The Sign of the Four Part 3 (2/2)
”Lend eant,” said my companion ”Now tie this bit of card roundit in front of s--Just you carry the And dip my handkerchief into the creasote That will do Now coarret with h the hole Holht once more upon the footsteps in the dust
”I wish you particularly to notice these foot noteworthy about the,” I said, ”to a child or a sh Is there nothing else?”
”They appear to be much as other footmarks”
”Not at all Look here! This is the print of a right foot in the dust Now I make one with my naked foot beside it What is the chief difference?”
”Your toes are all craether The other print has each toe distinctly divided”
”Quite so That is the point Bear that in mind Noould you kindly step over to that flap- and se of the ork? I shall stay here, as I have this handkerchief in my hand”
I did as he directed, and was instantly conscious of a strong tarry s out If YOU can trace him, I should think that Toby will have no difficulty Now run down-stairs, loose the dog, and look out for Blondin”
By the tirounds Sherlock Holloorht of him behind a stack of chimneys, but he presently reappeared, and then vanished once more upon the opposite side When I made my way round there I found him seated at one of the corner eaves
”That you, Watson?” he cried
”Yes”
”This is the place What is that black thing down there?”
”A water-barrel”
”Top on it?”
”Yes”
”No sign of a ladder?”
”No”
”Confound the fellow! It's a ht to be able to come dohere he could clioes, anyhow”
There was a scuffling of feet, and the lantern began to coht spring he came on to the barrel, and from there to the earth
”It was easy to follow his and boots ”Tiles were loosened the whole way along, and in his hurry he had dropped this It confirnosis, as you doctors express it”
The object which he held up to rasses and with a fedry beads strung round it In shape and size it was not unlike a cigarette-case Inside were half a dozen spines of dark wood, sharp at one end and rounded at the other, like that which had struck Bartholos,” said he ”Look out that you don't prick yourself I'hted to have them, for the chances are that they are all he has There is the less fear of you orI would sooner face a Martini bullet, e, Watson?”
”Certainly,” I answered
”Your leg will stand it?”
”Oh, yes”
”Here you are, doggy! Good old Toby! Smell it, Toby, s's nose, while the creature stood with its fluffy legs separated, and with athe bouquet of a fae Holmes then threw the handkerchief to a distance, fastened a stout cord to the rel's collar, and led him to the foot of the water-barrel The creature instantly broke into a succession of high, treround, and his tail in the air, pattered off upon the trail at a pace which strained his leash and kept us at the top of our speed
The east had been gradually whitening, and we could now see soht The square, h, bare walls, towered up, sad and forlorn, behind us Our course led right across the grounds, in and out a the trenches and pits hich they were scarred and intersected The whole place, with its scattered dirt-heaps and ill-grown shrubs, had a blighted, ill-o over it
On reaching the boundary wall Toby ran along, whining eagerly, underneath its shadow, and stopped finally in a corner screened by a young beech Where the talls joined, several bricks had been loosened, and the crevices left orn down and rounded upon the lower side, as though they had frequently been used as a ladder Hol from me, he dropped it over upon the other side
”There's the print of wooden-leg's hand,” he ree of blood upon the white plaster What a lucky thing it is that we have had no very heavy rain since yesterday! The scent will lie upon the road in spite of their eight-and-twenty hours' start”
I confess that I had reat traffic which had passed along the London road in the interval My fears were soon appeased, however Toby never hesitated or swerved, but waddled on in his peculiar rolling fashi+on Clearly, the pungent s scents
”Do not iine,” said Holmes, ”that I depend for my success in this case upon theput his foot in the chee nohich would enable me to trace them in many different ways This, however, is the readiest and, since fortune has put it into our hands, I should be culpable if I neglected it It has, however, prevented the case fro the pretty little intellectual probleht have been soained out of it, but for this too palpable clue”
”There is credit, and to spare,” said I ”I assure you, Holmes, that I marvel at the means by which you obtain your results in this case, evenseems to me to be deeper and more inexplicable How, for exaed man?”
”Pshaw, my dear boy! it was simplicity itself I don't wish to be theatrical It is all patent and above-board Two officers who are in couard learn an important secret as to buried treasure A lishman named Jonathan Small You remember thatthe naned it in behalf of hin of the four, as he somewhat dramatically called it Aided by this chart, the officers--or one of the, ill suppose, some condition under which he received it unfulfilled Now, then, why did not Jonathan Set the treasure himself? The answer is obvious The chart is dated at a tiht into close association with convicts Jonathan Set the treasure because he and his associates were theet away”
”But that is mere speculation,” said I
”It is more than that It is the only hypothesis which covers the facts Let us see how it fits in with the sequel Major Sholto remains at peace for some years, happy in the possession of his treasure Then he receives a letter froht What was that?”
”A letter to say that the ed had been set free”
”Or had escaped That is much more likely, for he would have knohat their term of imprisonment was It would not have been a surprise to hiainst a wooden-legged man,--a white man, mark you, for he mistakes a white tradesman for him, and actually fires a pistol at him Now, only one white man's name is on the chart The others are Hindoos or Mohammedans There is no other white edstrike you as being faulty?”
”No: it is clear and concise”
”Well, now, let us put ourselves in the place of Jonathan Small Let us look at it froland with the double idea of regaining what he would consider to be his rights and of having his revenge upon the ed him He found out where Sholto lived, and very possibly he established communications with some one inside the house There is this butler, Lal Rao, e have not seen Mrs Bernstone gives hiood character Small could not find out, however, where the treasure was hid, for no one ever knew, save the major and one faithful servant who had died Suddenly Small learns that the major is on his death-bed In a frenzy lest the secret of the treasure die with hiuards,by the presence of his two sons Mad with hate, however, against the dead ht, searches his private papers in the hope of discovering so to the treasure, and finally leaves a momento of his visit in the short inscription upon the card He had doubtless planned beforehand that should he slay the n that it was not a common murder, but, fro in the nature of an act of justice Whih in the annals of crime, and usually afford valuable indications as to the criminal Do you follow all this?”
”Very clearly”
”Nohat could Jonathan Small do? He could only continue to keep a secret watch upon the efforts land and only coarret, and he is instantly inforain trace the presence of so, is utterly unable to reach the lofty room of Bartholomew Sholto He takes with hiets over this difficulty, but dips his naked foot into creasote, whence comes Toby, and a six-ed tendo Achillis”
”But it was the associate, and not Jonathan, who committed the criust, to judge by the way he staainst Bartholomew Sholto, and would have preferred if he could have been sied He did not wish to put his head in a halter There was no help for it, however: the savage instincts of his companion had broken out, and the poison had done its work: so Jonathan Sround, and followed it himself That was the train of events as far as I can decipher them Of course as to his personal appearance hehis tiht is readily calculated froth of his stride, and we know that he was bearded His hairiness was the one point which impressed itself upon Thaddeus Sholto when he saw hi else”
”The associate?”
”Ah, well, there is no great h Hoeet theair is! See how that one little cloud floats like a pink feather froo Now the red rim of the sun pushes itself over the London cloud-bank It shi+nes on a good er errand than you and I How ss in the presence of the great elemental forces of nature! Are you well up in your Jean Paul?”
”Fairly so I worked back to hih Carlyle”