St. Landry clarion. (Opelousas, La.) 1890-1921, 1895-08-24

grounds, in and out among the trenches
and pits with which they were Scared
and interseeted. The whole place,
with its scattered dirt heaps and ILL
grown shrubs, had a blighted, ILL.,
omened look which harmonized with
the black tragedy which hung over it.
On reaching the boundary wall, Toby
ran along, whining eagerly, underneath
its shadow, aud stopped finally in a
corner screen by young beech.
Where the two walls joined, several
bricks had been loosened, and the crew
ices left were worn down and rounded
upon the lower side, as though they
had frequently been used as a ladder.
Holmes clambered up, and, taking the
dog from me, he dropped it over upon
the other side.
There's the print of wooden-leg's
hand Y he remarked, as mounted up
beside him. 'sYou see the slight
smudge of blood upon the white
plaster. What lucky thing it is that
we have had no very heavy rain since
yesterday The scent will lie upon the
road in spite of their eight-and-twenty
hours START
confess that had my doubts my
self when i reflected upon the great
traffic which had passed along the Lon
don road in the interval. My fears
were soon appeased, however. Toby
never hesitated or swerved, but
waddled on in his peculiar rolling
fashion. Clearly the pungent smell
of the creosote rose high above all
other contending scents.
s'Do not imagine, !" said Holmes, "that
i depend for my success in this case
upon the mere chance of one of these
fellows having put his foot in the chemi-
cal. / have knowledge now which
would enable me to trace them in many
different ways. This, however, is the
readiest, and, since fortune has put it
into our hands, should be culpable If
I neglected it. It has, however, pre-
vented the case from becoming the
pretty little intellectual problem
| which it at one time promised to be.
There might have been some credit to
be gained out of it, but for this too
palpable clew."
There is credit, and to spare" said
/. II assure you, Holmes, that mar
vel at the means by which you obtain
your results in this case, even more
than I did in the jefferson Hope muir
der. The thing seems to me to be
deeper and more inexplicab1e. How,
for example, could You describe with
such confidence the wooden-legged
man2'
s'Pshaw, my dear boyl it was sim
p1icity itself. / don't wish to be
theatrical. 1t is all patent and above
board. Two officers who are In COM
nand ri d convict guard learn an i'm
portant secret as TO buried treasure. a
map is drawn for them by an English
man named Jonathan Small. You re-
member that we saw the name upon
the chart in Capt. Morstan's possession.
He had signed it in behalf of himself
and his associates-the sign of the
four, as he somewhat dramatically
called it. Aided by this chart, the
oficers-or one of them gets the
treasure and brings it to England,
leaving, we will suppose, some condi-
tion under which he received it unful-
filed. Now, then, why did not
Jonathan Small get the treasure him
self? The answer is obvious. The
chart is dated at 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"
but this is mere speculation, said I.
sit is more than that. It is the only
hypothesis which covers the facts. Let
us see how it fits in with the sequel.
Maj. sholto remains at peace for some
years, happy in the possession Of his
treasure. Then he receives q 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 q surprise to him.
What does he do then? He guards him
self against a wooden-legged mana
white man, mark you, for he mistakes
a white tradesman for him, and actual
ly fires pistol at him. Now, only one
white mans name is on the chart.
The others are Hindoos or Moham-
medans. There is no other white man.
Therefore we may say with confidence
that the wooden-legged man is identi.
cal with Jonathan Small. Does the
reasoning strike you as being faulty?'
mo: it is clear and concise"
"Well, now, let us put ourselves In
the place of Jonathan Small. Let us
look at 1t from his point of view. He
comes to England with the 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 eonmuni
cations with some one inside the house,
There is this butler, La1 Rao, whom we
have not seen. Mrs. Bernstone gives
him far from good character. 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 death
bed. In frenzy lest the secret of the
treasure die with him, he runs the
gauntlet of the guards, makes his way to
the dying mans window, and is only de-
tered from entering by the presence
of his two sons. Mad with hate, how
ever, against the dead man, he enters
the room that night, searches his pri-