CHAPTER LVIII.
THE DISCOVERY OF THE CRYPTOGRAM.
While Detective Lambert was making these entries, events of which hehad no suspicion were progressing in another quarter. Some premonitionof startling incidents soon to happen must have been very strongwithin him, or he would not have been out of bed a couple of hoursafter midnight, prowling, in a safe disguise, in the vicinity ofCatchpole Square and Shore Street. Constable Applebee came across himtwice without recognising him, although Lambert gave him everyopportunity, asking him on both occasions the way to Holborn. Lambertapparently was the worse for drink, and Applebee would probably havehad more to say to him, and might indeed have "run him in" as asuspicious character had it not been for the interest he took in theimmediate neighbourhood of Samuel Boyd's house, to which particularspot he devoted more attention than was consistent with his duties onthe space of ground covered by his beat. The second time Lambert askedhim the way to Holborn, the constable proffered a sensible piece ofadvice, to the effect that the man would be better in bed, to which hewas advised to go if he did not wish to get into trouble. "Is thatyour advice?" asked Lambert, with a tipsy lurch. "Yes, it is," repliedApplebee, "and if you're not a born fool you'll take it." "I'd haveyou know," retorted Lambert, "that I'm a respectable mechanic, and myadvice to you is not to be so cocky. I'd make as good a bobby as youany day in the week." This angered Applebee, but did not move him toretaliatory action, and Lambert walked off, laughing in his sleeve.His light mood did not last long. Dark clouds were coming into thesky; a few drops of rain fell. There was a flash of lightning and aclap of thunder. "We shall have a storm," he muttered.
At that very moment Dr. Vinsen and Dr. Pye were closeted together, andevents were approaching a climax. On the afternoon of that day Dr. Pyehad received a note from his friend, announcing that he intended topay him a visit at midnight. It was a strange hour to choose for afriendly call, and Dr. Pye was not pleased, but these men were in acertain sense dependent upon each other, and neither could just nowafford to open up a quarrel; therefore, when Dr. Vinsen's summons atthe street door was heard by Dr. Pye he went down himself and admittedhis visitor. The interview was held at the back of the house, in theroom with shuttered windows, from which a view of Samuel Boyd's housecould be obtained.
"It is a dangerous time for a visit," were Dr. Pye's first words.
"By daylight," said Dr. Vinsen, "the danger would be greater. I tookcare to see, before I knocked, that there was no person in the street.Besides, I trust you as little as you trust me."
"You have a reason for the remark," observed Dr. Pye.
"I have, or I should not have made it. But let us be amicable--bea-mi-ca-ble. I am willing to converse in a spirit of confidence. Youhave wounded me by your suspicions, and you have a design which youare hiding from me--from me, your best friend. Has your spectreappeared again?"
"An hour ago I saw it at the window."
Dr. Vinsen looked at his host incredulously. Dr. Pye placed a portraitbefore him.
"I took this negative last night; I developed it this morning. Do yourecognise it?"
Dr. Vinsen's face grew pale as he gazed at the portrait of SamuelBoyd.
"Are you mad?" he asked, "or am I?"
"Do not be alarmed," said Dr. Pye, calmly; "the man is not there. Itis the picture of a vision, and is one step farther in our knowledgeof the power of the human will. When I received your letter thisafternoon I determined that I would search the house to-night in yourcompany; or, if you prefer it, I will search alone."
"No; it shall be in my company. I am not afraid of ghosts."
Dr. Pye smiled scornfully.
"You turned white at the sight of the picture."
"A momentary discomposure, nothing more. I do not deny that I have notyour iron nerve. I am very human, my friend;--ve-ry hu-man."
"Drop the mask," said Dr. Pye, sternly. "I am sick of your whining.Will you have some wine?"
"Something stronger than wine."
"To fortify yourself for a meeting with our spectre?" Dr. Pye laughedin derision, and produced a decanter of brandy, to which his visitorhelped himself liberally. From the bottom of a cupboard he took acobwebbed bottle of wine, which he handled and opened very carefully.He smiled as he held the glass up to the light, and then drank itslowly, as if it were really the elixir of life which popular rumourcredited him with searching for. "I would give much," he said, "forthat store of old wine which Samuel Boyd left behind him. Had it notbeen for you I would have had every bottle in this house."
"And so risked discovery," said Dr. Vinsen. "As it was you courteddanger by taking two bottles to gratify your insane tastes."
"I have courted greater dangers and escaped them. You are toocautious, my friend. All my life I have found safety in boldness. Youaccuse me of withholding from your knowledge a design which I have inview. What design?"
"In good time, my very dear friend. There are other matters first.Before we go into them, a question. Does your patient remain in thesame state?"
"There is no change in him."
"He will disclose nothing?"
"His mind is a blank."
"That is the result of your fine plan," said Dr. Vinsen, with a sneer."Perhaps you will acknowledge that my plan was the best--to silencehim and leave him in the cellar."
"I acknowledge nothing. The reasonable presumption was that he couldhave given us a clue. Time enough then to have silenced him. As ithappens he has failed to be of service to us."
"How will you dispose of him now without drawing suspicion upon you?"
"Upon us, you mean." Dr. Vinsen shifted uneasily upon his seat. "Iwill find a way, and you shall share the risk." He smiled as he added,"I will insure your safety for a small premium, so we will not wastetime in recrimination. Come to the 'other matters' you have referredto, and of which I am as yet in ignorance."
"Not quite in ignorance, my friend. Surely I have prepared you, surelyI have been patient. I decline to be placed in a false light." He tookout a pocketbook and laid it on the table, guarding it with his hand."I have a conscience; I must justify myself even in your eyes."
"Is it worth while to make the attempt?"
"I think so; I really think so. I must lay my head upon my pillow withmy mind at ease--my mind at ease. You, with your lofty notions andyour wild search for the unattainable, you with your spectres andvisions, know little of the sufferings of a sensitive spirit such asmine."
"Faugh! Is _this_ worth while?"
"You have your ways, I have mine," said Dr. Vinsen, with a sly smile."I must trouble you to listen while I go over the ground."
"So be it. And if my suspicions are correct--and they generally are--Imay trouble _you_ to listen while _I_ go over the ground."
"It will be a pleasure. I think it is three years since you and Ibecame acquainted. Correct me if I am wrong."
"It is immaterial. Say three years--or thirty."
"No, my friend; let us be exact. This is an affair of figures. It isthree years since you wrote to me in acknowledgment of a circular youreceived from me. I had money to lend, you required a loan. I advancedyou five hundred pounds."
"Four."
"Five, my friend, five. The odd hundred was deducted as payment ofinterest in advance."
"Part payment."
"You have an excellent memory. I need not go into the details. In thecourse of a few months you required more money and I advanced it toyou."
"Spare me the details of each transaction. Come to the point."
"I will. Up to the present day you have had from me, in various sums,at various times, a total of three thousand pounds----"
"In actual money, not half that."
"Which, with interest added," continued Dr. Vinsen, alias Ezra Lynn,not troubling himself to argue the point, "amounts now to a trifleover five thousand pounds. Will you oblige me by looking over thesefigures and verifying them?"
"No, I will take your word that they ar
e correct, according to yourreckoning."
"I thank you for your confidence," said Dr. Vinsen, who did not,however, seem to appreciate this indifference. "It is not to besupposed that I advanced my hard-earned capital without some sort ofsecurity. You gave it to me in the shape of a bill of sale over theseart treasures of yours, for which you have an absurd passion, andwhich I do not deny have a marketable value, and over every piece ofportable property in this house. From time to time I have urged you todischarge the debt, wholly or in part, and my appeals have beendisregarded. My dear friend, there is a time when one's patiencebecomes exhausted. Need I say more?"
"Yes. You are only in the middle of the chapter. Samuel Boyd has to beintroduced. Proceed."
"At your wish," said Dr. Vinsen, with evident reluctance. "Some sixweeks ago, when I was pressing you for repayment, you made mention tome----"
"Stop. When you were pressing me for repayment and threatening to sellme up--you left out the latter clause."
"You made mention to me of a plan, which would not only enable you torepay me what you owed me, but would result to our mutual advantage.You had, you said, secret access to the house of Samuel Boyd, who wasin the habit of keeping there considerable sums of money, of which itwould be easy to obtain possession. Without risk, without danger. Youlaid particular stress upon that."
"I did," said Dr. Pye, and the inscrutable smile which accompanied thewords did not add to his confederate's composure.
"You needed a partner in the execution of your plan, a sleepingpartner, you said, who would have nothing to do but to assist inremoving the cash and valuables from his house to this, for whichassistance he was to receive half the proceeds."
"Say spoil."
"The proceeds. I objected, not being willing to be a party to an actof personal violence. I am a peaceable man, and have made my money bypeaceable means."
"By peaceable fraud."
"Why use harsh terms? All my transactions are legal, and protected bythe law. In reply to my objection to a deed of violence you told methat you could in a moment render a sleeping man so utterly insensibleand oblivious to all that was passing around him as to utterly removeevery possible chance of risk. We were to enter the house when SamuelBoyd was asleep; you were to go into his chamber and render himinsensible and unconscious."
"While you remained outside," said Dr. Pye, still with the inscrutablesmile on his lips, "in happy ignorance of the sleeping man's fate."
"I object to these interruptions," said Dr. Vinsen, sulkily. "Finishthe story your own way."
"I will. I informed you that Samuel Boyd, for an unknown purpose ofhis own, had been for some weeks past withdrawing large sums of moneyfrom the bank, and had been selling securities, and that I expected hewould have in his safe on the night of March the 1st several thousandpounds, of which I offered you half for the tame part you were to playin the robbery. Your cupidity was aroused; you could not resist thebait, and you consented to become my partner in the crime. You do notlike the terms I use; they are the correct terms. I am no cantingpsalm-singer; when I commit a crime I accept the responsibility; I donot shirk and whine; and as for the penalty, trust me for evading it.It was arranged that out of my share of the spoil I was to pay youwhat I owed you, so that you had a double interest in the success ofthe plan. The night arrived, and you were here, jubilant, expectant,greedy for the gold, but yet with a craven cowardice for which Idespised you. However, you screwed your courage to the sticking point,and when all the lights in Samuel Boyd's house were extinguished Ishowed you how I obtained access to the premises. We entered insilence, and undetected; we made our way up the stairs and entered theoffice which contained the safe. You shook like an aspen, and I leftyou in the office and went alone into the bedroom, carrying a light.At that very moment Samuel Boyd awoke and started up in bed before Ihad time to press upon his face the handkerchief which I had preparedto render him unconscious. He sprang from the bed, and thehandkerchief fell from my hand. One cry escaped his lips--only one,for my hand was on his throat. But he was strong, a more powerful manthan I had conceived him to be, and he struggled with me sodeterminedly that we stumbled together into the office, where youstood, white-faced and trembling. By some means he got hold of apistol, and fired two shots. One bullet went into the wall, where itwas found by our good friend Remington, evidence of which was given byhim and Lambert the detective at the inquest. Where the other bulletwent has not yet been discovered. I thought I was struck, and for amoment my hold on Samuel Boyd relaxed. His eyes fell upon you, andyour name escaped his lips, which was the first intimation I receivedthat you had had transactions with him. That roused you to action, foryou knew that if he were left alive you were doomed. You sprang uponhim, and bore him to the ground. Then it was two to one. Our handswere at his throat. Whose fingers gave him the _coup de grace?_"
"Yours," said Dr. Vinsen, in a hoarse whisper.
"Yours," said Dr. Pye, calmly, "as I am ready to testify on my oath.However it was, there lay Samuel Boyd, dead before our eyes. We cameto commit a robbery; we had committed murder. As we stood gazing uponthe dead body we heard a knock at the street door, and I thought youwould have fainted, you were so terror struck. In a whisper yousuggested flight; had your advice been followed we were lost, forthere was no time to mask the means by which we had obtained access tothe house. The knocking continued, and it was then that theopportunity was afforded me of displaying one of my talents. As amimicker of voices I am unrivalled, and you are aware of my skill inanother histrionic achievement. It was imperative that the summonsshould be answered, or the neighbourhood might have been aroused. Iseized your hand, my dear accomplice in crime, and we descended to thestreet door. Mimicking Samuel Boyd's voice I inquired who was there.The reply was, 'It is I, sir, Abel Death. For God's sake let me speakto you!' Fearing the result if the demand was not complied with I drewthe bolt and the chain, and dragged the man in; and as he entered youstruck him with such force that he fell to the ground senseless. Ihave never inquired why you struck him."
"It was an impulse of passion," said Dr. Vinsen, in a faltering voice.
"Foist those subterfuges upon weaker men. I did not inquire because Iknew. You held the candle above your head, and Abel Death saw yourface, as the man we had murdered had done, and recognised you, as hehad done. Why do you wince? We did murder him, comrade in crime, andare both liable to the law for the deed." Quietly as he spoke heseemed to take delight in associating Dr. Vinsen with himself in theruthless work. "Your thought, when you struck Abel Death down, wasthat if he were allowed to go free he would be able to give evidenceagainst you."
"And against you."
"Thanks for your consideration of me, but I can see to my own safetywithout aid from such as you. When yours is imperilled there issomething of the savage in you; I give you credit for so muchmanliness. You would have killed him where he lay."
"Had you made an end of him," said Dr. Vinsen, morosely----
"Or had you done it," interrupted Dr. Pye. "Why give me all the honourof the task we were engaged upon?"
"His tongue would have been silenced for ever," concluded Dr. Vinsen,"and we should have been safe."
"I am not so sure of that. Anyway I deemed it prudent that he shouldlive till we had made search for Samuel Boyd's treasure. If thatsearch had been successful I might have handed the poor clerk over toyour tender mercy. But it was not successful. In the safe we found apaltry two hundred pounds, and bills, and documents, and books ofaccounts. The books were valuable to us, for if they had fallen intoother hands, it would have been seen that we were both indebted to theman we killed. Among the bills were many of mine, and some of yours.It was not till then that I learned you owed him money; and yourmotive for joining me in the robbery was partly explained. The booksand bills destroyed, and the man dead, your indebtedness to him wascancelled. You are a cunning dog, Ezra Lynn. There were also LordWharton's bills, which, I fear, are valueless to us."
"You have not kept them!" cried Dr. Vinsen.
"I have, and every document we took away."
"But they implicate _me!_"
"It is perhaps for that reason I have not destroyed them," said Dr.Pye, coolly. "We sink or swim together, Ezra Lynn, so long as weremain in England. Among the documents was the list of Lady Wharton'sjewels, and a statement of how Samuel Boyd became possessed of them,with other statements which informed us that he was expected topresent himself at Bournemouth on the following Wednesday, with thefifteen hundred pounds he had arranged to advance to her. But wherewere the jewels? We hunted for them in vain, and to this hour havebeen unable to lay hands upon them, although we know they must bethere."
"They may not be. The burglar who broke into the house on the nightyou went to Bournemouth may have found them."
"No. What we could not find he did not find. On the night I went toBournemouth!" said Dr. Pye, and for the first time a laugh escapedhim. "Tell me another man who could have so successfully imposed uponher ladyship, who would have had the audacity to carry out a deceptionso hazardous? Do you not feel proud in having a partner so bold anddaring? Judge by that of what I am capable, and whether I am fitted tohold command. After what I have seen these five nights past, the imageof Samuel Boyd, who lies dead in his grave, would any other man havethe hardihood to enter that house? I am a stranger to fear, Ezra Lynn.When our conversation is ended we make search for the lost jewels; itmay be the last chance we shall have. To finish the story of thatFriday night before you disclose what is in your mind. I made AbelDeath secure by plunging him into a state of insensibility from whichit was impossible for him to recover till late the following day, andthen we removed the books and papers, leaving behind us one documentwhich fixed the guilt of the murder upon Mr. Reginald Boyd."
"How is it," asked Dr. Vinsen, "that that accusation has not beenproduced?"
"There are more ways than one of accounting for it. The man who madethe burglarious entrance into the house may have seized the papers weleft upon the table, in the expectation that he could turn them toprofit, to discover later that to produce them would be puttinghimself into the criminal dock; or it may be that Mr. RichardRemington appropriated the document and destroyed it, out of regardfor Inspector Robson's family, and probably also because he believesin Mr. Reginald Boyd's innocence. Hark! Do you hear the thunder? Astorm is approaching. All the better for our purpose. It is twoo'clock, and we have little time to waste. I will make short work ofthe conclusion of that night's proceedings. At your suggestion weplaced the body of Samuel Boyd comfortably in its bed, and clearedaway all traces of the struggle. Your argument was that, as it wouldbecome known that Mr. Reginald Boyd visited his father that night, itwould be supposed he had adopted the expedient to make it appear thatthe murdered man died a natural death, and so avert suspicion fromhimself. It was a lame argument, for the marks of our fingers were onhis throat, but I humoured you, as we humour a child who asks aharmless question. The last thing we did was to carry Abel Death fromthe house. Some days afterwards we learned that Mr. Richard Remingtonwas taking an active interest in the disappearance of the clerk, andfor the purpose of ascertaining to what extent he was in communicationwith Mrs. Death you introduced yourself to her under the false name,by which you are known to her and to him. I raised no objection to theplan; the risk was yours, and I was willing that you should run it.You used my name without my authority, and I understand why you didso. It was to make me a partner in the risk, was it not?"
"Yes," replied Dr. Vinsen, sullenly.
"An honest confession. You feared that I should shirk the consequencesof our crime--let us call it by its usual name--to which you attach somuch importance. You are mistaken; I am ready to meet them, always,always ready. I have overcome greater dangers, have steered my waysafely over rocks and quicksands far more perilous. Shall Irecapitulate the particulars of a later incident in this affair? Thatit chanced that one of the men summoned on the jury was a person whoowed you money which he could not pay; that you held him so completelyin your power that you could bring worldly ruin upon him; that youentered into a conspiracy with him to use his influence with hisbrother jurymen in order that a verdict of wilful murder againstReginald Boyd should be returned; that you----"
"Enough of that," interposed Dr. Vinsen. "Surely it is not necessaryto go into these details."
"A statement of them refreshes the memory; it is important not to losesight of the smallest incident in this complex matter--but as youwill. And now, my worthy partner, before we proceed to the house thatfaces this window, explain what you mean by saying that your patienceis exhausted, and by your threat with reference to the art treasures Ihave gathered, which I value as I value my life?"
"You have had a large sum of money from me," said Dr. Vinsen,doggedly. "I claim my own. The debt must be discharged."
"And if payment is impossible just now?"
"I cannot wait any longer."
"Shall we say you will not?"
"You goad me to it. I will not."
"But it happens that you must wait my pleasure--aye, _must!_ EzraLynn, you little know the man upon whose fate yours depends, and whowould have no more compunction in striking you dead where yousit than in plucking the leaves from a rose. You would rob me of mytreasures--the treasures I have purchased with blood. Not while Ilive--not while I live. Here is beauty that I can worship, the work ofthe great masters of the past, exquisite colour and perfect form, inthe production of which genius toiled with a divine end in view. If myhistory ever becomes known the world will read the story of a man whogreatly dared, of one who loved beauty in its every shape and form, ofone who, unblessed with wealth, stopped at no crime to gain it, inorder to follow his star, and who, when all was lost--if such a fatebefall him--defied his enemies and defeated them in the moment oftheir victory. You start at the word crime. It is a common word, and Iuse it in the common sense, but not in the sense in which _I_ view it.All things are justified to men who dare as I have dared. What is thesacrifice of a human life in the endeavour to wrest nature's sublimesecrets from her breast? Man wars with man, and strews the battlefieldwith the slain. Is that called a crime? We glorify it, we sing hymnsto it, the church cries 'Hosanna!' and its priests praise the Lord ofHosts who crowned our banners with victory. If victory crown mine--andit may yet, in the teeth of all obstacles--so shall I be praised andglorified. Crime! There is no such word to the victor. I laugh at thelaw that would make a criminal of a hero. Not for the first time shallI have successfully defied it."
He paused, and smiled scornfully as a flash of lightning pierced achink in the window, which he instantly unshuttered.
"We may be seen!" cried Dr. Vinsen, catching his arm.
He took no heed of the warning, but stood at the window, and smiledagain at the peal of thunder at the lightning's heels. Whether thewords he had uttered were or were not the ravings of a madman, it wasclear that he was terribly in earnest.
"It is but a commencement of the storm," he said presently, in acalmer tone, turning from the window. "There is still somethingfurther to explain. You accused me of concealing a design from you."
Dr. Vinsen fortified himself with brandy before replying. His nerveswere shaken, and the liquor gave him courage.
"Why have you had two travelling trunks made, and inscribed with thename of Corsi?"
"Ah, you have discovered that. It is the name I shall assume when Ileave these shores for another country. The trunks, as you havedoubtless observed, are specially constructed for the safe transportof works of art."
"I forbid you to remove them," cried Dr. Vinsen. "They no longerbelong to you."
"How so?"
"How so?" echoed Dr. Vinsen. "You will not deny your signature?"
"No, I will not deny it."
"By this document," said Dr. Vinsen, taking a paper from hispocket-book, "which I had duly stamped on the day you signed it, theybecame my property if, in six months from that date, you had notdischarged your debt to me. The six months expired to-day."
"Pause a moment
before you open it. When did you read it last?"
"Yesterday, and put it in my pocket-book to bring here to-night."
"If my memory does not play me false, the date was the 18th ofSeptember, 1897. I did not approve of the document you asked me tosign, and you wrote another at this table, worded somewhatdifferently. One hundred and eighty-three days have elapsed sincethen. I am curious to see if I timed it correctly. Open the paper."
Dr. Vinsen unfolded it, and started in amazement. The paper was blank,nothing appearing on it but the red Government stamp.
"It was a vulgar trick," said Dr. Pye. "You wrote and I signed, not inink which gradually fades, but which suddenly disappears at anappointed hour. Content yourself, my worthy friend, and thank me forsaving you from a danger which would have sent you to the hulks. Hadyou attempted to dispose of these gems to a dealer in any Europeancity you would have been immediately arrested. They have been boughtwith blood, and there is not a police court that has not a list ofthem. Priceless treasures! Here are vases, medallions, and bronzes ofBenvenuto Cellini, for which collectors would give thousands ofguineas, and every one known throughout the civilised world. Thatwondrous artificer saw visions, as I do, and his progress was markedwith blood, as mine has been. Content yourself, I say; when I make myfortune you shall be paid, and if we discover the jewels to-night youshall have the lion's share. Now, follow me, if you have the courage."
* * * * *
Noiseless footsteps on the dark stairs, noiseless footsteps in thepassages--the footsteps of men in their stocking feet. They reach thelanding on which Samuel Boyd's bedroom and office are situated.
The storm rages without, tearing through the Square with fierce,shrieking moans and cries, like a forest of wild beasts in pain. Thereis a leak in the roof of the house, and the men within it, when thereis a lull, hear the raindrops falling, pat, pat, pat. One of the menshudders at a terrifying thought, born of the memory of a night when amurder was committed there. If a human being were on the roof, stabbedto the heart, so might _his_ life's blood drip through the aperture.In the terrified man's fancy he sees the red stains on the floor, seesthem spread through the air, though nothing is visible in his actualsight. A muffled cry escapes him.
"Hush!" From the other man. "Do not raise your voice above a whisper."
"Why not?" From the trembling man. "There is no one here butourselves."
"Fool! The house may be watched. Why do you shrink from me? Are youafraid?"
"No." But the speaker's lips and face are white. "Can we not have alight?"
"Not here. I have matches and a candle with me. There is a screen inthe office--here is the door--step in, softly, softly! Now, help memove the screen before the window. Come, ghost, spectre, or vision,show yourself!"
"For God's sake, stop!"
"Coward! Ah, that lightning flash! And now the thunder! Listen to therain. It is a deluge."
They stoop and light the candle, crouching by the writing-table.
"Keep the light near the ground. The window is masked, but if thecandle is raised its glimmer might be seen from the Square. Move thisway. Nearer to this dumb image of wax in its hooded chair. It would bea rare achievement to breathe life into it, to compel it to speak, andreveal where the treasure we seek is hidden."
So low are their voices that it would be impossible for any personacquainted with the speakers to recognise them by that sound. They arestanding at the back of the hooded chair, and the waxwork figure ofthe Chinaman, with its fixed and pallid face, stares straight atvacancy.
"Speak!" whispers the bolder of the two, in savage derision, andshakes the chair--so violently that the Charles the Second cane itholds in its hand slips and falls to the ground.
"I recall a story," he continues, picking up the stick, and still in awhispered voice, "of a treasure of great value being concealed forgenerations in a cane like this. If this were hollow it could be usedfor just such a purpose. What are these protuberances round the rim?Hold the light closer, closer! A circlet of old English letters."
By accident he presses one of the letters, and as he does so isconscious of a movement in the silver knob at the top of the cane.Bending over it he sees that the letter he pressed is B, and that thepressure has caused the figure 2 to spring up on the surface of theknob.
"B, the second letter in the alphabet, stands for 2," he whispersexcitedly. "The last words written by Samuel Boyd on the memorandumwhich would send his son to the gallows if it were found, were'Notation 2647.' The sixth letter in the alphabet is F." He pressesthe letter, and the figure 6 appears on the knob. "Ha, ha! The fourthletter, D." He presses that, and the figure 4 appears, the figures nowranging 264. "The seventh letter, G. The notation is complete--2647!"
Such perfect control did the speaker have over himself that even inthat moment of excitement his voice does not rise above a whisper.Both men are now in a standing posture, the discoverer of the simplecryptogram holding the cane.
"Now for the test," he says, and with the ball of his broad thumb hepresses hard upon the four figures. A click is heard. The silver knobsprings up.
"The jewels!" he whispers, exultantly. "They are here--they are here!See!"
In the utterance of the word a vivid flash of lightning illumines theroom, and one man utters a startled exclamation, the other a frenziedshriek, for in that momentary flash they see the figure of theChinaman rise suddenly from its chair. The candle is dashed to theground, enveloping them in black darkness, and the cane, with itsconcealed treasure, is plucked from the hand that held it!