My Strangest Case | Page 6

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 me that you will be an old man by the time you find the treasure, Kitwater."
"Don't you believe it. We've got something better to go upon than that. There was an old Chinese traveller who visited this place in the year ... what was the year, Coddy?"
"Twelve hundred and fifty-seven," Codd replied without hesitation.
"Well, he describes the glory of the place, the wealth of the inhabitants, and then goes on to tell how the king took him to the great treasure-chamber, where he saw such riches as mortal man