a tone of suppressed agitation.
"Immediately she obtained knowledge through her spies of my intention to
disobey her, she may have secured the most valuable of the jewels and had
them packed ready to take them with her if compelled to flee. Yet somehow
I cannot believe she has done this, for their removal must have attracted
attention. No, I believe we shall have to look in another quarter for the
thief." Then, bending again to examine the hilt of the knife embedded in
the body of the unfortunate slave, he added: "That poignard was hers. She
carried it always in her girdle, and it seems, after all, as though this
man was her confidant and assistant, and that here alone she closed his
lips by murdering him. Yet to her, life was more valuable than the
treasure, and I cannot believe that she risked detection and capture in
order to secure what she might afterwards obtain by the assistance of
hirelings."

"A dark tragedy has certainly been enacted," I said, glancing around the
gruesome place with its gloomy corners and crevices where the blackness
was impenetrable. "The theft has been accompanied by a secret
assassination at some coward's hand."

"Yes," he exclaimed, standing with folded arms and chin sunk upon his
breast. "The great treasure, belonging not only to our family but to our
nation, has been stolen, and I swear by Zomara's power that I will seek
out the thief and recover it. I am Naba, and it is my duty to my people
to restore their wealth to its hiding-place. Each successive ruler has
enriched his country by making additions to the store of jewels, and it
shall never be recorded that on finding the most valuable of our
possessions stolen, I made no effort to trace and recover them. True,
they have been abstracted in a manner almost miraculous for ingenuity and
rapidity, but from this moment I will not rest until they are recovered.
And you, Scarsmere, as Keeper of the Treasure-house, shall assist me."

"I am ready," I answered, excited at the prospect of this new task before
us. "We will spare no effort to seek the thief and recover the Treasure
of the Sanoms. It is, as you declare, a duty, and I am ready and anxious
to commence the search."

CHAPTER XXXI.

A SPY'S STARTLING STORY.

WE remained fully two hours in the noisome Treasure-chamber of the
Sanoms, the early history of which was lost in the mist of legendary
lore, then after careful and minute examination of the rifled chests,
worked our