An Accusation

Braddock turned impatiently to De Gayangos, as he did not approve of
Archie's apparent flippancy.

"Does any one else know of the contents of this manuscript?" he demanded
irritably.

Don Pedro nursed his chin and looked musingly on the ground.

"It is just possible that Vasa may."

"Vasa? Vasa? Oh yes, the sailor who stole the mummy thirty years ago
from your father in Lima. Pooh! pooh! pooh! You tell me that this
manuscript is written in Latin, and evidently in monkish Latin at that,
which is of the worst. Your sailor could not read it, and would not know
the value of the manuscript. If he had, he would have carried it off."

"Senor," said the Peruvian politely, "I have an idea that my father made
a translation of this manuscript, or at all events a copy."

"But I understood," put in Hope, still astride of his chair, "that you
did not find the original manuscript until your father died."

"That is quite true, sir," assented the other readily, "but I did not
tell you everything the other night. My father it was who found the
manuscript at Cuzco, and although I cannot state authoritatively, yet I
believe I am correct in saying that he had a copy made. But whether the
copy was merely a transcript or actually a translation, I cannot tell. I
think it was the former, as if Vasa, reading a translation, had learned
of the jewels, he undoubtedly would have stolen them before selling this
mummy to the Parisian collector."