CHAPTER XIX
THE BIGGEST SURPRISE OF ALL
"PHYLLIS! I've got a nibble, Phyllis! I believe I can land him, too. Andit will be the first I've really managed to catch!" Leslie began to playher line, her hands fairly trembling with excitement.
The two girls and Ted stood at the ocean's edge, almost directly in frontof the bungalows, whiling away a glorious, crisp afternoon in striving toinduce the reluctant fish to bite. For some reason or other, they seemedremarkably shy that day. Leslie's nibble had been the first suggestion ofpossible luck. Just as she was cautiously beginning to reel in her line apair of hands was clasped over her eyes, and a gay voice laughed "Guesswho!"
"Eileen!" cried Leslie, joyfully, forgetting all about her nibble. "Oh,but it's good to see you! We've missed you so since you left. Where _did_you come from?"
"Grandfather and I motored down to-day," replied Eileen, as they allcrowded round her, "to stay over night at Aunt Sally's in the village.He's going to drive out here a little later, with Geoffrey at the wheel,because he wants to see you people. You know, we sail for England onSaturday, and he says he doesn't intend to leave before he has a chanceto greet the friends who did so much for him! You've no idea how muchbetter he is! He began to pick up the moment I told him the news thatnight; and in the two weeks since, he's been like another person. But hehates it in New York and it doesn't agree with him, and he just wanted tocome down here once more before we left."
"But how did _you_ get here, if he's coming later in the car?" demandedPhyllis.
"Oh, I _walked_, of course! It was a glorious day for it. Aunt Sallywondered so, to see me taking the air in anything but that car! What adear she is! And how scandalously I had to treat her when I stayed therebefore. But the dear lady never suspected that I was in an agony of worryand suspense all the time, and didn't dare to be nice to her for fear I'djust be tempted to give way and tell the whole secret. I used to long tothrow myself in her lap and boo-hoo on her shoulder! I've made it all upwith her since, though! There's Grandfather now! Come up to the veranda,all of you, because he's not strong enough yet to walk on the sand."
They hurried up to the house and got there in time for Eileen to make theintroductions. They were all deeply attracted to the tall, stooping,gray-haired, pleasant-mannered gentleman who greeted them socordially--as if they were old and valued friends instead of such recentacquaintances.
"I'm going to ask you to let me sit awhile on your front veranda," hesaid. "I want to get a last impression of this lovely spot to carry awaywith me to England. Also, I would like to have a chat with you youngfolks and tell you how much I appreciate what you all did for us."
Rather embarrassed by his suggestion that there was anything to thankthem for, Leslie led him through the house to the veranda facing theocean. Here Aunt Marcia sat, wrapped to the eyes, enjoying the lateOctober sunshine, the invigorating salt air, and the indescribable beautyof the changeful ocean. Leslie had long since, very cautiously andgradually, revealed to her the story of their adventure at Curlew's Nest.So carefully had she done so that any possible alarm Miss Marcia mighthave experienced was swallowed up in wonder at the marvelous way in whichit had all turned out.
Leslie now introduced Mr. Ramsay, and they all gathered around him as hesettled himself to enjoy the view. He chatted a while with Miss Marcia,compared notes with her on the effect of the climate on her health andhis own, then turned to the young folks.
"It is quite useless for me," he began, "to try to express myappreciation of all you people have done for Eileen and myself in thelittle matter of the bronze box."
"But we must tell you," interrupted Phyllis, eagerly, "that we aren'tgoing to sail under any false colors! We found that little box,--orrather, Rags here found it--and we didn't have a notion, of course, towhom it could belong and we were just wild to get it open and see whatwas in it. When we couldn't manage that, we hid it away in the safestplace we could think of, to wait for what would happen. I'm afraid wedidn't make any very desperate hunt for the owner, and when we suspectedthat Eileen might have something to do with it, I'm ashamed to say thatwe wouldn't give it up to her--at first--because we were annoyed at theway she acted. We didn't understand, of course, but that doesn't excuseit!"
"All that you say may be true," smiled Mr. Ramsay, "but that does notalter the fact that you delivered it up the moment you discovered therightful owner. And Miss Phyllis's clever little ruse of burying thefalse box probably saved Geoffrey a bad time. For if those fellows hadn'tfound _something_ there that night, they would certainly have made it hotfor him. As it was, it gained us so much time that Detective Barnes had achance to get my man out of their clutches before they had done him anydamage, though they were furious at being duped. They're all safely injail now, and there is nothing more to fear from them. Of course, theprincipal who hired them is safe, over in China, but he didn't gain _his_point,--and that's the main thing! As for the letters, I concluded that,after all, my ideas as to how to keep them safely were out of date, andthey have long since been forwarded to Washington, in care of Barnes, andare now in the hands of my country's representative there. I shall notconcern myself any further about their security."
He put his hands in his pocket and drew out the little bronze casket.Then he went on,--
"This little box has had some strange adventures in its day, but nothingstranger than the one it has just passed through. It has, however,something else in it, that I thought might be of interest to you, and soI have brought it along and will explain about it." He opened the box inthe same way as Eileen had done and revealed to their curious gaze thefragile old bits of paper they had seen on that eventful night. He tookthem out, fingered them thoughtfully, and handed one to each of the fouryoung folks.
"There is a strange little adventure connected with these that perhapsyou may be interested to hear," he continued. "It happened when I waspassing through the city of Peking, some years ago, during theirrevolution. There was a good deal of lawlessness rife at the time, andbands of natives were running about, pillaging and looting anything theythought it safe to tamper with. One day, in one of the open places of thecity, I happened along just in time to see ten or a dozen lawless nativespulling from its pedestal a great bronze idol, hideous as they make 'em,that had stood there probably for uncounted centuries. When they got itto the ground, they found it to be hollow inside, as most of the reallyancient ones are, and filled with all manner of articles representing thesacrifices that had been made to it, through the ages, and placed insideit by their priests. These articles included everything from real jewelsof undoubted value to papier-mache imitations of food--a device theChinese often use in sacrificing to the idols.
"Of course, the mob made an immediate grab for the jewels, but it hadbegun to make my blood boil to see them making off with so much unlawfulbooty. So, almost without thinking, I snatched out my revolver, placedmyself in front of the pile, and shouted to them that I would shoot thefirst one who laid a finger on the stuff. And in the same breath I sentGeoffrey hurrying to find some of the city authorities to come and rescuewhat would probably be some thousands of dollars' worth of gems.
"Fortunately, I was armed with an effective weapon and they were not. SoI managed to hold the fort till Geoffrey returned with the authorities,and on seeing them, the mob promptly melted away. The mandarin wanted topresent me with some of the jewels, in gratitude for my services, but Ihad no wish for them and only asked permission to take with me a few ofthese little scraps of paper, which had been among the medley of articlesin the idol's interior. Of course they assented, deeming me, no doubt, avery stupid 'foreign devil' to be so easily satisfied! I have carriedthem about with me for several years, and now I am going to give them toyou young folks--one to each of you, as a little token of my gratitudefor your invaluable help!"
He sat back in his chair, smiling benignly, while he watched thebewilderment on all their faces. Ted, Phyllis, and Leslie were strivingto
hide this, under a polite assumption of intense gratitude, though theywere a bit puzzled as to why he should choose _them_, of all people, whohad no very great interest in such things, as recipients of this specialgift. But his own granddaughter was under less compulsion to assume whatshe did not feel.
"This is awfully good of you, Granddaddy!" she cried, "but I don'thonestly see what the big idea is! I think that story of yours wasripping, but I don't exactly know what to do with this little bit ofpaper. It seems so old and frail, too, that I'm almost afraid a breathwill blow it to pieces. I really think it will be safer in your care."
He was still smiling indulgently. "I suspected that the outspoken Eileenwould voice the general opinion of this gift! I don't mind it in theleast, and I don't blame you a bit for feeling a trifle bewildered aboutthe matter. But I haven't told you the whole story yet. To continue! As Isaid before, I carried these bits of paper around with me for a number ofyears, simply because they reminded me of my little adventure. Then, oneday early this past summer, on the steamer coming across the Pacific, Ichanced to meet a man connected with the British Museum whom I soondiscovered to be one of the principal experts on Chinese antiquities. Andit occurred to me to show him these bits of paper and ask if he couldimagine what they were. He examined them carefully and then came to me ingreat delight, declaring that they certainly were, beyond a shadow ofdoubt, the oldest existing specimens of Chinese _paper money!_
"And he added, moreover, that the British Museum had no specimens in itspossession as old as these, and declared that he believed the Museumwould be delighted to buy them, probably for three or four hundred poundsapiece!"
The listening four gasped and stared at him incredulously, but he went onundisturbed. "I said I would think the matter over and decide when Ireached England. But meantime, for reasons which I have already enlargedupon, I have decided instead to give them to you, as a little testimonialof my deep gratitude. If, by any chance, _you_ should decide that youwould prefer to have the money, I will attempt to negotiate the sale foryou when I reach London and--"
He got no further for, with a whoop of joy, Ted sprang forward and laidhis bit in Mr. Ramsay's lap and the others followed his example, strivingvery inadequately to express their wonder and delight.
But he interrupted them, smilingly. "I should like to inquire, just as amatter of curiosity, what form of investment each one of you expects tomake with the sum you receive? Don't think me too inquisitive please.It's just an old man's curiosity!"
"I've decided already!" cried Eileen. "I'm going to spend mine on anothertrip over here in the spring to visit you girls, and I'm going to bringmother with me. I wouldn't have got here this time if it hadn't been forGrandfather, for Daddy simply put his foot down and said he couldn'tafford it. And next year Grandfather may be in Timbuctoo or somewherelike it, and I wouldn't have a chance. But I've just _got_ to see you allagain soon, for you're the best friends I ever made."
"And I'm going to save mine for some extra expensive courses in chemicalengineering in college that I never supposed I could afford to take,"declared Ted. "I expected I'd have to go into business after I graduated,for a year or two, till I scraped up enough, but now I can go right on."
"Of course, I'll get my music now," cried Phyllis, "and I'm the happiestgirl alive!"
"Well, it's hardly necessary for me to say that now little Ralph willhave his chance to be strong and well, like other boys," murmured Leslie,tears of joy standing in her eyes.
Then, to ease the tension of the almost too happy strain, Mr. Ramsaycontinued:
"But there is another member of this party that it would not do toforget!" He drew from his pocket a handsome leather and silverdog-collar, called Rags over to him, and, as the dog ambled up, gravelyaddressed him:
"Kindly accept this token of my immense gratitude and allow me to claspit about your neck!" Rags submitted gravely while his old collar wasremoved and the new one put in place, and immediately after began to makefrantic efforts to get it off over his head! But Mr. Ramsay only laughedand held up a five dollar bill, adding:
"I realize that you do not entirely appreciate this gift at present. Infact, I sympathize with you in thinking it a decided nuisance! But hereis something else that may soothe your sorrow--a five-dollar bill, to bedevoted exclusively to the purchase of luscious steaks, tender chops, andjuicy bones--for your solitary delectation!"
Amid the general laughter that followed, he added: "And now, may I askthat you escort me over to the veranda of Curlew's Nest? I have a greatdesire to walk up and down on that porch for a few moments and think ofall the strange adventures of which that delightful little bungalow hasbeen the scene!"
And accompanied by Rags, still striving madly to scrape off his newcollar by rubbing it in the sand, they escorted their guest to Curlew'sNest!
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