The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1895-06-26
The Sign of
1.-The Four,

He stopped and held out his man
acled hands for the whisky and water
which Holmes had brewed for him.
For myself, confess that l had now
conceived the utmost horror of the
man, not only For this cold-blooded
business In which he had been con-
cerned, but even more for the some
what fippant and careless way In
which he narrated it. Whatever pun
ishment was in store for him. felt
that he might expect no sympathy from
me. Sherlock Holmes and Jones sat
with their hands upon their knees,
deeply interested in the story, but with
the same disgust written upon their
faces He may have observed it, for
there was a touch of defiance in his
voice and manner as he proceeded.
1T was all very bad, no doubt" said
he. 81 should like to know how many
fellows in my shoes would have re-
fused a share of this loot when they
knew that they would have their
throats cut for their pains Besides, it
wss nv life or his when once he was in
the fort If he had got out, the whole
business would have come to light. and
I should have been court-martialed
and shot as likely as not; for people
were not very lenient at a time like
that
.,Go on with your story, said Holmes,
shortly.
.'Well, we carried him in, Aboullah,
Akbar and I. A fine weight he was,
too, for all that he was SO short Ma
homet Singh was left to guard the
door. We took him to a place which
the Sikhs had already PREPARED. 1t was
some distance off. where winding pas
sage leads to a great empty hall. the
brick walls of which were all crumoling
to pieces The earth floor had sunk IN
at one place. making a natural grave,
so we left Achmet the merchant there,
having first covered hun 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 gleame;. upon a collec-
ton of gems such as have read of and
thought about when was little Lad
at Pershore. It was binding to look
upon them. When we had feasted our
eyes we took them all out and made a
list Of them. There were one hundred
and forsy-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 aad seventy rubies- some
of which, however, were small There
were forty carbuncles, two hundred
and ten sapphires, sixty-one agates and
a great quantity of beryls, onyxes, cats
eyes, turquoises and other stones, the
very names of which did not know at
the time, though I have become more
familiar with them since. Besides
this, there were nearly three hundred
very fine pearls, twelve of which were
set in gold coronet. By the way,
these last had been taken out of the
chest and were not there wher I 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
solemniy 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. aud then to divide it
equally among ourselves There was
no use dividing it at present, for i
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 l have never
broken.
We'll, there's no use my telling you.
gentlemen. what came Of the Indian
mutiny. after Wilson took Delhi and
Sir Colvia relieved Lucknow the back
of the business was broken. Fresh
troops came pouring in, and Mana
Sahib made himself scarce over the
o111yor rpSor Col