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iii
dr. armstrong drew a deep breath.
“and mrs. rogers?”
lombard said slowly:
“i could believe in anthony’s suicide (with difficulty) if it weren’t for mrs. rogers. i could
believe in mrs. rogers’ suicide (easily) if it weren’t for anthony marston. i can believe that
rogers put his wife out of the way — if it were not for the unexpected death of anthony
marston. but what we need is a theory to explain two deaths following rapidly on each other.”
armstrong said:
“i can perhaps give you some help towards that theory.”
and he repeated the facts that rogers had given him about the disappearance of the two
little china figures.
lombard said:
“yes, little china figures … there were certainly ten last night at dinner. and now there
are eight, you say?”
dr. armstrong recited:
“ten little soldier boys going out to dine;
one went and choked himself and then there were nine.
“nine little soldier boys sat up very late;
one overslept himself and then there were eight.”
the two men looked at each other. philip lombard grinned and flung away his cigarette.
“fits too damned well to be a coincidence! anthony marston dies of asphyxiation or
choking last night after dinner, and mother rogers oversleeps herself with a vengeance.”
“and therefore?” said armstrong.
lombard took him up.
“and therefore another kind of soldier. the unknown soldier! x! mr. owen! u. n. owen!
one unknown lunatic at large!”
“ah!” armstrong breathed a sigh of relief. “you agree. but you see what it involves?
rogers swore that there was no one but ourselves and he and his wife on the island.”
“rogers is wrong! or possibly rogers is lying!”
armstrong shook his head.
“i don’t think he’s lying. the man’s scared. he’s scared nearly out of his senses.”
philip lombard nodded.
he said:
“no motorboat this morning. that fits in. mr. owen’s little arrangements again to the fore.
soldier island is to be isolated until mr. owen has finished his job.”
armstrong had gone pale. he said:
“you realize—the man must be a raving maniac!”
philip lombard said, and there was a new ring in his voice:
“there’s one thing mr. owen didn’t realize.”
“what’s that?”
“this island’s more or less a bare rock. we shall make short work of searching it. we’ll
soon ferret out u. n. owen, esq.”
dr. armstrong said warningly:
“he’ll be dangerous.”
philip lombard laughed.
“dangerous? who’s afraid of the big bad wolf? i’ll be dangerous when i get hold of him!”
he paused and said:
“we’d better rope in blore to help us. he’ll be a good man in a pinch. better not tell the
women. as for the others, the general’s ga-ga, i think, and old wargrave’s forte is masterly
inactivity. the three of us can attend to this job.”
3
阿姆斯特朗医生深吸了一口气。
“那么罗杰斯太太的死是怎么回事？”
隆巴德慢慢分析道：
“假如没有发生罗杰斯太太这件事，尽管有很多疑点，我也可能相信安东尼是自杀的。
反言之，假如没有发生安东尼·马斯顿这件事，我完全会相信罗杰斯太太是自杀的。假如安
东尼的死亡不是这样蹊跷，我没准儿会相信是罗杰斯杀死了自己的妻子。但现在接连发生
了两起死亡事件，那就需要找出其中的联系。”
阿姆斯特朗说：
“我也许能帮你搞清楚这个问题。”
于是，他把罗杰斯告诉他的两个小士兵玩偶失踪的事重复了一遍。
隆巴德说：
“对了，小士兵……昨天晚上吃饭的时候肯定有十个。现在只有八个了？”
阿姆斯特朗医生背诵起来：
“十个小士兵，出门打牙祭；
不幸噎住喉，十个只剩九。
九个小士兵，秉烛到夜半；
清早叫不答，九个只剩八。”
两个人交换了一个眼神，菲利普·隆巴德露齿一笑，扔掉手里的烟头。
“再也没有比这更巧的事了！见鬼！昨天吃完了晚饭，安东尼·马斯顿呛死——或者说
是噎死了，而罗杰斯太太的确是睡着以后，再也叫不醒了。”
“所以呢？”阿姆斯特朗说。
隆巴德紧接着说：
“所以还会有下一个小士兵消失！欧文先生！尤·纳·欧文。一个神出鬼没的狂徒！”
“啊！”阿姆斯特朗吸了一口气，放松下来。他说：
“你也这么想。然而，还有一个问题：罗杰斯发誓说，岛上除了我们、他本人以及他妻
子以外，再没有别人了。”
“罗杰斯说错了！而且，罗杰斯可能在撒谎！”
阿姆斯特朗摇摇头。
“我认为他没有撒谎。他害怕得要死！简直要被吓疯了。”
菲利普·隆巴德点点头。
“今天上午不会有船来接我们回去了。这一点也不难想通，一定又是欧文先生的精心安
排。士兵岛想必会一直与世隔绝，直到欧文先生把所有恩怨了结为止。”
阿姆斯特朗面无血色，说：
“你觉得这个人是杀人狂？”
隆巴德忽然换了一种口气：
“不过有一点，这个欧文先生肯定没有料到。”
“什么？”
“说到底，这座岛无非是一块光秃秃的礁石。我们迅速行动，彻底把这座岛搜查一遍，
马上就可以把尤·纳·欧文先生找出来。”
阿姆斯特朗医生警告他说：
“他可是个危险人物！”
隆巴德大笑起来：
“危险人物？我会害怕大灰狼吗？要是让我抓住他，我就是他眼中的危险人物！”
他顿了顿，说：
“我们最好让布洛尔也参与行动，关键时刻他能帮上忙。这件事最好不要让女人知道。
至于其他人，将军太老了，瓦格雷夫也指望不上。就我们三人行动吧。”
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