英文原版

"Maybe he won't come. Maybe he'll get a sniff of danger," said the secretary.
"He'll come, never fear," McMurdo answered. "He is as eager to come as you can be to see him. Hark to that!"
They all sat like wax figures, some with their glasses arrested halfway to their lips. Three loud knocks had sounded at the door.
"Hush!" McMurdo raised his hand in caution. An exulting glance went round the circle, and hands were laid upon their weapons.
"Not a sound, for your lives!" McMurdo whispered, as he went from the room, closing the door carefully behind him.
With strained ears the murderers waited. They counted the steps of their comrade down the passage. Then they heard him open the outer door. There were a few words as of greeting. Then they were aware of a strange step inside and of an unfamiliar voice. An instant later came the slam of the door and the turning of the key in the lock. Their prey was safe within the trap. Tiger Cormac laughed horribly, and Boss McGinty clapped his great hand across his mouth.
"Be quiet, you fool!" he whispered. "You'll be the undoing of us yet!"
There was a mutter of conversation from the next room. It seemed interminable. Then the door opened, and McMurdo appeared, his finger upon his lip.
He came to the end of the table and looked round at them. A subtle change had come over him. His manner was as of one who has great work to do. His face had set into granite firmness. His eyes shone with a fierce excitement behind his spectacles. He had become a visible leader of men. They stared at him with eager interest; but he said nothing. Still with the same singular gaze he looked from man to man.
"Well!" cried Boss McGinty at last. "Is he here? Is Birdy Edwards here?"
"Yes," McMurdo answered slowly. "Birdy Edwards is here. I am Birdy Edwards!"
There were ten seconds after that brief speech during which the room might have been empty, so profound was the silence. The hissing of a kettle upon the stove rose sharp and strident to the ear. Seven white faces, all turned upward to this man who dominated them, were set motionless with utter terror. Then, with a sudden shivering of glass, a bristle of glistening rifle barrels broke through each window, while the curtains were torn from their hangings.
At the sight Boss McGinty gave the roar of a wounded bear and plunged for the half-opened door. A levelled revolver met him there with the stern blue eyes of Captain Marvin of the Mine Police gleaming behind the sights. The Boss recoiled and fell back into his chair.
"You're safer there, Councillor," said the man whom they had known as McMurdo. "And you, Baldwin, if you don't take your hand off your pistol, you'll cheat the hangman yet. Pull it out, or by the Lord that made me--There, that will do. There are forty armed men round this house, and you can figure it out for yourself what chance you have. Take their pistols, Marvin!"
There was no possible resistance under the menace of those rifles. The men were disarmed. Sulky, sheepish, and amazed, they still sat round the table.
“也许他觉察出有危险，可能不来吧，"哈拉威说道。
“不用怕，他要来的，"麦克默多答道，“象你们急于见到他一样，他也急于到这里来。你们听！”
他们都象蜡人一样坐着不动，有几个人正把酒杯送往唇边，这时也停了下来。只听门上重重地响了三下。
“不要作声，"麦克默多举手示警，这些人欣喜欲狂，都暗暗握住手枪。
“为了你们的生命安全，不要出一点声音！"麦克默多低声说道，从室内走出去，小心翼翼地把门关上。
这些凶手都拉长了耳朵等候着。他们数着这位伙伴走向过道的脚步声，听到他打开大门，好象说了几句寒暄话，然后是一阵陌生的脚步声和一个生人的话声。过了一会儿，门砰地响了一下，接着是钥匙锁门的声音。他们的猎物已经完全陷入牢笼。老虎科马克发出一阵狞笑，于是首领麦金蒂用他的大手掩住科马克的嘴。
“别出声，你这蠢货！"麦金蒂低声说道，“你要坏我们的事了！”
邻室中传来模糊不清的低语声，谈个没完，令人难以忍耐。后来门打开了，麦克默多走进来，把手指放到唇上。
麦克默多走到桌子一头，把他们打量了一番。他的面容起了令人捉摸不定的变化，这时他的神情似乎是一个着手办大事的人，面容坚决果敢，双目从眼镜后面射出极其激动的光彩。他显然成了一个领导人。这些人急切地望着他，可是麦克默多一言不发，依然打量着他们每一个人。
“喂！"麦金蒂终于大声喊到，“他来了吗？伯尔弟·爱德华在这里吗？”
“不错，"麦克默多不慌不忙地答道，“伯尔弟·爱德华在此。我就是伯尔弟·爱德华！”
这短短的几句话说出以后，室中顿时象空旷无人一般的寂静无声，只听到火炉上水壶的沸腾声。七个人面色惨白，十分惊恐，呆望着这位扫视他们的人。接着，随着一阵窗玻璃的破裂声，许多闪闪发亮的来复枪筒从窗口伸进来，窗帘也全被撕破了。
这时首领麦金蒂象一头受伤的熊，咆哮了一声，跳到半开的门前。一支手枪正在那里对准了他，煤矿警察队长马文两只蓝色的大眼睛正灼灼有神地向他望着。这位首领只好退后，倒在他的座位上。
“参议员先生，你在那里还是比较安全的，"他们一直把他叫做麦克默多的那个人说道，“还有你，鲍德温，如果你不把手离开你的手枪，那你就用不着刽子手了。把手拿出来，不然，我只好……放在那里，行了。这所房子已经被四十名全副武装的人包围了，你们自己可以想想你们还有什么机会逃走。马文，下掉他们的手枪！”
在这么多来复枪的威胁下，丝毫没有反抗的可能。这些人全被缴了械，他们面色阴沉、驯顺而惊讶地依然围坐在桌旁。

背景阅读

作者简介：

亚瑟·柯南·道尔（1859——1930）英国杰出的侦探小说家、剧作家。生于苏格兰爱丁堡，父亲是一位政府建工部的公务员。柯南·道尔自幼喜欢文学，中学时任校刊主编。毕业于爱丁堡医科大学，行医10余年，收入仅能维持生活。后专写侦探小说。《血字的研究》几经退稿才发表，以《四签名》闻名于世。1891年弃医从文，遂成侦探小说家。代表作有《波西米亚丑闻》《红发会》、《五个橘核》等。1894年决定停止写侦探小说，在《最后一案》中让福尔摩斯在激流中死去。不料广大读者对此极端愤慨，提出抗议。柯南道尔只得在《空屋》中让福尔摩斯死里逃生，又写出《巴斯克维尔的猎犬》、《恐怖谷》等侦探小说。塑造的福尔摩斯已成为世界上家喻户晓的人物。就连福尔摩斯的办公地点——伦敦贝克街221号B也成了旅游景点。

导言：

伯尔斯通庄园的主人不幸惨遭杀害，死状奇惨无比，头颅几乎被枪击得粉碎，四周血肉模糊，惨不忍睹！尸体旁边留有卡片，上面潦草地写着“V.V.341”的字样。这令案子更为扑朔迷离：这张卡片难道是凶手留下来的吗？它代表什么意义？“恐怖谷”曾令道格拉斯惴惴不安。“恐怖谷”究竟是个怎样的地方？道格拉斯的死与“恐怖谷 ”又有什么关系？
福尔摩斯，侦探的代名词；没有他，就没有侦探文学和侦探文化——新星出版社倾力打造《福尔摩斯探案全集（图注本）》，根据公认最权威英译本重新翻译，配以五百幅原版配图、两千余条专业学者注释、五十余篇延伸阅读、六十篇注释笔记，为中国福迷铸就世界上最权威、最经典的福尔摩斯探案全录。
阿瑟·柯南·道尔（Arthur Conan Doyle，1859—1930），英国著名侦探小说家、剧作家，现代侦探小说的奠基人之一，被誉为“英国侦探小说之父”。