Study Guide of The Sign of The Four

 

Summary:

The novel The Sign of The Four deals with the case brought to Holmes by Mary Morstan, a single young woman who desires Holmes’ advice regarding her case. She visits Holmes and Watson at 221 B, Baker Street, and proceeds to explain that her father disappeared under mysterious circumstances some ten years ago. Later, some unknown person contacted her through a Newspaper advertisement and began sending her a large pearl in the mail in annual increments. Mary continues to explain that she has just received a letter instructing her to go, with the accompaniment of two friends but without police, to Lyceum Theater. The letter clues that some injustice has been done to her. She requests Holmes to accept the case. Holmes readily accepts and both of them agree to accompany Miss Morstan. It appears that Watson is attracted to Mary.

 

At the scheduled time the three reach the Lyceum Theater. Then Holmes, Watson, and Mary are taken away in a darkened carriage which gets them to a strange house. Where they meet an eccentric gentleman named Thaddeus Sholto. Sholto reveals that Mary’s father is no more, but she is now a partial heir to a great hidden treasure. He is the man who sent Miss Morstan the pearls during the last six years. Thaddeus goes on to explain that his father( Major John Sholto) always lived in fear of a man with a wooden leg, and one day on an occasion struck out at perfect strangers who were so handicapped. The elder Sholto, on his deathbed, revealed the existence of a hidden treasure to his sons, but just before he could finish his talk and let them know where it was, he pointed at the window where the face of a bearded man appeared, and the old man suffered a fatal heart attack and at once died.

 

The following morning, a note was found affixed to the body written “Sign of Four” on it. Thaddeus explains that after looking for the treasure for years his brother Bartholomew Sholto discovered it in a hidden attic in the family house. On his deathbed, Major John Sholto made them swear they would share the treasure with Mary Morstan. The reason for her claim was not clear to the Sholto brothers. Thaddeus Sholto requests Mary Morstan, Holmes, and Watson to accompany him to the family estate where his brother is waiting for them to divide up the fortune.

Upon arriving at the family estate they find the situation suspicious, a shaken housekeeper informs that Bartholomew has not come out from his locked room all day. Through the keyhole of the room, Holmes and Watson peer and find an unnatural grinning face leering at them. Breaking down the door, they entered the room to find the body of Bartholomew with a poisoned thorn lodged in his neck. Holmes reveals, after investigation, that two persons, one of whom had a wooden leg, committed the murder. According to Holmes, the second personage was an especially interesting individual with pygmy-like stature. It also appears that the murderers have stolen the Agra treasure hidden in the attic.

 

Holmes’s investigation makes it clear that the wooden-legged man stepped in creosote during his escape. Holmes and Watson borrow a dog to follow the criminals following up on this lead. Using the dog Holmes and Watson get to the Thames, where it is found that the two criminals hired a boat named ‘The Aurora’. Over the next few days, Holmes recruits a gang of street children, to search the boat on the river. But when their efforts fail, it makes Holmes appear himself in disguise, which discovers that the boat ‘The Aurora’ has been camouflaged keeping at Jacobson’s Yard.

 

That night, Holmes, Watson, Mr. Jones, the police officer, and several of his policemen pursue the Aurora in a police boat. They gradually overtake the Aurora, where a wooden-legged captain and a small pygmy native from the Andaman Islands are in. When the native tries to shoot Holmes with a poisoned thorn with a blowpipe, he is instantly shot down by both Holmes and Watson. The Aurora heads to the shore and runs aground and the wooden-legged man jumps out of the boat and gets entrapped in the mud; resulting in his capture.

 

The wooden-legged man, Jonathan Small is brought back to Baker Street, along with an iron box, found on the boat. Captain Small tells the story of the Agra treasure, which started when he was a fortress gatekeeper in India. Small explains that he was approached by three Arab guards to help them murder the man who carried the Agra treasure. Small would be shared a part of it in exchange. Small agreed and the three Arabs murdered the man as Small blocked his escape. The four conspirators hid the treasure in the Agra Fort, but soon after were arrested for the murder of the man who was an emissary.

After his arrest, Small was sent to a colony on the Andaman Islands, where he managed to make friends with a native named Tonga. Tonga was his very loyal companion. Small approached two of the guards on the island, Sholto and Morstan (Mary’s father), and bribed them into helping him escape in exchange for a share in the fortune. The two agreed; Sholto left to bring back the treasure but after some time, it became clear to Small that Sholto had run away with the treasure and betrayed him. Afterward, Small escaped with Tonga from the island. After many years of searching, Small had tracked down Major John Sholto in England. When Small arrived he found Sholto die. After his death, he affixed the note ‘Sign of Four’ which was found on the dead body, as a reference to Small and his three Arab partners. Small kept an eye on Sholto estate. And when he realized the treasure has been discovered, he went to the Sholto estate. Tonga murdered Bartholomew Sholto, elder son of Major John Sholto, and the two stole the Agra treasure.

The narrative by Small ends with revealing the fact that in the course of the chase on the river, he threw the treasure overboard. The Great Agra Treasure is now under the Thames. Small is sent to prison, and Dr. Watson, who loves Mary Morstan, proposes to her and she accepts. And Holmes is glad that the Great Agra treasure has brought happiness to, at least, someone.

 

 

 We covered: 

The Sign of the Four summary 

The lady character in the Sign of Four is 

the sign of four summary SparkNotes 

the sign of four analysis 

The novel The Sign of the Four is set in 

Describe the character of Sherlock Holmes 

The Sign of Four characters