"Nary, there ain't," fumed McGlory. "Motor Matt's not the lad to shift his responsibilities like Tsan Ti. Sufferin' hornets! You're a fine outfit of tinhorns, I must say."
Stepping quickly out from behind the table, Grattan passed to Matt and snatched off his cap. He weighed the cap for a moment in his hand, felt of the crown with his fingers, and then, still holding the cap, returned quietly to his seat.
"Sit down, Bunce, you and Pardo," ordered Grattan. "Pierson, go out and close the door."
When the two men were seated, and after Pierson had left the saloon, Grattan leaned his elbows on the table, Matt's cap between them.
"This Motor Matt," said he, "is a lad whom I greatly admire. He takes precautions. His first precaution was removing the ruby from the box and depositing the box with the hotel clerk before he went out into the hills with Bunce. In running away from the ravine with Bunce to carry out my plan for securing the box, I ran directly away from Motor Matt and the ruby. Motor Matt had the ruby tied up in his handkerchief, then. He was seen, on the hotel veranda, to untie his handkerchief and show the ruby to his friend. When he came aboard the Iris he had taken another precaution. Something else was tied up in the handkerchief, and the ruby was in the lining of his cap."
Swiftly Grattan's hands descended, tore at the cap lining, and brought out the imperial stone. He laid it on the table, turning and turning it so the light might catch its fiery flash.
"Blow me tight!" mumbled Bunce. "Say, mates," he added, drawing a sleeve across his forehead, "that was a scare I don't want ever to go through ag'in. We've risked so much for that bloomin' Eye o' Buddha that I near went wrong in the head with the thought that it was in the bottom o' the river!"
"It's comparatively easy for you to go wrong in the head, Bunce," taunted Grattan.
"So that's the thing!" murmured Pardo, his fascinated eyes on the gleaming stone.
"Did you ever see anything more beautiful?" asked Grattan. "It's a true pigeon-blood ruby, and worth ten times the value of a diamond the same size."