Waterbury evening Democrat., 1895-02-20

ing to his death
 Suddenly my oye caught the glint of | a shaded lantern nt tho other side of the | moat. It vanished among the mound | heaps, and then appeared again coming slowly in our direction
 Hero they arei' I exclaimed
 You will challenge him. sahib, us usual, whispered Abdullah Give him no cause for fear. Send us in with him. and we shall do the rest while you stay hero on guard Have the lantern ready to uncover, that WIG may be sure that it Is indeed the man.
 The light had ilickered onward, now stopping and now advancing, until 1 could see two dark figures upon tho other sido of the moat let them scramble down the sloping bank, splash through the miro and climb half way up to the gate before challenged them
 Who goes thcre'' said in Snbdued voice
 "Friends, came the answer. l uncov. cred my lantern and threw flood of light upon them. The first was an enormous Sikh, with a black beard which swept nearly down 10 his cummerbund. Outside of show have never seen so tall a man. The other was a little, fat, round fellow, | with great yellow turban and n bundle | in his hand, done mp in shawl. He | seemed to be all in a quivcr with fear, for | his hands twitchCd as if he had the ague, and his head kept turning to left and | right, with two bright little twinkling eyes, nke n mouse when he ventures out | from his hole. It gave me the Chills to think of killing him, hut thought of the | treasure and my heart set Us hard as | flint within ne. When he saw my white face, he gave little chrrup of joy and came running up toward me.
 Your protection, sahib, he panted, your protection for the unhappy merchant | Achmet. l have travelled across Rajpoo- l tana that l might s,rk the shelter of the | fort 0t Agra l have htn rubbed and | beaten and abused because l have been the friend of li;" company IL Is blessed night this wi,u an once mor,' in safety, l and my poor InrS>"Ssiuu>,
 '' What have yuu in Ihr humdlr>' asked.
 An irrn hu>, he answered, which | contains unv ,r tNu llIir family U"lT"rS | " htvh arc rl nu ' uluc to otI.vr,, hut wEivh | l N0uld lc sorry tn i,sSr. I't "Im n"t n t,..-nr and >iau reward you ,"unG | sahlh and your guNrin, alsU. if he will give me thr ,hrlIur n>k
 | '' l could get trust ulN ~,lf tn speak lon ger V ilh the n..u. Th" mere l i"'kCd nt his f.,. fri@h;ruvd face the hAr,!, did it | sv, ln that Mr should >lay him in cold
 blood It Wal, l'~t tn get it over.
 Take hi!n Ia thc main guard. said l, r. .tAu Slkh> clu.ru in upon him cn each side. and tie giant walked behind, while they marched in through the dark gate way. Never WaS man sn COmpaSscd r0uia with death I remained in the gate
 Way with th,. .L.u.rrn.
 1 could h'::r tEc mrasuI,d tramp of
 t.:r.r fnut,: 3 -"undinG through the lone
 ly corridors. suddenly II ceased and
 heard vuic,,> and d >S'utllc, with tho sound | ut blows \ moment later thCrc came, to | lny hu-r,T. H rU~h ,t footsteps coming in
 ny di:r,tj,t:. with th, loud hrCathing of n
 ru,,niu. r:,.r turned my lantern down
 t..r lou9, >il..I.ht Ia>s';r, and there was | line tut lr.,s. ItI ming like the wind, with
 a si..,.ir.I | ,r',l .lvr,'~' his face, and close
 ,a | ;s h. -. ',, 1udiuR like a tiger tho | l.,,..t hl.. . l,.ar,iod sikh. with A knife
 Hl-Ii ..iI h, band l have never S,vn n | u;-i'l i,-u ,,' fat uS tht; littl" l"VrChant | Il. =. ...luI.:,:,n thu -!kh. and l could
 -,,. 1. ,,t i! L,',u,> paced me and G"t tO
 thr uvtu aiI h. W"nld save hliNsCH vet.
 My h,ult ,ticiu,I tn him, but again the
 thought vf h1> tT,H~urr tItnNt m" hard
 and bitter cast my hr'luck lsJwv. n his
 legs ns hc r.,c,l ia>t. ard l." rolled twice
 over like a .llu; rahhit Erc he could >taG ger 10 his f,,t the sikh was upon hiun and
 buried his knife twirc in his sid". The
 man never utiCrrl moan nor moved mus
 Cle but laN h~Ir he had fdll"n think
 myself that h. uoy have broken lis Teck
 with Inc fall Gcu see. gentlemen. that
 Gu keeping my promise am tcl!!nG you
 every wurd ,f tle business just CG"N--T as
 IL kappcLCd whether II Is ia TN favor oE
 not
 He stopped md held cut his manaeled
 T i ~t.a
 Holmes had brewcd for him. For myself,
 I confess that had now conceived the ut
 most horror of tho man, not only for this
 cold bloodcd business in which he had
 been concerned but even more for the
 somewhat flippant and careless way in
 which he narrated 1t. Whatever punish
 ment was in storc for him, I felt that Inc
 might expect no sympathy from me. ShCr
 lock Holmes and Jones sat with thoil hands upon their knees, deeply interested in the story. hut with the same diSGus written upon their faces. He may have observed 1t, for thrrr was touch Of dcn
 ancu in his voice and manner as he pro cCCdCd
 It Was all very lad no duuht, said he 1 I should like to know how many fellow: in my shoes would have refused n shnrc o . this lcot when they knew that they would
 have their thronts cut for their pains. Be sides 1t was my life or his when once h, was in the fn,t. If he had got out, th, , whole business would have come to light ' and should have hccn court martialCC
 and shot as likely as not, for people wer, ' not very lcncnt at q time like that. Gu on with yOur story" said H0lmC shortly,
 Well, wc carried him in. Abdullah o Akhar and \ fino weight he was, too for all th,t bn y~aS short MOhammCT Singh was left to guard tho door Wi took him tu a place which the Sikhs hat already prepared It was some distance
 of, where a winding passage leads 10
 great empty hall. tho brick walls of whicl z were all crumhling to pieccs. The eartl o floor had sunk in at one place, making
 natural grave, so we left Achmet the mer e chant there. having first covered him ove . with loose bricks This done, we all wen v back to thc troasure.
 It lay where ho had dropped it whcl
 he was first attacked. Tho box was tn ;. same which now lies open upon your ta = blo A key was hung by silken cord L n that carved handle upon the top. w I, opened 1t, and the light of the lanteri
 glcamcd upon a collection of gems such a
 have read of and thought about when r was a little lad at Pershore. It was blind # ing to look upon them. When wc ha o feastcd our eyes, we took them all out an a made a list of them There were l43 dia
 monds of the first water, including on :, which has been called, believe. The Grea '' Mogul' and is said to bc the second larges = stone in existence. Then there were 9 o very fine emoralds and l7o rubies. som ,r of which however, were small Ther were 40 carbuncles 2l0 sapphires, 6 l. aGatcs and a great quantity of beryls r onyxes. catseyes, turquoises and othe 'o stones, tho very names of which did nc t know at tho time. though I have becom H more familiar with them since. Beside III this thero were nearly 300 very fine pearl: ', l2 of which were set in gold coronet. B ls thn y,nN fhcSn last hnh hean taken Ilnf {