The Green Mummy
that he had missed her. However, it was just as well, as he could now
talk freely to De Gayangos. To him he related the whole story of Mrs.
Jasher, and discovered that the Peruvian also, as Braddock had done,
insisted that Mrs. Jasher knew the truth.
“She would not have written that letter if she did not know it,” said
Don Pedro.
“Then you think that she should be arrested?”
“No. We can deal with this matter ourselves. At present she is quite
safe, as she certainly will not leave her cottage, seeing that she
thinks it is being watched. Let us permit Braddock to interview her,
and see what he can learn. Then we can discuss the matter and come to a
decision.”
Random nodded absently.
“I wonder if Mrs. Jasher was the woman who talked to Bolton through the
window?” he remarked.
“It is not impossible. Although that does not explain why Bolton
borrowed a female disguise from this mother.”
“Mrs. Jasher might have worn it.”
“That would argue some understanding between Bolton and Mrs. Jasher, and
a knowledge of the manuscript before Bolton left for Malta. We know that
he could only have seen the manuscript for the first time at Malta. It
was evidently stowed away in the swathings of the mummy by my father,
who forgot all about it when he gave me the original.”
“Hervey forgot also. I wonder if that is true?”
“I am certain it is,” said Don Pedro emphatically, “for, if Hervey, or
Vasa, or whatever you like to call him, had found that manuscript and
had got it translated, he certainly would have opened the mummy and have
secured the emeralds. No, Sir Frank, I believe that his theory is partly
true. Bolton intended to run away with the emeralds, and send the empty
mummy to Professor Braddock; for, if you remember, he arranged that the
landlord of the Sailor's Rest should forward the case next morning,
even if he happened to be away. Bolton intended to be away--with the
emeralds.”
“Then you do not believe that Hervey placed the manuscript in my room?”
“He declared most emphatically that he did not,” said Don Pedro, “when
at Pierside yesterday I went to the Sailor's Rest and saw him. He told
Braddock only the other day that he had lost his chance of a sailing
vessel, and, as yet, had not got another one. But when he returned
to Pierside he found a letter waiting him--so he told me--giving him
command of a four thousand ton tramp steamer called The Firefly. He is
to sail at once--to-morrow, I believe.”
“Then what is he going to do about this murder business?”
“He can do nothing at present, as, if he remains in Pierside, he will
lose his new command. To-morrow he drops down stream, but meantime he
intends to write out the whole story of the theft of the mummy. I have
promised to give him fifty pounds for doing so, as I want to get back
the mummy, free of charge, from Braddock.”
“I think Braddock will stick to the mummy in any event,” said Random
grimly.
“Not when Hervey writes out his evidence. He will not have it completed
by the time he sails, as he is very busy. But he has promised to send
off a boat to the jetty near the Fort to-morrow evening, when he is
dropping down stream. I shall be there with fifty pounds in gold.”
“Supposing he fails to stop or send the boat?”
“Then he will not get his fifty pounds,” retorted Don Pedro. “The man
is a rascal, and deserves prison rather than reward, but since the mummy
was stolen by him thirty years back, he alone can prove my ownership.”
“But why take all this trouble?” argued the baronet. “I can buy the
mummy from Braddock.”
“No,” said Don Pedro. “I have a right to my own property.”
Random lingered until late in the afternoon and until darkness fell,
as he was anxious to see Donna Inez. But she did not appear until late.
Meanwhile Archie Hope put in an appearance, having come to see Don Pedro
with an account of his interview with Widow Anne. Before coming to the
inn he had called on Professor Braddock, and from him had heard all
about the wickedness of Mrs. Jasher. His surprise was very great.
“I should not have believed it,” he declared. “Poor woman!”
“Ah,” said Random, rather pleased, “you are more merciful than the
Professor, Hope. He calls her a bad woman.”
“Humph! I don't think that Braddock is so good that he can afford to
throw a stone,” said Archie rather sourly. “Mrs. Jasher has not behaved
well, but I should like to hear her complete story before judging. There
must be a lot of good in her, or Lucy, who has been with her a great
deal, would have found her out long ago. I go by a woman's judgment of a
woman. But Mrs. Jasher must have been anxious to marry.”
“She was; as Professor Braddock knows,” said Random quickly.
“I am not thinking of that so much as of what Widow Anne told me.”
“Oh,” said Don Pedro, looking up from where he was seated, “so you have
seen that old woman? What does she say about the clothes?”
“She sticks to her story. Sidney, she declares, borrowed the clothes to
give to me for a model. Now, I never asked Bolton to do this, so I fancy
the disguise must have been intended for himself, or for Mrs. Jasher.”
“But what had Mrs. Jasher to do with him?” demanded Random sharply.
“Well, it's odd,” replied Hope slowly, “but Mrs. Bolton declares that
her son was in love with Mrs. Jasher, and when he returned from Malta
intended to marry her.”
“Impossible!” cried Sir Frank. “She engaged herself to Braddock.”
“But only after Bolton's death, remember.”
Don Pedro nodded.
“That is true. But what you say, Mr. Hope, proves the truth of Hervey's
theory.”
“In what way?”
“Mrs. Jasher, as we know from what Random told us, wanted money. She
would not marry a man who was poor. Bolton was poor, but of course the
emeralds would make him wealthy, as they are of immense value. Probably
he intended to steal them in order to marry this woman. This implicates
Mrs. Jasher in the crime.”
“Yes,” assented Sir Frank, nodding. “But as Bolton did not know that the
emeralds existed before he bought the mummy in Malta, I do not see why
he should borrow a disguise beforehand for Mrs. Jasher to meet him at
the Sailor's Rest.”
“The thing is easily settled,” said Hope impatiently. “Let us both go to
Mrs. Jasher's this evening, and insist upon the truth being told. If she
confesses about her secret engagement to Sidney Bolton, she may admit
that the clothes were borrowed for her.”
“And she may admit also that she placed the manuscript in my room,” said
Sir Frank after a pause. “Hervey did not place it there, but it is just
possible that Mrs. Jasher, having got it from Bolton when she talked to
him through the window, may have done so.”
“Nonsense!” said Hope with vigorous commonsense. “Mrs. Jasher would be
spotted in a moment if she had gone to your quarters. She had to pass
the sentry, remember. Then, again, we have not yet proved that she was
the woman in Mrs. Bolton's clothes who spoke through the window. That
can all be settled if we speak to her this evening.”
“Very good.” Random glanced at his watch. “I must get back. Don Pedro,
will you tell Inez that I shall come in this evening? We can then talk
further about these matters. Hope?”
“I shall stop here, as I wish to consult Don Pedro.”
Random nodded and took a reluctant departure. He dearly wished, as an
engaged lover should, to remain on the chance that Donna Inez might
return, but duty called him and he was forced to obey.
The night was very dark, although it was not particularly late. But
there was no rain, and Random walked rapidly through the village and
down the road to the Fort. He caught a glimpse of the lights of Mrs.
Jasher's cottage twinkling in the distance, and smiled grimly as he
thought of the invisible spell he had placed thereon. No doubt Mrs.
Jasher was shivering in her Louis Quinze shoes at the idea of being
watched. But then, she deserved that much punishment at least, as Random
truly thought.
When entering the Fort, the sentry saluted as usual, and Random was
about to pass, when the man stepped forward, holding out a brown paper
package.
“Please, sir, I found this in my sentry box,” he said, saluting.
Sir Frank took the packet.
“Who placed it there? and why do you give it to me?” he demanded in
surprise.
“Please, sir, it's directed to you, sir, and I don't know who put it in
my box, sir. I was on duty, sir, and I 'spose someone must have dropped
it on the floor of the box, sir, when I was at the other end of my beat,
sir. It was as dark as this, sir, and I saw nothing and heard nothing.
When I come back, sir, I stepped into the box out of the rain and felt
it with my feet. I struck a light, sir, and found it was for you.”
Sir Frank slipped the package into his pocket and went away after a grim
word or so to the sentry, advising him to be more on the alert. He was
puzzled to think who had left the packet in the sentry box, and curious
to know what it contained. As soon as he got to his own room, he cut
the string which bound loosely the brown paper. Then, in the lamplight,
there rolled out from the carelessly-tied parcel a glorious sea-green
emerald of great size, radiating light like a sun. A scrap of white
paper lay in the brown wrapping. On it was written, “A wedding gift for
Sir Frank Random.”
CHAPTER XXIII. JUST IN TIME
Of all the surprises in connection with the tragedy of the green
mummy, this was surely the greatest. Sidney Bolton had undoubtedly been
murdered for the sake of the emeralds, and the assassin had escaped
with the spoil, for which he had sold his soul. Yet here was one of the
jewels returned anonymously to Random, who could pass on the same to its
rightful owner. In the midst of his amazement Sir Frank could not help
chuckling when he thought how enraged Professor Braddock would be at Don
Pedro's good fortune. At the eleventh hour, as it were, the Peruvian had
got back his own, or at least a portion of his own.
Placing the emerald in his drawer, Random gave orders to his servant
that the sentry, when off duty, should be brought before him. Just as
Random finished dressing for mess--and he dressed very early, so as to
devote his entire attention to solving this new problem--the soldier who
had been on guard appeared. But he could tell nothing more than he had
already related. When doing sentry-go immediately outside the gate of
the Fort, the packet had been slipped into the box, while the man was at
the far end of his beat. It was quite dark when this was done, and the
soldier confessed that he had not heard a sound, much less had he seen
anyone. The person who had brought the glorious gem had watched his
opportunity, and, soft-footed as a cat, had stolen forward in the
darkness to drop the precious parcel on the floor of the sentry box.
There the man had found it by the feel of his feet, when he stepped in
some time later to escape a shower. But what time had elapsed from the
placing of the parcel to its discovery by the sentry it was impossible
to say. It must, however, as Random calculated, have been within the
hour, since, before then, it would not have been dark enough to hide
the approach of the person, whether male or female, who carried a king's
ransom in the brown paper parcel.
At first Random was inclined to place the sentry under arrest for having
failed so much in his duty as to allow anyone to approach so near the
Fort; but, as he had already reprimanded the man, and, moreover, wished
to keep the fact of the recovered jewel quiet, he simply dismissed him.
When alone, he sat down before the fire, wondering who could have dared
so very greatly, and for what reason the emerald had been handed to
him. If it had been sent to Don Pedro, or even to Professor Braddock, it
would have been much more reasonable.