Billy was silent. Then he turned to his study-mates earnestly. "See here, you fellows," he said quietly, "we're all pals now, and I think we can keep a secret together. You heard me talking in my sleep about the Black Star, and perhaps you thought that it was only a nightmare, or something I'd read in a book. It isn't. It's something real—there is a Black Star, and here it is."
He opened the cash-box, and held out a small bundle wrapped in tissue-paper. Jack removed the wrappings, and held the object so revealed in the palm of his hand. There were exclamations of surprise from all three.
"By Jove!" said Patch in admiration.
In Jack's hand lay a black stone as big as the top of a tea-cup. It was beautifully smooth, polished to the last degree, and had a sort of opalescent fire that made it wonderfully beautiful in the lamp-light. It was shaped as a six-cornered star, and as the light played on it it seemed veritably alive, almost appearing to wriggle in Jack's palm.
"That's the Black Star," said Billy Faraday.
"And that," said Septimus Patch thoughtfully, "is, I suppose, what the burglar was after. Am I right?"
"Perfectly right. Only that Fane here arrived in time to interrupt his search, the fellow must have collared the Black Star."
"But the Black Star—what is it?" asked Fane. "Something very valuable? Why should the fellow be so anxious to get it?"
"And that's another thing," put in Jack Symonds excitedly. "When that man on the train tried to collar your bag, was he after the Black Star?"
Billy frowned thoughtfully. "I don't know that," he replied. "Perhaps he knew what was in my bag—or perhaps he was just a casual thief. Anyway, I made sure of getting the thing back, didn't I?"