自相矛盾的信件.DOC

第一章 自相矛盾的信件 Chapter 1 Contradictory Letters 一天，詹姆斯·史塔尔工程师收到认识多年的前任工头西蒙·福特的信，让他次日到阿帕福伊尔煤矿多查特煤仓的耶鲁矿井，届时会告诉他一件他感兴趣的事。西蒙·福特的儿子哈利·福特将在码头等詹姆斯，并请他对邀请保密。 今年五十五岁的詹姆斯·史塔尔看上去只有 四十岁左右，他的业绩为同业工会带来了荣誉。他是苏格兰考古学家协会的主席，经常在《爱丁堡印 象》杂志发表署名文章，他还是一位实践家。 英国人给他们那辽阔的煤田起名为“黑印度”，这些煤田曾为英国创造了惊人的财富，并为王国做出了巨大的贡献。现在一些煤矿已经报废，阿帕福伊尔煤矿就是其中之一。十年前，这个矿报废后，拆除了所有设备，只留下一个长长的木梯能够下到耶鲁井里。 当年，詹姆斯·史塔尔和几千名矿工告别。当人群离开之后，工头西蒙·福特还留在那里，旁边站着他的儿子——一个十五岁的小伙子。 十年后，詹姆斯·史塔尔收到了西蒙·福特的信，邀请他立刻回到阿帕福伊尔煤矿。信上提到的那件使他感兴趣的事是什么呢？他猜不出来，是老头又发现了新矿脉？他想不会的。詹姆斯·史塔尔决定接受这个邀请。 但在接近晚上六点时，第三次邮班又送来了一封信。信纸是从笔记 本上撕下来的，纸已发黄，并且没有署名。只是告诉工程师去也没用，西蒙·福特的信已经失去了目标。  o Mr. J. R. Starr, Engineer, 30 Canongate, Edinburgh. “If Mr. James Starr will come tomorrow to the Aberfoyle coal-mines, Dochart pit, Yarrow shaft, a communication of an interesting nature will be made to him. “Mr. James Starr will be awaited for, the whole day, at the Callander station, by Harry Ford, son of the old overman Simon Ford. “He is requested to keep this invitation secret.” Such was the letter which James Starr received by the first post, on the 3rd December, 18-, the letter bearing the Aberfoyle postmark, county of Stirling, Scotland. The engineer’s curiosity was excited to the highest pitch. It never occurred to him to doubt whether this letter might not be a hoax. For many years he had known Simon Ford, one of the former foremen of the Aberfoyle mines, of which he, James Starr, had for twenty years, been the manager, or, as he would be termed in English coal-mines, the viewer. James Starr was a strongly-constituted-man, on whom his fifty-five years weighed no more heavily than if they had been forty. He belonged to an old Edinburgh family, and was one of its most distinguished members. His labors did credit to the body of engineers who are gradually devouring the carboniferous subsoil of the United Kingdom, as much at Cardiff and Newcastle, as in the southern counties of Scotland. However, it was more particularly in the depths of the mysterious mi