselfa substantial log-house, which received so manyadditions in succeeding years that it grew into aroomy villa. He was a man of a practical turn ofmind, keen in his dealings and skilful with his hands.His iron constitution enabled him to work morningand evening at improving and tilling his lands. Henceit came about that his farm and all that belonged tohim prospered exceedingly. In three years he wasbetter off than his neighbours, in six he was well-todo,in nine he was rich, and in twelve there were nothalf a dozen men in the whole of Salt Lake City whocould compare with him. From the great inland sea tothe distant Wahsatch Mountains there was no namebetter known than that of John Ferrier.There was one way and only one in which he offendedthe susceptibilities of his co-religionists. Noargument or persuasion could ever induce him to setup a female establishment after the manner of hiscompanions. He never gave reasons for this persistentrefusal, but contented himself by resolutely and inflexiblyadhering to his determination. There were somewho accused him of lukewarmness in his adopted religion,and others who put it down to greed of wealthand reluctance to incur expense. Others, again, spokeof some early love affair, and of a fair-haired girl whohad pined away on the shores of the Atlantic. Whateverthe reason, Ferrier remained strictly celibate. Inevery other respect he conformed to the religion ofthe young settlement, and gained the name of beingan orthodox and straight-walking man.Lucy Ferrier grew up within the log-house, andassisted her adopted father in all his undertakings.The keen air of the mountains and the balsamic odourof the pine trees took the place of nurse and motherto the young girl. As year succeeded to year she grewtaller and stronger, her cheek more rudy, and herstep more elastic. Many a wayfarer upon the highroad which ran by Ferrier’s farm felt long-forgottenthoughts revive in their mind as they watched herlithe girlish figure tripping through the wheatfields,or met her mounted upon her father’s mustang, andmanaging it with all the ease and grace of a true childof the West. So the bud blossomed into a flower, andthe year which saw her father the richest of the farmersleft her as fair a specimen of American girlhoodas could be found in the whole Pacific slope.It was not the father, however, who first discoveredthat the child had developed into the woman. Itseldom is in such cases. That mysterious change istoo subtle and too gradual to be measured by dates.Least of all does the maiden herself know it until thetone of a voice or the touch of a hand sets her heartthrilling within her, and she learns, with a mixtureof pride and of fear, that a new and a larger naturehas awoken within her. There are few who cannotrecall that day and remember the one little incidentwhich heralded the dawn of a new life. In the caseof Lucy Ferrier the occasion was serious enough initself, apart from its future influence on her destinyand that of many besides.It was a warm June morning, and the Latter DaySaints were as busy as the bees whose hive they havechosen for their emblem. In the fields and in thestreets rose the same hum of human industry. Downthe dusty high roads defiled long streams of heavilyladenmules, all heading to the west, for the goldfever had broken out in California, and the OverlandRoute lay through the City of the Elect. There, too,were droves of sheep and bullocks coming in from theoutlying pasture lands, and trains of tired immigrants,men and horses equally weary of their interminablejourney. Through all this motley assemblage, threadingher way with the skill of an accomplished rider,there galloped Lucy Ferrier, her fair face flushed withthe exercise and her long chestnut hair floating outbehind her. She had a commission from her fatherin the City, and was dashing in as she had donemany a time before, with all the fearlessness of youth,thinking only of her task and how it was to be performed.The travel-stained adventurers gazed afterher in astonishment, and even the unemotional Indians,journeying in with their pelties, relaxed theiraccustomed stoicism as they marvelled at the beautyof the pale-faced maiden.She had reached the outskirts of the city whenshe found the road blocked by a great drove of cattle,driven by a half-dozen wild-looking herdsmenfrom the plains. In her impatience she endeavouredto pass this obstacle by pushing her horse into whatappeared to be a gap. Scarcely had she got fairly intoit, however, before the beasts closed in behind her,and she found herself completely imbedded in themoving stream of fierce-eyed, long-horned bullocks.Accustomed as she was to deal with cattle, she wasnot alarmed at her situation, but took advantage ofevery opportunity to urge her horse on in the hopesof pushing her way through the cavalcade. Unfortunatelythe horns of one of the creatures, either by42