The Sign of the Four (3)

Sherlockian Way of Thinking

Deduction of the Criminal’s Identity

The investigation at Bartholomew Sholto’s residence begins in confusion and haste. Inspector Athelney Jones, all bluster and self-confidence, wastes no time in seizing upon the most obvious suspect: poor Thaddeus Sholto. The man protests his innocence, but the iron of Scotland Yard closes swiftly about him.

Inspector Athelney Jones wastes no time in seizing upon Thaddeus Shol

Holmes, however, remains unshaken. “Our task, Watson, is not to follow appearances, but the truth they conceal,” he murmurs, eyes already scanning the garden soil beneath the window.

The One-Legged Man

In the earth, Holmes observes not merely footprints but the story they tell. Alongside the impression of a square-toed shoe with a reinforced heel lies another, more curious trace: a rounded indentation, regular and firm. Holmes crouches, fingertips brushing the mark.

“A wooden leg,” he declares. “Worn smooth at the end, leaving its own peculiar signature.”

Inside the room, further evidence confirms it: muddy half-circles matching the gait of a man who moves with surprising agility despite his prosthesis. Holmes builds his portrait with the patience of an artist layering brushstrokes: the suspect is small in stature, missing his right leg, moving nimbly with the aid of a wooden one. His left shoe is square-toed, iron-shod at the heel. A weather-beaten face, scarred palms—Holmes sketches not only the man’s body but his history.

Jonathan Small

The note left behind—“The Sign of Four”—sparks Holmes’s memory. On Captain Morstan’s map had been written four names: Jonathan Small, Mahomet Singh, Abdullah Khan, and Dost Akbar.

Elimination narrows the field until only one name remains: Jonathan Small.

Holmes reasons with characteristic precision. The footprints and cultural clues do not match the Indian conspirators. “These are no sandals of a Hindu, nor the bare soles of a Muslim,” he notes. Nor were the weapons employed—blowpipe and poisoned dart—typical of the Indian arsenal. Elimination narrows the field until only one name remains: Jonathan Small.

His hypothesis gains strength from the past. Did not Major Sholto himself live in perpetual dread of “the wooden-legged man,” a fear so consuming it hastened his death? “The shadow that haunted Sholto,” Holmes concludes, “now stands revealed.”

The Unusual Accomplice

Yet the case turns upon a stranger detail still. Holmes draws Watson’s attention to a second set of prints: tiny, barefoot impressions, no larger than a child’s, scattered across the scene. They carry the unmistakable tang of creosote and preservative oil. Nearby, the grotesque tools of death—stone club and blowpipe—offer their mute testimony.

Watson hazards a guess: perhaps a small Indian accomplice? Holmes shakes his head. “No, my dear fellow. The feet tell another story.” He opens an atlas, pages rustling under his quick fingers, and stops at the entry for the Andaman Islands. He reads aloud:

“The islanders, seldom taller than four feet, go unshod, employ poisoned darts in hunting, and are fierce beyond measure.”

Holmes closes the book with quiet finality. “It is precisely the accomplice, Watson, that makes this case so extraordinary. Our criminal does not act alone. He moves with a companion alien to London, yet whose every mark upon the floor cries out his origin.”

Andaman Islanders are seldom taller than four feet and employ poisoned darts in hunting.

The Logic of Elimination and Abduction

In this reconstruction, Holmes’s genius lies not in mystical insight but in method. From the curve of a wooden leg to the breadth of a footprint, from cultural habits to weapons of choice, he employs the twin engines of abduction—the search for the most plausible explanation—and elimination—stripping away what cannot be true. What remains, improbable though it might seem, is the truth.

Thus, from a locked room in Norwood, Holmes conjures the figures of Jonathan Small and his fierce Andaman accomplice, stepping out of obscurity and into the harsh light of justice.

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