The cargoes had been saved, but before they could be transferred to Mombasa an irruption of natives had destroyed the fort. It was believed that a great portion of valuable relics, with gifts from the Indian viceroy to the king of Portugal, and other such things, had been buried somewhere within the fort and had never been located.
These formed the object of the party's work; for if found they would be of great value to historians, more especially as there were many papers of interest supposed to be buried with the more intrinsically valuable articles.
The subject did not appeal particularly to Hammer; but Harcourt displayed keen interest, while John Solomon stared at Krausz with his blue eyes growing wider and wider.
"And you mean as 'ow to say that there 'ere loot is still there, doctor?" he broke forth at last. Krausz smiled blandly.
"Such is my hope, Mr. Solomon."
"Lud! The ways o' Prowidence are mysterious, as the Good Book says. To think o' loot a-laying buried for all this time waiting for you to dig it up! Once upon a time I worked for a relic-'unter, like you, sir. A fine, upstanding man 'e was, too. But I says, when there's summat dead, let it lie. It ain't proper to dig up the past, as the old gent said when 'e led 'is third to the altar."
"So you used to work for an archaeologist, yess?" and for the first time the doctor seemed to find John Solomon worthy of attention. "Where wass that?"
"A main long time back, sir—up in Palestine it was," and Solomon sighed reflectively.
Hammer, who was studying Krausz, suddenly saw the muscle in his brow begin to throb. He felt himself beginning to dislike that muscle vaguely.
"'Is name was—-dang it! I've been and forgot—no, I 'aven't neither! 'Is name was 'Elmuth!" he concluded triumphantly.