Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930)
was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, in May of 1859, to Irish Catholic parents; his
father was an alcoholic who experienced significant psychiatric illness throughout
his life, but Doyle was very close to his mother. For a period of their lives, the
family lived in characteristically squalid tenement housing. He was sent to live and
study in England as a child, and he eventually rejected the faith of his parents and
became agnostic. In his twenties, he studied medicine at the University of
Edinburgh, and he began writing during that period of his life with some minor
successes. After graduating, he served briefly as a ship’s surgeon traveling to West
Africa, and then set up a series of unsuccessful medical practices. After marrying
twice, first to Louisa Hawkins and after her death to Jean Leckie, he returned to
South Africa where he served as a field surgeon during the Second Boer War. Elements
in his own biography therefore connect Doyle to James Watson, the doctor and
military man. Like Watson, Doyle was also athletic; he played soccer, cricket, and
golf, among other sports, and he boxed, as well. He eventually turned to writing—as
does Watson—as a way to make his living, though he never stopped studying medicine,
which became an important part of his most famous literary creations. The image included here is a photograph of Doyle from 1890, by Herbert Rose Barraud (1845-1896), in the public domain.
Doyle’s first Sherlock Holmes story was A Study in Scarlet,
which he wrote in three weeks and published in 1886. The Sign of
Four, the second Holmes and Watson story, was published in Lippincott’s
Magazine of February 1890. These stories became highly popular, though Doyle himself
thought they “[took his] mind from better things” and he killed Holmes off in a 1893
story. However, the public was so upset that the character had been killed that
Doyle was forced to resurrect him in 1901. Overall, Doyle wrote 60 pieces featuring
the detective, who has remained an iconic figure, and the subject of much recreation
in print and film—but Doyle wrote other material, as well, including theatrical
pieces for the stage.
Doyle modeled Sherlock Holmes on one of his professors at the University of Edinburgh, Dr. Joseph Bell, who advocated close empirical study and deductive thinking as the chief tools in diagnostic medicine, is sometimes seen as a progenitor of modern forensic science. Among other investigative activities, Bell consulted with Scotland Yard on the notorious Jack the Ripper murders, and he also served as Queen Victoria’s private physician when she visited Scotland.
Literature in Context contains three Doyle pieces: The Speckled Band, The Copper Beeches, and The Sign of Four.
The Sign of Four(1888)
It is impossible to understand The Sign of Four without
considering several important contexts. Doyle wrote during the Victorian and
Edwardian eras, and he died in 1930—after seeing several wars, including the First
World War, reshape the modern world. The 19th century was known for its quickly
growing economy, characterized by factory labor and industrialization. During the
period of this novella, London was an incredibly dirty and polluted city as a
result. This was a truly class-based society, with a middle class and a working
class that saw themselves as such, distinct groups of people with characteristic
traits and interests. But class was not just about income; it is both economic and
cultural, extending to what sort of occupation and education you had, how your
family was structured, political beliefs, sexuality, and even how you spent your
free time—those who read the “penny dreadfuls” of the day were not in the same class
as those who read Greek or Latin, or even the “classics” of British literature.
Science was popularized as a form of entertainment—mesmerism, electricity, and
photography were all entertainment economies that grew out of scientific
developments of the 19th century, and Doyle himself was a spiritualist (he met Harry
Houdini!). Literacy was rapidly growing, and print had reached truly popular
proportions--magazines, circulating libraries, newspapers made both knowledge and
entertainment common and accessible. Like other Holmes and Watson tales, The Sign of Four, like most of Doyle's Watson and Holmes tales, was published in periodical form, easily
accessible by almost any reader. It was not, however, serialized because of its
short length. In the 19th century, many novelists published “serially,” meaning
their works were released piecemeal in magazines, and therefore more accessible to
working and middle-class readerships.
An important element of this material context is the gender ideology of the
Victorian period. While the vote was expanding and women’s suffrage was in full
swing, women were seen in a paradoxical light. On the one hand, femininity was seen
as central to the moral power of the middle class; and yet, women are separated
fully from the masculine world of Watson and Holmes. Victorian gender roles are very
much in evidence in The Sign of Four; consider that Dr.
Watson’s central conflict is how to negotiate the conventions of class and gender
that keep him from romantically pursuing Miss Morstan. It is often—and
falsely—claimed that the Victorian era is a “sexually repressed” period; in reality,
sexuality and gender were highly monitored. Pay attention to the way that Doyle
reveals the subtle landscape of acceptable and unacceptable gender norms. What
attitudes shape the gendered depiction of Mary Morstan? Thaddeus Sholto? Holmes?
Watson?
During the Victorian period, Britain was the most powerful empire in the world, with
territories across the globe. In the image here, an 1897 map of the world, British imperial possessions are noted in red. It was said that “the sun never sets on the British
empire,” referring both to the fact that there were British colonies all around the
world (there was always a place where the sun had not yet set), and the belief that
the empire would persist in perpetuity. Despite its immense wealth, much of that
wealth was consolidated at the top. Because of the shifting economy, there were very
high numbers of individuals in poverty—think of Holmes’ “Street Arabs.” About 75% of
the whole population of London was in poverty. Virtually none of the vast wealth of
the empire trickled down to the working classes, but it was precisely this colonial
income that grew the middle classes, increasingly seen as the “moral center” of
English society. The story of
The Sign of Four is driven by
this colonial context; the mystery at the heart of the tale is a stolen treasure
that once belonged to India, while the very English Miss Mary Morstan in some ways
represents all that must be kept safe from the dangerous non-English world, and yet
is also the rightful beneficiary of the wealth of empire. As you read, pay attention
to the way that “civility” and “Englishness” are represented. To what are these
features opposed? How are “the Four” characterized? What about the Sholtos and
Captain Morstan? Tonga? If we think of The Sign of Four as an
imperial tale, what roles do Watson and Holmes play?
Two specific elements of England’s imperialism are essential for understanding The Sign of Four. Doyle himself served as a field surgeon in
the Boer War, as Watson did in the Second Anglo-Afghan War. The Boer War (1899-1902)
was fought between the British Empire and two independent Boer states over the
British Empire's influence in South Africa. The “Boers” (now often termed
Afrikaners) are the Dutch-speaking descendants of 17th and 18th century colonial
settlers. The Boer republics were annexed by Britain to became South Africa. During
this time, Britain also administered Egypt—which Doyle also visited. The Second
Afghan war (1878-1880) was fought between Britain and the Afghan state because
then—as today—Britain was worried about Russian influence in the region. Doyle’s
personal experience in South Africa, Watson’s experience in Afghanistan, and with
the vivid presentness of the global world to the Victorian English more broadly is
important to keep in mind as you read.
But perhaps even more significant than the Boer war for The Sign
of Four, however, is the British colonization of India, which is the direct
backdrop against which the novella is set. In 1600, the East India Company was set
up to facilitate trade principally between England and the Asian subcontinent. The
EIC dominated trade in all the luxury goods of the time, as well as in saltpetre, a
chief ingredient in gunpowder, and it had its own vast armies. From 1757 to 1858,
the East India Company essentially ruled India. Indians resisted Company rule, and
this resistance came to a head with the Indian Rebellion of 1857—sometimes called
the Sepoy Mutiny or the First Indian War of Independence. There are many reasons for
the rebellion, including British administrative practices, military authority,
traditional caste systems, religious division, and more. But the tipping point came
with a new munition the Company gave to its soldiers, including the Sepoys—Indian
members of the Company army. The bullets were initially greased with animal fat,
deeply offensive to both Hindus and Muslims. The rebellion ignited, and it would
last for three years. Widespread atrocities led to hundreds of thousands of Indian
deaths, and a large number of British in India were also killed. The Rebellion led
to the end of Company rule and saw the creation of the “British Raj,” or was
monarchial administrative rule. Queen Victoria became the Empress of India in 1877.
The Sign of Four was published in 1890, but is set
against the backdrop of the Indian Rebellion, and the penal colonies set up in the
Andaman Islands, where “the Four” were imprisoned; Tonga is also a native Andaman.
Captain Morstan and his comrades were stationed in the penal colony, and through
their machinations, the treasure stolen by the Four during the Rebellion in turn
made its way to England. It is the quest to discover this treasure and uncover its
history that sets the plot of Doyle’s novella in motion.
Both because of Britain’s long history and its global concerns, London was a
multicultural city, a modern city, a mercantile city. The Sign of
Four tells a story that is beholden to those values—in addition to being a
rollicking good read.
The widely celebrated Renaissance English playwright, poet, and actor William Shakespeare (1564-1616) was born in Stratford-upon-Avon to John and Mary Shakespeare. He wrote professionally during the Elizabethan (during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I) and Jacobian (the reign of King James I) ages. His father held a civic position in Stratford, which likely enabled him to have his children somewhat educated at the local grammar school. At the age of eighteen, Shakespeare wed Anne Hathaway. Six months later, Susanna was born, and in 1585, the fraternal twins, Hamnet (who died at the age of 11 years) and Judith.
During the Elizabethan period, acting was becoming newly professionalized, but it was still a suspect profession, associated with vagrancy—as the public playhouse was with disruption, noise, theft, and undesirables. Shakespeare was an actor before he became more associated with writing, and his experience as an actor informed his playwriting career.
Shakespeare’s first works to be published were the poems “Venus and Adonis” (1593) and “The Rape of Lucrece” (1594). He co-founded The Lord Chamberlain’s Men (later called The King’s Men), an acting company for whom he produced dramas regularly. Queen Elizabeth I invested actively in theatre, and sometimes attended public performances. Shakespeare remained with the company for the rest of his life, becoming part of the syndicates that helped establish The Globe and the Blackfriars Theatres. His plays were performed in both the public and private playhouses of London, but The Tempest was first performed at Whitehall Palace, on November 1, 1611.
Throughout his career, Shakespeare published 38 plays and 154 sonnets as well as other poems. While about half his plays were published in quarto form during his lifetime, almost all were published or republished in the First Folio of 1623 (the page images in our digital edition are from the First Folio, as digitized by the Folger Shakespeare Library). Only 230 of the first 1000 printed folios have survived.
Unlike many writers of his era, Shakespeare lived to see great popular success in his own lifetime. During the Elizabethan period, he was not the most critically-acclaimed playwright--that honor went to Christopher Marlowe, who died just before Shakespeare began writing in earnest. During the 18th century, Shakespeare’s reputation as the Bard was solidified, in part by the work of actor and playwright David Garrick--before that, he was an important national poet, but not the icon he is today. His work is set apart by its broad appeal—he drew from many popular ballads and reworked well-known contemporary tales, and did not depend on the more fully-formed classical education that informed Marlowe’s works. He was linguistically innovative, delighting in wordplay and developing new words that continue to shape our vocabulary today. Shakespeare died at the age of 52 and is buried at the Holy Trinity Church in Stratford. His final play was The Tempest, published posthumously, in the First Folio.
Among the many critical approaches to The Tempest available, it is often discussed in terms of political power and the nature of governance, exploration and imperial expansion, wrath and forgiveness, and theatricality or authorship itself. In the play, Prospero’s power in Milan is usurped by his brother, Antonio, and he and his daughter Miranda are cast adrift and exiled. They come to rest on the shores of an unnamed Mediterranean island, though this island often stands in for the New World that was then being colonised by England. In this reading, Ariel and Caliban, who was born on the island, are representatives of the land’s native inhabitants. One reason to think of the text in this way is because a historical model for Prospero, John Dee, was an advisor to Elizabeth I, and he is known to have advocated for the imperial expansion of England into the Atlantic. The wreck of the Sea Venture, a ship bound with supplies for Jamestown in 1609, is also a possible warrant. Several conversations in The Tempest suggest that the nature of good governance is of special thematic importance to the play.
The usurped, patriarchal figure Prospero is consumed with wrath and a desire for revenge against those who cast him out (even though he fully admits he was paying more attention to his books than his state); this underlines another popular reading of the play, which focuses on the value of forgiveness, perhaps related to the question of good governance. The tool of Prospero’s revenge is the magical conjuration of The Tempest that wreaks havoc on his enemies. However, over the course of the play, he forgives Antonio and casts aside his power. This approach to The Tempest is of less interest to contemporary scholars, who tend today to be more focused on the politics of the play--or the complications to the narrative of forgiveness posed by the marriage orchestrated between Ferdinand and Miranda, among other such complications.
Some scholars have examined Prospero, the powerful magician, father, and stage-director at the center of the play, as a stand-in for Shakespeare himself. In this reading, Prospero’s magic is a kind of stagecraft, and it derives from his books and “secret studies.” Through his magic he governs the behavior and worldview of others, and shapes the perceptions of the audience. The several references to the real-time performance of the play also encourages us to see it as a meditation on theatricality and stagecraft. Given that this is Shakespeare’s last play, and that Prospero is the central agent in its action, many have read Prospero’s renunciation of magic as Shakespeare’s own farewell to the stage. However, as noted above, biographical knowledge of the author is sparse, and this is one interpretation among many.
The image included here, via the National Portrait Gallery UK, is the “Chandos Portrait” of Shakespeare, named after an early owner of the painting. It was likely painted by John Taylor from life, though its exact date of creation is unknown.
Aphra Behn (c1640-1689) was perhaps the most
versatile, and was certainly one of the most important writers of the late
seventeenth century in English. She wrote and translated poetry, translated works of
science, published long works of fiction, and many authored many plays. It was as a
playwright that Behn was probably most successful in her own lifetime. Between 1670
and 1689, a couple dozen of her plays were staged in London; some of them continue
to be revived even now, most notably
The Rover.
We know very little of Aphra Behn’s life before she started her writing career in
London in the early 1670s. She never wrote a memoir (which is not surprising; people
did not do that kind of thing in her era), and relatively few letters have survived.
If she kept any kind of journal or diary, it has long since been lost. The lack of
public information about her life before the age of about thirty makes it clear,
though, that she did not come from a wealthy or prominent family. Scholars, working
largely with parish records and surviving government documents, have pieced together
some things. But often these are simply informed guesses rather than facts that we
can know for certain. The best biography is Janet Todd’s The
Secret Life of Aphra Behn, and what I note below relies on Todd’s work.
When and where was she born? who were her parents? We cannot
be sure. The best research we have indicated that was probably the person who is
recorded in a baptismal record as “Eaffrey” Johnson, born in December 1640 to a
Bartholomew and Elizabeth Johnson from Bishopsbourne, a town in Kent near
Canterbury. The Johnsons were not a wealthy family, but they were not desperately
poor, either; Bartholomew worked as a barber and at one time was in charge of
supervising the poor in a parish in Canterbury.
How did she get the name Behn? and how did she pronounce it?
Again, we are not sure, though the name seems to have come from a marriage she had
in the 1650s or 1660s. She may have married a man called Johann Behn, who shows up
in some business and shipping records of this period. No one has found a marriage
certificate. The marriage does not seem to have lasted all that long; maybe he died,
since she seems to be referred to as a widow in a single letter. We are not sure as
to how she pronounced her last name: like “ben”? like “bean”? like “bane”? opinions
vary.
Did she really go to Surinam in the 1660s? Maybe, though the
evidence for that is the narrator’s claim in Oroonoko. Which
might be true (Janet Todd believes her, and a lot of the circumstantial detail in
Oroonoko would be hard to invent if a person had not been
there), but there is much in Oroonoko that is obvious
fabrication, so she might be making her trip there up as well and be relating
information that she got at second hand. The story purports to be a true, first-hand
account of events in Surinam. But, in addition to inventing the story of the African
prince, Behn also seems to have invented the idea that her father was going to be
the lieutenant governor of the colony, as the narrator of that story claims; there
is no chance that her father was ever in a position to get such a significant job,
and he may very well have been dead by the time of her (purported) sojourn in
Surinam. There is is no independent evidence, like a government report or a ship’s
manifest, that places her in Surinam, so we cannot be certain one way or
another.
Did she really work as a spy? Yes, this we know. In the 1660s,
Aphra Behn was sent to Antwerp as a spy on behalf of the English government; her
mission (which involved trying to turn an English man there against the Dutch) seems
to have failed. She used the code name “Astrea” (a name associated in mythology with
the goddess of justice), a name that she continued to use as a poetic name
throughout her career. Behn may have done some other intelligence work for the
government at other times in her 20s. We do not know why she stopped her mission,
but she complained about not being paid, and at least one other person disparaged
her work. She may have not been cut out to be a spy.
When do we start to know unambiguous facts about her? In the
early 1670s, Behn started working in the theater as a playwright for the Duke’s
Company, one of the two theater troupes licensed to perform in London. From that
point on until her death in 1689, we know a lot about her professional life as a
writer from the plays that she staged, the books that she published, and the things
that people said about her. In these decades, Behn was one of the two leading
playwrights on the London stage; the other was John Dryden. In an era when many
plays were written by amateurs, aristocrats who would not want to be seen as
exerting themselves for money (Katherine Philips and William Wycherley would be
examples of this) Behn and Dryden were the professional playwrights, each under
contract (and therefore under pressure) to produce new works for the repertoire;
each supporting him or herself on their earnings. Like Dryden, Behn also wrote and
translated poetry. Behn also published fiction, something that Dryden did not do,
and her work is an important precursor of the eighteenth-century novel in
English.
Trying to make a living as a writer was difficult. It was hard then as it is now, for playwrights to follow the movement of audience taste, and hard to know if the many hours of effort that go into writing and staging a play would be met with success until the moment the production was staged. A hit could make a fair amount of money (authors would be paid out of gate receipts and could also get money for selling the rights to the print copy of the script), but a flop could be a costly waste of time and effort on everyone’s part. The period when Behn was writing was also a politically contentious time, and playwrights could be subject to censorship if they offended the wrong person. Writers hoped to get support from wealthy patrons, which is why almost all works of this period are prefaced by dedications, letters of extravagant praise aimed at people who the author is hoping will provide money or at least convince their wealthy friends to buy the book or attend the play. Behn was very prolific, and successful in the sense that she had many plays staged and many works published and read, but she had to keep writing to maintain herself and never seems to have made a lot of money.
It was particularly hard being a professional woman writer, and Behn seems to have blazed a trail here; there is probably no other woman writing in English who we could call a professional before she started working in the theater in the 1670s. It was considered immodest for a woman to put herself forward as a public figure in this period, which is why many women who wrote expressed reluctance at their work being published; a lot of their work remains in manuscript. Male critics of the eighteenth century often contrasted Behn, the public and professional writer, with Katherine Philips, who was cast as a model for genteel amateur woman writer; the contrast between “Astrea” (Behn's nickname) and “Orinda” (a nickname that Philips claimed) was usually cast in terms that favored the latter for her gentility and modesty. Behn was attacked for being a professional, sometimes compared with prostitutes. Here a contrast with John Dryden becomes stark. Dryden was no less a professional, but he was awarded with university degrees, became the poet laureate, and was in his later years considered a kind of sage. Behn, meanwhile, seems to ahve struggled for income and respectability.
One final note about Behn. In many ways, her career strikes us modern, and her prose works in particular have a lot of features that now seem to pave the way for the modern novel. But Behn was also a very conservative, traditional person in many ways. She was a staunch supporter of the Stuart monarchy and of the absolutist form of government that the Stuart kings Charles I and James II believed in. She was a woman of her time, trying to make a career as a writer and public figure in an era when this was very challenging for anyone, and especially difficult for a women from a modest background. Dramatist, poet, novelist, translator, professional: Aphra Behn left us one of the richest bodies of work of any writer of the seventeenth century.
MR. WILLIAM
SHAKESPEARES
COMEDIES,
Lippincott's, housed at The University of Virginia.
This text is prepared as part of the Literature in Context
project, which provides an accessible, curated, and marked-up selection of primary
sources relevant to the study and the teaching of British and American literature of
the 18th century. This project is funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities
and developed by faculty at The University of Virginia and Marymount University.
Research informing these annotations draws on publicly-accessible resources, with links provided where possible. Annotations have also included common knowledge, defined as information that can be found in multiple reliable sources. If you notice an error in these annotations, please contact lic.open.anthology@gmail.com.
Original spelling and capitalization is retained, though the long s has been silently modernized and ligatured forms are not encoded.
Hyphenation has not been retained, except where necessary for the sense of the word.
Page breaks have been retained. Catchwords, signatures, and running headers have not. Where pages break in the middle of a word, the complete word has been indicated prior to the page beginning.
Materials have been transcribed from and checked against first editions, where possible. See the Sources section.
LIPPINCOTT'S
MONTHLY MAGAZINE.
FEBRUARY, 1890.
THE SIGN OF THE FOUR.
Sherlock Holmes took his bottle from the corner of the mantel-piece and his
hypodermic syringe from its neat
morocco case
Three times a day for many months I had witnessed this performance, but custom had not reconciled my mind to it. On the contrary, from day to day I had become more irritable at the sight, and my conscience swelled nightly within me at the thought that I had lacked the courage to protest. Again and again I had registered a vow that I should deliver my soul upon the subject, but there was that in the cool, nonchalant air of my companion which made him the last man with whom one would care to take anything approaching to a liberty. His great powers, his masterly manner, and the experience which I had had of his many extraordinary qualities, all made me diffident and backward in crossing him.
Yet upon that afternoon, whether it was the
Beaune which I had taken with my lunch
“Which is it to-day?" I asked,—“morphine or
cocaine
He raised his eyes languidly from the old black-letter
Blackletter is a
medieval script form characterized by heavy calligraphic letters. This image, from Wikimedia Commons, shows an example of blackletter from a 15th
century bible.
“No, indeed," I answered, brusquely. “My constitution has not
He smiled at my vehemence. “Perhaps you are right, Watson," he said. “I suppose that its influence is physically a bad one. I find it, however, so transcendently stimulating and clarifying to the mind that its secondary action is a matter of small moment."
“But consider!" I said, earnestly. “Count the cost! Your brain may, as you say, be roused and excited, but it is a pathological and morbid process, which involves increased tissue-change and may at last leave a permanent weakness. You know, too, what a black reaction comes upon you. Surely the game is hardly worth the candle. Why should you, for a mere passing pleasure, risk the loss of those great powers with which you have been endowed? Remember that I speak not only as one comrade to another, but as a medical man to one for whose constitution he is to some extent answerable."
He did not seem offended. On the contrary, he put his finger-tips together and leaned his elbows on the arms of his chair, like one who has a relish for conversation.
“My mind," he said, “rebels at stagnation. Give me problems, give me work, give me the most abstruse cryptogram or the most intricate analysis, and I am in my own proper atmosphere. I can dispense then with artificial stimulants. But I abhor the dull routine of existence. I crave for mental exaltation. That is why I have chosen my own particular profession,—or rather created it, for I am the only one in the world."
“The only unofficial detective?" I said, raising my eyebrows.
“The only unofficial consulting detective," he answered. “I am the last and highest court of appeal in detection. When Gregson or Lestrade or Athelney Jones are out of their depths—which, by the way, is their normal state—the matter is laid before me. I examine the data, as an expert, and pronounce a specialist’s opinion. I claim no credit in such cases. My name figures in no newspaper. The work itself, the pleasure of finding a field for my peculiar powers, is my highest reward. But you have yourself had some experience of my methods of work in the Jefferson Hope case."
“Yes, indeed," said I, cordially. “I was never so struck by anything in my life. I
even embodied it in a small brochure with the somewhat fantastic title of 'A Study in Scarlet.'
He shook his head sadly. “I glanced over it," said he. “Honestly, I cannot
congratulate you upon it. Detection is, or ought to be, an exact science, and should
be treated in the same cold and unemotional manner. You have attempted to tinge it
with romanticism, which produces much the same effect as if you worked a love-story
or an elopement into the fifth proposition of
Euclid
“But the romance was there," I remonstrated. “I could not tamper with the facts."
“Some facts should be suppressed, or at least a just sense of proportion should be observed in treating them. The only point in the case which deserved mention was the curious analytical reasoning from effects to causes by which I succeeded in unraveling it."
I was annoyed at this criticism of a work which had been specially designed to please
him. I confess, too, that I was irritated by the egotism which seemed to demand that
every line of my pamphlet should be devoted to his own special doings. More than once
during the years that I had lived with him in Baker Street I had observed that a
small vanity underlay my companion’s quiet and didactic manner. I made no remark,
however, but sat nursing my wounded leg. I had a Jezail bullet
“My practice has extended recently to the Continent
According to TobaccoPipes.com, briar wood
is taken from a shrub native to the Mediterranean region. Pipes made from this
wood are of high quality and are naturally fire resistant. Briar Pipe from briar-pipes.com
“He speaks as a pupil to his master," said I.
“Oh, he rates my assistance too highly," said Sherlock Holmes, lightly. “He has considerable gifts himself. He possesses two out of the three qualities necessary for the ideal detective. He has the power of observation and that of deduction. He is only wanting in knowledge; and that may come in time. He is now translating my small works into French."
“Your works?"
“Oh, didn’t you know?" he cried, laughing. “Yes, I have been guilty of several
monographs. They are all upon technical subjects. Here, for example, is one ‘Upon the
Distinction between the Ashes of the Various Tobaccoes.’ In it I enumerate a hundred
and forty forms of cigar-, cigarette-, and pipe-tobacco, with coloured plates
illustrating the difference in the ash. It is a point which is continually turning up
in criminal trials, and which is sometimes of supreme importance as a clue. If you
can say definitely, for example, that some murder has been done by a man who was
smoking an Indian Indian lunkah
“You have an extraordinary genius for minutiæ," I remarked.
“I appreciate their importance. Here is my monograph upon the tracing of footsteps,
with some remarks upon the uses of plaster of
“Not at all," I answered, earnestly. “It is of the greatest interest to me, especially since I have had the opportunity of observing your practical application of it. But you spoke just now of observation and deduction. Surely the one to some extent implies the other."
“Why, hardly," he answered, leaning back luxuriously in his arm-chair, and sending up
thick blue wreaths from his pipe. “For example, observation shows me that you have
been to the Wigmore Street Post-Office this morning, but deduction lets me know that
when there you dispatched a telegram
A telegram is a typed message delivered
from point to point via electrical cables. The method of communication became the
most popular way to send urgent messages in the 1840s. One prototype of the
telegraph machine was developed by the American Samuel Morse, using Morse Code to
transmit message content, but the one likely referred to here is based on the
English Cook and Wheatstone needle telegraph, pictured below (via Wikimedia
Commons, photograph by Geni). Read more about text telegaphy onWikipedia.
image By Geni - Photo by User:geni, CC BY-SA 4.0
“Right!" said I. “Right on both points! But I confess that I don’t see how you arrived at it. It was a sudden impulse upon my part, and I have mentioned it to no one."
“It is simplicity itself," he remarked, chuckling at my surprise,—“so absurdly simple that an explanation is superfluous; and yet it may serve to define the limits of observation and of deduction. Observation tells me that you have a little reddish mould adhering to your instep. Just opposite the Wigmore Street Office they have taken up the pavement and thrown up some earth which lies in such a way that it is difficult to avoid treading in it in entering. The earth is of this peculiar reddish tint which is found, as far as I know, nowhere else in the neighbourhood. So much is observation. The rest is deduction."
“How, then, did you deduce the telegram?"
“Why, of course I knew that you had not written a letter, since I sat opposite to you all morning. I see also in your open desk there that you have a sheet of stamps and a thick bundle of post-cards. What could you go into the post-office for, then, but to send a wire? Eliminate all other factors, and the one which remains must be the truth."
“In this case it certainly is so," I replied, after a little thought. “The thing, however, is, as you say, of the simplest. Would you think me impertinent if I were to put your theories to a more severe test?"
“On the contrary," he answered, “it would prevent me from taking a second dose of cocaine. I should be delighted to look into any problem which you might submit to me."
“I have heard you say that it is difficult for a man to have any object in daily use without leaving the impress of his individuality upon it in such a way that a trained observer might read it. Now, I have here a watch which has recently come into my possession. Would you have the kindness to let me have an opinion upon the character or habits of the late owner?"
I handed him over the watch with some slight feeling of amusement in my heart, for
the test was, as I thought, an impossible one, and I intended it as a lesson against
the somewhat dogmatic tone which he occasionally assumed. He balanced the watch in
his hand, gazed hard at the dial, opened the back, and examined the works, first with
his naked eyes and then with a powerful convex lens. I could hardly keep
“There are hardly any data," he remarked. “The watch has been recently cleaned, which robs me of my most suggestive facts."
“You are right," I answered. “It was cleaned before being sent to me." In my heart I accused my companion of putting forward a most lame and impotent excuse to cover his failure. What data could he expect from an uncleaned watch?
“Though unsatisfactory, my research has not been entirely barren," he observed, staring up at the ceiling with dreamy, lack-lustre eyes. “Subject to your correction, I should judge that the watch belonged to your elder brother, who inherited it from your father."
“That you gather, no doubt, from the H. W. upon the back?"
“Quite so. The W. suggests your own name. The date of the watch is nearly fifty years back, and the initials are as old as the watch: so it was made for the last generation. Jewelry usually descends to the eldest son, and he is most likely to have the same name as the father. Your father has, if I remember right, been dead many years. It has, therefore, been in the hands of your eldest brother."
“Right, so far," said I. “Anything else?"
“He was a man of untidy habits,—very untidy and careless. He was left with good prospects, but he threw away his chances, lived for some time in poverty with occasional short intervals of prosperity, and finally, taking to drink, he died. That is all I can gather."
I sprang from my chair and limped impatiently about the room with considerable bitterness in my heart.
“This is unworthy of you, Holmes," I said. “I could not have believed that you would have descended to this. You have made inquires into the history of my unhappy brother, and you now pretend to deduce this knowledge in some fanciful way. You cannot expect me to believe that you have read all this from his old watch! It is unkind, and, to speak plainly, has a touch of charlatanism in it."
“My dear doctor," said he, kindly, “pray accept my apologies. Viewing the matter as an abstract problem, I had forgotten how personal and painful a thing it might be to you. I assure you, however, that I never even knew that you had a brother until you handed me the watch."
“Then how in the name of all that is wonderful did you get these facts? They are absolutely correct in every particular."
“Ah, that is good luck. I could only say what was the balance of probability. I did not at all expect to be so accurate."
“But it was not mere guess-work?"
“No, no: I never guess. It is a shocking habit,—destructive to the logical faculty.
What seems strange to you is only so because you do not follow my train of thought or
observe the small facts upon which large inferences may depend. For example, I began
by stating that your brother was careless. When you observe the lower part of that
watch-case you notice that it is not only dinted in two places, but it is cut and
marked all over from the habit of keeping other hard objects, such as coins or keys,
in the same pocket. Surely it is no great
I nodded, to show that I followed his reasoning.
“It is very customary for pawnbrokers in
“It is as clear as daylight," I answered. “I regret the injustice which I did you. I should have had more faith in your marvellous faculty. May I ask whether you have any professional inquiry on foot at present?"
“None. Hence the cocaine. I cannot live without brain-work. What else is there to
live for? Stand at the window here. Was ever such a dreary, dismal, unprofitable
world? See how the See how the yellow
fog swirls down the street and drifts across the dun-coloured houses.
I had opened my mouth to reply to this tirade, when with a crisp knock our landlady
entered, bearing a card upon the salver
A salver is a tray. This image, from The Met Museum, shows an example of a salver made from brass.
“A young lady for you, sir," she said, addressing my companion.
“Miss Mary ," he read. “Hum! I have no recollection of the name. Ask the young lady to step up, Mrs. Hudson. Don’t go, doctor. I should prefer that you remain."
Miss entered the room with a firm step and an outward composure of manner. She was a
blonde young lady, small, dainty, well gloved
Fashion throughout the Victorian Era
evolved every decade. The Industrial Revolution offered immense changes with the
manufacturing of ready-made clothing with an influx of sewing machines, leading to
more choices for the consumer. To read more about Victorian fashion, check out
Epochs of Fashion.Image by Bazar of Fashions, via
Wikimedia Commons
“I have come to you, Mr. Holmes," she said, “because you once enabled my employer, Mrs. Cecil Forrester, to unravel a little domestic complication. She was much impressed by your kindness and skill."
“Mrs. Cecil Forrester," he repeated thoughtfully. “I believe that I was of some slight service to her. The case, however, as I remember it, was a very simple one."
“She did not think so. But at least you cannot say the same of mine. I can hardly imagine anything more strange, more utterly inexplicable, than the situation in which I find myself."
Holmes rubbed his hands, and his eyes glistened. He leaned forward in his chair with an expression of extraordinary concentration upon his clear-cut, hawklike features. “State your case," said he, in brisk, business tones.
I felt that my position was an embarrassing one. “You will, I am sure, excuse me," I said, rising from my chair.
To my surprise, the young lady held up her gloved hand to detain me. “If your friend," she said, “would be good enough to stop, he might be of inestimable service to me."
I relapsed into my chair.
“Briefly," she continued, “the facts are these. My father was an officer in an Indian
regiment who sent me home when I was quite a child. My mother was dead, and I had no
relative in
“The date?" asked Holmes, opening his note-book.
“He disappeared upon the 3rd of December, 1878,—“He disappeared upon the 3rd of December, 1878,—nearly ten
years ago."
“His luggage?"
“Remained at the hotel. There was nothing in it to suggest a clue,
“Had he any friends in town?"
“Only one that we know of,—Major Sholto, of his own regiment, the 34th Bombay
Infantry. The major had retired some little time before, and lived at
“A singular case," remarked Holmes.
“I have not yet described to you the most singular part. About six years ago—to be
exact, upon the 4th of May, 1882—an advertisement appeared in the Times asking for
the address of Miss Mary and stating that it would be to her advantage to come
forward. There was no name or address appended. I had at that time just entered the family of Mrs. Cecil
Forrester in the capacity of governess.
“Your statement is most interesting," said Sherlock Holmes. “Has anything else occurred to you?"
“Yes, and no later than to-day. That is why I have come to you. This morning I received this letter, which you will perhaps read for yourself."
“Thank you," said Holmes. “The envelope too, please. Postmark,
“That is exactly what I want to ask you."
“Then we shall most certainly go. You and I and—yes, why, Dr. Watson is the very man. Your correspondent says two friends. He and I have worked together before."
“But would he come?" she asked, with something appealing in her voice and expression.
“I should be proud and happy," said I, fervently, “if I can be of any service."
“You are both very kind," she answered. “I have led a retired life, and have no friends whom I could appeal to. If I am here at six it will do, I suppose?"
“You must not be later," said Holmes. “There is one other point,
“I have them here," she answered, producing half a dozen pieces of paper.
“You are certainly a model client. You have the correct intuition. Let us see, now." He spread out the papers upon the table, and gave little darting glances from one to the other. “They are disguised hands, except the letter," he said, presently, “but there can be no question as to the authorship. See how the irrepressible Greek e will break out, and see the twirl of the final s. They are undoubtedly by the same person. I should not like to suggest false hopes, Miss , but is there any resemblance between this hand and that of your father?"
“Nothing could be more unlike."
“I expected to hear you say so. We shall look out for you, then, at six. Pray allow me to keep the papers. I may look into the matter before then. It is only half-past three. Au revoir, then."
“Au revoir," said our visitor, and, with a bright, kindly glance from one to the other of us, she replaced her pearl-box in her bosom and hurried away. Standing at the window, I watched her walking briskly down the street, until the grey turban and white feather were but a speck in the sombre crowd.
“What a very attractive woman!" I exclaimed, turning to my companion.
He had lit his pipe again, and was leaning back with drooping eyelids. “Is she?" he said, languidly. “I did not observe."
“You really are an automaton,—a calculating-machine!" I cried. “There is something positively inhuman in you at times."
He smiled gently. “It is of the first importance," he said, “not to allow your
judgment to be biased by personal qualities. A client is to me a mere unit,—a factor
in a problem. The emotional qualities are antagonistic to clear reasoning. I assure
you that the most winning woman I ever knew was hanged for poisoning three little
children for their insurance-money, and the most repellant man of my acquaintance is
a philanthropist who has spent nearly a quarter of a million upon the
“In this case, however—"
“I never make exceptions. An exception disproves the rule. Have you ever had occasion
to study to study character in
handwriting
“It is legible and regular," I answered. “A man of business habits and some force of character."
Holmes shook his head. “Look at his long letters," he said. “They hardly rise above
the common herd. That d might be an a, and that l an e. Men of character always
differentiate their long letters, however illegibly they may write. There is
vacillation in his k’s and self-esteem in his capitals. I am going out now. I have
some few references to make. Let me recommend this book,—one of the most remarkable
ever penned. It is Winwood Reade’s
‘Martyrdom of Man.’
I sat in the window with the volume in my hand, but my thoughts
It was half-past five before Holmes returned. He was bright, eager, and in excellent spirits,—a mood which in his case alternated with fits of the blackest depression.
“There is no great mystery in this matter," he said, taking the cup of tea which I had poured out for him. “The facts appear to admit of only one explanation."
“What! you have solved it already?"
“Well, that would be too much to say. I have discovered a suggestive fact, that is
all. It is, however, very suggestive. The details are still to be added. I have just
found, on consulting the back files of the
Times
“I may be very obtuse, Holmes, but I fail to see what this suggests."
“No? You surprise me. Look at it in this way, then. Captain disappears. The only
person in
“But what a strange compensation! And how strangely made! Why, too, should he write a letter now, rather than six years ago? Again, the letter speaks of giving her justice. What justice can she have? It is too much to suppose that her father is still alive. There is no other injustice in her case that you know of."
“There are difficulties; there are certainly difficulties," said Sherlock Holmes,
pensively. “But our expedition of to-night will solveCabs in Victorian London were
typically two-wheeled carriages called hansoms, but they held only one or at most
two people comfortably. The larger horse-drawn carriages could hold more. The
photograph here, taken by John
Lloyd, shows a brougham carriage, typical of four-wheeled 19th century
carriage styles.
I picked up my hat and my heaviest stick, but I observed that Holmes took his revolver from his drawer and slipped it into his pocket. It was clear that he thought that our night’s work might be a serious one.
Miss was muffled in a dark cloak, and her sensitive face was composed, but pale. She must have been more than woman if she did not feel some uneasiness at the strange enterprise upon which we were embarking, yet her self-control was perfect, and she readily answered the few additional questions which Sherlock Holmes put to her.
“Major Sholto was a very particular friend of papa’s," she said. “His letters were full of allusions to the major. He and papa were in command of the troops at the Andaman Islands, so they were thrown a great deal together. By the way, a curious paper was found in papa’s desk which no one could understand. I don’t suppose that it is of the slightest importance, but I thought you might care to see it, so I brought it with me. It is here."
Holmes unfolded the paper carefully and smoothed it out upon his knee. He then very methodically examined it all over with his double lens.
“It is paper of native Indian manufacture," he remarked. “It has at some time been
pinned to a board. The diagram upon it appears to be a plan of part of a large
building with numerous halls, corridors, and passages. At one point is a small cross
done in red ink, and above it is ‘3.37 from left,’ in faded pencil-writing. In the
left-hand corner is a curious hieroglyphic like four crosses in a line with their
arms touching. Beside it is written, in very rough and coarse characters, ‘The sign
of the four,—Jonathan Small, Mahomet Singh, Abdullah Khan, Dost Akbar.’ No, I confess
that I do not see how this bears upon the matter. Yet it is evidently a document of
importance. It has been kept carefully in a pocket-book
In the 19th century, a pocket book
was a small sized book similar to an agenda or planner that we would refer to
today. A pocket book was about the size of a small 3" by 5", index card, covered
in leather, with a flap closure. Inside you may find a calendar, notes, short
stories, poetry, among other things. To read more about pocket books during this
era, check outJane Austen's World. Here is an example of a pocket book from 1803,
taken from
“It was in his pocket-book that we found it."
“Preserve it carefully, then, Miss , for it may prove to be of use to us. I begin to suspect that this matter may turn out to be much deeper and more subtle than I at first supposed. I must reconsider my ideas." He leaned back in the cab, and I could see by his drawn brow and his vacant eye that he was thinking intently. Miss and I chatted in an undertone about our present expedition and its possible outcome, but our companion maintained his impenetrable reserve until the end of our journey.
It was a September evening, and not yet seven o’clock, but the day had been a dreary
one, and a dense drizzly fog lay low upon the great city
At the Lyceum Theatre the crowds were already thick at the side-entrances. In front a continuous stream of hansoms and four-wheelers were rattling up, discharging their cargoes of shirt-fronted men and beshawled, bediamonded women. We had hardly reached the third pillar, which was our rendezvous, before a small, dark, brisk man in the dress of a coachman accosted us.
“Are you the parties who come with Miss ?" he asked.
“I am Miss , and these two gentlemen are my friends," said she.
He bent a pair of wonderfully penetrating and questioning eyes upon us. “You will excuse me, miss," he said with a certain dogged manner, “but I was to ask you to give me your word that neither of your companions is a police-officer."
“I give you my word on that," she answered.
He gave a shrill whistle, on which a street Arab
The situation was a curious one. We were driving to an unknown place, on an unknown
errand. Yet our invitation was either a complete hoax,—which was an inconceivable
hypothesis,—or else we had good reason to think that important issues might hang upon
our journey. Miss ’s demeanor was as resolute and collected as ever. I endeavored to
cheer and amuse her by reminiscences of my adventures in
“Rochester Row," said he. “Now Vincent Square. Now we come out on the Vauxhall Bridge
Road. We are making for theSurrey is a county in southern
England; in this context, Surrey side refers to the south side of the river
Thames, which divides the city of London. This image, from On The World Map,
shows London boroughs and surrounding areas.
We did indeed get a fleeting view of a stretch of the
“Wordsworth Road," said my companion. “Priory Road. Lark Hall Lane. Stockwell Place. Robert Street. Cold Harbor Lane. Our quest does not appear to take us to very fashionable regions."
We had, indeed, reached a questionable and forbidding neighbourhood. Long lines of dull brick houses were only relieved by the coarse glare and tawdry brilliancy of public houses at the corner. Then came rows of two-storied villas each with a fronting of miniature garden, and then again interminable lines of new staring brick buildings,—the monster tentacles which the giant city was throwing out into the country. At last the cab drew up at the third house in a new terrace. None of the other houses were inhabited, and that at which we stopped was as dark as its neighbours, save for a single glimmer in the kitchen window. On our knocking, however, the door was instantly thrown open by a Hindoo servant clad in a yellow turban, white loose-fitting clothes, and a yellow sash. There was something strangely incongruous in this Oriental figure framed in the commonplace doorway of a third-rate suburban dwelling-house.
“The Sahib
We followed the Indian down a sordid and common passage, ill-lit and worse furnished, until he came to a door upon the right, which he threw open. A blaze of yellow light streamed out upon us, and in the centre of the glare there stood a small man with a very high head, a bristle of red hair all round the fringe of it, and a bald, shining scalp which shot out from among it like a mountain-peak from fir-trees. He writhed his hands together as he stood, and his features were in a perpetual jerk, now smiling, now scowling, but never for an instant in repose. Nature had given him a pendulous lip, and a too visible line of yellow and irregular teeth, which he strove feebly to conceal by constantly passing his hand over the lower part of his face. In spite of his obtrusive baldness, he gave the impression of youth. In point of fact he had just turned his thirtieth year.
“Your servant, Miss ," he kept repeating, in a thin, high voice. “Your servant,
gentlemen. Pray step into my little sanctum. A small place, miss, but furnished to my
own liking. An oasis of art in the howling desert of South
We were all astonished by the appearance of the apartment into which he invited us.
In that sorry house it looked as out of place as a diamond of the first water in a
setting of brass. The richest andA hookah is a single or multi-stemmed device used to
smoke flavored tobacco, among other things, by vaporizing through a glass basin
before being inhaled. To read further, check out Wikipedia. This photo, taken by Antoin Sevruguin in 1900, from Wikimedia Commons, shows a
Persian woman with hookah (qalyan).
“Mr. Thaddeus Sholto," said the little man, still jerking and smiling. “That is my name. You are Miss , of course. And these gentlemen—"
“This is Mr. Sherlock Holmes, and this is Dr. Watson."
“A doctor, eh?" cried he, much excited. “Have you your stethoscope? Might I ask you—would you have the kindness? I have grave doubts as to my mitral valve, if you would be so very good. The aortic I may rely upon, but I should value your opinion upon the mitral."
I listened to his heart, as requested, but was unable to find anything amiss, save indeed that he was in an ecstasy of fear, for he shivered from head to foot. “It appears to be normal," I said. “You have no cause for uneasiness."
“You will excuse my anxiety, Miss ," he remarked, airily. “I am a great sufferer, and I have long had suspicions as to that valve. I am delighted to hear that they are unwarranted. Had your father, Miss , refrained from throwing a strain upon his heart, he might have been alive now."
I could have struck the man across the face, so hot was I at this callous and off-hand reference to so delicate a matter. Miss sat down, and her face grew white to the lips. “I knew in my heart that he was dead," said she.
“I can give you every information," said he, “and, what is more, I can do you justice; and I will, too, whatever Brother Bartholomew may say. I am so glad to have your friends here, not only as an escort to you, but also as witnesses to what I am about to do and say. The three of us can show a bold front to Brother Bartholomew. But let us have no outsiders,—no police or officials. We can settle everything satisfactorily among ourselves, without any interference. Nothing would annoy Brother Bartholomew more than any publicity." He sat down upon a low settee and blinked at us inquiringly with his weak, watery blue eyes.
“For my part," said Holmes, “whatever you may choose to say will go no further."
I nodded to show my agreement.
“That is well! That is well!" said he. “May I offer you a glass of Chianti, Miss ? Or
of Tokay? I keep no other wines. Shall I open a flask? No? Well, then, I trust that
you have no objection to tobacco-smoke, to the mild balsamic odour of the Eastern
tobacco. I am a little nervous, and I find my hookah an invaluable sedative." He
applied a taper to the great bowl, and the smoke bubbled
“When I first determined to make this communication to you," said he, “I might have
given you my address, but I feared that you might disregard my request and bring
unpleasant people with you. I took the liberty, therefore, of making an appointment
in such a way that my man Williams might be able to see you first. I have complete
confidence in his discretion, and he had orders, if he were dissatisfied, to proceed
no further in the matter. You will excuse these precautions, but I am a man of
somewhat retiring, and I might even say refined, tastes, and there is nothing more
unæsthetic than a policeman. I have a natural shrinking from all forms of rough
materialism. I seldom come in contact with the rough crowd. I live, as you see, with
some little atmosphere of elegance around me. I may call myself a patron of the arts.
It is my weakness. The landscape is a genuine
Corot
Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, 1796-1875, was a French
landscape painter who influenced the Impressionist movement You can learn more
about Corot from the UK National Gallery. The image included here is Corot's Evening on the Lake (c1872), via the
National Gallery, London.
Salvator Rosa, 1615-1673, was
an Italian landscaper painter whose works also depicted scenes of witchcraft. You
can learn more about Rosa from the UK
National Gallery. The image included here is Rosa's Witches at their Incantations (c1646), via
the National Gallery, London.
“You will excuse me, Mr. Sholto," said Miss , “but I am here at your request to learn something which you desire to tell me. It is very late, and I should desire the interview to be as short as possible."
“At the best it must take some time," he answered; “for we shall certainly have to go
to
“If we are to go to
He laughed until his ears were quite red. “That would hardly do," he cried. “I don’t know what he would say if I brought you in that sudden way. No, I must prepare you by showing you how we all stand to each other. In the first place, I must tell you that there are several points in the story of which I am myself ignorant. I can only lay the facts before you as far as I know them myself.
“My father was, as you may have guessed, Major John Sholto, once of the Indian army.
He retired some eleven years ago, and came to live at Pondicherry Lodge in Upper
“I very well remember the sensation which was caused by the disappearance of Captain
. We read the details in the papers, and, knowing that he had been a friend of our
father’s, we discussed the case freely in his presence. He used to join in our
speculations as to what could have happened. Never for an instant did we suspect
that
“We did know, however, that some mystery—some positive danger—overhung our father. He
was very fearful of going out alone, and he always employed two prize-fighters to act
as porters at Pondicherry Lodge. Williams, who drove you to-night, was one of them.
He was once light-weight champion of
“Early in 1882 my father received a letter from
“When we entered his room he was propped up with pillows and breathing heavily. He besought us to lock the door and to come upon either side of the bed. Then, grasping our hands, he made a remarkable statement to us, in a voice which was broken as much by emotion as by pain. I shall try and give it to you in his own very words.
“‘I have only one thing,’ he said, ‘which weighs upon my mind at this supreme moment. It is my treatment of poor ’s orphan. The cursed greed which has been my besetting sin through life has withheld from her the treasure, half at least of which should have been hers. And yet I have made no use of it myself,—so blind and foolish a thing is avarice. The mere feeling of possession has been so dear to me that I could not bear to share it with another. See that chaplet dipped with pearls beside the quinine-bottle. Even that I could not bear to part with, although I had got it out with the design of sending it to her. You, my sons, will give her a fair share of the Agra treasure. But send her nothing—not even the chaplet—until I am gone. After all, men have been as bad as this and have recovered.
“‘I will tell you how died,’ he continued. ‘He had suffered for years from a weak
heart, but he concealed it from every one. I alone knew it. When in
“‘For a long time I sat half distracted, wondering what I should do. My first impulse was, of course, to call for assistance; but I could not but recognise that there was every chance that I would be accused of his murder. His death at the moment of a quarrel, and the gash in his head, would be black against me. Again, an official inquiry could not be made without bringing out some facts about the treasure, which I was particularly anxious to keep secret. He had told me that no soul upon earth knew where he had gone. There seemed to be no necessity why any soul ever should know.
“‘I was still pondering over the matter, when, looking up, I saw my servant, Lal
Chowdar, in the doorway. He stole in and bolted the door behind him. “Do not fear,
Sahib," he said. “No one need know that you have killed him. Let us hide him away,
and who is the wiser?" “I did not kill him," said I. Lal Chowdar shook his head and
smiled. “I heard it all, Sahib," said he. “I heard you quarrel, and I heard the blow.
But my lips are sealed. All are asleep in the house. Let us put him away together."
That was enough to decide me. If my own servant could not believe my innocence, how
could I hope to make it good before twelve foolish tradesmen in a jury-box? Lal
Chowdar and I disposed of the body that night, and within a few days the
“At this instant a horrible change came over his expression; his eyes stared wildly,
his jaw dropped, and he yelled, in a voice which I can never forget, ‘Keep him out!
For Christ’s sake keep him out!’ We both stared round at the window behind us upon
which his gaze was fixed. A face was looking in at us out of the darkness. We could
see the whitening of the nose where it was pressed against the glass. It was a
bearded, hairy face, with wild cruel eyes and an expression of concentrated
malevolence. My brother and
“We searched the garden that night, but found no sign of the intruder, save that just under the window a single footmark was visible in the flower-bed. But for that one trace, we might have thought that our imaginations had conjured up that wild, fierce face. We soon, however, had another and a more striking proof that there were secret agencies at work all round us. The window of my father’s room was found open in the morning, his cupboards and boxes had been rifled, and upon his chest was fixed a torn piece of paper, with the words ‘The sign of the four’ scrawled across it. What the phrase meant, or who our secret visitor may have been, we never knew. As far as we can judge, none of my father’s property had been actually stolen, though everything had been turned out. My brother and I naturally associated this peculiar incident with the fear which haunted my father during his life; but it is still a complete mystery to us."
The little man stopped to relight his hookah and puffed thoughtfully for a few
moments. We had all sat absorbed, listening to his extraordinary narrative. At the
short account of her father’s death Miss had turned deadly white, and for a moment I
feared that she was about to faint. She rallied however, on drinking a glass of water
which I quietly poured out for her from a a
Venetian carafe
Here is an example of a 17th-18th century glass carafe
from Venice, via the Victoria and Albert Museum. It gives some idea of Sholto's decorative
sensibility.
“My brother and I," said he, “were, as you may imagine, much excited as to the treasure which my father had spoken of. For weeks and for months we dug and delved in every part of the garden, without discovering its whereabouts. It was maddening to think that the hiding-place was on his very lips at the moment that he died. We could judge the splendour of the missing riches by the chaplet which he had taken out. Over this chaplet my brother Bartholomew and I had some little discussion. The pearls were evidently of great value, and he was averse to part with them, for, between friends, my brother was himself a little inclined to my father’s fault. He thought, too, that if we parted with the chaplet it might give rise to gossip and finally bring us into trouble. It was all that I could do to persuade him to let me find out Miss ’s address and send her a detached pearl at fixed intervals, so that at least she might never feel destitute."
“It was a kindly thought," said our companion, earnestly. “It was extremely good of you."
The little man waved his hand deprecatingly. “We were your trustees," he said. “That
was the view which I took of it, though Brother Bartholomew could not altogether see
it in that light. We had plenty of money ourselves. I desired no more. Besides, it
would have been such bad taste to have treated a young lady in so scurvy a fashion.
‘Le mauvais goût mène au crime.’ The French have a very neat way of putting these
things. Our difference of opinion on this subject went so far that I thought it best
to set up rooms for myself: so I left Pondicherry Lodge, taking the old khitmutgar
and Williams with me. Yesterday, however, I learn that an event of extreme importance
has occurred. The treasure has been discovered. I instantly communicated with Miss ,
and it only remains for us to drive out to
Mr. Thaddeus Sholto ceased, and sat twitching on his luxurious settee. We all
remained silent, with our thoughts upon the new
“You have done well, sir, from first to last," said he. “It is possible that we may be able to make you some small return by throwing some light upon that which is still dark to you. But, as Miss remarked just now, it is late, and we had best put the matter through without delay."
Our new acquaintance very deliberately coiled up the tube of his hookah, and produced
from behind a curtain a very long befrogged topcoat with Astrakhan collar and cuffs
Astrakhan is wool from very young lambs,
resembling fur. It is mainly used as trimming on garments (OED). This image, from Raimon Furts Ltd on Wikimedia Commons, shows a fur coat from this
type of wool.
Our cab was awaiting us outside, and our programme was evidently prearranged, for the driver started off at once at a rapid pace. Thaddeus Sholto talked incessantly, in a voice which rose high above the rattle of the wheels.
“Bartholomew is a clever fellow," said he. “How do you think he found out where the treasure was? He had come to the conclusion that it was somewhere indoors: so he worked out all the cubic space of the house, and made measurements everywhere, so that not one inch should be unaccounted for. Among other things, he found that the height of the building was seventy-four feet, but on adding together the heights of all the separate rooms, and making every allowance for the space between, which he ascertained by borings, he could not bring the total to more than seventy feet. There were four feet unaccounted for. These could only be at the top of the building. He knocked a hole, therefore, in the lath-and-plaster ceiling of the highest room, and there, sure enough, he came upon another little garret above it, which had been sealed up and was known to no one. In the centre stood the treasure-chest, resting upon two rafters. He lowered it through the hole, and there it lies. He computes the value of the jewels at not less than half a million sterling."
At the mention of this gigantic sum we all stared at one another open-eyed. Miss ,
could we secure her rights, would change from a needy governess to the richest
heiress in
“This, Miss , is Pondicherry Lodge," said Mr. Thaddeus Sholto, as he handed her out.
It was nearly eleven o’clock when we reached this final stage of our night’s adventures. We had left the damp fog of the great city behind us, and the night was fairly fine. A warm wind blew from the westward, and heavy clouds moved slowly across the sky, with half a moon peeping occasionally through the rifts. It was clear enough to see for some distance, but Thaddeus Sholto took down one of the side-lamps from the carriage to give us a better light upon our way.
Pondicherry Lodge stood in its own grounds, and was girt round with a very high stone wall topped with broken glass. A single narrow iron-clamped door formed the only means of entrance. On this our guide knocked with a peculiar postman-like rat-tat.
“Who is there?" cried a gruff voice from within.
“It is I, McMurdo. You surely know my knock by this time."
There was a grumbling sound and a clanking and jarring of keys. The door swung heavily back, and a short, deep-chested man stood in the opening, with the yellow light of the lantern shining upon his protruded face and twinkling distrustful eyes.
“That you, Mr. Thaddeus? But who are the others? I had no orders about them from the master."
“No, McMurdo? You surprise me! I told my brother last night that I should bring some friends."
“He ain’t been out o’ his room to-day, Mr. Thaddeus, and I have no orders. You know very well that I must stick to regulations. I can let you in, but your friends must just stop where they are."
This was an unexpected obstacle. Thaddeus Sholto looked about him in a perplexed and helpless manner. “This is too bad of you, McMurdo!" he said. “If I guarantee them, that is enough for you. There is the young lady, too. She cannot wait on the public road at this hour."
“Very sorry, Mr. Thaddeus," said the porter, inexorably. “Folk may be friends o’ yours, and yet no friends o’ the master’s. He pays me well to do my duty, and my duty I’ll do. I don’t know none o’ your friends."
“Oh, yes you do, McMurdo," cried Sherlock Holmes, genially. “I don’t think you can
have forgotten me. Don’t you remember the amateur who fought three rounds with you at
tAlison’s rooms
“Not Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" roared the prize-fighter. “God’s truth! how could I have
mistook you? If instead o’ standin’ there
“You see, Watson, if all else fails me I have still one of the scientific professions open to me," said Holmes, laughing. “Our friend won’t keep us out in the cold now, I am sure."
“In you come, sir, in you come,—you and your friends," he answered. “Very sorry, Mr. Thaddeus, but orders are very strict. Had to be certain of your friends before I let them in."
Inside, a gravel path wound through desolate grounds to a huge clump of a house, square and prosaic, all plunged in shadow save where a moonbeam struck one corner and glimmered in a garret window. The vast size of the building, with its gloom and its deathly silence, struck a chill to the heart. Even Thaddeus Sholto seemed ill at ease, and the lantern quivered and rattled in his hand.
“I cannot understand it," he said. “There must be some mistake. I distinctly told Bartholomew that we should be here, and yet there is no light in his window. I do not know what to make of it."
“Does he always guard the premises in this way?" asked Holmes.
“Yes; he has followed my father’s custom. He was the favourite son, you know, and I sometimes think that my father may have told him more than he ever told me. That is Bartholomew’s window up there where the moonshine strikes. It is quite bright, but there is no light from within, I think."
“None," said Holmes. “But I see the glint of a light in that little window beside the door."
“Ah, that is the housekeeper’s room. That is where old Mrs. Bernstone sits. She can tell us all about it. But perhaps you would not mind waiting here for a minute or two, for if we all go in together and she has no word of our coming she may be alarmed. But hush! what is that?"
He held up the lantern, and his hand shook until the circles of light flickered and wavered all round us. Miss 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." He hurried for the door, and knocked in his peculiar way. We could see a tall old woman admit him, and sway with pleasure at the very sight of him.
“Oh, Mr. Thaddeus, sir, I am so glad you have come! I am so glad you have come, Mr. Thaddeus, sir!" We heard her reiterated rejoicings until the door was closed and her voice died away into a muffled monotone.
Our guide had left us the lantern. Holmes swung it slowly round, and peered keenly at
the house, and at the great rubbish-heaps which cumbered the grounds. Miss and I
stood together, and her hand was in mine. A wondrous subtle thing is love, for here
were we
“What a strange place!" she said, looking round.
“It looks as though all the moles in
“And from the same cause," said Holmes. “These are the traces of the treasure-seekers. You must remember that they were six years looking for it. No wonder that the grounds look like a gravel-pit."
At that moment the door of the house burst open, and Thaddeus Sholto came running out, with his hands thrown forward and terror in his eyes.
“There is something amiss with Bartholomew!" he cried. “I am frightened! My nerves cannot stand it." He was, indeed, half blubbering with fear, and his twitching feeble face peeping out from the great Astrakhan collar had the helpless appealing expression of a terrified child.
“Come into the house," said Holmes, in his crisp, firm way.
“Yes, do!" pleaded Thaddeus Sholto. “I really do not feel equal to giving directions."
We all followed him into the housekeeper’s room, which stood upon the left-hand side of the passage. The old woman was pacing up and down with a scared look and restless picking fingers, but the sight of Miss appeared to have a soothing effect upon her.
“God bless your sweet calm face!" she cried, with an hysterical sob. “It does me good to see you. Oh, but I have been sorely tried this day!"
Our companion patted her thin, work-worn hand, and murmured some few words of kindly womanly comfort which brought the colour back into the other’s bloodless cheeks.
“Master has locked himself in and will not answer me," she explained. “All day I have waited to hear from him, for he often likes to be alone; but an hour ago I feared that something was amiss, so I went up and peeped through the key-hole. You must go up, Mr. Thaddeus,—you must go up and look for yourself. I have seen Mr. Bartholomew Sholto in joy and in sorrow for ten long years, but I never saw him with such a face on him as that."
Sherlock Holmes took the lamp and led the way, for Thaddeus Sholto’s teeth were
chattering in his head. So shaken was he that I had to pass my hand under his arm as
we went up the stairs, for his knees were trembling under him. Twice as we ascended
Holmes whipped his lens out of his pocket and carefully examined marks which appeared
to me to be mere shapeless smudges of dust upon the cocoa-nut matting which served as
a stair-carpet. He walked slowly from step to
The third flight of stairs ended in a straight passage of some length, with a great picture in Indian tapestry upon the right of it and three doors upon the left. Holmes advanced along it in the same slow and methodical way, while we kept close at his heels, with our long black shadows streaming backwards down the corridor. The third door was that which we were seeking. Holmes knocked without receiving any answer, and then tried to turn the handle and force it open. It was locked on the inside, however, and by a broad and powerful bolt, as we could see when we set our lamp up against it. The key being turned, however, the hole was not entirely closed. Sherlock Holmes bent down to it, and instantly rose again with a sharp intaking of the breath.
“There is something devilish in this, Watson," said he, more moved than I had ever before seen him. “What do you make of it?"
I stooped to the hole, and recoiled in horror. Moonlight was streaming into the room, and it was bright with a vague and shifty radiance. Looking straight at me, and suspended, as it were, in the air, for all beneath was in shadow, there hung a face,—the very face of our companion Thaddeus. There was the same high, shining head, the same circular bristle of red hair, the same bloodless countenance. The features were set, however, in a horrible smile, a fixed and unnatural grin, which in that still and moonlit room was more jarring to the nerves than any scowl or contortion. So like was the face to that of our little friend that I looked round at him to make sure that he was indeed with us. Then I recalled to mind that he had mentioned to us that his brother and he were twins.
“This is terrible!" I said to Holmes. “What is to be done?"
“The door must come down," he answered, and, springing against it, he put all his weight upon the lock. It creaked and groaned, but did not yield. Together we flung ourselves upon it once more, and this time it gave way with a sudden snap, and we found ourselves within Bartholomew Sholto’s chamber.
It appeared to have been fitted up as a chemical laboratory. A double line of
glass-stoppered bottles was drawn up upon the wall opposite the door, and the table
was littered over with Bunsen burners, test-tubes, and retorts
By the table, in a wooden arm-chair, the master of the house was seated all in a
heap, with his head sunk upon his left shoulder, and that ghastly, inscrutable smile
upon his face. He was stiff and cold, and had clearly been dead many hours. It seemed
to me that not only his features but all his limbs were twisted and turned in the
most fantastic fashion. By his hand upon the table there lay a peculiar
instrument,—
“You see," he said, with a significant raising of the eyebrows.
In the light of the lantern I read, with a thrill of horror, “The sign of the four."
“In God’s name, what does it all mean?" I asked.
“It means murder," said he, stooping over the dead man. “Ah, I expected it. Look here!" He pointed to what looked like a long, dark thorn stuck in the skin just above the ear.
“It looks like a thorn," said I.
“It is a thorn. You may pick it out. But be careful, for it is poisoned."
I took it up between my finger and thumb. It came away from the skin so readily that hardly any mark was left behind. One tiny speck of blood showed where the puncture had been.
“This is all an insoluble mystery to me," said I. “It grows darker instead of clearer."
“On the contrary," he answered, “it clears every instant. I only require a few missing links to have an entirely connected case."
We had almost forgotten our companion’s presence since we entered the chamber. He was still standing in the doorway, the very picture of terror, wringing his hands and moaning to himself. Suddenly, however, he broke out into a sharp, querulous cry.
“The treasure is gone!" he said. “They have robbed him of the treasure! There is the hole through which we lowered it. I helped him to do it! I was the last person who saw him! I left him here last night, and I heard him lock the door as I came downstairs."
“What time was that?"
“It was ten o’clock. And now he is dead, and the police
“You have no reason for fear, Mr. Sholto," said Holmes, kindly, putting his hand upon his shoulder. “Take my advice, and drive down to the station to report this matter to the police. Offer to assist them in every way. We shall wait here until your return."
The little man obeyed in a half-stupefied fashion, and we heard him stumbling down the stairs in the dark.
“Now, Watson," said Holmes, rubbing his hands, “we have half an hour to ourselves.
Let us make good use of it. My case is, as I have told you, almost complete; but we
must not err on the side of
“Simple!" I ejaculated.
“Surely," said he, with something of the air of a clinical professor expounding to
his class. “Just sit in the corner there, that your footprints may not complicate
matters. Now to work! In the first place, how did these folk come, and how did they
go? The door has not been opened since last night. How of the window?" He carried the
lamp across to it, muttering his observations aloud the while, but addressing them to
himself rather than to me. “Window is snibbed
I looked at the round, well-defined muddy discs. “This is not a footmark
“It is something much more valuable to us. It is the impression of a wooden stump. You see here on the sill is the boot-mark, a heavy boot with the broad metal heel, and beside it is the mark of the timber-toe."
“It is the wooden-legged man."
“Quite so. But there has been some one else,—a very able and efficient ally. Could you scale that wall, doctor?"
I looked out of the open window. The moon still shone brightly on that angle of the house. We were a good sixty feet from the ground, and, look where I would, I could see no foothold, nor as much as a crevice in the brick-work.
“It is absolutely impossible," I answered.
“Without aid it is so. But suppose you had a friend up here who lowered you this good stout rope which I see in the corner, securing one end of it to this great hook in the wall. Then, I think, if you were an active man, You might swarm up, wooden leg and all. You would depart, of course, in the same fashion, and your ally would draw up the rope, untie it from the hook, shut the window, snib it on the inside, and get away in the way that he originally came. As a minor point it may be noted," he continued, fingering the rope, “that our wooden-legged friend, though a fair climber, was not a professional sailor. His hands were far from horny. My lens discloses more than one blood-mark, especially towards the end of the rope, from which I gather that he slipped down with such velocity that he took the skin off his hand."
“This is all very well," said I, “but the thing becomes more unintelligible than ever. How about this mysterious ally? How came he into the room?"
“Yes, the ally!" repeated Holmes, pensively. “There are features of interest about
this ally. He lifts the case from the regions of the commonplace. I fancy that this
ally breaks fresh ground in the annals of crime in this country,—though parallel
cases suggest themselves from
“How came he, then?" I reiterated. “The door is locked, the window is inaccessible. Was it through the chimney?"
“The grate is much too small," he answered. “I had already considered that possibility."
“How then?" I persisted.
“You will not apply my precept," he said, shaking his head. “How often have I said to you that when you have eliminated the impossible whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth? We know that he did not come through the door, the window, or the chimney. We also know that he could not have been concealed in the room, as there is no concealment possible. Whence, then, did he come?"
“He came through the hole in the roof," I cried.
“Of course he did. He must have done so. If you will have the kindness to hold the lamp for me, we shall now extend our researches to the room above,—the secret room in which the treasure was found."
He mounted the steps, and, seizing a rafter with either hand, he swung himself up into the garret. Then, lying on his face, he reached down for the lamp and held it while I followed him.
The chamber in which we found ourselves was about ten feet one way and six the other. The floor was formed by the rafters, with thin lath-and-plaster between, so that in walking one had to step from beam to beam. The roof ran up to an apex, and was evidently the inner shell of the true roof of the house. There was no furniture of any sort, and the accumulated dust of years lay thick upon the floor.
“Here you are, you see," said Sherlock Holmes, putting his hand against the sloping wall. “This is a trap-door which leads out on to the roof. I can press it back, and here is the roof itself, sloping at a gentle angle. This, then, is the way by which Number One entered. Let us see if we can find any other traces of his individuality."
He held down the lamp to the floor, and as he did so I saw for the second time that night a startled, surprised look come over his face. For myself, as I followed his gaze my skin was cold under my clothes. The floor was covered thickly with the prints of a naked foot,—clear, well defined, perfectly formed, but scarce half the size of those of an ordinary man.
“Holmes," I said, in a whisper, “a child has done the horrid thing."
He had recovered his self-possession in an instant. “I was staggered for the moment," he said, “but the thing is quite natural. My memory failed me, or I should have been able to foretell it. There is nothing more to be learned here. Let us go down."
“What is your theory, then, as to those footmarks?" I asked, eagerly, when we had regained the lower room once more.
“My dear Watson, try a little analysis yourself," said he, with a touch of impatience. “You know my methods. Apply them, and it will be instructive to compare results."
“I cannot conceive anything which will cover the facts," I answered.
“It will be clear enough to you soon," he said, in an off-hand way. “I think that
there is nothing else of importance here, but I will look."
“We are certainly in luck," said he. “We ought to have very little trouble now. Number One has had the misfortune to tread in the creosote. You can see the outline of the edge of his small foot here at the side of this evil-smelling mess. The carboy has been cracked, You see, and the stuff has leaked out."
“What then?" I asked.
“Why, we have got him, that’s all," said he. “I know a dog that would follow that scent to the world’s end. If a pack can track a trailed herring across a shire, how far can a specially-trained hound follow so pungent a smell as this? It sounds like a sum in the rule of three. The answer should give us the—But halloa! here are the accredited representatives of the law."
Heavy steps and the clamour of loud voices were audible from below, and the hall door shut with a loud crash.
“Before they come," said Holmes, “just put your hand here on this poor fellow’s arm, and here on his leg. What do you feel?"
“The muscles are as hard as a board," I answered.
“Quite so. They are in a state of extreme contraction, far exceeding the usual rigor
mortis. Coupled with this distortion of the face, this Hippocratic smile, or ‘‘risus sardonicus,’
“Death from some powerful vegetable alkaloid," I answered,—“some strychnine-like substance which would produce tetanus."
“That was the idea which occurred to me the instant I saw the drawn muscles of the face. On getting into the room I at once looked for the means by which the poison had entered the system. As you saw, I discovered a thorn which had been driven or shot with no great force into the scalp. You observe that the part struck was that which would be turned towards the hole in the ceiling if the man were erect in his chair. Now examine the thorn."
I took it up gingerly and held it in the light of the lantern. It was long, sharp, and black, with a glazed look near the point as though some gummy substance had dried upon it. The blunt end had been trimmed and rounded off with a knife.
“Is that an English thorn
“No, it certainly is not."
“With all these data you should be able to draw some just inference. But here are the regulars; so the auxiliary forces may beat a retreat."
As he spoke, the steps which had been coming nearer sounded loudly on the passage,
and a very stout, portly man in a gray suit
“Here’s a business!" he cried, in a muffled, husky voice. “Here’s a pretty business! But who are all these? Why, the house seems to be as full as a rabbit-warren!"
“I think you must recollect me, Mr. Athelney Jones," said Holmes, quietly.
“Why, of course I do!" he wheezed. “It’s Mr. Sherlock Holmes, the theorist. Remember you! I’ll never forget how you lectured us all on causes and inferences and effects in the Bishopgate jewel case. It’s true you set us on the right track; but you’ll own now that it was more by good luck than good guidance."
“It was a piece of very simple reasoning."
“Oh, come, now, come! Never be ashamed to own up. But what is all this? Bad business!
Bad business! Stern facts here,—no room for theories. How lucky that I happened to be
out at
“Oh, this is hardly a case for me to theorise over," said Holmes, dryly.
“No, no. Still, we can’t deny that you hit the nail on the head sometimes. Dear me! Door locked, I understand. Jewels worth half a million missing. How was the window?"
“Fastened; but there are steps on the sill."
“Well, well, if it was fastened the steps could have nothing to do with the matter. That’s common sense. Man might have died in a fit; but then the jewels are missing. Ha! I have a theory. These flashes come upon me at times.—Just step outside, sergeant, and you, Mr. Sholto. Your friend can remain.—What do you think of this, Holmes? Sholto was, on his own confession, with his brother last night. The brother died in a fit, on which Sholto walked off with the treasure. How’s that?"
“On which the dead man very considerately got up and locked the door on the inside."
“Hum! There’s a flaw there. Let us apply common sense to the matter. This Thaddeus Sholto was with his brother; there was a quarrel; so much we know. The brother is dead and the jewels are gone. So much also we know. No one saw the brother from the time Thaddeus left him. His bed had not been slept in. Thaddeus is evidently in a most disturbed state of mind. His appearance is—well, not attractive. You see that I am weaving my web round Thaddeus. The net begins to close upon him."
“You are not quite in possession of the facts yet," said Holmes. “This splinter of wood, which I have every reason to believe to be poisoned, was in the man’s scalp where you still see the mark; this card, inscribed as you see it, was on the table; and beside it lay this rather curious stone-headed instrument. How does all that fit into your theory?"
“Confirms it in every respect," said the fat detective, pompously. “House is full of Indian curiosities. Thaddeus brought this up, and if this splinter be poisonous Thaddeus may as well have made murderous use of it as any other man. The card is some hocus-pocus,—a blind, as like as not. The only question is, how did he depart? Ah, of course, here is a hole in the roof." With great activity, considering his bulk, he sprang up the steps and squeezed through into the garret, and immediately afterwards we heard his exulting voice proclaiming that he had found the trap-door.
“He can find something," remarked Holmes, shrugging his shoulders. “He has occasional glimmerings of reason. Il n’y a pas des sots si incommodes que ceux qui ont de l’esprit!"
“You see!" said Athelney Jones, reappearing down the steps again. “Facts are better than mere theories, after all. My view of the case is confirmed. There is a trap-door communicating with the roof, and it is partly open."
“It was I who opened it."
“Oh, indeed! You did notice it, then?" He seemed a little crestfallen at the discovery. “Well, whoever noticed it, it shows how our gentleman got away. Inspector!"
“Yes, sir," from the passage.
“Ask Mr. Sholto to step this way.—Mr. Sholto, it is my duty to inform you that anything which you may say will be used against you. I arrest you in the Queen’s name as being concerned in the death of your brother."
“There, now! Didn’t I tell you!" cried the poor little man, throwing out his hands, and looking from one to the other of us.
“Don’t trouble yourself about it, Mr. Sholto," said Holmes. “I think that I can engage to clear you of the charge."
“Don’t promise too much, Mr. Theorist,—don’t promise too much!" snapped the detective. “You may find it a harder matter than you think."
“Not only will I clear him, Mr. Jones, but I will make you a free present of the name and description of one of the two people who were in this room last night. His name, I have every reason to believe, is Jonathan Small. He is a poorly-educated man, small, active, with his right leg off, and wearing a wooden stump which is worn away upon the inner side. His left boot has a coarse, square-toed sole, with an iron band round the heel. He is a middle-aged man, much sunburned, and has been a convict. These few indications may be of some assistance to you, coupled with the fact that there is a good deal of skin missing from the palm of his hand. The other man—"
“Ah! the other man—?" asked Athelney Jones, in a sneering voice, but impressed none the less, as I could easily see, by the precision of the other’s manner.
“Is a rather curious person," said Sherlock Holmes, turning upon his heel. “I hope before very long to be able to introduce you to the pair of them.—A word with you, Watson."
He led me out to the head of the stair. “This unexpected occurrence,"
“I have just been thinking so," I answered. “It is not right that Miss should remain in this stricken house."
“No. You must escort her home. She lives with Mrs. Cecil Forrester, in Lower Camberwell: so it is not very far. I will wait for you here if you will drive out again. Or perhaps you are too tired?"
“By no means. I don’t think I could rest until I know more of this fantastic business. I have seen something of the rough side of life, but I give you my word that this quick succession of strange surprises to-night has shaken my nerve completely. I should like, however, to see the matter through with you, now that I have got so far."
“Your presence will be of great service to me," he answered. “We shall work the case out independently, and leave this fellow Jones to exult over any mare’s-nest which he may choose to construct. When you have dropped Miss I wish you to go on to No. 3, Pinchin Lane, down near the water’s edge at Lambeth. The third house on the right-hand side is a bird-stuffer’s: Sherman is the name. You will see a weasel holding a young rabbit in the window. Knock old Sherman up, and tell him, with my compliments, that I want Toby at once. You will bring Toby back in the cab with you."
“A dog, I suppose."
“Yes,—a queer mongrel, with a most amazing power of scent. I would rather have Toby’s
help than that of the whole detective force of
“I shall bring him, then," said I. “It is one now. I ought to be back before three, if I can get a fresh horse."
“And I," said Holmes, “shall see what I can learn from Mrs. Bernstone, and from the
Indian servant, who, Mr. Thaddeus tell me, sleeps in the next garret. Then I shall
study the great Jones’s methods and listen to his not too delicate sarcasms. ‘Wir sind gewohnt das die Menschen
verhöhnen was sie nicht verstehen.’
The police had brought a cab with them, and in this I escorted Miss back to her home.
After the angelic fashion of women, she had borne trouble with a calm face as long as
there was some one weaker than herself to support, and I had found her bright and
placid by the side of the frightened housekeeper. In the cab, however, she first
turned faint, and then burst into a passion of weeping,—so sorely had she been tried
by the adventures of the night. She has told me since that she thought me cold and
distant upon that journey. She little guessed the struggle within my breast, or the
effort of self-restraint which held me back. My sympathies and my love went out to
her, even as my hand had in the garden. I felt that years of the conventionalities
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 had received that she had sat up in the hope of her return. She opened the door herself, a middle-aged, graceful woman, and it gave me joy to see how tenderly her arm stole round the other’s waist and how motherly was the voice in which she greeted her. She was clearly no mere paid dependant, but an honoured friend. I was introduced, and Mrs. Forrester earnestly begged me to step in and tell her our adventures. I explained, however, the importance of my errand, and promised faithfully to call and report any progress which we might make with the case. As we drove away I stole a glance back, and I still seem to see that little group on the step, the two graceful, clinging figures, the half-opened door, the hall-light shining through stained glass, the barometer, and the bright stair-rods. It was soothing to catch even that passing glimpse of a tranquil English home in the midst of the wild, dark business which had absorbed us.
And the more I thought of what had happened, the wilder and darker it grew. I reviewed the whole extraordinary sequence of events as I rattled on through the silent gas-lit streets. There was the original problem: that at least was pretty clear now. The death of Captain , 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. The Indian treasure, the curious plan found among ’s baggage, the strange scene at Major Sholto’s death, the rediscovery of the treasure immediately followed by the murder of the discoverer, the very singular accompaniments to the crime, the footsteps, the remarkable weapons, the words upon the card, corresponding with those upon Captain ’s chart,—here was indeed a labyrinth in which a man less singularly endowed than my fellow-lodger might well despair of ever finding the clue.
Pinchin Lane was a row of shabby two-storied brick houses in the lower quarter of
“Go on, you drunken vagabone
“If you’ll let one out it’s just what I have come for," said I.
“Go on!" yelled the voice. “So help me gracious, I have a wiper in the bag, an’ I’ll drop it on your ’ead if you don’t hook it."
“But I want a dog," I cried.
“I won’t be argued with!" shouted Mr. Sherman. “Now stand clear, for when I say ‘three,’ down goes the wiper."
“Mr. Sherlock Holmes—" I began, but the words had a most magical effect, for the window instantly slammed down, and within a minute the door was unbarred and open. Mr. Sherman was a lanky, lean old man, with stooping shoulders, a stringy neck, and blue-tinted glasses.
“A friend of Mr. Sherlock is always welcome," said he. “Step in, sir. Keep clear of the badger; for he bites. Ah, naughty, naughty, would you take a nip at the gentleman?" This to a stoat which thrust its wicked head and red eyes between the bars of its cage. “Don’t mind that, sir: it’s only a slow-worm. It hain’t got no fangs, so I gives it the run o’ the room, for it keeps the beetles down. You must not mind my bein’ just a little short wi’ you at first, for I’m guyed at by the children, and there’s many a one just comes down this lane to knock me up. What was it that Mr. Sherlock Holmes wanted, sir?"
“He wanted a dog of yours."
“Ah! that would be Toby."
“Yes, Toby was the name."
“Toby lives at No. 7 on the left here." He moved slowly forward with his candle among the queer animal family which he had gathered round him. In the uncertain, shadowy light I could see dimly that there were glancing, glimmering eyes peeping down at us from every cranny and corner. Even the rafters above our heads were lined by solemn fowls, who lazily shifted their weight from one leg to the other as our voices disturbed their slumbers.
Toby proved to be an ugly, long-haired, lop-eared creature, half spaniel and half
lurcher
A lurcher is a type of dog breed of half greyhound
and half sighthound (terrier or herding dog). Lurchers were bred in England for
hunting game. To learn more about these dogs, check out Dog Breed Info. This
photo from Dog Breed Info, shows a 4 year old Lurcher. Note that Toby is
half-spaniel and half-lurcher.
Holmes was standing on the door-step, with his hands in his pockets, smoking his pipe.
“Ah, you have him there!" said he. “Good dog, then! Atheney Jones has gone. We have had an immense display of energy since you left. He has arrested not only friend Thaddeus, but the gatekeeper, the housekeeper, and the Indian servant. We have the place to ourselves, but for a sergeant upstairs. Leave the dog here, and come up."
We tied Toby to the hall table, and re-ascended the stairs. The room was as he had
left it, save that a sheet had been draped over
“Lend me your bull’s-eye, sergeant," said my companion. “Now tie this bit of card round my neck, so as to hang it in front of me. Thank you. Now I must kick off my boots and stockings.—Just you carry them down with you, Watson. I am going to do a little climbing. And dip my handkerchief into the creasote. That will do. Now come up into the garret with me for a moment."
We clambered up through the hole. Holmes turned his light once more upon the footsteps in the dust.
“I wish you particularly to notice these footmarks," he said. “Do you observe anything noteworthy about them?"
“They belong," I said, “to a child or a small woman."
“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 downstairs, 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
The object which he held up to me was a small pocket or pouch woven out of coloured 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
A Martini bullet was a black
powder round bullet used by the British army in the 19th century. This image, from Wikimedia Commons, shows Martini-Enfield brass bullets.
“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 led 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 grey light. The square, massive house, with its black, empty windows and high, bare walls, towered up, sad and forlorn, behind us. Our course led 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
“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 ’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
“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
“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 you 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
“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
“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 he 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
“Fairly so. I worked back to him through Carlyle
Sartor Resartus, a novel that explores his concept of
"Natural Supernaturalism." He was among the first to make German literature
available for English readers, often through translations, which is what Watson
means here when he says he came to Jean Paul by way of Carlyle. To read more about
Carlyle, role in the " ,
“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 labourers and dockmen were already astir, and slatternly women were taking down shutters and brushing door-steps. At the square-topped corner public houses business was just beginning, and rough-looking men were emerging, rubbing their sleeves across their beards after their morning wet. Strange dogs sauntered up and stared wonderingly at us as we passed, but our inimitable Toby looked neither to the right nor to the left, but trotted onwards with his nose to the ground and an occasional eager whine which spoke of a hot scent.
We had traversed The Oval is an international cricket ground in
Kensington, South London. It also hosted a number of historical sporting events.
To read more, see Wikipedia. This image, from Wikimedia Commons, depicts the Oval in 1891.
“What the deuce is the matter with the dog?" growled Holmes. “They surely would not take a cab, or go off in a balloon."
“Perhaps they stood here for some time," I suggested.
“Ah! it’s all right. He’s off again," said my companion, in a tone of relief.
He was indeed off, for after sniffing round again he suddenly made up his mind, and
darted away with an energy and determination such as he had not yet shown. The scent
appeared to be much hotter than
Our course now ran down Nine Elms until we came to Broderick and Nelson’s large timber-yard, just past the White Eagle tavern. Here the dog, frantic with excitement, turned down through the side-gate into the enclosure, where the sawyers were already at work. On the dog raced through sawdust and shavings, down an alley, round a passage, between two wood-piles, and finally, with a triumphant yelp, sprang upon a large barrel which still stood upon the hand-trolley on which it had been brought. With lolling tongue and blinking eyes, Toby stood upon the cask, looking from one to the other of us for some sign of appreciation. The staves of the barrel and the wheels of the trolley were smeared with a dark liquid, and the whole air was heavy with the smell of creasote.
Sherlock Holmes and I looked blankly at each other, and then burst simultaneously into an uncontrollable fit of laughter.
“What now?" I asked. “Toby has lost his character for infallibility."
“He acted according to his lights," said Holmes, lifting him down from the barrel and
walking him out of the timber-yard. “If you consider how much creasote is carted
about
“We must get on the main scent again, I suppose."
“Yes. And, fortunately, we have no distance to go. Evidently what puzzled the dog at the corner of Knight’s Place was that there were two different trails running in opposite directions. We took the wrong one. It only remains to follow the other."
There was no difficulty about this. On leading Toby to the place where he had committed his fault, he cast about in a wide circle and finally dashed off in a fresh direction.
“We must take care that he does not now bring us to the place where the creasote-barrel came from," I observed.
“I had thought of that. But you notice that he keeps on the pavement, whereas the barrel passed down the roadway. No, we are on the true scent now."
It tended down towards the river-side, running through Belmont Place and Prince’s
Street. At the end of Broad Street it ran right down to the water’s edge, where there
was a small wooden wharf
“We are out of luck," said Holmes. “They have taken to a boat
Close to the rude landing-stage was a small brick house, with a wooden placard slung
out through the second window. “Mordecai Smith" was printed across it in large
letters, and, underneath, “Boats to hire by the hour or day." A second inscription
above the door informed us that a steam launch
“This looks bad," said he. “These fellows are sharper than I expected. They seem to have covered their tracks. There has, I fear, been preconcerted management here."
He was approaching the door of the house, when it opened, and a little, curly-headed lad of six came running out, followed by a stoutish, red-faced woman with a large sponge in her hand.
“You come back and be washed, Jack," she shouted. “Come back, you young imp; for if your father comes home and finds you like that, he’ll let us hear of it."
“Dear little chap!" said Holmes, strategically. “What a rosy-cheeked young rascal! Now, Jack, is there anything you would like?"
The youth pondered for a moment. “I’d like a shillin’," said he.
“Nothing you would like better?"
“I’d like two shillin’ better," the prodigy answered, after some thought.
“Here you are, then! Catch!—A fine child, Mrs. Smith!"
“Lor’ bless you, sir, he is that, and forward. He gets a’most too much for me to manage, ’specially when my man is away days at a time."
“Away, is he?" said Holmes, in a disappointed voice. “I am sorry for that, for I wanted to speak to Mr. Smith."
“He’s been away since yesterday mornin’, sir, and, truth to tell, I am beginnin’ to feel frightened about him. But if it was about a boat, sir, maybe I could serve as well."
“I wanted to hire his steam launch."
“Why, bless you, sir, it is in the steam launch that he has gone. That’s what puzzles
me; for I know there ain’t more coals in her than would take her to about
“He might have bought some at a wharf down the river."
“He might, sir, but it weren’t his way. Many a time I’ve heard him call out at the prices they charge for a few odd bags. Besides, I don’t like that wooden-legged man, wi’ his ugly face and outlandish talk. What did he want always knockin’ about here for?"
“A wooden-legged man?" said Holmes, with bland surprise.
“Yes, sir, a brown, monkey-faced chap that’s called more’n once for my old man. It
was him that roused him up yesternight, and, what’s
“But, my dear Mrs. Smith," said Holmes, shrugging his shoulders, “You are frightening yourself about nothing. How could you possibly tell that it was the wooden-legged man who came in the night? I don’t quite understand how you can be so sure."
“His voice, sir. I knew his voice, which is kind o’ thick and foggy. He tapped at the winder,—about three it would be. ‘Show a leg, matey,’ says he: ‘time to turn out guard.’ My old man woke up Jim,—that’s my eldest,—and away they went, without so much as a word to me. I could hear the wooden leg clackin’ on the stones."
“And was this wooden-legged man alone?"
“Couldn’t say, I am sure, sir. I didn’t hear no one else."
“I am sorry, Mrs. Smith, for I wanted a steam launch, and I have heard good reports of the—Let me see, what is her name?"
“The Aurora, sir."
“Ah! She’s not that old green launch with a yellow line, very broad in the beam?"
“No, indeed. She’s as trim a little thing as any on the river. She’s been fresh painted, black with two red streaks."
“Thanks. I hope that you will hear soon from Mr. Smith. I am going down the river; and if I should see anything of the Aurora I shall let him know that you are uneasy. A black funnel, you say?"
“No, sir. Black with a white band."
“Ah, of course. It was the sides which were black. Good-morning, Mrs. Smith.—There is a boatman here with a wherry, Watson. We shall take it and cross the river.
“The main thing with people of that sort," said Holmes, as we sat in the sheets of
the wherry
A wherry is a type of boat used to carry passengers in
canals in England. This image, from
Wikimedia Commons , shows an example of a wherry built to 18th-century
design at Kingston upon Thames.
“Our course now seems pretty clear," said I.
“What would you do, then?"
“I would engage a launch and go down the river on the track of the Aurora."
“My dear fellow, it would be a colossal task. She may have touched at any wharf on
either side of the stream between here and
“Employ the police, then."
“No. I shall probably call Athelney Jones in at the last moment. He is not a bad fellow, and I should not like to do anything which would injure him professionally. But I have a fancy for working it out myself, now that we have gone so far."
“Could we advertise, then, asking for information from wharfingers?"
“Worse and worse! Our men would know that the chase was hot at their heels, and they
would be off out of the country. As it is, they
“What are we to do, then?" I asked, as we landed near Millbank Penitentiary.
“Take this hansom
A hansom is a low-hanging two-wheeled horse
carriage that can seat two people, with the driver elevated behind (OED). The
image included here is a photograph of a hansom cab with driver from 1877, via
Wikimedia Commons.
We pulled up at the Great Peter Street post-office, and Holmes despatched his wire. “Whom do you think that is to?" he asked, as we resumed our journey.
“I am sure I don’t know."
“You remember the Baker Street division of the detective police force whom I employed in the Jefferson Hope case?"
“Well," said I, laughing.
“This is just the case where they might be invaluable. If they fail, I have other resources; but I shall try them first. That wire was to my dirty little lieutenant, Wiggins, and I expect that he and his gang will be with us before we have finished our breakfast."
It was between eight and nine o’clock now, and I was conscious of a strong reaction after the successive excitements of the night. I was limp and weary, befogged in mind and fatigued in body. I had not the professional enthusiasm which carried my companion on, nor could I look at the matter as a mere abstract intellectual problem. As far as the death of Bartholomew Sholto went, I had heard little good of him, and could feel no intense antipathy to his murderers. The treasure, however, was a different matter. That, or part of it, belonged rightfully to Miss . While there was a chance of recovering it I was ready to devote my life to the one object. True, if I found it it would probably put her forever beyond my reach. Yet it would be a petty and selfish love which would be influenced by such a thought as that. If Holmes could work to find the criminals, I had a tenfold stronger reason to urge me on to find the treasure.
A bath at Baker Street and a complete change freshened me up wonderfully. When I came down to our room I found the breakfast laid and Homes pouring out the coffee.
“Here it is," said he, laughing, and pointing to an open newspaper. “The energetic Jones and the ubiquitous reporter have fixed it up between them. But you have had enough of the case. Better have your ham and eggs first."
I took the paper from him and read the short notice, which was headed “Mysterious
Business at Upper
“About twelve o’clock last night," said the Standard, “Mr. Bartholomew Sholto, of
Pondicherry Lodge, Upper
“Isn’t it gorgeous!" said Holmes, grinning over his coffee-cup. “What do you think of it?"
“I think that we have had a close shave ourselves of being arrested for the crime."
“So do I. I wouldn’t answer for our safety now, if he should happen to have another of his attacks of energy."
At this moment there was a loud ring at the bell, and I could hear Mrs. Hudson, our landlady, raising her voice in a wail of expostulation and dismay.
“By heaven, Holmes," I said, half rising, “I believe that they are really after us."
“No, it’s not quite so bad as that. It is the unofficial force,—the Baker Street irregulars."
As he spoke, there came a swift pattering of naked feet upon the stairs, a clatter of high voices, and in rushed a dozen dirty and ragged little street-Arabs. There was some show of discipline among them, despite their tumultuous entry, for they instantly drew up in line and stood facing us with expectant faces. One of their number, taller and older than the others, stood forward with an air of lounging superiority which was very funny in such a disreputable little scarecrow.
“Got your message, sir," said he, “and brought ’em on sharp. Three bob and a tanner for tickets."
“Here you are," said Holmes, producing some silver. “In future they can report to
you, Wiggins, and you to me. I cannot have the house invaded in this way. However, it
is just as well that you should
“Yes, guv’nor," said Wiggins.
“The old scale of pay, and a guinea to the boy who finds the boat. Here’s a day in advance. Now off you go!" He handed them a shilling each, and away they buzzed down the stairs, and I saw them a moment later streaming down the street.
“If the launch is above water they will find her," said Holmes, as he rose from the table and lit his pipe. “They can go everywhere, see everything, overhear every one. I expect to hear before evening that they have spotted her. In the meanwhile, we can do nothing but await results. We cannot pick up the broken trail until we find either the Aurora or Mr. Mordecai Smith."
“Toby could eat these scraps, I dare say. Are you going to bed, Holmes?"
“No; I am not tired. I have a curious constitution. I never remember feeling tired by work, though idleness exhausts me completely. I am going to smoke and to think over this queer business to which my fair client has introduced us. If ever man had an easy task, this of ours ought to be. Wooden-legged men are not so common, but the other man must, I should think, be absolutely unique."
“That other man again!"
“I have no wish to make a mystery of him,—to you, anyway. But you must have formed your own opinion. Now, do consider the data. Diminutive footmarks, toes never fettered by boots, naked feet, stone-headed wooden mace, great agility, small poisoned darts. What do you make of all this?"
“A savage!" I exclaimed. “Perhaps one of those Indians who were the associates of Jonathan Small."
“Hardly that," said he. “When first I saw signs of strange weapons I was inclined to
think so; but the remarkable character of the footmarks caused me to reconsider my
views. Some of the inhabitants of the
“South American," I hazarded.
He stretched his hand up, and took down a bulky volume from the shelf. “This is the
first volume of a gazetteer
“But how came he to have so singular a companion?"
“Ah, that is more than I can tell. Since, however, we had already determined that
Small had come from the
He took up his violin from the corner, and as I stretched myself out he began to play some low, dreamy, melodious air,—his own, no doubt, for he had a remarkable gift for improvisation. I have a vague remembrance of his gaunt limbs, his earnest face, and the rise and fall of his bow. Then I seemed to be floated peacefully away upon a soft sea of sound, until I found myself in dreamland, with the sweet face of Mary looking down upon me.
It was late in the afternoon before I woke, strengthened and refreshed. Sherlock Holmes still sat exactly as I had left him, save that he had laid aside his violin and was deep in a book. He looked across at me, as I stirred, and I noticed that his face was dark and troubled.
“You have slept soundly," he said. “I feared that our talk would wake you."
“I heard nothing," I answered. “Have you had fresh news, then?"
“Unfortunately, no. I confess that I am surprised and disappointed. I expected something definite by this time. Wiggins has just been up to report. He says that no trace can be found of the launch. It is a provoking check, for every hour is of importance."
“Can I do anything? I am perfectly fresh now, and quite ready for another night’s outing."
“No, we can do nothing. We can only wait. If we go ourselves, the message might come in our absence, and delay be caused. You can do what you will, but I must remain on guard."
“Then I shall run over to Camberwell and call upon Mrs. Cecil Forrester. She asked me to, yesterday."
“On Mrs. Cecil Forrester?" asked Holmes, with the twinkle of a smile in his eyes.
“Well, of course Miss too. They were anxious to hear what happened."
“I would not tell them too much," said Holmes. “Women are never to be entirely trusted,—not the best of them."
I did not pause to argue over this atrocious sentiment. “I shall be back in an hour or two," I remarked.
“All right! Good luck! But, I say, if you are crossing the river you may as well return Toby, for I don’t think it is at all likely that we shall have any use for him now."
I took our mongrel accordingly, and left him, together with a half-sovereign, at the old naturalist’s in Pinchin Lane. At Camberwell I found Miss a little weary after her night’s adventures, but very eager to hear the news. Mrs. Forrester, too, was full of curiosity. I told them all that we had done, suppressing, however, the more dreadful parts of the tragedy. Thus, although I spoke of Mr. Sholto’s death, I said nothing of the exact manner and method of it. With all my omissions, however, there was enough to startle and amaze them.
“It is a romance
“And two knight-errants to the rescue," added Miss , with a bright glance at me.
“Why, Mary, your fortune depends upon the issue of this search. I don’t think that you are nearly excited enough. Just imagine what it must be to be so rich, and to have the world at your feet!"
It sent a little thrill of joy to my heart to notice that she showed no sign of elation at the prospect. On the contrary, she gave a toss of her proud head, as though the matter were one in which she took small interest.
“It is for Mr. Thaddeus Sholto that I am anxious," she said. “Nothing else is of any consequence; but I think that he has behaved most kindly and honourably throughout. It is our duty to clear him of this dreadful and unfounded charge."
It was evening before I left Camberwell, and quite dark by the time I reached home. My companion’s book and pipe lay by his chair, but he had disappeared. I looked about in the hope of seeing a note, but there was none.
“I suppose that Mr. Sherlock Holmes has gone out," I said to Mrs. Hudson as she came up to lower the blinds.
“No, sir. He has gone to his room, sir. Do you know, sir,"
“Why so, Mrs. Hudson?"
“Well, he’s that strange, sir. After you was gone he walked and he walked, up and down, and up and down, until I was weary of the sound of his footstep. Then I heard him talking to himself and muttering, and every time the bell rang out he came on the stairhead, with ‘What is that, Mrs. Hudson?’ And now he has slammed off to his room, but I can hear him walking away the same as ever. I hope he’s not going to be ill, sir. I ventured to say something to him about cooling medicine, but he turned on me, sir, with such a look that I don’t know how ever I got out of the room."
“I don’t think that you have any cause to be uneasy, Mrs. Hudson," I answered. “I have seen him like this before. He has some small matter upon his mind which makes him restless." I tried to speak lightly to our worthy landlady, but I was myself somewhat uneasy when through the long night I still from time to time heard the dull sound of his tread, and knew how his keen spirit was chafing against this involuntary inaction.
At breakfast-time he looked worn and haggard, with a little fleck of feverish colour upon either cheek.
“You are knocking yourself up, old man," I remarked. “I heard you marching about in the night."
“No, I could not sleep," he answered. “This infernal problem is consuming me. It is too much to be balked by so petty an obstacle, when all else had been overcome. I know the men, the launch, everything; and yet I can get no news. I have set other agencies at work, and used every means at my disposal. The whole river has been searched on either side, but there is no news, nor has Mrs. Smith heard of her husband. I shall come to the conclusion soon that they have scuttled the craft. But there are objections to that."
“Or that Mrs. Smith has put us on a wrong scent."
“No, I think that may be dismissed. I had inquiries made, and there is a launch of that description."
“Could it have gone up the river?"
“I have considered that possibility too, and there is a search-party who will work up as far as Richmond. If no news comes to-day, I shall start off myself to-morrow, and go for the men rather than the boat. But surely, surely, we shall hear something."
We did not, however. Not a word came to us either from Wiggins or from the other
agencies. There were articles in most of the papers upon the
In the early dawn I woke with a start, and was surprised to find him standing by my bedside, clad in a rude sailor dress with a pea-jacket, and a coarse red scarf round his neck.
“I am off down the river, Watson," said he. “I have been turning it over in my mind, and I can see only one way out of it. It is worth trying, at all events."
“Surely I can come with you, then?" said I.
“No; you can be much more useful if you will remain here as my representative. I am loath to go, for it is quite on the cards that some message may come during the day, though Wiggins was despondent about it last night. I want you to open all notes and telegrams, and to act on your own judgment if any news should come. Can I rely upon you?"
“Most certainly."
“I am afraid that you will not be able to wire to me, for I can hardly tell yet where I may find myself. If I am in luck, however, I may not be gone so very long. I shall have news of some sort or other before I get back."
I had heard nothing of him by breakfast-time. On opening the Standard
“That is satisfactory so far as it goes," thought I. “Friend Sholto is safe, at any rate. I wonder what the fresh clue may be; though it seems to be a stereotyped form whenever the police have made a blunder."
I tossed the paper down upon the table, but at that moment my eye caught an
advertisement in the agony column
“Lost.—Whereas Mordecai Smith, boatman, and his son, Jim, left Smith’s Wharf at or about three o’clock last Tuesday morning in the steam launch Aurora, black with two red stripes, funnel black with a white band, the sum of five pounds will be paid to any one who can give information to Mrs. Smith, at Smith’s Wharf, or at 221b Baker Street, as to the whereabouts of the said Mordecai Smith and the launch Aurora."
This was clearly Holmes’s doing. The Baker Street address was enough to prove that. It struck me as rather ingenious, because it might be read by the fugitives without their seeing in it more than the natural anxiety of a wife for her missing husband.
It was a long day. Every time that a knock came to the door, or a sharp step passed in the street, I imagined that it was either Holmes returning or an answer to his advertisement. I tried to read, but my thoughts would wander off to our strange quest and to the ill-assorted and villainous pair whom we were pursuing. Could there be, I wondered, some radical flaw in my companion’s reasoning. Might he be suffering from some huge self-deception? Was it not possible that his nimble and speculative mind had built up this wild theory upon faulty premises? I had never known him to be wrong; and yet the keenest reasoner may occasionally be deceived. He was likely, I thought, to fall into error through the over-refinement of his logic,—his preference for a subtle and bizarre explanation when a plainer and more commonplace one lay ready to his hand. Yet, on the other hand, I had myself seen the evidence, and I had heard the reasons for his deductions. When I looked back on the long chain of curious circumstances, many of them trivial in themselves, but all tending in the same direction, I could not disguise from myself that even if Holmes’s explanation were incorrect the true theory must be equally outré and startling.
At three o’clock in the afternoon there was a loud peal at the bell, an authoritative
voice in the hall, and, to my surprise, no less a person than Mr. Athelney Jones was
shown up to me. Very different was he, however, from the brusque and masterful
professor of common sense who had taken over the case so confidently at Upper
“Good-day, sir; good-day," said he. “Mr. Sherlock Holmes is out, I understand."
“Yes, and I cannot be sure when he will be back. But perhaps you would care to wait. Take that chair and try one of these cigars."
“Thank you; I don’t mind if I do," said he, mopping his face with a red bandanna handkerchief.
“And a whiskey-and-soda?"
“Well, half a glass. It is very hot for the time of year; and I have had a good deal
to worry and try me. You know my theory about this
“I remember that you expressed one."
“Well, I have been obliged to reconsider it. I had my net drawn tightly round Mr. Sholto, sir, when pop he went through a hole in the middle of it. He was able to prove an alibi which could not be shaken. From the time that he left his brother’s room he was never out of sight of some one or other. So it could not be he who climbed over roofs and through trap-doors. It’s a very dark case, and my professional credit is at stake. I should be very glad of a little assistance."
“We all need help sometimes," said I.
“Your friend Mr. Sherlock Holmes is a wonderful man, sir," said he, in a husky and
confidential voice. “He’s a man who is not to be beat. I have known that young man go
into a good many cases, but I never saw the case yet that he could not throw a light
upon. He is irregular in his methods, and a little quick perhaps in jumping at
theories, but, on the whole, I think he would have made a most promising officer, and
I don’t care who knows it. I have had a wire from
He took the telegram out of his pocket, and handed it to me. It was dated from Poplar at twelve o’clock. “Go to Baker Street at once," it said. “If I have not returned, wait for me. I am close on the track of the Sholto gang. You can come with us to-night if you want to be in at the finish."
“This sounds well. He has evidently picked up the scent again," said I.
“Ah, then he has been at fault too," exclaimed Jones, with evident satisfaction. “Even the best of us are thrown off sometimes. Of course this may prove to be a false alarm; but it is my duty as an officer of the law to allow no chance to slip. But there is some one at the door. Perhaps this is he."
A heavy step was heard ascending the stair, with a great wheezing and rattling as from a man who was sorely put to it for breath. Once or twice he stopped, as though the climb were too much for him, but at last he made his way to our door and entered. His appearance corresponded to the sounds which we had heard. He was an aged man, clad in seafaring garb, with an old pea-jacket buttoned up to his throat. His back was bowed, his knees were shaky, and his breathing was painfully asthmatic. As he leaned upon a thick oaken cudgel his shoulders heaved in the effort to draw the air into his lungs. He had a coloured scarf round his chin, and I could see little of his face save a pair of keen dark eyes, overhung by bushy white brows, and long grey side-whiskers. Altogether he gave me the impression of a respectable master mariner who had fallen into years and poverty.
“What is it, my man?" I asked.
He looked about him in the slow methodical fashion of old age.
“Is Mr. Sherlock Holmes here?" said he.
“No; but I am acting for him. You can tell me any message you have for him."
“It was to him himself I was to tell it," said he.
“But I tell you that I am acting for him. Was it about Mordecai Smith’s boat?"
“Yes. I knows well where it is. An’ I knows where the men he is after are. An’ I knows where the treasure is. I knows all about it."
“Then tell me, and I shall let him know."
“It was to him I was to tell it," he repeated, with the petulant obstinacy of a very old man.
“Well, you must wait for him."
“No, no; I ain’t goin’ to lose a whole day to please no one. If Mr. Holmes ain’t here, then Mr. Holmes must find it all out for himself. I don’t care about the look of either of you, and I won’t tell a word."
He shuffled towards the door, but Athelney Jones got in front of him.
“Wait a bit, my friend," said he. “You have important information, and you must not walk off. We shall keep you, whether you like or not, until our friend returns."
The old man made a little run towards the door, but, as Athelney Jones put his broad back up against it, he recognised the uselessness of resistance.
“Pretty sort o’ treatment this!" he cried, stamping his stick. “I come here to see a gentleman, and you two, who I never saw in my life, seize me and treat me in this fashion!"
“You will be none the worse," I said. “We shall recompense you for the loss of your time. Sit over here on the sofa, and you will not have long to wait."
He came across sullenly enough, and seated himself with his face resting on his hands. Jones and I resumed our cigars and our talk. Suddenly, however, Holmes’s voice broke in upon us.
“I think that you might offer me a cigar too," he said.
We both started in our chairs. There was Holmes sitting close to us with an air of quiet amusement.
“Holmes!" I exclaimed. “You here! But where is the old man?"
“Here is the old man," said he, holding out a heap of white hair. “Here he is,—wig, whiskers, eyebrows, and all. I thought my disguise was pretty good, but I hardly expected that it would stand that test."
“Ah, You rogue!" cried Jones, highly delighted. “You would have made an actor, and a rare one. You had the proper workhouse cough, and those weak legs of yours are worth ten pounds a week. I thought I knew the glint of your eye, though. You didn’t get away from us so easily, You see."
“I have been working in that get-up all day," said he, lighting his cigar. “You see, a good many of the criminal classes begin to know me,—especially since our friend here took to publishing some of my cases: so I can only go on the war-path under some simple disguise like this. You got my wire?"
“Yes; that was what brought me here."
“How has your case prospered?"
“It has all come to nothing. I have had to release two of my prisoners, and there is no evidence against the other two."
“Never mind. We shall give you two others in the place of them. But you must put yourself under my orders. You are welcome to all the official credit, but you must act on the line that I point out. Is that agreed?"
“Entirely, if you will help me to the men."
“Well, then, in the first place I shall want a fast police-boat—a steam launch—to be at the Westminster Stairs at seven o’clock."
“That is easily managed. There is always one about there; but I can step across the road and telephone to make sure."
“Then I shall want two stanch men, in case of resistance."
“There will be two or three in the boat. What else?"
“When we secure the men we shall get the treasure. I think that it would be a pleasure to my friend here to take the box round to the young lady to whom half of it rightfully belongs. Let her be the first to open it.—Eh, Watson?"
“It would be a great pleasure to me."
“Rather an irregular proceeding," said Jones, shaking his head. “However, the whole thing is irregular, and I suppose we must wink at it. The treasure must afterwards be handed over to the authorities until after the official investigation."
“Certainly. That is easily managed. One other point. I should much like to have a few details about this matter from the lips of Jonathan Small himself. You know I like to work the detail of my cases out. There is no objection to my having an unofficial interview with him, either here in my rooms or elsewhere, as long as he is efficiently guarded?"
“Well, you are master of the situation. I have had no proof yet of the existence of this Jonathan Small. However, if you can catch him I don’t see how I can refuse you an interview with him."
“That is understood, then?"
“Perfectly. Is there anything else?"
“Only that I insist upon your dining with us. It will be ready in half an hour. I have oysters and a brace of grouse, with something a little choice in white wines.—Watson, you have never yet recognised my merits as a housekeeper."
Our meal was a merry one. Holmes could talk exceedingly well when he chose, and that
night he did choose. He appeared to be in a state of nervous exaltation. I have never
known him so brilliant. He spoke on a quick succession of subjects,—on miracle-plays,
on mediæval pottery, on Stradivarius violins, on the Buddhism of
When the cloth was cleared, Holmes glanced at his watch, and filled up three glasses with port. “One bumper," said he, “to the success of our little expedition. And now it is high time we were off. Have you a pistol, Watson?"
“I have my old service-revolver in my desk."
“You had best take it, then. It is well to be prepared. I see that the cab is at the door. I ordered it for half-past six."
It was a little past seven before we reached the Westminster wharf, and found our launch awaiting us. Holmes eyed it critically.
“Is there anything to mark it as a police-boat?"
“Yes,—that green lamp at the side."
“Then take it off."
The small change was made, we stepped on board, and the ropes were cast off. Jones, Holmes, and I sat in the stern. There was one man at the rudder, one to tend the engines, and two burly police-inspectors forward.
“Where to?" asked Jones.
“To the Tower. Tell them to stop opposite Jacobson’s Yard."
Our craft was evidently a very fast one. We shot past the long lines of loaded barges as though they were stationary. Holmes smiled with satisfaction as we overhauled a river steamer and left her behind us.
“We ought to be able to catch anything on the river," he said.
“Well, hardly that. But there are not many launches to beat us."
“We shall have to catch the Aurora, and she has a name for being a clipper. I will tell you how the land lies, Watson. You recollect how annoyed I was at being balked by so small a thing?"
“Yes."
“Well, I gave my mind a thorough rest by plunging into a chemical analysis. One of
our greatest statesmen has said that a change of work is the best rest. So it is.
When I had succeeded in dissolving the hydrocarbon which I was at work at, I came
back to our problem of the Sholtos, and thought the whole matter out again. My boys
had been up the river and down the river without result. The launch was not at any
landing-stage or wharf, nor had it returned. Yet it could hardly have been scuttled
to hide their traces,—though that always remained as a possible hypothesis if all
else failed. I knew this man Small had a certain degree of low cunning, but I did not
think him capable of anything in the nature of delicate finesse. That is usually a
product of higher education. I then reflected that since he had certainly been in
“It seems to me to be a little weak," said I. “It is more probable that he had arranged his affairs before ever he set out upon his expedition."
“No, I hardly think so. This lair of his would be too valuable a retreat in case of
need for him to give it up until he was sure that he could do without it. But a
second consideration struck me. Jonathan Small must have felt that the peculiar
appearance of his companion, however much he may have top-coated him, would give rise
to gossip, and possibly be associated with this
“But the launch? They could not have taken that to their lodgings."
“Quite so. I argued that the launch must be no great way off, in spite of its invisibility. I then put myself in the place of Small, and looked at it as a man of his capacity would. He would probably consider that to send back the launch or to keep it at a wharf would make pursuit easy if the police did happen to get on his track. How, then, could he conceal the launch and yet have her at hand when wanted? I wondered what I should do myself if I were in his shoes. I could only think of one way of doing it. I might land the launch over to some boat-builder or repairer, with directions to make a trifling change in her. She would then be removed to his shed or yard, and so be effectually concealed, while at the same time I could have her at a few hours’ notice."
“That seems simple enough."
“It is just these very simple things which are extremely liable to be overlooked. However, I determined to act on the idea. I started at once in this harmless seaman’s rig and inquired at all the yards down the river. I drew blank at fifteen, but at the sixteenth—Jacobson’s—I learned that the Aurora had been handed over to them two days ago by a wooden-legged man, with some trivial directions as to her rudder. ‘There ain’t naught amiss with her rudder,’ said the foreman. ‘There she lies, with the red streaks.’ At that moment who should come down but Mordecai Smith, the missing owner? He was rather the worse for liquor. I should not, of course, have known him, but he bellowed out his name and the name of his launch. ‘I want her to-night at eight o’clock,’ said he,—‘eight o’clock sharp, mind, for I have two gentlemen who won’t be kept waiting.’ They had evidently paid him well, for he was very flush of money, chucking shillings about to the men. I followed him some distance, but he subsided into an ale-house: so I went back to the yard, and, happening to pick up one of my boys on the way, I stationed him as a sentry over the launch. He is to stand at water’s edge and wave his handkerchief to us when they start. We shall be lying off in the stream, and it will be a strange thing if we do not take men, treasure, and all."
“You have planned it all very neatly, whether they are the right men or not," said Jones; “but if the affair were in my hands I should have had a body of police in Jacobson’s Yard, and arrested them when they came down."
“Which would have been never. This man Small is a pretty shrewd fellow. He would send a scout on ahead, and if anything made him suspicious lie snug for another week."
“But you might have stuck to Mordecai Smith, and so been led to their hiding-place," said I.
“In that case I should have wasted my day. I think that it is a hundred to one
against Smith knowing where they live. As long as he
While this conversation had been proceeding, we had been shooting the long series of
bridges which span the
“That is Jacobson’s Yard," said Holmes, pointing to a bristle of masts and rigging on
the Surrey side. “Cruise gently up and down here under cover of this string of
lighters." He took a pair of night-glasses
“Suppose we go down-stream a short way and lie in wait for them," said Jones, eagerly. We were all eager by this time, even the policemen and stokers, who had a very vague idea of what was going forward.
“We have no right to take anything for granted," Holmes answered. “It is certainly ten to one that they go down-stream, but we cannot be certain. From this point we can see the entrance of the yard, and they can hardly see us. It will be a clear night and plenty of light. We must stay where we are. See how the folk swarm over yonder in the gaslight."
“They are coming from work in the yard."
“Dirty-looking rascals, but I suppose every one has some little immortal spark concealed about him. You would not think it, to look at them. There is no a priori probability about it. A strange enigma is man!"
“Some one calls him a soul concealed in an animal," I suggested.
“Winwood Reade is good upon the subject," said Holmes. “He remarks that, while the individual man is an insoluble puzzle, in the aggregate he becomes a mathematical certainty. You can, for example, never foretell what any one man will do, but you can say with precision what an average number will be up to. Individuals vary, but percentages remain constant. So says the statistician. But do I see a handkerchief? Surely there is a white flutter over yonder."
“Yes, it is your boy," I cried. “I can see him plainly."
“And there is the Aurora," exclaimed Holmes, “and going like the devil! Full speed ahead, engineer. Make after that launch with the yellow light. By heaven, I shall never forgive myself if she proves to have the heels of us!"
She had slipped unseen through the yard-entrance and passed behind two or three small craft, so that she had fairly got her speed up before we saw her. Now she was flying down the stream, near in to the shore, going at a tremendous rate. Jones looked gravely at her and shook his head.
“She is very fast," he said. “I doubt if we shall catch her."
“We must catch her!" cried Holmes, between his teeth. “Heap it on, stokers! Make her do all she can! If we burn the boat we must have them!"
We were fairly after her now. The furnaces roared, and the powerful
“Pile it on, men, pile it on!" cried Holmes, looking down into the engine-room, while the fierce glow from below beat upon his eager, aquiline face. “Get every pound of steam you can."
“I think we gain a little," said Jones, with his eyes on the Aurora.
“I am sure of it," said I. “We shall be up with her in a very few minutes."
At that moment, however, as our evil fate would have it, a tug with three barges in
tow blundered in between us. It was only by putting our helm hard down that we
avoided a collision, and before we could round them and recover our way the Aurora
had gained a good two hundred yards. She was still, however, well in view, and the
murky uncertain twilight was setting into a clear starlit night. Our boilers were
strained to their utmost, and the frail shell vibrated and creaked with the fierce
energy which was driving us along. We had shot through the Pool, past the West India
Docks, down the long Deptford Reach, and up again after rounding the
“Fire if he raises his hand," 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 legs far apart, shrieking out curses, and the unhallowed
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 choking cough fell sideways into the stream. I caught one glimpse of
his venomous, menacing eyes amid the white swirl of the waters. At the 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 expanse of marsh-land, with pools of stagnant water and beds of
decaying vegetation. The launch with a dull thud ran up upon 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. The two Smiths, father and son, sat sullenly in their
launch, but came aboard meekly enough when commanded. The Aurora herself we hauled
off and made fast to our stern. A solid iron chest of Indian workmanship 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
“See here," said Holmes, pointing to the wooden hatchway. “We were hardly quick enough with our 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 easy fashion, but I confess that it turned me sick to think of the horrible death which had passed so close to us that night.
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 grey. His face in repose was not an unpleasing 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 of his ill-doings. It seemed to me that there was more sorrow than anger in his rigid and contained countenance. Once he looked up at me with a gleam of something like humour in his eyes.
“Well, Jonathan Small," said Holmes, lighting a cigar, “I am sorry that it has come to this."
“And so am I, sir," he answered, frankly. “I don’t believe that I can swing over the job. I give you my word on the book that I never raised hand against Mr. Sholto. It was that little hell-hound Tonga who shot one of his cursed darts into him. I had no part in it, sir. I was as grieved as if it had been my blood-relation. I welted the little devil with the slack end of the rope for it, but it was done, and I 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. I knew the habits of the house pretty well, and it was
the time when Mr. Sholto usually went down to his supper. I shall make no secret of
the business. The best defence that I can make is just the simple truth. Now, if it
had
“You are under the charge of Mr. Athelney Jones, of Scotland Yard. He 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 window. It fairly shook me,
sir. I’d have half killed Tonga for it if he had not scrambled off. 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 of
money should spend the first half of my life building a breakwater
At this moment Athelney Jones thrust his broad face and heavy shoulders into the tiny cabin. “Quite a family 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 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 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. He swears
he knew nothing of this
“Neither he did," cried our prisoner,—“not a word. I chose his launch because I heard that she was a flier. 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. If we are pretty quick in catching our men, we are not so quick in condemning them." It was amusing to notice how the consequential Jones was already beginning to give himself airs on the strength of the capture. From the slight smile which played over Sherlock Holmes’s 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 upon myself in doing this. It is most irregular; but of course an agreement is an agreement. I must, however, as a matter 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, shortly.
“Hum! There was no use your giving this unnecessary trouble. We have had work enough already through you. However, doctor, I need not warn you to be careful. Bring the box back 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, and with a bluff, genial inspector as my companion. A quarter of an 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 , 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 diaphanous 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 luxuriant hair. 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 coloured 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 jovially and boisterously, though my heart was heavy within me. “I have brought you something which is worth all 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 is yours and half is Thaddeus
Sholto’s. You will have a couple of hundred thousand each. Think of that! An annuity
of ten thousand pounds. There will be few richer young ladies in
I think that I must have been rather overacting my delight, and that she detected a hollow ring in my congratulations, 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
“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’s new method
of search, the discovery of the Aurora, the appearance of Athelney Jones, our
expedition in the evening, and the wild chase down the
“It is nothing," she said, as I hastened to pour her out some water. “I 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 will 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 eagerness in her voice, however. It had struck her, doubtless, that it might seem ungracious upon her part to be indifferent to a prize which had cost so much to win.
“What a pretty box!" she said, stooping over it. “This is Indian work, I suppose?"
“Yes; it is Benares metal-work
Benares brass comes from the city of Benares (today
known as Varanasi), India, which is a region rich in copper. This image, from The British Museum, shows a 19th-century vessel made from Benares
brass.
“And so heavy!" she exclaimed, trying to raise it. “The box alone must be of some value. Where is the key?"
“Small threw it into the
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, calmly.
As I listened to the words and realised 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 doubt, disloyal, wrong, but I could realise nothing save that the golden barrier was gone from between us. “Thank God!" I ejaculated from my very heart.
She looked at me with a quick, questioning smile. “Why do you say that?" she asked.
“Because you are within my reach again," I said, taking her hand. She did not
withdraw it. “Because I love you, Mary, as truly as ever a man loved a woman. Because
this treasure, these riches, sealed my
“Then I say, ‘Thank God,’ too," she whispered, as I drew her to my side. Whoever had lost a treasure, I knew that night that I had gained one.
A very patient man was that inspector in the cab, for it was a weary time before 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 is a rich man," I said. “He will see that you are rewarded, treasure or no."
The inspector shook his head despondently, 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 arm-chair with his usual listless expression, while Small sat stolidly opposite to him with his wooden leg cocked over his sound one. As I exhibited 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 I’ll 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 myself. 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
“You are deceiving us, Small," said Athelney Jones, sternly. “If you had wished to
throw the treasure into the
“Easier for me to throw, and easier for you to recover," he answered, 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,
“This is a very serious matter, Small," 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 be 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 handcuffs clanked together with the impassioned movement of his hands. I could understand, as I saw the fury and the passion of the man, that it was no groundless or unnatural terror which had possessed Major Sholto when he first learned that the injured convict was upon his track.
“You forget that we know nothing of all this," said Holmes quietly. “We have not heard your story, and we cannot 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 and 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 can put the glass beside me here, and I’ll put my lips to it if I am dry.
“I am a Worcestershire man myself,—born near Pershore. I dare say you would find a
heap of Smalls living there now if you were to look. I have often thought of taking a
look round there, but the truth is that I was never much of a credit to the family,
and I doubt if they would be so very glad to see me. They were all steady,
chapel-going folk, small farmers, well-known and respected over the country-side,
while I was always a bit of a rover. At last, however, when I was about eighteen, I
gave them no more trouble, for I got into a mess over a girl, and could only get out
of it again by taking the
Queen’s shilling
“I wasn’t destined to do much soldiering, however. I had just got past the
goose-step, and learned to handle my musket, when I was fool enough to go swimming in
the Ganges. Luckily for me, my company sergeant, John Holder, was in the water at the
same time, and he was one of the finest swimmers in the service. A crocodile took me,
just as
“I was, as you can imagine, pretty down on my luck at this time, for I was a useless
cripple though not yet in my twentieth year. However, my misfortune soon proved to be
a blessing in disguise. A man named Abel White, who had come out there as an indigo-planter
“Well, I was never in luck’s way long. Suddenly, without a note of warning, the great mutiny
“As it proved, however, there was no great safety there, either. The whole country
was up like a swarm of bees. Wherever the English could collect in little bands they
held just the ground that their guns commanded. Everywhere else they were helpless
fugitives. It was a fight of the millions against the hundreds; and the cruellest
part of it was that these men that we fought against, foot, horse, and gunners, were
our own picked troops, whom we had taught and trained, handling our own weapons, and
blowing our own bugle-calls. At
“Nothing but the worst news came to us from every side,—which is not to be wondered at, for if you look at the map you will see that we were right in the heart of it. Lucknow is rather better than a hundred miles to the east, and Cawnpore about as far to the south. From every point on the compass there was nothing but torture and murder and outrage.
“The city of
“The river washes along the front of the old fort, and so protects it, but on the
sides and behind there are many doors, and these had to be guarded, of course, in the
old quarter as well as in that which was actually held by our troops. We were
short-handed, with hardly men enough to man the angles of the building and to serve
the guns. It was impossible for us, therefore, to station a strong guard at every one
of the innumerable gates. What we did was to organise a central guard-house in the
middle of the fort, and to leave each gate under the charge of one white man and two
or three natives. I was selected to
“Well, I was pretty proud at having this small command given me, since I was a raw recruit, and a game-legged one at that. For two nights I kept the watch with my Punjaubees. They were tall, fierce-looking chaps, Mahomet Singh and Abdullah Khan by name, both old fighting-men who had borne arms against us at Chilian-wallah. They could talk English pretty well, but I could get little out of them. They preferred to stand together and jabber all night in their queer Sikh lingo. For myself, I used to stand outside the gateway, looking down on the broad, winding river and on the twinkling lights of the great city. The beating of drums, the rattle of tomtoms, and the yells and howls of the rebels, drunk with opium and with bang, were enough to remind us all night of our dangerous neighbours across the stream. Every two hours the officer of the night used to come round to all the posts, to make sure that all was well.
“The third night of my watch was dark and dirty, with a small, driving rain. It was dreary work standing in the gateway hour after hour in such weather. I tried again and again to make my Sikhs talk, but without much success. At two in the morning the rounds passed, and broke for a moment the weariness of the night. Finding that my companions would not be led into conversation, I took out my pipe, and laid down my musket to strike the match. In an instant the two Sikhs were upon me. One of them snatched my firelock up and levelled it at my head, while the other held a great knife to my throat and swore between his teeth that he would plunge it into me if I moved a step.
“My first thought was that these fellows were in league with the rebels, and that
this was the beginning of an assault. If our door were in the hands of the Sepoys the
place must fall, and the women and children be treated as they were in
“‘Listen to me, Sahib,’ said the taller and fiercer of the pair, the one whom they
called Abdullah Khan. ‘You must either be with us
“‘How can I decide?’ said I. ‘You have not told me what you want of me. But I tell you now that if it is anything against the safety of the fort I will have no truck with it, so you can drive home your knife and welcome.’
“‘It is nothing against the fort,’ said he. ‘We only ask you to do that which your countrymen come to this land for. We ask you to be rich. If you will be one of us this night, we will swear to you upon the naked knife, and by the threefold oath which no Sikh was ever known to break, that you shall have your fair share of the loot. A quarter of the treasure shall be yours. We can say no fairer.’
“‘But what is the treasure, then?’ I asked. ‘I am as ready to be rich as you can be, if you will but show me how it can be done.’
“‘You will swear, then,’ said he, ‘by the bones of your father, by the honour of your mother, by the cross of your faith, to raise no hand and speak no word against us, either now or afterwards?’
“‘I will swear it,’ I answered, ‘provided that the fort is not endangered.’
“‘Then my comrade and I will swear that you shall have a quarter of the treasure which shall be equally divided among the four of us.’
“‘There are but three,’ said I.
“‘No; Dost Akbar must have his share. We can tell the tale to you while we await them. Do you stand at the gate, Mahomet Singh, and give notice of their coming. The thing stands thus, Sahib, and I tell it to you because I know that an oath is binding upon a Feringhee, and that we may trust you. Had you been a lying Hindoo, though you had sworn by all the gods in their false temples, your blood would have been upon the knife, and your body in the water. But the Sikh knows the Englishman, and the Englishman knows the Sikh. Hearken, then, to what I have to say.
“‘There is a rajah
“‘This pretended merchant, who travels under the name of Achmet, is now in the city
of
“In Worcestershire the life of a man seems a great and a sacred thing; but it is very
different when there is fire and blood all round you and you have been used to
meeting death at every turn. Whether Achmet the merchant lived or died was a thing as
light as air to me, but at the talk about the treasure my heart turned to it, and I
thought of what I might do in the old country with it, and how my folk would stare
when they saw their ne’er-do-well coming back with his pockets full of gold moidores
“‘Consider, Sahib,’ said he, ‘that if this man is taken by the commandant he will be hung or shot, and his jewels taken by the government, so that no man will be a rupee the better for them. Now, since we do the taking of him, why should we not do the rest as well? The jewels will be as well with us as in the Company’s coffers. There will be enough to make every one of us rich men and great chiefs. No one can know about the matter, for here we are cut off from all men. What could be better for the purpose? Say again, then, Sahib, whether you are with us, or if we must look upon you as an enemy.’
“‘I am with you heart and soul,’ said I.
“‘It is well,’ he answered, handing me back my firelock. ‘You see that we trust you, for your word, like ours, is not to be broken. We have now only to wait for my brother and the merchant.’
“‘Does your brother know, then, of what you will do?’ I asked.
“‘The plan is his. He has devised it. We will go to the gate and share the watch with Mahomet Singh.’
“The rain was still falling steadily, for it was just the beginning of the wet season. Brown, heavy clouds were drifting across the sky, and it was hard to see more than a stone-cast. A deep moat lay in front of our door, but the water was in places nearly dried up, and it could easily be crossed. It was strange to me to be standing there with those two wild Punjaubees waiting for the man who was coming to his death.
“Suddenly my eye caught the glint of a shaded lantern at the other side of the moat. It vanished among the mound-heaps, and then appeared again coming slowly in our direction.
“‘Here they are!’ I exclaimed.
“‘You will challenge him, Sahib, as usual,’ whispered Abdullah. ‘Give him no cause for fear. Send us in with him, and we shall do the rest while you stay here on guard. Have the lantern ready to uncover, that we may be sure that it is indeed the man.’
“The light had flickered onwards, now stopping and now advancing, until I could see two dark figures upon the other side of the moat. I let them scramble down the sloping bank, splash through the mire, and climb half-way up to the gate, before I challenged them.
“‘Who goes there?’ said I, in a subdued voice.
“‘Friends,’ came the answer. I uncovered my lantern and threw a flood of light upon them. The first was an enormous Sikh, with a black beard which swept nearly down to his cummerbund. Outside of a show I have never seen so tall a man. The other was a little, fat, round fellow, with a great yellow turban, and a bundle in his hand, done up in a shawl. He seemed to be all in a quiver with fear, for his hands twitched as if he had the ague, and his head kept turning to left and right with two bright little twinkling eyes, like a mouse when he ventures out from his hole. It gave me the chills to think of killing him, but I thought of the treasure, and my heart set as hard as a flint within me. When he saw my white face he gave a little chirrup of joy and came running up towards me.
“‘Your protection, Sahib,’ he panted,—‘your protection for the unhappy merchant
Achmet. I have travelled across Rajpootana that I might seek the shelter of the fort
at
“‘What have you in the bundle?’ I asked.
“‘An iron box,’ he answered, ‘which contains one or two little family matters which are of no value to others, but which I should be sorry to lose. Yet I am not a beggar; and I shall reward you, young Sahib, and your governor also, if he will give me the shelter I ask.’
“I could not trust myself to speak longer with the man. The more I looked at his fat, frightened face, the harder did it seem that we should slay him in cold blood. It was best to get it over.
“‘Take him to the main guard,’ said I. The two Sikhs closed in upon him on each side, and the giant walked behind, while they marched in through the dark gateway. Never was a man so compassed round with death. I remained at the gateway with the lantern.
“I could hear the measured tramp of their footsteps sounding through the lonely
corridors. Suddenly it ceased, and I heard voices, and a scuffle, with the sound of
blows. A moment later there came, to my horror, a rush of footsteps coming in my
direction, with the loud breathing of a running man. I turned my lantern down the
long, straight passage, and there was the fat man, running like the wind, with a
smear of blood across his face, and close at his heels, bounding like a tiger, the
great black-bearded Sikh, with a knife flashing in his hand. I have never seen a man
run so fast as that little merchant. He was gaining on the Sikh, and I could see that
if he once passed
He stopped, and held out his manacled hands for the whiskey-and-water which Holmes had brewed for him. For myself, I confess that I had now conceived the utmost horror of the man, not only for this cold-blooded business in which he had been concerned, but even more for the somewhat flippant and careless way in which he narrated it. Whatever punishment was in store for him, I felt that he might expect no sympathy from me. Sherlock Holmes and Jones sat with their hands upon their knees, deeply interested in the story, but with the same disgust written upon their faces. He may have observed it, for there was a touch of defiance in his voice and manner as he proceeded.
“It was all very bad, no doubt," said he. “I should like to know how many fellows in my shoes would have refused a share of this loot when they knew that they would have their throats cut for their pains. Besides, it was my life or his when once he was in the fort. If he had got out, the whole business would come to light, and I should have been court-martialled and shot as likely as not; for people were not very lenient at a time like that."
“Go on with your story," said Holmes, shortly.
“Well, we carried him in, Abdullah, Akbar, and I. A fine weight he was, too, for all that he was so short. Mahomet Singh was left to guard the door. We took him to a place which the Sikhs had already prepared. It was some distance off, where a winding passage leads to a great empty hall, the brick walls of which were all crumbling to pieces. The earth floor had sunk in at one place, making a natural grave, so we left Achmet the merchant there, having first covered him over with loose bricks. This done, we all went back to the treasure.
“It lay where he had dropped it when he was first attacked. The box was the same
which now lies open upon your table. A key was hung by a silken cord to that carved
handle upon the top. We opened it, and the light of the lantern gleamed upon a
collection of gems such as I have read of and thought about when I was a little lad
at Pershore. It was blinding to look upon them. When we had feasted our eyes we took
them all out and made a list of them. There were one hundred and forty-three diamonds
of the first water, including one which has been called, I believe, ‘‘the Great Mogul’
“After we had counted our treasures we put them back into the chest and carried them to the gateway to show them to Mahomet Singh. Then we solemnly renewed our oath to stand by each other and be true to our secret. We agreed to conceal our loot in a safe place until the country should be at peace again, and then to divide it equally among ourselves. There was no use dividing it at present, for if gems of such value were found upon us it would cause suspicion, and there was no privacy in the fort nor any place where we could keep them. We carried the box, therefore, into the same hall where we had buried the body, and there, under certain bricks in the best-preserved wall, we made a hollow and put our treasure. We made careful note of the place, and next day I drew four plans, one for each of us, and put the sign of the four of us at the bottom, for we had sworn that we should each always act for all, so that none might take advantage. That is an oath that I can put my hand to my heart and swear that I have never broken.
“Well, there’s no use my telling you gentlemen what came of the Indian mutiny. After
Wilson took Delhi and Sir Colin relieved Lucknow the back of the business was broken.
Fresh troops came pouring in, and Nana Sahib made himself scarce over the frontier. A
flying column under Colonel Greathed came round to
“It came about in this way. When the rajah put his jewels into the hands of Achmet he
did it because he knew that he was a trusty man. They are suspicious folk in the
East, however: so what does this rajah do but take a second even more trusty servant
and set him to play the spy upon the first? This second man was ordered never to let
Achmet out of his sight, and he followed him like his shadow. He went after him that
night and saw him pass through the doorway. Of course he thought he had taken refuge
in the fort, and applied for admission there himself next day, but could find no
trace of Achmet. This seemed to him so strange that he spoke about it to a sergeant
of guides, who brought it to the ears of the commandant. A thorough search was
quickly made, and the body was discovered. Thus at the very moment that we thought
that all was safe we were all four seized and brought to trial on a charge of
murder,—three of us because we had held the gate that night, and the fourth because
he was known to have been in the company of the murdered man. Not a word about the
jewels came out at the trial, for the rajah had been deposed and driven out of
“It was rather a queer position that we found ourselves in then. There we were all four tied by the leg and with precious little chance of ever getting out again, while we each held a secret which might have put each of us in a palace if we could only have made use of it. It was enough to make a man eat his heart out to have to stand the kick and the cuff of every petty jack-in-office, to have rice to eat and water to drink, when that gorgeous fortune was ready for him outside, just waiting to be picked up. It might have driven me mad; but I was always a pretty stubborn one, so I just held on and bided my time.
“At last it seemed to me to have come. I was changed from
“The surgeon, Dr. Somerton, was a fast, sporting young chap, and the other young officers would meet in his rooms of an evening and play cards. The surgery, where I used to make up my drugs, was next to his sitting-room, with a small window between us. Often, if I felt lonesome, I used to turn out the lamp in the surgery, and then, standing there, I could hear their talk and watch their play. I am fond of a hand at cards myself, and it was almost as good as having one to watch the others. There was Major Sholto, Captain , and Lieutenant Bromley Brown, who were in command of the native troops, and there was the surgeon himself, and two or three prison-officials, crafty old hands who played a nice sly safe game. A very snug little party they used to make.
“Well, there was one thing which very soon struck me, and that was that the soldiers
used always to lose and the civilians to win. Mind, I don’t say that there was
anything unfair, but so it was. These prison-chaps had done little else than play
cards ever since they had been at the
“One night he lost even more heavily than usual. I was sitting in my hut when he and Captain came stumbling along on the way to their quarters. They were bosom friends, those two, and never far apart. The major was raving about his losses.
“‘It’s all up, ,’ he was saying, as they passed my hut. ‘I shall have to send in my papers. I am a ruined man.’
“‘Nonsense, old chap!’ said the other, slapping him upon the shoulder. ‘I’ve had a nasty facer myself, but—’ That was all I could hear, but it was enough to set me thinking.
“A couple of days later Major Sholto was strolling on the beach: so I took the chance of speaking to him.
“‘I wish to have your advice, major,’ said I.
“‘Well, Small, what is it?’ he asked, taking his cheroot from his lips.
“‘I wanted to ask you, sir,’ said I, ‘who is the proper person to whom hidden treasure should be handed over. I know where half a million worth lies, and, as I cannot use it myself, I thought perhaps the best thing that I could do would be to hand it over to the proper authorities, and then perhaps they would get my sentence shortened for me.’
“‘Half a million, Small?’ he gasped, looking hard at me to see if I was in earnest.
“‘Quite that, sir,—in jewels and pearls. It lies there ready for any one. And the queer thing about it is that the real owner is outlawed and cannot hold property, so that it belongs to the first comer.’
“‘To government, Small,’ he stammered,—‘to government.’ But he said it in a halting fashion, and I knew in my heart that I had got him.
“‘You think, then, sir, that I should give the information to the Governor-General?’ said I, quietly.
“‘Well, well, you must not do anything rash, or that you might repent. Let me hear all about it, Small. Give me the facts.’
“I told him the whole story, with small changes so that he could not identify the places. When I had finished he stood stock still and full of thought. I could see by the twitch of his lip that there was a struggle going on within him.
“‘This is a very important matter, Small,’ he said, at last. ‘You must not say a word to any one about it, and I shall see you again soon.’
“Two nights later he and his friend Captain came to my hut in the dead of the night with a lantern.
“‘I want you just to let Captain 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 nodded.
“‘Look here, Small,’ said the major. ‘We have been talking it over, my friend here
and I, and we have come to the conclusion that
“‘Why, as to that, gentlemen,’ I answered, trying also to be cool, but feeling as excited as he did, ‘there is only one bargain which a man in my position can make. I shall want you to help me to my freedom, and to help my three companions to theirs. We shall then take you into partnership, and give you a fifth share to divide between you.’
“‘Hum!’ said he. ‘A fifth share! That is not very tempting.’
“‘It would come to fifty thousand apiece,’ said I.
“‘But how can we gain your freedom? You know very well that you ask an impossibility.’
“‘Nothing of the sort,’ I answered. ‘I have thought it all out to the last detail.
The only bar to our escape is that we can get no boat fit for the voyage, and no
provisions to last us for so long a time. There are plenty of little yachts and yawls
at
“‘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, ,’ said he, ‘Small is a man of his word. He does not flinch from his friend. I think we may very well trust him.’
“‘It’s a dirty business,’ the other answered. ‘Yet, as you say, the money would save our commissions handsomely.’
“‘Well, Small,’ said the major, ‘we must, I suppose, try and meet you. We must first, of course, test the truth of your story. Tell me where the box is hid, and I shall get leave of absence and go back to India in the monthly relief-boat to inquire into the affair.’
“‘Not so fast,’ said I, growing colder as he got hot. ‘I must have the consent of my three comrades. I tell you that it is four or none with us.’
“‘Nonsense!’ he broke in. ‘What have three black fellows to do with our agreement?’
“‘Black or blue,’ said I, ‘they are in with me, and we all go together.’
“Well, the matter ended by a second meeting, at which Mahomet Singh, Abdullah Khan,
and Dost Akbar were all present. We talked the matter over again, and at last we came
to an arrangement. We were to provide both the officers with charts of the part of
the
“Well, gentlemen, I weary you with my long story, and I know that my friend Mr. Jones
is impatient to get me safely stowed in chokey. I’ll make it as short as I can. The
villain Sholto went off to
“Well, I have set my mind on many things in this life, and never one which I did not carry out. But it was weary years before my time came. I have told you that I had picked up something of medicine. One day when Dr. Somerton was down with a fever a little Andaman Islander was picked up by a convict-gang in the woods. He was sick to death, and had gone to a lonely place to die. I took him in hand, though he was as venomous as a young snake, and after a couple of months I got him all right and able to walk. He took a kind of fancy to me then, and would hardly go back to his woods, but was always hanging about my hut. I learned a little of his lingo from him, and this made him all the fonder of me.
“Tonga—for that was his name—was a fine boatman, and owned a big, roomy canoe of his own. When I found that he was devoted to me and would do anything to serve me, I saw my chance of escape. I talked it over with him. He was to bring his boat round on a certain night to an old wharf which was never guarded, and there he was to pick me up. I gave him directions to have several gourds of water and a lot of yams, cocoa-nuts, and sweet potatoes.
“He was stanch and true, was little Tonga. No man ever had a more faithful mate. At
the night named he had his boat at the wharf. As it chanced, however, there was one
of the convict-guard down there,—a vile Pathan who had never missed a chance of
insulting and injuring me. I had always vowed vengeance, and now I had my chance. It
was as if fate had placed him in my way that I might pay my debt before I left the
island. He stood on the bank with his back to me, and his carbine on his shoulder. I
looked about for a stone to beat out his brains with, but none could I see. Then a
queer thought came into my head and showed me where I could lay my hand on a weapon.
I
“Well, if I were to tell you all the adventures that my little chum and I went
through, you would not thank me, for I would have you here until the sun was shining.
Here and there we drifted about the world, something always turning up to keep us
from
“One day, however, I got word that he was dying. I hurried at once to the garden, mad that he should slip out of my clutches like that, and, looking through the window, I saw him lying in his bed, with his sons on each side of him. I’d have come through and taken my chance with the three of them, only even as I looked at him his jaw dropped, and I knew that he was gone. I got into his room that same night, though, and I searched his papers to see if there was any record of where he had hidden our jewels. There was not a line, however: so I came away, bitter and savage as a man could be. Before I left I bethought me that if I ever met my Sikh friends again it would be a satisfaction to know that I had left some mark of our hatred; so I scrawled down the sign of the four of us, as it had been on the chart, and I pinned it on his bosom. It was too much that he should be taken to the grave without some token from the men whom he had robbed and befooled.
“We earned a living at this time by my exhibiting
“I don’t know that I have anything else to tell you. I had heard a waterman speak of the speed of Smith’s launch the Aurora, so I thought she would be a handy craft for our escape. I engaged with old Smith, and was to give him a big sum if he got us safe to our ship. He knew, no doubt, that there was some screw loose, but he was not in our secrets. All this is the truth, and if I tell it to you, gentlemen, it is not to amuse you,—for you have not done me a very good turn,—but it is because I believe the best defence I can make is just to hold back nothing, but let all the world know how badly I have myself been served by Major Sholto, and how innocent I am of the death of his son."
“A very remarkable account," said Sherlock Holmes. “A fitting wind-up to an extremely interesting case. There is nothing at all new to me in the latter part of your narrative, except that you brought your own rope. That I did not know. By the way, I had hoped that Tonga had lost all his darts; yet he managed to shoot one at us in the boat."
“He had lost them all, sir, except the one which was in his blow-pipe at the time."
“Ah, of course," said Holmes. “I had not thought of that."
“Is there any other point which you would like to ask about?" asked the convict, affably.
“I think not, thank you," my companion answered.
“Well, Holmes," said Athelney Jones, “You are a man to be humoured, and we all know that you are a connoisseur of crime, but duty is duty, and I have gone rather far in doing what you and your friend asked me. I shall feel more at ease when we have our story-teller here safe under lock and key. The cab still waits, and there are two inspectors downstairs. I am much obliged to you both for your assistance. Of course you will be wanted at the trial. Good-night to you."
“Good-night, gentlemen both," said Jonathan Small.
“You first, Small," remarked the wary Jones as they left the room. “I’ll take
particular care that you don’t club me with your wooden leg, whatever you may have
done to the gentleman at the
“Well, and there is the end of our little drama," I remarked, after we had set some
time smoking in silence. “I fear that it may be the last investigation in which I
shall have the chance of studying your methods. Miss has done me the honour to accept
me as a husband in
prospective
He gave a most dismal groan. “I feared as much," said he. “I really cannot congratulate you."
I was a little hurt. “Have you any reason to be dissatisfied with my choice?" I asked.
“Not at all. I think she is one of the most charming young ladies I ever met, and might have been most useful in such work as we have been doing. She had a decided genius that way: witness the way in which she preserved that Agra plan from all the other papers of her father. But love is an emotional thing, and whatever is emotional is opposed to that true cold reason which I place above all things. I should never marry myself, lest I bias my judgment."
“I trust," said I, laughing, “that my judgment may survive the ordeal. But you look weary."
“Yes, the reaction is already upon me. I shall be as limp as a rag for a week."
“Strange," said I, “how terms of what in another man I should call laziness alternate with your fits of splendid energy and vigour."
“Yes," he answered, “there are in me the makings of a very fine loafer and also of a pretty spry sort of fellow. I often think of those lines of old Goethe,—
Schade dass die Natur nur einen Mensch aus Dir schuf,
Denn zum würdigen
Mann war und zum Schelmen der Stoff.
Faust.
While it is Goethe's language, it is a description of Goethe's friend, Johan Kaspar Lavater, a clergyman. The text translates to "Pity 'tis,
when thou wast born, that but one man nature created! / Stuff for a gentleman is,
and fro a scoundrel in thee." For the source and translation, see "Goethe and Lavater,"
The Hibbert Journal (200).
“By the way, à propos
“The division seems rather unfair," I remarked. “You have done all the work in this business. I get a wife out of it, Jones gets the credit, pray what remains for you?"
“For me," said Sherlock Holmes, “there still remains the cocaine-bottle." And he stretched his long white hand up for it.
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FANTOMINA:
The Secret History in Literature: 1660-1820(2017) suggest, the genre usually offers a glimpse into the secret lives of public individuals. In the amatory tradition of
Fantomina, this "private" side is typically filled with sexual or political intrigue.
Fantominais numbered. The image included here, via Wikimedia Commons, is an engraved frontispiece portrait by George Vertue. Haywood wrote in a number of different genres, including amatory fiction, domestic fiction, and essay.
In Love the Victors from the Vanquish'd fly.They fly that wound, and they pursue that dye.
Man of Mode, where it is spoken by the protagonist Dorimant. Read more about Waller at
Encyclopaedia Britannica.
jun
Black-Swan
without
Temple-Bar
the
Angelin
Pallmall
FANTOMINA:
OR,
LOVE in a Maze.
A YOUNG Lady of distinguished Birth, Beauty, Wit, and Spirit, happened to be in a
Box
Playhouses
during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries in England organized seating
according to price and social status. Boxes were the most expensive of seating
areas, and could hold several people in style. The image included here, from
the Victoria and Albert Museum, depicts a famous riot at Covent Garden
theater during a performance of the opera
Artaxerxes in
1763. For more information about the development of theater in the eighteenth
century, see Andrew Dickson's introduction at the British Library.The Oxford Companion to Theatre and
Performance, the "pit occupied the floor of the theatre at a lower level
than the stage and, unlike the standing pit of earlier public theatres, contained
rows of backless benches set on a raked floor. Seats in the pit were half the
price of a seat in the box and attracted a mixed audience of men and women. The
activity of the audience in the pit and the behaviour of the occupants of the
boxes, especially with the King present, were part of the theatregoing spectacle."
Prostitutes, wits, and rakes frequented the pit and the middle galleries. For more
information, see Douglas Canfield's introduction to The Broadview Anthology
of Restoration and Early Eighteenth-Century Drama
(vxiii).History
Magazine
.Drawing
Room
.The Origins of the English Gentry, the gentry
class is "a type of lesser nobility, based on landholding," that often
dispensed justice in the locality and wielded great social power.
Bath Magazine
. The image
included here shows an early eighteenth-century French sedan chair, without the
horizontal carrying poles, housed
in the VAM.
But these Cogitations
London Adviser and
Guide
. For a sense of the cost of living in the period, see "Currency, Coinage
and the Cost of Living" at the Old Bailey Online. For a good overview of
early Georgian town houses, see this Google
Arts and Culture Spotter's Guide
.
THE appointed Hour being arriv'd, she had the Satisfaction to find his Love in his
Assiduity: He was there before her; and nothing cou'd be more tender than the Manner
in which he accosted her: But from the first Moment she came in, to that of the Play
being done, he continued to assure her no Consideration shou'd prevail with him to
part from her again, as she had done the Night before; and she rejoic'd to think she
had taken that Precaution of providing herself with a Lodging, to which she thought
she might invite him, without running any Risque, either of her Virtue or Reputation.
– Having told him she wou'd admit of his accompanying her home, he seem'd perfectly
satisfy'd; and leading her to the Place, which was not above twenty Houses distant,
wou'd have order'd a Collation
THIS Proceeding, though it did not take from him the Opinion that she was what she appeared to be, yet it gave him Thoughts of her, which he had not before. – He believ'd her a Mistress, but believ'd her to be one of a superior Rank, and began to imagine the Possession of her would be much more Expensive than at first he had expected: But not being of a Humour to grudge any Thing for his Pleasures, he gave himself no further Trouble, than what were occasioned by Fears of not having Money enough to reach her Price, about him.
SUPPER being over, which was intermixed with a vast deal of amorous Conversation, he
began to explain himself more than he had done; and both by his Words and Behaviour
let her know, he would not be denied that Happiness the Freedoms she allow'd had made
him hope. – It was in vain; she would have retracted the Encouragement she had given:
– In vain she endeavoured to delay, till the next Meeting, the fulfilling of his
Wishes: – She had now gone too far to retreat: – He was bold; – he was resolute: She
fearful, – confus'd, altogether unprepar'd to resist in such Encounters, and rendered
more so, by the extreme Liking she had to him. – Shock'd, however, at the
Apprehension of really losing her Honour
BEAUPLAISIR thought he could not have a better Opportunity than these Words gave him
of enquiring who she was, and wherefore she had feigned herself to be of a Profession
which he was now convinc'd she was not; and after he had made her thousand Vows of an
Affection, as inviolable and ardent as she could wish to find in him, entreated she
would inform him by what Means his Happiness has been brought about, and also to whom
he was indebted for the Bliss he had enjoy'd. – Some remains of yet unextinguished
Modesty, and Sense of Shame, made her Blush exceedingly at this Demand; but
recollecting herself in a little Time, she told him so much of the Truth, as to what
related to the Frolick she had taken of satisfying her Curiosity in what Manner
Mistresses, of the Sort she appeared to be, were treated by those who addressed them;
but forbore discovering her true Name and Quality, for the Reasons she had done
before, resolving, if he boasted of this Affair, he should not have it in his Power
to touch her Character: She therefore said she was the Daughter of a Country Gentleman
Life in the English Country House: A Social and Architectural
History (1978).
THEY parted not till towards Morning; and she oblig'd him to a willing Vow of
visiting her the next Day at Three in the Afternoon. It was too late for her to go
home that Night, therefore contented herself with lying there. In the Morning she
sent for the Woman of the House to come up to her; and easily perceiving, by her
Manner, that she was a Woman who might be influenced by Gifts, made her a Present of
a Couple of Broad Pieces
Anti-Pamela and
Shamela (50ff).
EVERY Thing being ordered at this Home for the Security of her Reputation, she
repaired to the other, where she easily excused to an unsuspecting Aunt, with whom
she boarded, her having been abroad all Night, saying, she went with a Gentleman and
his Lady in a Barge
The river Thames was a
source of work, pleasure, and transportation in the eighteenth century; it
connected many significant country towns to London, and access to Hampton Court
Palace as well as the many London pleasure gardens was primarily accomplished via
the river. To
learn more about the history of the Thames, see this BBC article by Andy
Dangerfield. The image included here, an early
eighteenth-century painting by Leonard Knyff via the Royal Collection
Trust, shows Hampton Court Palace and the barges passing on the river
Thames.
The
palace gardens at St. James's Palace, which was the primary royal residence until
early nineteenth century, are pictured in the bird's eye plan by Jan Kip shown
here (via Wikimedia Commons). Something of the spirit of the parks and gardens of
the period can be grasped by examining the 1745 painting of St. James's Park and the Mall, by Joseph Nickolls,
discussed here.
Opera became
extraordinarily fashionable during the eighteenth century. Read more about the
history of opera during the period from the
Victoria and Albert Museum. The image included here shows a riot during
an opera at Covent Garden Theatre in 1763.
BUT he varied not so much from his Sex as to be able to prolong Desire, to any great
Length after Possession: The rifled Charms of Fantomina soon lost their Poinancy
SHE no sooner heard he had left the Town, than making a Pretence to her Aunt, that
she was going to visit a Relation in the Country, went towards Bath
According to
The
Dictionary of Fashion History
, a round-eared cap is a "white
indoor cap curving round the face to the level of the ears or below," often
ruffled, and drawn close with a string along the shallow back edge of the cap.
These caps were popular among all classes from around 1730 to 1760, making this an
early reference. The image included here, from the Victoria and Albert Museum, shows a mannequin in a quilted green
petticoat and round-eared cap.Eighteenth-Century Women: An Anthology, Volume
21.Througout the
eighteenth century, Bath--known for its thermal springs--became a fashionable
place to relax and "take the waters." Thomas Rowlandson's satirical 1798 watercolor, "The Comforts of Bath: The Pump
Room," included here via Wikimedia Commons, depicts patients suffering
from a variety of illnesses descending on the Pump Room to drink the hot mineral
spring waters. It was believed that the mineral spring waters had curative
properties, though many people went to Bath for relaxation and leisure in
general.
His Stay at Bath exceeded not a Month; but in that Time his suppos'd Country Lass
had persecuted him so much with her Fondness, that in spite of the Eagerness with
which he first enjoy'd her, he was at last grown more weary of her, than he had been
of Fantomina; which she perceiving, would not be troublesome, but quitting her Service
In this enamel miniature portrait c.1710, via Philip
Mould and Company, the artist
Christian Zincke has depicted Henrietta Maria, Lady Ashburnham, in first
mourning for her husband; Henrietta Maria is twenty-three in this
portrait. First or deep mourning lasted approximately three months after
the death of a spouse, during which time the mourner wore non-reflective black
fabrics like bombazine.
SHE knew that Beauplaisir came alone in his Chariot to the Bath, and in the Time of her being Servant in the House where he lodg'd, heard nothing of any Body that was to accompany him to London, and hop'd he wou'd return in the same Manner he had gone: She therefore hir'd Horses and a Man to attend her to an Inn about ten Miles on this side Bath, where having discharg'd them, she waited till the Chariot should come by; which when it did, and she saw that he was alone in it, she call'd to him that drove it to stop a Moment, and going to the Door saluted the Master with these Words:
IT would not be very easy to represent the Surprise, so odd an Address created in
the Mind of him to whom it was made. – She had not the Appearance of one who wanted
Charity; and what other Favour she requir'd he cou'd not conceive: But telling her,
she might command any Thing in his Power, gave her Encouragement to declare herself
in this Manner:
HERE the feigned Widow ended her sorrowful Tale, which had been several Times
interrupted by a Parenthesis of Sighs and Groans; and Beauplaisir, with a complaisant
and tender Air, assur'd her of his Readiness to serve her in Things of much greater
Consequence than what she desir'd of him; and told her, Satyricon, a new widow in deep mourning
for her husband and known for her chastity is seduced by a soldier tasked with
guarding the crucified bodies of three theives. While the soldier and the
beautiful young widow are otherwise employed, one of the bodies disappears, and to
save her lover, the widow replaces the missing thief with her husband's corpse.
This story was adapted in the seventeenth century by Jean de La Fontaine. Read
more about this story and the seventeenth-century adaptation that Haywood would
have known of in Robert
Colton's article, "The Story of the Widow of Ephesus in Petronius and La
Fontaine."
IT may, perhaps, seem strange that Beauplaisir should in such near Intimacies
continue still deceiv'd: I know
THEY pass'd the Time of their Journey in as much Happiness as the most luxurious Gratification of wild Desires could make them; and when they came to the End of it, parted not without a mutual Promise of seeing each other often. – He told her to what Place she should direct a Letter to him; and she assur'd him she would send to let him know where to come to her, as soon as she was fixed in Lodgings.
SHE kept her Promise; and charm'd with the Continuance of his eager Fondness, went
not home, but into private Lodgings, whence she wrote to him to visit her the first
Opportunity, and enquire for the Widow Bloomer. – She had no sooner dispatched this
Billet
IT would be impossible, my Angel! for me to express the thousandth Part of
that Infinity of Transport, the Sight of your dear Letter gave me. – Never was
Woman form'd to charm like you: Never did any look like you, – write like you,
– bless like you; – nor did ever Man adore as I do. – Since
BEAUPLAISIR.
The other was in this Manner:
IF you were half so sensible as you ought of your own Power of charming, you would be assur'd, that to be unfaithful or unkind to you, would be among the Things that are in their very Natures Impossibilities. – It was my Misfortune, not my Fault, that you were not persecuted every Post with a Declaration of my unchanging Passion; but I had unluckily forgot the Name of the Woman at whose House you are, and knew not how to form a Direction that it might come safe to your Hands. – And, indeed, the Reflection how you might misconstrue my Silence, brought me to Town some Weeks sooner than I intended – If you knew how I have languish'd to renew those Blessings I am permitted to enjoy in your Society, you would rather pity than condemn
P.S. I fear I cannot see you till To-morrow; some Business has unluckily fallen out that will engross my Hours till then. – Once more, my Dear, Adieu.
SHE made herself, most certainly, extremely happy in the Reflection on the Success
of her Stratagems; and while the Knowledge of his Inconstancy and Levity of Nature
kept her from having that real Tenderness for him she would else have had, she found
the Means of gratifying the Inclination she had for his agreeable Person, in as full
a Manner as she could wish. She had all the Sweets of Love, but as yet had tasted
none of the Gall
WHEN the expected Hour arriv'd, she found that her Lover had lost no part of the
Fervency with which he had parted from her; but when the next Day she receiv'd him as
Fantomina, she perceiv'd a prodigious Difference; which led her again into
Reflections on the Unaccountableness of Men's Fancies, who still prefer the last
Conquest, only because it is the last. – Here was an evident Proof of it; for there
could not be a Difference in Merit, because they were the same Person; but the Widow
Bloomer was a more new Acquaintance than Fantomina, and therefore esteem'd more
valuable. This, indeed, must be said of Beauplaisir, that he had a , by
Jean Ouvrier after Francois Boucher,"/>A "nymph" is a mythological
nature spirit, usually depicted as a young woman disporting, semi-nude, in
woodlands or near water. The word is often used allegorically or metaphorically to
refer to elegant, flirtatious young women. The image included here shows an
engraving,
Les Nimphes au Bain (The Nymphs at the Bath), by
Jean Ouvrier after Francois Boucher, via The
Metropolitan Museum of Art.
THE Widow Bloomer triumph'd some Time longer over the Heart of this Inconstant, but
at length her Sway was at an End, and she sunk in this Character, to the same Degree
of Tastelessness, as she had done before in that of Fantomina and Celia. – She
presently perceiv'd it, but bore it as she had always done; it being but what she
expected, she had prepar'd herself for it, and had another Project in embrio
embryo.The Mall here refers not
to a shopping center but a wide path for walking or formal processions. The
accompanying image, attributed to Joseph Nickolls, shows a crowd of fashionable
people on the Mall in St. James's Park (Via Wikimedia Commons).
The
Natural History, the chameleon "always holds the head upright and the
mouth open, and is the only animal which receives nourishment neither by meat nor
drink, nor anything else, but from the air alone" (8.51). These impecunious men subsist on air, except when an employer
happens upon them. It is worth noting that the chameleon, as Pliny goes on to say,
is also "very remarkable" for the "nature of its colour," which "is continually
changing; its eyes, its tail, and its whole body always assuming the colour of
whatever object is nearest, with the exception of white and red."The Iris, "Physiognomy, the Beautiful Pseudo-Science". For a fuller scholarly
assessment, see Kathryn Woods's "‘Facing’ Identity in a ‘Faceless’ Society: Physiognomy,
Facial Appearance and Identity Perception in Eighteenth-Century
London".
INDEFATIGABLE in the Pursuit of whatsoever her Humour was bent upon, she had no
sooner left her new-engag'd Emissaries, than she went in search of a House for the
compleating her Project. – She pitch'd on one very large, and magnificently
furnished, which she hir'd by the
Week
As Incognita, Fantomina
would have rented what John Trusler describes as a "high rented" townhouse in a central
location. He goes on to note that "Houses about twenty-one feet in front
will let from four guineas a week furnished to eight guineas, according to the
season of the year and the time they are engaged for." This house, which is much
more magnificent, would have been about two and a half to three times the price
per week of the lodgings she took near the theaters. To learn more about London
townhomes in the eighteenth century, see Rachel Stewart's
The Town House in Georgian
London
(2009). The image included here, from the Handel Hendrix town
home on Brook Street, London, depicts an excellent example of a large town home
built during the early eighteenth century.Livery is the term given to the uniform worn by a household servant. In this
image, showing a formal ball entrance reconstructed at Colonial Williamsburg, the
two flanking servants are wearing the livery of the house (via Colonial Williamsburg
Foundation).
I imagine not that 'tis a new Thing to you, to be told, you are the greatest Charm in Nature to our Sex: I shall therefore, not to fill up my Letter with any impertinent Praises on your Wit or Person, only tell you, that I am infinite in Love with both, and if you have a Heart not too deeply engag'd, should think myself the happiest of my Sex in being capable of inspiring it with some Tenderness. – There is but one Thing in my Power to refuse you, which is the Knowledge of my Name, which believing the Sight of my Face will render no Secret, you must not take it ill that I conceal from you. – The Bearer of this is a Person I can trust; send by him your Answer; but endeavour not to dive into the Meaning of this Mystery, which will be impossible for you to unravel, and at the same Time very much disoblige me: – But that you may be in no Apprehensions of being impos'd on by a Woman unworthy of your Regard, I will venture to assure you, the first and greatest Men in the Kingdom, would think themselves blest to have that Influence over me you have, though unknown to yourself acquir'd. – But I need not go about to raise your Curiosity, by giving you any Idea of what my Person is; if you think fit to be satisfied, resolve to visit me To-morrow about Three in the Afternoon; and though my Face is hid, you shall not want sufficient Demonstration, that she who takes these unusual Measures to commence a Friendship with you, is neither Old, nor Deform'd. Till then I am,
HE had scarce come to the Conclusion, before he ask'd the Person who brought it,
from what Place he came; – the Name of the Lady he serv'd; –
Though to tell me I am happy enough to be lik'd by a Woman, such, as by your
Manner of Writing, I imagine you to be, is an Honour which I can never
sufficiently acknowledge, yet I know not how I am able to content myself with
admiring the Wonders of your Wit alone: I am certain, a Soul like yours must
shine in your Eyes with a Vivacity, which must bless all they look on. – I
shall, however, endeavour to restrain myself in these Bounds you are pleas'd to
set me, till by the Knowledge of my inviolable Fedility, I may be thought
worthy of gazing on that Heaven I am now but to enjoy in Contemplation. – You
need not doubt my glad Compliance with your obliging Summons:
NOTHING could be more pleas'd than she, to whom it was directed, at the Receipt of
this Letter; but when she was told how inquisitive he had been concerning her
Character and Circumstances, she could not forbear laughing heartily to think of the
Tricks she had play'd him, and applauding her own Strength of Genius, and Force of
Resolution, which by such unthought-of Ways could triumph over her Lover's
Inconstancy, and render that very Temper, which to other Women is the greatest Curse,
a Means to make herself more bless'd. – Court dress for both women and men was both political
and sumptuous, some of which can be seen in the accompanying image, showing an
extravagant court dress made from Spitalfields silk and housed in the Museum of London. Click this link to view a
high-resolution image of a ball at St. James's Palace, c.1766, via the Lewis
Walpole Library. To learn more about fashion at court balls in the
eighteenth century, see Hannah Greig's
"Faction and Fashion : The Politics of Court Dress in Eighteenth-Century
England."
A "vizard" is a black velvet mask worn by elite women
in the Renaissance to protect the skin from sunburn. It became a fashionable
accoutrement during the eighteenth century, when masquerades were popular, and it
was also often worn to the theater. The image included here is a French pastel
drawing (c.1750) by Jean-Marc Nattier showing an aristocratic woman with vizard
and fan (via Neil Jeffares). For more information on masquerade in the eighteenth
century, see Terry Castle's
Masquerade and Civilization: The
Carnivalesque in Eighteenth-century English Culture and Fiction
(1986).
THE Hours of Repose being arriv'd, he begg'd she would retire to her Chamber; to
which she consented, but oblig'd him to go to Bed first; which he did not much
oppose, because he suppos'd she would not lie in her Mask, and doubted not but the
Morning's Dawn would bring the wish'd Discovery. – The two imagin'd Servants usher'd
him to his new Lodging; where he lay some Moments in all the Perplexity imaginable at
the Oddness of this Adventure. But she suffer'd not these Cogitations to be of any
long Continuance: She came, but came in the Dark; which being no more than he
expected by the former Part of her Proceedings, he said nothing of; but as much
Satisfaction as he found in her Embraces, nothing ever long'd for the Approach of Day
with more Impatience than he did. At last it came; but how great was his
Disappointment, when by the Noises he heard in the Street, the hurry of the Coaches,
and the Cries of Penny-Merchants
The Guardian
.
SHE kept the House, and her Gentlemen-Equipage for about a Fortnight, in which Time
she continu'd to write to him as Fantomina and the Widow Bloomer, and received the
Visits he sometimes made to each; but his Behaviour to both was grown so cold, that
she began to grow as weary of receiving his now insipid Caresses as he was of
offering them: She was beginning to think in what Manner she
BUT this Confinement was not the greatest Part of the Trouble of this now afflicted
Lady: She found the Consequences of her amorous Follies would be, without almost a
Miracle, impossible to be concealed: – She was with Child; and though she would
easily have found Means to have skreen'd even this from the Knowledge of the World,
had she been at liberty to have acted with the same unquestionable Authority over
herself, as she did before the coming of her Mother, yet now all her Invention was at
a Loss for a Stratagem to impose on a Woman of her Penetration: – By eating little,
lacing prodigious strait
Lacing here refers to the lacing up of the stays, a
shaping undergarment like the one
seen here, from the late eighteenth century, housed in the Victoria and Albert
Museum. According to Valerie Steele in
The Corset: A
Cultural History, tightly laced stays were the visible sign
of strict morality" (26).Throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries, women's formal fashion was characterized by the exaggerated bell shape
created by the hoop petticoat, an example of
which can be seen in the Victoria and Albert Museum's digital
collections. By 1750, the hoop petticoat could be as large as 1.5 meters in
diameter, and with the addition of panniers, court dress like that which Fantomina
is described as wearing--and which the included image, from the Metropolitan
Museum of Art, shows--could be notably voluminous.
In the eighteenth century, a "closet" was a small
office or private room leading off of a bedroom; here, individuals would conduct
business, write letters, read, or converse with close acquaintances. It was not
used to store clothes. For more information, see
Daily Life in
18th-Century England (85-86), or Danielle Bobker's "Literature and Culture of the Closet in the Eighteenth
Century," from which site the accompanying image, showing the Green
Closet at Frogmore, has been drawn.A Social History of the Cloister, reviewed by Patrick Harrigan in Historical Studies in
Education
.
This text is prepared as part of the Literature in Context
project, which provides an accessible, curated, and marked-up selection of primary
sources relevant to the study and the teaching of British and American literature of
the 18th century. This project is funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities
and developed by faculty at The University of Virginia and Marymount University.
Research informing these annotations draws on publicly-accessible resources, with links provided where possible. Annotations have also included common knowledge, defined as information that can be found in multiple reliable sources. If you notice an error in these annotations, please contact lic.open.anthology@gmail.com.
Original spelling and capitalization is retained, though the long s has been silently modernized and ligatured forms are not encoded.
Hyphenation has not been retained, except where necessary for the sense of the word.
Page breaks have been retained. Catchwords, signatures, and running headers have not. Where pages break in the middle of a word, the complete word has been indicated prior to the page beginning.
Materials have been transcribed from and checked against first editions, where possible. See the Sources section.
OR, THE
Royal Slave.
HISTORY.
A. BEHN.
LONDON,
Printed for
Will. Canning,at his Shop in
the
Temple-Cloysters.1688.
Right Honourable
THE Lord
MAITLAND.
Since the World is grown so Nice and Critical upon Dedications, and will Needs be
Judging the Book, by the Wit of the Patron; we ought, with a great deal of
Circumspection, to chuse a Person against whom there can be no Exception; and
whose Wit, and Worth, truly Merits all that one is capable of saying upon that
Occasion.
The most part of Dedications are charg'd with Flattery; and if the World knows a Man
has some Vices, they will not allow one to speak of his Virtues. This, my Lord, is
for want of thinking Rightly; if Men wou'd consider with Reason, they wou'd have
another sort of Opinion, and Esteem of Dedications; and wou'd believe almost every
Great Man has enough to make him Worthy of all that can be said of him there. My
Lord, a Picture-drawer, when he intends to make a good Picture, essays the Face many
Ways, and in many Lights, before he begins; that he may chuse, from the several
turns of it, which is most Agreeable, and gives it the best Grace; and if there be a
Scar, an ungrateful Mole, or any little Defect, they leave it out; and yet make the
Picture extreamly like: But he who has the good Fortune to draw a Face that is
exactly Charming in all its Parts and Features, what Colours or Agreements can be
added to make it Finer? All that he can give is but its due; and Glories in a Piece
whose Original alone gives it its Perfection. An ill Hand may diminish, but a good
Hand cannot augment its Beauty. A Poet is a Painter in his way; he draws to the
Life, but in another kind; we draw the Nobler part, the Soul and Mind; the Pictures
of the Pen shall out-last those of the Pencil, and even Worlds themselves. 'Tis a
short Chronicle of those Lives that possibly wou'd be forgotten by other Historians,
or lye neglected there, however deserving an immortal Fame; for Men of eminent Parts
are as Exemplary as even Monarchs themselves; and Virtue is a noble Lesson to be
learn'd, and 'tis by Comparison we can Judge and Chuse. 'Tis by such illustrious Presidents
Precedents. Source: Oxford English Dictionary, as your Lordship, the World
can be Better'd and Refin'd; when a great part of the lazy Nobility lity shall, with
Shame, behold the admirable Accomplishments of a Man so Great, and so Young.
Your Lordship has Read innumerable Volumes of Men, and Books; not Vainly for the gust
of Novelty, but Knowledge, excellent Knowledge: Like the industrious Bee, from every
Flower you return Laden with the precious Dew, which you are sure to turn to the
Publick Good. You hoard no one Perfection, but lay it all out in the Glorious Service
of your Religion and Country; to both which you are a useful and necessary Honour:
They both want such Supporters; and 'tis only Men of so elevated Parts, and fine
Knowledge; such noble Principles of Loyalty and Religion this Nation Sighs for. Where
shall we find a Man so Young, like St.
Augustine
, in the midst of all his
Youth and Gaiety, Teaching the World divine Precepts, true Notions of Faith, and
Excellent Morality, and, at the same time, be also a perfect Pattern of all that
accomplish a Great Man? You have, my Lord, all that refin'd Wit that Charms, and the
Affability that Obliges; a Generosity that gives a Lustre to your Nobility; that
Hospitality, and Greatness of Mind, that ingages the World; and that admirable
Conduct, that so well Instructs it. Our Nation ought to regret and bemoan their
Misfortunes, for not being able to claim the Honour of the Birth of a Man who is so
fit to serve his Majesty, and his Kingdoms, in all Great and Publick Affairs: And to
the Glory of your Nation be it spoken, it produces more considerable Men, for all
fine Sence, Wit, Wisdom, Breeding, and Generosity (for the generality of the
Nobility) than all other Nations can Boast; and the Fruitfulness of your Virtues
sufficiently make amends for the Barrenness of your Soil: Which however cannot be
incommode to your Lordship; since your Quality, and the Veneration that the
Commonalty naturally pay their Lords, creates a flowing Plenty there—that makes you
Happy. And to compleat your Happiness, my Lord, Heaven has blest you with a Lady, to
whom it has given all the Graces, Beauties, and Virtues of her Sex; all the Youth,
Sweetness of Nature; of a most illustrious Family; and who is a most rare Example to
all Wives of Quality, for her eminent Piety, Easiness, and Condescention; and as
absolutely merits Respect from all the World, as she does that Passion and
Resignation she receives from your Lordship; and which is, on her part, with so much
Tenderness return'd. Methinks your tranquil Lives are an Image of the new Made
and Beautiful Pair in Paradise: And 'tis the Prayers and Wishes of all, who have the
Honour to know you, that it may Eternally so continue, with Additions of all the
Blessings this World can give you.
My Lord, the Obligations I have to some of the Great Men of your Nation, particularly
to your Lordship, gives me an Ambition of making my Acknowledgments, by all the
Opportunities I can; and such humble Fruits, as my Industry produces, I lay at your
Lordships Feet. This is a true Story, of a Man Gallant enough to merit your
Protection; and, had he always been so Fortunate, he had not made so Inglorious an
end: The Royal Slave I had the Honour to know in my Travels to the other World; and
though I had none above me in that Country, yet I wanted power to preserve this Great
Man. If there be any thing that seems Romantick, I beseech your Lordship to consider,
these Countries do, in all things, so far differ from ours, that they produce
unconceivable Wonders; at least, they appear so to us, because New and Strange. What
I have mention'd I have taken-care shou'd be Truth, let the Critical Reader
judge as he pleases. 'Twill be no Commendation to the Book, to assure your Lordship I
writ it in a few Hours, though it may serve to Excuse some of its Faults of
Connexion; for I never rested my Pen a Moment for Thought: 'Tis purely the Merit of
my Slave that must render it worthy of the Honour it begs; and the Author of that of
Subscribing herself,
My Lord,
Your Lordship's most oblig'd
and obedient Servant,
A. BEHN.
HISTORY
OF THE
Royal Slave.
I do not pretend, in giving you the History of this Royal Slave, to
entertain my Reader with the Adventures of a feign'd Hero, whose Life and
Fortunes Fancy may manage at the Poets Pleasure; nor in relating the Truth, design to
adorn it with any Accidents, but such as arriv'd in earnest to him: And it shall come
I was my self an Eye-Witness,
Hero
himself, who gave us the whole Transactions of his Youth; and though I shall omit,
for Brevity's sake, a thousand little Accidents of his Life, which, however pleasant
to us, where History was scarce, and Adventures very rare; yet might prove tedious
and heavy to my Reader, in a World where he finds Diversions for every Minute,
The Scene of the last part of his Adventures lies in a Colony in America,
called West-Indies.
But before I give you the Story of this Gallant Slave, 'tis fit I tell you
the manner of bringing them to these new Colonies; for those they make use
of there, are not Natives of the place; for those we live with in perfect
Amity, without daring to command 'em; but on the contrary, caress 'em with all the
brotherly and friendly Affection in the World; trading with 'em for their Fish,
Venison, Buffilo's, Skins, and little Rarities; as Marmosets
Monkey as Minature. Then for little Parakeetoes, great Parrots,
Muckaws, and a thousand other Birds and Beasts of wonderful and
surprizing Forms, Shapes, and Colours. For Skins of prodigious Snakes, of which there
are some threescore Yards in length; as is the Skin of one that may be seen at His
Majesty's Antiquaries:
The Indian Queen, (1664) while wearing the feathered headdress referred to in this passage. Whether this headdress
was something that Behn herself brought back to England from Surinam in the 1660s is
impossible to know at this point. (courtesy British Library under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)
&c. We dealt with 'em with Beads of all Colours, Knives, Axes, Pins
and Needles; which they us'd only as Tools to drill Holes
Adam and
Eve did the Fig-leaves; the Men wearing a long Stripe of Linen, which
they deal with us for. They thread these Beads also on long Cotton-threads, and make
Girdles to tie their Aprons to, which come twenty times, or more, about the Waste;
and then cross, like a Shoulder-belt, both ways, and round their Necks, Arms and
Legs. This Adornment, with their long black Hair, and the Face painted in little
Specks or Flowers here and there, makes 'em a wonderful Figure toIndian, dying for Love of a
very beautiful young Indian Maid; but all his Courtship was, to fold his
Arms, pursue her with his Eyes, and Sighs were all his Language: While she, as if no
such Lover were present; or rather, as if she desired none such, carefully guarded
her Eyes from beholding him; and never approach'd him, but she look'd down with all
the blushing Modesty I have seen in the most severe and cautious of our World. And
these People represented to me an absolute Idea of the first State of
Innocence, before Man knew how to sin: And 'tis most evident and plain, that simple
Nature is the most harmless, inoffenEnglish
Governor, who had given his Hand to come on such a Day to 'em, and neither came, nor
sent; believing, when once a Man's Word was past, nothing but Death cou'd or shou'd
prevent his keeping it: And when they saw he was not dead, they ask'd him, what Name
they had for a Man who promis'd a thing he did not do? The Governor told them, Such a
man was a Lyar, whichGovernor, you are a Lyar, and guilty of that Infamy.
They have a Native Justice, which knows no Fraud; and they understand no Vice, or
Cunning, but when they are taught by the White Men. They have Plurality of
Wives, which, when they grow old, they serve those that succeed 'em, who are young;
but with a Servitude easie and respected; and unless they take Slaves in War, they
have no other Attendants.
Those on that Continent where I was, had no King; but the oldest War-Captain
was obey'd with great Resignation.
A War-Captain is a Man who has lead them on to Battel with Conduct, and Success; of
whom I shall have Occasion to speak
With these People, as I said, we live in perfect Tranquillity, and good
Understanding, as it behooves us to do; they knowing all the places where to seek the
best Food of the Country, and the Means of getting it; and for very small and
unvaluable Trifles, supply us with what 'tis impossible for us to get; for they do
not only in the Wood, and over the Sevana's, in Hunting, supply the parts of
Hounds, by swiftly scouring through those almost impassable places; and by the meer
Activity of their Feet, run down the nimblest Deer, and other eatable Beasts: But in
the water, one wou'd think they were Gods of the Rivers, or Fellow-Citizens of the
Continent.
Negro's, Black-Slaves altogether; which are transported thither in this
manner.
Those who want Slaves, make a Bargain with a Master, or Captain of a Ship, and contract to pay him so much a-piece, a matter of twenty Pound a Head for as many as he agrees for, and to pay for 'em when they shall be deliver'd on such a Plantation: So that when there arrives a Ship laden with Slaves, they who have so contracted, go a-board, and receive their Number by Lot; and perhaps in one Lot that may be for ten, there may happen to be three or four Men; the rest, Women and Children: Or be there more or less of either Sex, you are oblig'd to be contented with your Lot.
Coramantien
Blacks so called, was one of those places in which
they found the most advantageous Trading for these Slaves; and thither most of our
great Traders in that Merchandice traffick'd; for that Nation is very war-like and
brave; and having a continual Campaign, being always in Hostility with one
neighbouring Prince or other, they had the fortune to take a great many Captives; for
all they took in Battel, were sold as Slaves; at least, those common Men who cou'd
not ransom themselves. Of these Slaves so taken, the General only has all the profit;
and of these Generals, our Captains and Masters of Ships buy all their Freights.
The King of Coramantien
Black Wives; for
most certainly, there are Beauties that can charm of that Colour. In his younger
Years he had had many gallant Men to his Sons, thirteen of which died in Battel,
conquering when they fell; and he had only left him for his Successor, one
Grand-Child, Son to one of these dead Victors; who, as soon as he cou'd bear a Bow in
his Hand, and a Quiver at his Back, was sent into the Field, to be trained up by one
of the oldest Generals, to War; where, from his natural Inclination to Arms, and the
Occasions given him, with the good Conduct of the old General, he became, at the Age
of Seventeen, one of the most expert Captains, and bravest Soldiers, that ever saw
Mars: So that he was ador'd as the Wonder of all
that World, and the Darling of the Soldiers. Besides, he was adorn'd with a native
Beauty so transcending all those of his gloomy Race, that he strook an Awe and
Reverence, even in those that knew not his Quality; as he did in me, who beheld him
with Surprize and Wonder, when afterwards he arriv'd in our World.
He had scarce arriv'd at his Seventeenth Year, when fighting by his Side, the General
was kill'd with an Arrow in his Eye, which the Prince Oroonoko (for so was
this gallant Moor call'd) very narrowly avoided; nor had he, if the General,
who saw the Arrow shot, and perceiving it aim'd at the Prince, had not bow'd his Head
between, on purpose to receive it in his own
'Twas then, afflicted as Oroonoko was, that he was proclaim'd Genéral in the
old Man's place; and then it was, at the finishing of that War, which had continu'd
for two Years, that the Prince came to Court; where he had hardly been a Month
together, from the time of his fifth Year, to that of Seventeen; and 'twas amazing to
imagine where it was he learn'd so much Humanity; or, to give his Accomplishments a
juster Name, where 'twas he got that real Greatness of Soul, those refin'd Notions of
true Honour, that absolute Generosity, and that Softness that was capable of the
highest Passions of Love and Gallantry, whose Objects were almostFrench-Man of Wit and Learning; who finding it turn to very good Account to
be a sort of Royal Tutor to this young Black, & perceiving him very
ready, apt, and quick of Apprehension, took a great pleasure to teach him Morals,
Language and Science; and was for it extreamly belov'd and valu'd by him. Another
Reason was, He lov'd, when he came from War, to see all the English
Gentlemen that traded thither; and did not only learn their Language, but that of the
Spaniards also, with whom he traded afterwards for Slaves.
I have often seen and convers'd with this great Man, and been a Romans; he had heard of the late Civil
Wars in England,
European Court.
This great and just Character of Oroonoko gave me an extream Curiosity to
see him, especially when I knew he spoke French and
English
Roman, instead of
African and flat. His Mouth, the finest shap'd that cou'd be seen; far
from those great turn'd Lips, which are so natural to the rest of the
Negroes. The whole Proportion and Air of his Face was so noble, and
exactly form'd, that, bating
White Men, especially to those of Christendom; and wou'd have
confess'd that Oroonoko was as capable even of reigning well, and of
governing as wisely, had as great a Soul, as politick
This Prince, such as I have describ'd him, whose Soul and Body were so admirably
adorn'd, was (while yet he was in the Court of his Grandfather) as I said, as capable
of Love, as 'twas possible for a brave and gallant Man to be;
I have already said, the old General was kill'd by the shot of an Arrow, by the Side
of this Prince, in Battel; and that Oroonoko was made General. This old dead
Hero had one only Daughter left of his Race; a Beauty that, to describe
her truly, one need say only, she was Female to the noble Male; the beautiful
Black Venus, to our young Mars; as charming in her Person as he,
and of delicate Vertues. I have seen an hundred White Men sighing after her,
and making a thousand Vows at her Feet, all vain, and unsuccessful: And she was,
indeed, too great for any, but a Prince of her own Nation to adore.
Oroonoko coming from the Wars, (which were now ended) after he had made his
Court to his Grandfather, he thought in Honour he ought to make a Visit to
Imoinda, the Daughter of his Foster-father, the dead General; and to make
some Excuses to her, because his Preservation was the Occasion of her Father's Death;
and to present her with those Slaves that had been taken in this last Battel, as the
Trophies of her Father's Victories. When he came, attended by all the young Soldiers
of any Merit, he was infinitely surpriz'd at the Beauty of this fair Queen of Night,
whose Face and Person was so exceeding all he had ever beheld, that lovely Modesty
with which she receiv'd him, that Softness in her Look, and Sighs, upon the
melancholy Occasion of Oroonoko, and a Prince of whom she had heard such admirable things; the
Awfulness wherewith she receiv'd him, and the Sweetness of her Words and Behaviour
while he stay'd, gain'd a perfect Conquest over his fierce Heart, and made him feel,
the Victor cou'd be subdu'd. So that having made his first Complements, and presented
her an hundred and fifty Slaves in Fetters, he told her with his Eyes, that he was
not insensible of her Charms; while Imoinda, who wish'd for nothing more
than so glorious a Conquest, was pleas'd to believe, she understood that silent
Language of new-born Love; and from that Moment, put on all her Additions to
Beauty.
Imoinda, he had the pleasure to
hear all his Followers speak of nothing but the Charms of that Maid; insomuch that,
even in the Presence of the old King, they were extolling her, and heightning, if
possible, the Beauties they had found in her: So that nothing else was talk'd of, no
other Sound was heard in every Corner where there were Whisperers, but Imoinda!
Imoinda!
'Twill be imagin'd Oroonoko stay'd not long before he made his second Visit;
nor, considering his Quality, not much longer before he told her, he ador'd her. I
have often heard him say, that he admir'd by what strange Inspiration he came to talk
things so soft, andImoinda with a Sense
of his Passion. She was touch'd with what he said, and return'd it all in such
Answers as went to his very Heart, with a Pleasure unknown before: Nor did he use
those Obligations ill, that Love had done him; but turn'd all his happy Moments to
the best advantage; and as he knew no Vice, his Flame aim'd at nothing but Honour, if
such a distinction may be made in Love; and especially in that Country, where Men
take to themselves as manyChristian-Countries, where they prefer
the bare Name of Religion; and, without Vertue or Morality, think that's sufficient.
But Oroonoko was none of those Professors; but as he had right Notions of
Honour, so he made her such Propositions as were not only and barely such; but,
contrary to the Custom of his Country, he made her Vows, she shou'd be the only woman
he wou'd possess while he liv'd; that no Age or Wrinkles shou'd incline him to
change, for her Soul wou'd be always fine, and always young; and he shou'd have an
eternal Idea in his Mind of the Charms she now Idea, when he cou'd find it no longer in her
Face.
After a thousand Assurances of his lasting Flame, and her eternal Empire over him, she condescended to receive him for her Husband; or rather, receiv'd him, as the greatest Honour the God's cou'd do her.
There is a certain Ceremony in these Cases to be observ'd, which I forgot to ask him how perform'd; but 'twas concluded on both sides, that, in Obedience to him, the Grand-father was to be first made acquainted with the Design: for they pay a most absolute Resignation to the Monarch, especially when he is a Parent also.
On the other side, the old King, who had many Wives, and manyWonder, before he us'd his Power to call
her to Court (where Maidens never came, unless for the King's private Use) he was
next to consider; and while he was so doing, he had Intelligence Imoinda was most certainly Mistress to the Prince
Oroonoko. This gave him some Shagrien; however, it gave him also
an Opportunity, one Day, when the Prince was a-hunting, to wait on a Man of Quality,
as his Slave and Attendant, who shou'd go and make a Present to Imoinda, as
from the Prince; he shou'd then, unknown, see this fair Maid, and have an Opportunity
to hear what Message she wou'd return the Prince for his Present; and from thence
gather the state of her Heart, and degree of her Inclination. This was put in
Execution, and the old Monarch saw, and burnt: He found her all he had heard, and
wou'd not delay his Happiness, but found he shou'd have some Obstacle to overcome her
Heart; for she express'd Oroonoko
entirely. This gave the old King some Affliction; but he salv'd it with this, that
the Obedience the People pay their King, was not at all inferior to what they pay'd
their Gods: And what Love wou'd not oblige Imoinda to do, Duty wou'd compel
her to.
He was therefore no sooner got to his Apartment, but he sent the Royal Veil to
Imoinda; that is, the Ceremony of Invitation; he sends the Lady, he has a
Mind to honour with his Bed, a Veil, with which she is cover'd, and secur'd for the
King's Use; and 'tis Death to disobey; besides, held a most impious Disobedience.
They brought her thus to Court; and the King, who had caus'd a very rich Bath to be
prepar'd, was led into it, where he sate under a Canopy, in State, to receive this
long'd for Virgin; whom he having commanded shou'd be brought to him, they (after
dis-robing her) led her to the Bath, and making fast the Doors, left her to descend.
The King, without more Courtship, bad her throw off her Mantle, and come to his Arms.
But Imoinda, all in
The King, enrag'd at this Delay, hastily demanded the Name of the bold Man, that had
marry'd a Woman of her Degree, without his Consent. Imoinda, seeing his Eyes
fierce, and his Hands tremble; Oroonoko himself. Therefore (said he) deny this Marriage,
and swear thy self a Maid. That (reply'd Imoinda) by all our Powers I do;
for I am not yet known to my Husband. 'Tis enough (said the King:) 'tis
enough
to satisfie both my Conscience, and my Heart. And rising from his Seat, he
went, and led her into the Bath; it being in vain for her to resist.
In this time the Prince, who was return'd from Hunting, went to visit his
Imoinda, but found her gone; and not only so, but heard she had receiv'd
the Royal Veil
Imoinda. He wou'd give way to that Hope, because it pleas'd him most, and
flatter'd best his Heart. Yet this O my Friends! were she in
wall'd Cities, or confin'd from me in Fortifications of the greatest Strength; did
Inchantments or Monsters detain her from me, I wou'd venture through any Hazard to
free her: Buthere, in the Arms of a feeble old Man, my Youth, my violent Love, my
Trade
in Arms, and all my vast Desire of Glory, avail me
nothing: Imoinda is as irrecoverably lost to me, as if she were snatch'd
by the cold Arms of Death: Oh! she is never to be retriev'd. If I wou'd wait
tedious Years, till Fate shou'd bow the old King to his Grave; even that wou'd not
leave me Imoinda free; but still that Custom that makes it so vile a
Crime for a Son to marry his Father's Wives or Mistresses, wou'd hinder my
Happiness; unless I wou'd either ignobly set an ill President to my Successors, or
abandon my Country, and fly with her to some unknown World, who never heard our
Story.
But it was objected to him, that his Case was not the same; for Imoinda
being his lawful Wife, by solemn Contract, 'twas he was the injur'd Man, and might,
if he so pleas'd, take Imoinda back, the Seraglio, it was both just and
lawful for him so to do.
This Reasoning had some force upon him, and he shou'd have been entirely comforted,
but for the Thought that she was possess'd by his Grand-father. However, he lov'd so
well, that he was resolv'd to believe what most favour'd his Hope; and to endeavour
to learn from Imoinda's own Mouth, what only she cou'd satisfie him in;
whether she was robb'd of that Blessing, which was only due to his Faith and Love.
But as it was very hard to get a Sight of the Women, for no Men ever enter'd into the
Otan, but when
While Oroonoko felt all the Agonies of Love, and suffer'd under a Torment
the most painful in the World, the old King was not exempted from his share of
Affliction. He was troubl'd for having been forc'd by an irresistable Passion, to rob
his Son
Oroonoko; and oftentimes cou'd not forbear speaking of him, though
her Life were, by Custom, forfeited by owning her Passion. But she spoke not of a
Lover only, but of a Prince dear to him, to whom she spoke; and of the Praises of a
Man, who, till now, fill'd the old Man's Soul with Joy at every Recital of his
Bravery, or even his Name. And 'twas this Dotage on our young Hero, that
gave Imoinda a thousand Privileges to speak of him, without offending; and
this Condescention in the old King, that made her take the Satisfaction of speaking
of him so very often.
Besides, he many times enquir'd how the Prince bore himself; and those of whom he
ask'd, being entirely Slaves to the Merits and Vertues Imoinda, and had
resign'd her willingly to the Pleasure of the King; that he diverted himself with his
Mathematicians, his Fortifications, his Officers, and his Hunting.
This pleas'd the old Lover, who fail'd not to report these things again to
Imoinda, that she might, by the Example of her young Lover, withdraw her
Heart, and rest better contented in his Arms. But however she was forc'd to receive
this unwelcome News, in all Appearance, with Unconcern, and Content, her Heart was
bursting within, and she was only happy when she cou'd get alone, to vent her Griefs
and Moans with Sighs and Tears.
Imoinda, he carry'd him with him, in his Train, to the Otan,
often to banquet with his Mistress. But as soon as he enter'd, one Day, into the
Apartment of Imoinda, with the King, at the first Glance from her Eyes,
notwithstanding all his determin d Resolution, he was ready to sink in the place
where he stood; and had certainly done so, but for the Support of Aboan, a
young Man, who was next to him; which, with his Change of Countenance,A Negro can change
Colour; for I have seen 'em as frequently blush, and look pale, and that as
visibly as ever I saw in the most beautiful White. And 'tis certain that
both these Changes were evident, this Day, in both these Lovers. And
Imoinda, who saw with some Joy the Change in the Prince's Face, and found
it in her own, strove to divert the King from beholding either, by a forc'd Caress,
with which she met him; which was a new Wound in the Heart of the poor dying Prince.
But as soon as the King was busy'd in looking on some fine thing of
Imoinda's making, she had time to tell the Prince with her angry,Imoinda no longer
doubted, but she was the only Delight, and the Darling of that Soul she found
pleading in 'em its Right of Love, which none was more willing to resign than she.
And 'twas this powerful Language alone that in an Instant convey'd all the Thoughts
of their Souls to each other; that they both found, there wanted but Opportunity to
make them both entirely happy. But when he saw another Door open'd by
Onahal, a former old Wife of Imoinda; and saw the Prospect of a Bed of State made ready, with Sweets
and Flowers for the Dalliance of the King; who immediately lead the trembling Victim
from his Sight, into that prepar'd Repose. What Rage! what wild Frenzies seiz'd his
Heart! which forcing to keep within Bounds, and to suffer without Noise, it became
the more insupportable, and rent his Soul with ten thousand Pains. He was forc'd to
retire, to vent his Groans; where he fell down on a Carpet, and lay struggling a long
time, and only breathing now and then,—O Imoinda! When Onahal had
finish'd her necessary Affair within, shutting the Door, she came forth to wait, till
the King call'd; and hearing some one sighing in the otherImoinda. She told him, he had not so
much Cause as he imagin'd, to afflict himself; for if he knew the King so well as she
did, he wou'd not lose a Moment in Jealousie, and that she was confident that
Imoinda bore, at this Minute, part in his Affliction. Aboan was
of the same Opinion; and both together, perswaded him to re-assume his Courage; and
all sitting down on the Carpet, the Prince said so many obliging things to
Onahal, that he half perswaded her to be of his Party. And she promis'd
him, she wou'd thus far comply with his just Desires, that sheImoinda know how faithful he was, what he suffer'd, and what he said.
This Discourse lasted till the King call'd, which gave Oroonoko a certain
Satisfaction; and with the Hope Onahal had made him conceive, he assum'd a
Look as gay as 'twas possible a Man in his Circumstances cou'd do; and presently
after, he was call'd in with the rest who waited without. The King commanded Musick
to be brought, and several of his young Wives and Mistresses came all together by his
Command, to dance before him; where Imoinda perform'd her Part with an Air
and Grace so passing all the rest, as her Beauty was above 'em; and receiv'd the
Present, ordain'd as a Prize. The Prince was every Moment more charm'd with the Onahal was retir'd to a Window with Aboan.
This Onahal, as I said, was one of the Cast-Mistresses
That once was a delicate
Woman. These abandon'd Ladies therefore endeavour to revenge all the
Despights, and Decays of Time, on these flourishing happy Ones. And 'twas this
Severity, that gave Oroonoko a thousand Fears he shou'd never prevail with
Onahal, to see Imoinda. But, as I said, she was now retir'd to a
Window with Aboan.
This young Man was not only one of the best Quality, but a Man Otan,
he had subdu'd the Heart of the antiquated Onahal, which had not forgot how
pleasant it was to be in Love: And though she had some Decays in her Face, she had
none in her Sence and Wit; she was there agreeable still, even to Aboan's
Youth; so that he took pleasure in entertaining her with Discourses of Love: He knew
also, that to make his Court to these She-Favourites, was the way to be great; these
being the Persons that do all Affairs and Business at Court. He had also observ'd
that she had given him Glances more tender and inviting, than she had done to others
of his Quality: And now, when he saw that her Favour cou'd so absolutely oblige the
Prince, he
Aboan fail'd not that Night to tell the Prince of his Success, and how
advantageous the Service of Onahal might be to his Amour with
Imoinda. The Prince was overjoy'd with this good News, and besought him,
if it were possible, to caress her so, as to engage her entirely; which he cou'd not
fail to do, if he comply'd with her Desires: For then (said the Prince)
her Life lying at your Mercy, she must grant you the Request you make in
my
Behalf. Aboan understood him; and assur'd him, he
would make Love so effectually, that he wou'd defie the most expert Mistress of the
Art, to find out whether he dissembl'd it, or had it really. And 'twas with
Impatience they waited the next Opportunity of going to the Otan.
The Wars came on, the Time of taking the Field approach'd, and 'twas impossible for
the Prince to delay his going at the Head of his Army, to encounter the Enemy: So
that every Day seem'd a tedious Year, till he saw his Imoinda; for he
believ'd he cou'd not live, if he were forc'd away without being so happy. 'Twas with
Impatience therefore, that he expected the next Visit the King wou'd make; and,
according to his Wish, it was not long.
Otan; he therefore urg'd
Aboan to make the best of this last Effort, and to explain himself so to
Onahal, that she, deferring her Enjoyment of her young Lover no longer,
might make way for the Prince to speak to Imoinda.
The whole Affair being agreed on between the Prince and Aboan, they attended
the King, as the Custom was, to the Otan; where, while the whole Company was
taken up in beholding the Dancing, and antick Postures the WomenOnahal singl'd out Aboan, whom she found
most pliable to her Wish. When she had him where she believ'd she cou'd not be heard,
she sigh'd to him, and softly cry'd, Ah, Aboan! When will you be
sensible of my Passion? I confess it with my Mouth, because I wou'd not give my
Eyes the Lye; and you have but too much already perceiv'd they have confess'd my
Flame: Nor wou'd I have you believe, that because I am the abandon'd Mistress of a
King, I esteem my self altogether divested of Charms. No, Aboan; I have
still a Rest of Beauty enough engaging, and have learn'd to please too well, not
to be desirable. I can have Lovers still, but will have none but Aboan.
Madam (reply'd the half-feigning Youth) you have already, by my Eyes,
found, you can still conquer; and I believe 'tis in pity of me,
you condescend to this kind Confession. But, Madam, Words are us'd to be so
small a part of our Country-Courtship, that 'tis rare one can get so happy an
Opportunity as to tell one's Heart; and those few Minutes we have are forc'd to be
snatch'd for more certain Proofs of Love, than speaking and sighing; and such I
languish for.
He spoke this with such a Tone, that she hop'd it true, and cou'd not forbear
believing it; and being wholly transported with Joy, for having subdu'd the finest of
all the King's Subjects to her Desires, she took from her Ears two large Pearls, and
commanded him to wear 'em in his. He wou'd have refus'd 'em, crying, Madam, these
are not the Proofs of your Love that I expect; 'tis Opportunity, 'tis a Lonehour
only, that can make me happy. But forcing the Pearls into hisOh! Do not fear a Woman's Invention, when Love
sets her a-thinking. And pressing his Hand, she cry'd, This Night you
shall be happy. Come to the Gate of the Orange-Groves, behind the Otan;
and I will be ready, about Mid-night, to receive you. 'Twas thus agreed,
and she left him, that no notice might be taken of their speaking together.
The Ladies were still dancing, and the King, laid on a Carpet, with a great deal of
pleasure, was beholding them, especially Imoinda; who that Day appear'd more
lovely than ever, being enliven'd with the good Tidings Onahal had brought
her of the constant Passion the Prince had for her. The Prince was laid on another
Carpet, at the other end of the Room, with his Eyes fix'd on the Object Imoinda employ her Eyes to any other Use,
than in beholding with infinite Pleasure the Joy she produc'd in those of the Prince.
But while she was more regarding him, than the Steps she took, she chanc'd to fall;
and so near him, as that leaping with extream force from the Carpet, he caught her in
his Arms as she fell; and 'twas visible to the whole Presence, the Joy wherewith he
receiv'd her: He clasp'd her close to his Bosom, and quite forgot that Reverence that
was due to the Mistress of a King, and that Punishment that is the Reward of a
Boldness of this nature; and had not the Presence of Mind of Imoinda (fonder
of his Safety, than herImoinda to her Apartment, and sent out Word to the Prince, to go
immediately to the Camp; and that if he were found another Night in Court, he shou'd
suffer the Death ordain'd for disobedient Offenders.
You may imagine how welcome this News was to Oroonoko, whose unseasonable
Transport and Caress of Imoinda was blam'd by all Men that lov'd him; and
now he perceiv'd his Fault, yet cry'd, That for such another Moment, he wou'd be
content to die.
All the Otan was in disorder about this Accident; and Onahal
Aboan. So that, e'er they
departed, they contriv'd it so, that the Prince and he shou'd come both that Night to
the Grove of the Otan, which was all of Oranges and Citrons; and that there
they shou'd wait her Orders.
They parted thus, with Grief enough, till Night; leaving the King in possession of
the lovely Maid. But nothing cou'd appease the Jealousie of the old Lover: He wou'd
not be impos'd on, but wou'd have it, that Imoinda made a false Step on
purpose to fall into Oroonoko's Bosom, and that all things look'd like a
Design on both sides, and 'twas in vain she protested her Innocence: He was old and
obstinate, and left her more
The King going to his Apartment, sent to know where the Prince was, and if he
intended to obey his Command. The Messenger return'd, and told him, he found the
Prince pensive, and altogether unpreparing for the Campaign; that he lay negligently
on the Ground, and answer'd very little. This confirm'd the Jealousie of the King,
and he commanded that they shou'd very narrowly and privately watch his Motions; and
that he shou'd not stir from his Apartment, but one Spy or other shou'd be employ'd
to watch him: So that the Hour approaching, wherein he was to go to the Citron-Grove;
and taking only Aboan along with him, he leaves his Apartment, and was
watch'd to theOtan; where he was seen to
enter, and where they left him, to carry back the Tidings to the King.
Oroonoko and Aboan were no sooner enter'd, but Onahal led
the Prince to the Apartment of Imoinda; who, not knowing any thing of her
Happiness, was laid in Bed. But Onahal only left him in her Chamber, to make
the best of his Opportunity, and took her dear Aboan to her own; where he
shew'd the heighth of Complaisance for his Prince, when, to give him an Opportunity,
he suffer'd himself to be caress'd in Bed by Onahal.
The Prince softly waken'd Imoinda, who was not a little surpriz'd with Joy
to find him there; and yet she trembl'd with a thousand Fears. I believe, he omitted
saying nothing to this young Maid,
'Tis not to be imagin'd the Satisfaction of these two young Lovers; nor the Vows she
made him, that she remain'd a spotless Maid, till that Night; and that what she did
with his Grand-father, had robb'd him of no part of her Virgin-Honour, the Gods, in
Mercy and Justice, having reserv'd that for her plighted Lord, to whom of Right it
belong'd. And 'tis impossible to express the TransportsRoyal Veil. 'Twas thus, between a thousand
Caresses, that both bemoan'd the hard Fate of Youth and Beauty, so liable to that
cruel Promotion: 'Twas a Glory that cou'd well have been spar'd here, though desir'd,
and aim'd at by all the young Females of that Kingdom.
But while they were thus fondly employ'd, forgetting how Time ran on, and that the
Dawn must conduct him far away from his only Happiness, they heard a great Noise in
the Otan, and unusual Voices of Men; at which the Prince, starting from the
Arms of the frighted Imoinda, ran to a little Battel-Ax he us'd to wear by
his Side; and having not so much leisure, as to put on his Habit, he oppos'd himself
against some who were already opening the Door; Oroonoko was not able to defend it; but was forc'd to
cry out with a commanding Voice, Whoever ye are that have the Boldness to attempt
to approach this Apartment thus rudely, know, that I, the Prince Oroonoko,
will revenge it with the certain Death of him that first enters: Therefore
stand back, and know, this place is sacred to Love, and me this Night; to Morrow
'tis the King's.
This he spoke with a Voice so resolv'd and assur'd, that they soon retir'd from the
Door, but cry'd, 'Tis by the King's Command we are come; and being satisfy'd by
thy Voice, O Prince, as much as if we had enter'd, we can report to the King the
Truth of all his Fears, and leave thee to provide for thy own Safety, as thou art
advis'd by thy Friends.
Imoinda; who trusting in the strength of her Charms,
believ'd she shou'd appease the Fury of a jealous King, by saying, She was surpriz'd,
and that it was by force of Arms he got into her Apartment. All her Concern now was
for his Life, and therefore she hasten'd him to the Camp; and with much a-do,
prevail'd on him to go: Nor was it she alone that prevail'd, Aboan and
Onahal both pleaded, and both assur'd him of a Lye that shou'd be well
enough contriv'd to secure Imoinda. So that, at last, with a Heart sad as
Death, dying Eyes, and sighing Soul, Oroonoko departed, and took his way to
the Camp.
Otan;
where beholding Imoinda with Rage in his Eyes, he upbraided her Wickedness
and Perfidy, and threatning her Royal Lover, she fell on her Face at his Feet,
bedewing the Floor with her Tears, and imploring his Pardon for a Fault which she had
not with her Will committed; as Onahal, who was also prostrate with her,
cou'd testifie: That, unknown to her, he had broke into her Apartment, and ravish'd
her. She spoke this much against her Conscience; but to save her own Life, 'twas
absolutely necessary she shou'd feign this Falsity. She knew it cou'd not injure the
Prince, he being fled to-an-Army that wou'd stand by him, against any Injuries that
shou'd assault him. However, Imoinda's
being ravish'd, chang'd the Measures of his Revenge; and whereas before he design'd
to be himself her Executioner, he now resolv'd she shou'd not die. But as it is the
greatest Crime in nature amongst 'em to touch a Woman, after having been possess'd by
a Son, a Father, or a Brother; so now he look'd on Imoinda as a polluted
thing, wholly unfit for his Embrace; nor wou'd he resign her to his Grand-son,
because she had receiv'd the Royal Veil. He therefore removes her from the
Otan, with Onahal; whom he put into safe Hands, with Order they
shou'd be both sold off, as Slaves, to another Country, either Christian, or
Heathen; 'twas no matter where.
Otan, knew any
thing of their Absence, or their Destiny.
The old King, nevertheless, executed this with a great deal of Reluctancy; but he
believ'd he had made a very great Conquest over himself, when he had once resolv'd,
and had perform'd what he resolv'd. He believ'd now, that his Love had been unjust;
and that he cou'd not expect the Gods, or Captain
of the Clouds
Oroonoko excus'd; and
Imoinda was belov'd by the Prince; even those
confess'd it now, who said the contrary before his Flame was abated. So that the King
being old, and not able to defend himself in War, and having no Sons of all his Race
remaining alive, but only this, to maintain him on his Throne; and looking on this as
a Man disoblig'd, first by the Rape of his Mistress, or rather, Wife; and now by
depriving of him wholly of her, he fear'd, might make him desperate, and do some
cruel thing, either to himself, or his old Grand-father, the Offender; he began to
repent him extreamly of the Contempt he had, in his Rage, put on Imoinda.
Besides, he consider'd he ought inImoinda did,
but cou'd not obtain that Honour. Seeing therefore it was certain that
Oroonoko wou'd highly resent this Affront, he thought good to make some
Excuse for his Rashness to him; and to that End he sent a Messenger to the Camp, with
Orders to treat with him about the Master, to gain his Pardon, and to endeavour to
mitigate his Grief; but that by no means he shou'd tell him, she was sold, but
secretly put to death;
When the Messenger came, he found the Prince upon the point of Engaging with the
Enemy; but as soon as he heard of the Arrival of the Messenger, he commanded him to
his Tent, where he embrac'd him, and receiv'd him with Joy; which was soon abated, by
the down-cast Looks of the Messenger, who was instantly demanded the Cause by
Oroonoko, who, impatient of Delay, ask'd a thousand Questions in a
Breath; and all concerning Imoinda: But there needed little Return, for he
cou'd almost answer himself of all he demanded, from his Sighs and Eyes. At last, the
Messenger casting himself at the Prince's Feet, and kissing them, with all the
Submission of a Man that had something to imploreOroonoko reply'd, with
a deep Sigh, and a languishing Voice,—I am arm'd against their worst Efforts—;
for I know they will tell me, Imoinda is no more—; and after that, you
may spare the rest. Then, commanding him to rise, he laid himself on a
Carpet, under a rich Pavillion, and remain'd a good while silent, and was hardly
heard to sigh. When he was come a little to himself, the Messenger ask'd him leave to
deliver that part of his Embassy, which the Prince had not yet devin'd: And the
Prince cry'd, I permit thee—Then he told him the Affliction Imoinda; and how he daign'd to ask Pardon for his Offence, and to implore
the Prince wou'd not suffer that Loss to touch his Heart too sensibly, which now all
the Gods cou'd not restore him, but might recompence him in Glory, which he begg'd he
wou'd pursue; and that Death, that common Revenger of all Injuries, wou'd soon even
the Account between him, and a feeble old Man.
Oroonoko bad him return his Duty to his Lord and Master; and to assure him,
there was no Account of Revenge to be adjusted between them; if there were, 'twas he
was the Agressor, and that Death wou'd be just, and, maugre
After having spoken this, whatever his greatest Officers, and Men of the best Rank
could do, they cou'd not raise him from the Carpet, or perswade him to Action, and
Resolutions of Life; but commanding all to retire, he shut himself into his Pavillion
all that Day, while the Enemy was ready to engage; and wondring at the Delay, the
whole Body of the chiefGo, (continu'd he, sighing) and divide it amongst you; and reap
with Joy what you so vainly prize, and leave me to my more welcome Destiny.
They then demanded what they shou'd do, and whom he For, O my Friends (said he!) it is not Titles
make Men brave, or good; or Birth that bestows Courage and Generosity, or makes
the Owner happy. Believe this, when you behold Oroonoko, the most
wretched, and abandon'd by Fortune, of all the Creation of the Gods. So
turning himself about, he wou'd make no more Reply to all they cou'd urge or
implore.
The Army beholding their Officers return unsuccessful, with sad Faces, and ominous
Looks, that Aboan had Orders to command as General; yet they were
so dismay'd for want of that great Example of Bravery, that they cou'd make but a
very feeble Resistance; and at last, down-right, fled before the Enemy, who pursu'd
'em to the very Tents, killing 'em: Nor cou'd all Aboan's Courage, which
that Day gain'd him immortal Glory, shame 'em into a Manly Defence of themselves. The
Guards that were left behind, Come, if we must die, let us meet Death the
noblest Way; and 'twill be more like Oroonoko to encounter him at an
Army's Head, opposing the Torrent of a conquering Foe, than lazily, on a Couch, to
wait his lingering Pleasure, and die every Moment by a thousand wrecking Thought;
or be tamely taken by an
Enemy, and led a whining, Love-sick Slave, to adorn the Triumphs
of Jamoan, that young Victor, who already is enter'd beyond the Limits I
had prescrib d him.
While he was speaking, he suffer'd his People to dress him for the Field; and
sallying out of his Pavillion, with more Life and Vigour in his Countenance than ever
he shew'd, he appear'd like some Divine Power descended to save his Country from
Destruction; and his People had purposely put him on all things that might make him
shine with most Splendor, to strike a reverend Awe into the Beholders. He flew into
the thickest of those that were pursuing his Men; and being animated with Despair, he
fought as if he came on purpose to die, and did such things as will not be believ'd
that Humane Hero;
who turning the Tide of the Victory, changing absolutely the Fate of the Day, gain'd
an entire Conquest; and Oroonoko having the good Fortune to single out
Jamoan, he took him Prisoner with his own Hand, having wounded him almost
to death.
This Jamoan afterwards became very dear to him, being a Man very gallant,
and of excellent Graces, and fine Parts; so that he never put him amongst the Rank of
Captives, as they us'd to do, without distinction, for the common Sale, or Market;
but kept himOroonoko; and by a thousand Tales and Adventures of Love and
Gallantry, flatter'd his Disease of Melancholy and Languishment; which I have often
heard him say, had certainly kill'd him, but for the Conversation of this Prince and
Aboan, the French Governor he had from his Childhood, of whom I
have spoken before, and who was a Man of admirable Wit, great Ingenuity and Learning;
all which he had infus'd into his young Pupil. This French-Man was banish'd
out of his own Country, for some Heretical Notions he held; and though he was a Man
of very little Religion, he
After the total Defeat of Jamoan's Army, which all fled, or were left dead
upon the Place, they spent some time in the Camp; Oroonoko chusing rather to
remain a while there in his Tents, than enter into a Place, or live in a Court where
he had so lately suffer d so great a Loss. The Officers therefore, who saw and knew
his Cause of Discontent, invented all sorts of Diversions and Sports, to entertain
their Prince: So that what with those Amuzements abroad, and others at home, that is,
within their Tents, with the Perswasions, Arguments and Care of his Friends and
Servants that he more peculiarly priz'd, he wore off in time a great part of that
Shagrien
Imoinda's Death had given him: Insomuch as having receiv'd a thousand
kind Embassies from the King, and Invitations to return to Court, he obey'd, though
with no little Reluctancy; and when he did so, there was a visible Change in him, and
for a long time he was much more melancholy than before. But Time lessens all
Extreams, and reduces 'em to Mediums and Unconcern; but no Motives or
Beauties, though all endeavour'd it, cou'd engage him in any sort of Amour, though he
had all the Invitations to it, both from his own Youth, and others Ambitions and
Designs.
Oroonoko was no sooner return'd from this last Conquest, and receiv'd at
Court with all the Joy English Ship.
This Person
Oroonoko, with whom he had traffick'd for Slaves, and had us'd to do the
same with his Predecessors.
This Commander was a Man of a finer sort of Address, and Conversation, better bred,
and more engaging, than most of that sort of Men are; so that he seem'd rather never
to have been bred out of a Court, than almost all his Life at Sea. This Captain
therefore was always better receiv'd at Court, than most of the Traders to those
Countries were; and Oroonoko, who was more
civiliz'd, according to the European Mode, than any other had been, and took
more Delight in the White Nations; and, above all, Men of Parts and Wit. To
this Captain he sold abundance of his Slaves; and for the Favour and Esteem he had
for him, made him many Presents, and oblig'd him to stay at Court as long as possibly
he cou'd. Which the Captain seem'd to take as a very great Honour done him,
entertaining the Prince every Day with Globes and Maps, and Mathematical Discourses
and Instruments; eating, drinking, hunting and living with him with so much
Familiarity, that it was not to be doubted, but he had gain'd very greatly upon the
Heart of this gallant young Man. And the Captain,Oroonoko was extreamly delighted; who met
him on the Shoar, attended by his French Governor, Jamoan, Aboan,
and about an hundred of the noblest of the Youths of the
The Prince having drunk hard of Punch, and several Sorts of Wine, as did all the rest
(for great Care was taken, they shou'd want nothing of that part of the
Entertainment) was very merry, and in great Admiration of the Ship, for he had never
been in one before; so that he was curious of beholding every place, where he
decently might descend. The rest, no less curious, who were not quite overcome with
Drinking, rambl'd at their pleasure Fore and Aft, as their Fancies
guided 'em: So that the Captain, who had
Some have commended this Act, as brave, in the Captain; but I will spare my Sence of it, and leave it to my Reader, to judge as he pleases.
This did not a little vex the Captain, and the more so, because, he found almost all
of 'em of the same Humour; so that the loss of so many brave Slaves, so tall and
goodly to behold, wou'd have been very considerable: He therefore order'd one to go
from him (for he wou'd not be seen himself) to Oroonoko, and to assure him
he was afflicted for having rashly done so unhospitable a Deed, and which cou'd not
be now remedied, since they were far from shore; but since he resented it in so high
a nature, he assur'd him he wou'd revoke his Resolution, and set both him and his
Friends a-shore on the next Land they shou'd touch at; and of this the Messenger gave
Oroonoko, whose Honour was such as he never had violated a Word in his
Life himself, much less a solemn Asseveration; believ'd in an instant what this Man
said, but reply'd, He expected for a Confirmation of this, to have his shameful
Fetters dismiss'd. This Demand was carried to the Captain, who return'd him
answer, That the Offence had been so great which he had put upon the Prince, that he
durst not trust him with Liberty while he remained in the Ship, for fear lest by a
Valour natural to him, and a Revenge that would animate that Valour, he might commit
some Outrage fatal to himself and the King his Master, to whom his Vessel
did belong. To this Oroonoko replied,Captain, as he was Lord of the King's Vessel, and General of
those Men under his Command.
This was deliver'd to the still doubting Captain, who could not resolve to
trust a Heathen he said, upon his Parole
Oroonoko then replied, He was very
sorry to hear that the Captain pretended to the Knowledge and Worship of any
Gods, who had taught him no better Principles, than not to Credit as he
would be Credited: but they told him the Difference of their Faith occasion'd that
Distrust: For the Captain had protested to him upon the Word of a
Christian,
GOD;
which if he shou'd violate, he would expect eternal Torment in the World to come.
Is that all the Obligation he has to be Just to his Oath, replied
Oroonoko? Let him know I Swear by my Honour, which to violate, wou'd not only
render me contemptible and despised by all brave and honest Men, and so give my
self perpetual pain, but it wou'd be eternally offending and diseasing all
Mankind, harming, betraying, circumventing and outraging all Men; but Punishments
hereafter are suffer'd by ones self; and the World takes no cognizances whether
this God have revenged em, or not, tis done so secretly, and deferr'd so
long: While the Man of no Honour, suffers every moment the scorn and contempt of
the honester World, and dies every day ignominiously in his Fame, which
is more valuable than Life: I speak not this to move Belief, but to shew you how
you mistake, when you imagine, That he who will violate his Honour, will keep his
Word with his Gods. So turning from him with a disdainful smile, he refused
to answer him, when he urg'd him to know what Answer he shou'd carry back to his
Captain; so that he departed without saying any more.
The Captain pondering and consulting what to do, it was concluded that
nothing but Oroonoko's Liberty wou'd encourage any of the rest to eat,
except the French-man, whom the Captain cou'd not pretend to keep
Prisoner, but only told him he was secured because he might act something in favour
of the Prince, but that he shou'd be freed as soon
This being resolv'd, to make the Obligation the greater, the Captain himself went to
Oroonoko; where, after many Complements, and Assurances of what he had
already promis'd, he receiving from the Prince his Parole, and his Hand, for
his good Behaviour, dismiss'd his Irons, and brought him to his own Cabin; where,
after having treated and repos'd him a while, for he had neither eat nor slept in
four Days before, he besought him to visit those obstinate People in Chains, who
refus'd all manner
Oroonoko, who was too generous, not to give Credit to his Words, shew'd
himself to his People, who were transported with Excess of Joy at the sight of their
Darling Prince; falling at his Feet, and kissing and embracing 'em; believing, as
some Divine Oracle, all he assur'd 'em. But he besought 'em to bear their Chains with
that Bravery that became those whom he had seen act so nobly in Arms; and that they
cou'd not give him greater Proofs of their Love and Friendship, since 'twas all the
Security the Captain (his Friend) cou'd have, against the Revenge, he said, they
might possibly justly take, for the
After this they no longer refus'd to eat, but took what was brought 'em, and were
pleas'd with their Captivity, since by it they hop'd to redeem the Prince, who, all
the rest of the Voyage, was treated with all the Respect due to his Birth, though
nothing cou'd divert his Melancholy; and he wou'd often sigh for Imoinda,
and think this a Punishment due to his Misfortune, in having left that noble Maid
behind him, that fatal Night, in the Otan, when he fled to the Camp.
Possess'd with a thousand Thoughts of past Joys with this fair young Person, and a
thousand Surinam, a Colony belonging to
the King of England, and where they were to deliver some part of their
Slaves. There the Merchants and Gentlemen of the Country going on Board, to demand
those Lots of Slaves they had already agreed on; and, amongst those, the Over-seers
of those Plantations where I then chanc'd to be, the Captain, who had given the Word,
order'd his Men to bring up those noble Slaves in Fetters, whom I have spoken of; and
having put 'em, some in one, and some in other Lots, with Women and Children (which
they call Pickaninies
Oroonoko was first seiz'd on, and sold to our Over-seer, who had the first
Lot, with seventeen more of all sorts and sizes; but not one of Quality with him.
When he saw this, he found what they meant; for, as I said, he understood
English pretty well; and being wholly unarm'd and defenceless, so as it
was in vain to make any Resistance, he only beheld the Captain with a Look all fierce
and disdainful, upbraiding him with Eyes, that forc'd Blushes on his guilty Cheeks,
he only cry'd, in passing over the Side of the Ship, Farewel, Sir:
'Tis worth my Suffering, to gain so true a Knowledge both of you, and of your Gods
by whom you swear. And desiring those that held him to forbear their pains,
and telling 'em he wou'd make no Resistance, he cry'd, Come, my Fellow-Slaves;
let as descend, and see if we can meet with more Honour and Honesty in the next
World we shall touch upon. So he nimbly leap'd into the Boat, and shewing no
more Concern, suffer'd himself to be row'd up the River, with his seventeen
Companions.
The Gentleman that bought him was a young Cornish Gentleman, whose Name was
Trefry; a Man of great Wit, and fine Learning, and was carry'd into those
Parts by the Lord—Governor
Oroonoko to the English, had a great
mind to be enquiring into his Quality and Fortune; which, though Oroonoko
endeavour'd to hide, by only confessing he was above the Rank of common Slaves,
Trefry soon found he was yet something greater than he confess'd; and
from that Moment began to conceive so vast an Esteem for him, that he ever after
lov'd him as his dearest Brother, and shew'd him all the Civilities due to so great a
Man.
Trefry was a very good Mathematician, and a Linguist; cou'dFrench and Spanish; and in the three Days they remain'd in
the Boat (for so long were they going from the Ship, to the Plantation) he
entertain'd Oroonoko so agreeably with his Art and Discourse, that he was no
less pleas'd with Trefry, than he was with the Prince; and he thought
himself, at least, fortunate in this, that since he was a Slave, as long as he wou'd
suffer himself to remain so, he had a Man of so excellent Wit and Parts for a Master:
So that before they had finish'd their Voyage up the River, he made no scruple of
declaring to Trefry all his Fortunes, and most part of what I have here
related, and put himself wholly into the Hands of his new Friend, whom he found
resenting all the Injuries were done him, and was charm'd with all the Greatnesses of
his Actions; Trefry promis'd to take care about the enquiring after
their Condition, and that he shou'd have an Account of 'em.
Though, as Oroonoko afterwards said, he had little Reason to credit the
Words of a Backearary
Trefry; he saw an Honesty in his Eyes, and he found him wise and witty
enough to understand Honour; for it was one of his Maxims, A Man of Wit cou'd not
be a Knave or Villain.
In their passage up the River
Oroonoko was gone before him, and all People were in Admiration of his
Beauty. Besides, he had a rich Habit on, in which he was taken, so different from the
rest, and which the Captain cou'd not strip him of, because he was forc'd to surprize
his Person in the Minute he sold him. When he found hisTrefry to give him
something more befitting a Slave; which he did, and took off his Robes. Nevertheless,
he shone through all; and his Osenbrigs
Holland Suit he had on) cou'd not conceal the Graces of his Looks and
Mien; and he had no less Admirers, than when he had his dazeling Habit on: The Royal
Youth appear'd in spight of the Slave, and People cou'd not help treating him after a
different manner, without designing it: As soon as they approach'd him, they
venerated and esteem'd him; his Eyes insensibly commanded Respect, and his Behaviour
insinuated it into every Soul. So that there was nothing talk'd of but this young and
gallant Slave, even by those who yet knew not that he was a Prince.
Christians never buy any Slaves
but they give 'em some Name of their own, their native ones being likely very
barbarous, and hard to pronounce; so that Mr. Trefry gave Oroonoko
that of Caesar
Roman; for 'tis most evident, he wanted no
part of the Personal Courage of that Caesar, and acted things as memorable,
had they been done in some part of the World replenish'd with People, and Historians,
that might have given him his due. But his Misfortune was, to fall in an obscure
World, that afforded only a Female Pen to celebrate his Fame; though I doubt not but
it had liv'd from others Endeavours, if the Dutch, who, immediately after
his Trefry, who design'd it, dy'd before he
began it; and bemoan'd himself for not having undertook it in time.
For the future therefore, I must call Oroonoko, Caesar, since by that Name
only he was known in our Western World, and by that Name he was receiv'd on Shoar at
Parham-House
Negroes were.
At last, he wou'd needs go view his Land, his House, and the Business assign'd him.
But he no sooner came to the Houses of the Slaves, which are like a little Town by it
self, the Negroes all having left Work, but they all came forth to behold
him, and found he was that Prince who had, at several times, sold most of 'em to
these Live, O King!
Long live, O King! And kissing his Feet, paid him even Divine Homage.
Several English Gentlemen were with him; and what Mr. Trefry had
told 'em, was here confirm'd; of which he himself before had no other Witness than
Caesar himself: But he was infinitely glad to find his Grandure confirm'd
by the Adoration of all the Slaves.
Caesar troubl'd with their Over-Joy, and Over-Ceremony, besought 'em to
rise, and to receive him as their Fellow-Slave; assuring them, he was no better. At
which English had much a-do to appease; but at
last they prevail'd with 'em, and they prepar'd all their barbarous Musick, and every
one kill'd and dress'd something of his own Stock (for every Family has their Land
apart, on which, at their leisuretimes, they breed all eatable things;) and clubbing
it together, made a most magnificent Supper, inviting their Grandee
Prince, to
honour it with his Presence; which he did, and several English with him;
where they all waited on him, some playing, others dancing before him all the time,
according to the Manners of their several Nations; and with unwearied Industry,
endeavouring to please and delight him.
Trefry told Caesar, that most of these young Slaves
were undon in Love, with a fine she Slave, whom they had had about Six
Months on their Land; the Prince, who never heard the Name of Love
without a Sigh, nor any mention of it without the Curiosity of examining further into
that tale, which of all Discourses was most agreeable to him, asked, how they came to
be so Unhappy, as to be all Undon for one fair Slave? Trefry, who was
naturally Amorous, and lov'd to talk of Love as well as any body, proceeded to tell
him, they had the most charming Black that ever was beheld on their
Plantation, about Fifteen or Sixteen Years old, as he guest; that, for
his part, he had done nothing but Sigh for her Slaves perpetually at her Feet;
and the whole Country resounded with the Fame of Clemene, for so, said he,
we have Christ'ned her: But she denys us all with such a noble Disdain, that 'tis a
Miracle to see, that she, who can give such eternal Desires, shou'd herself be all
Ice, and all Unconcern. She is adorn'd with the most Graceful Modesty that ever
beautifyed Youth; the softest Sigher—that, if she were capable of Love, one would
swear she languish'd for some absent happy Man; andI do not wonder,
replied the Prince, that Clemene shou'd refuse Slaves, being as you say
so Beautiful, but wonder how she escapes those who can entertain her as you can
do; or why, being your Slave, you do not oblige her to yield. I confess, said
Trefry, when I have, against her will, entertain'd her with Love so long, as
to be transported
with my Passion; even above Decency, I have been ready to make use of those
advantages of Strength and Force Nature has given me. But oh! she disarms me, with
that Modesty and Weeping so tender and so moving, that I retire, and thank my
Stars she overcame me. The Company laught at his Civility to a
Slave, and Caesar only applauded the nobleness of his Passion
and Nature; since that Slave might be Noble, or, what was better, have true Notions
of Honour and Vertue in her. Thus past they this Night, after having received, from
the Slaves, all imaginable Respect and Obedience.
The next Day Trefry ask'd Caesar to walk, when the heat was
allay'd, and designedly carried him by the Cottage of the fair Slave; and
But, says he, I would not wish you to approach, for, I am sure, you
will be in Love as soon as you behold her. Caesar assur'd him, he was proof
against all the Charms of that Sex; and that if he imagin'd his Heart cou'd be so
perfidious to Love again, after Imoinda, he believ'd he shou'd tear it from
his Bosom: They had no sooner spoke, but a little shock Dog, that Clemene
had presented her, which she took great Delight in, ran out; and she, not knowing any
body was there, ran to get it in again, and bolted out on those who were just
Speaking of her: When seeing them, she wou'd have run in again; but Trefry
caught her by the Hand, and cry'd, Clemene, however you
fly a Lover, you ought to pay some Respect to this Stranger: (pointing to
Caesar) But she, as if she had resolv'd never to raise her Eyes to the
Face of a Man again, bent 'em the more to the Earth, when he spoke, and gave the
Prince the Leasure to look the more at her. There needed no long Gazing,
or Consideration, to examin who this fair Creature was; he soon saw Imoinda
all over her; in a Minute he saw her Face, her Shape, her Air, her Modesty, and all
that call'd forth his Soul with Joy at his Eyes, and left his Body destitute of
almost Life; it stood without Motion, and, for a Minute, knew not that it had a
Being; and, I believe, he had never come to himself, so opprest he was with over-Joy,
if he had not met Imoinda
fall dead in the Hands of Trefry: this awaken'd him, and he ran to her aid,
and caught her in his Arms, where, by degrees, she came to herself; and 'tis needless
to tell with what transports, what extasies of Joy, they both a while beheld each
other, without Speaking; then Snatcht each other to their Arms; then Gaze again, as
if they still doubted whether they possess'd the Blessing: They Graspt, but when they
recovered their Speech, 'tis not to be imagin'd, what tender things they exprest to
each other; wondering what strange Fate had brought 'em again together. They soon
inform'd each other of their Fortunes, and equally bewail'd their Fate; but, at the
sameCaesar swore he disdain'd the Empire of the World, while he cou'd behold
his Imoinda; and she despis'd Grandure and Pomp, those Vanities of her Sex,
when she cou'd Gaze on Oroonoko. He ador'd the very Cottage where she
resided, and said, That little Inch of the World wou'd give him more Happiness than
all the Universe cou'd do; and she vow'd, It was a Pallace, while adorn'd with the
Presence of Oroonoko.
Trefry was infinitely pleas'd with this Novel
Clemene
Caesar had before spoke; and was
not a little satisfied, that Heaven was so kind to the Prince, as to sweeten
his Misfortunes by so lucky an Accident; and leaving the Lovers to themselves, was
impatient to come down to Parham House, (which was on the same
Plantation) to give me an Account of what had hapned. I was as impatient
to make these Lovers a Visit, having already made a Friendship with Caesar;
and from his own Mouth learn'd what I have related, which was confirmed by his
French-man, who was set on Shore to seek his Fortunes; and of whom they cou'd not
make a Slave, because a Christian; and he came daily to Parham Hill to see
and pay his RespectsPrince: So that concerning
and intresting my self, in all that related to Caesar, whom I had assur'd of
Liberty, as soon as the Governor arriv'd, I hasted presently to the Place where the
Lovers were, and was infinitely glad to find this Beautiful young Slave (who
had already gain'd all our Esteems, for her Modesty and her extraordinary Prettyness)
to be the same I had heard Caesar speak so much off. One may imagine then,
we paid her a treble Respect; and though from her being carv'd in fine Flowers and
Birds all over her Body, we took her to be of Quality before, yet, when we knew
Clemene was Imoinda, we cou'd not enough admire her.
I had forgot to tell you, that Caesar; and those who are so
Carv'd over the Body, resemble our Ancient Picts,
From that happy Day Caesar took Clemene for his Wife, to the
general Joy of all People; and there was as much Magnificence as the Country wou'd
afford at the Celebration of this Wedding: and in a very short time after she Caesar even adore her, knowing
he was the last of his Great Race. This new Accident made him more Impatient of
Liberty, and he was every Day treating with Trefry for his and
Clemene's Liberty; and offer'd either Gold, or a vast quantity of Slaves,
which shou'd be paid before they let him go, provided he cou'd have any Security that
he shou'd go when his Ransom was paid: They fed him from Day to Day with Promises,
and delay'd him, till the Lord Governor shou'd come; so that he began to suspect them
of falshood, and that they wou'd delay him till the time of his Wives delivery, and
make a Slave of that too, For all the Breed isCaesar, and to give him
all the Satisfaction I possibly cou'd; they knew he and Clemene were scarce
an Hour in a Day from my Lodgings; that they eat with me, and that I oblig'd 'em in
all things I was capable of: I entertain'd him with the Lives of the Romans, and
great Men, which charm'd him to my Company; and her, with teaching her all the pretty
Works that I was Mistress Caesar lik'd that the worst, and wou'd never be reconcil'd to our Notions
of the Trinity, of which he ever made a Jest; it was a Riddle, he said, wou'd turn
his Brain to conceive, and one cou'd not make him understand what Faith was. However,
these Conversations fail'd not altogether so well to divert him, that he lik'd the
Company of us Women much above the Men; for he cou'd not Drink; and he is but an ill
Companion in that Country that cannot: So that obliging him to love us very well, we
had all the Liberty of Speech with him, especially my self, whom he call'd Great Mistress; and indeed my Word wou'd go a great way
with him. For these Reasons, I had Opportunity to take notice to him, that he was not
well pleasd of late, as he us'd to be; was more retir'd and thoughtful; and told him,
I took it Ill he shou'd Suspect we wou'd break our Words with him, and not permit
both him and Clemene to return to his own Kingdom, which was not so long a
way, but when he was once on his Voyage he wou'd quickly arrive there. He made me
some Answers that shew'd a doubt in him, which made me ask him, what advantage it
wou'd be to doubt? it would but give us a Fear of him, and possibly compel us to
treat him so as I shou'd bePlantation where he
was, he wou'd sooner forfeit his eternal Liberty, and Life it self, than lift his
Hand against his greatest Enemy on that Place: He besought me to suffer no Fears upon
his Account, for he cou'd do nothing that Honour shou'd not dictate; but he accus'd
himself for having suffer'd Slavery so long; yet he charg'd that weakness on Love
alone, whoTigers of a monstrous Size, which this Continent affords in
abundance; and wonderful Snakes, such as Alexander
Amazons, and which Caesar took great Delight to
overcome; yet these were not Actions great enough for his large Soul, which was still
panting after more renown'd Action.
Before I parted that Day with him, I got, with much ado, a Promise from him to rest
yet a little longer with Patience, and wait the coming of the Lord Governor, who was
every Day expected on our Shore; he assur'd me he wou'd, and this Promise he desired
me to know was given perfectly in Complaisance to me,
After this, I neither thought it convenient to trust him much out of our View, nor
did the Country who fear'd him; but with one accord it was advis'd to treat him
Fairly, and oblige him to remain within such a compass, and that he shou'd be
permitted, as seldom as cou'd be, to go up to the Plantations of the Negroes; or, if
he did, to be accompany'd by some that shou'd be rather in appearance Attendants than
Spys. This Care was for some time taken, and Caesar look'd upon it as a Mark
of extraordinary Respect, and was glad his discontent had oblig'd 'em to be more
observant to him; he received new assurance from
My stay was to be short in that Country, because my Father dy'd at Sea, and never
arriv'd to possess the Honour was design'd him, (which was Lieutenant-General of Six
and thirty Islands, besides the Continent of Surinam) nor the advantages he
hop'd to reap by them; so that though we were oblig'd to continue on our Voyage, we
did not Dutch. 'Tis a Continent
whose vast Extent was never yet known, and may contain more Noble Earth than all the
Universe besides; for, they say, it reaches from East to West; one Way as far as
China, and another to Peru: It affords all things both for
Beauty and Use; 'tis there Eternal Spring, always the very Months of April,
May and June; the Shades are perpetual, the Trees, bearing at once
all degrees of Leaves and Fruit,Armadilly, a thing which I
can liken to nothing so well as a Rhinoceros; 'tis all in white Armor so
joynted, that it moves as well in it, as if it had nothing on; this Beast is about
the bigness of a Pig of Six Weeks old. But it were endless to give an Account of all
the divers Wonderfull and Strange things that Country affords, and which we took a
very great Delight to go in search of; though Caesar in our
Company on these Designs we fear'd no harm, nor suffer'd any.
As soon as I came into the Country, the best House in it was presented me, call'd St.
John's Hill. It stood on a vast Rock of white Marble, at the Foot of
which the River ran a vast depth down, and not to be descended on that side; the
little Waves still dashing and washing the foot of this Rock, made the softest
Murmurs and Purlings in the World; and the Oposite Bank was adorn'd with such vast
quantities of different Flowers eternally Blowing, and every Day and Hour new, fenc'd
behind 'em with lofty Trees of a Thousand rareItaly can produce a Shade to outvie this, which Nature had joyn'd with Art
to render so exceeding Fine; and 'tis a marvel to see how such vast Trees, as big as
English Oaks, cou'd take footing on so solid a Rock, and in so little Earth, as
cover'd that Rock but all things by Nature there are Rare, Delightful and Wonderful.
But to our Sports;
Sometimes we wou'd go surprizing, and in search of young Tigers
Caesar was with us, who had no
soonerTiger from her Nest, but going off, we
incounter'd the Dam, bearing a Buttock of a Cow, which he had torn off with his
mighty Paw, and going with it towards his Den; we had only four Women,
Caesar, and an English Gentleman, Brother to Harry Martin, the
great Oliverian;
Caesar had not laid
down his Cub, when he found the Tiger quit her Prey to make the
more speed towards him; and taking Mr. Martin's Sword desir'd him to stand
aside, or follow the Ladies. He obey'd him, and Caesar met this monstrousTiger, who was laid in her Bloud on the Ground; he took up the
Cub, and with an unconcern, that had nothing of the Joy or Gladness of a
Victory, he came and laid the Whelp at my Feet: We all extreamly wonder'd at his
Daring, and at the Bigness of the Beast, which was about the highth of an Heifer, but
of mighty, great, and strong Limbs.
Another time, being in the Woods, he kill'd a Tiger, which had long infested
that part, and born away abundance of Sheep and Oxen, and other things, that were for
the support of those to whom they belong'd; abundance of People assail'd this Beast,
some affirming they had shot herCaesar, had often
said, he had a mind to encounter this Monster, and spoke with several Gentlemen who
had attempted her; one crying, I shot her with so many poyson'd Arrows, another with
his Gun in this part of her, and another in that; so that he remarking all these
Places where she was shot, fancy'd still he shou'd overcome her, by giving her
another sort of a Wound than any had yet done; and one day said (at the Table)
What Trophies and Garlands Ladies will you make me, if I bring you home the
Heart of
this Ravenous Beast, that eats up all your Lambs and Pigs? We all promis'd
he shou'd be rewarded at all our Hands. So taking a Bow, which he chus'd out of a
great many, he went up in the Wood with two Gentlemen, where he imagin'd this
Devourer to be; they had not past very far in it, but they heard her Voice, growling
and grumbling, as if she were pleas'd with something she was doing. When they came in
view, they found her muzzling in the Belly of a new ravish'd Sheep, which she had
torn open; and seeing herself approach'd, she took fast hold of her Prey, with her
fore Paws, and set a very fierce raging Look on Caesar, without offering to
approach him; for fear, at theCaesar remain'd a good while, only taking aim, and
getting an opportunity to shoot her where he design'd; 'twas some time before he
cou'd accomplish it, and to wound her, and not kill her, wou'd but have enrag'd her
more, and indanger'd him: He had a Quiver of Arrows at his side, so that if one
fail'd he cou'd be supply'd; at last, retiring a little, he gave her opportunity to
eat, for he found she was Ravenous, and fell too as soon as she saw him retire; being
more eager of her Prey than of doing new Mischiefs. When he going softly to one side
of her, and hiding his Person behind certain Herbage that grew high and thick, Caesar cut him Open with a Knife,
to see where those Wounds were that had been reported to him, and why he did not Die
of 'em. But I shall now relate a thing that possibly will find no Credit among Men,
because 'tis a Notion commonly receiv'd with us, That nothing can receive a Wound in
the Heart and Live; but when the Heart of this courageous Animal was taken out, there
were SevenCaesar occasion of many
fine Discourses; of Accidents in War, and Strange Escapes.
At other times he wou'd go a Fishing; and discoursing on that Diversion, he found we
had in that Country a very Strange Fish, call'd, a Numb Eel,
Eel of which I
have eaten) that while it is alive, it has a quality so Cold, that those who are
Angling, though with a Line of never so great a length, with a Rod Eel,
seize him or her that holds the Rod with benumb'dness, that shall deprive 'em of
Sense, for a while; and some have fall'n into the Water, and others drop'd as dead on
the Banks of the Rivers where they stood, as soon as this Fish touches the Bait.
Caesar us'd to laugh at this, and believ'd it impossible a Man cou'd
loose his Force at the touch of a Fish; and cou'd not understand that Philosophy,
that a cold Quality should be of that Nature: However, he had a great Curiosity to
try whether it wou'd have the same effect on him it had on others, and often try'd,
but in vain; at last, the sought forEel, and have
dismist the Rod, before it cou'd have too much Power over him; for Experiment sake,
he grasp'd it but the harder, and fainting fell into the River; and being still
possest of the Rod, the Tide carry'd him senseless as he was a great way, till an
Indian Boat took him up; and perceiv'd, when they touch'd him, a Numbness
seize them, and by that knew the Rod was in his Hand; which, with a Paddle (that is,
a short Oar) they struck away, and snatch'd it into the Boat, Eel and all. If Caesar were almost Dead, with the effect of
this Fish, he was more so with that of the Water, where he had remain'd the space of
going a League; and they found they had much a-do to bring him back to Life: But, at
last, they did, and brought him home, where he was in a few Hours well Recover'd and
Refresh'd; and not a little Asham'd to find he shou'd be overcome by an Eel;
and that all the People, who heard his Defiance, wou'd Laugh at him. But we cheared
him up; and he, being convinc'd, we had the Eel at Supper; which was a
quarter of an Ell
About this time we were in many mortal Fears, about some Disputes the
English had with the Indians; so that we cou'd scarce trust our
selves, without great Numbers, to go to any Indian Towns, or Place, where
they abode; for fear they shou'd fall upon us, as they did immediately after my
coming away; and that it was in the possession of the Dutch, who us'd 'em
not so civilly as the English; so that they cut in pieces all they cou'd
take, getting into Houses, and hanging up the Mother, and all her Children about her;
and cut a Footman, I left behind me, all in Joynts, and nail'd him to Trees.
Indian Towns. But one Day,
bemoaning of our Misfortunes upon this account, Caesar told us, we need not
Fear; for if we had a mind to go, he wou'd undertake to be our Guard: Some wou'd, but
most wou'd not venture; about Eighteen of us resolv'd, and took Barge; and, after
Eight Days, arriv'd near an Indian Town: But approaching it, the Hearts of
some of our Company fail'd, and they wou'd not venture on Shore; so we Poll'd who
wou'd, and who wou'd not: For my part, I said, If Caesar wou'd, I wou'd go;
he resolv'd, so did my Brother, andIndians, as
trading among 'em; and being, by long Living there, become a perfect Indian
in Colour, we, who resolv'd to surprize 'em, by making 'em see something they never
had seen, (that is, White People) resolv'd only my self, my Brother, and Woman shou'd
go; so Caesar, the Fisherman, and the rest, hiding behind someTepeeme; taking their Hair up in their Hands, and spreading it wide to
those they call'd out too; as if they would say (as indeed it signify'd)
Numberless Wonders, or not to be recounted, no more than to number the
Hair of their Heads. By degrees they grewCaesar, and the rest, saw we were receiv'd with such
wonder, they came up to us; and finding the Indian Trader whom they knew,
(for 'tis Indian Traders, we hold a
Commerce with 'em; for they love not to go far from home, and we never go to them)
when they saw him therefore they set up a new Joy; and cry'd, in their Language,
Oh! here's our
Tiguamy
Voyage de la France
équixonale en l’isle de Cayenne (1654, pp. 395-7). Todd argues that Behn
records a traditional greeting and provides the translation herself; however, it
should be noted that the term Amora has connection with the Latin Amore,
suggesting that Behn plays with contemporary accounts and phonetics to further
depict the indigenous characters as loving and peaceful. The phrase likely
developed out of interactions between the natives and the Spanish.and
we shall now know whether those things can speak: So advancing to him, some
of 'em gave him their Hands, and cry'd, Amora Tiguamy, which is as much as,
How do you, or Welcome Friend; and all, with one din, began to
gabble to him, and ask'd, If we had Sense, and Wit? if we cou'd talk of affairs of
Life, and War, as they cou'd do? if we cou'd Hunt, Swim, and do a thousand things
they use? He answer'd 'em, We cou'd. Then Indian Stools, which they
cut out of one intire piece of Wood, and Paint, in a sort of Japan Work: They serve
every one their Mess
Peeie, that is, Prophet. They showed us
their Indian Peeie a Youth of about Sixteen Years old, as handsom as Nature
cou'd make a Man. They consecrate a beautiful Youth from his Infancy, and all Arts
are us'd to compleat him in the finest manner, both in Beauty and Shape: He is bred
to all the little Arts and cunning they are capable of; to all the Legerdemain
Peeie had a
very young Wife, who seeing my Bròther kiss her, came running and kiss'd me; after
this, they kiss'd one another, and made it a very great Jest, it being so Novel; and
new Admiration and Laughing went round the Multitude, that they never will forget
that Ceremony, never before us'd or known. Caesar had a mind to see and talk
with their War Captains, and we were conducted to one of their Houses; where
we beheld several of the Captains, who had been at
Councel: But so frightful a Vision it was to see 'em no Fancy can create; no such
Dreams can represent so dreadful a Spectacle. For my part I took 'em for Hobgoblins,
or Fiends, rather than Men; but however their Shapes appear'd, their Souls were very
Humane and Noble; but some wanted their Noses, some their Lips, some both Noses and
Lips, some their Ears, and others Cut through each Cheek, with long Slashes, through
which their Teeth appear'd; they had other several formidable Wounds and Scars, or
rather Dismemberings; they had Comitias,
Amora Tigame to us, at our entrance, and were
pleas'd we said as much to em; they seated us, and gave us Drink of the best Sort;
and wonder'd, as much as the others had done before, to see us. Caesar was
marvelling as much at their Faces, wondering how they shou'd all be so Wounded in
War; he was Impatient to know how they all came by those frightful Marks of Rage or
Malice, rather than Wounds got in Noble Battel: They told us, by our Interpreter,
That when any War was waging, twoCaptain, whose Fighting was past, and who cou'd only teach the Theory of
War, these two Men were to stand in Competition for the Generalship, or Great War
Captain; and being brought before the old Judges, now past Labour, they are ask'd,
What they dare do to shew they are worthy to lead an Army? When he, who is first
ask'd, making no Reply, Cuts of his Nose, and throws it contemptably on the Ground;
and the other does something to himself that he thinks surpasses him, and perhaps
deprives himself of Lips and an Eye; so they Slash on till one gives out, and many
have dy'd in this Debate. And 'its by a passive Valour they
In this Voyage Caesar begot so good an understanding between the
Indians and the English, that there were no more Fears, or Heart-burnings
Caesar made it his
Business to search out and provide for our Entertainment, especially to please his
dearly Ador'd Imoinda, who was a sharer in all our Adventures; we being
resolv'd to make her Chains as easy as we cou'd, and
As we were coming up again, we met with some Indians of strange Aspects;
that is, of a larger Size, and other sort of Features, than those of our Country: Our
Indian Slaves, that Row'd us, ask'd 'em some Questions, but they cou'd
not understand us; but shew'd us a long Cotton String, with several Knots on it; and
told us, they had been coming from the Mountains so many Moons
Parham, where they were kept till the Lord Governour came: And because
all the Country was mad to be going on this Golden Adventure, the Governour, by his
Letters, commanded (for they sent some of the Gold to him) that a Guard shou'd be set
at the Mouth of the River of Amazons
Thames) and prohibited all People from going up that River, it conducting
to those Mountains of Gold. But we going off for England before Dutch have the Advantage of it: And 'tis to
be bemoan'd what his Majesty lost by loosing that part of America.
Though this digression is a little from my Story, however since it contains some Proofs of the Curiosity and Daring of this great Man, I was content to omit nothing of his Character.
It was thus, for sometime we diverted him; but now Imoinda began to shew she
was with Child, and did nothing but Sigh and Weep for the Captivity of her Lord, her
Self, and the Infant yet Unborn; and believ'd,Caesar; and taking his Opportunity
one Sunday, when all the Whites were overtaken in Drink, as there were
abundance of several Trades, and Slaves for Four Years, that Inhabited among
the Negro Houses; and Sunday was their Day of Debauch, (otherwise
they were a sort of Spys upon Caesar;) he went pretending out of Goodness to
'em, to Feast amongst 'em; and sent all his Musick, and order'd a great Treat for the
whole Gang, about Three Hundred Negros; and about a Hundred and Fifty were
able to bear Arms, such as English had none but rusty
Swords, that no Strength cou'd draw from a Scabbard; except the People of particular
Quality, who took care to Oyl 'em and keep 'em in good Order: The Guns also, unless
here and there one, or those newly carri'd from England, wou'd do no good or
harm; for 'tis the Nature of that County to Rust and Eat up Iron, or any Metals, but
Gold and Silver. And they are very Unexpert at the Bow, which the Negros and
Indians are perfect Masters off.
Caesar, having singl'd out these Men from the Women and Children, made an
Harangue
Slaves till their Blood trickled from all Parts
of their Body; Blood, whose every drop ought to be Reveng'd with a Life of some of
those Tyrants, that impose it; And why, said he, my dear Friends and
Fellow-sufferers, shou'd we be Slaves to an unknown People? Have they Vanquish'd
us Nobly in Fight? Have they Won
us in Honourable Battel?
And are we, by the chance of War, become their Slaves? Oroonoko here is expressing what was known as
the "just war" doctrine of slavery, that those who lost a war could rightly be
enslaved. It is on this basis that Oroonoko himself owns slaves. The
distinction he is making here is that, according to this doctrine, slaves
gained through conquest are justified while slaves acquired through trickery or
commerce are not. This wou'd not anger a Noble Heart, this wou'd not
animate a Souldiers Soul; no, but we are Bought and Sold like Apes, or Monkeys, to
be the Sport of Women, Fools and Cowards; and the Support of Rogues, Runagades
Renegades, that have
abandon'd their own Countries, for Rapin, Murders, Thefts and Villanies: Do you
not hear every Day how they upbraid each other with infamy of Life, below the
Wildest Salvages; and shall we render Obedience to such a degenerate Race, who
have no one Humane Vertue left, to distinguish 'em from the vilest Creatures? Will
you, I say, suffer the Lash from such Hands? They all Reply'd, with one
accord,No, no, no; Caesar has spoke like a Great Captain; like a Great
King.
After this he wou'd have proceeded, but was interrupted by a tall Negro of
some more Quality than the rest, his Name was Tuscan;
Caesar, cry'd, My Lord, we
have listen'd with Joy and Attention to what you have said; and, were we only Men,
wou'd follow so great a Leader through the World: But oh! consider, we are
Husbands and Parents too, and have things more dear to us than Life; our Wives and
Children unfit for Travel, in these unpassable Woods, Mountains and Bogs; we have
not only difficult Lands to overcome, but Rivers to Wade, and Monsters to
Incounter;
Ravenous Beasts of Prey—To this, Caesar Reply'd, That Honour
was the First Principle in Nature, that was to be Obey'd; but as no Man wou'd
pretend to that, without all the Acts of Vertue, Compassion, Charity, Love,
Justice and Reason; he found it not inconsistent with that, to take an equal Care
of their Wives and Children, as they wou'd of themselves; and that he did not
Design, when he led them to Freedom, and Glorious Liberty, that they shou'd leave
that better part of themselves to Perish by the Hand of the Tyrant's Whip: But if
there were a Woman among them so degenerate from Love and Vertue to chuse Slavery
before the pursuit of her Husband, and with the hazard of her Life, to share with
him in
his Fortunes; that such an one ought to be Abandon'd, and left as a
Prey to the common Enemy.
To which they all Agreed,—and Bowed. After this, he spoke of the Impassable Woods and
Rivers; and convinc'd 'em, the more Danger, the more Glory. He told them that he had
heard of one Hannibal a great Captain, had Cut his Way through Mountains of solid Rocks
Tuscan then demanded, What he wou'd do? He said, they wou'd Travel towards
the Sea; Plant a New Colony, and Defend it by their Valour; and when they cou'd find
a Ship, either driven by stress of Weather, or guided by Providence that way, they
wou'd Sieze it, and make it a Prize, till it had Transported them to their own
Countries; at least, they shou'd be made Free in his Kingdom, and be Esteem'd as his
Fellowsufferers, and Men that had
They bow'd and kiss'd his Feet at this Resolution, and with one accord Vow'd to
follow him to Death. And that Night was appointed to begin their March; they made it
known to their Wives, and directed them to tie their Hamaca about their Shoulder, and
under their Arm like a Scarf; and to lead their Children that cou'd go, and carry
those that cou'd not. The Wives who pay an intire Obedience to their Husbands obey'd,
and stay'd for 'em, where they were appointed: The Men Caesar made a new incouraging Speech to 'em, and led 'em
out.
But, as they cou'd not march far that Night, on Monday early, when the Overseers went
to call 'em all together, to go to Work, they were extreamly surpris'd, to find not
one upon the Place, but all fled with what Baggage they had. You may imagine this
News was not only suddenly spread all over the Plantation, but soon reach'd
the Neighbouring ones; and we had by Noon about Six hundred Men, they call the
Militia of the County, that came to assist us in the persute of the
Fugitives:Caesar, and all hands were against the Parhamites, as they
call'd those of Parham Plantation; because they did not, in the first place,
love the Lord Governor; and secondly, they wou'd have it, that Caesar was
Ill us'd
Slaves; so that theyCaesar, was now
the only violent Man against him; and though he had nothing, and so need fear
nothing, yet talk'd and look'd bigger than any Man: He was a Fellow, whose Character
is not fit to be mention'd with the worst of the Slaves.
Voyage de la France
équixonale en l’isle de Cayenne (1654) and Henry Adis’s A Letter Sent from
Syrrinam (1664). As deputy governor of Surinam, Byam ruled the colony in the
absence of Lord Willoughby. According to Flannigan’s Antigua and the Antiguans. A Full Account of the Colony and its Inhabitants, after the Dutch takeover of
Surinam, Byam led many of the British colonists to Antigua, where became governor
and lived until c. 1670. Todd notes that both Biet and Adis, otherwise critical of
the colony in Surinam, praise Byam: Adis refers to him as “that worthy person,
whom your Lordship hath lately honoured with the Title and Power of your
Lieutenant General of this Continent of Guinah”; while Biet describes him as
brave, honorable, and civil (pp. 263, 279). Behn’s decision to portray him as
cowardly and deceitful appears to have been her own. On the other hand, Byam did
face accusations of unnecessary cruelty in his governance from an opposition group
led by John Allin. Byam wrote a tract An Exact Relation of the Most Execrable
Attempts of John Allin (1665) defending the need for harsh measures to govern the
unruly colonists and accusing Allin of insurrection.Caesar; or rather to persue him; most of their Arms
were of those sort of cruel Whips they call Cat
with Nine Tayls
Trefry went along, rather to be a Mediator than a Conqueror, in
such a Batail; for he foresaw, and knew, if by fighting they put the Negroes
into dispair, they were a sort of sullen Fellows, that wou'd drown, or kill
themselves, before they wou'd yield; and he advis'd that fair means was best: But
Byam was one that abounded in his own Wit
It was not hard to find these Fugitives; for as they fled they were forc'd to fire
and cut the Woods before 'em, so that NightCaesar
found he was persu'd, he put himself in a Posture of Defence, placing all the Women
and Children in the Reer; and himself, with Tuscan by his side, or next to
him, all promising to Dye or Conquer. Incourag'd thus, they never stood to Parley,
but fell on Pell-mell upon the English, and kill'd some, and wounded a good
many; they having recourse to their Whips, as the best of their Weapons: And as they
observ'd no Order, they perplex'd the Enemy so sorely, with Lashing 'em in the Eyes;
and the Women and Children, seeing their Husbands so treated, being of English cry out, Yield
and Live, Yield and be Pardon'd; they all run in amongst their Husbands and
Fathers, and hung about 'em, crying out, Yield, yield; and leave Caesar
to their Revenge; that by degrees the Slaves abandon'd
Caesar, and left him only Tuscan and his Heroick
Imoinda; who, grown big as she was, did nevertheless press near her Lord,
having a Bow, and a Quiver full of poyson'd Arrows, which she manag'd with such
dexterity, that she wounded several, and shot the Governor into the
Shoulder; of which Wound he had like to have Dy'd, but that an Indian Woman,
his Mistress, suck'd the Wound, and cleans'd it fromCaesar, who
he found was resolv'd to dye Fighting, and wou'd not be Taken; no more wou'd
Tuscan, or Imoinda. But he, more thirsting after Revenge of
another sort, than that of depriving him of Life, now made use of all his Art of
talking, and dissembling; and besought Caesar to yield himself upon Terms,
which he himself should propose, and should be Sacredly assented to and kept by him:
He told him, It was not that he any longer fear'd him, or cou'd believe the force of
Two Men, and a young Heroin, cou'd overcome all them, with all the Slaves now on
their side also; but it was the vast EsteemPrince, whose
Valour and Magnanimity deserv'd the Empire of the World. He protested to him, he
look'd upon this Action, as Gallant and Brave; however tending to the prejudice of
his Lord and Master, who wou'd by it have lost so considerable a number of
Slaves; that this Flight of his shou'd be look'd on as a heat of Youth,
and rashness of a too forward Courage, and an unconsider'd
So that if you
will be pleas'd, continued he, to surrender your self, all imaginable
Respect shall be paid you; and your Self, your Wife, and Child, if it be here
born, shall depart free out of our Land. But Caesar wou'd hear of no
Composition; though Byam urg'd, If he persu'd, and went on in his Design, he
wou'd inevitably Perish, either by great Snakes, wild Beasts, or Hunger; and
he ought to have regard to his Wife, whose Condition required ease, and not the
fatigues of tedious
Caesar told him, there was no Faith in the White Men, or the Gods they
Ador'd;Christians without his Weapon of Defence in his Hand; and, for his own
Security, never to credit one Word they spoke. As for the rashness and
inconsiderateness of his Action he wou'd confess the Governor is in the right; and
that he was asham'd of what he had done, in endeavoring to make those Free, who were
by Nature Slaves, poor wretched Rogues, fit to be us'd asChristians Tools; Dogs, treacherous and cowardly, fit for such Masters; and
they wanted only but to be whipt into the knowledge of the Christian Gods to
be the vilest of all creeping things; to learn to Worship such Deities as had not
Power to make 'em Just, Brave, or Honest. In fine, after a thousand things of this
Nature, not fit here to be recited, he told Byam, he had rather Dye than
Live upon the same Earth with such Dogs. But Trefry and Byam
pleaded and protested together so much, that Trefry believing the
Governor to mean what he said; and speaking very cordially himself,
generously put himself into Caesar's Hands, and took him aside, and
perswaded him, even with Tears,Caesar was overcome by his Wit and Reasons, and in
consideration of Imoinda; and demanding what he desir'd, and that it shou'd
be ratify'd by their Hands in Writing, because he had perceiv'd that was the common
way of contract between Man and Man, amongst the Whites: All this was perform'd, and
Tuscan's Pardon was put in, and they Surrender to the Governor, who
walked peaceably down into the Plantation with 'em, after giving order to
bury their dead. Caesar was very much toyl'd with the bustle of the Day; for
he had fought like a Fury
Tuscan perform'd
But they were no sooner arriv'd at the Place, where all the Slaves receive their
Punishments of Whipping, but they laid Hands on Caesar and Tuscan,
faint with heat and toyl; and, surprising them, Bound them to two several Stakes, and
Whipt them in a most deplorable and inhumane Manner, rending the very Flesh from
their Bones; especially Caesar, who was not perceiv'd to make any Mone, or
to alter his Face, only to roul his Eyes on the Faithless Governor, and
those he believ'd Guilty, with Fierceness and Indignation; and, to compleat his Rage,
he Slaves, who, but a few Davs before,
Ador'd him as something more than Mortal, now had a Whip to give him some Lashes,
while he strove not to break his Fetters; though, if he had, it were impossible: But
he pronounced a Woe and Revenge from his Eyes, that darted Fire, that 'twas at once
both Awful and Terrible to behold.
When they thought they were sufficiently Reveng'd on him, they unty'd him, almost
Fainting, with loss of Blood, from a thousand Wounds all over his Body; from which
they had rent his Cloaths, and led him Bleeding and Naked as he was; and loaded him
all over with Irons; and then rubbed hisIndian Pepper, which had like to have made him raving Mad;
and, in this Condition, made him so fast to the Ground that he cou'd not stir, if his
Pains and Wounds wou'd have given him leave. They spar'd Imoinda, and did
not let her see this Barbarity committed towards her Lord, but carry'd her down to
Parham, and shut her up; which was not in kindness to her, but for fear
she shou'd Dye with the Sight, or Miscarry; and then they shou'd loose a young
Slave, and perhaps the Mother.
You must know, that when the News was brought on Monday Morning, that Caesar
had betaken himself to the Woods,Negroes. We were possess'd with extream Fear, which no perswasions cou'd
Dissipate, that he wou'd secure himself till Night; and then, that he wou'd come down
and Cut all our Throats. This apprehension made all the Females of us fly down the
River, to be secur'd; and while we were away, they acted this Cruelty: For I suppose
I had Authority and Interest enough there, had I suspected any such thing, to have
prevented it; but we had not gon many Leagues, but the News overtook us that
Caesar was taken, and Whipt like a common Slave. We met on the
River with Colonel Martin, a Man of great Gallantry, Wit, andComedy, by
his own Name, in memory of so brave a Man
Colony: He was a Friend to
Caesar, and resented this false Dealing with him very much. We carried
him back to Parham, thinking to have made an Accomodation; when we came, the
First News we heard was, that the Governor was Dead of a Wound
Imoinda had given him; but it was not so well: But it seems he wou'd have
the Pleasure of beholding the Revenge he took on Caesar; and before the
cruel Ceremony was finish'd, he drop'dIndian Mistress heal'd, by Sucking the Wound.
We were no sooner Arriv'd, but we went up to the Plantation to see
Caesar, whom we found in a very Miserable and Unexpressable Condition;
and I have a Thousand times admired how he liv'd, in so much tormenting Pain. We said
all things to him, that Trouble, Pitty, and Good Nature cou'd suggest; Protesting our
Innocency of the Fact, and our Abhorance of such Cruelties. Making a Thousand
Professions of Services to him, and Begging as many Pardons for the Offenders,Byam; as for Trefry,
he confess'd he saw his Grief and Sorrow, for his Suffering, which he cou'd not
hinder, but was like to have been beaten down by the very Slaves, for
Speaking in his Defence: But for Byam, who was their Leader, their Head;—and
shou'd, by his Justice, and Honor, have been an Example to 'em.—For him, he wish'd to
Live, to take a dire Revenge of him, and said, It had been well for him, if he
had Sacrific'd me, instead of giving me the contemptable Whip. He refus'd to
Talk much, but Begging us to give him our Hands; he tookMartin, and always took his Counsel, like that of a Parent; and assur'd
him, he wou'd obey him in any thing, but his Revenge on Byam. Therefore,
said he, for his own Safety, let him speedily dispatch me; for if I cou'd
dispatch my self, I wou'd not, till that Justice were done to my injur'd Person,
and the contempt of a Souldier: No, I wou'd not kill my self, even after a
Whiping, but will be content to live with that Infamy, and be pointed at by every
grining Slave, till I have compleated my Revenge; and then you shall see that
Oroonoko scorns to live with the Indignity that was put on Caesar. All weParham.
The Governor was no sooner recover'd, and had heard of the menaces
Caesar, but he call'd his Council; who (not to disgrace them, or Burlesque
God or
Man; and had no sort of Principles to make 'em worthy the Name of Men:
But, at the very Council Table, wou'd Contradict and Fight with one another; and
Swear so bloodily that 'twas terrible to hear, and see 'em. (Some of 'em were
afterwards Hang'd, when the Dutch took possession of the place; others sent
off in Chains:) But calling these special Rulers of the Nation together, and
requiring their Counsel in this weighty Affair, they all concluded, that (Damn 'em)
it might be their own Cases; and that Caesar ought to be made an Example to
all the Negroes, to fright 'em from daring to threaten their Betters, their
LordsSlaves; and concluded, nemine
contradicente
Caesar shou'd be Hang'd.
Trefry then thought it time to use his Authority; and told Byam his
Command did not extend to his Lord's Plantation; and that Parham
was as much exempt from the Law as White-hall;
Parham
was a Sanctuary; and though his Lord were absent in Person, his Power was still in
Being there; which he had intrusted with him, as far as the Dominions of his
particularPlantations reach'd, and all that belong'd to it; the rest of the
Country, as Byam was Lieutenant to his Lord, he might exercise
his Tyrany upon. Trefry had others as powerful, or more, that int'rested
themselves in Caesar's Life, and absolutely said, He shou'd be Defended. So
turning the Governor, and his wise Council, out of Doors, (for they sate at
Parham-house) they set a Guard upon our Landing Place, and wou'd admit
none but those we call'd Friends to us and Caesar.
The Governor having remain'd wounded at Parham, till his recovery
was compleated, Caesar did not know but he was still there; and indeed, for
the most part, his time was spent there;Caesar. So that
Caesar did not at all doubt, if he once recover'd Strength, but he shou'd
find an opportunity of being Reveng'd on him: Though, after such a Revenge, he cou'd
not hope to Live; for if he escap'd the Fury of the English
Mobile
Imoinda there; but, for the
most part, his time was past in melancholy Thought, and black Designs; he consider'd,
if he shou'd do this Deed, and Dye, either in the Attempt, or after it, he left his
lovely Imoinda a Prey, or at best a Slave, to the inrag'd
Multitude; his great Heart cou'd not indure that Thought. Perhaps, said he,
she may be first Ravished by every Brute; exposed first to their nasty Lusts,
and then a shameful Death. No; he could not Live a Moment under that
Apprehension, too insupportable to be born. These were his Thoughts, and his silent
Arguments with his Heart, as he told us afterwards; so that now resolving not onlyByam, but all those he thought had inrag'd him;
pleasing his great Heart with the fancy'd Slaughter he shou'd make over the whole
Face of the Plantation. He first resolv'd on a Deed, that (however Horrid it
at first appear'd to us all) when we had heard his Reasons, we thought it Brave and
Just: Being able to Walk, and, as he believ'd, fit for the Execution of his great
Design, he beg'd Trefry to trust him into the Air, believing a Walk wou'd do
him good; which was granted him, and taking Imoinda with him, as he us'd to
do in his more happy and calmer Days, he led her up into a Wood, where, after (with a
thousand Sighs, and long Gazing silently on her Face, while
Imoinda; a thousand times he turn'd the Fatal
Knife that did the Deed, toward his own Heart, with a Resolution to go immediately
after her; but dire Revenge, which now was a thousand times more fierce in his Soul
than before, prevents him; and he wou'd cry out, No; since I have sacrificed
Imoinda to my Revenge, shall I loose that Glory which I have purchas'd so dear,
as at the Price of the fairest, dearest, softest Creature that ever Nature made?
No, no! Then, at her Name, Grief wou'd get the ascendant of Rage, and he
wou'd
He remain'd in this deploring Condition for two Days, and never rose from the Ground
where he had made his sad Sacrifice; at last, rousing from her side, and accusing
himself with living too long, now Imoinda was dead; and that the Deaths of
those barbarous Enemies were deferr'd too long, he resolv'd now to finish the great
Work; but offering to rise, he found his Strength so decay'd,
Caesar, and his Wife; some were of Opinion he was escap'd never to
return; others thought some Accident had hap'ned to him: But however, we fail'd not
to send out an hundred People several ways to search for him; a Party, of about
forty, went that way he took; among whom was Tuscan, who was perfectly
reconcil'd to Byam; they had not gon very far into the Wood, but they smelt
an unusual Smell, as of a dead Body; for Stinks must be very noisom that can be
distinguish'd among such a quantity of Natural Sweets, as every Inch of that Land
produces. So that they concluded they shou'd find him dead, or somebody thatCaesar heard he was approach'd; and though he had, during the space of
these eight Days, endeavor'd to rise, but found he wanted Strength, yet looking up,
and seeing his Pursuers, he rose, and reel'd to a Neighbouring Tree, against which he
fix'd his Back; and being within a dozen Yards of those that advanc'd, and saw him;
he call'd out to them, and bid them approach no nearer, if they wou'd be safe: So
that they stood still, and hardly believing their Eyes, that wou'd perswade them that
it was Caesar that spoke to 'em, so much was he alter'd; Behold her there;
they put off the Flowers that cover'd her with their Sticks, and found she was
kill'd; and cry'd out, Oh Monster! that hast murther'd thy Wife: Then asking
him, Why he did so cruel a Deed? He replied, he had no leasure to answer impertinent
Questions; You may go back, continued he, and tell the Faithless
Governor, he may thank Fortune that I am breathing my last; and that my Arm is too
feeble to obey my Heart, in what it had design'd him: But his Tongue
faultering, and trembling, he cou'd scarce end what he was saying. The English taking Advantage by his Weakness, cry'd, Let us take him
alive by all means: He heard 'em; and, as if he had reviv'd from a Fainting,
or a Dream, he cry'd out, No, Gentlemen, you are deceiv'd; you will find no
more Caesars to be Whipt; no more find a Faith in me: Feeble as you think
me, I have Strength yet left to secure me from a second Indignity. They swore
all a-new, and he only shook his Head, and beheld them with Scorn; then they cry'd
out, Who will venture on this single Man? Will no body? They stood all
silent while Caesar replied, Fatal will be the Attempt to the first
Adventurer; let him assure himself, and, at that Word, held up his Knife in a
menacing Posture, Look ye, ye faithless Crew, said he,'tis not Life I seek, nor am I afraid of Dying; and, at that Word, cut a
piece of Flesh from his own Throat, and threw it at 'em, yet still I wou'd Live
if I cou'd, till I had perfected my Revenge. But oh! it cannot be; I feel Life
gliding from my Eyes and Heart; and, if I make not haste, I shall yet fall a
Victim to the shameful Whip. At that, he rip'd up his own Belly; and took his
Bowels and pull'd 'em out, with what Strength he cou'd; while some, on their Knees
imploring, besought him to hold his Hand. But when they saw him tottering, they cry'd
out, Will none venture on him? A bold English cry'd, Yes, if he
were the Devil; (taking Courage when he saw him almost Dead) and swearing a
horrid Oath for his farewellCaesar,
with his Arm'd Hand met him so fairly, as stuck him to the Heart, and he fell Dead at
his Feet. Tuscan seeing that, cry'd out, I love thee, oh Caesar;
and therefore will not let thee Dye, if possible: And, running to him,
took him in his Arms; but, at the same time, warding a Blow that Caesar made
at his Bosom, he receiv'd it quite through his Arm; and Caesar having not
the Strength to pluck the Knife forth, though he attempted it, Tuscan
neither pull'd it out himself, nor suffer'd it to be pull'd out; but came down with
it sticking in his Arm; and the reason he gave for it was, because the Air shou'd not
get into the Wound: They put their Hands a-cross, and carriedCaesar between Six of 'em, fainted as he was; and they thought Dead, or just
Dying; and they brought him to Parham, and laid him on a Couch, and had the
Chirurgeon immediately to him, who drest his Wounds, and sow'd up his Belly, and us'd
means to bring him to Life, which they effected. We ran all to see him; and, if
before we thought him so beautiful a Sight, he was now so alter'd, that his Face was
like a Death's Head black'd over; nothing but Teeth, and Eyeholes: For some Days we
suffer'd no body to speak to him, but caused Cordials to be poured down his Throat,
which sustained his Life; and in six or seven Days he recover'd his Senses: For, you
must know, that Indies; unless Wounds in the Legs, which rarely ever cure.
When he was well enough to speak, we talk'd to him; and ask'd him some Questions
about his Wife, and the Reasons why he kill'd her; and he then told us what I have
related of that Resolution, and of his Parting; and he besought us, we would let him
Dye, and was extreamly Afflicted to think it was possible he might Live; he assur'd
us, if we did not Dispatch him, he wou'd prove very Fatal to a great many. We said
all we cou'd to make him Live, and gave him new Assurances; but he begg'd we wou'd
not think so poorly of him, or of his love to Imoinda, to Caesar)
afflicted at this News; and the Sight was gashly
Trefry, and the
Chirurgeons, promis'd all to take what possible care they cou'd of the Life of
Caesar; and I, taking Boat, went with other Company to Colonel
Martin's, about three Days Journy down the River; but I was no sooner
gon, but theGovernor taking Trefry, about some pretended earnest Business, a
Days Journy up the River; having communicated his Design to one Banister, a
wild Irish
Man
Parham, and forcibly took Caesar, and had him carried to the
same Post where he was Whip'd; and causing him to be ty'd to it, and a great Fire
made before him, he told him, he shou'd Dye like a Dog, as he was. Caesar
replied, this was the first piece of Bravery that ever Banister did; and he
never spoke Sence till he pronounc'd that Word; and, if he wou'd keep it, he wou'd
declare, in the other World, that he wasMy Friends, am I to Dye, or to be Whip'd? And they cry'd, Whip'd!
no; you shall not escape so well: And then he replied, smiling, A
Blessing on thee; and assur'd them, they need not tye him, for he wou'd stand
fixt, like a Rock; and indure Death so as shou'd encourage them to Dye. But if
you Whip me, said he, be sure you tye me fast.
He had learn'd to take Tobaco; and when he was assur'd he should Dye, he desir'd they
would give him a Pipe in his Mouth, ready Lighted, which they did; and the
Executioner came, and first cut off his Members,Caesar in Quarters, and sent them to several of the
chiefPlantations: One Quarter was sent to Colonel
Martin, who refus'd it; and swore, he had rather see the Quarters of
Banister, and the Governor himself, than those of
Caesar, on his Plantations; and that he cou'd govern his
Negroes without Terrifying and Grieving them with frightful Spectacles of
a mangl'd King.
Thus Dy'd this Great Man; worthy of a better Fate, and a more sublime Wit than mine
to write his Praise; yet, I hope, the Reputation of my Pen is considerable enough to
make his Glorious Name to survive to all Ages; with that of the Brave, the Beautiful,
and the Constant Imoinda.
Daniel Defoe (c. 1660-1731) came to writing fiction in late middle age, after decades in which he did a variety of things. He grew up in a Dissenting household in London; his father, James Foe, made and sold candles. (Daniel added the prefix "de" to his name some time in the 1690s, probably to make himself appear more sophisticated). Since his family were not members of the Church of England, Defoe could not go to either Cambridge or Oxford, but he had a good education at a separate school set up for Dissenters, and it seems as though he intended to become a minister. We do not know why that plan changed, but by the mid-1680s at least, Defoe had set out to make his living as a London tradesman. Defoe ran several businesses in his twenties, thirties, and forties: he owned a factory that made roofing tiles, he sold men's undergarments and stockings, he raised civet cats (for the purposes of making perfume), he invested in a scheme to build diving bells to reach sunken treasure. All of these businesses ultimately failed, and Defoe declared bankruptcy more than once in his life. Lawsuits from the period suggest that Defoe was perhaps not always the most scrupulous businessman in history, either.
Alongside these business ventures or, to use the lingo of the period, "projects," from his mid-thirties Defoe also pursued a second career, as a writer. In 1697, he wrote An Essay on Projects, a book that outlined various plans for public and private institutions: a school for young women, insurance schemes for widows and sailors, merchant banks. Writing became a "project" like any other, and eventually it was Defoe's primary occupation. He was a prolific writer of poetry, journalism, conduct literature, economic tracts, political essays, and outright propaganda. Many of these works were published anonymously, so there is a lively and ongoing debate among modern scholars as to exactly how much Defoe wrote in the first two decades of the eighteenth century, and precisely which of the many pamphlets that various people have assigned to him over the years were ones that he actually wrote, But any way you count it, his published output was enormous.
In 1719, Defoe published The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, a work that became an instant success and that immediately became a kind of modern myth, one with great staying power in our collective imaginations ever since. Defoe followed that up with a series of extended works of fiction: The Farther Adventures of Robinson Crusoe (1720), Memoirs of a Cavalier (1720),Captain Singleton (1720); Moll Flanders (1722); Colonel Jacque (1722), A Journal of the Plague Year (1722), The Fortunate Mistress (1724). We now think of these books as important contributors to the history of the novel in English, which would go on in the course of the eighteenth century to become an increasingly popular and sophisticated mode of literature. But Defoe never called these works "novels," and it seems to have been important to him that these extended works of prose fiction seemed to be true stories. Each of these works is narrated in the first person by its protagonist, who sets his or her story in a world that is real and recognizable. And each of these books responds to issues and stories that were circulating in the print media of the day. Robinson Crusoe responds in general terms to the interest in colonialization and travel narratives, but also more specifically to the story of Alexander Selkirk, a Scottish sailor who, like Crusoe, was marooned on an island for several years. Selkirk told his story to Richard Steele, who wrote it up in his own journal, The Englishman in 1713. Moll Flanders responds to the intense public in crime and criminals in the 1720s. The Fortunate Mistress is surely a response of sorts to Eliza Haywood's 1723 work Idalia, or, the Unfortunate Mistress. Given all that he did and wrote in his lifetime, Defoe might be surprised to know that he is now remembered primarily as a writer of fiction, but there is no denying the engrossing power of these works.
Image: Daniel Defoe, from the frontispiece to his poem Jure Divino, published in 1706. (National Portrait Gallery, London)