Part 29 (2/2)

”For the first time in the long, glorious history of my land has the Treasure-house been entered by thieves,” Omar said, as if to himself. ”No mere adventurer can have been here; this great robbery is the result of some base conspiracy. The treasure of the Sanoms, renowned through the whole world as the most wondrous collection of magnificent and unsurpa.s.sable gems, has been cleared out and the entrance re-closed in a manner little short of marvellous. To-day is indeed a sad one for Mo, and for me. My inheritance has been taken from me.”

”By whom?” I inquired, continuing my way, examining one of the few chests that had apparently not been tampered with. But, as in the gloom I hastened from one casket to another, my foot suddenly struck against some object, causing me to lose my balance, and thus tripped, were it not for the fact that I clutched at the corner of the great chest, I should have fallen upon my face.

Bending to examine what it was, I was amazed to discover the body of a male slave, still dressed in the uniform of the servants of the palace, but rapidly decomposing. It was the faint sickening odour emitted from the corpse that had greeted our nostrils when we entered the place.

We both bent and looked at him, astounded at discovering, still imbedded in his back, a long keen knife. He had been struck down from behind and murdered, while in the act of securing some of the treasure, for his brown withered fingers still grasped a beautiful necklet of magnificent pearls, an ornament worth several thousand English pounds.

”That is one of the Naya's personal attendants,” observed Omar, recognizing the dress, but unable to distinguish the features of the murdered man, so decomposed were they. ”He perhaps partic.i.p.ated in the plot, and to secure his silence, or his portion of the booty, his fellow-conspirators struck him to earth.”

”But to whom is due the chief responsibility in this affair?” I asked.

”Surely you have some suspicion?”

”I know not,” he answered. ”Besides myself only the Naya knew the secret means by which the treasure might be reached.”

”Then in all probability she secured it before her flight!” I cried.

”That may be the truth,” he answered in a tone of suppressed agitation.

”Immediately she obtained knowledge through her spies of my intention to disobey her, she may have secured the most valuable of the jewels and had them packed ready to take them with her if compelled to flee. Yet somehow I cannot believe she has done this, for their removal must have attracted attention. No, I believe we shall have to look in another quarter for the thief.” Then, bending again to examine the hilt of the knife embedded in the body of the unfortunate slave, he added: ”That poignard was hers. She carried it always in her girdle, and it seems, after all, as though this man was her confidant and a.s.sistant, and that here alone she closed his lips by murdering him. Yet to her, life was more valuable than the treasure, and I cannot believe that she risked detection and capture in order to secure what she might afterwards obtain by the a.s.sistance of hirelings.”

”A dark tragedy has certainly been enacted,” I said, glancing around the gruesome place with its gloomy corners and crevices where the blackness was impenetrable. ”The theft has been accompanied by a secret a.s.sa.s.sination at some coward's hand.”

”Yes,” he exclaimed, standing with folded arms and chin sunk upon his breast. ”The great treasure, belonging not only to our family but to our nation, has been stolen, and I swear by Zomara's power that I will seek out the thief and recover it. I am Naba, and it is my duty to my people to restore their wealth to its hiding-place. Each successive ruler has enriched his country by making additions to the store of jewels, and it shall never be recorded that on finding the most valuable of our possessions stolen, I made no effort to trace and recover them. True, they have been abstracted in a manner almost miraculous for ingenuity and rapidity, but from this moment I will not rest until they are recovered.

And you, Scarsmere, as Keeper of the Treasure-house, shall a.s.sist me.”

”I am ready,” I answered, excited at the prospect of this new task before us. ”We will spare no effort to seek the thief and recover the Treasure of the Sanoms. It is, as you declare, a duty, and I am ready and anxious to commence the search.”

CHAPTER x.x.xI.

A SPY'S STARTLING STORY.

WE remained fully two hours in the noisome Treasure-chamber of the Sanoms, the early history of which was lost in the mist of legendary lore, then after careful and minute examination of the rifled chests, worked our way to the base of the shaft, and, having ascended, let down the tiny concealed lever, thereby allowing the pressure to increase, and place in position the ingenious contrivance for causing death to the venturesome. Replacing the iron plate that closed the mouth of the well-like aperture, we screwed it down, rendering it water-tight, and, crossing the stones, regained the bank of the lake. Then, having turned back the lever, the flood-gates slowly closed down again, and, ere we mounted our horses to ride back to the city, the waters, fed by the many torrents, had already risen sufficiently to hide the slime-covered entrance to the secret chamber.

One of the greatest thefts in the world's history had been committed, and the question that puzzled us was the ident.i.ty of the thief. Our first suspicions had fallen upon the Naya, but calmly discussing the question as we rode back, we both became convinced that so critical was the deposed ruler's position, that she would never have undertaken all the risks in removing the treasure. She knew she was in deadly peril of her life, and that every moment lost was of vital importance, therefore it was hardly probable that she would have delayed her departure to secure the wealth of her ancestors.

Omar argued that if compelled to fly she might have afterwards entrusted the secret of the Treasure-house to spies, who could have returned and secured the jewels. That she had not done this was certain, for the time that had elapsed since her flight was insufficient.

I suggested that the detachment of Samory's men who had entered the city during the revolt might have had knowledge of the secret and secured the treasure, but Omar pointed out that none in Samory's camp could have been aware of the means by which the place could be entered, Kouaga himself being in ignorance.

”Then the thief was the Naya herself,” I said, decisively.

”No; after all, I am not actually positive that such is the case,” he answered. ”There are facts connected with the affair, trivial in themselves, that lead me to believe otherwise.”

”What are they?”

”One is that the wonderful ruby necklet, an ornament of matchless gems that belonged to King Karmos and is one of the talismans of the Sanoms, has been left. I found it flung aside and discarded. Had the Naya committed the theft she would have secured this first of all, because of our family tradition that no reigning Sanom can live longer than three moons without it is in his or her possession.”

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