The Sign of the Four Part 7 (1/2)
Chapter XII
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 hilooht's ould 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, Holed their plans so far as to report theed in his arm-chair with his usual listless expression, while S cocked over his sound one As I exhibited the ehed aloud
”This is your doing, Srily
”Yes, I have put it ahere you shall never lay hand upon it,” he cried, exultantly ”It is ood care that no one else does I tell you that no living ht to it, unless it is three men who are in the Andaman convict-barracks and myself I kno that I cannot have the use of it, and I know that they cannot I have acted all through for then 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 Thao 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 h to pick an iron box from the bottom of a river Now that they are scattered over five miles or so, it h I was half rieving 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 swaht chained up in the filthy convict-huts, bitten by ue, bullied by every cursed black-faced policeman who loved to take it out of a white ra treasure; and you talk to me of justice because I cannot bear to feel that I have paid this price only that anothera score of tia'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 hirl 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 roundless 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 inally have been on your side”
”Well, sir, you have been very fair-spoken to h I can see that I have you to thank that I have these bracelets upon e 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 Worcestershi+re man myself,--born near Pershore I dare say you would find a heap of Sht of taking a look round there, but the truth is that I was never much of a credit to the falad to seefolk, 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 theirl, and could only get out of it again by taking the queen's shi+lling and joining the 3d Buffs, which was just starting for India
”I wasn't destined to do oose-step, and learned to handle es Luckily for eant, John Holder, was in the water at the same time, and he was one of the finest swimmers in the service A crocodile tookas 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 iine, pretty down on h not yet in my twentieth year However, uise A o-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 instory short, the colonel recoly for the post and, as the as reat 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 coether I was content to spend the re Mr Abelwhite 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 ho 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, gentle is not in my line I only knohat I saith 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 sh our estate with their wives and children, on their way to Agra, where were the nearest troops Mr Abelwhite was an obstinate erated, and that it would blow over as suddenly as it had sprung up There he sat on his veranda, drinking whiskey-pegs and s cheroots, while the country was in a blaze about him Of course we stuck by him, I and Dawson, ith his wife, used to do the book-work and theWell, one fine day the crash ca slowly ho 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 hi on his face, quite dead, with an e across each other in front of hi which way I should turn, but at that alow and the flah the roof I knew then that I could do ood, 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 So past my head; so I broke away across the paddy-fields, and found ra
”As it proved, however, there was no great safety there, either The whole country was up like a swarlish could collect in little bands they held just the ground that their guns coitives It was a fight of the ainst the hundreds; and the cruellest part of it was that these unners, were our own picked troops, e had taught and trained, handling our oeapons, and blowing our own bugle-calls At Agra there were the 3d Bengal Fusiliers, some Sikhs, two troops of horse, and a battery of artillery A volunteer corps of clerks andand all We went out to e early in July, and we beat theave 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 ht in the heart of it Lucknow is rather better than a hundred miles to the east, and Cawnpore about as far to the south Fro but torture and reat place, swar with fanatics and fierce devil-worshi+ppers of all sorts Our handful ofstreets 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 gentle 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 arrison, wo else, with plenty of roo 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 seldoain a party with torchesthe front of the old fort, and so protects it, but on the sides and behind there are uarded, of course, in the old quarter as well as in that which was actually held by our troops We were short-handed, with hardlyand to serve the guns It was iuard at every one of the innuuard-house in the e of one white e during certain hours of the night of a s Two Sikh troopers were placed underto fireat once froood two hundred paces away, however, and as the space betas 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 sahts I kept the watch withchaps, Maho-ainst us at Chilian-wallah They could talk English pretty well, but I could get little out of theht in their queer Sikh lingo Fordown 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 opiuht of our dangerous neighbors across the streaht used to come round to all the posts, to ht ofrain It was dreary work standing in the gate-way hour after hour in such weather I tried again and again to makethe rounds passed, and broke for athat 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 reat knife to e it into ht was that these felloere 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 gentleive you h I felt the point of the knife ata screauard The hts; for, even as I braced myself to it, he whispered, 'Don't s 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 reat 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 ive you three , and all ain'
”'How can I decide?' said I 'You have not told me what you want of ainst the safety of the fort I will have no truck with it, so you can drive hoainst 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, ill 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 honor 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 a 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 ait theive notice of their co stands thus, Sahib, and I tell it to you because I know that an oath is binding upon a Feringhee, and that we h 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 Englishlishman knows the Sikh Hearken, then, to what I have to say
”'There is a rajah in the northern provinces who has h his lands are small Much has come to him from his father, and more still he has set by hiold 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 seeh all the land he could hear of nothing but of their death and their overthrow Yet, being a careful ht, half at least of his treasure should be left to hiold 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 ra, there to lie until the land is at peace Thus, if the rebels won he would have his money, but if the Co thus divided his hoard, he threw hi 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 naain his way into the fort He has with hi-companion my foster-brother Dost Akbar, who knows his secret Dost Akbar has proht to lead him to a side-postern of the fort, and has chosen this one for his purpose Here he will coh andhi The world shall know of the reat treasure of the rajah shall be divided a us What say you to it, Sahib?'
”In Worcestershi+re the life of a ; but it is very different when there is fire and blood all round you and you have been used todeath at every turn Whether Achht as air to me, but at the talk about the treasure ht do in the old country with it, and howback with his pockets full of gold moidores I had, therefore, alreadythat I hesitated, pressed the matter more closely
”'Consider, Sahib,' said he, 'that if thisor shot, and his jewels taken by the government, so that no man will be a rupee the better for the of him, why should we not do the rest as well? The jeill be as ith us as in the Coh to reat chiefs No one can know about the matter, for here we are cut off froain, 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 Maho 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 tofor the ht the glint of a shaded lantern at the other side of the ain co slowly in our direction
”'Here they are!' I exclaie him, Sahib, as usual,' whispered Abdullah 'Give him no cause for fear Send us in with hiuard Have the lantern ready to uncover, that we ht had flickered onwards, now stopping and now advancing, until I could see two dark figures upon the other side of the h the ed theoes there?' said I, in a subdued voice
”'Friends,' caht 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 reat 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 ave ht of the treasure, and my heart set as hard as a flint within ave a little chirrup of joy and ca up towards me
”'Your protection, Sahib,' he panted,--'your protection for the unhappy ht seek the shelter of the fort at Agra I have been robbed and beaten and abused because I have been the friend of the Coht this when I am once more in safety,--I and my poor possessions'