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nift?i ano TBK 8DMTEB WATCHMAN, Established April,.1S5J. "Be Just and Fear not-Let all the Ends thou Aims't at, be thy Country's, thy God's and Truth's." THE TRUE SOUTHRON, Established Jone, 1566 Consolidated Aug. 2,18S1. SUMTER, S. C., WEDNESDAY, JUNE 12, 1895. New Series-Vol. XIV. No. 46. Published Every Wednesdays -BY J>3\ Osteen, SUMTER, S. C. TERMS : Two Dollars per annum-in advance. ADVERTISES! S XT: One Square first insertion.>.?1 00 Every subsequent insertion... 50 Contracts fot three months, or longer will be mada at redaced rates. All communications which subserve private interests will be charged foras advertisements. Obituaries and tributes of respect will be charged for. READ OUR NEW SERIAL, The Sign of OThe Four BY DR. A. CONAN DOYLE At that moment, however, as our evil fate would have it, a tug with three barges in tow blundered in between na It was only by putting our helm hard down that we avoid? ed a collision, and before we could round them and recover our way the Aurora had gained a good two hun lilt "A5D THESE IS THE AUEOEAl" EXCLAIMED HOIRIES. dred yards. She was still, however, well in view, and the murky uncertain twilight was settling into a clear star? lit night. Our boilers were strained to their utmost, and the frail shell vi? brated and creaked with the fierce en? ergy which was driving us along. We had shot through the pool past the West India docks, down the long Dept? ford Reach, and up again after round? ing the Isle of Dogs. The dull blur in front of us resolved itself now clearly enough into the dainty Aurora. Jones turned our searchlight upon her, so that we could plainly see the figures upon her deck. One man sat by the stern, with something black between his knees over which he stooped. Beside him lay a dark mass which looked like a Newfoundland dog. The boy held the tiller, while against the red glare of the furnace I could see old Smith, stripped to the waist, and shoveling coals for dear life- They may have had some doubt at first as to whether we were really pursuing them, but now as we followed every winding and turn? ing which they took there could no longer be any question about it. At Greenwich we were about three hundred paces behind them. At Blackwall we could not have been more than two hundred and fifty. I have coursed many creatures in many countries dur? ing my checkered career, but never did sport give me such a wild thrill as this mad, flying man hunt down the Thames. Steadily we drew in upon them, yard by yard. In the silence of the night we could hear the panting and clanking of their ma? chinery. The man in the stern still crouched upon the deck, and his arms were moving as though he were busy, while every now and then he would look up and measure with a glance the distance which still separated us. Nearer we came and nearer. Jones yelled to them to stop. ~W? "were ?iot more than four boats' lengths behind them, both boats flying at a tremen? dous pace. It was a clear reach of the river, with Barking level upon one side and the melancholy Plum stead marshes upon the other. At our hail the man in the stem sprang up from the deck and shook his two clinched fists at us, cursing the while in a high, cracked voice. He was a good-sized, powerful man, and as he stood poising himself with legs astride I could see that from the thigh downwards there was but a wooden stump upon the right side. At the sound of his strident, angry cries there was movement in the huddled bundle upon the deck. It straightened itself into a little black man-the smallest I have ever seen-with a great, misshapen head and a shock of tangled, disheveled hair. Holmes had already drawn his revolver, and I whipped out. mine at the sight of this savage, dis? torted creature. He was wrapped in some sort of dark ulster or blanket, which left only his face exposed; but thatwface was enough to give a man a sleepless night. Never have I seen features so deeply markod with ail bes? tiality and cruelty. His small eyes glowed and burned with a somber light, and his thick "lips were writhed back from his teeth, which grinned and chat? tered at us with a half animal fury. HS SHOOK HIS TWO CLINCHED FISTS AT US. ~~.Tiri if he raises his hand,v~~said Holmes, quietly. We were within a boat's length by this time, and almost within touch of our quarry. I can see the two of them now as they stood, the ?white man with his leg's far apart, shrieking out curses, and the unhal? lowed dwarf, with his hideous face, and his strong yellow teeth gnashing at us in the light of our lantern. It was well that we had so clear a view of him. Even as we looked he plucked out from under his covering a short, round piece of wood, like a school ruler, and clapped it to his lips. Our pistols rang out together. He whirled round, threw up his arms, and with a kind of chok? ing cough fell sideways into the stream. I caught one glimpse of his venomous, menacing eyes amid the white swirl of the waters. At same moment the wooden-legged man threw himself upon the rudder and put it hard down, so that his boat made , straight in for the southern bank, while we shot past her stern, only clearing her.by a few feet. We were round after her in an instant, but she was* already nearly at the bank. It was a wild and desolate place, where the moon glimmered upon a wide ex? panse of marsh land, with pools of stagnant water and beds of decaying vegetation. The launch, with a dull thud, ran up on the mud bank, with her bow in the air and her stern flush with the water. The fugitive sprang out, but his stump instantly sank its whole length into the sodden soil. In vain he struggled and writhed. Not one step could he possibly take either forwards or backwards. He yelled in impotent rage, and kicked frantically into the mud with his other foot, but his struggles only bored his wooden pin the deeper into the sticky bank. When we brought our launch alongside he was so firmly anchored that it was only by throwing the end of a rope over his shoulders that we were able to haul him out, and to drag him, like some evil fish, over our side. Thc two Smiths, rather and son, sat sullenly in their launch, but came aboard meekly enough when com? manded. The Aurora herself we hauled off and made fast to our stern. A solid iron chest of Indian workman? ship stood upon the deck. This, there could be no question, was the same that had contained the ill-omened treasure of the Sholtos. There was no key, but it was of considerable weight, so we transferred it carefully to our own little cabin. As we steamed slowly upstream again, we flashed our search-light in every direction, but there was no sign of the islander. Somewhere in the dark ooze at the bottom of the Thames lie the bones of that strange visitor to our shores. 44See here," said Holmes, pointing to the wooden hatchway. "We were hardly quick enough with oui* pistols." There, sure enough, just behind where we had been standing, stuck one of those murderous darts which we knew so welL It must have whizzed between us at the instant that we fired. Holmes smiled at it, and shrugged his shoulders in his easv fashion, but I confess that it turned me sick to think ot the horrible death which had passed so close to us that night. CHAPTER XI. THE GBEAT AGRA TREAS t/KE. 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 un? pleasing one, though his heavy brows and aggressive 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 nf his ill-doings. It seemed to me that there was more sorrow than anarer in his rigid and contained , ?untenance. Once he looked up at nie with a gleam of something like humor in his eyes. "Weil, Jonathan Small," said Hohnes, ti<rht:n?r a cigar, "I am sorry that it has come to this." "And so am I." he answered, frankly. "1 don't believe that I can swing over thc job. I give you my word <m the book that I never raised my hand igainst Mr. Sholto. It was that little iiell-hound Tonga who shot one of Iris :ursed darts into him. I had no part in it, sir. J was as grieved as if it had been my blood-relaH?rL 7 welted the little devil with the slack end of the rope for it, but it was done, and 1 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. T ?cnew theTh?b'its of the house pretty ^ well, and it was the time when Mr. ! Sholto usually went down to his sup? per. I shall make no secret of the business. The best defense 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 knif? ing 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. I Athelney Jones, of Scotland Yard. Ile 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 I 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 win? dow, ft fairly shook rre, sir. I'd have half killed Tonga for it if he had not scrambled of?. 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 nigh upon half a million oi money should spend the first half of my life building a breakwater in the Andamans, and am like to spend the other half <Jiggin' 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 Maj. 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?shoul ders into the tiny cabin. "Quite a fam * "QUITE A FAMILY PARTY," HE BE MARKED. ily 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 that 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 that 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. lie swears he knows noth? ing of this Norwood business." "Neither he did," cried our prisoner -"not a word. I chose his launch be? cause I heard that she was a flyer. We told him nothing, but we paid him well, and he was to get something handsome if we reached our vessel, the Esmeralda, at Gravesend, outward bound for the Brazils." "Well, if he has done no wrong we shall see that no wrong comes to him. Tf we are pretty quick in catching our men, we are not so quick in condemn, ing them." It was amusing to notice how the consequential Jones was ai? read}* beginning to give himself airs on the strength of the capture. From the slight smile which played over Sher? lock Holmes' 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 upen myself in doing-this. It. is most irreg? ular; but of course an agreement is an agreement. I must, however, as a mat? ter 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, sh??rtty. "lium! There was no usc you giv? ing this unnecessary trouble. Wc have had work enough already through you. However, doctor. I need riot warn you to be careful. Bring the box bock 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 aDd with a bluff, j genial inspector as my companion. A i quarter of a a 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 inspector in the cab. She was seated by the open window, dressed in some sort of white diaphan? ous 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 luxurianfhair, 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 foot? fall she sprang to her feet, however, and a bright flush of surprise and of pleasure colored 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 jov? ially and boisterously, though my heart was heavy within me. UI have brought you something which is worth ail 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 isvyours and half is Thaddeus Sholto's. You will have a couple of j hundred thousand each. Think of j that! An annuity of ten thousand pounds. There will be few richer young ladies in England. Is it not glorious?" ( I think that I must have been rather overacting my delight, and that she detected a hollow ring in my congratu? lations, 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 clew 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" new method of search, the discovery of the Aurora, the appearance of Athel ney Jones, our expedition in the evening, and the wild chase down the Thames. She listened with parted lips and shin? ing 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 she was about to faint. "It is nothing," she said, as I hastened to pour her some water. "1 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 w?l 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 eager? ness in her voice, however. It struck her, doubtless, that it might seem un? gracious upon her part to be indiffer? ent to a prize which had cost so much to win. "What a pretty box!" she said, stoop? ing over it. "This is Indian work, I suppose?" "Yes; it is Benares metal-work." "And so heavy!" she exclaimed, try? ing to raise it. "The box alore must be of some value. Where is the key?" "Small threw it into the Thames," I answered. "I must borrow Mrs. For? rester'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 iron work 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 jewelry lay within it. It was absolutely and completely empty. "The treasure is lost," said Miss Morstan, calmly. As I listened to the words, and real? ized 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 (ioul>t. disloyal, wrong, but I could realize nothing save that the golden barrier was gone from between us. .'Thank (?od!*' I ejaculated from my 1 very heart. She looked at me with a quick, ques- j tioning smile. "Why do you say that?" | sliv asked. "Because you :'.re within my reach ? again." I said, taking her hand. I She did not withdra w it "Because I | love you, Mary, as truly as ever a man lovel a woman. Kccau: c* this tr? asure. these riches, sealed my Hps. Now that they are gone I can tell you hoe.- I love i you. That is why I said: 'Thank God.'" , .*THE TREASURE 'IS LOST," SAID MISS MORSTAN. ?.Then T say ^Thank God,"toop sne whispered, as I drew her to my side. Whoever had lost a treasure, I knew that night that I had gained one. CHAPTER m THE STRANGE STORY OF JONATHAN SMALL. A very patient man was the inspector in the cab, for it was a weary time be? fore I rejoined him. His face clouded over when I showed him the empty box. "There goes the reward," said he, gloomily. "Where there is no money there is no pay. This night's work would have been worth a tenner each to Sam Brown and me if the treasure had been there." "Mr. Thaddeus Sholto isa rich man," I said. "He will see that you are re? warded, treasure or no." The inspector shook his head de? spondently, however. "It's a bad job," he repeated, "and so Mr. Athelney Jones will think." His forecast proved to be correct, for the .detective looked blank enough when I got to Baker street and showed him the empty box. They had only just arrived, Holmes, the prisoner and he, for they had changed their plans so far as to report themselves at a station upon the way. My companion lounged in his armchair with his usual listless expression, while Small sat stolidly op? posite to him with his wooden leg cocked over his sound one. As I ex? hibited the empty box he leaned back in his chair and laughed aloud. "This is your doing, Small," said Athelney Jones, angrily. "Yes, I have put it away where you shall never lay hand upon it," he cried, exultantly. "It is my treasure; and if I can't have the loot 111 take darned good care that no one else does. I tell you. that no living man has any right to it, unless it is three men who are in the Andaman convict barracks and my? self. I know now that I cannot have the use of it, and I know that they cannot. I have acted all through for them as much as for myself. It's been the sign of four with us always. Well I know that they would have had me do just what I have done, and throw the treasure into the Thames rather than let it go to kith or kin of Sholto or of Morstan. It was not to make them rich that we did for Achmet. You'll find the treasure where the key is, and where little Tonga is. When I saw that your launch must catch us, I put the loot in a safe place. There are no rupees for you this journey." "You are deceiving us, Small," said Athelney Jones, sternly. "If you had wished to throw the treasure into the Thames it would have been easier for you to have thrown box and all." "Easier for me to throw, a easier for you to recover," he answe.^d, with a shrewd, sidelong look. "The man that was clever enough to hunt me down is clever enough to pick an iron box from the bottom of a river. Now that they are scattered over five miles or so. it may be a harder job. It went to my heart to do it, though. I was half mad when you came up with us. However, there's no good grieving over it. I've had ups in my life, and I've had downs, but I've learned not to cry over spilt milk." "This is a very serious mattel, Small," j said the detective. "If you had helped justice, instead of thwarting it in this way, you would have had a better chance at your trial." "Justice!" snarled the ex-convict. "A ! pretty justice! Whose loot is this, if it is not ours? Where is the justice that I should give it up to those who have never earned it? Look how I have earned it! Twenty long years in that fever-ridden swamp, all day at work under the mangrove tree, all night chained up in the filthy convict huts, bitten by mosquitoes, racked with ague, bullied by every cursed black faced policeman who loved to take it out of a white man. That was how I earned the Agra treasure; and you talk to me of justice because I cannot bear to feel that I have paid this price only that another may enjoy it! I would rather swing a score of times, or have one of Tonga's darts in my hide, than live in a convict's cell and feel that another man is at his ease in a palace with the money that should bc mine." Small had dropped his mask of stoicism, and all this came out in a wild whirl of words, while his eyes blazed, and the hand-cuffs clanked to- j gether with impassioned movement of | his han-ls. I could understand. n? ? Highest of all in Leavening Pow saw the fury and the passion of the man, that it was no groundless or un? natural terror which had possessed Maj. Sholto when he first learned that the injured convict was upon his track. "You forget that we know nothing of all this." said Holmes, ?uietly. "We have not heard your story, and we can? not tell how far justice may originally have been on your side." "Well, sir, you have been very fair spoken to me, though I can see that I have you to thank that I have these bracelets upon my wrists. Still. I bear no grudge for that. It is all fair ano above-board. If you want to hear my story I have no wish to hold it back. What I say to you is God's truth, every word of it. Thank you; you car. put the glass beside me here, and I"]i put my lips tp.it if I am dry. TO BE CONTINUED. ONLY A MISTAKE, AFTER ALL. And Nothing for a Respectable Colored Gentleman to Worry About. A serious blunder occurred in a West Virginia county not long ago. A num? ber of the farmers had sustained losses of sheep from their respective flecks, and, being skeptical as to the efficiency of the law officers, one night took the matter m their own hands. A dozen or more of them proceeded some miles away, to the house of Rehoboth Jem son, and, notwithstanding his protesta? tions of innocence, gave him a severe drubbing. The affair created no little stn*, as Rehoboth was a very respectable col? ored man, v.*ho owned a snug little farm and was a deacon in the Baptist church. He had the confidence and esteem of his white neighbors, who were so worked up over the matter that they considered the expediency of an investi? gation that should lead to the punish? ment of the raiding party. Within a few days the farmers discov? ered they had made an awkward mis? take, the guilty party having been caught red-handed and had made a full confession; so, being in the main a right good set of fellows they decided to offer balm to Rehoboth for his many wounds. Three of their number were designated a committee with full power to act. and they hastened to the discharge of then duty. Old Rehoboth was sitting in his neat little cabin with bandaged head, while his wife was applying a cooling wash to his lacerated back. The com? mittee looked foolish and scarcely knew how to begin; but finally one of the number stammered out an apology, and added that they were willing to pay a reasonable amount as recompense for his sufferings. "La, child. how you does talk, sholy! Ameckin' sich a furse dat I's ershamed on ye! You jcs' git back ter yer homes 'n' stay dar. I ain" axin" nuirin' 'n' don' want nuilin'. Wy honey, ef I done tuck on erbout de misteeks ? c white folkses I'd jes* be plum' mis'able harf de time." -Chicago Tribune. REVERSED BY A COLLISION, An OiJ Brakeman Tell* af a Queer Rail? road Accident la the West. "The most remarkahle wreck I was ever in.'"' fcdid an old brakeman to a Louisville Courier-Journal man. "hap? pened on the Short line between Pewee and Beard's some years ago. It was a freight wreck. I had charge of the La Grange accommodation and was bound in to Louisville. We were following hard upon the trail of train No. 32, also bound for Louisville. Train No. 14 was coming in our direction. It had been delayed some minutes at Pewee, but expected to make up the time and sidetrack between Pewee and Beard's on schedule time, so that train No. 32 would have the right of way. "The delay was what caused the trouble. The sidetrack I am telling you about was just behind and under a hill. Train No. 14 had just backed on to the sidetrack, and before the switch? man could shift the switch train No. 32 came dashing around the hill. The engineer saw the danger. Ile turned down the throttle with a hard shove and whistled 'down brakes.' His ef? forts were of no use. however. Train No. 32 turned in on the sidetrack ano went crashing into No. 14. All the cars of the train, fourteen, were stripped off the track as clean as if they ha-: been peas in a pod. The shock of the two trains meeting was, of course, terrific. The whole of train No. 32. including the locomotive, top? pled off the track. Remarkable as it may seem, only the cars of No. 14 were thrown off the track. "When the two trains struck the en? gineer of No. 14 had his hand on the throttle, about to stop his train. The shock threw him out of the cab and tho wrench threw open the throttle again and reversed the engine. When the cars had been stripped off the track the locomotive went 'wild' down the track toward La Grange. We of the La Grange accommodation had by this time neared the curve. I was at the head of the train as lookout. I heard the sound of a locomotive approaching and signaled the engineer of our train to reverse his engine. He had hardly time to jump to the throttle when the wild locomotive crashed into TIS. I was thrown. I reckon, fifty feet, and came out of it with t wo broicen legs. No one else was hurt, but the La Grange ac? commodation was a day late. No. I don't railroad any more." er.-Latest U. S. Gov't Report Baking Powder ELY PURE