"I don't believe for one moment that Random is in danger," said Archie,
"and, if he is, I shall turn detective myself."
"I wish you joy," replied Braddock, bending over the mummy. "Look, Hope,
at the wonderful color of this wool. There are some arts we have lost
completely--dyeing of this surprising beauty is one. Humph!" mused the
archaeologist, "I wonder why this particular mummy is dyed green, or
rather why it is wrapped in green bandages. Yellow was the royal color
of the ancient Peruvian monarchs. Vicuna wool dyed yellow. What do you
think, Hope? It is strange."
Archie shrugged his shoulders.
"I can say nothing, because I know nothing," he said sharply. "All I do
know is that I wish this precious mummy had never been brought here. It
has caused trouble ever since its arrival."
"Well," said Braddock, surveying the dead with some disfavor, "I must
say that I shall be glad to see the last of it myself. I know now all
that I wanted to know! Humph! I wonder if Don Pedro will allow me to
strip the mummy? Of course! It is mine not his. I shall unswathe it
entirely," and Braddock was about to lay sacrilegious hands on the dead,
when Cockatoo entered breathlessly. He had been so quick that he must
have run to the Fort and back again.
"I knock at door," said the Kanaka, delivering his message, "and I hear
no voice. I go in and find no one, so I put the letter on the table.
I come down and ask, and a soldier tells me, sir, his master is coming
back in half an hour."
"You should have waited," said Braddock, waving Cockatoo aside. "Come
along with me to the Fort, Hope."
"But Random will come here as soon as he returns."
"Very likely, but I can't wait. I am anxious to hear what he has to
say in his defense. Come, Cockatoo, my coat, my hat, my gloves. Stir
yourself, you scoundrel!"
Archie was not unwilling to go, since he was anxious also to hear what
Random would say to the absurd accusation brought against him by the
Yankee. In a few minutes the two men were walking smartly down the
road through the village, the Professor striving to keep up with Hope's
longer legs by trotting as hard as he could. Halfway down the village
they met a trap, and in it Captain Hervey being driven to the Jessum
railway station.
"Have you seen Don Pedro?" asked the Professor, stopping the vehicle.
"I reckon not," answered Hervey stolidly. "He's gone into Pierside to
see the police. I'm off there also."
"You had better come with us," said Archie sternly;--"we are going to
see Sir Frank Random."
"Give him my respects," said the skipper cold-bloodedly, "and say that
he's worth one hundred pounds to me," he waved his hand and the trap
moved away, but he looked back with a wry smile. "Say I'll square the
matter for double the money and command of his yacht."