"Nothing except the extinguished torch."
"Ah Sing gave you a full description of all the articles stolen?" I asked.
"Yes, Tuan. He also says the money was in rolls of a hundred dollars, and that each roll had his 'chop' (private mark) on it."
"Well, he can say good-bye to his dollars," I said. "The robbers won't be such fools as to keep the 'chopped' papers they were wrapped in."
"The only other thing Ah Sing could state was that the men spoke the Fuhkien dialect," said Cassim.
"That is not much use as a clue, I am afraid. There are hundreds of Fuhkiens in the State. I will give a hundred dollars to the detective who can clear up this case. Why not try and earn them yourself, Cassim?"
"I will try, Tuan," he replied. "Shall I read the notes of the other robbery?"
"No; one at a time is enough. If we discover this one it may help us with the other."
As he left the office my Chinese clerk came in with a number of passes for me to initial.
In order to protect employers of Chinese labour, no coolie was allowed to leave any of the native States without a pass. Before a man could obtain a pass he had to produce from his employer a certificate giving his name and province and stating that he owed nothing to the mine or estate. This was attached to the pass, which was in English and Malay, and signed by the chief police-officer. On every road, at its junction with the neighbouring State, was a police-station, where all passes were examined.