"and so all these things come from your part of borneo?" russell asked. "this, then, is the treasure which you have all been after?"
"i expect so," uzali said with a smile. "mind you, i don't want to affect a knowledge superior to your own and i admit that i have only had my suspicions lately. but i have been looking for flower for some time and hardly expected to identify him with the prosperous ship-owner. when he was in borneo he bore another name. but all that does not matter now. the first suspicion of the truth i had was when miss galloway sat by me on the night of the party at the theatre. she was wearing a certain ornament which you have heard of——"
"the diamond moth," russell murmured, "oh, yes."
"or a portion of it," uzali went on. "the ornament attracted my attention immediately, because i knew there was only one spot in the world it could have come from and that was the palace where i and my ancestors were born. the jewel at one time had been a favourite ornament of a sister, long since dead, and i remember how it was broken. nobody in our part of the island could mend it, and i promised that the next time i was in london i would see to the matter. that is how one part of it was in my possession, but for the life of me i could not tell what had become of the other half, till on the night of the party i began to feel my way. nobody but one of the infamous crew who destroyed my birthplace could have the other half of my sister's jewel. i took the trouble to find out afterwards who this samuel flower was and what he was like. then you came along and made things still plainer. i saw at once that flower had outwitted his confederates and had conveyed the treasure of my people to england. of course, all this was conjecture, but i had the solution of the problem pretty plainly before me. when i knew that that scoundrel jansen was coming down here and how he had contrived to misguide my unfortunate fellow-countrymen not a doubt remained in my mind. in point of fact i came here to-night, not so much to catch jansen red-handed as to denounce flower as soon as he were well enough to listen to my charge. i never dreamt for a moment but that my countrymen were still in london, but when i knew they were here, i saw it was all over with jansen. i would have tried to prevent the catastrophe, but, unfortunately, i did not know where to begin. directly i heard that cry i knew whose it was. but don't you think we had better take your friend mercer into our confidence. i am sorry in a way the thing has ended like this because it puts an end to your scheme——"
"for taking what belonged to somebody else," russell laughed. "my dear sir, that is the fortune of war. i had intended to make a handsome thing out of this business, and i meant to put a large sum of money into mercer's pocket at the same time."
"i am not sure that you haven't," uzali said drily.
"but all this belongs to you," russell protested.
"that is why i am not speaking without book," uzali replied. "one thing is certain—if it hadn't been for mercer and you i should never have found it. you will find that if anything happens to flower and that scoundrel cotter learns that jansen is dead, he will lose no time in trying to lay a hand on the plunder. that, at least, is my theory, but the fact remains that, in the eye of the law, everything in this vault is mine and, with your permission, i'll put the key in my pocket till the proper time comes to claim possession."
so saying uzali took up the candle and followed russell out of the vault. he locked the door and together they made their way back to the dining-room. tranquillity reigned throughout the mansion. no sound came from overhead until the closing of a window brought mercer downstairs.
"what on earth has happened?" he asked. "i began to wonder if you were coming back."
"how is flower getting on?" said russell.
"he is in a very bad way," wilfrid said gravely. "he has an exceedingly rapid pulse and his temperature has gone up in the most alarming fashion. it is extraordinary how that strange cry excited him. it seemed to penetrate to the well-spring of life and restore him to consciousness. one might have thought he was a man running away from some hideous doom. but now he is in a most critical state, and i should not be surprised if he did not last till morning. not that i am disposed to waste sympathy on samuel flower. goodness knows he has done me harm enough and to spare. and now if you will tell me what has been going on the last hour i shall be glad. as for russell, he looks as if he had been face to face with tragedy."
russell murmured that he had been a witness to no fewer than three. he told his grim story first, the detail being filled in by uzali. the whole combined narrative was so amazing that it took wilfrid some time to grasp it all.
"what are you going to do?" he asked.
"we shall do nothing," uzali said calmly. "we shall notify the police in the morning of the finding of jansen's body, and they can put their own construction on the rest. the authorities will regard the whole thing as a case of attempted burglary. probably they will take no steps to have those packages in the vault examined, for the idea of treasure lying there would be beyond ordinary police imagination. what i wish is to avoid scandal. when the sensation has blown over, i think i can show a way to settle matters without raising unpleasant questions. meanwhile i should like to sleep for an hour or so. i suppose one could manage that."
uzali proved to be a tolerably correct prophet. there was a great commotion in the neighbourhood next day when it became known that burglars had made an attempt on maldon grange, and that the body of one had been found in the vaults under the house. the body had been discovered by two gentlemen from london who had come to see mr. flower on important business, not being aware that he was suffering from a severe illness. they had arrived at the house early in the morning in a motor-car, just in time to see two of the assassins leave the basement hurriedly. one of these gentlemen was known to a large circle as prince uzali, the other was a more obscure individual whose name had not yet been ascertained.
uzali gave evidence at the inquest first. he was calm and collected and gave his testimony in a plausible and ingratiating manner. he told how the body had been discovered and confessed he thought the police theory of a quarrel amongst the thieves was the correct one. he could not account for the presence of the thieves in the vaults, unless on the supposition that they thought that to enter by the basement was the safest way to reach that portion of the house which was more worthy of their attention. asked if he saw any valuables in the vaults, uzali merely shrugged his shoulders and explained that the place was filled with packages which appeared to possess no special value. they were overland trunks and things of that kind. in any case, he should not imagine that mr. flower would keep valuables in a cellar.
uzali stepped down from the witness-box presently, having created a favourable impression, and russell followed. he spoke frankly enough of his pursuit of the two men and related how the would-be burglars had been smashed up by the express train. there was little more to say, save that the two men were mutilated out of all recognition and the police had only the faintest hopes of establishing their identity. they appeared to be malay sailors or coolies and that was as far as the official theory could go. on the other hand, some one might come forward and claim jansen for a relation, but uzali had not much fear of that. jansen's landlord was not the kind of man who studied the papers. it was long odds that he would never know of the tragedy at maldon grange and would conclude that his lodger had vanished as secretly as he had come.
as for the rest uzali appeared to know exactly what to do. as he and russell returned from the inquest after the verdict had been given, they met dr. shelton coming along the road towards maldon grange.
"how is mr. flower?" russell asked. "i am a stranger to you but i took the liberty of stopping you——"
"it is only a matter of a day or two," shelton said curtly. "i cannot tell you more than that."
