sufficient for anything any man or woman could reasonably want, and
neither of us need fret over it if the treasure is never found. Still,
he wished us to have it, and it is properly ours, and I don't want it to
go to enrich someone who has not a shadow of a right to it."

On the following morning Mark went to attend the inquest on Bastow. He
did not go into the court, however, but remained close at hand in the
event of the coroner insisting upon his being called. However, the two
men only spoke casually in their evidence of their comrade Roberts, who
had been also engaged in the capture. One of the jurymen suggested that
he should also be called, but the coroner said:

"I really cannot see any occasion for it; we are here to consider how
the deceased came by his death, and I think it must be perfectly clear
that he came by it by his own act. You have heard how he was captured,
that the spoils of the coach that he had just rifled were found upon
him, and that the booty he had been acquiring from his deeds for months
past also was seized; therefore, as the man was desperate, and knew
well enough that his life was forfeited, there was ample motive for
his putting an end to his wretched existence. I really do not think,
gentlemen, that it is worth while to waste your time and mine by going
into further evidence."

Finally, a verdict of felo de se was returned, with a strong expression
of the jury's admiration of the conduct of constables Malcolm, Chester,
and Roberts, who had so cleverly effected the capture of the man who had
so long set the law at defiance.

CHAPTER XVII.

Four days later Mark, on his return from dinner, found Philip Cotter
sitting in his room waiting for him. They had met on the previous
evening, and Cotter had expressed his intention of calling upon him the
next day.

"I am here on a matter of business, Thorndyke," the latter said as they
shook hands.

"Of business!" Mark repeated.

"Yes. You might guess for a year, and I don't suppose that you would hit
it. It is rather a curious thing. Nearly twenty years ago--"

"I can guess it before you go any further," Mark exclaimed, leaping up
from the seat that he had just taken. "Your people received a box from
India."

"That is so Mark; although how you guessed it I don't know."

"We have been searching for it for years," Mark replied. "Our lawyer,
Prendergast, wrote to you about that box; at least, he wrote to you
asking if you had any