room, and of these a couple
strolled together from one object of interest to another; they were fine
stalwart natives, and each possessed a stick of ordinary size.

These two men quietly walked about exchanging opinions on the various
curios until they came face to face with the solitary man gazing at the
antique weapons.

"What! art thou here, thou badmash (scoundrel)?" exclaimed one of the
two.

"Ah, thou son of a swine, take that!" replied the tall man, and, with a
quickness which proved him to be an expert in the handling of a stick,
struck the native who had addressed him a vicious blow on the head, but,
the said head being protected by many folds of his puggari, the stroke
merely knocked him down without doing any serious injury.

In an instant the fallen man's friend struck at the assailant, and, the
other man springing up, a fierce fight was quickly in full swing, two
against one, and the noise of the sticks rattling together in powerful
strokes, and the insulting taunts thrown at each other by the
combatants, soon attracted the other sight-seers and the Museum
attendants.

In a few minutes the fighters had been turned out of the building; they
had done no damage except to themselves, and neither party would bring a
charge against the other, so they scowlingly went in opposite directions
as soon as they were outside.

"A family feud," said a bystander.

"Yes, I expect it is a vendetta," responded another.

These remarks, however, were very far from the truth, for the apparent
enemies were the greatest friends and bound together by the most solemn
vows, and in fact the realistic fight had been pre-arranged with a
definite object, which was successfully attained, as indeed the Museum
officials discovered later.

The day after the fracas Doctor Mullen, Government geologist, called at
the Museum; he was accompanied by his son Mark, a sturdily built lad of
about eighteen, who was preparing to follow his father's profession, and
with them was Tom Ellison, the Doctor's assistant, a young man of
twenty-four, tall and extremely active.

"Well, Ramji Daji, what's this I hear about a robbery at the Museum
yesterday?" asked the doctor of the assistant curator.

"Ah, Sahib, I am very sorry, but the badmashes stole those pieces of
strangely carved stones you found on the Salt Range mountains, and also
another piece, which was lying near them on the table here," answered
Ramji Daji.

"But what in the world did