My Strangest Case | Page 6

strange little man, a nineteenth century villain in a sense. He was a
rogue and a vagabond, yet his one hobby, apart from his business, was
a study of the Past, and many an authority on Eastern History would
have been astonished at the extent of his learning. He was never so
happy as when burrowing amongst ancient records, and it was mainly
due to his learning in the first place, and to a somewhat singular
accident in the second, that the trio were now foregathered in Singapore.
His personal appearance was a peculiar one. His height was scarcely
more than four feet six inches. His face was round, and at a distance
appeared almost boyish. It was only when one came to look into it
more closely, that it was seen to be scored by numberless small lines.

Moreover it was unadorned by either beard or moustache. His hair was
grey, and was worn somewhat longer than is usual. He could speak
fluently almost every language of the East, and had been imprisoned by
the Russians for sealing in prohibited waters, had been tortured by the
Chinese on the Yang-tse, and, to his own unextinguishable disgrace,
flogged by the French in Tonquin. Not the least curious trait in his
character was the affection he entertained for Kitwater. The pair had
been together for years, had quarrelled repeatedly, but had never
separated. The record of their doings would form an interesting book,
but for want of space cannot be more than referred to here. Hayle had
been their partner in not a few of their curious undertakings, for his
courage and resource made him a valuable ally, though how far they
trusted each other it is impossible to say.
Breakfast over they adjourned to the verandah, where the inevitable
cigars made their appearance.
"Now, let's hear what you've got to say to me?" Hayle began.
"Not here," Kitwater replied. "There are too many listeners. Come
down to the harbour."
So saying he led his companions to the waterside, where he chartered a
native boat for an hour's sail. Then, when they were out of earshot of
the land, he bade Hayle pay attention to what he had to say.
"First and foremost you must understand," he said, "that it's all due to
Coddy here. We heard something of it from an old Siamese in Hanoi,
but we never put much trust in it. Then Coddy began to look around, to
hunt up some of his fusty records, and after awhile he began to think
that there might be something in the story after all. You see it's this way:
you know Sengkor-Wat?"
"Sengkor how much?"
"Sengkor-Wat--the old ruin at the back of Burmah; near the Chinese
Border. Such a place as you never dreamt of. Tumble-down palaces,
temples, and all that sort of thing--lying out there all alone in the

jungle."
"I've seen Amber," said Hayle, with the air of a man who makes a
remark that cannot be lightly turned aside. "After that I don't want any
more ruined cities. I've got no use for them."
"No, but you've got a use for other things, haven't you? You can use
rubies as big as pigeon's eggs, I suppose. You've got a use for sapphires,
the like of which mortal man never set eyes on before."
"That's certainly so," Hayle replied. "But what has this Sengkor-Wat to
do with it?"
"Everything in the world," Kitwater replied. "That's where those rubies
are, and what's more, that's where we are going to find them."
"Are you joking, or is this sober earnest?"
He looked from Kitwater to Codd. The little man thus appealed to
nodded his head. He agreed with all his companion said.
"It's quite true," said he, after a pause. "Rubies, sapphires and gold,
enough to make us all millionaires times over."
"Bravo for Sengkor-Wat, then!" said Hayle. "But how do you know all
this?"
"I've told you already that Coddy found it out," Kitwater replied.
"Looking over his old records he discovered something that put him on
the track. Then I happened to remember that, years ago, when I was in
Hanoi, an old man had told me a wonderful story about a
treasure-chamber in a ruined city in the Burmese jungle. A Frenchman
who visited the place, and had written a book about it, mentions the
fact that there is a legend amongst the natives that vast treasure is
buried in the ruins, but only one man, so far as we can discover, seems
to have taken the trouble to have looked for it."
"But how big are the ruins?"

"Bigger than London, so Coddy says!"
Coddy nodded his head in confirmation of this fact. But still Hayle
seemed incredulous.
"And are you going to search all that area? It strikes