The year is 1871. A small steam-ship, the
Abyssinia, is chugging through the Aegean sea. Various British notables aboard have been visiting historic sites around the islands of Lesbos and Lemnos, and as the summer ends the ship begins its way home. But all is not well.
On September the Ninth, a young member of the crew shouts for help. The passengers bundle into the room, to see a devastating sight; the collector of antiquities Sir John Derrington, who had been visiting the island with his nephew Samuel, is dead on the floor. Stabbed repeatedly, his body lies prone in a pool of blood. Not only that, but on inspection the ship's engines have been jammed and broken.
"Hunting down the murderer - or murderers - will not be easy," mutters the captain. The passengers begin to look at one another with suspicion. One young lady heads off to evacuate her stomach, and eventually others begin to leave.
"But say," says the crewman. "Don't we have that detective chap on board who could help?"
"You called?" A tall figure appears in the doorway, along with a short companion clutching a medic's bag.
"Ah, yes, now what's your name again sir?"
Ignoring the captain, the tall man descends the stairs.
"There's been more than one murderer here, I see. And they were searching for an item of some sort. Something of value."
"But however do you know?" The doctor at his side looks puzzled, but also looks used to being puzzled.
"A knife wound in the front, but note also the slight blueness around the lips. He was dead before the knife entered him, possibly strangulation. But not too long before, mind. And his papers have been rifled through; note from the way he uses different coloured papers he was a very methodical man, and so his desk being a mess is wholly out of character. Furthermore, the empty safe open there has a mark on the wall next to it. I think whatever gem this was had been moved, and our thief slammed the safe door into the cabin wall in frustration."
"Well," said the captain. "I only hope that we can all catch the perpetrator."
The tall man began to leave the room. "I shall endeavour to investigate."
"I've no idea how he does it," whispered the doctor to the captain, "but he can."
The tall man turned around.
"Really? Once you know the signs, it all becomes quite clear. Elementary, my dear Watson."
GUEST LIST FOR THE ABYSSINIA'S VOYAGE
Sherlock Holmes
Doctor Watson
Mycroft Holmes
Captain Johnson
Officer Dirforth
Sir James MacKenroy FRS
Lord Ganderby Elmingham
Karl Von Astergott
Professor Michael Oria
John Smith
Martin Durban, Esq.
Madame Alcinia de Quenliya
Samuel Derrington
