g to be my son-in-law. As my daughter loves him, I am willing to
permit the marriage, but now that I have learned the emeralds are lost,
I shall not consent until Sir Frank buys the mummy from you, Professor.
It is only right that my daughter's hand should redeem her regal
forefather from purely scientific surroundings and that she should take
the mummy back to be buried in Lima. At the same time, sir, I must say
that I am the rightful owner of the dead, and that you should surrender
the mummy to me free of charge."

"What, and lose a thousand pounds!" cried Braddock furiously. "No, sir,
I shall do nothing of the sort. You only wanted the mummy for the sake
of the jewels, and now that they are lost, you do not care what becomes
of your confounded ancestor, and you--"

The Professor would have gone on still more furiously, but that Hope,
seeing Don Pedro was growing angry at the insult, chimed in.

"Let me throw oil on the troubled waters," he said, smoothly. "Don Pedro
is not able to redeem the mummy until the emeralds are found. As such
is the case, we must find the emeralds and enable him to do what is
necessary."

"And how are we to find the jewels?" asked Braddock crossly.

"By finding the assassin."

"How is that to be done?" asked De Gayangos gloomily. "I have been doing
my best at Pierside, but I cannot find a single clue. Vasa is not to be
found."

"Vasa!" exclaimed Archie and the Professor, both profoundly astonished.

Don Pedro raised his eyebrows.

"Certainly. Vasa, if anyone, must have killed your assistant, since he
alone could have known that the jewels were buried with Inca Caxas."

"But, my dear sir," argued Hope good-naturedly, "if Vasa stole the
manuscript, whether translated or not, he certainly must have learned
the truth long, long ago, since thirty years have elapsed. In that event
he must have stolen the jewels, as Professor Braddock remarked lately,
before he sold the mummy to the Parisian collector."

"That may be so," said Don Pedro obstinately, while the Professor
muttered his approval, "but we cannot be certain on that point. No
one--I agree with the Professor in this--would have risked his neck to
steal a mere mummy, therefore the motive for the committal of the crime
must have been the emeralds. Only Vasa knew of their existence outside
myself and my dead father. He, therefore, must be the assassin. I shall
hunt for him, and, when I find him, I shall have him arrested."

"But