[CHAPTER III.]
MOTOR MATT—TRUSTEE.
Matt and McGlory had seen the Eye of Buddha, and they were not slow in recognizing it. But the bewildering events of the evening were crowned by this arrival of the ruby, by express, consigned to Motor Matt. By all the laws of reasoning and logic, the gem, worth a king's ransom, should at that moment have been in the possession of Tsan Ti, en route to the Flowery Kingdom.
"Oh, tell—me—about this!" stuttered McGlory.
Matt picked the ruby up in his fingers and held it in the palm of his hand. Apparently he was loath to credit the evidence of his senses. From every angle he surveyed the glittering gem.
"Wouldn't this rattle you?" he murmured, peering at his chum.
"Rattle me!" exploded McGlory. "Why, pard, it leaves me high and dry—stranded—gasping like a fish. Tsan Ti must be locoed! At last accounts, he was in a flutter to get that ruby back to the Honam joss house and replace it in the idol's head, where it belongs. What came over the mandarin to box it up and ship it to you? I'm fair dazed, and no mistake. This cuts the ground right out from under me."
Matt, with a hasty look around, dropped the ruby into his pocket; then he pulled out some more of the wadding and discovered, in the bottom of the box, a folded sheet of white paper.
"Here's a letter," said he. "This will explain why the ruby was sent to me, I guess."