The Sign of Four – Small

Jonathan Small is the main antagonist of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s novel The Sign of the Four‎‎. He is a peg-legged man who has an accomplice in his loyal friend Tonga.
Small He joined the army and served in India. During that time, he was swimming in a river when a crocodile bit his leg off, leaving him crippled. Later Small worked on a plantation as an overseer, and during the Indian mutiny of 1857 his friends were killed and he was forced to flee to Agra to save himself.

At Agra, Small was charged as a guard. Two Sikhs, on duty with him, took him hostage and told him of their plan to kill a messanger of Raja, who was to arrive shortly carrying a treasure box full of jewels. If he refused to join them they would kill him. so Small finally agreed.

Small, the two men and a third Sikh killed the messanger, hid the treasure, and drew a map with the four signing as the Sign of Four. Their plan was ruined when the body of the victim was discovered and Small was sentence to hard labor for life in the Andaman Islands.

In the prison, Small overheard two officers of guard, Arthur Morstan and John Sholto talking about their gambling losses and how they may have to hand in their commissions and be ruined.

He told them about the treasure, and also told them that if they help him and his friends, they can have equal share amounting each.

Morstan sent Sholto to check, but Sholto tricked Small and Morstan, and took the treasure back to England.

In 1882 Small then with Tonga managed to escape the prison by killing a guard. He hit the guard with his wooden leg, saying later that that was his only crime. After their escape from prison island in Tonga’s boat.

When they reached England, Small found out where Sholto was but not where the treasure was. Sholto was, by this time a dying man, and had called his sons Thaddeus and Bartholomew to him to reveal the treasure’s location. A glimpse of Small’s face in a window panicked Sholto so much that he died before revealing where the treasure was to his sons. Small kept an eye on the house through an agent in the house though he travelled much. In 1888 Small found out about the recovery of the treasure. He wanted to stage robbery. Tonga who was agile climbed up the Sholto house and tied a rope, and Small climbed up. When they climbed up, Small saw Bartholomew Sholto. Small wanted only to tie him up, but Tonga who got there first shot a poison dart into him killing him, which enraged Small.

Small took the treasure and ran away. He engaged a fast steam launchboat called Aurora for their escape, but was tracked down by Holmes, Watson and the police. In the chase on the Thames, Holmes and Watson killed Tonga, who tried to kill them with a poison dart. While the Aurora managed to make it to the shore, Small got stuck in the mud. The treasure box was empty – Small had threw it overboard just before to his capture

At Baker Street, Small told his history, and the police took him away.

Small admits but doesn’t express regret for any of the crimes he was involved in – except for the death of Bartholomew Sholto. He observes that despite his “claim” to the Agra Treasure that it never brought anything except bad luck to those who tried to posses it {The Servant who had it was killed; Major Sholto lived in years for fear and guilt; Small spending over half of his life building a breakwater in the Adaman Islands and will likely spend the rest of his life building drains in Dartmoor Prison}.