Waterbury evening Democrat., 1895-02-21
THE SIGN OF THE FOUR.
By A. CONAN DOYLE.

l should . i.t pcurc again, and ilNn iA di- 1 vide il equally among oul>VlNsN. IT.. re | was nU u.c of dividing i: @t pr,~, It. i'r il | gems of such value were found UIVI Us it | would CAusr su,I'it !Vu, anu there W&S no l privacy ill lho fort nUr any place where we could keep them. We carried the box, therefore, into the same hall where we had buried tho body, and there, under. certain | bricks in the best preserved wall, we made hollow and put our treasure. We made 1 careful note of the place, and next day drew four plans, one for each of us, and l put the sign of the four of lis at the bot tom, for VIC had sworn that we should each always act for all, so that mono might take advantage. That is an oath that l can put my hand 10 my heart and swear l that havc never broken.
 | We'll there no Use my telling you, gen l tlcmcn, what came of the Indian mutiny. After Wilson took Delhi and Sir Colin re- l lieyed Lucknow, the hack of the business was broken. Fresh troops came pouring | in, and Mana Sahih made himself scarce over the frontier. \ flying column under | Colonel Grrathyd came round to Agra and cleared the 'anIir- away from it. Peace scrncd to hr ~,trNn. upon the country, and We four WIT, lySinniEg tu hope that | the time W3~ at hal.d when We might safe l ly Eu of with our shares uf the plundCr. l In & mlnlrnt, h. Wrvcr, our hopes were shattered hy cur h,inE arrested as the ! murdcrrrs uf Achmvt.
 Ut came about in tLs. way. When the | rajah put his jewels iTtn tic hands of l Achmrt, he did it because he knew that he was trusty man. They are suspicious | folk in the cast. however, so what docs this raial do but take a sCcCnd even more trt>ty servant and st him to play the spy upon the first. This second man was or | dcrtd never to let AChmct out nf his sight, 1 and he followed him like his shadow. He | wrnt after him that night and saw him pass through the doorway. Of course he thought he had taken refuge ill the fort l and applied fur admission there himself next day, hut could find no trace of Ach- met This seemed To him strange that 1 he spoke about il to a sergeant of guides, 0 hu brought il to the ears of the com mandaut. \ thorough search was quickly ilii:dr. and the body was discovered. Thus at thc very moment that we thought that l all was safc we wCrC all four seized and | brought to trial on a charge of murder, | three of lis because wo had held tho gate that night and the fourth because ho was known to have hrvn in company of the murdered man. Not word about tho jewels came out at the trial for the rajah had b,Cn dcIusrd and driven out of India, so To one l'td any particular interest in th,lu. The murder, however, was clearly madc cut, aHd it was certain that we must all have been concerned in ii. Tho thrcc Sikhs get penal scrvitudo for life and l was CoudcIuncd to death, though my scn- tCnCr wa5 aCtrrwarl cOmmutCd into the same as the others.
 It was rather a queer position that we found ourselves in then. There we wCro all four tied by the lyy and with precious little chance of ever getting out again, while wc each held secret which might have put each of us in palace if We could only have made I,~> cf il. II was enough to make a ln,,n eat his heart cut to have | to stand hr kick and the Cutf of every petty | jack in uiiicy, to have rice tu eat and wa t,.r 10 drink, when tLat gorgeous fortune was ready for him outside, just waiting to bc picked ui. Ii might have driven me mad, but l vI~ always n pretty stubborn one, so Just hrlI un and bidtd my time.
 At last it sC, md 10 no 10 have come. 1 was c.lEE,d from AEra 10 Madras, and from there 10 Bialr l-iIuI. in the AndA- uars. TLcro arc VCtT lew white CouViCts } at this settlement, and as had behaved we'll from t..o fir. I scun found myself Q sort Cf Tr!f l, -cd person. 1 was given c hut in U.ic Town, which iS small place on the sl, !:>- cI Mount Harriet, arA va: left pr,I,y much 10 ny>,N It is drCaly, fc5,r S;Tlcl,cn IlacC. and all h,vOnd ouI HttiC clvIriuE~ v1S infested with wit cam bal natives. wIln were ready enough
 to blow a pu',nr.d dart at Ills if they saw
 aChHNco. T!plHW;.~ digging and ditchinC
 and yam lVIIi:l:; and a dozen other thing:
 h tG d,Ir. >o Nyc wcrr busy enough al day. though in ;ie evening we lad a littlt
 time tn uur-olv,>. Among other things. , ly@ri al tn Gi,pcEsc drugs for the surgeon
 and pic',rd IF q Smattcring of his knowl . c,IHH All iLc time I waS on tho lookou
 for chance If t>rHrr. hut it is hundred l If miles from any othcr land, and thCro i ; N;i!p tr TO wind in these stus, so il wa
 a trrr!I " (. fl, uly jnh tu get away.
 ''Thc>uIIc.u, Dr. Su2n,rton. was n fas
 sporting young chap, and tho other youni
 ofl.r'rS WrtId r,Ct in his room of al
 ev,aICC ald l'lay cards Tho surgery
 wh,rc l.@,l 10 mako up my drugs, wa
 next to lis sitting room. with shall win
 duw between Us Often, if felt Lonesome used t.' turn out tho lamp in the surgery
 aud Ih~n. stai.diuE there, l could hra
 their talk aHl watch their play. am ion
 of q hand at cards myself, and il was al
 mos; a~ good as having one 10 watch tn - others. The rr waS Major Shnto, Captai Morstan and Lieutenant Bromley Brown l. who were in command of the nativ -- troops and there was tho surgeon himsC, .: aud two CT thrro prison onici1ls-craft
 old hands-who played nice, sly, sal .5 game. \ vcry snug little party they use
 10 mako.
 !, Well. there was ono thing which ver
 soon struck mo. and that was that soldier used always to lOso and tho civilians
 win. Mind, don't say that there W. G anything unfair. hut 50 iu was. The:
 prison chaps had done l!ttlo else than pla
 cards Cvrr since thcy had been q. tie Al
 damans, and they knew each othCr'S gan
 to a point. while tho others just payC , to pass the time and threw their carI ', down anyhow. Night after night the so
 dicrs gut up poorer men, and the poor
 they got the moro keen they were to pla
 Major Shulto was tho hardest hit. | - used to pay in notes and gold at first, bl u soon it came 10 notes of hand and for b :" sums, He sometimes would win for a f. dvaiS, just tu give him heart, and then Il
 luck would set in against him worse thG l ever. All day he would wander about n black as thunder, and he took to drinkiI 'Q a deal moro than was good for him.
 One night he lost even moro hcayi $. than usual WAS sitting in my hut wh' ", he and Captain MOrstan came stumbliI
 along on their way to their quarters. Tn 5. were bosom friends. those two and nov
 far apart. The major was raving abo , his losses.
 .I5 It's all up, Morstan, he was sayil
 as they passed my hut. l shall have 5O send in my papers I am a ruined man
 Nonsense. cid chap said the othC % skipping him upon the shoulder. 1T ''' had nasty faccr myself, but That w
 all could hear, but it was enough to r. me thinking.
 -, A couple of days later Major Shol 15, was stroIling on the beach, so I took |
 chance of speaking to him.
 P. "'I wish to have your advice, majo
 said l.
 B, "'Well, Small, what is it, he sa
 taking his cheroot from his lips,