When Tom arrived in Lahore he went straight to his office, and in a couple of hours he had completed the special work which had necessitated his journey; then he went over to the Museum.
"The thief has been caught, Sahib," said one of the attendants as Tom entered the building.
"When? Who is he?" asked Tom, in considerable surprise, for he had concluded that his late assailants were the men who had robbed the Museum.
"They caught him during last night, but I don't know much about it yet," replied the man.
Tom at once hurried off to the police-station to learn full particulars.
"Yes, we found a piece of stone with some strange device on it," said the Superintendent of Police. "This is it. Do you recognise it?" he added, as he handed Tom the stone.
"No, this is not the one the Doctor found," said Tom, after a moment's examination.
"Well, it is the only bit we got, and we are told it was stolen from the Museum with some others, during a fight," said the officer.
"How did you get this?" asked Tom.
"Well, in rather a strange way. The night after the stones had disappeared three clever burglaries took place in Lahore, and the thieves made valuable hauls in each case, but we could get no clue. Last night an anonymous letter came to us, and we decided to act upon it, so we searched a house in the bazaar and recovered this stone together with some gold and silver ornaments which had been stolen; we found them in the exact spot where we were told to look for them. The man says he is innocent, and that they were placed where we found them unknown to him. Now you know the whole case," said the police-officer.