their way to the exit.
I left my case with its change of clothes in the station baggage room and followed them at some distance. At Liteiniy Prospect they turned right and soon we were over the Neva River. After some zig-zagging along the narrow alleys of the Viborg bank, Seriogin and Gavriushka went into a small tavern, whose customers must have been mostly cab drivers as there was a large cab station next door.
I waited five minutes and followed them in. There was no vacant table next to them, so I had to occupy another that was one removed.
Gavriushka and Seriogin were, evidently, deeply involved in their own conversation and though they kept their voices low, from time to time some words reached me. They were haggling. The greedy Gavriushka would raise his voice quite considerably whenever money was mentioned.
‘No, fellow, I simply can’t. You know yourself how things are. Isn’t a quarter enough! You can check every penny on me, but that’s all I have. All that’d be left for me would be ten roubles for a return ticket and a cheap meal,’ he said heatedly.
But Seriogin wouldn’t give in, ‘As you wish, but I won’t settle for anything less than fifty,’ he said firmly.
‘Then feel free to go to anyone else,’ said Gavriushka angrily.
Seriogin shrugged, ‘Well, then, so we will. You’re not the only game in town. There’s plenty more,’ he said nastily.
They lowered their voices and renewed their haggling. Gavriushka haggled with such emotion that perspiration began to run down his face. But it appeared that he wasn’t getting his way. As their argument became more heated, their voices rose and became more and more hoarse.
Gavriushka became completely transformed. His face grew scarlet. His greedy eyes shone as if he were mad and his fingers convulsed into fists. ‘Just you wait then,’ he shouted, unable to contain himself any longer.
Seriogin looked at him and jeered, ‘Let’s see – who of us will wait and whom it’ll suit best is still to be seen, but I’ll say it’ll be the worse for you,’ he said and laughed in Gavriushka’s face.
‘So that’s how you intend to carry on,’ shouted Gavriushka, leaping out of his chair. And before the onlookers, who had begun to be interested in their quarrel, could react, he picked up a saucer from the table and let fly at Seriogin with it. If Seriogin hadn’t managed to duck, the saucer would have smashed into his face. But it had been thrown with such force that it hit the opposite wall and with a ring fell to pieces on the floor.
Seriogin, in turn, seized a cup of tea and threw the contents into Gavriushka’s face. ‘Freshen up with that and calm down, because I can smash all this china over your blasted head,’ he said, looking at the panic-stricken Gavriushka, now wiping his scalded face with a table serviette.
The hot shower, it seemed, had its intended effect on Gavriushka. He threw a series of curses at his friend and sat down again, curtly dismissing the waiter who had appeared, saying to him, ‘What are you doing here! Go about your own business! We have our own to look after and we know each other well enough. Don’t bother us.’
The brief outburst also seemed to have an effect on Seriogin. Both began to give ground and before long I noticed that they shook hands in the friendliest manner.
‘So, thirty-five,’ said Gavriushka
‘I’ll be bringing the stuff to the station in four hours,’ said Seriogin, ‘and then that’ll be that.’
Their haggling over, they ordered vodka and bits and pieces to eat and began to speak so softly I could no longer follow what they were saying.
Not wishing to arouse their suspicions, I left and walked my way to the railway station, where I waited for them to appear. There was still plenty of time to dine.
Soon Gavriushka appeared. An hour or so later he was followed by Seriogin in a cab with two sizable baskets. Gavriushka took the baskets and counted out thirty-five roubles. Judging by the expression on his face, he parted with the money only very reluctantly.
Seriogin left, while the thrifty Gavriushka, sitting on one of the baskets, patiently waited for a train. As soon as the train arrived, Gavriushka began to lug his cargo into the coach. Not one to spend so much as ten kopecks on a porter, he carried them in himself, perspiring from the effort, having also spent a good five minutes in a heated argument with the conductor who hadn’t wanted to let him on board with such large-sized baskets.
Eventually the matter was settled and Gavriushka, heaving and blowing, managed to accommodate his cargo on shelves above the seats. I lost him on the way to Moscow, as we travelled in separate coaches.
Before departing from Petersburg, I managed to send Holmes a telegram and he met me in Moscow. I described briefly for him everything I had seen and heard, and asked, shouldn’t we be watching Gavriushka further.
‘Oh, no, there’s no point,’ answered Holmes. ‘It goes without saying that he will take his goods to the bookstore, and we’re better off dropping in on him in an hour’s time, when he will be going through what he has brought with him.’
We hired a cab and drove back to our hotel, chatting and asking each other about the results of our endeavours during the last few days. Just as I had expected, Holmes had wasted no time during my two-day absence.
‘My dear Watson, it would appear we are dealing with a fairly large and well-organized gang, operating under Gavriushka’s leadership in major centres throughout the whole of Russia with the criminal, Fomka Nikishkin, graciously contributing to the success of the enterprise. They are meeting today and I have already taken steps by which I can enter into their conspiracy.’
‘How did you do it?’ I asked.
‘Very simply,’ said Holmes with a smile. ‘Once you find one end of the thread that, in itself, is enough to unravel the entire ball of thread. On this occasion I undertook a very simple action. As you know, at least temporarily I am assistant warehouse manager at Mr Kliukin’s place. That day, when we sat in the tavern opposite Gavriushka Voropayeff’s place, I saw one of Kliukin’s employees going in for some reason. I made inquiries, only to discover he hadn’t been sent by anyone. This was enough for me to conclude that this employee must be on the best of terms with Gavriushka. Two days’ work in the warehouse and I uncovered the fact that this chap, Ivan Buroff by name, also helps out packing cargo dispatched to the provinces. It was no problem for me to get to know him. An evening in his company in Zvereff’s Tavern in Kozitzky Alley and we were fast friends.’
‘You are, indeed, a wizard,’ I exclaimed, listening to Holmes’s account. ‘And what did your friendship lead to, then?’
‘First of all, we both got drunk, well, he more than I. He seemed to see in me a pack leader, and when I finally hinted that it would be mutually profitable to collaborate, he saw the point immediately. Finally, he showed his cards. He said he regretted I hadn’t appeared earlier. He found it difficult to work on his own, but he assured me that working with him, what with me as an assistant warehouse manager, could lead to us both making quite a lot of money. On the third day of our acquaintanceship, we managed to drag away a hundred books, which we temporarily placed in a room I had set aside in the warehouse.’
‘So far I am with you,’ I exclaimed. ‘But what about the conference?’
Holmes laughed merrily.
‘You have to understand that I am now, so to speak, one of the gang, having been inducted by working for it and, of course, having full right to attend general meetings of this all-Russia enterprise.’
‘Have you, at least, spoken to Kliukin?’
‘Of course, though mind you, he hadn’t even noticed the thieving that took place. He has so many books piled up in his warehouse that they cannot be properly sorted out and the only way to solve the crime is by a thorough stock-taking in the bookshop and warehouse. And that only takes place once a year.’
‘What time is the conference?’
‘At nine in the evening.’
At the hotel, we went up to our room and I lay down to rest. However short the journey, nevertheless it had tired me out and it was with considerable relief that I slept for a couple of hours on my soft bed.
VIII
