baronet did not strike him at the moment as a
consideration. However, he foresaw trouble and expense should Don
Pedro go to law, as he seemed determined to do. Taking all things into
consideration, Braddock thought that Archie's judgment was a good one,
and yielded.

"Well," he said after reflection, "let us agree. I shall open the case
and examine the mummy, which after all is the reason why I bought it.
When I have satisfied myself as to the difference between the modes of
embalming, Don Pedro can give me a check and take away the mummy. I only
hope that he will have less trouble with it than I have had," and,
so speaking, Braddock, signing to Cockatoo to bring all the necessary
tools, laid hands on the case.

"I am content," said Don Pedro briefly, and seated himself in a chair
beside the young Daniel who had delivered judgment.

Hope offered to assist the Professor to open the case, but was dismissed
with an abrupt refusal.

"Though I am glad you are present to see the mummy unpacked," said
Braddock, laboring at the lid of the case, "for if the emeralds are
missing, Don Pedro might accuse me of stealing them."

"Why should the emeralds be missing?" asked Hope quickly.

Braddock shrugged his shoulders.

"Sidney Bolton was killed," said he in a low voice, "and it was not
likely that any one would commit a murder for the sake of this mummy,
and then leave it stranded in Mrs. Jasher's garden. I have my doubts
about the safety of the emeralds, else I would not have consented to
sell the thing back again."

With this honest speech, the Professor vigorously attacked the lid of
the case, and inserted a steel instrument into the cracks to prize up
the covering. The lid was closed with wooden pegs in an antique but
perfectly safe manner, and apparently had not been opened since the
dead Inca had been laid to rest therein hundreds of years ago among the
Andean mountains. Don Pedro winced at this desecration of the dead, but,
as he had given his consent, there was nothing left to do but to grin
and bear it. In a wonderfully short space of time, considering the
neatness of the workmanship and the holding power of the wooden pegs,
the lid was removed. Then the four on-lookers saw that the mummy had
been tampered with. Swathed in green-stained llama wool, it lay rigid
in its case. But the swathings had been cut; the hands protruded and the
emeralds were gone--torn rudely from the hard grip of the dead.

CHAPTER XV