The Song My Paddle Sings

"The Companion"

Passage from the novel, "The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes"

"Having gathered these facts, Watson, I smoked several pipes over them, trying to separate those which were crucial from others which were merely incidental...

"A third person must have entered the room. And that third person could only have come in through the window.

"It seemed to me that a careful examination of the room and the lawn might possibly reveal some traces of this mysterious individual. You know my methods, Watson. There was not one of them which I did not apply to the inquiry. And it ended by my discovering traces, but very different ones from those which I had expected. There had been a man in the room, and he had crossed the lawn coming from the road. I was able to obtain five very clear impressions of his foot-marks: one in the roadway itself, at the point where he had climbed the low wall, two on the lawn, and two very faint ones upon the stained boards near the window where he had entered. He had apparently rushed across the lawn, for his toe-marks were much deeper than his heels. But it was not the man who surprised me. It was his companion."

"His companion!"

Holmes pulled a large sheet of tissue-paper out of his pocket and carefully unfolded it upon his knee.

"What do you make of that?" he asked.

The paper was covered with he tracings of the foot-marks of some small animal. It had five well-marked foot-pads, an indication of long nails, and the whole print might be nearly as large as a dessert-spoon.

"It's a dog," said I.

"Did you ever hear of a dog running up a curtain? I found distinct traces that this creature had done so."

"A monkey, then?"

"But it is not the print of a monkey."

"What can it be, then?"

"Neither dog nor cat nor monkey nor any creature that we are familiar with... It can run up a curtain, and it is carnivorous."

"How do you deduce that?"

"Because it ran up the curtain. A canary's cage was hanging in the window, and its aim seems to have been to get at the bird."

"Then what was the beast?"

"Ah, if I could give it a name it might go a long way towards solving the case..."

"But what had it to do with the crime?"

"That, also, is still obscure."

Reading Comprehension Questions

1) In the above passage, which of the following happens to the detectives?

a. they discover that a crime has taken place

b. they find what may be a break in the case

c. they realize that someone is out to get them

d. they start to grow suspicious of one another

2) In the first sentence of the above passage, Sherlock Holmes has gathered facts and "smoked several pipes over them." What is meant by this phrase?

a. he has spent a lot of time thinking about them

b. he has tried to light them on fire

c. he has grown disgusted with what he has found

d. he has realized they are misleading

3) In the above passage, Sherlock Holmes comments that he is trying to "separate those which were crucial from others which were merely incidental." This is a comment on the difficulty of doing what?

a. knowing what is important and what is not important

b. knowing what is real and what is imagined

c. knowing what is safe and what is dangerous

d. knowing what is difficult to find and what is easy to find

4) In the above passage, Sherlock Holmes is basing his conclusions on which of the following clues?

a. a line of tire tracks

b. the criminal's weapon

c. a suspect's confession

d. a set of footprints

5) The above passage is at the beginning of a detective story. Which of the following is likely to be revealed to the reader near the climax of the story?

a. the opinions of the detectives

b. the names of the original suspects

c. the identity of the mystery animal

d. the clues found at the crime scene

6) Which of the following best describes the mood of the characters in the above passage?

a. confident

b. confused

c. amused

d. indifferent

Answer Key