“Tell us one thing,” put in Don; “were the pearls stolen at all?”
“No, they were not, or I should not be able to produce them. But the shark-charmer was none the less a thief, for all that. But I see you're on tenterhooks to hear all about it, so I'll read you the riddle at once.”
Carefully restoring the pearls to the pouch, he handed the treasure to Don, and then resumed:
“It goes without saying, of course, that you remember the evening you brought the pearls on board. Well, shortly after you had placed them in the locker—you had just turned in, I think—I got an uneasy sort of feeling that they were not as safe there as they should be——”
“So you took them into your state-room!” interrupted Don, who thought he began to see light.
“Exactly. The companion door was open, you recollect, and the shark-charmer, I suppose, must have been hanging about at the moment and seen me. Very imprudently, as it turned out, I left my door on the latch, though I took the precaution to put the pearls under my pillow. You remember, perhaps, my paying off some of the men that afternoon? Well, when I turned in I left the bag of rupees—or rather what remained of them, about two hundred in all, I should think—on the sofa opposite my berth, and my gold chronometer on the stand at my head, as I always do. I slept like a top until I was called at three, when we got under weigh. At this time, you understand, I was under the impression that you two were snug between the sheets. The schooner was a dozen miles down the coast before I found out my mistake. Being due in Colombo the following day, you see, I couldn't put back. Neither could I make head nor tail of your disappearance until the carrier brought your letter, Don. That made the whole matter plain enough. You had found the locker empty, supposed that the shark-charmer had stolen the pearls, and had given chase.”
“Then,” cried Jack, “what I said a minute ago was right enough, after all. The pearls were safe, and we've been on a jolly wild-goose chase.”
“Oh, no; that doesn't follow. The shark-charmer left the schooner far from empty-handed. He stole the bag of rupees and the watch.”
“Ah, but what about the handkerchief the pearls were tied up in?” asked Don. “I fished it out of the water off the island here. How do you account for that?”
“I must have thrown the handkerchief on the sofa. Probably the fellow snatched it up with the bag of rupees, thinking that it still contained the pearls.”