Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1902-11-20
My Strangest Case
BY GUY BOOTHBY.
Author Of "Dr. KikoIa," 1.-THE Beautiful
White Devil" Phsros. The
Egyptian" Etc.

CHAPTER II. (Continued.)

IL
who brought this misery upon US"
Kitwater replied. "Thst is what we
have come TO ask of you. lie must not
be permitted to enjoy the wealth he
stole from us. It is sacred to spe-
cial duty. and that duty it must per-
form. 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 re-
quest" l said. How do you know
where the man may be at this mo-
ment?"
I'VE do not know. or we should
scarcely have asked your assistance"
Kitwater replied, with some show Of
reason. at 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 al
which you saw us was to hear the evil
6ence you gave and to draw our own
conclusions from it. That those con-
illusions were complimentary to you,
our presence here is evidence of. We
know that we could not put our case
sn better hands, and We will leave il
with you to say hether or n OF you will
help us. AS I said just now, my COM
panion is dumb, while 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?" said.
THAT does not matter" he returned.
I'VE know that. wherever he NAV be.
you will find him. All we ask you TO q o
is to bring us face to face with him.
We will manage the rest. Il will be
strange then if we are not a BILE to get
him to proper way Of thinking"
This was the most unusual case I
had had to do with, and for the mo-
ment l 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
Re made his way through Rangoon. and
shipped on board the steamer jenna
Jar for London"
when did the Jemadar reach Lon
dom"
"On the p3d of June" he answered.
1--WE have made inquiries upon that
point
/ made note of this, and then con-
tinued my inquiries.
Zone other question" said. while
we are on the subject, what do YOU
suppose would be the total value of
the treasure of which he robbed YOU ?"
THAT is very difficult to say" Kit
water replied, and then turned to his
companion and held out his hand. The
other took it and tapped upon the palm
with the tips of his fingers in a sort of
dot-andtelegraph fashion that l had
never seen used before.
My friend says that there were %
stones, all rubies and sapphires; they
were of exquisite luster and extraor-
binary size. Possibly they might have
been worth anything from f17o,ooo
TO e25o,ooo."
| opened my Eyes on hearing this.
Were the men telling me the truth, l
asked myself, or were they trying to
interest me in the case by eXaggerat-
ing the value of the treasure?
What you say is almost incompre-
hensible," l continued. ~ trust you
will forgive me, but can you substan-
tate what you say?"
when we say that we are willing to
pay your expenses in advance if you
will try to find the man. | think we are
giving you very good proof of our
bona fdes," he remarked. II am
afraid we cannot give you any other,
seeing, as have said, that we are both
poor men. If you are prepared to take
up our case, we shall be under life
long gratitude to you, but if you can
not, we must endesvor to find some one
else who will undertake the task"
1T is impossible for me to decide
now whether / can take it up or not"
I said, leaning back in my chair and
looking at them both as ! spoke. II
must have time to think it over; there
are a hundred and one things to be
considered before | can give you di-
rect reply"
There was silence for few mo-
ments, and then kitwater, who had
been holding his usual mysterious
communications with his friend, said:
When do you think you will be able
to let us have an answer?"'
THAT depends upon variety Of
circumstances" I replied. at Is a
matter difficult to average. In the first
place there is no knowing where the
man Is at present; he may be in Lon
don; he may be in America; he may be
in any other portion of the globe. 1t
might cost 500 to find him, it might
cost $4,000. You must see for your
selves how uncertain il all is"
"In that case we should be prepared
TO give security for the first-named
amount, or pay you half in advance"
Ktwater replied. 81 hope you do not
think, Mr.. Fairfax, that we are endeav-
oring to play you false? You can see
for yourself that our in juries are per-
manent, and, as far as they go, are at
least evidence concerning the truth of
our story. You can also see for your
self how this man has behaved to-
wards us. He has robbed us of all we
hold valuable, and to his act Of treach-
ery we owe the mlItilatiOns we have