The others were equally divided, and my fate might have been the
cause of a quarrel between them when suddenly the captain gave a cry of
delight and amazement which was taken up by the whole gang. I followed
their eyes and outstretched fingers, and this was what I saw. My uncle was lying with his legs outstretched, and the club foot was
that which was furthest from us. All round this foot a dozen brilliant
objects were twinkling and flashing in the yellow light which streamed
from the open door. The captain caught up the lantern and held it to the
place. The huge sole of his boot had been shattered in the fall, and it
was clear now that it had been a hollow box in which he stowed his
valuables, for the path was all sprinkled with precious stones. Three
which I saw were of an unusual size, and as many as forty, I should
think, of fair value. The seamen had cast themselves down and were
greedily gathering them up, when my friend with the earrings plucked me
by the sleeve. “Here’s your chance, mate,” he whispered. “Off you go before worse comes
of it.”

It was a timely hint, and it did not take me long to act upon it. A few
cautious steps and I had passed unobserved beyond the circle of light. Then I set off running, falling and rising and falling again, for no one
who has not tried it can tell how hard it is to run over uneven ground
with hands which are fastened together. I ran and ran, until for want of
breath I could no longer put one foot before the other. But I need not
have hurried so, for when I had gone a long way I stopped at last to
breathe, and, looking back, I could still see the gleam of the lantern
far away, and the outline of the seamen who squatted round it. Then at
last this single point of light went suddenly out, and the whole great
moor was left in the thickest darkness. So deftly was I tied, that it took me a long half-hour and a broken
tooth before I got my hands free. My idea was to make my way across to
the Purcells’ farm, but north was the same as south under that pitchy
sky, and for hours I wandered among the rustling, scuttling sheep
without any certainty as to where I was going. When at last there came a
glimmer in the east, and the undulating fells, grey with the morning
mist, rolled once more to the horizon, I recognized that I was close by
Purcell’s farm, and there a little in front of me I was startled to see
another man walking in the same direction. At first I approached him
warily, but before I overtook him I knew by the bent back and tottering
step that it was Enoch, the old servant, and right glad I was to see
that he was living. He had been knocked down, beaten, and his cloak and
hat taken away by these ruffians, and all night he had wandered in the
darkness, like myself, in search of help. He burst into tears when I
told him of his master’s death, and sat hiccoughing with the hard, dry
sobs of an old man among the stones upon the moor. “It’s the men of the _Black Mogul_,” he said. “Yes, yes, I knew that
they would be the end of ’im.”

“Who are they?” I asked. “Well, well, you are one of ’is own folk,” said he. “’E ’as passed away;
yes, yes, it is all over and done. I can tell you about it, no man
better, but mum’s the word with old Enoch unless master wants ’im to
speak. But his own nephew who came to ’elp ’im in the hour of need—yes,
yes, Mister John, you ought to know. “It was like this, sir. Your uncle ’ad ’is grocer’s business at Stepney,
but ’e ’ad another business also. ’e would buy as well as sell, and when
’e bought ’e never asked no questions where the stuff came from. Why
should ’e? It wasn’t no business of ’is, was it? If folk brought him a
stone or a silver plate, what was it to ’im where they got it? That’s
good sense, and it ought to be good law, as I ’old. Any’ow, it was good
enough for us at Stepney. “Well, there was a steamer came from South Africa what foundered at sea. At least, they say so, and Lloyd’s paid the money. She ’ad some very
fine diamonds invoiced as being aboard of ’er. Soon after there came the
brig _Black Mogul_ into the port o’ London, with ’er papers all right as
‘avin’ cleared from Port Elizabeth with a cargo of ‘ides. The captain,
which ’is name was Elias, ’e came to see the master, and what d’you
think that ’e ’ad to sell? Why, sir, as I’m a livin’ sinner ’e ’ad a
packet of diamonds for all the world just the same as what was lost out
o’ that there African steamer. ’ow did ’e get them? I don’t know. Master
didn’t know. ’e didn’t seek to know either. The captain ’e was anxious
for reasons of ’is own to get them safe, so ’e gave them to master, same
as you might put a thing in a bank. But master ’e’d ’ad time to get fond
of them, and ’e wasn’t over satisfied as to where the _Black Mogul_ ’ad
been tradin’, or where her captain ’ad got the stones, so when ’e come
back for them the master ’e said as ’e thought they were best in ’is own
’ands. Mind I don’t ’old with it myself, but that was what master said
to Captain Elias in the little back parlour at Stepney. That was ’ow ’e
got ’is leg broke and three of his ribs. “So the captain got jugged for that, and the master, when ’e was able to
get about, thought that ’e would ’ave peace for fifteen years, and ’e
came away from London because ’e was afraid of the sailor men; but, at
the end of five years, the captain was out and after ’im, with as many
of ’is crew as ’e could gather. Send for the perlice, you says! Well,
there are two sides to that, and the master ’e wasn’t much more fond of
the perlice than Elias was. But they fair ’emmed master in, as you ’ave
seen for yourself, and they bested ’im at last, and the loneliness that
’e thought would be ’is safety ’as proved ’is ruin. Well, well, ’e was
’ard to many, but a good master to me, and it’s long before I come on
such another.”

One word in conclusion. A strange cutter, which had been hanging about
the coast, was seen to beat down the Irish Sea that morning, and it is
conjectured that Elias and his men were on board of it. At any rate,
nothing has been heard of them since. It was shown at the inquest that
my uncle had lived in a sordid fashion for years, and he left little
behind him. The mere knowledge that he possessed this treasure, which he
carried about with him in so extraordinary a fashion, had appeared to be
the joy of his life, and he had never, as far as we could learn, tried
to realize any of his diamonds. So his disreputable name when living was
not atoned for by any posthumous benevolence, and the family, equally
scandalized by his life and by his death, have finally buried all memory
of the club-footed grocer of Stepney. THE SEALED ROOM


A solicitor of an active habit and athletic tastes who is compelled by
his hopes of business to remain within the four walls of his office from
ten till five must take what exercise he can in the evenings.