"And when your esteemed relative came to make a hunt for the said glasses," remarked Tubby, anxious to show that he was following the narrative closely, "why of course he found that Steve had got away with them—is that the stuff, Merritt?"
"Great head, Tubby," chuckled the other, as if amused at this unexpected smartness on the part of the stout boy. "You've said it, after a fashion; for that was what really happened. The glasses were supposed, along with other things owned by the old miner, to be in the charge of an old and invalid sister in a small town. To that place my grandfather went, armed with a paper which would give him possession of the traps of the dead man, including the case with the glasses. And that was where he came up against a staggering disappointment.
"It seemed that this sister of the miner was a little queer in her head. When a visitor chanced to examine the glasses, and offered her a pretty fine sum for them, she, not knowing how her brother valued them because of their association with his prospecting life, thought it a good chance to dispose of some useless property.
"And so the wonderful half of the chart was gone. My grandfather took enough interest in the matter to learn that a man by the name of Steven Meredith possessed the glasses. He even started a search for him, thinking that he might be able to buy the glasses back, so as to satisfy his mind about the worth of the chart.
"Later on he learned that some valuable ore had been struck in the region where the secret mine of the dead prospector was said to be located. This kept making him take more and more interest in the finding of Steven and the lost paper. He became absorbed in the hunt, and in the end had three men on the track.
"They traced Meredith across the ocean. All sorts of strange rumors came back as to what he really was. Once it was even said that he was secretly in the pay of the German Government. Anyway, he went to Berlin, and was known to meet with certain men high up in the Secret Service there.
"Just a little while ago my grandfather received positive word from one of his agents that Steven Meredith was stationed in a Belgian town, though what his business there could be was a mystery. This little town was an obscure one near Brussels, where he could keep in the background. Its name is Sempst; and that's where we are headed now."
"But just explain one queer thing, won't you, please, Merritt?" asked Tubby.
"I know what you're going to say," replied the other. "Of course you're wondering why my relative didn't wire his agent about the glasses, and offer him a good sum to get them, with the case. Well, the fact is he didn't have as much faith in his agents as all that."