Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1895-05-02


"Well, we carried him in, Abdullah,
Akbar and I. A fine weight he was,
too, for all that he as so short. Ma
homet Singh was left to guard the
door. We took him to place which
the Sikhs had already prepared. 1t was
some distance off, where a winding pas
sage leads to a great empty hall, the
brick walls of which were all umbling
to pieces. The earth floor had sunk in
at one place, making natural grave,
SO we left Achmet the merchant there,
having first covered HIM over with
loose bricks This done, we all went
back to the treasure.
''It lay where he had dropped it when
he was first attacked The box was
the same which now lies open upon
your table. A key was hung by a
silken cord to that carved handle upon
the top. We opened it, and the light
of the lantern CLEANED upon collec-
ton of gems such as have read of and
thought about when l was little lad
at Pershore. 1t was binding to look
eyes we took them all out and made
list of them. There were one hundred
and forty-three diamonds of the first
water, including one which has been
called, I believe, the Great Mogul,'
and Is said to be the second largest
stone in existence. Then there were
ninety-seven very fine emeralds, and
one hundred and seventy rubies, some
Of which, however, were small There
were forty carbuncles, two hundred
and ten sapphires, sixty-one agates and
great quantity of beryls, onyxes, cats
eyes, turquoises and other stones, the
very names of which did not know at
the time, though l have become more
familiar with them since. Besides
this, there were nearly three hundred
very fine pearls, twelve of which were
set in a gold coronet. By the way,
these last had been taken out Of the
chest and were not there wheE re-
covered it.
After we had counted our treasures
we put them back into the chest and
carried them to the gateway to show
them to Mahomet Singh. Then we
solemnly renewed our oath to stand by
each other and be true to our secret.
We agreed to conceal our loot in a
safe place until the country should be
at peace again, and then to divide it
equally among ourselves. There was
no use dividing 1t at present, for if
gems of such value were found upon
US it would cause suspicion, and there
was no privacy in the fort nor any
place where we could keep them. We
carried the box, therefore, into the
same hall where we had buried the
body, and there, under certain bricks
in the best-preserved wall, we made
hollow and put our treasure. We made
careful note of the place, and next day
drew four plans, one for each of us,
and put the sign of the four of us at
the bottom, for we had sworn that we
should each always act for all, SO that
none might take advantage. That is
an oath that can put my hand to my
heart and swear that I have never
broken.
"Wel, there's no use my telling you,
gentlemen, what came of the Indian
mutiny. After Wilson took Delhi and
Sir Colvin relieved Lucknow the back
of the business was broken. Fresh
troops came pouring in, and Mana
Sahib made himself scarce over the
frontier. A flying column under Col.
Greathead came round to Agra and
cleared the Pandies away from it.
Peace seemed to be settling upon the
country, and we four were beginning
to hope that the time was at hand
when we might safely go off with our
shares of the plunder. In a moment,
however, our hopes were shattered by
our being arrested as the murderers of
Achmet.
''It came about in this way: When
the rajah put his jewels into the hands
of Achmet he did it because he knew
that he was trusty man. They are
suspicious folk in the east, however; so
what does this rajah do but take sec
ond even more trusty servant and set
him to play the spy upon the first?
This second man was ordered never to
let Achmet out of his sight, and he fol-
lowed him like his shadow. He went
after him that night, and saw him pass
through the doorway. Of course he
thought he had taken refuge in the
fort, and applied for admission there
himself next day, but could find
no trace of Achmet. This seemed
to him so strange that he spoke
about it to a sergeant of guides,
who brought it to the ears of
the commandant A thorough search
was quickly made, and the body was
discovered. Thus at the very moment
that we thought that all was safe we
were all four seized and brought to
trial on a charge of murder-.hree of
us because we had held the gate that
night, and the fourth because he was
known to have been in company of the
murdered man. Not word about the
rajah had been deposed and driven out
of India; so no one had any particular
interest in them. The murder, how
ever, was clearly made out, and it was
certain that we must all have been
concerned in it. The three Sikhs got
penal servitude for life, and was con-
demned to death, though my sentence
was afterward commuted into the
same as the others.
"It was rather queer position that
we found ourselves in then. There
we were, all four tied by the leg and
with precious little chance of ever get
ting out again, while we each held
secret which might have put each of us
in palace if we could only have made
use of it. 1t was enough to make a
man eat his heart out to have to stand
the kick and the cuff of every petty
jack IN Office, to have rice to eat and
water to drink, when that gorgeous
fortune was ready for him outside, just
waiting to be picked up. 1t might have
driven me mad; but | was always
pretty stubborn one, SO l just held on
and bided my time.
"At last it seemed to me to have
come. / was changed from Agra to
Madras, and from there to Blair island
in the Andamans There are very few
white convicts at this settlement, and,
as / had behaved well from the first,
soon found myself u sort of privileged
person. was given a hut in Hope town,
which is small place on the slopes of
Mount Harriet, and / was left pretty
much to myself. 1t is a dreary, fever
stricken place, and all beyond our little
clearings was infested with wild canni-
bal natives, who were ready enough to
blow poisoned dart at us if they saw
a chance. There was digging, and
ditching, and yam-planting, and a
dozen other things to be done, so we
were busy enough all day; though in
the evening we had little time to our
selves Among other things, learned
to dispense drugs for the surgeon, and
picked up a smattering of his knowl-