He fumbled in the pocket of his dressing-gown.
He laughed again, shaking his lean shoulders.
Before their astounded eyes he held up, twisting on its gold chain and glittering as it slowly revolved, the emerald elephant.
14 — Can These Things Be?
"Don't know how it happened," continued Sturton, rather carelessly, "and don't care, now I've got it back. I know you didn't recover it. Ha!… Found it lying on the middle of the table there," he stabbed his finger, "half an hour ago. Saw nobody, heard nobody. There it was. Somebody walked in and put it down — Here's your receipt back, Commander. You won't get this elephant again."
Again his squeaky mirth rose as he blinked at their faces. The receipt fluttered out and fell at Whistler's feet.
Morgan only half heard him. He was getting to the point where too many surprises were as deadening as too much pain. Staring at the little Mandarin-head smirking and wagging on the table, he heard Whistler gabbling something, the peer assuring him there would be no trouble, and the end of the latter's squeaky tirade:
"… find out who stole it? Go on, if you like. I won't stop you. But I've got it back, and that's all I care. I'm not going to prosecute anybody. Ha! Got enough lawsuits as it is. Let the beggar go. Why bother? Shouldn't be surprised if it got stolen by mistake, and somebody returned it. Never mind. Now get out. Get out!…"
He was flailing his arms at them like a banshee, with the emerald gleaming on its chain from one hand. They were shooed into the gangway and the door closed behind them. Then they stood in the corridor on B deck and looked at one another.
"You're quite right, Captain," agreed Morgan, after listening thoughtfully to the skipper's rather weak-voiced comments. "If anything, I should think the adjectives were conservative. But the question remains, who, how, and why?"