Sherlock Holmes Complete Works 1

Chapter 42 Four Signatures 20
"The more anxious he was, the calmer I was. I said, 'Don't worry. I'll have to ask the three friends if they agree to it. I told you that as long as one of the four of us doesn't Agreed, this thing won't work.'

"'What's the matter? What's the deal we white people have to do with those three niggers?' he couldn't help interjecting.

"'It doesn't matter if it's black or white. Since I have made a covenant with them, I must keep it.'

"At the second meeting, Mohamed Hink, Abdullah Singh, and Dost Akbar were all present. We negotiated and finally came to a conclusion. We Promised to give each of the two officers a copy of the treasure map in Accra City, and marked the location of the treasure on the map, so that Major Shuerto can find it when he investigates in India. After Major Shuerto found the box, Don’t touch it first, we must first prepare a speedboat and food for us, and pick us up on the island where Rota came from. We are guaranteed to be free. Then the major rushed back immediately to sell the leave, and Captain Mostan asked for leave to go to Accra, and share the place with us equally. A box of jewels. Captain Morstan took a share for both of them. All of these, we made a promise with every oath we could think of and utter, and neither party promised to abide by it and never betray it. I spent the night Time drew two treasure maps, both of which were signed by the names of Mohamed Hink, Abdullah Singh, Dost Akbar, and myself.

"Gentlemen, are you tired of what I've said. Mr. Jones must have been anxious to send me to the prison so he could be at ease. In short, when Sholto arrived in India, he Never came back. A few days later, Captain Morstein brought us a manifest for a steamer from India to England, with Sholto's name on it. The reason was that his uncle had left him A large inheritance, so he retired to his inheritance. Not coming back. He was so disgraceful and obscene that he cheated not only the four of us, but his good friend. Soon, as we feared, Mostan arrived at Accra went to verify, and the jewels were gone. The robber stole all the treasures and did not abide by our conditions. From that day on, there was only one thought in my mind, and that was revenge, whether it was done legally or not. I was the only one there. What I want to do is to find a way to escape, pursue Sholto, and kill him. This is my only wish, and even the treasure of Agra is not worth paying attention to at this moment.

"I have made many aspirations in my life, and I have never failed. But in the days of searching for Sholto, I have gone through hardships. I told you, I have a little knowledge of medicine. One day, Andaman A little boy in the Islands was very ill, and when he found a secluded place in the forest to die, he was brought back by the prisoners who served there. Dr. Somerton was sick in bed with a fever. Although I know that the boy is vicious like a snake, But I took good care of him for two months, and he gradually recovered, so he had feelings for me, so he didn't want to go back to the forest, and stayed around my small hut all day long. I learned from him A little bit of their dialect, which increased the feelings between us.

"Tongke is the name of this young man. He is an experienced boatman and has a big canoe. Since I found out that he is loyal to me and willing to sacrifice everything for me, I know that my chance to escape has come. I told him my plan and asked him to row the boat to an unguarded pier one night and pick me up. I also told him to get some gourd water, some taro, coconut and sweet potato to satisfy his hunger Thirst Quencher.

"The loyalty and reliability of this little Tonk is very rare. There is no more loyal partner than him in the world. He really rowed the boat to that pier that night. It just so happens that a guy who always likes to insult and hurt me, and I The hideous jailer who was out to get revenge on him happened to be there. I don't want revenge all the time, and now I have an opportunity, as if by God's will, to cancel this debt before I leave the island. Besides, if he doesn't We couldn't get away either. He stood on the bank with his carbine on his shoulder, his back to me, and I looked for a rock to smash his head in, but couldn't find one. Then I came up with a weapon. I was in the dark Zhong sat down and untied my wooden leg, held it in my hand, jumped three times, and jumped in front of him. I hit him with all my strength with the wooden stick, and his front skull was smashed to pieces. See, The crack on my wooden leg was left when I hit him. Because one leg couldn't hold the center of gravity, I fell at the same time as him. When I got up, he was lying there motionless. I After boarding the boat, it was far away from the coast in an hour. Tongke took all his belongings, including his fighting weapons and idols, on board the boat. We drifted resignedly to the sea for ten days. By No.11 days, We were saved when we encountered a merchant ship sailing from Singapore to Jeddah. The ship was full of pilgrims from Malaysia. It didn’t take long for us to get to know each other. Pilgrims have a good temperament: don’t tell you Any problem, this way, we can stay quietly.

"If we were to describe our quest verbatim, we would go on and on till morning. We stayed here for two days, and then drifted off to another unknown place, never returning to London. Come. Even so, I never forgot my revenge. Even in my dreams at night, I dreamed of chasing him countless times. After many years of wandering, we did not return to London until three or four years ago. Back In the UK, Sholto’s address is also easy to find. The next thing is to try to find out whether the treasures are in his hands, and whether he really stole the treasures. During this process, I became successful with the person who has been helping me. A friend.—No need to imagine, I will never tell his name, I will never implicate anyone. So soon I found out that the treasure is indeed in his hands. Then I racked my brains to revenge, But Sholto was extremely wary. He had two sons and an Indian servant in his family. In addition, he hired two boxers to protect him day and night.

"One day, I heard that he was about to die of illness. It was too cheap for him to die like this. I was really unwilling. So I couldn't wait to run into his garden. Through the window, I saw Shuerto who was dying in bed. , standing beside the bed were his two sons. At that time, my blood was boiling, and I couldn’t help but want to rush in for a one-on-three. At this moment, I saw his jaw drop suddenly. He was dead. To no avail. That night, I searched his house secretly, hoping to get some clues about jewelry, but found no clues. In a fit of anger, I put the four signatures on the picture on his chest. As a sign of revenge, I saw my three partners in the future and told them that I had revenge. We were all deceived by him and robbed by him, but let him be buried without leaving a trace. peaceful.

"After that, I used Tongke as capital to hold exhibitions in markets or other places, and earn some money to support my life. Tongke's performances of eating raw meat and dancing war dances always make us a hat full of copper coins a day. Income. For several years, news of the Sakuranuma Villa has been coming in, but nothing has happened except that they are digging for treasure. Finally, the day we have been longing for and waiting for has finally arrived. I have accurate information, Ba Solonius Sholto found a treasure in his laboratory roof room. I wanted to check it out right away, but the wooden leg was a problem, it prevented me from climbing through the window. Later, I asked again There was a secret door in the attic, and after finding out Mr. Sholto's regular meal time every night, I decided to ask Tonk to help me.

I took a rope and took Tongke to Yingzhang Villa.He climbed the house as swiftly and nimbly as a cat.I tied the rope around his waist.He entered the room through the roof without any effort.But the unfortunate little Sholto was still in the house and was killed.After killing him, Tonk thought he had done something proud. When I climbed into the house along the rope, he was pacing back and forth in the house proudly like a peacock spreading its tail.He was still amazed and bewildered until I lifted the end of the rope and yanked him at him, cursing him for being a little bastard.After I took the treasure from the attic, I left a note with four signatures on the table, indicating that the treasure was finally returned to its original owner.I first lowered the treasure chest with a rope, and then slipped down the rope myself. Tong Ke took back the rope, closed the window, and climbed down the same way.

"That's all there is to say. I heard from a boatman that Smith's Dawn was a clipper, and I thought it would be a convenient means of escape for us. I made arrangements with old Smith to hire his boat and talk about If he can get us safely to the ship, he will pay him a large reward. No doubt he feels that there is something strange in it, but it is true that he does not know our secret. We can't tell him. All of this , every word and every word is the truth. Gentlemen, I don't say this to win your sympathy, and you have not treated me favorably. It is just that I firmly believe that telling the truth is the best defense. I want the world to know that Sholto How the Major has deceived us, I am innocent of the murder of his son."

Sherlock Holmes said: "Your story is very interesting. A case of interest to the world has a fitting conclusion. The latter part of what you say, of which I do not know, except that you brought the rope, the rest All agree with my conjectures. By the way, I thought Tonk had lost all his stingers, so why did he shoot another one at us in the boat?"

"Sir, all the stingers in the pocket have indeed been lost, except one in his blowpipe."

Holmes said, "Ah, that's right. I didn't expect that either."

The prisoner asked courteously, "Anything else to ask?"

My partner replied, "I have nothing to ask, thank you."

Ethelney?"Well, Holmes, you have been satisfied," said Jones. "You are a criminal, respected by all of us, and I have been too accommodating for you and your friend today. It is only necessary to pass on this speaker." Only after the person who tells the story is locked in prison can I feel at ease. I have to do my duty. The carriage is still waiting outside, and the two sheriffs are still downstairs. I am very grateful to you two for your help. Of course, two more witnesses are needed to testify in court. Good night to both of you."

Jonathan Small also got up and said goodbye: "Good night, gentlemen."

Cautious Jones said when he left the house: "Small, you go ahead. You treated the gentleman with the wooden leg in the Andaman Islands. I must be very careful not to let you hit me with the artificial leg."

After they left, Holmes and I smoked a cigarette, sat quietly for a while, and said, "This little play has come to an end. I'm afraid I won't have many opportunities to study with you in the future. I have already made an appointment with Miss Morstan." married."

He snorted sullenly, and said, "I've expected it, so I'm sorry I can't congratulate you."

I asked a little unhappily: "Are you dissatisfied with my choice of mate?"

"Not at all. I think she is the sweetest and most respectable girl I have ever seen, and would be very helpful in our kind of work. She is very talented in this field, just from her Looking at the only remaining treasure map from my father's pile of documents, it is enough to prove this point. It's just that love is an emotional act, and I think non-emotional reasoning is the most important thing, and it will happen sooner or later. Conflict, so I will never fall in love, marry, so as not to cloud my judgment."

"My judgment can withstand the rigors of emotion. You seem to be weary."

"Yes, I'm tired too. The listlessness will last a week."

I said, "It's really strange. How can a person who looks lazy on the surface always show a kind of amazing energy from time to time?"

He said: "It is true that I am lazy by nature, but on the other hand I am also very active. I often think of a sentence that Goethe said: 'God just made you into a human form, and it is all your own for gold and jade. !'

"I suspect that in the case of Upper Ruowood, there was a spy in the Sakura Swamp Villa. It is probably not someone else. It is probably the Indian servant Sir Rao who was caught by Jones with a big net. In any case, this must be included Jones's personal credit."

I said, "It's a bit of an unreasonable distribution. You're the one who ran the case, and I got a wife and Jones got the honor. What about you? What did you get out of it?"

"It's probably the cocaine bottle," said Sherlock Holmes, as he went for the bottle again.

(End of this chapter)