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Updated: May 16, 2025
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.
It was nearly two o'clock when we reached Mrs. Cecil Forrester's. The servants had retired hours ago, but Mrs. Forrester had been so interested by the strange message which Miss Morstan had received that she had sat up in the hope of her return.
"Two nights later he and his friend Captain Morstan came to my hut in the dead of the night with a lantern. "'I want you just to let Captain Morstan hear that story from your own lips, Small, said he. "I repeated it as I had told it before. "'It rings true, eh? said he. 'It's good enough to act upon? "Captain Morstan nodded. "'Look here, Small, said the major.
Morstan had sprung out of his chair in a paroxysm of anger, when he suddenly pressed his hand to his side, his face turned a dusky hue, and he fell backwards, cutting his head against the corner of the treasure-chest. When I stooped over him I found, to my horror, that he was dead. "'For a long time I sat half distracted, wondering what I should do.
The villain Sholto went off to India, but he never came back again. Captain Morstan showed me his name among a list of passengers in one of the mail-boats very shortly afterwards. His uncle had died, leaving him a fortune, and he had left the army, yet he could stoop to treat five men as he had treated us.
Lal Chowdar and I disposed of the body that night, and within a few days the London papers were full of the mysterious disappearance of Captain Morstan. You will see from what I say that I can hardly be blamed in the matter. My fault lies in the fact that we concealed not only the body, but also the treasure, and that I have clung to Morstan's share as well as to my own.
We shall engage to get aboard her by night, and if you will drop us on any part of the Indian coast you will have done your part of the bargain. "'If there were only one, he said. "'None or all, I answered. 'We have sworn it. The four of us must always act together. "'You see, Morstan, said he, 'Small is a man of his word. He does not flinch from his friend.
Captain Morstan was then to apply for leave of absence, to meet us at Agra, and there we were to have a final division of the treasure, he taking the major's share as well as his own. All this we sealed by the most solemn oaths that the mind could think or the lips utter.
The death of Captain Morstan, the sending of the pearls, the advertisement, the letter, we had had light upon all those events. They had only led us, however, to a deeper and far more tragic mystery.
Miss Morstan seized my wrist, and we all stood with thumping hearts, straining our ears. From the great black house there sounded through the silent night the saddest and most pitiful of sounds, the shrill, broken whimpering of a frightened woman. "It is Mrs. Bernstone," said Sholto. "She is the only woman in the house. Wait here. I shall be back in a moment."
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