The Sign of the Four Part 8 (1/2)
”'Nonsense!' he broke in 'What have three black fellows to do with our agreement?'
”'Black or blue,' said I, 'they are in with ether'
”Well, the h, Abdullah Khan, and Dost Akbar were all present We talked the ement We were to provide both the officers with charts of the part of the Agra fort and mark the place in the here 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 se, which was to lie off Rutland Island, and to which ere to make our way, and finally to return to his duties Captain Morstan was then to apply for leave of absence, to ra, and there ere 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 ht with paper and ink, and by the n of four,--that is, of Abdullah, Akbar, Mahoentle story, and I know that et me safely stowed in chokey I'll make it as short as I can The villain Sholto went off to India, but he never ca 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 ra 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 hieance I thought of it by day and I nursed it by night It beca passion with allows To escape, to track down Sholto, to have ra treasure had co of Sholto
”Well, I have set s in this life, and never one which I did not carry out But it eary years beforeof medicine One day when Dr Somerton was doith a fever a little Anda in the woods He was sick to death, and had gone to a lonely place to die I took hi snake, and after a couple of ht and able to walk He took a kind of fancy to o back to his woods, but was always hanging about o froa--for that was his na, roomy canoe of his own When I found that he was devoted toto serve me, I saw my chance of escape I talked it over with hiht to an old wharf which was never guarded, and there he was to pick ourds of water and a lot of yams, cocoa-nuts, and sweet potatoes
”He was stanch and true, was little Tonga No ht 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 nevereance, and now I had my chance It was as if fate had placed hiht 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 unstrappedhops 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 nohere I hit hiether, for I could not keepquiet enough I made for the boat, and in an hour ell out at sea Tonga had brought all his earthly possessions with hi ba, hich Iabout, trusting to luck, and on the eleventh ere picked up by a trader which was going froried to settle down aood quality: they let you alone and asked no questions
”Well, if I were to tell you all the adventures that h, you would not thankHere and there we drifted about the world, so up to keep us froht of ht A hundred times I have killed hio, 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 realized the treasure, or if he still had it I made friends with someone who could help et any one else in a hole,--and I soon found that he still had the jewels Then I tried to get at him in hters, besides his sons and his khitot word that he was dying I hurried at once to the garden, mad that he should slip out of h the , I saw hi in his bed, with his sons on each side of hih and taken my chance with the three of them, only even as I looked at hiot into his rooh, 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 cae as a ht ain it would be a satisfaction to know that I had left son of the four of us, as it had been on the chart, and I pinned it on his bosorave without some token from theat this tia at fairs and other such places as the black cannibal He would eat raw meat and dance his war-dance: so ays had a hatful of pennies after a day's work I still heard all the news froe, and for some years there was no news to hear, except that they were hunting for the treasure At last, however, ca 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 hoithI 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 seea I brought hi rope wound round his waist He could clih the roof, but, as ill luck would have it, Bartholoht he had done so hi 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 n of the four upon the table, to show that the jewels had coa then pulled up the rope, closed the , and made off the way that he had co else to tell you I had heard a waterman speak of the speed of Sht she would be a handy craft for our escape I engaged with old Sot us safe to our shi+p 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 aood turn,--but it is because I believe the best defence I can , but let all the world kno badly I have myself been served by Major Sholto, and how innocent I am of the death of his son”
”A very re wind-up to an extre at all new to ht your own rope That I did not know By the way, I had hoped that Tonga had lost all his darts; yet he ed 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 tiht 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 humored, and we all know that you are a connoisseur of cri what you and your friend asked me I shall feel more at ease e have our story-teller here safe under lock and key The cab still waits, and there are two inspectors down-stairs I aed to you both for your assistance Of course you will be wanted at the trial Good-night to you”