The Sign of Four (1890), Sherlock Holmes, a Detective Novel by Sir. Arthur Conan Doyle: summary

“Schade dass de Natur nur einen Mensch aus dir schuf, Denn zum wurdigen Mann war und zum Schelmen der Stoff. (It's too silly nature only created one of you because there was enough material to make a dignified man as well as rogue). Faust, First Part, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832), a German writer.

The story starts out with Mary Morstan, a captain’s daughter, who steps at Holmes’s door in consulting her father’s disappearance ten years ago, until that early morning she got a mysterious message. Mary’s father is a British military in India that is taking a leave. She does not find her father at his hotel when she arrives. There is no news from him since then. It is Major Sholto, the only friend in London, but he denies knowing about his homecoming. 

The investigation leads cocaine addict, Holmes, and his companion, Watson, into some evidences including iron-box treasure and a puzzle – the sign of four – the letter who writes four names: two Mohammedans, one Hindu and one white man. A wooden leg man, later recognized as an Englishman on the sign four brings his own story from plantation in Arga (India) to British jail in Andamans Island (Bay of Bengal, 340 miles of north Sumatra), to Upper Norwood, London, but, of course, detective Jones, Holmes and Watson, state it as a made up story.

At first Scotland Yard sergeant, Athelney John, is described as a clumsy detective but later he and Holmes work together to seizing the suspect in the fast boat named Aurora. Homes involved a dog in the case, and it is Toby which is successfully in tracing the killer alongside River Thames. This second novel of Doyle is published in 1890, and is also Watson’s story. Watson draws his hypothesis on Bartholomew Sholto’s body as the death from some powerful vegetable alkaloid -- some strychnine. Watson gets a wife, detective Jones gets the credit and Holmes solves the puzzle. 

Like the first novel, this book is also not easy to comprehend. There are times that I had to pause and reread paragraphs. Nevertheless, it is a strong and well-crafted story, and one that to be loved by many types of readers –those who enjoys abstruse cryptogram, historical set in the late 1800s, unpredictable character, or simply like smart and elegant mystery book with many layers unfold the pages.

The Sign of Four (1890), Sherlock Holmes, a Detective Novel by Sir. Arthur Conan Doyle: summary

Three times a day for many months he had witnessed Holmes’s addicted performance, but custom had not reconciled his mind to it. On the contrary from day to day he had become more irritable at the sight, and his conscience swelled nightly within him at the thought that he had lacked the courage to protest.

A young lady brought her case to Holmes and Watson. Miss Mary Morstan was a blonde young lady, small, dainty, well gloved, and dressed in the most perfect taste. Her father disappeared upon the third of December, 1878 nearly ten years ago. Morstan was an officer in an Indian regiment, who sent Mary home when she was quite a child. Mary was placed, however, in a comfortable boarding establishment at Edinburgh, and there she remained until she was seventeen years of age. In the year 1878 her father, who was senior captain of his regiment, obtained twelve months leave ad came home. He telegraphed her daughter from London that he had arrived all safe and directed her to come down at once giving the hotel’s name as his address.

On reaching London she drove to the hotel, and was informed that Captain Morstan was staying there but that he had gone out night before and had not returned. She waited all day without news of him, then she communicated with the police, and the next morning they advertised it in all papers. He had only one friend in London, he was Major Sholto. The major had retired some little time before and lived at Upper Norwood. She communicated him, but he did not even know that his brother officer was in London.

It was about six years ago, an advertisement had appeared in a paper asking for address of Miss Mary Morstan, and stating it that it would be to her advantage to come forward. Mrs. Cecile Forrester in the capacity of governess gave her advice to publish Mary address in the advertisement column. The same day there arrived through the post small cardboard box addressed to her, which she found to contain a very large and lustrous pearl. No word of writing was enclosed. Since then every year upon the same date there has appeared a similar box, containing similar pearl, without any clue as to the sender. Then that early morning she received a letter. She showed it to Holmes. The message asked her to meet the sender at a public place. If she was distrustful, she could bring two friends - not the police.

Major Sholto denied having heard that his friend in London, then four years later he died. Mary found Major Sholto was very particular friend of her father His letters were full of allusion to the major. Sholto and Morstan were in command of troops at the Andaman Islands (Bay of Bengal, 340 miles north of Sumatra). A curious paper was found in her father’s desk which no one could understood. It as a paper of native Indian manufacture. It was written, in very rough an coarse character,” The Sign of Four -- Jonathan Small, Mahomet Singh, Abdullah Khan, Dost Akbar.

The stranger brought them to Norwood, Sholto’s house. The little man explained about his father, Arthur Sholto. Major Sholto once in Indian Army. He retired some eleven years ago and came to live at Pondicherry Lodge in Upper Norwood. He had prospered in India and brought back with him a considerable sum of money, a large collection of valuable curiousities, and a staff of native servants. With the advantages he bought himself a house, and lived in a great luxury. He had only twin sons, they were Thaddeus and Bartholomew.

Early in 1882 Arthur Sholto received a letter from India which was a great shock to him. He nearly fainted when he opened it, and from that day he sickened to his death. He suffered for years from an enlarged spleen, but he now became rapidly worse, and then he made confession to his boys. Morstan had suffered for years from a weak heart, but he concealed it from every one. Arthur admitted that he alone knew it. When in India he and Morstan came into possession of a considerable treasure. Sholto brought it to London, and on the night of Morstan’s arrival he came straight over to claim his share. The two men had a difference opinion as to the division to the treasure, then they came  to heated words. Morstan had sprung out of his chair in a paroxysm of anger, when he suddenly pressed his hands, and he fell backward, cutting his head against the corner of the treasure-chest. He was dead.

His servant, Lal Cowdar, had heard the quarrel, and found Morstan was dead in that room. He said no one would know Sholto had killed him, but his master denied that he had killed his friend. All were asleep in the house. Lal Cowdar and Sholto disposed the body that night, and within a few days the London papers were full of the mysterious disappearance of Captain Morstan. A horrible change came over his expression, his eyes stared wildly, his jaw dropped, and he yelled at a man. The twin stared at the window. A face was looking in them out of the darkness, and he was gone. He was a bearded, hairy face, with wild cruel face eyes and an expression of concentrated malevolence. The window of Arthur’s room founded open in the morning, and upon his chest was fixed a torn piece of paper with the words ‘The Sign of Four’ scrawled across it.

At the short account of her father’s death Miss Morstan had burned deadly white, and or a moment she was about to faint. After Arthur’s death, the twin tried to find the hidden treasure. Thaddeus and Bartholomew had difference opinion on the subject, so Thaddeus left Pondicherry Lodge and took Williams with him. Yesterday, Thaddeus learned the extreme importance had occurred. The treasure had been discovered.

Pondicherry Lodge

Pondicherry Lodge stood in its own grounds and was girt round with a very high stone wall topped with broken glass. There was a grumbling sound and clanking and jarring of keys. The door swung heavily back, deep-chested man stood in the opening. McMurdo, the servant, said to him that he had no orders to accept Thaddeus’s companion. Furthermore, Bartholomew Sholto was not at home. The old Mrs. Bernstone, the housekeeper, was only woman in the house. She explained Bartholomew had locked himself in his room and would not answer her.

Bartholomew was dead in his room, and Holmes found a torn sheet of note-paper with some words scrawled upon it, ‘The Sing of Four’. Watson’s analysis said that the death from some powerful vegetable alkaloid -- some strychnine-like substance which would produce tetanus. Mr. Athelney Jones, the sergeant, arrested Thaddeus Sholto for killing his brother. The brother was dead and the jewel was gone. Thaddeus was with his brother, they was a quarrel. Thaddeus denied it and he gave a suspicious name Jonathan Small, one of the two people that night.

Watson escorted Miss Morstan back to her home. She was weak and helpless, shaken in mind and nerve. It was to take her at a disadvantage to obtrude love upon her at such time. Worse still, she was rich. If Holmes’s researchers were successful, she would be an heiress. It was nearly two o’clock when they reached Mrs. Cecil Forester’s. The servants had retired hours ago.

Holmes sent Watson to pick up a dog, the owner gave him an ugly, long-haired, lop-eared creature, half spaniel ad half lurcher, brown and white in color, with a very clumsy, waddling gait. Watson found himself back once more at Pondicherry Lodge. McMurdo had, he found, been arrested as an accessory, both he and Thaddeus Sholto had been marched off to the station. Two constables guarded narrow gate, but they allowed him to pass with the dog on his mentioning the detective’s name.  Atheley Jones has gone.

Toby, the old dog, ran along, whining eagerly, underneath its shadow, and stop finally in a corner screened by young beech. The slight smudge of blood upon the white plaster. Two officers had learned an importance secret as o buried the treasure. A map was drawn for them by an Englishman named Jonathan Small. They remembered the name from the chart in Morstan’s possession the sign of the four. One white man, the others were Hindoos and Mohammedans. They again traced the presence of some confederate in the household. Jonathan, with his wooden leg, was utterly unable to reach the lofty room of Bartholomew Sholto.

Toby led them to the end of street right down to the water’s edge, where there was a small wooden wharf. They have taken to a boat there. A wooden placard slung through the window, ‘Mordecai Smith’ was printed across it in large letters. Mr. Smith had been away, Mrs. Smith, the owner’s wife, admitted that the wooden-legged man hired the launch, Aurora. Mr. Smith, the boatman, and his son Jim left the Smith’s Wharf in the steam launch Aurora. It was said that Aurora was one of the fastest launches on the river. Holmes engaged a launch and went down the river on the track of the Aurora.

 

Holmes reported to Scotland Yard detective, Athelney Jones. Finally they caught Aurora. Holmes and Jones’ pistols rang out together. At the moment the wooden-legged man threw himself upon the rudder. The two Smiths, father and son, sat sullenly in their launch but came meekly enough when commanded. The aurora herself they hauled off and made fast to their stern. A solid iron chest of Indian workmanship stood upon the deck. Jonathan Small was arrested by Jones, the iron box was opened. It was absolutely and completely empty.

The Strange Story of Jonathan Small

Small said it was his treasure. He chose to throw the treasure into Thames rather than let it go to kith or kin of Sholto or Morstan. It was not to make them rich that he did it for Achmet.

Small was a Worcestershire man himself. When he was about eighteen, he got into a mess over a girl and could only got out of it by taking the Queen’s shilling and joining the Third Buffs, which was just starting for India. He was fool enough to go swimming in the Ganges, a crocodile took him and nipped off his leg. He was five months in hospital over it, and he was invalided out of the Army and unfitted for any active occupation. He was cripple in his twentieth. A man named Abel White, an indigo planter, wanted overseer to look after his coolies and keep them up to their work. Suddenly without a note of warning, the great mutiny broke. On month India laid as still and peaceful, to all appearance; the next there were two hundred thousand black devils let loose, and the country was a perfect hell. Night after night the whole sky was alight with the burning bungalows. White’s bungalow was burning too.

The wooden-led had a small band. He had two Punjabees. They were tall, fierce-looking chaps, Mahomet Singh and Abdullah Khan. They could speak English pretty well. Abdullah Khan and Mahomet Singh had a plan to rob a rich rajah in northern province. A pretend merchant named Achmet, was in the city Agra and desired to gain his way into fort. He had a traveler companion named Dost Akbar, a foster brother to Abdullah, who knew the secret. When the rajah put his jewels into the hands of Achmet he did it because he knew that he was a trusty man. They had the treasure box. Rajah’s man had spied on Achmet after the losing treasure. Later his body was discovered.

The four men were seized and brought to trial on a charge of murder. Not a word about the jewels came out at the trial. The murder, however, was clearly made out, and it was certain that they must all had been concerned on it. The three Sikhs got penal servitude for life, and Small was condemned to death, through his sentence was afterwards commuted to the same as the others. They had been transferred from Agra to Madras, and from there to Blair Island in the Andamans.

There was Major Sholto, Captain Morstan and Lieutenant Bromley Brown, who were in command of the native troops. Morstan and Sholto were bosom friends, those two, never far apart. Small told the major his story, the treasure. But he said the chest belonged to the first comer, the government. Later Captain Morstan involved with the conversation, there were another meeting, at which Mahomet Singh, Abdullah Khan, and Dost Akbar were all present. Major Sholto as to go to India to test the story. If he found the box he was to leave it there, to send out a small yacht provisioned for voyage, which was to lie off Rutland Island, and to which they were to make their way, and finally returned to his duties. Captain Morstan was then to apply for leave of absence, to meet the four men at Agra, and there they were to have a final division of the treasure. All that they sealed by the most solemn oaths.

The villain Sholto went off to India, but he never came back. Captain Morstan showed the four his name among a list of passengers in one of the mail-boats very shortly afterwards. His uncle had died, leaving him a fortune, and he had left the Army. Morstan went over to Agra shortly afterwards and found, as they expected, that the treasure was indeed gone. From that h lived only for vengeance. He care nothing about the law- nothing for the gallows. To escape to track down Sholto. Even Agra treasure had come to be a smaller thing than slaying Sholto.

Small escaped from the island, he took a boat. For ten days beating about on the sea, he and a friend named Tonga picked up by a trader which was going from Singapore to Jeddah with a cargo of Malay pilgrims. He adventures and drifted him to London. He had no great difficulty in finding where Sholto lived. The treasure had been found. It was up at the top of the house in Mr. Bartholomew Sholto’s chemical laboratory. He denied in killing Sholto’s son. But for all of them, Small’s story was only little drama.

Mary Morstan had done Watson the honor to accept him as a husband in prospective. For Holmes, there still remained cocaine-bottle. He looked weary, the cocaine reaction was already upon him. Then Watson tried to send him protest, but Holmes himself cited lines of Goethe:

“Schade dass de Natur nur einen Mensch aus dir schuf, Denn zum wurdigen Mann war und zum Schelmen der Stoff. (Too bad nature only created one of you because there was enough material to make a dignified man as well as rogue).

Holmes have done all the work in his business, Watson got a wife of it, Jones got the credit. Sherlock Holmes had proud of himself that there still remained the cocaine-bottle.

*******

October 31, 2017

Sekapur Sirih

Novel kedua karya Sir. Arthur Conan Doyle, diterbitkan tahun 1890. Kisah ini masih bertema misteri dan detektif, namun kali ini Sherlock Holmes dan Dr. Watson didatangi wanita muda mencari keberadaan ayahnya yang telah lama menghilang, sepuluh tahun silam. Penyidikan dari barang bukti, dan diikuti kematian seseorang, dan sebuah catatan berisikan tulisan the Sign of Four memuat nama empat orang, membawa misteri kepada pencarian harta karun. Latar belakang cerita tahun 1870-an; dari Kepulauan Andaman dan Nicobar, 340 mil (547 km) utara Sumatra, pada Teluk Bengal, termasuk wilayah India, dijadikan tempat memenjarakan para tahanan politik dan kriminal Inggris, hingga kota London. Penjara didirikan kolonial Inggris dan hingga sekarang gedung penjara tersebut masih berdiri. Tokohnya bertugas di sana dan membawa permasalahan ke kota London. Ada sedikit kemiripan cerita dengan kisah A Study in Scarlet.

  

Terjemahan dalam Bahasa Indonesia: The Sign of Four (1890), kisah detektif karya Arthur Conan Doyle, sebuah ringkasan

Perilaku kecanduan kokain dan morfin Holmes sudah menjadi pemandangan keseharian Watson. Dia semakin kehilangan keberanian menegur temannya itu. Dalam panasnya pedebatan berbagai hal, mereka didatangi seorang tamu. Wanita muda dan cantik sangat memesona dengan pakaian elegan, kehadirannya dipicu oleh sebuah pesan misterius dari seseorang yang tidak dikenalnya, meminta bertemu di depan sebuah bioskop. Mary Morstan mengetahui kehebatan Holmes dan Watson dari pengasuhnya.

Mary telah kehilangan ibunya, ayahnya sendiri seorang tentara yang ditempatkan di India. Mary kecil tumbuh di sana, hingga usianya tujuh belas tahun ia dikirim ayahnya ke sekolah berasrama di Edinburgh, Skotandia. Ayahnya memanfaatkan masa cutinya pulang ke Inggris. Setibanya di London, ia mengirim telegraf memberitahu putrinya Mary dengan alamatnya pada sebuah hotel di kota London. Mary pun mendatangi hotel tersebut, namun sayang ayahnya pergi keluar malam itu dan tidak pernah kembali. Mary menunggunya seharian, tiada kabar berita dari ayahnya. Akhirnya Mary melaporkan ke polisi dan mereka pun membuat pengumunan di semua koran di London. Kejadian itu sudah sepuluh tahun, hingga pagi hari sebelum berangkat menemui Holmes, ia menerima sepucuk pesan misterius.

Holmes dan Watson pun bersedia menemani Mary menemui orang asing yang berpesan agar tidak melibatkan polisi. Beberapa surat ditemukan pada laci, surat-surat itu menggambarkan kedekatan ayahnya dengan Mayor Sholto, satu-satunya teman ayah Mary di London. Tentu saja, polisi dan Mary telah menemui Sholto, namun pensiunan mayor itu mengelak mengetahui kepulangan Morstan ke London. Empat tahun setelah itu, Sholto pun meninggal dunia.

Sebuah kertas misterius buatan India bertuliskan ‘Sign of Four’ bertuangkan nama empat orang, namun tidak satu pun yang tahu artinya. Enam tahun silam, sebuah iklan di surat kabar meminta alamat Nn. Mary, dan atas saran pengasuhnya Mary pun mengumumkan alamatnya pada sebuah kolom koran. Sejak itu pula, sebuah paket berisikan permata besar tiba di rumahnya, tanpa ada petunjuk siapa pengirimnya. Semenjak itu pula, setiap tahunnya, ia menerima paket pada tanggal yang sama, dan hingga suatu saat berhenti.

Sebelum meninggal Mayor Sholto menceritakan kronologis kematian ayah Mary pada kedua putranya. Thaddeus Sholto adalah orang yang mengirim sepucuk surat untuk bertemu ingin menjelaskan tentang kematian ayah Mary.

Mayor Sholto dan Kapten Morstan adalah dua pejabat militer yang bertugas di India. Dan akhirnya menjalin pertemanan. Tiba masa pensiun, Mayor Sholto pulang ke London, dengan kekayaan yang dibawanya dari India membuatnya kaya raya. Ia juga membawa pembantu dari India dan beberapa pengawal. Ia tinggal di kawasan  Norwood, di sebuah rumah mewah dengan dua putra kembarnya. Hingga suatu ketika, ia menerima surat tahun 1882, membuatnya sangat kaget dan pucat pasi. Thaddeus muda juga menyaksikan reaksi ayahnya ketika itu, namun ia tidak pernah tahu isi surat itu. Tak berapa lama kemudian, Morstan tiba dari India. Morstan sedang mengambil cuti, dari hotel malam itu juga ia bergegas menemui sahabatnya Sholto. Terjadi perdebatan dalam ruangan, juga terdengar oleh kepala pembantu mereka yang berdarah India, Lal Cowdar.

Keduanya berdebat hebat soal pembagian harta, dan saat pertengkaran terjadi, Morstan emosi dan terjatuh. Morstan menderita penyakit jantung, dan tidak banyak orang mengetahuinya, ia terjatuh dan tewas seketika. Sholto ketakutan dan kuatir dituduh membunuh, ia tidak mau diseret ke penjara. Morstan tewas mendadak, hanya ia yang berada dalam ruangan itu. Pegawainya berdarah India mencurigai tuannya, apalagi ia sempat mendengar pertengkaran di kamar. Lal Cowdar dan Sholto menyingkirkan mayat Morstan  secara sembunyi-sembunyi, malam telah larut, penghuni rumah sudah terlelap. Tiada seorang pun yang tahu tentang kematian Morstan selain Sholto dan Cowdar. Tidak lama kemudian, berita hilangnya Kapten Morstan tersiar di surat kabar. Si kembar juga mengetahui kabar itu dari koran. Semenjak itu ayahnya berubah.

Waktu berlalu. Mayor Sholto tidak tahan menanggung rasa bersalah. Atas saran putranya, ia pun membuat pengumuman di surat kabar menanyakan alamat Mary, menjanjikan berita baik untuk gadis itu. Arthur Sholto mengirimkan permata, apa yang menjadi hak Mary. Namun paket pun terhenti, semenjak kematian Sholto. Lal Cowdar juga meninggal. Sepucuk pesan misterius pun tiba, memintanya untuk bertemu.

Ternyata ia adalah Thaddeus Sholto, putra dari Mayor Sholto. Ia pun menceritakan semua cerita versi ayahnya sebelum meninggal; kronologis kematian ayah Mary. Termasuk peti harta karun yang seharusnya milik Morstan dan Sholto, bila dihitung Mary akan kaya raya. Peti harta karun telah ditemukan, mereka ingin membaginya. Dalam peta itu, ditemukan empat nama yakni Jonathan Small, Mohamet Singh, Abdullah Khan, dan Dost Akbar- disebut dengan the Sign of Four (tanda empat). Tulisan tanda empat nama ditemui sama dengan yang ada pada laci Kapten Morstan.

Sejak kematian ayahnya, Bhartolomew dan Thaddeus bertikai masalah harta karun dan rahasia Kapten Morstan. Thaddeus meninggalkan rumah dan membawa pegawai setianya William. Bartholomew menempati rumah ayahnya di rumah Pondicherry Lodge di Norwood, dengan beberapa pembantu dan pengawal.

Holmes, Watson, Mary, Thaddeus dan anak buahnya tiba di rumah ayahnya. Pembantu mengatakan Barthomew mengunci diri dalam kamar dan tidak mau menjawab. Sangat mengejutkan ketika kamar berhasil dibuka, Bartholomew telah meninggal dan peti harta karun menghilang. Holmes pun menghubungi Scotland Yard, detektif Athelney Jones. Dengan investigasi yang belum matang, Jones langsung menangkap Thadeus dan membawa pembantunya yang dinilai terlibat ke kantor.

Watson menganalisa kematian Bartholomew dan diakibatkan oleh sayuran (tanaman) alkaloid (mengandung nitrogen organik meliputi obat-obatan adiktif seperti kokain, dan morfin dan beracun seperti atropine dan stychnine), strychnine racun keras. Tidak ditemukan kekerasan pada tubuhnya. Watson dan Holmes akhirnya menarik kesimpulan Jonathan Small yang diceritakan oleh Thaddeus adalah orang yang terakhir bersama saudara kembarnya malam itu, adalah nama yang sama dengan catatan pada laci Kapten Morstan. Thaddeus mengambarkan ciri Small, lelaki pincang dengan kaki kayu, bermuka bengis.

Sekarang pencarian ditujukan pada Small atau mungkin temannya. Holmes menyuruh Watson membeli seekor anjing pelacak. Toby hanyalah anjing buruk rupa, namun lihai dalam melacak bau. Tim Scotland Yard sudah pergi, tinggallah beberapa polisi penjaga kejadian pembunuhan. Toby melacak bau dan akhirnya pada sebuah pelabuhan di pinggiran sungai Thames. Pelaku rupanya telah menyewa sebuah kapal cepat, dan dikabarkan pemilik dan putranya membawa lelaki pincang itu.

Holmes pun mengontak detektif Jones, dan akhirnya memburu kapal cepat bernama Aurora, istri pemilik kapal mengakui si lelaki pincang telah menyewa kapal tersebut, suami dan putranya bersamanya. Setelah pengejaran yang tidak mudah, Aurora pun terkepung, bunyi letupan pistol menghentikan langkah Jonathan Small. Pemilik kapal Smith dan putranya mengelak terlibat dalam harta karun dan pembunuhan Bartholomew. Peti harta karun pun diambil dan Jonathan Small ditangkap. Peti dibawa ke hadapan Mary dan Thaddeus, namun peti sudah kosong. Walau mendapati peti kosong, Mary tetap bahagia, sekarang ia memiliki Watson.

Pengakuan Jonathan Small

Small adalah lahir di Inggris, pada usia mudanya ia patah hati oleh seorang gadis, lalu memutuskan untuk menjadi tentara dan ditempatkan di India. Saat Small berenang di Sungai Gangga, ia diserang buaya, dan kakinya patah. Kepincangan tidak memungkinkan menjadikannya tentara atau pekerjaan apapun. Pengusaha perkebunan kebetulan mencari seorang mandor mengawasi kuli perkebunan. Small pun menjadi mandor di atas kuda. Tuannya yang juga orang Inggris adalah orang baik. Pembrontakan pun pecah, bungalow orang Inggris dibakar di berbagai tempat, termasuk tuan pemilik kebun tempat Small bekerja.

Small pun lari dan akhirnya merekrut dua orang Punjabi bersamanya - Abdullah Khan dan Mahomet Singh. Abdullah Khan mengajaknya dalam sebuah misi perampokan harta orang kaya di propinsi bagian utara. Seseorang bernama Achmet telah menyamar menjadi pedagang, ia yang mengetahui peti harta itu, ia sudah mendapat kepercayaan raja. Saudara angkat Khan bernama Dost Akbar menjadi teman Achmet dalam penyamaran. Peti hilang, orang sekitar raja mencurigai Achmet. Gerak-geriknya pun dimata-matai, dan akhirnya temukan tewas. Keempat orang dalam ‘the sign of four’ ditangkap dan dituduh membunuh. Mereka adalah teman dari Achmet, dan direkayasa membunuh Achmet. Tidak ada yang membahas tentang peti hilang, pengadilan menetapkan hukuman seumur hidup atas tuduhan pembunuhan. Keempatnya dikirim ke penjara di Kepulauan Andaman, penjara orang Inggris, kepulauan yang terletak di Teluk Benggal dan sekitar 547 kilometer di utara Sumatra.

Small mendapat kepercayaan dan mengutarakan kisah harta karun pada Mayor Sholto. Mayor Sholto dan Kapten Morstan adalah dua dari tiga pemimpin penjara. Kabar ini pun sampai kepada Kapten Morstan yang juga sahabat Sholto. Keduanya mengatakan harta karun yang disembunyikan di kota Arga. Serangkaian rapat diadakan oleh Mayor Sholto, Kapten Morstan dan keempat napi itu. Sholto berangkat ke India untuk menguji cerita keempat orang tersebut. Dan apabila benar harta karun ada, maka pembagian akan dilakukan sesuai dengan kesepakatan bersama.

Mayor Sholto pergi ke Arga, namum sejak itu tidak perah kembali ke Andaman, ia pulang ke Inggris. Paman Mayor meninggal dunia di Inggris, mewariskan banyak harta. Sholto telah mengundurkan diri dari tugas militer. Kapten Morstan menunjukkan daftar penumpang keberangkatan kapal Sholto ke Inggris. Small sangat marah dengan penipuan yang dilakukan Sholto, kemarahannya ingin membunuh Sholto, bukan sekedar masalah harta. Small sudah tidak peduli dengan konsekuensi melarikan diri, atau melanggar hukum, yang ada dalam benaknya hanyalah api dendam.

Ia berhasil melarikan diri dengan kapal kecil, selama sepuluh hari ia dan temannya mengambang terlunta-lunta di lautan, hingga akhirnya, pedagang menyelamatkannya. Pedagang tersebut bertolak dari Singapura menuju Jeddah, kapal membawa rombongan peziarah rohani Malaysia. Dengan perjuangan, Small akhirnya tiba di London, dan tidak sulit baginya menemukan kediaman Mayor Sholto. Rumah mewah Sholto dijaga banyak pengawal. Ia susah menembus masuk menemui Sholto sewaktu hidup.

Setelah kematian Sholto, ia pun mengetahui peti harta itu telah ditemukan. Peti dibawanya lari dengan kapal Aurora, ia mengetahui kapal itu sangat cepat. Small mengosongkan peti, membuang semua permata dan harta lainnya ke dalam laut. Ia tidak rela harta itu dimiliki oleh anak-anak Sholto dan Morstan, baginya harta itu darah Achmet. Ia mengelak dituduh membunuh putra Sholto.

Menurut Detektif Jones, Watson, dan Holmes, Small telah mengarang drama sendiri, mereka tidak memercayai sama sekali. Watson sendiri tengah berbahagia hendak meminang Mary, saat yang sama Holmes tampak lemah dan loyo akibat reaksi kokain yang dikonsumsinya. Watson berusaha sehalus mungkin memprotes Holmes, apakah ada istilah untuk orang yang sehat malah memalaskan dan merusak tubuh. Holmes sendiri menjawab dan mengutip kata bijak dari Goethe:

“Schade dass de Natur nur einen Mensch aus dir schuf, Denn zum wurdigen Mann war und zum Schelmen der Stoff. (Too bad nature only created one of you because there was enough material to make a dignified man as well as rogue). Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832), penulis berkebangsaan Jerman, diambil dari Faust, First Part. Arti bebasnya: Terlalu konyol alam ini hanya menciptakan manusia sepertimu, karena alam cukup materi membuat orang mulia sama seperti membuat orang hina.

Small tetap dihadapkan ke pengadilan atas pembunuhan Bartholomew. Holmes menyelesaikan pekerjaan dengan baik, Watson mendapatkan istri, dan Jones mendapatkan kenaikan pangkat. Bagi Holmes memiliki botol kokain saja sudah membuatnya senang. 

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31 Oktober 2017