"He will never find it," I cried. "He will never find the map! For it is no longer in the Tomb."
"Not in the Tomb!" he burst forth. "Then, where is it? And how do you know where it is?"
"Because it is here," said I. And as I said the words, I pulled forth the little piece of parchment from the quiver in which I kept my blow-pipe arrows.
Rushby looked at it, recognised it at once, and sat staring at me, as if, on a sudden, he had been bereft of his senses.
"How did you get this?" he blurted out.
I told him in a few words how I had found it.
"Merciful powers!" he groaned. "What have I done? Bannister is on a wild-goose chase after all!"
He again carried his hands to his head, and sat rocking from side to side, as he had done before. I got to my feet, and shook him violently; for--though as yet I understood no more than half the matter--I saw that there had been some great mistake that was like to cost us dearly.
"What is it?" I cried. "Tell me the truth! Even now, it may not be too late to make amends. Tell me what has happened."
He looked up at me with a sad face. I am inclined to think that there were even teardrops in his eyes.