"Yes. The news was all over the village this morning. I could hardly
help knowing it. And I believe that the mummy has been taken to your
house, Professor."
"It has," admitted Braddock dryly. "I took it myself from Mrs. Jasher's
arbor in a hand-cart, with the assistance of Cockatoo. But when I made
an examination this morning in the presence of Hope and Don Pedro, I
found that the swathings of the body had been ripped up, and that the
emeralds mentioned in that manuscript had been stolen."
"Strange!" said Random with a frown; "and by whom?"
"No doubt by the assassin of Sidney Bolton."
"Probably." Random kicked a mat straight with his foot. "At any rate
the theft of the emeralds shows that it was not any Indian who killed
Bolton. None of them would rifle so sacred a corpse."
"Besides which--as you say--the Indians in Peru do not know that the
mummy has reappeared after thirty years' seclusion," chimed in Hope,
rising. "Well, and what is to be done now?"
For answer Sir Frank picked up the manuscript which still remained on
the table.
"I shall see Don Pedro about this," he said quietly, "and ascertain if
it is the original or a copy."
Braddock rose slowly and stared at the paper.
"Do you know Latin?" he asked.
"No," rejoined Random, knowing what the savant meant. "I learned it, of
course, but I have forgotten much. I might translate a word or two,
but certainly not the hedge-priest Latin in which this is written." He
looked carefully at the manuscript as he spoke.
"But who could have placed it in your room?" questioned Archie.
"We cannot learn that until we see Don Pedro. If this is the original
manuscript which we saw the other night, we may learn how it passed from
the possession of De Gayangos to my bookcase. If it is a copy, then we
must learn, if possible, who owned it."
"Don Pedro said that a transcript or a translation had been made,"
mentioned Hope.
"Evidently a transcript," said Braddock, glaring at the paper in
Random's hand. "But how could that find its way from Lima to this
place?"
"It might have been packed up with the mummy," suggested Archie.
"No," contradicted Random decisively, "in that event, the man in Malta
from whom the mummy was bought would have discovered the emeralds, and
would have taken them."
"Perhaps he did. We have nothing to show that Bolton's assassin
committed the crime for the sake of the jewels."
"He must have done so," cried the Professor, irritably, "else there is
no motive for the commission of the crime. But I think myself that we
must start at the other end to find a clue. When we discover who placed
the mummy in Mrs. Jasher's garden--"