sign of four, also known as Four Signatures. It is the second novella of mystery written by arthur conan doyle, a British detective novelist, after A Study in Scarlet, with Sherlock Holmes as the protagonist. The story happened between 1887 and 1888. It tells the story of an English lady, Meryl Mostain, who received an anonymous package every year after her father disappeared. It turned out that there was a conspiracy involved. The novel objectively exposed and reflected the British colonial activities in India, and it was a great success once it was published. At the same time, the author became famous for it. In addition, there are many film and television works of the same name.

Overview of the story

July 7, 1887-When the story begins, Holmes is injecting 7% cocaine solution. He has been doing this for some time. Watson expressed strong opposition to this. Meryl Morstan visited Holmes and asked for help. Her mother died when she was very young, and her father was a British officer in India. She hasn't seen her father for many years, and she was sent to a boarding school many years ago. About ten years ago, her father took a leave of absence and returned to England. On December 3, 1878, she received a telegram from her father saying that he had arrived at a hotel in London and asked Merry to come over. But when she arrived at the hotel that day and wanted to reunite with her father and daughter, she was told that her father had left the day before her arrival and never came back. Major Schulto is a retired comrade-in-arms of her father's regiment. He lived in London when her father disappeared. The two of them served together in the garrison on the island of Amman. On April 28th, 1882, four years after Captain Moston disappeared, Major Schulto died. After Schulto's death, that is, from May 4, 1882, six years ago, Merry began to receive an expensive pearl on the same date every year. On July 7, 1887, the day she came to visit Holmes, she received an anonymous letter asking her to meet outside a theater. Merry found a treasure map with four signatures among her father's things. They went to the theater and were quickly driven away by a carriage to meet Thaddeus. Thaddeus lived in a luxurious apartment. He told them that his father had brought back a large treasure from India, some of which should belong to Captain Mostain. When Captain Mostain arrived in London, he came to his father to clarify the matter. Before Major Schulto died, he told his two sons that he had had a fierce quarrel with Captain Mustang because he had different opinions on sharing the treasure. Captain Mustang had a serious heart attack and died in the process due to a sudden heart attack. Thaddeus and Bartholomew immediately searched their home after their father died, but found no clues. Finally, just a day ago, Bartholomew finally found this treasure. Thaddeus hopes to give Melly her share to make up for her father's mistakes. Bartholomew reluctantly agreed. When Watson, Holmes, Merry and Thaddeus arrived at Bartholomew's residence, they found that he had been murdered with a stinger and the treasure had disappeared. Tongge stepped on the pomegranate oil in Bartholomew's laboratory, and Holmes began to pursue it with a particularly sensitive sense of smell. Toby finally took them to a dock by the Thames. Holmes found out that the target he was following had rented a motorboat to leave 24 hours ago. Holmes asked Wiggins, the captain of the Baker Street team, to lead his men to search for the Dawn along the upper and lower reaches of the Thames. But they found nothing. Holmes disguised himself as a sailor and began to explore for himself. He finally found that the missing ship was being repaired and learned that Mosky Smith and others would leave the shipyard at 8 pm. He contacted Jones and asked him to prepare a police motorboat on the other side of the shipyard so as to follow and chase the Dawn when it left. The "Dawn" sailed for the Esmeralda, which was preparing to sail for Brazil. The police motorboat overtook the Dawn. In the process of chasing, the native of Amman once blew a poisonous thorn at Holmes and Watson with a blowpipe, and he was immediately shot by Holmes and Watson and fell into the river. Watson carried the treasure chest to see Merry. But when the box was opened, I found it was empty. Because at this time, the obstacle formed by the huge "wealth" between them has disappeared, Watson summoned up the courage to propose to Meili, and Meili also agreed. It turned out that when Smallville found that he was about to be caught up by the police, he had scattered his treasures in the Thames about 5 miles long. Small told Holmes and others his own story: he was a soldier of the British army in India, and finally came to a castle in Agra during the "Great Rebellion" because of a series of changes. He and three Sikh soldiers killed a servant of the king of Turkey and stole the treasure he brought. Schulto and Mostain were officers in prison at that time. Smao and the two of them reached an agreement that if they could help Smao and the other four escape, they would tell them where to hide the treasure. But Schulto deceived Smoot, Mostein and others, and he returned to England immediately after he got the treasure. Small's job is to help prison doctors, so he also learned some medical knowledge. Once, he found that a native named Tong Ge was dying of serious illness, and under his careful care, Tong Ge slowly recovered. In this way, they became best friends. Tongge has a boat, which Smallville used from prison escape. It took Smoot and Tongge several years to return to London. Because Major Schulto hired someone to guard him closely, Smallville had no chance to get close to him until his death. The story of "sign of four" is over, Watson will marry Merry happily soon, and Holmes is addicted to his cocaine bottle because he has no case to solve.