The Sign of the Four
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.