"Apart from their size, though. Is there nothing else?"
"They appear to be much as other footmarks."
"Not at all. Look here! This is the print of a right foot in the
dust. Now I make one with my naked foot beside it. What is the chief
difference?"
"Your toes are all cramped together. The other print has each toe
distinctly divided."
"Quite so. That is the point. Bear that in mind. Now, would you
kindly step over to that flap-window and smell the edge of the
wood-work? I shall stay here, as I have this handkerchief in my
hand."
I did as he directed, and was instantly conscious of a strong tarry
smell.
"That is where he put his foot in getting out. If you can trace him,
I should think that Toby will have no difficulty. Now run
down-stairs, loose the dog, and look out for Blondin."
By the time that I got out into the grounds Sherlock Holmes was on
the roof, and I could see him like an enormous glow-worm crawling
very slowly along the ridge. I lost sight of him behind a stack of
chimneys, but he presently reappeared, and then vanished once more
upon the opposite side. When I made my way round there I found him
seated at one of the corner eaves.
"That You, Watson?" he cried.
"Yes."
"This is the place. What is that black thing down there?"
"A water-barrel."
"Top on it?"
"Yes."
"No sign of a ladder?"
"No."
"Confound the fellow! It's a most break-neck place. I ought to be
able to come down where he could climb up. The water-pipe feels
pretty firm. Here goes, anyhow."
There was a scuffling of feet, and the lantern began to come steadily
down the side of the wall. Then with a light spring he came on to the
barrel, and from there to the earth.
"It was easy to follow him," he said, drawing on his stockings and
boots. "Tiles were loosened the whole way along, and in his hurry he
had dropped this. It confirms my diagnosis, as you doctors express
it."
The object which he held up to me was a small pocket or pouch woven
out of colored grasses and with a few tawdry beads strung round it.
In shape and size it was not unlike a cigarette-case. Inside were
half a dozen spines of dark wood, sharp at one end and rounded at the
other, like that which had struck Bartholomew Sholto.
"They are hellish things," said he. "Look out that you don't prick
yourself. I'm delighted to have them, for the chances are that they
are all he has. There is the less fear of you or me finding one in
our skin before long. I would sooner face a Martini bullet, myself.
Are you game for a six-mile trudge, Watson?"
"Certainly," I answered.
"Your leg will stand it?"
"Oh, yes."
"Here you are, doggy! Good old Toby! Smell it, Toby, smell it!" He
pushed the creasote handkerchief under the dog's nose, while the
creature stood with its fluffy legs separated, and with a most
comical cock to its head, like a connoisseur sniffing the bouquet of
a famous vintage. Holmes then threw the handkerchief to a distance,
fastened a stout cord to the mongrel's collar, and let him to the
foot of the water-barrel. The creature instantly broke into a
succession of high, tremulous yelps, and, with his nose on the
ground, and his tail in the air, pattered off upon the trail at a
pace which strained his leash and kept us at the top of our speed.
The east had been gradually whitening, and we could now see some
distance in the cold gray light. The square, massive house, with its
black, empty windows and high, bare walls, towered up, sad and
forlorn, behind us. Our course let right across the grounds, in and
out among the trenches and pits with which they were scarred and
intersected. 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, and stopped finally in a corner screened by a
young beech. Where the two walls joined, several bricks had been
loosened, and the crevices 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," he remarked, as I mounted
up beside him. "You see the slight smudge of blood upon the white
plaster. What a 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."
I confess that I had my doubts myself when I reflected upon the great
traffic which had passed along the London 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 creasote rose high above all other contending scents.
"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 chemical. I 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, I should be culpable if I
neglected it. It has, however, prevented 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 clue."
"There is credit, and to spare," said I. "I assure you, Holmes, that
I marvel at the means by which you obtain your results in this case,
even more than I did in the Jefferson Hope Murder. The thing seems to
me to be deeper and more inexplicable. How, for example, could you
describe with such confidence the wooden-legged man?"
"Pshaw, my dear boy! it was simplicity itself. I don't wish to be
theatrical. It is all patent and above-board. Two officers who are in
command of a convict-guard learn an important secret as to buried
treasure. A map is drawn for them by an Englishman named Jonathan
Small. You remember that we saw the name upon the chart in Captain
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 officers--or one of them--gets the
treasure and brings it to England, leaving, we will suppose, some
condition under which he received it unfulfilled. Now, then, why did
not Jonathan Small get the treasure himself? The answer is obvious.
The chart is dated at a 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 that is mere speculation," said I.
"It is more than that. It is the only hypothesis which covers the
facts. Let us see how it fits in with the sequel. Major Sholto
remains at peace for some years, happy in the possession of his
treasure. Then he receives a letter from India which gives him a
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 a
surprise to him. What does he do then? He guards himself against a
wooden-legged man,--a white man, mark you, for he mistakes a white
tradesman for him, and actually fires a pistol at him. Now, only one
white man's name is on the chart. The others are Hindoos or
Mohammedans. There is no other white man. Therefore we may say with
confidence that the wooden-legged man is identical with Jonathan
Small. Does the reasoning strike yo as being faulty?"
"No: it is clear and concise."
"Well, now, let us put ourselves in the place of Jonathan Small. Let
us look at it 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 communications
with some one inside the house. There is this butler, Lal Rao, whom
we have not seen. Mrs. Bernstone gives him far from a 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 a frenzy
lest the secret of the treasure die with him, he runs the gauntlet of
the guards, makes his way to the dying man's window, and is only
deterred from entering by the presence of his two sons. Mad with
hate, however, against the dead man, he enters the room that night,
searches his private papers in the hope of discovering some
memorandum relating to the treasure, and finally leaves a momento of
his visit in the short inscription upon the card. He had doubtless
planned beforehand that should he slay the major he would leave some
such record upon the body as a sign that it was not a common murder,
but, from the point of view of the four associates, something in the
nature of an act of justice. Whimsical and bizarre conceits of this
kind are common enough in the annals of crime, and usually afford
valuable indications as to the criminal. Do you follow all this?"
"Very clearly."
"Now, what could Jonathan Small do? He could only continue to keep a
secret watch upon the efforts made to find the treasure. Possibly he
leaves England and only comes back at intervals. Then comes the
discovery of the garret, and he is instantly informed of it. We again
trace the presence of some confederate in the household. Jonathan,
with his wooden leg, is utterly unable to reach the lofty room of
Bartholomew Sholto. He takes with him, however, a rather curious
associate, who gets over this difficulty, but dips his naked foot
into creasote, whence come Toby, and a six-mile limp for a half-pay
officer with a damaged tendo Achillis."
"But it was the associate, and not Jonathan, who committed the
crime."
"Quite so. And rather to Jonathan's disgust, to judge by the way the
stamped about when he got into the room. He bore no grudge against
Bartholomew Sholto, and would have preferred if he could have been
simply bound and gagged. He did not wish to put his head in a halter.
There was no help for it, however: the savage instincts of his
companion had broken out, and the poison had done its work: so
Jonathan Small left his record, lowered the treasure-box to the
ground, and followed it himself. That was the train of events as far
as I can decipher them. Of course as to his personal appearance he
must be middle-aged, and must be sunburned after serving his time in
such an oven as the Andamans. His height is readily calculated from
the length of his stride, and we know that he was bearded. His
hairiness was the one point which impressed itself upon Thaddeus
Sholto when he saw him at the window. I don't know that there is
anything else."
"The associate?"
"Ah, well, there is no great mystery in that. But you will know all
about it soon enough. How sweet the morning air is! See how that one
little cloud floats like a pink feather from some gigantic flamingo.
Now the red rim of the sun pushes itself over the London cloud-bank.
It shines on a good many folk, but on none, I dare bet, who are on a
stranger errand than you and I. How small we feel with our petty
ambitions and strivings in the presence of the great elemental forces
of nature! Are you well up in your Jean Paul?"
"Fairly so. I worked back to him through Carlyle."
"That was like following the brook to the parent lake. He makes one
curious but profound remark. It is that the chief proof of man's real
greatness lies in his perception of his own smallness. It argues, you
see, a power of comparison and of appreciation which is in itself a
proof of nobility. There is much food for thought in Richter. You
have not a pistol, have you?"
"I have my stick."
"It is just possible that we may need something of the sort if we get
to their lair. Jonathan I shall leave to you, but if the other turns
nasty I shall shoot him dead." He took out his revolver as he spoke,
and, having loaded two of the chambers, he put it back into the
right-hand pocket of his jacket.
We had during this time been following the guidance of Toby down the
half-rural villa-lined roads which lead to the metropolis. Now,
however, we were beginning to come among continuous streets, where
laborers and dockmen were already astir, and slatternly women were
taking down shutters and brushing door-steps. At the square-topped
