第 十二 章 · 第12章

The Strange Story of Jonathan Small

A very patient man was that inspector in the cab, for it was a weary

time before I rejoined him. His face clouded over when I showed him the

empty box.

“There goes the reward!” said he, gloomily. “Where there is no money

there is no pay. This night’s work would have been worth a tenner each

to Sam Brown and me if the treasure had been there.”

“Mr. Thaddeus Sholto is a rich man,” I said. “He will see that you are

rewarded, treasure or no.”

The inspector shook his head despondently, however. “It’s a bad job,”

he repeated; “and so Mr. Athelney Jones will think.”

His forecast proved to be correct, for the detective looked blank

enough when I got to Baker Street and showed him the empty box. They

had only just arrived, Holmes, the prisoner, and he, for they had

changed their plans so far as to report themselves at a station upon

the way. My companion lounged in his arm-chair with his usual listless

expression, while Small sat stolidly opposite to him with his wooden

leg cocked over his sound one. As I exhibited the empty box he leaned

back in his chair and laughed aloud.

“This is your doing, Small,” said Athelney Jones, angrily.

“Yes, I have put it away where you shall never lay hand upon it,” he

cried, exultantly. “It is my treasure; and if I can’t have the loot

I’ll take darned good care that no one else does. I tell you that no

living man has any right to it, unless it is three men who are in the

Andaman convict-barracks and myself. I know now that I cannot have the

use of it, and I know that they cannot. I have acted all through for

them as much as for myself. It’s been the sign of four with us always.

Well I know that they would have had me do just what I have done, and

throw the treasure into the Thames rather than let it go to kith or kin

of Sholto or of Morstan. It was not to make them rich that we did for

Achmet. You’ll find the treasure where the key is, and where little

Tonga is. When I saw that your launch must catch us, I put the loot

away in a safe place. There are no rupees for you this journey.”

“You are deceiving us, Small,” said Athelney Jones, sternly. “If you

had wished to throw the treasure into the Thames it would have been

easier for you to have thrown box and all.”

“Easier for me to throw, and easier for you to recover,” he answered,

with a shrewd, sidelong look. “The man that was clever enough to hunt

me down is clever enough to pick an iron box from the bottom of a

river. Now that they are scattered over five miles or so, it may be a

harder job. It went to my heart to do it, though. I was half mad when

you came up with us. However, there’s no good grieving over it. I’ve

had ups in my life, and I’ve had downs, but I’ve learned not to cry

over spilled milk.”

“This is a very serious matter, Small,” said the detective. “If you had

helped justice, instead of thwarting it in this way, you would have had

a better chance at your trial.”

“Justice!” snarled the ex-convict. “A pretty justice! Whose loot is

this, if it is not ours? Where is the justice that I should give it up

to those who have never earned it? Look how I have earned it! Twenty

long years in that fever-ridden swamp, all day at work under the

mangrove-tree, all night chained up in the filthy convict-huts, bitten

by mosquitoes, racked with ague, bullied by every cursed black-faced

policeman who loved to take it out of a white man. That was how I

earned the Agra treasure; and you talk to me of justice because I

cannot bear to feel that I have paid this price only that another may

enjoy it! I would rather swing a score of times, or have one of Tonga’s

darts in my hide, than live in a convict’s cell and feel that another

man is at his ease in a palace with the money that should be mine.”

Small had dropped his mask of stoicism, and all this came out in a wild

whirl of words, while his eyes blazed, and the handcuffs clanked

together with the impassioned movement of his hands. I could

understand, as I saw the fury and the passion of the man, that it was

no groundless or unnatural terror which had possessed Major Sholto when

he first learned that the injured convict was upon his track.

“You forget that we know nothing of all this,” said Holmes quietly. “We

have not heard your story, and we cannot tell how far justice may

originally have been on your side.”

“Well, sir, you have been very fair-spoken to me, though I can see that

I have you to thank that I have these bracelets upon my wrists. Still,

I bear no grudge for that. It is all fair and above-board. If you want

to hear my story I have no wish to hold it back. What I say to you is

God’s truth, every word of it. Thank you; you can put the glass beside

me here, and I’ll put my lips to it if I am dry.

“I am a Worcestershire man myself,—born near Pershore. I dare say you

would find a heap of Smalls living there now if you were to look. I

have often thought of taking a look round there, but the truth is that

I was never much of a credit to the family, and I doubt if they would

be so very glad to see me. They were all steady, chapel-going folk,

small farmers, well-known and respected over the country-side, while I

was always a bit of a rover. At last, however, when I was about

eighteen, I gave them no more trouble, for I got into a mess over a

girl, and could only get out of it again by taking the Queen’s shilling

and joining the 3rd Buffs, which was just starting for India.

“I wasn’t destined to do much soldiering, however. I had just got past

the goose-step, and learned to handle my musket, when I was fool enough

to go swimming in the Ganges. Luckily for me, my company sergeant, John

Holder, was in the water at the same time, and he was one of the finest

swimmers in the service. A crocodile took me, just as I was half-way

across, and nipped off my right leg as clean as a surgeon could have

done it, just above the knee. What with the shock and the loss of

blood, I fainted, and should have drowned if Holder had not caught hold

of me and paddled for the bank. I was five months in hospital over it,

and when at last I was able to limp out of it with this timber toe

strapped to my stump I found myself invalided out of the army and

unfitted for any active occupation.

“I was, as you can imagine, pretty down on my luck at this time, for I

was a useless cripple though not yet in my twentieth year. However, my

misfortune soon proved to be a blessing in disguise. A man named Abel

White, who had come out there as an indigo-planter, wanted an overseer

to look after his coolies and keep them up to their work. He happened

to be a friend of our colonel’s, who had taken an interest in me since

the accident. To make a long story short, the colonel recommended me

strongly for the post and, as the work was mostly to be done on

horseback, my leg was no great obstacle, for I had enough knee left to

keep good grip on the saddle. What I had to do was to ride over the

plantation, to keep an eye on the men as they worked, and to report the

idlers. The pay was fair, I had comfortable quarters, and altogether I

was content to spend the remainder of my life in indigo-planting. Mr.

Abel White was a kind man, and he would often drop into my little

shanty and smoke a pipe with me, for white folk out there feel their

hearts warm to each other as they never do here at home.

“Well, I was never in luck’s way long. Suddenly, without a note of

warning, the great mutiny broke upon us. One month India lay as still

and peaceful, to all appearance, as Surrey or Kent; the next there were

two hundred thousand black devils let loose, and the country was a

perfect hell. Of course you know all about it, gentlemen,—a deal more

than I do, very like, since reading is not in my line. I only know what

I saw with my own eyes. Our plantation was at a place called Muttra,

near the border of the Northwest Provinces. Night after night the whole

sky was alight with the burning bungalows, and day after day we had

small companies of Europeans passing through our estate with their

wives and children, on their way to Agra, where were the nearest

troops. Mr. Abel White was an obstinate man. He had it in his head that

the affair had been exaggerated, and that it would blow over as

suddenly as it had sprung up. There he sat on his veranda, drinking

whiskey-pegs and smoking cheroots, while the country was in a blaze

about him. Of course we stuck by him, I and Dawson, who, with his wife,

used to do the book-work and the managing. Well, one fine day the crash

came. I had been away on a distant plantation, and was riding slowly

home in the evening, when my eye fell upon something all huddled

together at the bottom of a steep nullah. I rode down to see what it

was, and the cold struck through my heart when I found it was Dawson’s

wife, all cut into ribbons, and half eaten by jackals and native dogs.

A little further up the road Dawson himself was lying on his face,

quite dead, with an empty revolver in his hand and four Sepoys lying

across each other in front of him. I reined up my horse, wondering

which way I should turn, but at that moment I saw thick smoke curling

up from Abel White’s bungalow and the flames beginning to burst through

the roof. I knew then that I could do my employer no good, but would

only throw my own life away if I meddled in the matter. From where I

stood I could see hundreds of the black fiends, with their red coats

still on their backs, dancing and howling round the burning house. Some

of them pointed at me, and a couple of bullets sang past my head; so I

broke away across the paddy-fields, and found myself late at night safe

within the walls at Agra.

“As it proved, however, there was no great safety there, either. The

whole country was up like a swarm of bees. Wherever the English could

collect in little bands they held just the ground that their guns

commanded. Everywhere else they were helpless fugitives. It was a fight

of the millions against the hundreds; and the cruellest part of it was

that these men that we fought against, foot, horse, and gunners, were

our own picked troops, whom we had taught and trained, handling our own

weapons, and blowing our own bugle-calls. At Agra there were the 3rd

Bengal Fusiliers, some Sikhs, two troops of horse, and a battery of

artillery. A volunteer corps of clerks and merchants had been formed,

and this I joined, wooden leg and all. We went out to meet the rebels

at Shahgunge early in July, and we beat them back for a time, but our

powder gave out, and we had to fall back upon the city.

“Nothing but the worst news came to us from every side,—which is not to

be wondered at, for if you look at the map you will see that we were

right in the heart of it. Lucknow is rather better than a hundred miles

to the east, and Cawnpore about as far to the south. From every point

on the compass there was nothing but torture and murder and outrage.

“The city of Agra is a great place, swarming with fanatics and fierce

devil-worshippers of all sorts. Our handful of men were lost among the

narrow, winding streets. Our leader moved across the river, therefore,

and took up his position in the old fort at Agra. I don’t know if any

of you gentlemen have ever read or heard anything of that old fort. It

is a very queer place,—the queerest that ever I was in, and I have been

in some rum corners, too. First of all, it is enormous in size. I

should think that the enclosure must be acres and acres. There is a

modern part, which took all our garrison, women, children, stores, and

everything else, with plenty of room over. But the modern part is

nothing like the size of the old quarter, where nobody goes, and which

is given over to the scorpions and the centipedes. It is all full of

great deserted halls, and winding passages, and long corridors twisting

in and out, so that it is easy enough for folk to get lost in it. For

this reason it was seldom that any one went into it, though now and

again a party with torches might go exploring.

“The river washes along the front of the old fort, and so protects it,

but on the sides and behind there are many doors, and these had to be

guarded, of course, in the old quarter as well as in that which was

actually held by our troops. We were short-handed, with hardly men

enough to man the angles of the building and to serve the guns. It was

impossible for us, therefore, to station a strong guard at every one of

the innumerable gates. What we did was to organise a central

guard-house in the middle of the fort, and to leave each gate under the

charge of one white man and two or three natives. I was selected to

take charge during certain hours of the night of a small isolated door

upon the southwest side of the building. Two Sikh troopers were placed

under my command, and I was instructed if anything went wrong to fire

my musket, when I might rely upon help coming at once from the central

guard. As the guard was a good two hundred paces away, however, and as

the space between was cut up into a labyrinth of passages and

corridors, I had great doubts as to whether they could arrive in time

to be of any use in case of an actual attack.

“Well, I was pretty proud at having this small command given me, since

I was a raw recruit, and a game-legged one at that. For two nights I

kept the watch with my Punjaubees. They were tall, fierce-looking

chaps, Mahomet Singh and Abdullah Khan by name, both old fighting-men

who had borne arms against us at Chilian-wallah. They could talk

English pretty well, but I could get little out of them. They preferred

to stand together and jabber all night in their queer Sikh lingo. For

myself, I used to stand outside the gateway, looking down on the broad,

winding river and on the twinkling lights of the great city. The

beating of drums, the rattle of tomtoms, and the yells and howls of the

rebels, drunk with opium and with bang, were enough to remind us all

night of our dangerous neighbours across the stream. Every two hours

the officer of the night used to come round to all the posts, to make

sure that all was well.

“The third night of my watch was dark and dirty, with a small, driving

rain. It was dreary work standing in the gateway hour after hour in

such weather. I tried again and again to make my Sikhs talk, but

without much success. At two in the morning the rounds passed, and

broke for a moment the weariness of the night. Finding that my

companions would not be led into conversation, I took out my pipe, and

laid down my musket to strike the match. In an instant the two Sikhs

were upon me. One of them snatched my firelock up and levelled it at my

head, while the other held a great knife to my throat and swore between

his teeth that he would plunge it into me if I moved a step.

“My first thought was that these fellows were in league with the

rebels, and that this was the beginning of an assault. If our door were

in the hands of the Sepoys the place must fall, and the women and

children be treated as they were in Cawnpore. Maybe you gentlemen think

that I am just making out a case for myself, but I give you my word

that when I thought of that, though I felt the point of the knife at my

throat, I opened my mouth with the intention of giving a scream, if it

was my last one, which might alarm the main guard. The man who held me

seemed to know my thoughts; for, even as I braced myself to it, he

whispered, ‘Don’t make a noise. The fort is safe enough. There are no

rebel dogs on this side of the river.’ There was the ring of truth in

what he said, and I knew that if I raised my voice I was a dead man. I

could read it in the fellow’s brown eyes. I waited, therefore, in

silence, to see what it was that they wanted from me.

“‘Listen to me, Sahib,’ said the taller and fiercer of the pair, the

one whom they called Abdullah Khan. ‘You must either be with us now or

you must be silenced forever. The thing is too great a one for us to

hesitate. Either you are heart and soul with us on your oath on the

cross of the Christians, or your body this night shall be thrown into

the ditch and we shall pass over to our brothers in the rebel army.

There is no middle way. Which is it to be, death or life? We can only

give you three minutes to decide, for the time is passing, and all must

be done before the rounds come again.’

“‘How can I decide?’ said I. ‘You have not told me what you want of me.

But I tell you now that if it is anything against the safety of the

fort I will have no truck with it, so you can drive home your knife and

welcome.’

“‘It is nothing against the fort,’ said he. ‘We only ask you to do that

which your countrymen come to this land for. We ask you to be rich. If

you will be one of us this night, we will swear to you upon the naked

knife, and by the threefold oath which no Sikh was ever known to break,

that you shall have your fair share of the loot. A quarter of the

treasure shall be yours. We can say no fairer.’

“‘But what is the treasure, then?’ I asked. ‘I am as ready to be rich

as you can be, if you will but show me how it can be done.’

“‘You will swear, then,’ said he, ‘by the bones of your father, by the

honour of your mother, by the cross of your faith, to raise no hand and

speak no word against us, either now or afterwards?’

“‘I will swear it,’ I answered, ‘provided that the fort is not

endangered.’

“‘Then my comrade and I will swear that you shall have a quarter of the

treasure which shall be equally divided among the four of us.’

“‘There are but three,’ said I.

“‘No; Dost Akbar must have his share. We can tell the tale to you while

we await them. Do you stand at the gate, Mahomet Singh, and give notice

of their coming. The thing stands thus, Sahib, and I tell it to you

because I know that an oath is binding upon a Feringhee, and that we

may trust you. Had you been a lying Hindoo, though you had sworn by all

the gods in their false temples, your blood would have been upon the

knife, and your body in the water. But the Sikh knows the Englishman,

and the Englishman knows the Sikh. Hearken, then, to what I have to

say.

“‘There is a rajah in the northern provinces who has much wealth,

though his lands are small. Much has come to him from his father, and

more still he has set by himself, for he is of a low nature and hoards

his gold rather than spend it. When the troubles broke out he would be

friends both with the lion and the tiger,—with the Sepoy and with the

Company’s Raj. Soon, however, it seemed to him that the white men’s day

was come, for through all the land he could hear of nothing but of

their death and their overthrow. Yet, being a careful man, he made such

plans that, come what might, half at least of his treasure should be

left to him. That which was in gold and silver he kept by him in the

vaults of his palace, but the most precious stones and the choicest

pearls that he had he put in an iron box, and sent it by a trusty

servant who, under the guise of a merchant, should take it to the fort

at Agra, there to lie until the land is at peace. Thus, if the rebels

won he would have his money, but if the Company conquered his jewels

would be saved to him. Having thus divided his hoard, he threw himself

into the cause of the Sepoys, since they were strong upon his borders.

By doing this, mark you, Sahib, his property becomes the due of those

who have been true to their salt.

“‘This pretended merchant, who travels under the name of Achmet, is now

in the city of Agra, and desires to gain his way into the fort. He has

with him as travelling-companion my foster-brother Dost Akbar, who

knows his secret. Dost Akbar has promised this night to lead him to a

side-postern of the fort, and has chosen this one for his purpose. Here

he will come presently, and here he will find Mahomet Singh and myself

awaiting him. The place is lonely, and none shall know of his coming.

The world shall know of the merchant Achmet no more, but the great

treasure of the rajah shall be divided among us. What say you to it,

Sahib?’

“In Worcestershire the life of a man seems a great and a sacred thing;

but it is very different when there is fire and blood all round you and

you have been used to meeting death at every turn. Whether Achmet the

merchant lived or died was a thing as light as air to me, but at the

talk about the treasure my heart turned to it, and I thought of what I

might do in the old country with it, and how my folk would stare when

they saw their ne’er-do-well coming back with his pockets full of gold

moidores. I had, therefore, already made up my mind. Abdullah Khan,

however, thinking that I hesitated, pressed the matter more closely.

“‘Consider, Sahib,’ said he, ‘that if this man is taken by the

commandant he will be hung or shot, and his jewels taken by the

government, so that no man will be a rupee the better for them. Now,

since we do the taking of him, why should we not do the rest as well?

The jewels will be as well with us as in the Company’s coffers. There

will be enough to make every one of us rich men and great chiefs. No

one can know about the matter, for here we are cut off from all men.

What could be better for the purpose? Say again, then, Sahib, whether

you are with us, or if we must look upon you as an enemy.’

“‘I am with you heart and soul,’ said I.

“‘It is well,’ he answered, handing me back my firelock. ‘You see that

we trust you, for your word, like ours, is not to be broken. We have

now only to wait for my brother and the merchant.’

“‘Does your brother know, then, of what you will do?’ I asked.

“‘The plan is his. He has devised it. We will go to the gate and share

the watch with Mahomet Singh.’

“The rain was still falling steadily, for it was just the beginning of

the wet season. Brown, heavy clouds were drifting across the sky, and

it was hard to see more than a stone-cast. A deep moat lay in front of

our door, but the water was in places nearly dried up, and it could

easily be crossed. It was strange to me to be standing there with those

two wild Punjaubees waiting for the man who was coming to his death.

“Suddenly my eye caught the glint of a shaded lantern at the other side

of the moat. It vanished among the mound-heaps, and then appeared again

coming slowly in our direction.

“‘Here they are!’ I exclaimed.

“‘You will challenge him, Sahib, as usual,’ whispered Abdullah. ‘Give

him no cause for fear. Send us in with him, and we shall do the rest

while you stay here on guard. Have the lantern ready to uncover, that

we may be sure that it is indeed the man.’

“The light had flickered onwards, now stopping and now advancing, until

I could see two dark figures upon the other side of the moat. I let

them scramble down the sloping bank, splash through the mire, and climb

half-way up to the gate, before I challenged them.

“‘Who goes there?’ said I, in a subdued voice.

“‘Friends,’ came the answer. I uncovered my lantern and threw a flood

of light upon them. The first was an enormous Sikh, with a black beard

which swept nearly down to his cummerbund. Outside of a show I have

never seen so tall a man. The other was a little, fat, round fellow,

with a great yellow turban, and a bundle in his hand, done up in a

shawl. He seemed to be all in a quiver with fear, for his hands

twitched as if he had the ague, and his head kept turning to left and

right with two bright little twinkling eyes, like a mouse when he

ventures out from his hole. It gave me the chills to think of killing

him, but I thought of the treasure, and my heart set as hard as a flint

within me. When he saw my white face he gave a little chirrup of joy

and came running up towards me.

“‘Your protection, Sahib,’ he panted,—‘your protection for the unhappy

merchant Achmet. I have travelled across Rajpootana that I might seek

the shelter of the fort at Agra. I have been robbed and beaten and

abused because I have been the friend of the Company. It is a blessed

night this when I am once more in safety,—I and my poor possessions.’

“‘What have you in the bundle?’ I asked.

“‘An iron box,’ he answered, ‘which contains one or two little family

matters which are of no value to others, but which I should be sorry to

lose. Yet I am not a beggar; and I shall reward you, young Sahib, and

your governor also, if he will give me the shelter I ask.’

“I could not trust myself to speak longer with the man. The more I

looked at his fat, frightened face, the harder did it seem that we

should slay him in cold blood. It was best to get it over.

“‘Take him to the main guard,’ said I. The two Sikhs closed in upon him

on each side, and the giant walked behind, while they marched in

through the dark gateway. Never was a man so compassed round with

death. I remained at the gateway with the lantern.

“I could hear the measured tramp of their footsteps sounding through

the lonely corridors. Suddenly it ceased, and I heard voices, and a

scuffle, with the sound of blows. A moment later there came, to my

horror, a rush of footsteps coming in my direction, with the loud

breathing of a running man. I turned my lantern down the long, straight

passage, and there was the fat man, running like the wind, with a smear

of blood across his face, and close at his heels, bounding like a

tiger, the great black-bearded Sikh, with a knife flashing in his hand.

I have never seen a man run so fast as that little merchant. He was

gaining on the Sikh, and I could see that if he once passed me and got

to the open air he would save himself yet. My heart softened to him,

but again the thought of his treasure turned me hard and bitter. I cast

my firelock between his legs as he raced past, and he rolled twice over

like a shot rabbit. Ere he could stagger to his feet the Sikh was upon

him, and buried his knife twice in his side. The man never uttered moan

nor moved muscle, but lay were he had fallen. I think myself that he

may have broken his neck with the fall. You see, gentlemen, that I am

keeping my promise. I am telling you every work of the business just

exactly as it happened, whether it is in my favour or not.”

He stopped, and held out his manacled hands for the whiskey-and-water

which Holmes had brewed for him. For myself, I confess that I had now

conceived the utmost horror of the man, not only for this cold-blooded

business in which he had been concerned, but even more for the somewhat

flippant and careless way in which he narrated it. Whatever punishment

was in store for him, I felt that he might expect no sympathy from me.

Sherlock Holmes and Jones sat with their hands upon their knees, deeply

interested in the story, but with the same disgust written upon their

faces. He may have observed it, for there was a touch of defiance in

his voice and manner as he proceeded.

“It was all very bad, no doubt,” said he. “I should like to know how

many fellows in my shoes would have refused a share of this loot when

they knew that they would have their throats cut for their pains.

Besides, it was my life or his when once he was in the fort. If he had

got out, the whole business would come to light, and I should have been

court-martialled and shot as likely as not; for people were not very

lenient at a time like that.”

“Go on with your story,” said Holmes, shortly.

“Well, we carried him in, Abdullah, Akbar, and I. A fine weight he was,

too, for all that he was so short. Mahomet Singh was left to guard the

door. We took him to a place which the Sikhs had already prepared. It

was some distance off, where a winding passage leads to a great empty

hall, the brick walls of which were all crumbling to pieces. The earth

floor had sunk in at one place, making a natural grave, so we left

Achmet the merchant there, having first covered him over with loose

bricks. This done, we all went back to the treasure.

“It lay where he had dropped it when he was first attacked. The box was

the same which now lies open upon your table. A key was hung by a

silken cord to that carved handle upon the top. We opened it, and the

light of the lantern gleamed upon a collection of gems such as I have

read of and thought about when I was a little lad at Pershore. It was

blinding to look upon them. When we had feasted our eyes we took them

all out and made a list of them. There were one hundred and forty-three

diamonds of the first water, including one which has been called, I

believe, ‘the Great Mogul’ and is said to be the second largest stone

in existence. Then there were ninety-seven very fine emeralds, and one

hundred and seventy rubies, some of which, however, were small. There

were forty carbuncles, two hundred and ten sapphires, sixty-one agates,

and a great quantity of beryls, onyxes, cats’-eyes, turquoises, and

other stones, the very names of which I did not know at the time,

though I have become more familiar with them since. Besides this, there

were nearly three hundred very fine pearls, twelve of which were set in

a gold coronet. By the way, these last had been taken out of the chest

and were not there when I recovered it.

“After we had counted our treasures we put them back into the chest and

carried them to the gateway to show them to Mahomet Singh. Then we

solemnly renewed our oath to stand by each other and be true to our

secret. We agreed to conceal our loot in a safe place until the country

should be at peace again, and then to divide it equally among

ourselves. There was no use dividing it at present, for if gems of such

value were found upon us it would cause suspicion, and there was no

privacy in the fort nor any place where we could keep them. We carried

the box, therefore, into the same hall where we had buried the body,

and there, under certain bricks in the best-preserved wall, we made a

hollow and put our treasure. We made careful note of the place, and

next day I drew four plans, one for each of us, and put the sign of the

four of us at the bottom, for we had sworn that we should each always

act for all, so that none might take advantage. That is an oath that I

can put my hand to my heart and swear that I have never broken.

“Well, there’s no use my telling you gentlemen what came of the Indian

mutiny. After Wilson took Delhi and Sir Colin relieved Lucknow the back

of the business was broken. Fresh troops came pouring in, and Nana

Sahib made himself scarce over the frontier. A flying column under

Colonel Greathed came round to Agra and cleared the Pandies away from

it. Peace seemed to be settling upon the country, and we four were

beginning to hope that the time was at hand when we might safely go off

with our shares of the plunder. In a moment, however, our hopes were

shattered by our being arrested as the murderers of Achmet.

“It came about in this way. When the rajah put his jewels into the

hands of Achmet he did it because he knew that he was a trusty man.

They are suspicious folk in the East, however: so what does this rajah

do but take a second even more trusty servant and set him to play the

spy upon the first? This second man was ordered never to let Achmet out

of his sight, and he followed him like his shadow. He went after him

that night and saw him pass through the doorway. Of course he thought

he had taken refuge in the fort, and applied for admission there

himself next day, but could find no trace of Achmet. This seemed to him

so strange that he spoke about it to a sergeant of guides, who brought

it to the ears of the commandant. A thorough search was quickly made,

and the body was discovered. Thus at the very moment that we thought

that all was safe we were all four seized and brought to trial on a

charge of murder,—three of us because we had held the gate that night,

and the fourth because he was known to have been in the company of the

murdered man. Not a word about the jewels came out at the trial, for

the rajah had been deposed and driven out of India: so no one had any

particular interest in them. The murder, however, was clearly made out,

and it was certain that we must all have been concerned in it. The

three Sikhs got penal servitude for life, and I was condemned to death,

though my sentence was afterwards commuted into the same as the others.

“It was rather a queer position that we found ourselves in then. There

we were all four tied by the leg and with precious little chance of

ever getting out again, while we each held a secret which might have

put each of us in a palace if we could only have made use of it. It was

enough to make a man eat his heart out to have to stand the kick and

the cuff of every petty jack-in-office, to have rice to eat and water

to drink, when that gorgeous fortune was ready for him outside, just

waiting to be picked up. It might have driven me mad; but I was always

a pretty stubborn one, so I just held on and bided my time.

“At last it seemed to me to have come. I was changed from Agra to

Madras, and from there to Blair Island in the Andamans. There are very

few white convicts at this settlement, and, as I had behaved well from

the first, I soon found myself a sort of privileged person. I was given

a hut in Hope Town, which is a small place on the slopes of Mount

Harriet, and I was left pretty much to myself. It is a dreary,

fever-stricken place, and all beyond our little clearings was infested

with wild cannibal natives, who were ready enough to blow a poisoned

dart at us if they saw a chance. There was digging, and ditching, and

yam-planting, and a dozen other things to be done, so we were busy

enough all day; though in the evening we had a little time to

ourselves. Among other things, I learned to dispense drugs for the

surgeon, and picked up a smattering of his knowledge. All the time I

was on the lookout for a chance of escape; but it is hundreds of miles

from any other land, and there is little or no wind in those seas: so

it was a terribly difficult job to get away.

“The surgeon, Dr. Somerton, was a fast, sporting young chap, and the

other young officers would meet in his rooms of an evening and play

cards. The surgery, where I used to make up my drugs, was next to his

sitting-room, with a small window between us. Often, if I felt

lonesome, I used to turn out the lamp in the surgery, and then,

standing there, I could hear their talk and watch their play. I am fond

of a hand at cards myself, and it was almost as good as having one to

watch the others. There was Major Sholto, Captain Morstan, and

Lieutenant Bromley Brown, who were in command of the native troops, and

there was the surgeon himself, and two or three prison-officials,

crafty old hands who played a nice sly safe game. A very snug little

party they used to make.

“Well, there was one thing which very soon struck me, and that was that

the soldiers used always to lose and the civilians to win. Mind, I

don’t say that there was anything unfair, but so it was. These

prison-chaps had done little else than play cards ever since they had

been at the Andamans, and they knew each other’s game to a point, while

the others just played to pass the time and threw their cards down

anyhow. Night after night the soldiers got up poorer men, and the

poorer they got the more keen they were to play. Major Sholto was the

hardest hit. He used to pay in notes and gold at first, but soon it

came to notes of hand and for big sums. He sometimes would win for a

few deals, just to give him heart, and then the luck would set in

against him worse than ever. All day he would wander about as black as

thunder, and he took to drinking a deal more than was good for him.

“One night he lost even more heavily than usual. I was sitting in my

hut when he and Captain Morstan came stumbling along on the way to

their quarters. They were bosom friends, those two, and never far

apart. The major was raving about his losses.

“‘It’s all up, Morstan,’ he was saying, as they passed my hut. ‘I shall

have to send in my papers. I am a ruined man.’

“‘Nonsense, old chap!’ said the other, slapping him upon the shoulder.

‘I’ve had a nasty facer myself, but—’ That was all I could hear, but it

was enough to set me thinking.

“A couple of days later Major Sholto was strolling on the beach: so I

took the chance of speaking to him.

“‘I wish to have your advice, major,’ said I.

“‘Well, Small, what is it?’ he asked, taking his cheroot from his lips.

“‘I wanted to ask you, sir,’ said I, ‘who is the proper person to whom

hidden treasure should be handed over. I know where half a million

worth lies, and, as I cannot use it myself, I thought perhaps the best

thing that I could do would be to hand it over to the proper

authorities, and then perhaps they would get my sentence shortened for

me.’

“‘Half a million, Small?’ he gasped, looking hard at me to see if I was

in earnest.

“‘Quite that, sir,—in jewels and pearls. It lies there ready for any

one. And the queer thing about it is that the real owner is outlawed

and cannot hold property, so that it belongs to the first comer.’

“‘To government, Small,’ he stammered,—‘to government.’ But he said it

in a halting fashion, and I knew in my heart that I had got him.

“‘You think, then, sir, that I should give the information to the

Governor-General?’ said I, quietly.

“‘Well, well, you must not do anything rash, or that you might repent.

Let me hear all about it, Small. Give me the facts.’

“I told him the whole story, with small changes so that he could not

identify the places. When I had finished he stood stock still and full

of thought. I could see by the twitch of his lip that there was a

struggle going on within him.

“‘This is a very important matter, Small,’ he said, at last. ‘You must

not say a word to any one about it, and I shall see you again soon.’

“Two nights later he and his friend Captain Morstan came to my hut in

the dead of the night with a lantern.

“‘I want you just to let Captain Morstan hear that story from your own

lips, Small,’ said he.

“I repeated it as I had told it before.

“‘It rings true, eh?’ said he. ‘It’s good enough to act upon?’

“Captain Morstan nodded.

“‘Look here, Small,’ said the major. ‘We have been talking it over, my

friend here and I, and we have come to the conclusion that this secret

of yours is hardly a government matter, after all, but is a private

concern of your own, which of course you have the power of disposing of

as you think best. Now, the question is, what price would you ask for

it? We might be inclined to take it up, and at least look into it, if

we could agree as to terms.’ He tried to speak in a cool, careless way,

but his eyes were shining with excitement and greed.

“‘Why, as to that, gentlemen,’ I answered, trying also to be cool, but

feeling as excited as he did, ‘there is only one bargain which a man in

my position can make. I shall want you to help me to my freedom, and to

help my three companions to theirs. We shall then take you into

partnership, and give you a fifth share to divide between you.’

“‘Hum!’ said he. ‘A fifth share! That is not very tempting.’

“‘It would come to fifty thousand apiece,’ said I.

“‘But how can we gain your freedom? You know very well that you ask an

impossibility.’

“‘Nothing of the sort,’ I answered. ‘I have thought it all out to the

last detail. The only bar to our escape is that we can get no boat fit

for the voyage, and no provisions to last us for so long a time. There

are plenty of little yachts and yawls at Calcutta or Madras which would

serve our turn well. Do you bring one over. We shall engage to get

aboard her by night, and if you will drop us on any part of the Indian

coast you will have done your part of the bargain.’

“‘If there were only one,’ he said.

“‘None or all,’ I answered. ‘We have sworn it. The four of us must

always act together.’

“‘You see, Morstan,’ said he, ‘Small is a man of his word. He does not

flinch from his friend. I think we may very well trust him.’

“‘It’s a dirty business,’ the other answered. ‘Yet, as you say, the

money would save our commissions handsomely.’

“‘Well, Small,’ said the major, ‘we must, I suppose, try and meet you.

We must first, of course, test the truth of your story. Tell me where

the box is hid, and I shall get leave of absence and go back to India

in the monthly relief-boat to inquire into the affair.’

“‘Not so fast,’ said I, growing colder as he got hot. ‘I must have the

consent of my three comrades. I tell you that it is four or none with

us.’

“‘Nonsense!’ he broke in. ‘What have three black fellows to do with our

agreement?’

“‘Black or blue,’ said I, ‘they are in with me, and we all go

together.’

“Well, the matter ended by a second meeting, at which Mahomet Singh,

Abdullah Khan, and Dost Akbar were all present. We talked the matter

over again, and at last we came to an arrangement. We were to provide

both the officers with charts of the part of the Agra fort and mark the

place in the wall where the treasure was hid. Major Sholto was to go to

India to test our story. If he found the box he was to leave it there,

to send out a small yacht provisioned for a voyage, which was to lie

off Rutland Island, and to which we were to make our way, and finally

to return to his duties. Captain Morstan was then to apply for leave of

absence, to meet us at Agra, and there we were to have a final division

of the treasure, he taking the major’s share as well as his own. All

this we sealed by the most solemn oaths that the mind could think or

the lips utter. I sat up all night with paper and ink, and by the

morning I had the two charts all ready, signed with the sign of

four,—that is, of Abdullah, Akbar, Mahomet, and myself.

“Well, gentlemen, I weary you with my long story, and I know that my

friend Mr. Jones is impatient to get me safely stowed in chokey. I’ll

make it as short as I can. The villain Sholto went off to India, but he

never came back again. Captain Morstan showed me his name among a list

of passengers in one of the mail-boats very shortly afterwards. His

uncle had died, leaving him a fortune, and he had left the army, yet he

could stoop to treat five men as he had treated us. Morstan went over

to Agra shortly afterwards, and found, as we expected, that the

treasure was indeed gone. The scoundrel had stolen it all, without

carrying out one of the conditions on which we had sold him the secret.

From that day I lived only for vengeance. I thought of it by day and I

nursed it by night. It became an overpowering, absorbing passion with

me. I cared nothing for the law,—nothing for the gallows. To escape, to

track down Sholto, to have my hand upon his throat,—that was my one

thought. Even the Agra treasure had come to be a smaller thing in my

mind than the slaying of Sholto.

“Well, I have set my mind on many things in this life, and never one

which I did not carry out. But it was weary years before my time came.

I have told you that I had picked up something of medicine. One day

when Dr. Somerton was down with a fever a little Andaman Islander was

picked up by a convict-gang in the woods. He was sick to death, and had

gone to a lonely place to die. I took him in hand, though he was as

venomous as a young snake, and after a couple of months I got him all

right and able to walk. He took a kind of fancy to me then, and would

hardly go back to his woods, but was always hanging about my hut. I

learned a little of his lingo from him, and this made him all the

fonder of me.

“Tonga—for that was his name—was a fine boatman, and owned a big, roomy

canoe of his own. When I found that he was devoted to me and would do

anything to serve me, I saw my chance of escape. I talked it over with

him. He was to bring his boat round on a certain night to an old wharf

which was never guarded, and there he was to pick me up. I gave him

directions to have several gourds of water and a lot of yams,

cocoa-nuts, and sweet potatoes.

“He was stanch and true, was little Tonga. No man ever had a more

faithful mate. At the night named he had his boat at the wharf. As it

chanced, however, there was one of the convict-guard down there,—a vile

Pathan who had never missed a chance of insulting and injuring me. I

had always vowed vengeance, and now I had my chance. It was as if fate

had placed him in my way that I might pay my debt before I left the

island. He stood on the bank with his back to me, and his carbine on

his shoulder. I looked about for a stone to beat out his brains with,

but none could I see. Then a queer thought came into my head and showed

me where I could lay my hand on a weapon. I sat down in the darkness

and unstrapped my wooden leg. With three long hops I was on him. He put

his carbine to his shoulder, but I struck him full, and knocked the

whole front of his skull in. You can see the split in the wood now

where I hit him. We both went down together, for I could not keep my

balance, but when I got up I found him still lying quiet enough. I made

for the boat, and in an hour we were well out at sea. Tonga had brought

all his earthly possessions with him, his arms and his gods. Among

other things, he had a long bamboo spear, and some Andaman cocoa-nut

matting, with which I made a sort of sail. For ten days we were beating

about, trusting to luck, and on the eleventh we were picked up by a

trader which was going from Singapore to Jiddah with a cargo of Malay

pilgrims. They were a rum crowd, and Tonga and I soon managed to settle

down among them. They had one very good quality: they let you alone and

asked no questions.

“Well, if I were to tell you all the adventures that my little chum and

I went through, you would not thank me, for I would have you here until

the sun was shining. Here and there we drifted about the world,

something always turning up to keep us from London. All the time,

however, I never lost sight of my purpose. I would dream of Sholto at

night. A hundred times I have killed him in my sleep. At last, however,

some three or four years ago, we found ourselves in England. I had no

great difficulty in finding where Sholto lived, and I set to work to

discover whether he had realised the treasure, or if he still had it. I

made friends with someone who could help me,—I name no names, for I

don’t want to get any one else in a hole,—and I soon found that he

still had the jewels. Then I tried to get at him in many ways; but he

was pretty sly, and had always two prize-fighters, besides his sons and

his khitmutgar, on guard over him.

“One day, however, I got word that he was dying. I hurried at once to

the garden, mad that he should slip out of my clutches like that, and,

looking through the window, I saw him lying in his bed, with his sons

on each side of him. I’d have come through and taken my chance with the

three of them, only even as I looked at him his jaw dropped, and I knew

that he was gone. I got into his room that same night, though, and I

searched his papers to see if there was any record of where he had

hidden our jewels. There was not a line, however: so I came away,

bitter and savage as a man could be. Before I left I bethought me that

if I ever met my Sikh friends again it would be a satisfaction to know

that I had left some mark of our hatred; so I scrawled down the sign of

the four of us, as it had been on the chart, and I pinned it on his

bosom. It was too much that he should be taken to the grave without

some token from the men whom he had robbed and befooled.

“We earned a living at this time by my exhibiting poor Tonga at fairs

and other such places as the black cannibal. He would eat raw meat and

dance his war-dance: so we always had a hatful of pennies after a day’s

work. I still heard all the news from Pondicherry Lodge, and for some

years there was no news to hear, except that they were hunting for the

treasure. At last, however, came what we had waited for so long. The

treasure had been found. It was up at the top of the house, in Mr.

Bartholomew Sholto’s chemical laboratory. I came at once and had a look

at the place, but I could not see how with my wooden leg I was to make

my way up to it. I learned, however, about a trap-door in the roof, and

also about Mr. Sholto’s supper-hour. It seemed to me that I could

manage the thing easily through Tonga. I brought him out with me with a

long rope wound round his waist. He could climb like a cat, and he soon

made his way through the roof, but, as ill luck would have it,

Bartholomew Sholto was still in the room, to his cost. Tonga thought he

had done something very clever in killing him, for when I came up by

the rope I found him strutting about as proud as a peacock. Very much

surprised was he when I made at him with the rope’s end and cursed him

for a little blood-thirsty imp. I took the treasure-box and let it

down, and then slid down myself, having first left the sign of the four

upon the table, to show that the jewels had come back at last to those

who had most right to them. Tonga then pulled up the rope, closed the

window, and made off the way that he had come.

“I don’t know that I have anything else to tell you. I had heard a

waterman speak of the speed of Smith’s launch the _Aurora_, so I

thought she would be a handy craft for our escape. I engaged with old

Smith, and was to give him a big sum if he got us safe to our ship. He

knew, no doubt, that there was some screw loose, but he was not in our

secrets. All this is the truth, and if I tell it to you, gentlemen, it

is not to amuse you,—for you have not done me a very good turn,—but it

is because I believe the best defence I can make is just to hold back

nothing, but let all the world know how badly I have myself been served

by Major Sholto, and how innocent I am of the death of his son.”

“A very remarkable account,” said Sherlock Holmes. “A fitting wind-up

to an extremely interesting case. There is nothing at all new to me in

the latter part of your narrative, except that you brought your own

rope. That I did not know. By the way, I had hoped that Tonga had lost

all his darts; yet he managed to shoot one at us in the boat.”

“He had lost them all, sir, except the one which was in his blow-pipe

at the time.”

“Ah, of course,” said Holmes. “I had not thought of that.”

“Is there any other point which you would like to ask about?” asked the

convict, affably.

“I think not, thank you,” my companion answered.

“Well, Holmes,” said Athelney Jones, “You are a man to be humoured, and

we all know that you are a connoisseur of crime, but duty is duty, and

I have gone rather far in doing what you and your friend asked me. I

shall feel more at ease when we have our story-teller here safe under

lock and key. The cab still waits, and there are two inspectors

downstairs. I am much obliged to you both for your assistance. Of

course you will be wanted at the trial. Good-night to you.”

“Good-night, gentlemen both,” said Jonathan Small.

“You first, Small,” remarked the wary Jones as they left the room.

“I’ll take particular care that you don’t club me with your wooden leg,

whatever you may have done to the gentleman at the Andaman Isles.”

“Well, and there is the end of our little drama,” I remarked, after we

had set some time smoking in silence. “I fear that it may be the last

investigation in which I shall have the chance of studying your

methods. Miss Morstan has done me the honour to accept me as a husband

in prospective.”

He gave a most dismal groan. “I feared as much,” said he. “I really

cannot congratulate you.”

I was a little hurt. “Have you any reason to be dissatisfied with my

choice?” I asked.

“Not at all. I think she is one of the most charming young ladies I

ever met, and might have been most useful in such work as we have been

doing. She had a decided genius that way: witness the way in which she

preserved that Agra plan from all the other papers of her father. But

love is an emotional thing, and whatever is emotional is opposed to

that true cold reason which I place above all things. I should never

marry myself, lest I bias my judgment.”

“I trust,” said I, laughing, “that my judgment may survive the ordeal.

But you look weary.”

“Yes, the reaction is already upon me. I shall be as limp as a rag for

a week.”

“Strange,” said I, “how terms of what in another man I should call

laziness alternate with your fits of splendid energy and vigour.”

“Yes,” he answered, “there are in me the makings of a very fine loafer

and also of a pretty spry sort of fellow. I often think of those lines

of old Goethe,—

Schade dass die Natur nur _einen_ Mensch aus Dir schuf,

Denn zum würdigen Mann war und zum Schelmen der Stoff.

“By the way, _à propos_ of this Norwood business, you see that they

had, as I surmised, a confederate in the house, who could be none other

than Lal Rao, the butler: so Jones actually has the undivided honour of

having caught one fish in his great haul.”

“The division seems rather unfair,” I remarked. “You have done all the

work in this business. I get a wife out of it, Jones gets the credit,

pray what remains for you?”

“For me,” said Sherlock Holmes, “there still remains the

cocaine-bottle.” And he stretched his long white hand up for it.