Arthur Conan Doyle, 'The Adventure of Silver Blaze'
Enjoy the climactic moments from the 1893 Sherlock Holmes story that gave us the first 'curious incident of the dog in the night-time'
The Story So Far…
A horse trainer named John Straker, in charge of the famous race-horse Silver Blaze, has been killed and Sherlock Holmes is on the case. He and his assistant, Dr Watson, have come to Dartmoor to investigate the murder. As they talk with the impatient Colonel Ross, Silver Blaze’s owner, and the local police Inspector, they notice something strange about the behaviour of the other animals at the scene of the crime…
Now read on…
“My friend and I return to town by the night-express,” said Holmes. “We have had a charming little breath of your beautiful Dartmoor air.”
The Inspector opened his eyes, and the Colonel’s lip curled in a sneer.
“So you despair of arresting the murderer of poor Straker,” said he.
Holmes shrugged his shoulders. “There are certainly grave difficulties in the way,” said he. “I have every hope, however, that your horse will start upon Tuesday, and I beg that you will have your jockey in readiness. Might I ask for a photograph of Mr. John Straker?”
The Inspector took one from an envelope and handed it to him.
“My dear Gregory, you anticipate all my wants. If I might ask you to wait here for an instant, I have a question which I should like to put to the maid.”
“I must say that I am rather disappointed in our London consultant,” said Colonel Ross, bluntly, as my friend left the room. “I do not see that we are any further than when he came.”
“At least you have his assurance that your horse will run,” said I.
“Yes, I have his assurance,” said the Colonel, with a shrug of his shoulders. “I should prefer to have the horse.”
I was about to make some reply in defence of my friend when he entered the room again.
“Now, gentlemen,” said he, “I am quite ready for Tavistock.”
As we stepped into the carriage one of the stable-lads held the door open for us. A sudden idea seemed to occur to Holmes, for he leaned forward and touched the lad upon the sleeve.
“You have a few sheep in the paddock,” he said. “Who attends to them?”
“I do, sir.”
“Have you noticed anything amiss with them of late?”
“Well, sir, not of much account; but three of them have gone lame, sir.”
I could see that Holmes was extremely pleased, for he chuckled and rubbed his hands together.
“A long shot, Watson; a very long shot,” said he, pinching my arm. “Gregory, let me recommend to your attention this singular epidemic among the sheep. Drive on, coachman!”
Colonel Ross still wore an expression which showed the poor opinion which he had formed of my companion’s ability, but I saw by the Inspector’s face that his attention had been keenly aroused.
“You consider that to be important?” he asked.
“Exceedingly so.”
“Is there any point to which you would wish to draw my attention?”
“To the curious incident of the dog in the night-time.”
“The dog did nothing in the night-time.”
“That was the curious incident,” remarked Sherlock Holmes.
What we love about this excerpt…
We love this passage for its brisk, energetic dialogue and for its inclusion of the animal perspective. Animals are seemingly everywhere in Arthur Conan Doyle’s detective fiction. Stories hinge upon their presence—or, in the ‘Silver Blaze’ mystery, their absence.
This moment reveals the key to the story’s resolution: Holmes relays that it was the dog’s lack of action that pointed him towards the criminal. The dog didn’t bark because he knew the visitor—bonding and perception motivated his behaviour. Here, we have a disruption of the conventional, narrow understanding of animal intelligence, setting up the story for an alternative politics in which animals receive ethical (and even legal) status.
About the Author
Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930), perhaps the most famous writer of detective fiction, was born in Edinburgh. Doyle was not only a writer but a physician; Holmes’s trademark methods of close observation were inspired by Dr Joseph Bell, an orthopedic surgeon in Edinburgh with whom Doyle had worked.
Notably prolific, Doyle wrote across genres, forms, and topics, from nonfiction spiritualist writings to historical romance novels to fifty-six Sherlock Holmes stories. He received a knighthood for his history of the Boer War. Today, however, he is best known for his creation of the brilliant, erratic, and seemingly indomitable Holmes.
To read alongside…
Why not turn to other dog detectives from nineteenth-century literature?
In Wilkie Collins’s My Lady’s Money, the dog not only solves the mystery, he also has the distinction of being the first dog detective in fiction.
For more Sherlock Holmes, there’s also Doyle’s ‘The Sign of Four,’ in which Toby the mongrel is singled out when Holmes declares, ‘I would rather have Toby’s help than that of the whole detective force of London.’ Doyle’s ‘The Adventure of the Copper Beeches’ features Carlo the dog, who suffers enormously in being trained as a ‘guard dog’. (Carlo the Dog was also a popular theatre act in the early 19th century, in which the redoubtable Carlo leapt from a high precipice into a lake—a deep tank of water hidden beneath the stage—and pulled a child to safety before the wildly applauding audience.)
C.L. Pirkis’s lesser-known ‘Missing!’ presents the unforgettable Dryad the Newfoundland, a species of dog that most famously appears in J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan as Nana, the children’s patient, loving nanny.
Finally, Mark Haddon’s brilliant novel The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time takes its title from the ‘Silver Blaze’ story.
Today’s Guest Curators
Thanks to one of our readers for suggesting this excerpt and its medical context. It was curated by Dr Lauren Cullen, who specialises in nineteenth-century literature and culture, animal studies, and the environmental humanities, and Dr Daniel Abdalla, a core member of LitHits and an expert in nineteenth and twentieth-century literature, particularly its relationship to science.
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