ed gentleman who had sailed with us from Calcutta.

The first to come aboard were the Customs people. They were almost
immediately followed by the harbour-master. Scarcely had the first of
the Custom House officers stepped over the side when Major Hood, with a
very red face, and a lofty, dignified carriage, marched up to him, and
said in a loud voice:--

"I have been robbed during the passage from Calcutta of a diamond worth
fifteen thousand pounds, which I was bearing as a gift from the
Maharajah of Ratnagiri to Her Majesty the Queen of England."

The Customs man stared with a lobster-like expression of face: no image
could better hit the protruding eyes and brick-red countenance of the
man.

"I request," continued the Major, raising his voice into a shout, "to be
placed at once in communication with the police at this port. No person
must be allowed to leave the vessel until he has been thoroughly
searched by such expert hands as you and your _confreres_ no doubt are,
sir. I am Major Byron Hood. I have been twice wounded. My services are
well known, and I believe duly appreciated in the right quarters. Her
Majesty the Queen is not to suffer any disappointment at the hands of
one who has the honour of wearing her uniform, nor am I to be compelled,
by the act of a thief, to betray the confidence the Maharajah has
reposed in me."

He continued to harangue in this manner for some minutes, during which I
observed a change in the expression of the Custom House officers' faces.

Meanwhile Captain North stood apart in earnest conversation with the
harbour-master. They now approached; the harbour-master, looking
steadily at the Major, exclaimed:--

"Good news, sir! Your diamond is found!"

"Ha!" shouted the Major. "Who has it?"

"You'll find it in your pistol-case," said the harbour-master.

The Major gazed round at us with his wild, bright eyes, with a face
a-work with the conflict of twenty mad passions and sensations. Then
bursting into a loud, insane laugh, he caught the harbour-master by the
arm, and in a low voice and a sickening, transforming leer of cunning,
said: "Come, let's go and look at it."

[Illustration: "I HAVE BEEN ROBBED."]

We went below. We were six, including two Custom House officers. We
followed the poor madman, who grasped the harbour-master's arm, and on
arriving at his cabin we stood at the door of it. He seemed heedless of
our presence, but on his taking the pistol-case from the portma