Sherlock Holmes.

Chapter 20 Four Signatures Revealed (9)
Holmes said to him calmly: "Small, we really don't know your real situation, but if you don't tell us the whole story, how can we judge whether you are reasonable or not?"

"Sir, you are quite right. Although you handcuffed me, I don't blame you...it's normal. If you will listen to my story, I will tell you the whole truth. Thank you , just put the cup next to me, if I am thirsty, I will drink water from the cup.

"My ancestral home is Worcestershire, and I was born near the city of Boshur. Sometimes I really want to go back and have a look. There are many Smaw people living there. But I usually don't behave well, so my tribe may not welcome me. They were respectable, honest peasants and pious Christians, but I was a bum. When I was in trouble because of a relationship, I couldn't stay there, so I had to leave home to find another livelihood. It happened that the infantry The third regiment was going to be stationed in India. In order to make a living, I joined the army and began to live on military pay. But God seemed to deliberately prevent me from going to the battlefield to charge, because not long after I learned goose footwork and how to use a rifle, someone One day when I was swimming in the Ganges, a crocodile bit off my entire lower leg, as if it was a surgical operation. Because of the shock and excessive blood loss, I passed out. Fortunately, John Holder, a good swimmer, was by my side , he caught me ashore, or I would have drowned. I spent five months in the hospital, and after five months, I came out limping with a wooden leg. I was canceled due to disability. I have military status, so I don't even have a job to make ends meet.

"You can't imagine how miserable it is to become a disabled person at such a young age. Fortunately, a man named Apo White just arrived in India. A friend of the head of the army. The head of the army usually takes good care of me, and this time he tried his best to recommend me to the owner of the garden. This job can be done on a horse. I will take office soon. I supervise the workers, and report the performance of the workers to the owner at any time. The accommodation is comfortable and the salary is good. Slowly, I began to think that it would be good to live like this for the rest of my life. There is a very close relationship between white people there, so Mr. Landlord often comes to my hut to smoke a cigarette or have a word.

"However, the good times didn't last long, and ethnic riots suddenly broke out in India. People were doing their own things in the first month, and in the next month, more than 20 black devils declared their freedom and no longer accepted control. This made India a Hell. Maybe you know more about these things than we do through the newspapers. I only know what is happening around me. Our indigo farm is called Mundra, on the edge of the Northwest provinces. Every night, we can see The fire of the burning houses around the sky was bright red, and during the day, you can always see the small family under the protection of a small team of soldiers, fleeing to the nearby city of Accra where the army is stationed to avoid disaster. The owner of Apowhite is quite stubborn. , he firmly believed that the news was exaggerated, and believed that the rebellion would be quelled soon, so he continued to smoke and drink on the balcony as before, completely oblivious to the fighting around him. I have always been faithful, so the three of us did not run for our lives. As a result, that day finally came, and I happened to need to go to the garden far away to do something, and I rode back at night. On the way, I saw a bunch of things, crouched at the bottom of the steep valley, and got off the horse to take a closer look. It was the corpse of Mr. Accountant’s wife, who had been brutally cut into pieces with a knife. A lot of meat was taken away by wild dogs or wolves. Mr. Accountant was lying on his stomach not far away, holding an empty gun in his hand, and the corpses of four Indian soldiers overlapped in front of him. Just when I was still in shock, I looked up and saw that the owner's house over there was already on fire. I knew that if I went in at this time, I would die in vain, and it wouldn't help me. So I quietly hid Looking from a distance, I saw hundreds of Indians in red clothes jumping around in front of the burning house. A few of them spotted me, pointed at me, and then two bullets went past my head. I hurriedly rode my horse and galloped away, and it was already midnight when I arrived in Accra.

"But Accra isn't safe either. In fact, the whole of India isn't safe. The Brits who get together are at most protecting a small area within gun range, and Brits everywhere else are left on the streets. This war is a war involving millions of people and hundreds of people, but what we are most unwilling to do is: the elite soldiers we have carefully trained have now become our enemies. Whether cavalry, artillery or infantry, their weapons and equipment are all We supplied, even the tune of the bugle is ours. Accra is stationed in our 100rd Bengal Fusiliers, consisting of some Indian soldiers, a company of artillery and two cavalry. In addition, a new The Volunteer Army, made up of businessmen and civil servants, I also joined with my wooden legs. We reached Sakenji in early July and fought off the rebels there, but we had to retreat to the city because of lack of ammunition. Worst news. If you look at a map, you can see why things are bad. We are in the heart of the riots, Lachenau is more than [-] miles to the east, Camp City is the same distance to the south, four weeks Both are full of riots and killings.

"The city of Accra is very large, and there are all kinds of strange people living in it. In the narrow and crooked streets, it is difficult to protect it tightly with only a few British people, so the officer mobilized the army and gathered in a place called Accra Castle. place, ready to use it as a position. Have you heard about this ancient castle? Or is it a historical record related to it? I have been to many places in my life, but this ancient castle is something I have seen The most mysterious place in China. It occupies a large area, and only the newer part can be used to arrange the entire army and family members, and there is still room. The old part of the castle is much larger than the new one. The old castle is the territory of scorpions and centipedes, no one dares to go. It is full of empty halls, and there are many passages and corridors. Once people enter, it is easy to get lost. Therefore, almost no one enters, but occasionally there are a few The daring will venture in with torches.

"The river that surrounds the front of the old fort is a natural moat. There are many doors on the back and sides of the fort that can be accessed. Therefore, some soldiers need to be assigned to guard. But we have too few people. We have to defend every part of the fort. In the corner, we have to take care of the artillery positions. There are not enough manpower, so we can't afford to set up heavy troops at so many fort gates. Later, we thought of setting up a central guard room in the center of the fort, and a white man and two or three Indian soldiers at each fort gate Guard. I was sent to an isolated small fort gate in the southwest of the fort. I was in charge of its security every night. Two Sikhs were my subordinates. I was instructed from above that if there was any danger, just shoot and there would be immediate danger. People from the central guard room responded. But there are still about [-] steps to go from the central guard room to the fort gate, and there are winding corridors and passages in the middle. If there is an emergency, can reinforcements come immediately? I dare not believe.

"A remnant soldier who has just joined the army can get a small title. This has made me proud for several days. At the beginning, the two Indian soldiers from Punjab Province and I guarded the gate of the fort. One of them was Abdul Khan , a Mohmet Singh, all seasoned veterans. They are tall and very fierce looking, they all speak English very well, but they babble all night in weird Sikh language I couldn't stop talking, so I had to stand alone outside the door. The sound of gongs and drums from the other side, as well as the voices of the crazy rebels who shouted after smoking opium, were all there. Remind me that the people on the other side are very dangerous. In order to avoid accidents, the officers on duty will patrol around every two hours. When it was dark on the third day, it began to rain in the sky. Standing in such weather for several hours, It was really annoying. So I tried to talk to the two Indian soldiers again, but they ignored me. The silence was broken by a routine patrol at [-]:[-] in the morning, and then everything went back to business as usual. Since they didn't want to talk to I was talking, so I had to light a cigarette by myself. At this moment, these two Indian soldiers suddenly jumped at me. One snatched the gun, opened the safety, and pointed the muzzle of the gun at my head. The big knife was placed on my neck, and he gritted his teeth and told me that as long as he moved, he would kill me.

"My first thought was: They are the same as the rebels. If they take this gate, the whole fort will fall, and the old and children in the fort will be homeless again. Maybe you will think I'm putting gold on my face, but I swear, I did think so when the knife was on my neck at the beginning, and I was going to yell right away, and maybe call the police to the central guard room, even if it was just the last one. The man with the knife seemed to see my thoughts. I was about to shout, but he leaned over and whispered, "Keep quiet, we are not rebels, and the fortress is not in danger." From the eyes of that man, I could tell that I As long as he shouted, he would die immediately, and his words were somewhat believable, so I didn't say anything, just waiting for them to come up with new tricks.

"Ambdler Khan was the toughest of them. He told me: 'Sir, let me tell you, there are only two ways you can go, one is never to go out, and the other is to cooperate with us. In other words, either you swear to cooperate with us sincerely, or we will throw your body into the river tonight and join the rebels. There is no other choice except this. Because the matter is so important, none of us can hesitate. You choose, do you want to die or live? Answer us within 3 minutes. Time is urgent, and it must be done before the next inspection.'

"I said: 'I don't know anything, what do you want me to decide? But one thing is for sure, if it comes to the safety of the fort, I will never cooperate with you, you just kill me immediately.'

"He said: 'This matter has nothing to do with the fort, we only want you to do one thing, which is the common purpose of you British people in India - to get rich. We swear to you on this knife - not a single Sikh has ever violated This oath - if you cooperate with us, we will give you a quarter of the treasure you get, which is the most fair thing to do.'

"I asked them: 'What wealth? I definitely want to get rich, but you have to explain why to me first.'

"He said: 'Swear to us by your father's body, your mother's name and your religion that you will not do anything or say anything that hurts us from now on.'

"I said: 'As long as there is no danger to the fort, I can swear.'

"'And we both swear to you that a quarter of the treasure is yours. That is to say, four each.'

"I said: 'But it's only three now.'

"'No, Durst Akber must have a copy. I'll tell you to pass while he waits. You go outside first, Mehmet Singh, and you tell me when they come. Sir, We trust you because I think the Europeans keep their promises. If you were a lying Indian, no matter how much you swear, we would never believe you and would have thrown your body in the river long ago. But we trust the British , I think you Brits will believe us too, go ahead with the story.'

"'There was an earth king in the north of India. Although he had a small territory, he had a lot of property. Half of it was left to him by his father, and the other half was collected by himself. This man was both rich and stingy. After the rebellion, He was in a dilemma: first, he heard that many white people had been killed, so he joined the rebels to fight against the white people; in addition, he was afraid that the white people would find him revenge if they turned defeat into victory in the future, so he was in a dilemma and didn't know where to stand Good. In the end, he came up with a compromise solution, which is to divide the property into two halves, and put all the gold, silver and coins in the safe in the palace, and put all the jewelry and diamonds in an iron box , and then sent a confidant, pretending to be a businessman, to Acra Fort to hide the treasure. In the future, if the rebels win, he will keep the gold and silver coins, but if the white people win, he will only lose the gold and silver, but keep the jewels and diamonds The rebel forces in his place are relatively strong, so he joined the rebel army after the division. Sir, think about it, should he be loyal to one side, and should his property be always loyal to one side? who owns it?'

"'The earth king's confidant has changed his name to a businessman named Achmet, and he is in Accra. Tonight, he will come to the fort. This secret, his entourage Durst Akber also Yes. We have made an appointment with him to bring them in tonight through this fort gate we are guarding. They will be here soon. It is so remote that people do not expect them to come here. Our property will be ours too. How about it, sir?'

"People think that life is the most important thing in Worcester State, but in the case of raging wars, maybe they don't think so. At that time, the treasures really moved me. As for the life and death of Achmet I can't care about death anymore. My mind is already full of visions of how I will enjoy this wealth in the future, and when I, who was once considered by the villagers to be a misbehaving person, go back with a lot of gold coins and distribute them They looked surprised at the time. Thinking of this, I made up my mind at once. But Apodler Khan thought I hadn't made up my mind yet, so he asked again.

"He said: 'Sir, if you think about it, if this person is caught by the commander, the result will definitely be death, and the treasure has to be handed over to the public, and no one can get a penny. Why don't we privately Get rid of him and share the treasure with all four? These treasures are enough to make us all rich. Anyway, the treasure belongs to us or it is confiscated. Will you cooperate with us, or will you become our enemy.'

"I answered firmly: 'I have surrendered my whole being to you.'

"He gave me the gun back and said, 'Great! I'm sure you'll keep your word forever. We'll just have to be patient with those two.'

"'Does Durst Akber know any of this?'

"'It was all his idea. Now, let us go and stand guard with Mohmet Singh.'

"It was the rainy season at that time, and it rained endlessly. It was so dark that the naked eye could not even see things one step away. Although there was still some water in the trench in front of the fort gate, it was not difficult to think about it. So we started silently. Waiting for the one who comes to die.

"Suddenly, I saw a light on the other side of the trench, slowly moving towards us.

"I yelled: 'They're here!'

"Ai Podler whispered to me: 'You just need to ask him as usual, don't scare him, give him to us later, we will take care of it. You just need to stay outside. Light it Lantern, be careful to admit the wrong person.'

"The lights flickered, and gradually I saw two dark figures moving slowly to the other side of the moat. When they got down the slope of the moat, I asked in a low voice, 'Who is that?'

"The other side replied: 'My own person'. I moved the lamp closer to take a picture, and saw an Indian who was rarely seen in real life. He was very tall and had a black beard that grew to his waist. Behind is a very short guy with a rhubarb turban on his head, he is carrying a bag, and he is very fat. He looks like a mouse that has just come out of a hole, looking around, probably because of fear, so his whole body is shaking , but only the eyes were extraordinarily bright and highly alert. The thought of killing such a man myself made me sick. But when I thought of the treasure, I didn't care about anything. As soon as he recognized me as white , and ran over happily.

"He said out of breath: 'Sir, I am a fleeing businessman and I need your protection now. There are always people robbing and insulting me all the way from Rajputana to Accra because I used to be with the British The Army is better. Thank God, I and my stuff are finally safe now.'

"'What's in the bag?' I asked.

"He said: 'The two things left by the ancestors. Others think they are worthless, but they are my treasures. I am really not a beggar. Please, let me rest with you for two days. I will decide will reward you and your commander.'

"Looking at his poor chubby face, I couldn't bear to kill him even more. So I didn't dare to talk to him any more, maybe it would be more liberating to let him go to heaven as soon as possible.

"'Take him to headquarters,' I said. Two Indian soldiers led him into the corridor, followed by the tall one. I had never seen a man so surrounded by death before. After they went in, I stood outside alone with a lantern.

"Soon, I heard the sound of them walking on the corridor, followed by a dead silence, and then there was the sound of desperate tearing. Suddenly, I heard a sound getting closer, so I quickly took a lamp and shone in. , I was scared to death. The businessman's face was covered with blood, and he was running desperately towards this side. Behind him was the tall man with a knife. The businessman ran so fast that the people behind him couldn't catch up. I knew that he only had to escape from me Here, it is possible to live. Seeing him trying to survive, I really wanted to let him go, but when I thought of the treasure, my heart hardened again. When he came close, I put an open fire between his legs. With a swipe, he was hit and rolled forward. Before he could get up, the Indian caught up and gave him a knife. He didn't even groan, and died. Actually, maybe I did that. killed him. Gentlemen, I keep my word, and whether it is in my favor or not, I will tell you."

(End of this chapter)