Our
captive sat in the cabin opposite
to the iron box which he had
done so much and waited so long
to gain. He was a sunburned reckless-eyed
fellow, with a network of lines
and wrinkles all over his mahogany
features, which told of a hard,
open-air life. There was a singular
prominence about his bearded
chin which marked a man who was
not to be easily turned from
his purpose. His age may have
been fifty or thereabouts, for
his black, curly hair was thickly
shot with gray. His face in repose
was not an unpleasing one, though
his heavy brows and aggres- sive
chin gave him, as I had lately
seen, a terrible expression when
moved to anger. He sat now with
his handcuffed hands upon his
lap, and his head sunk upon his
breast, while he looked with
his keen, twinkling eyes at the
box which had been the cause
of his ill-doings. It seemed
to me that there was more sorrow
than anger in his rigid and contained
countenance. Once he looked up
at me with a gleam of something
like humour in his
eyes.
"Well, Jonathan Small," said
Holmes, lighting a cigar, "I
am sorry that it has come to
this."
"And so am I, sir," he answered
frankly. "I don't believe that
I can swing over the job. I give
you my word on the book that
I never raised hand against Mr.
Sholto. It was that little hell-hound;
Tonga, who shot one of his cursed
darts into him. I had no part
in it, sir. I was as grieved
as if it had been my blood-relation.
I welted the little devil with
the slack end of the rope for
it, but it was done, and I could
not undo it again."
"Have a cigar," said Holmes; "and
you had best take a pull out
of my flask, for you are very
wet. How could you expect so
small and weak a man as this
black fellow to overpower Mr.
Sholto and hold him while you
were climbing the rope?"
"You
seem to know
as much about
it as if you were there, sir.
The truth is that I hoped to
find the room clear. I knew the
habits of the house pretty well,
and it was the time when Mr.
Sholto usually went down to his
supper. I shall make no secret
of the business. The best defence
that I can make is just the simple
truth. Now, if it had been the
old major I would have swung
for him with a light heart. I
would have thought no more of
knifing him than of smoking this
cigar. But it's cursed hard that
I should be lagged over this
young Sholto, with whom I had
no quarrel whatever."
"You
are under the
charge of Mr.
Athelney Jones,
of Scotland
Yard. He is going to bring you
up to my rooms, and I shall ask
you for a true account of the
matter. You must make a clean
breast of it, for if you do I
hope that I may be of use to
you. I think T can prove that
the poison acts so quickly that
the man was dead before ever
you reached the room."
"That he was, sir. I never
got such a turn in my life as
when I saw him grinning at me
with his head on his shoulder
as I climbed through the window.
It fairly shook me, sir. I'd
have half killed Tonga for it
if he had not scrambled off.
That was how he came to leave
his club, and some of his darts
too, as he tells me, which I
dare say helped to put you on
our track; though how you kept
on it is more than I can tell.
I don't feel no malice against
you for it. But it does seem
a queer thing," he added with
a bitter smile, "that I, who
have a fair claim to half a million
of money, should spend the first
half of my life building a breakwater
in the Andamans, and am like
to spend the other half digging
drains at Dartmoor. It was an
evil day for me when first I
clapped eyes upon the merchant
Achmet and had to do with the
Agra treasure, which never brought
anything but a curse yet upon
the man who owned it. To him
it brought murder, to Major Sholto
it brought fear and guilt, to
me it has meant slavery for life."
At this moment Athelney Jones
thrust his broad face and heavy
shoulders into the tiny cabin.
"Quite a family party," he
remarked. "I think I shall have
a pull at that flask, Holmes.
Well, I think we may all congratulate
each other. Pity we didn't take
the other alive, but there was
no choice. I say, Holmes, you
must confess that you cut it
rather fine. It was all we could
do to overhaul her."
"All is well that ends well," said
Holmes. "But I certainly did
not know that the Aurora was
such a clipper."
"Smith
says she is
one of the
fastest launches
on the river,
and that if he had had another
man to help him with the engines
we should never have caught her.
He swears he knew nothing of
this Norwood business."
"Neither he did," cried our
prisoner -- "not a word. I chose
his launch because I heard that
she was a flier. We told him
nothing; but we paid him well,
and he was to get something handsome
if we reached our vessel, the
Esmeralda, at Graves- end, outward
bound for the Brazils."
"Well, if he has done no wrong
we shall see that no wrong comes
to him. If we are pretty quick
in catching our men, we are not
so quick in condemning them." It
was amusing to notice how the
consequential Jones was already
beginning to give himself airs
on the strength of the capture.
From the slight smile which played
over Sherlock Holmes's face,
I could see that the speech had
not been lost upon him.
"'We will be at Vauxhall Bridge
presently," said Jones, "and
shall land you, Dr. Watson, with
the treasure-box. I need hardly
tell you that I am taking a very
grave responsibility upon myself
in doing this. It is most irregular,
but of course an agreement is
an agreement. I must, however,
as a matter of duty, send an
inspector with you, since you
have so valuable a charge. You
will drive, no doubt?"
"Yes,
I shall drive."
"It
is a pity there
is no key,
that we may
make an inventory
first. You will have to break
it open. Where is the key, my
man?"
"At the bottom of the river," said
Small shortly.
"Hum!
There was no
use your giving
this unnecessary
trou-
ble. We have had work enough
already through you. However,
Doctor, I need not warn you to
be careful. Bring the box back
with you to the Baker Street
rooms. You will find us there,
on our way to the station."
They landed me at Vauxhall,
with my heavy iron box, and with
a bluff, genial inspector as
my companion. A quarter of an
hour's drive brought us to Mrs.
Cecil Forrester's. The servant
seemed surprised at so late a
visitor. Mrs. Cecil Forrester
was out for the evening, she
explained, and likely to be very
late. Miss Morstan, however,
was in the drawing-room, so to
the drawing-room I went, box
in hand, leaving the obliging
inspec- tor in the cab.
She was seated by the open
window, dressed in some sort
of white diaphanous material,
with a little touch of scarlet
at the neck and waist. The soft
light of a shaded lamp fell upon
her as she leaned back in the
basket chair, playing over her
sweet grave face, and tinting
with a dull, metallic sparkle
the rich coils of her luxuriant
hair. One white arm and hand
drooped over the side of the
chair, and her whole pose and
figure spoke of an absorbing
melancholy. At the sound of my
footfall she sprang to her feet,
however, and a bright flush of
surprise and of pleasure coloured
her pale cheeks.
"I heard a cab drive up," she
said. "I thought that Mrs. Forrester
had come back very early, but
I never dreamed that it might
be you. What news have you brought
me?"
"I have brought something better
than news," said I, putting down
the box upon the table and speaking
jovially and boister- ously,
though my heart was heavy within
me. "I have brought you something
which is worth all the news in
the world. I have brought you
a fortune."
She glanced at the iron box.
"Is that the treasure then?" she
asked, coolly enough.
"Yes,
this is the
great Agra
treasure. Half
of it is yours
and half is Thaddeus Sholto's.
You will have a couple of hundred
thousand each. Think of that!
An annuity of ten thousand pounds.
There will be few richer young
ladies in England. Is it not
glorious?"
I think I must have been rather
over-acting my delight, and that
she defected a hollow ring in
my congratulations, for I saw
her eyebrows rise a little, and
she glanced at me curiously.
"If I have it," said she, "I
owe it to you."
"No, no," I answered, "not
to me but to my friend Sherlock
Holmes. With all the will in
the world, I could never have
followed up-a clue which has
taxed even his analytical genius.
As it was, we very nearly lost
it at the last moment."
"Pray sit down and tell me
all about it, Dr. Watson," said
she.
I narrated briefly what had
occurred since I had seen her
last. Holmes's new method of
search, the discovery of the
Aurora, the appearance of Athelney
Jones, our expedition in the
evening, and the wild chase down
the Thames. She listened with
parted lips and shining eyes
to my recital of our adventures.
When I spoke of the dart which
had so narrowly missed us, she
turned so white that I feared
that she was about to faint.
"It is nothing," she said as
I hastened to pour her out some
water. "I am all right again.
It was a shock to me to hear
that I had placed my friends
in such horrible peril."
"That is all over," I answered. "It
was nothing. I will tell you
no more gloomy details. Let us
turn to something brighter. There
is the treasure. What could be
brighter than that? I got leave
to bring it with me, thinking
that it would interest you to
be the first to see it."
"It would be of the greatest
interest to me," she said. There
was no eagerness in her voice,
however. It had struck her, doubtless,
that it might seem ungracious
upon her part to be indifferent
to a prize which had cost so
much to win.
"What a pretty box!" she said,
stooping over it. "This is Indian
work, I suppose?"
"Yes;
it is Benares
metal-work."
"And so heavy!" she exclaimed,
trying to raise it. "The box
alone must be of some value.
Where is the key?"
"Small threw it into the Thames," I
answered. "I must borrow Mrs.
Forrester's poker."
There was in the front a thick
and broad hasp, wrought in the
image of a sitting Buddha. Under
this I thrust the end of the
poker and twisted it outward
as a lever. The hasp sprang open
with a loud snap. With trembling
fingers I flung back the lid.
We both stood gazing in astonishment.
The box was empty!
No wonder that it was heavy.
The ironwork was two-thirds of
an inch thick all round. It was
massive, well made, and solid,
like a chest constructed to carry
things of great price, but not
one shred or crumb of metal or
jewellery lay within it. It was
absolutely and completely empty.
"The treasure is lost," said
Miss Morstan calmly.
As I listened to the words
and realized what they meant,
a great shadow seemed to pass
from my soul. I did not know
how this Agra treasure had weighed
me down until now that it was
finally removed. It was selfish,
no doubt, disloyal, wrong, but
I could realize nothing save
that the golden barrier was gone
from between us.
"Thank God!" I
ejaculated
from my very
heart.
She looked at me with a quick,
questioning smile.
"Why do you say that?" she
asked.
"Because you are within my
reach again," I said, taking
her hand. She did not withdraw
it. "Because I love you, Mary,
as truly as ever a man loved
a woman. Because this treasure,
these riches, sealed my lips.
Now that they are gone I can
tell you how I love you. That
is why I said, 'Thank God.' "
"Then I say 'Thank God,' too," she
whispered as I drew her to my
side.
Whoever had lost a treasure,
I knew that night that I had
gained one. |