"
"What!" Braddock stamped. "Would you have committed theft?"
"Theft be hanged!" was the reply. "It ain't thieving to loot the
dead. I guess a corpse hasn't got any use for jewels. You bet
I'd have gummed straightways onto that mummy, when I brought it
from Malta in the old Diver, had I known it was a jeweler's shop
of sorts. Huh! Two emeralds, and I never knew. I could kick
myself."
"You are a blackguard," gasped the astonished Professor.
"Oh, shucks!" was the elegant retort, "give it a rest. I'm no
worse than that dandy gentleman who added murder to stealing,
anyhow."
"Ah!" Braddock bounded off his chair like an india-rubber ball,
"you said that you knew who had committed the murder."
"Wal," drawled Hervey again, "I do and I don't. That is I
suspect, but I can't swear to the business before a judge."
"Who killed Bolton?" asked the Professor furiously. "Tell me at
once."
"Not me, unless it's made worth my while."
"It will be, by Don Pedro."
"That yellow-stomach. What's he got to do with it?"
"I have just told you the mummy belongs to him; he came to Europe
to find it. He wants the emeralds, and intends to offer a reward
of one hundred pounds for the discovery of the assassin.
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