Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1904-05-19

| other contending scents.
"Do not maginc." said Holmes, that
| depend for my success in this case
upon the mere chance of one Of these
fellows having put his foot in the chcmi
| cal ] have knowledge now which
would enable me - trare them In ,unu'
different ways This, however, is the
rcadiest, and, since fortune has put it
into our hands, should be culpable IL
| neglected IL. alt has, however, pre-
vented the case from becoming the
pretty little intellectual problem
which II az one time promised TO be.
There might have been some credit 20
be gained out of IL, but for this too
palpnble clew."
"There is credit. and TO spare" said
I. 81 assure you, Holmes, that mar
vel at the means by which you obtain
your results in this case. even moro
than l did in the jefferson Hope muir
der The thing seems TO me to be
deeper and more incxplicable. How,
for example, could you describe with
such confidence the wooden-leggcd
manP'
"Pshaw, my dear boyl IL was sim.
plicity itself. don't wish TO be
theatrical. II is all patent and above
board. Two officers who are in COM
mand of a 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. Morstans possession.
He had signed il in behalf of himself
and his associates sign Of the
four, MS he somewhat dramatically
called it. Aided by this chart, tho
ofIicers--or one Of them gets the
treasure and brings it to England,
leaving, we will suppose, some condi-
filed Now, then, why did not
Jonathan Small get the treasure him
self? The answer is obvious. The
chart is dated az time when Morstan
was brought into close association
with convcts. iona than 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.
ut is more than that. 1t is the only
hypothes is 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 a 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"
- 4,
likely, for he would have known what
their term Of imprisonment was. 1T
would not have been surprise TO him.
What does he do then? He guards him
self against wOode legged mana
white man, mark you, for he mistakes
n white tradesman for him. and actual
ly fires n pistol at him. Now. only one
white mans name is on the chart
The others are Hindoos or Moha IN
nelans. There is no other white man
Therefore we may say with confidence
that the wooden-leggcd 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 il
the place of Jonathan Small. Let IL.
. Ipph du IL from ms polit VI view. liz
comes to England with the double idef
of regaining what he would consider {,
he his rights and of having his reveng,
upon the man who had wronged him
He found out where Sholto lived, ant
very possibly he established coununi
: cations with some one inside the house
i There is this butler, Lal Rao, whom w,
l have not seen. Mrs. Bernstone give
him far from a good character. Small
2 could not find ont, however, where tn,
I treasure was hid. for no one eve
v knew, save the ma jor and one faithful
4 servant who had died. Suddenly Small
r learns that the major is on his death
A bed. In frenzy lest the secret of tn,
I treasure die with him. he runs tn,
e gauntlet of the guards, makes his way t,
v the diving mans window and is only de
TERED from entering by the presenc
. of his two sons. Mad with hate, how
= ever, against the dead man, he enter
r the room that night. searches his pri
g vate papers in the hope OF discovering
r some memorandum relating to th
:. treasure, and finally leaves mement,
:, Of his visit in the short inscription upol
e the card. He had doubtless planned
beforehand that should he Stay tn
ma jor he would leave some such rec
ord upon the body as sign that it wa
not a common murder. but, from tn
4 point Of view of the four associates
/" something in the nature of an act o
= Justice. Whimsical and bizarre cor
e ceits OF this kind are common enoug
v in the annals of crime. and usually a!
Il ford valuable indications as to th
f. criminal DO you follow all this?"
:. Every clearly"
# "Now, what could Jonathan Sinai
% do? He could only continue TO keep
o secret watch upon the efforts made I
Ie find the treasure. Possibly he leave
s. England and only comes back at inter
i, walls. Then comes the discovery of tn
is garnet, and he is instantly informed c
'e it. We again trace the presence {
h some confederate in the household
Jonathan, with his wooden leg, is VI
n terly unable to reach the lofty room c
$ bartholomew Sholto. He takes wit
lie him, however, rather curious assC
<, ciate, who gets over this difficulty, bu
S, dips his naked foot into creosott
ID whence come Toby, and a six-rnil
=. limp for half-pay officer with dan
.s aged Achillis tendo.'
q q ,s,tN pv,d