The Sign of the Four
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