Sherlock Holmes complete collection by sir arthur conan doyle

THE SIGN OF FOUR: Chapter 11 THE GREAT AGRA TREASURE

OUR captive sat in the cabin opposite to the iron box which he had doneso much and waited so long to gain. He was a sunburned reckless-eyedfellow, with a network of lines and wrinkles all over his mahoganyfeatures, which told of a hard, open-air life. There was a singularprominence about his bearded chin which marked a man [140] who wasnot to be easily turned from his purpose. His age may have been fifty orthereabouts, for his black, curly hair was thickly shot with gray. His facein repose was not an unpleasing one, though his heavy brows andaggressive chin gave him, as I had lately seen, a terrible expression whenmoved to anger. He sat now with his handcuffed hands upon his lap, andhis head sunk upon his breast, while he looked with his keen, twinklingeyes at the box which had been the cause of his ill-doings. It seemed tome that there was more sorrow than anger in his rigid and containedcountenance. Once he looked up at me with a gleam of something likehumour in his eyes."Well, Jonathan Small," said Holmes, lighting a cigar, "I am sorry thatit has come to this.""And so am I, sir," he answered frankly. "I don't believe that I canswing over the job. I give you my word on the book that I never raisedhand against Mr. Sholto. It was that little hell-hound, Tonga, who shotone of his cursed darts into him. I had no part in it, sir. I was as grieved asif it had been my blood-relation. I welted the little devil with the slack endof the rope for it, but it was done, and I could not undo it again.""Have a cigar," said Holmes; "and you had best take a pull out of myflask, for you are very wet. How could you expect so small and weak aman as this black fellow to overpower Mr. Sholto and hold him while youwere climbing the rope?""You seem to know as much about it as if you were there, sir. The truthis that I hoped to find the room clear. I knew the habits of the house prettywell, and it was the time when Mr. Sholto usually went down to hissupper. I shall make no secret of the business. The best defence that I canmake is just the simple truth. Now, if it had been the old major I wouldhave swung for him with a light heart. I would have thought no more ofknifing him than of smoking this cigar. But it's cursed hard that I shouldbe lagged over this young Sholto, with whom I had no quarrel whatever.""You are under the charge of Mr. Athelney Jones, of Scotland Yard. Heis going to bring you up to my rooms, and I shall ask you for a trueaccount of the matter. You must make a clean breast of it, for if you do Ihope that I may be of use to you. I think I can prove that the poison actsso quickly that the man was dead before ever you reached the room.""That he was, sir. I never got such a turn in my life as when I saw himgrinning at me with his head on his shoulder as I climbed through thewindow. It fairly shook me, sir. I'd have half killed Tonga for it if he hadnot scrambled off. That was how he came to leave his club, and some ofhis darts too, as he tells me, which I dare say helped to put you on ourtrack; though how you kept on it is more than I can tell. I don't feel nomalice against you for it. But it does seem a queer thing," he added with abitter smile, "that I, who have a fair claim to half a million of money,should spend the first half of my life building a breakwater in theAndamans, and am like to spend the other half digging drains atDartmoor. It was an evil day for me when first I clapped eyes upon themerchant Achmet and had to do with the Agra treasure, which neverbrought anything but a curse yet upon the man who owned it. To him itbrought murder, to Major Sholto it brought fear and guilt, to me it hasmeant slavery for life."At this moment Athelney Jones thrust his broad face and heavyshoulders into the tiny cabin."Quite a family party," he remarked. "I think I shall have a pull at thatflask, [141] Holmes. Well, I think we may all congratulate each other. Pitywe didn't take the other alive, but there was no choice. I say, Holmes, youmust confess that you cut it rather fine. It was all we could do to overhaulher.""All is well that ends well," said Holmes. "But I certainly did not know that the Aurora was such a clipper.""Smith says she is one of the fastest launches on the river, and that if hehad had another man to help him with the engines we should never havecaught her. He swears he knew nothing of this Norwood business.""Neither he did," cried our prisoner-"not a word. I chose his launchbecause I heard that she was a flier. We told him nothing; but we paidhim well, and he was to get something handsome if we reached ourvessel, the Esmeralda, at Gravesend, outward bound for the Brazils.""Well, if he has done no wrong we shall see that no wrong comes tohim. If we are pretty quick in catching our men, we are not so quick incondemning them." It was amusing to notice how the consequential Joneswas already beginning to give himself airs on the strength of the capture.From the slight smile which played over Sherlock Holmes's face, I couldsee that the speech had not been lost upon him."We will be at Vauxhall Bridge presently," said Jones, "and shall landyou, Dr. Watson, with the treasure-box. I need hardly tell you that I amtaking a very grave responsibility upon myself in doing this. It is mostirregular, but of course an agreement is an agreement. I must, however, asa matter of duty, send an inspector with you, since you have so valuable acharge. You will drive, no doubt?""Yes, I shall drive.""It is a pity there is no key, that we may make an inventory first. Youwill have to break it open. Where is the key, my man?""At the bottom of the river," said Small shortly."Hum! There was no use your giving this unnecessary trouble. Wehave had work enough already through you. However, Doctor, I need notwarn you to be careful. Bring the box back with you to the Baker Streetrooms. You will find us there, on our way to the station."They landed me at Vauxhall, with my heavy iron box, and with a bluff,genial inspector as my companion. A quarter of an hour's drive broughtus to Mrs. Cecil Forrester's. The servant seemed surprised at so late avisitor. Mrs. Cecil Forrester was out for the evening, she explained, andlikely to be very late. Miss Morstan, however, was in the drawing-room;so to the drawing-room I went, box in hand, leaving the obliginginspector in the cab.She was seated by the open window, dressed in some sort of whitediaphanous material, with a little touch of scarlet at the neck and waist.The soft light of a shaded lamp fell upon her as she leaned back in thebasket chair, playing over her sweet grave face, and tinting with a dull,metallic sparkle the rich coils of her luxuriant hair. One white arm andhand drooped over the side of the chair, and her whole pose and figurespoke of an absorbing melancholy. At the sound of my footfall she sprangto her feet, however, and a bright flush of surprise and of pleasurecoloured her pale cheeks."I heard a cab drive up," she said. "I thought that Mrs. Forrester hadcome back very early, but I never dreamed that it might be you. Whatnews have you brought me?""I have brought something better than news," said I, putting down thebox upon the table and speaking jovially and boisterously, though my heart was heavy [142] within me. "I have brought you something which isworth all the news in the world. I have brought you a fortune."She glanced at the iron box."Is that the treasure then?" she asked, coolly enough."Yes, this is the great Agra treasure. Half of it is yours and half isThaddeus Sholto's. You will have a couple of hundred thousand each.Think of that! An annuity of ten thousand pounds. There will be fewricher young ladies in England. Is it not glorious?"I think I must have been rather over-acting my delight, and that shedetected a hollow ring in my congratulations, for I saw her eyebrows risea little, and she glanced at me curiously."If I have it," said she, "I owe it to you.""No, no," I answered, "not to me but to my friend Sherlock Holmes.With all the will in the world, I could never have followed up a cluewhich has taxed even his analytical genius. As it was, we very nearly lostit at the last moment.""Pray sit down and tell me all about it, Dr. Watson," said she.I narrated briefly what had occurred since I had seen her last. Holmes'snew method of search, the discovery of the Aurora, the appearance ofAthelney Jones, our expedition in the evening, and the wild chase downthe Thames. She listened with parted lips and shining eyes to my recitalof our adventures. When I spoke of the dart which had so narrowlymissed us, she turned so white that I feared that she was about to faint."It is nothing," she said as I hastened to pour her out some water. "I amall right again. It was a shock to me to hear that I had placed my friends insuch horrible peril.""That is all over," I answered. "It was nothing. I will tell you no moregloomy details. Let us turn to something brighter. There is the treasure.What could be brighter than that? I got leave to bring it with me, thinkingthat it would interest you to be the first to see it.""It would be of the greatest interest to me," she said. There was noeagerness in her voice, however. It had struck her, doubtless, that it mightseem ungracious upon her part to be indifferent to a prize which had costso much to win."What a pretty box!" she said, stooping over it. "This is Indian work, Isuppose?""Yes; it is Benares metal-work.""And so heavy!" she exclaimed, trying to raise it. "The box alone mustbe of some value. Where is the key?""Small threw it into the Thames," I answered. "I must borrow Mrs.Forrester's poker."There was in the front a thick and broad hasp, wrought in the image ofa sitting Buddha. Under this I thrust the end of the poker and twisted itoutward as a lever. The hasp sprang open with a loud snap. Withtrembling fingers I flung back the lid. We both stood gazing inastonishment. The box was empty!No wonder that it was heavy. The ironwork was two-thirds of an inchthick all round. It was massive, well made, and solid, like a chestconstructed to carry things of great price, but not one shred or crumb of metal or jewellery lay within it. It was absolutely and completely empty."The treasure is lost," said Miss Morstan calmly.As I listened to the words and realized what they meant, a great shadowseemed to pass from my soul. I did not know how this Agra treasure hadweighed me down [143] until now that it was finally removed. It wasselfish, no doubt, disloyal, wrong, but I could realize nothing save that thegolden barrier was gone from between us."Thank God!" I ejaculated from my very heart.She looked at me with a quick, questioning smile."Why do you say that?" she asked."Because you are within my reach again," I said, taking her hand. Shedid not withdraw it. "Because I love you, Mary, as truly as ever a manloved a woman. Because this treasure, these riches, sealed my lips. Nowthat they are gone I can tell you how I love you. That is why I said,'Thank God.'""Then I say 'Thank God,' too," she whispered as I drew her to my side.Whoever had lost a treasure, I knew that night that I had gained one.