Morris tribune. [volume] (Morris, Minn.) 1880-2000, 1895-07-17
"sHumv said he. "A fifth share!
The 4 30 not varxy %o,,,nt ipor

"sHum!' said he. "A fifth share
| That is not very tempting
sit would come to fifty Thousand
| apiece, said I.
's'But how can we gain your free
dom? You know very well that 20,
ask an impossibility.'
Nothing of the sort ! answered
i have thought it all out to the last de
tail The only bar to our escape il
that we can get no boat fit for the voy
age, and no provisions to last us for 81
long a time. There are plenty O
little yachts and yawls at Calcutts
or Madras which would serve our turn
well. Do you bring one over. We
shall engage to get aboard her by
night, and if you will drop us on any
part of the Indian coast you will have
done your part of the bargain.
elf there were only one, he said.
"'None or ALL | answered. we
have sworn it. The four of us must al
ways act together
"'You see, Morstan,' said he, Small
is man of his word. He does not
finch from his friends 1 think we
may very well trust him.
Its dirty business the other an
swered. Yet, as you say, the money
would save our commissions hand.
somely.'
"'Well, Small said the major, we
must, suppose, try and meet you. We
must first, of course, test the truth OF
your story. Tell me where the box is
hid, and I shall get leave of absence
and go back to India in the monthly
relief-boat to inquire into the affair
'''Not so fast, said 1, growing colder
as he got hot. I must have the con-
sent of my three comrades. I tell you
that it is four or none with us.
"'Nonsensep he broke in. What
have three black fellows to do with our
agreement?
''Black or blue,' said 1, they are in
with me, and we all go together
''Well, the matter ended by second
meeting, at which Mahomet Singh, Alb
dullah Khan and Dost Akbar were all
present. We. talked the matter over
again, and at last we came to an ar
rangement. We were to provide both
the officers with charts of the part of
the Agra fort and mark the place in
the wall where the treasure was hid.
Maj. Sholto was to go to India to test
our story. If he found the box he was
to leave it there, to send out small
yacht provisioned for a voyage, which
was to lie off Rutland island, and to
which we were to make our way, and
finally to return to his duties. Capt.
Morstan was then to apply for leave of
absence, to meet us at Agra, and there
we were to have final division of the
treasure, he taking the majors share
as we'll as his own. All this we sealed
by the most solemn oaths that the
mind could think or the lips utter. I
sat up all night with paper and ink,
and by morning had the two charts
all ready, signed with the sign of four
that is, of Abdullah, Akbar, Mahomet
and myself.
'Well, gentlemen, I weary you with
my long story, and 1 know that my
friend Mr.. Jones is impatient to get
me safely slowed in chokey. I'll make
Sholto, went off to India, but he never
came back again. Capt. Morstan
showed me his name among 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 men as he had treated us.
Morstan went over to Agra shortly
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 him the secret.
From that day I lived only for ven
geance. I thought Of it by day and
nursed it by night. It became an over
towering, absorbing passion with me.
1 cared nothing for the law-nothing
for the gallows. To escape, to track
down Sholto, to have nv hand upon his
throat that was my one thought. Even
the Agra treasure had come to be
smaller thing in my mind than the
Staying of Sholto.
''Well, have set my mind on many
things in this life, and never one which
did not carry out. But it was weary
years before my time came. have
told you that I had picked up some
thing of medicine. One day when DIR.
Somerton was down with fever lit
tie Andaman islander was picked up