The Great Agra Treasure

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 net-work of lines and wrinkles all over his mahogany features, which told of a hard, open-air life.

There was a singular prominence about his bearded chin which marked a man who was not to be easily turned from his purpose. His age may have been fifty or thereabouts, for his black, curly hair was thickly shot with gray. His face in repose was not an 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 humor 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 been the old major I would have swung for him with a light heart. I would have thought no more of knifing him than of smoking this cigar. But it's cursed hard that I should be lagged over this young Sholto, with whom I had no quarrel whatever."
"You are under the charge of Mr. Athelney Jones, of Scotland Yard. He is going to bring you up to my rooms, and I shall ask you for a true 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 in the Andamans, and am like to spend the other half digging drains at Dartmoor. It was an evil day for me when first I clapped eyes upon the merchant Achmet and had to do with the Agra treasure, which never brought anything but a curse yet upon the man who owned it. To him it brought murder, to Major Sholto it brought fear and guilt, to me it has meant slavery for life."

At this moment Athelney Jones thrust his broad face and heavy 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 Norwood business."
"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 Morstan, however, was in the drawing-room: so to the drawing-room I went, box in hand, leaving the obliging inspector in the cab.

She was seated by the open window, dressed in some sort of white 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 colored her pale cheeks.
"I heard a cab drive up," she said. "I thought that Mrs. Forrester had come back very early, but I never dreamed that it might be you. What news have you brought me?"
"I have brought something better than news," said I, putting down the box upon the table and speaking 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 England. Is it not glorious?"

I think that I must have been rather overacting my delight, and that she detected a hollow ring in my 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 Holmes. With all the will in the world, I could never have followed up a clue which has taxed even his analytical genius. As it was, we very nearly lost it at the last moment."
"Pray sit down and tell me all about it, Dr. Watson," said she.
I narrated briefly what had occurred since I had seen her last,—Holmes'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 Thames. She listened with parted lips and shining eyes to my recital of our adventures. When I spoke of the dart which had so narrowly missed us, she turned so white that I feared that she was about to faint. "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."
"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 Thames," I answered. "I must borrow Mrs. Forrester's poker." There was in the front a thick and broad hasp, wrought in the image of a sitting Buddha. Under this I thrust the end of the poker and twisted it outward as a lever. The hasp sprang open with a loud snap. With trembling fingers I flung back the lid. We both stood gazing in astonishment. The box was empty!

No wonder that it was heavy. The iron-work was two-thirds of an inch thick all round. It was massive, well made, and solid, like a chest constructed to carry things of great price, but not one shred or crumb of metal or jewelry lay within it.

It was absolutely and completely empty.

"The treasure is lost," said Miss Morstan, calmly. As I listened to the words and realized what they meant, a great shadow seemed to 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 realize 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 lips. Now that they are gone I can tell you how I love you. That is why I said, 'Thank God.'"

"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.

El gran tesoro de Agra

Nuestro prisionero estaba sentado en el camarote, enfrente de la caja de hierro por cuya posesin tanto se haba esforzado y tanto tiempo haba aguardado. Era un sujeto curtido por el sol, de mirada temeraria, con rasgos de color caoba surcados por una red de lneas y arrugas, que daban fe de una vida dura al aire libre. Su mandbula barbuda era particularmente saliente, lo cual indicaba que se trataba de un hombre al que no era fcil desviar de sus propsitos. Deba de tener unos cincuenta aos, ms o menos, porque entre sus cabellos negros y ensortijados asomaban numerosas mechas grises. Su rostro no resultaba desagradable cuando estaba en reposo, aunque sus espesas cejas y su agresiva mandbula le daban, como habamos tenido ocasin de comprobar, una expresin terrible cuando se enfureca. En aquel momento estaba sentado, apoyando en el regazo las manos esposadas y con la cabeza cada sobre el pecho, mirando con ojos ansiosos y centelleantes la caja que haba sido la causa de todas sus fechoras. Me pareci que haba ms pena que rabia en su expresin rgida y controlada. Incluso me mir una vez con una especie de brillo divertido en los ojos.
––Bueno, Jonathan Small ––dijo Holmes, encendiendo un cigarro––. Lamento que todo haya acabado as.
––Tambin lo lamento yo, seor ––respondi Small con franqueza––. Pero no creo que me puedan colgar por esto. Le doy mi palabra, sobre la Biblia, de que no levant la mano contra el seor Sholto. Fue ese pequeo diablo de Tonga, que le dispar uno de sus malditos dardos. Yo no particip en ello, seor. Me doli como si se hubiera tratado de un pariente mo. Azot al pequeo diablo con el extremo suelto de la cuerda, pero ya estaba hecho y yo no poda remediarlo.
––Tenga un cigarro ––dijo Holmes––. Y lo mejor ser que eche un trago de este frasco, porque est usted empapado. Cmo esperaba que un hombre tan pequeo y dbil como ese negro dominara al seor Sholto y lo inmovilizara mientras usted trepaba por la cuerda?
––Parece que sabe usted lo que ocurri como si hubiera estado all. La verdad es que esperaba encontrar la habitacin vaca. Conoca bastante bien las costumbres de la casa, y saba que Sholto sola bajar a cenar a aquella hora. No pienso andarme con secretos. Como mejor puedo defenderme es diciendo la pura verdad. Eso s, si se hubiera tratado del viejo comandante, no me importara nada que me ahorcaran por haberlo matado. Lo habra acuchillado con la misma tranquilidad con que me fumo este cigarro. Pero es una mala faena ir a prisin por la muerte de ese joven Sholto, con el que no tena ninguna cuenta pendiente.
––Se encuentra usted en manos del inspector Athelney Jones, de Scotland Yard. Va a llevarlo a mi domicilio, y le voy a pedir que me cuente toda la verdad de lo ocurrido. Le conviene ser sincero, porque si lo es, tal vez yo pueda ayudarle. Creo poder demostrar que el veneno acta con tal rapidez que Sholto ya estaba muerto antes de que usted llegara a la habitacin.
––Ya lo creo que lo estaba. En la vida me he llevado un susto tan grande como cuando entr por la ventana y lo vi sonrindome con la cabeza cada sobre un hombro. Le aseguro que fue un golpe, seor. Habra medio matado a Tonga por hacer aquello si no se llega a escabullir. Precisamente por eso se dej olvidada su maza y algunos de sus dardos, segn me dijo, y apuesto a que fue eso lo que les puso sobre mi pista, aunque no me explico cmo pudo seguirla hasta el fin. No le guardo rencor por ello, pero no deja de resultar extrao ––aadi, con una sonrisa de amargura–– que yo, que tengo derecho a reclamar parte de una fortuna de medio milln, me haya pasado la primera mitad de mi vida construyendo una presa en las Andaman y me vaya a pasar la otra mitad cavando letrinas en Dartmoor. Fue un da nefasto para m aqul en que puse los ojos sobre el mercader Achmet y entr en mi vida el tesoro de Agra, que no ha hecho sino acarrear la perdicin de todo aquel que lo ha posedo. A Achmet le caus la muerte; al mayor Sholto, miedo y remordimientos; y a m, la esclavitud durante toda una vida.
En aquel momento, Athelney Jones asom la cara y los hombros al interior del pequeo camarote.
––Parece una reunin familiar ––coment––. Creo que voy a echar un trago de ese frasco, Holmes. Bueno, me parece que podemos felicitarnos. Es una pena que no cogiramos vivo al otro, pero no haba eleccin. La verdad, Holmes, hay que reconocer que la cosa ha salido bien por los pelos. Un poco ms y se nos escapan.
––Bien est lo que bien acaba ––dijo Holmes––. Pero lo cierto es que no sospechaba que el Aurora fuera tan rpido.
––Smith asegura que es una de las lanchas ms rpidas del ro, y que si hubiera tenido a alguien que le ayudara con las mquinas, jams la habramos alcanzado. Tambin jura que no saba nada del asunto de Norwood.
––Y dice la verdad ––exclam nuestro prisionero––. No saba ni una palabra. Eleg su lancha porque haba odo decir que volaba. No le dijimos nada, pero le pagamos bien, y habra recibido una esplndida gratificacin si hubiramos llegado a nuestro barco, el Esmeralda, que zarpa de Gravesend con rumbo a Brasil.
––Bueno, si no ha hecho nada malo, ya nos ocuparemos de que nada malo le ocurra. Nos damos bastante prisa en atrapar a nuestros hombres, pero no tanta en condenarlos.
Tena gracia la manera en que aquel engredo de Jones empezaba ya a darse aires de importancia por la captura. Por la leve sonrisa que asom al rostro de Sherlock Holmes, comprend que no le haban pasado inadvertidas aquellas palabras.
––Estamos a punto de llegar al puente de Vauxhall ––dijo Jones––. All desembarcaremos al doctor Watson con la caja del tesoro. No hace falta que le diga que asumo una gran responsabilidad al hacer esto. Es algo muy irregular, pero un trato es un trato. No obstante, dado el valor del cargamento, tengo el deber de hacer que le acompae un inspector. Ir en coche, verdad?
––S, en coche.
––Es una pena que no tengamos la llave para hacer antes un inventario. Tendrn ustedes que forzar el cierre. Dnde est la llave, seor mo?
––En el fondo del ro ––respondi Small escuetamente.
––Um! No s por qu tena que causarnos esta dificultad innecesaria. Bastantes problemas nos ha ocasionado ya. En fin, doctor, no hace falta que le advierta que tenga cuidado. Lleve despus la caja al apartamento de Baker Street. All nos encontrar, camino de la comisara.
Desembarqu en Vauxhall, con la pesada caja de hierro y en compaa de un inspector campechano y simptico. Un coche nos llev en un cuarto de hora a casa de la seora de Cecil Forrester. La sirvienta pareca sorprendida de que llegara una visita tan tarde. Nos explic que la seora Forrester haba salido y era probable que regresara muy tarde. Pero la seorita Morstan s que estaba en la sala de estar, y a la sala me fui, con la caja en la mano, dejando al considerado inspector en el coche.
Mary Morstan estaba sentada junto a una ventana abierta, con un vestido de algn tejido difano y blanco, con ligeros toques escarlatas en el cuello y la cintura. La suave luz de una lmpara de pantalla caa sobre la figura recostada en un silln de mimbre, creando efectos en su rostro dulce y serio y arrancando apagados brillos metlicos a los hermosos rizos de su esplndida cabellera. Un brazo blanco y su mano colgaban al costado del silln, y toda su figura y su actitud denotaban una profunda melancola. Sin embargo, al or mis pisadas se puso en pie de un salto y un vivo rubor de sorpresa y placer colore sus plidas mejillas.
––O que se detena un coche ––dijo–– y pens que era la seora Forrester, que regresaba antes de lo previsto, pero no imaginaba que pudiera ser usted. Qu noticias me trae?
––Le traigo algo mejor que noticias ––dije, poniendo la caja sobre la mesa y hablando en tono animado y jovial, aunque por dentro tena el corazn encogido––. Le he trado algo que vale ms que todas las noticias del mundo. Le he trado una fortuna.
Ella mir la caja de hierro.
––De modo que se es el tesoro? ––pregunt con bastante frialdad.
––S, el gran tesoro de Agra. La mitad es suya, y la otra mitad de Thaddeus Sholto. Les tocarn unas doscientas mil libras a cada uno. Piense en eso! Una renta anual de diez mil libras. Habr pocas muchachas ms ricas en Inglaterra. No es estupendo?
Es bastante posible que me excediera en mis manifestaciones de alegra y que ella detectara un tonillo falso en mis felicitaciones, porque vi que alzaba un poco las cejas y me miraba con curiosidad.
––Si lo he conseguido ––dijo––, ha sido gracias a usted.
––No, no ––respond––. A m, no. Gracias a mi amigo Sherlock Holmes. Aunque hubiera puesto en ello toda mi voluntad, yo jams habra podido seguir un rastro que incluso ha puesto a prueba su genio analtico. Lo cierto es que casi se nos escapan en el ltimo momento.
––Por favor, sintese y cuntemelo todo, doctor Watson ––dijo ella.
Le relat en pocas palabras lo ocurrido desde la ltima vez que la vi: el nuevo mtodo de bsqueda empleado por Holmes, la localizacin del Aurora, la aparicin de Athelney Jones, nuestra expedicin nocturna y la frentica persecucin Tmesis abajo. Ella escuchaba la narracin de nuestras aventuras con los labios entreabiertos y los ojos brillantes. Cuando mencion el dardo que nos haba fallado por tan poco, se puso tan plida que tem que estuviera a punto de desmayarse.
––No es nada ––dijo, mientras yo me apresuraba a servirle un poco de agua––. Ya estoy bien. Es que me horroriza saber que he puesto a mis amigos en un peligro tan espantoso.
––Eso ya termin ––respond––. No tuvo importancia. Ya no le contar ms detalles macabros. Pensemos en algo ms alegre. Aqu est el tesoro. Puede existir algo ms alegre? Consegu que me autorizaran a traerlo aqu, porque pens que le interesara ser la primera en verlo.
––Me interesa muchsimo ––dijo.
Pero no haba ningn entusiasmo en su voz. Estaba claro que consideraba que habra sido una descortesa por su parte mostrarse indiferente ante un premio que tanto haba costado ganar.
––Qu caja tan bonita! ––dijo, inclinndose sobre ella––. Hecha en la India, supongo.
––S, artesana de Benars.
––Y cunto pesa! ––exclam, intentando levantarla––. La caja sola ya debe valer algo. Y la llave?
––Small la tir al Tmesis ––respond––. Tendr que usar este atizador de la seora Forrester.
En la parte delantera de la caja haba un pasador ancho y grueso con la forma de un Buda sentado. Met el extremo del atizador por debajo e hice palanca hacia fuera. El pasador salt con un fuerte chasquido. Levant la tapa con dedos temblorosos y los dos nos quedamos mirando atnitos. La caja estaba vaca!
No era de extraar que pesara tanto. Las planchas de hierro medan ms de centmetro y medio de espesor. Era un cofre slido, bien construido y resistente, como si lo hubieran fabricado expresamente para transportar objetos de gran valor, pero en su interior no haba ni rastro de joyas o metales preciosos. Estaba completa y absolutamente vaco.
––El tesoro ha desaparecido ––dijo la seorita Morstan tranquilamente.
Al or aquellas palabras y darme cuenta de lo que significaban, me pareci que en mi alma se disipaba una enorme sombra. Hasta aquel momento, cuando por fin se hubo esfumado, no me haba dado cuenta de hasta qu punto me haba tenido abrumado aquel tesoro de Agra. Sin duda aquello era egosta, desleal, injusto, pero lo nico que yo vea era que haba desaparecido la barrera de oro que nos separaba.
––Gracias a Dios! ––exclam.
Ella me mir con una rpida e inquisitiva sonrisa.
––Por qu dice eso? ––pregunt.
––Porque ahora est usted otra vez a mi alcance ––dije, tomndola de la mano. Ella no la retir––. Porque la amo, Mary, con toda la fuerza con que un hombre puede amar a una mujer. Porque este tesoro, estas riquezas, tenan sellados mis labios. Ahora que han desaparecido puedo decirle cunto la amo. Por eso exclam Gracias a Dios.
––Entonces, yo tambin digo Gracias a Dios ––susurr, mientras yo la atraa hacia m.
Y supe que, aunque alguien hubiera perdido un tesoro aquella noche, yo haba encontrado el mo.