"What? You don't mean about the treasure stuff——"
"Yes, for he changed that to suit himself. Now, here's the real story. My father found a number of old papers in Lisbon giving the whole thing, and wrote it to Solomon, intending to join him later and go shares on it. In 1696 Fort Jesus, or Mombasa, was besieged by the Arabs.
"That siege lasted for thirty-three months, for the Portuguese sent over help from Goa, but in the meantime all the other Portuguese settlements were being destroyed.
"Our own Fort St. Thomas was able to hold out until Fort Jesus had fallen, when the Arab fleet came up and put everyone in the fort to the sword. We don't know who escaped, but, at anyrate, father found the papers telling about the treasure. It seems that the Viceroy of Goa had sent some alleged relics of St. Thomas, who was supposed to have died in India, you know, back to the King of Portugal; and with them he had sent a lot of valuable papers and documents, as well as such things as gold and jewels—there has to be a treasure, of course.
"Well, that ship put into the bay which used to be at St. Thomas; she was driven ashore, and the garrison only had time to transfer her cargo to the fort before they were attacked. So far as anyone knows to the contrary, Hammer, it's there yet."
"I guess not." The American shook his head. "Krausz has it by now; you can lay on that—Sara."
His brief hesitation before her name was answered by a slight flush as she laughed quickly up at him.
"No, he hasn't! At least, not the papers, the best part of all. They were hidden away separately, and not even father knew it, There was one paper he could not translate, for it was written in cipher, so he sent it direct to John. That paper told about the hiding-place of the papers and the relics, and Krausz never heard of it."
Hammer glanced at Solomon, beginning to grow interested in this treasure-hunt in spite of himself.
"What kind of a chap are you, John? By Godfrey, I'm thinking that you must be some kind of wizard!"