"That was all," said he, "the head of Obboney and this paper."
Dick laughed harshly.
"And that's the treasure Jurgens and Whistler have been hunting for!" he exclaimed. "The head of an idol—a heathen idol! I wonder what Townsend will say to this? The Man from Cape Town seems to have pulled the wool over the eyes of everybody."
"Why didn't Jurgens take the head away with him if it was in the box?" Matt queried, thoughtfully.
"Probably he didn't think it was worth bothering with; either that or else he was too crazy to think of it."
"Go down and get the head, Dick," said Matt. "We might as well put it back in the chest and try and deliver everything to Townsend just as we found it."
"Aye, aye," answered Dick, and started.
Matt was astounded by the situation which confronted him and Dick in the creole's house. Bangs had engineered a piece of successful treachery, but, in the end, the treachery had somehow turned against him and Jurgens. What had caused the death of the monkey? And what was it that had turned the brains of Bangs, Jurgens and Carl? Bangs was clearly demented, and if Rigolette was to be believed, so were Jurgens and Carl.
And only that idol's head had been in the iron chest! Yes, truly, the affair was a mystery—and a black one.
While Matt was struggling to think of something that might help to a solution of the problem, Dick came bounding up the stairs and along the gallery.