The Incredible Jumping Man

The hall door had slowly opened, and against the lamp-lit background we saw the tall figure of Professor Presbury. He was clad in his dressing-gown. As he stood outlined in the doorway he was erect but leaning forward with dangling arms. Behind him, his shadow stretched like two stunted, rudimentary wings.
Now he stepped forward into the drive, and an extraordinary change came over him. He seemed to grow in stature, and his wing-like shadow swelled in size. With a growl, he proceeded to jump along the drive while flapping his arms, rather like a demented bird trying to take flight. He jumped up to Holmes with his hands extended like claws and hissed. Fire spurted from his nostrils.
"Quick, Watson!" cried Holmes, moving backwards without taking his eyes from the menacing figure of the Professor. I hurried up to them and emptied my revolver into the daunting, monstrous body, which when observed at close range turned out to be entirely free from any kind of wing-like appendages. With a strange, shuddering cry, the Professor sank to the ground and expired.
"What on earth is this, Holmes?" said I while reloading my weapon.   "I think the envelope you apprehend sticking out of one of the Professor's dressing-gown pockets may throw some light on the matter", observed Holmes, wiping away some of the soot from the Professor's fiery breath with a handkerchief, a gift from a very highly positioned lady and embroidered in token thereof with the encrowned initials "V. R.". Carefully, he folded the handkerchief and returned it to his pocket. "Would you be so good as to pull it out and read it aloud?"
I proceeded to follow his instruction. Tearing out the enclosure, I read aloud:
"Honoured Colleague. Since your esteemed visit I have thought much of your case, and though in your circumstance there are some special reasons for the treatment, I would nonetheless enjoin caution, as my results have shown that it is not without danger of a kind.
It is possible that the Serum of Balrog may endow you with the rejuvenation you desire. However, there are some rather undesirable side-effects from treatment with the extract from the glands of Balrogs, particularly the strange delusion of being able to fly that so many Balrogs are, alas, prone for; a distorted perception which explains why their race is rapidly becoming extinct.
I beg you to take every possible precaution if you decide to disregard my recommendation and proceed with these experiments.
            Weekly reports will oblige
                      Yours with high esteem,
                            H. Loewenstein."
Loewenstein! The name brought back to me the memory of some snippet from a newspaper which spoke of an obscure scientist who was striving in some unknown way for the secret of rejuvenescence and the elixir of life. Loewenstein of Prague! Loewenstein with the wondrous strength-giving serum, tabooed by the profession because he refused to reveal its source.   While I was given over to these thoughts, Holmes pulled out his Ring of Power and said to it: "Summon Lestrade and his men here!"   From the Ring issued a shrill, peevish voice: "Oh no, I won't! I'm fed up with being misused like some kind of cell phone all the time. Why don't you run and fetch them yourself?"
Holmes looked a the Ring with an incredulous eye. "I am your master!" he said to it. "Now do as you are told! Connect me to Lestrade's Ring at once!"
"Put a sock in it!" said the Ring.

Öjevind Lång

		Holmes
Sherlock