quire himself had been his
friend in the greatest of his trials, and had given him a shelter and a
home in his old age. I am glad, at least, that the man, evil as he was,
was spared this last crime of the grossest ingratitude."

"Well, Mark," Dick Chetwynd said cheerfully, in order to turn the
subject, "I am heartily glad that we have got to the bottom of this
jewel mystery. I have been puzzling over it all the time that you have
been away, and I have never been able to understand how, in spite of
the precautions that we took, they should have found out that the jewels
were at Cotter's, and that you had them on board with you, and, above
all, why they spared your life when they could so easily and safely
have put you out of the way. It is certainly strange that while you were
thinking over everything connected with the jewels, the idea that Ramoo
was the leading spirit in the whole business should never once have
occurred to you."

A month later, when Mark went up to town, he called at Leadenhall
Street.

"Of course, you have not heard of the arrival of the Brahmapootra at
Madras yet. May I ask when she left the Cape?"

"She never left the Cape, sir," the clerk replied, "and there are very
grave fears for her safety. She spoke the Surinam and gave her mails
for England when the latter was eight days out from the Cape, and the
Surinam reported that a day later she encountered a terrible gale, lost
several spars, and narrowly escaped being blown onto the African coast.
Since then we have had no news of the Brahmapootra. A number of Indiamen
have arrived since; the latest came in only yesterday, and up to the
time when she left no news had been received of the ship. Three small
craft had been sent up the coast weeks before to make inquiries for her,
but had returned without being able to obtain any intelligence, and had
seen no wreckage on the coast, although they had gone several hundred
miles beyond where she had spoken the Surinam, therefore there can be
little doubt that she foundered with all hands during the gale. You had
no near relatives on board, I hope, sir?"

"No near relatives, but there was one on board in whom I was greatly
interested. Here is my card; I should feel greatly obliged if you would
write me a line should you hear anything of her."

"I will do so, sir. We have had innumerable inquiries from friends and
relatives of those on board, and although of late we have been obliged
to say that there