The Press., 1895-05-16

and brings 1t to England, leaving, we will suppose, some condition under which he received jt unfulfIled. Now, then, why did not Jonathan Small get the treasure himsclLS The answer is obvious. The chart is dated at a time when Morstan was brought into close association with convicts Jonathan Small did not get the treasure because he and his associates were themselves convicts and could not get away"
 "Bnt this is mere speculation" said I.
 ''It is more than that. It is the only hypothesis which covers the facts. Let us see how it fits in with the sequel. Major Sholto remains at peace for some years happy in the possession of his treasure. Then he receives letter from India which gives him great fright. What was that?"
 "A letter to say that the men whom he had wronged had been set free.'
 ''Or had escaped. That is much more likely, for he would have known what their term of Imprisonment was. It would not have been a surprise to him. What dues he do then? He guards himself against a wooden legged man-a white man, mark you-fOr he mistakes a white tradesman for him, and actually fires a
 
 name is on the chart. The others are Hin doos or Mohammedans. There is no other white man. Therefore we may say with confidence that the wooden legged man is identical with Jonathan Small. Does the reasoning strike you as being faulty?' ''No; it is clear and concise"
 'tWell, now, let us put ourselves in the place of Jonathan Small. Let us look at it from his point of view. He comes to l England with thu double idea of regaining what he would consider to be his rights and of having his revenge upon the man who had wronged him. He found out where ShOlto lived, and very possibly he established communication with some one inside the house. There is this butler, | Lal RaO, whom we have not seen. Mrs. Bernstone gives him far from good char aoter. Small could not find out, however, | where the treasure was hid, for no one ever knew save the major and one faithful servant who had died. Suddenly Small | learns that the major is on his deathbed. In frenzy, lest the secret of the treasure die with him, he runs the gantlet of the | guards, makes his way to tho dying mans window and is only deterred from enter | ing by the presence of his two sons. Mad l with hate however, against the dead man, | he enters the room that night, searches his | private papers in the hopo of discovering | some memorandum relating to the treas ure and finally leaves a memento of his visit in she short inscription upon the | card. He had doubtless planned before l hand that should he slay the major he | would leave some such record upon the | body as sign that it was not common murder, but from the point of view of the four associates something in the nature of an act of justice. Whimsical and bi- zarre conceits of this kind are common enough in the annals of crime and usually afford valuable indications as to the crim | inal. Do you follow all this?''
 Very cIearly.''
 "Now, what could Jonathan Small doi He could only continue to keep a secret watch upon the efforts made to find the treasure Possibly he leaves England and only comes back at intervals Then comes the discovery of the garrett, and he is in stantly informed of it. We again trace the presence of some confederate in the | household. Jonathan, with his wooden leg, is utterly unable to reach the lofty | room of Bartholomew ShOlto. He takes | with him, however, a very curious assO ciate, who gets over this difficulty, but dips his naked foot into creosote, whence come Toby and six mile limp for hail pay officer with damaged Achillis ten do.''
 But it was the associate and not Jon athan who committed the crime"
 Quite so, and rather to Jonathan's dis l gust, to judge by the way he stamped wheT he got into tho room. He bore no grudge against Bartholomew Sholto and would have preferred if he could have been sim ply bound and gagged. He did not wish to put his head ill u halter. There was nc help for it, however. The savage in. stincts of his companion had broken out and the poison had done it's work, so Jon athan Small left his record, lowered the l treasure box to tho ground and followed ii himself, That was the train of events as far as l can decipher them. Of course, as l to his personal appearance, he must be | middle aged and must be sunburned after l serving his time in such an oven as the Andamans. His height is readily calcu lated from the length of his stride, and we 1 knew that he was bearded His hairiness was the ono point which impressed itself upon Thaddcus Sholto when he saw him at the wiuuow. I don't know that there is anything else."
 | ''The assOciatc?"
 l ''Ah, well, there is no great mystery ill that. But you will know all about it soon l enough. How sweet the morning air iS | See how that one little cloud floats like 8 l pink feather from some gigantic t1amingO | Now the rcd rim of the sun pushes itsell | over tho London ClUUdbank. It shines on a good many folk, but on none, dare bet, who are on q stranger Crrand than you and 1. How small wo feel with our petty ambitions and strivings in tine presence ot the great elemental forces of natureI Are you well up ill your Jean Paul?"
 Fairly so 1 worked back to him through Carlyle"
 That was like following the brook tc the parent lako llo makes one curious but profound remark. It is that the chic1 proof of man s real greatness lies in his perception of his own smallncss II | argues, you sce,. power of comparison | and of appreciation W hich is in itself 2 proof of nobility. There is much food fo1 thought in Richter. You have not a pis tol, have yuu?'
 II have my stick
 It is just possible that we may need something of the sort if we get to theil lair. Jonathan shall leave to you, but If the other turns nasty 1 shall shoot him l dead" He took out his revolver as hG spoke, and having loaded two of the chambers he put 1t hack into the right hand pocket of his jacket
 We had during this time been following the guidance of Toby down the half rural | villa lined roads which lead to the mo trODolis Now, however, we were begin