6 Small’s Story

Chapter 6 Small's Story So Small sat back in his seat and began to tell his story. "I was born in Worcestershire and, when I was eighteen, I joined the army and was sent to India. I'd barely finished my training when I went swimming one day in the Ganges. A crocodile took me and nipped off my right leg just above the knee. Luckily, my company sergeant was with me, and he got me ashore. "Five months later, I limped out of hospital with this timber toe strapped to my stump. I was

unable to continue as a soldier, but I could still ride a horse and got a job working on a plantation as a supervisor. "There I stayed until 1857 when the great rebellion broke out against British rule in India. The whole country erupted in violence. We had to flee to the fortress at Agra for our safety. I was ordered to guard one of the gates in the wall, along with a couple of Sikh soldiers, Mahomet Singh and Abdullah Khan. On the third night of our watch, at about two o'clock, Mahomet suddenly seized hold of me and Abdullah put a knife to my throat. Abdullah said, 'Listen to me. You're either with us or you must die.' At first, I thought they were in league with the rebels and wanted to open the gate to them. But then they explained that if I joined with them, I could be rich.

"They told me that a wealthy rajah in the northern provinces was sending his treasure to Agra to keep it safe during the rebellion. It was being taken there by a servant, who was due to arrive shortly at our gate, and they planned to steal it. The man leading him there, Dost Akbar, was a cousin of Abdullah's and part of the plot. "If I would swear my loyalty to them, they would give me one quarter of the treasure. I imagined myself returning to England with my pockets full of gold, impressing my family and friends, and immediately agreed.

"All went according to plan. The servant was killed on arrival, and we took the treasure. When we opened the chest, I almost wept to see such a beautiful collection of gems—diamonds, emeralds, rubies, sapphires, and many others. "We hid the chest behind some bricks in a hall of the fortress. The next day, I drew up four plans, one for each of us, and put the sign of four at the bottom as a mark of our loyalty. Not long afterward, the rebellion was put down and peace —of a sort—returned. We hoped that soon we could each go our separate ways with our share of the treasure, but then disaster struck...

"It turned out that the wealthy rajah hadn't completely trusted his servant, and he sent a second one to spy on him. He didn't tell the second servant about the treasure, just in case the two of them decided to get together and run off with it. The second servant witnessed our killing of the first servant and informed the police. "We were arrested and put on trial for murder. There was no mention of the treasure at the trial because, by then, the rajah had himself been overthrown and killed and no one else knew he'd sent the treasure to Agra. "The four of us were sentenced to life imprisonment on a penal colony in the Andaman

Islands in the Indian Ocean. It was so frustrating being forced to work as slaves on an island prison when we could be living like princes if only we could get out. "Among the commanders there were Major Sholto and Captain Morstan. They played cards for money in the evenings with their comrades and often lost. Both men, I noticed, frequently complained about feeling poor. One night, after Sholto had lost particularly heavily, I gathered the courage to speak to him.