lay among the bones
of the priests in the secret chamber. I dropped to that at once."

"We never thought of them again," went on Mr. Haydon, "but the woman
gathered them and carried them off. Now she has passed them on to you
in this fashion. She must have tucked them into the baggage at some
moment when our backs were turned."

"And this is what she meant by saying that he'd find she hadn't
forgotten him," broke in Buck. "Say, Jack, you've struck it rich this
time."

The fingers of the expert were busy at the next moment among the rich
stones. Mr. Haydon handled each carefully, sorted them, then took a
pencil and began to appraise them roughly on a scrap of paper. While
he did this, Jack related in a low voice to the other two the story of
the secret chamber in the pagoda.

"Well," said Mr. Haydon at length, "there are thirty-seven altogether.
They vary very much in size, but all are of excellent colour. Speaking
in round figures, they are worth about ninety thousand pounds."

"Bully for you, Jack!" exclaimed Buck.

"Bully for all of us, Buck," replied Jack quietly. "If you fancy I'm
going to pocket these, you've missed your kick by a long chalk. We'll
all share and share alike. Where would my father and myself have been
if you hadn't come to the rescue?"

"Right, Jack, quite right," said Mr. Haydon. "But you will count me
out, if you please. We'll realise this parcel of stones in London, and
then divide the money squarely among you three;" and so it was
settled.

"Then I'll come home with you!" cried Jim Dent. "I've had enough of
Rangoon, and this trip'll set me up as a rich man for life."

"I hope the woman kept a few stones for herself," said Jack. His
father laughed.

"If she's a wise woman she most certainly did not, my boy," he
answered. "The possession of rubies would lead to her getting her
throat cut as sure as she had a throat. No, no. She's much better off
with her bag of rupees."

Five weeks later, about eleven o'clock on a Thursday morning, Jack and
his father walked into the city, and sought the offices of Messrs Lane
and Baumann. They had come through from Rangoon without a hitch, and
had run into Charing Cross by the boat-train the day before.

As they walked along the crowded streets, Mr. Haydon smiled, and said
quietly to his son, "You've seen a thing or two, Jack, since last you
paid a visit to Lane & Baumann."

"I have, father," said Jack. "It seems years ago since I was here
inst