We jumped from the moving train, ran across fields, caught another train, and at last took the night boat from Newhaven. For five days we travelled through France and Germany in the same wild and crazy way. Holmes would not say where we were going. I never took my eyes off him during those days, but the right moment to talk to him never came. Holmes seemed stronger than ever, while I was getting weaker every day. Only the cocaine made it possible for me to stay awake.
Finally, sitting one night in a hotel in Switzerland, I knew that I could not go on much longer. I had told Holmes that next day I wanted to walk over the mountains to the famous Reichenbach Falls. I decided that I would tell him what I knew about him when we were alone in the mountains. The cocaine was almost finished. Whether I lived or died, the end must come that day.
We did not begin our walk to the Reichenbach Falls until the afternoon. Holmes refused to go out before lunch. I was frightened. I had no more cocaine, and soon I would be too tired to go on. At last we left the hotel, and started to walk along the mountain paths. Holmes talked happily as we went. He found the mountains very beautiful.
When we had gone a little way, I found that I had left my watch at the hotel. It had belonged to my father, and I wanted to know that it was safe. I told Holmes that I would return to the hotel, find the watch, and see him later at the Falls. I hoped that I was doing the right thing, and that he would not disappear.
When at last I reached the Falls, I could not see him, and thought for a moment that he had escaped me. Then I saw a narrow path which was cut into the rock right above the Falls themselves. Holmes was standing on that path, watching the water crash down onto the rocks. There was nowhere he could run to. It could not be easier for me.
I moved towards him. Suddenly he turned and our eyes met.
His look was cool, untroubled. How could I hope to frighten this man? My heart failed me and I almost fell. He stepped forward to help me, but I pulled out my gun.
'Back!' I shouted. 'Another step and I shall shoot!' He smiled. 'Very well, doctor. I understand.'
My hands shook and I almost dropped the gun. 'It's over, Holmes,' I said. 'I've been to the empty house. I know everything.'
He laughed. 'Dear fellow! Nobody knows everything!'
I seemed to hear voices coming to me from the water, and I could now see two Holmeses- one on the path and one standing on air.
'I've found the jars, Holmes, and the papers. I know you killed them.'
'I killed them? Which? The jars or the papers?'
Nothing seemed real. It was getting harder and harder for me to speak. Holmes watched me, smiling.
'I know you did it, Holmes,' I shouted. 'J watched you cut Mary Kelly to pieces. You killed them! Let me hear you say that you did!'
'What is it you want me to say?' 'Say you killed them!' 'You killed them.'
'I am going to shoot you, Holmes!' I screamed. 'Before you die, tell me that you understand what you have done!'
'You're mad, doctor,' he said. 'And you're talking rubbish.
Go on, shoot me!'
I shot him. I shot again and again, but still he stood there. Finally, I fell to the ground. I could not move. It seemed a long time before I could say, 'Why aren't you dead?'
I stared up at him as he stood above me, calmly inhaling snuff from his snuffbox.
'I took the bullets from your gun and put in blanks,' he said conversationally. 'Tell me, Moriarty, when did you kill Watson? You are very clever. You look almost like him, but I know who you are. When I saw you injecting cocaine three times a day, I knew then for sure that you were not my dear friend. Dr Watson would never, never take drugs. Your cocaine is