The little creature shook her head in complete helplessness.
“How we go?” she asked. “It cannot be. He is blind. We are alone. The men leave us now he is blind. They trade for themselves. Hela no longer has power. They laugh in his face if he make order for them to obey. No. And they will not let him go either. They keep him here. They know. If he go back to Japan then another is sent who sees. Then these men no longer trade for themselves. No. They will not let him go. They keep him here. They pass us food. They let them not know in Japan the thing it is. An’ so they work the oil, and coal, and gold. And they travel far for the furs. And so it is. And then sometime Usak will come again, and then—and then—”
Suddenly she withdrew the hand which had remained all the time she was telling her story in the bosom of her dress. It was grasping a large, folded paper. She held it out, literally thrusting it at Wilder, who took it from her with gravely questioning eyes.
“What is it?” he demanded, and curiosity had replaced the sharpness in his voice.
“The plan of the gold. The gold of this Marty Le Gros. It is for you. I give it. So you will make it that Usak not come again to kill. You, an officer police.”
Wilder opened the paper and glanced at it. A clear exact drawing was inscribed on its discoloured surface. It was a map in minute detail, and he re-folded it quickly while his gaze searched the urgent eyes raised to his.
“You give me this?” he said, in a quiet fashion that revealed none of the surge of excitement with which he was suddenly filled.
“Yes.”
The little woman who had called herself Crysa Ukisama suddenly flung out her hands in an agony of vehement appeal.
“I give it. I take this thing from its place. This bad thing, which is evil to us. He not know I take it. Oh, no. Sate find it in the house of the missionary before they fire it. And he, Hela, not give it up. No. Yet he cannot see it. He cannot find this place. He say, too, it is evil, and no one must see it. So I hide it all this long time, and keep it. But I know. So long we keep it this Usak sure come back an’ kill us. It is for that bad paper he come. It make him come. You take it. You have it. And maybe you give it Usak so he will not come back. You officer police. You know this man? You say, Hela Ukisama send it so he not come an’ kill my Hela? You think that? You make him not come? Oh, I go mad when he come bimeby. Yes. He kill my Hela. Same as he kill all other man. I know. Oh!”