The Press., 1895-06-20
TBE SIGN OF THE FOUR.
Bv A. CONAN DOYT,E

Well, gentlemen, 1 weary you with my long story, and I know that my friend MT. JCnes is impatient to get me safely slowed in chokey. I'll make it as short as I can. Tho villain Sholto went off to In- dia, but ho never came back again. Cap tain Morstan showed me his name among list of passengers in one of the mail boats very shortly afterward. His uncle had died, leaving him fortune, and he had left tho army, yet he could stoop to treat five men as he had treated us. Nor stan went over to Agra shortly afterward and found, as we expected, that the treas ure 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 lived only for vengeance. I thought of it by day, and nursed it by night. It became an over- towering, absorbing passion with me. cared nothing for the law, nothing for the gallows. To escape, to track down Sholto, to have my 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, l have set my mind on many things in this life and never one which did not carry out, but it was weary years DS1OT0 lily tIIl6 CdIlS udFO IOlu yOU that had piSled up something of medi- cine. One gay when Dr. Somerton was down with fever little Andaman is lander was picked up by convict gang in the woods. He was sick to death and had gone to n lonely p ace to die. I took him in hand, though he was as venOmOus as a young snake, and after a couple of months I got him all right and able to walk. He took a kind of fancy to me then and would hardly go back to his woods, but was al ways hanging about my hut. learned a little of his lingo from him, and this made him all the fonder of me.
 "Tonga-for that was his name-was a fine boatman and owned a big, roomy canoe of his own. When I found that he was devoted to me and would do anything to serve mo, saw my chance of escape. talked it over with him. Ho was to bring his boat round on certain night to an old wharf which was never guarded, and there he was to pick me up. I gave him directions to have several gourds of water and a lot of yams, cocoanuts and sweet po- tatOes
 He was stanch and true, was littlo Tonga. No man ever had a more faithful mate. At the night named he had his boat at the wharf. As it chanced, however, there was one of the convict guard down there-a vile Pathan, who had never missed a chance of insulting and injuring mo. had always vowed vengeance, and now had my chance. It was as if fate had placed him ill my way that l might pay my debt before left the island. He stood on the bank with his back to me and his carbine on his shoulder. looked about for a stone to beat out his brains with, but none could l sec.
 'Then queer thought came into my head and showed me where l could lay my hand On a weapon. I sat down in the darkness and unstrappCd my wooden leg With three long hops I was on him He put his carbinc to his shoulder, but I struck him full and knocked tho whole front of his skull in. You can sec the split in the wood now where 1 hit him. We both went down together, for could not keep my balance, but when I got up l found him still lying quiet enough. l made for the boat, and in an hour we were well out at sea. Tonga had brought all his earthly possessions with him, his arms and his gods. Among other things he had long bamboo spear and some Anda- man cocOanut mating, with which l made sort of a sail For ten days we were beating about, trusting to luck, and on the eleventh we were picked up by a trader which was going from Singapore to Jiddah with a cargo of Malay pilgrims. They were q rum crowd, and Tonga and soon managed to settle down among them. They had one very good quality-they let you alone and asked no questions
 Well. if were to tell you all the ad-