Hidden in a piano box?" the Professor repeated wonderingly. "Why, you
mean in Hartoo's sleeping box, then?"

"If Mr. Hartoo is the gentleman who tried to club me, you are right,"
Quest admitted. "Mr. Ashleigh, before we go any further I must ask you for
an explanation as to the presence of that person in your grounds!"

The Professor hesitated for a moment. Then he slowly crossed the room,
opened the drawer of a small escritoire, and drew out a letter.

"You have heard of Sir William Raysmore, the President of the Royal
Society?" he asked.

Quest nodded.

"This letter is from him," the Professor continued. "You had better read
it."

The criminologist read it aloud. Lenora looked over his shoulder:--

"To Professor Edgar Ashleigh, New York.

"My dear Professor,

"Your communication gratifies and amazes me. I can say no more.
It fell to your lot to discover the skeleton of the anthropoid,
a marvellous thing, in its way, and needing only its corollary
to form the greatest discovery since the dark ages. Now you tell
me that in the person of Hartoo, the last of the Inyamo Race of
South America, you have found that corollary. You have supplied
the missing link. You are in a position to give to the world a
definite and logical explanation of the evolution of man. Let me
give you one word of warning, Professor, before I write you at
greater length on this matter. Anthropologists are afflicted
more, even, than any other race of scientific men, with
jealousy. Guard your secret well, lest the honour of this
discovery should be stolen from you.

"WILLIAM RAYSMORE."

[Illustration: QUEST AND LENORA RECEIVE THE MESSAGE FROM LAURA.]

[Illustration: QUEST IS SURPRISED AT FINDING THE STOLEN NECKLACE IN THE
BLACK BOX.]

The Professor nodded deliberately as Quest finished the letter.

"Now, perhaps, you can understand," he said, "why it was necessary to keep
Hartoo absolutely hidden. In a month's time my papers will be ready. Then
I shall electrify the world. I shall write not a new page but a new volume
across the history of science. I shall--"

The door was suddenly thrown open. Craig sprang in, no longer the
self-contained, perfect man-servant, but with the face of some wild
creature. His shout was one almost of agony.

"The hut, Professor! The hut is on fire!" he cried.

His appearance on the threshold was like a flash. They heard his flying
feet dow