'Stay, please,' came the answer. 'If I am to enjoy success I shall want your congratulations. If not, perhaps you will condole with me. In any case I have done what I decided was the right thing under the circumstances. I have come to this spot to set at rest a dispute which has been a good deal more than bitter.'
Cool and calm now that he was faced with the despatch-box, David broke the lock by inserting the edge of a spade beneath the lid. Then he slowly withdrew the contents.
'Five pounds in English coin, two notes of the value of fifty pounds, and a draft on a bank at Hong-Kong,' he said, his tones not in the least ruffled. 'A packet of letters tied with string. One to my stepmother. I shall hope to deliver it. One to myself. I am glad. Perhaps you will excuse my opening it at the moment. And one to Mr. Jones, his solicitor. Nothing else, Professor.'
'Open the last of the letters then, lad. Open! Open!' cried the leader of the party eagerly. 'If that does not contain the will, then look into your own. Quick, boy! The suspense makes me nervous.'
He wiped his face with his handkerchief and then fixed his eyes on the letters. David opened the one addressed to Mr. Jones, the friend who had helped him so much in England, and smoothing out the sheet read the contents slowly. 'It is a business letter purely,' he explained. 'This is what my father says: "Dear Mr. Jones, I have to-day sent away under separate cover the last will and testament I shall ever make, and you will find that it is duly signed and attested. I need merely mention the contents briefly, so that you may draft out something similar for my inspection and signature on my return to England, for posts in this country are precarious. I leave an annuity of five hundred pounds to my wife. The rest in trust for my son, David, till he is twenty-five years of age, when he will have it absolutely. Trusting this may find you well, as it leaves me. Yours truly, Edward Harbor."'
Dick looked positively glum as he listened. 'Bad luck!' he exclaimed. So the will's gone. Lost somewhere between this and Pekin.'
But the Professor chuckled loudly. 'That document is as good as any other,' he cried. 'Put alongside with the letter which was before the courts in England, it clearly shows Edward Harbor's wishes. See, it is clearly dated. David, you are to be heartily congratulated.'
No need to say that our hero was delighted. It pleased him wonderfully to know that in spite of many difficulties he had carried out his intentions. He smiled even when he considered what his stepmother would have to say, not a satirical smile, nor one of triumph, merely one expressive of pleasure.
'She'll put it down to my obstinacy and to good luck,' he thought. 'She won't know anything about the dangers and difficulties the Professor and all of us have gone through. Heigho! I'm glad it has turned out like this.'
Three months later he received a note from Mr. Jones in reply to the one he had sent. There were hearty congratulations and an assurance of the writer's good feeling. Then came an announcement of the utmost moment.