brandy, settled
himself in his easy chair and proceeded to tell us of his experiences,
and those of Robert Ashton, in the pursuit of the emerald Buddha. He
seemed anxious to do this, to show to the detective the probability of
the murder of Ashton having occurred in an attempt upon the part of some
Chinese secret or religious society to recover the jewel. He showed no
feeling of animosity toward the man from Scotland Yard whether he felt
it or not, and had either concluded that the latter's sharp questioning
of his daughter was justified by the curious and inexplicable
circumstances which surrounded the tragedy, or else was desirous of
covering up his own knowledge of the matter by assuming a manner at once
frank and ingenuous.

"I spent almost all of last year," said the Major, "in traveling through
the interior of China. I was for a long time stationed in India, and
although I was placed upon the retired list nearly ten years ago, the
spirit of the East has called me, its fascination has drawn me toward
the rising sun, ever since. I had traveled extensively in India, Siam,
Persia and even Japan, and was familiar with most of the Chinese cities
upon and near the coast, but the interior was to me until last year
almost a sealed book. My daughter and I arrived at Pekin early last
spring, and, after spending nearly a month in that city, we began an
extensive trip toward the West. I had made somewhat of a study of
Chinese, while in India, having always been attracted by the art and
history of that remarkable country, and during our stay in Pekin, and
later, while traveling inland, I managed to pick up enough of the local
dialects to make myself understood. We traveled on horseback, and had a
considerable retinue of native servants which we took along with us from
Pekin. The expedition was safe enough, barring the usual attempts of
sneak thieves upon our stores, and while to persons not accustomed to
traveling in such countries the journey would no doubt have been full of
hardships, to us, familiar with such work, it was fairly comfortable. We
paid good prices for what we bought en route, had no religious views to
promulgate, and, by minding our own business strictly, we had no trouble
with the natives of any serious moment. I had managed to pick up a few
samples of old porcelain and one or two excellent ivories of great age
and beauty, but, beyond these, the trip had not yielded much in the way
of curios for my collection,