cken.

"Companion," repeated Jack, "I do not understand you. My father had no
companion except Buck Risley, his man, who has now returned to London
with me."

"Had he not, indeed?" said Baumann. "But he had a very close
gombanion, one who might easily lead him astray. _Himmel_, what was it
not worth? I think about it night and day."

"Gently, Baumann, gently," said Mr. Lane. "You are mystifying Mr.
Haydon, and I shall explain to him what you mean. He clearly does not
understand you, and I do not think it is right to keep him in the
dark. Mr. Haydon, do you know why your father went to Burmah for us?"

"I understood that he was going to survey some concession you had
gained," replied Jack.

"My goncession," cried Baumann. "I went over there and saw the place,
and I said to myself, _Himmel_, here is the for rubies, yes, fine
rubies, and I got all rights to dig there."

Mr. Lane quieted his excited partner and turned once more to Jack.

"Exactly," he said; "your father went to survey a concession for us.
My partner had been over the ground, and had returned convinced that
there was a fine field for ruby-mining. We sent your father out to
look carefully over the ground on our behalf, and a short time ago we
received some very startling news from him. He cabled to us that in a
fissure of the rock, where, as everyone knows, the finest rubies are
found, he had made a most marvellous find. He had come across a ruby
of priceless quality, and, as his work was done, he intended to return
at once, bringing the ruby with him in order to place it himself in
our hands."

"And now he has mysteriously disappeared," sneered Baumann. His
meaning was very plain, and Jack leapt to his feet with pale face and
shining eyes.

"Sir!" he cried. "Do you dare to hint that the ruby is the cause of my
father's disappearance?"

The German smiled, and Jack's anger grew.

"It is impossible!" he cried. "My father is the soul of uprightness
and honour. And do you think he would be tempted by a mere stone,
whatever its value? He has handled rubies a hundred and a hundred
times."

"Ay," snarled the German, "but not such a ruby as this. What did he
say himself? What was in his cablegram? 'The finest ruby by far that I
have ever seen or handled!' He says that. He, Haydon, the first living
expert on rubies, the man who knows everything of every big specimen
in existence. _Himmel, Himmel_, what a stone was that! And what time
are we losing! I