d us
to. By that man's villainy I am destined never to look upon God's earth
again, while my companion will never be able to converse with his
fellow-men, except by signs. We are in the world, yet out of it."

I looked at them both in amazement. Their tale seemed too terrible to be
true. And yet I had the best of evidence to show that it was correct.

"And why have you come to me? What do you want me to do? I cannot give
you back your sight, nor your friend his power of speech."

"But you can help us to find the man who brought this misery upon us,"
Kitwater replied. "That is what we have come to ask of you. He must not
be permitted to enjoy the wealth he stole from us. It is sacred to a
special duty, and that duty it must perform. We are not overburdened
with riches, in fact we are dependent upon the bounty of another, but
if you can help us to recover the sum that was stolen from us, we will
gladly pay whatever you may ask! We cannot say more than that."

"But this is a most unheard-of request," I said. "How do you know where
the man may be at this moment?"

"We do not know, or we should scarcely have asked your assistance,"
Kitwater replied with some show of reason. "It is because we have heard
of your wonderful powers in tracing people that we have come to you. Our
only cause for attending the trial at which you saw us was to hear the
evidence you gave and to draw our own conclusions from it. That those
conclusions were complimentary to you, our presence here is evidence of.
We know that we could not put our case in better hands, and we will
leave it with you to say whether or not you will help us. As I said just
now, my companion is dumb, while I am blind; we cannot do much
ourselves. Will you not take pity upon us and help us to find the man
who betrayed and ruined us?"

"But he may be at the other end of the world at this moment?" I said.

"That does not matter," he returned. "We know that wherever he may be,
you will find him. All we ask you to do is to bring us face to face with
him. We will manage the rest. It will be strange then if we are not able
to get him to a proper way of thinking."

This was the most unusual case I had had to do with, and for the moment
I scarcely knew what to say. I turned to the blind man once more.

"Have you any idea where the man went after he robbed you?"

"He crossed the province of Yunnan into Burmah," he replied. "After that
he made his way through Mandalay to Rangoo