"`And the priests brought in the ark of the covenant of the Lord unto his place, to the oracle of the house, into the most holy _place, even_ under the wings of the cherubim:

"`For the cherubim spread forth _their_ wings over the place of the ark, and the cherubim covered the ark and the staves thereof above.

"`And they drew out the staves _of the ark_ that the end of the staves were seen from the ark before the oracle, but they were not seen without. And there it is unto this day.

"`_There was_ nothing in the ark save the two tables which Moses put _therein_ at h.o.r.eb, when the Lord made _a covenant_ with the children of Israel, when they came out of Egypt.'

"The gold, of course, came from the ancient Ophir," remarked the Doctor, "and curiously enough the site of this El Dorado has only recently been established by Dr Carl Peters as having been at Zimbabwe, and the surrounding region in south-eastern Mashonaland."

"Yes," remarked the Professor. "There is, I think, no question that Solomon obtained his gold from that district. The old workings are said by Hall and Neal to number seventy-five thousand, and hundreds of thousands of tons of gold ore must have been dug out during the Himyaritic era. The Kaffirs still call the place `Fur.' and the Arabs `Afur.' It was from there that Solomon's ships brought the four hundred and twenty talents of gold mentioned in 1 Kings, ix, 26-28, and in 2 Chronicles, viii, 17-18. Again, we are told that in one year Solomon obtained six hundred and sixty-six talents of gold--each talent being worth eleven thousand pounds of our money--from the same region, most of which was used in the manufacture of the vessels for the temple."

"Some of which we hope to recover, Professor," laughed the ugly little man.

"We certainly might," sighed the other, "if only we could discover the solution of this most fascinating yet tantalising problem."

CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR.

A PAGE IN PICCADILLY.

A long, grey, hundred-horse-power racing motor-car with its two glaring head-lamps drew suddenly up in the falling darkness before the big house in Berkeley Square, and from it stepped Sir Felix Challas in his heavy fur coat, cap and goggles. He was a motor enthusiast, and declared that his runs on his high-power racer cleared the cobwebs from his brain, and braced up his nerves.

He had started forth soon after breakfast, lunched at the Mermaid at Wansford, eighty miles away up the Great North Road, and was now home again, just as darkness had set in.

He had sat beside his chauffeur in silence while being whirled along the great northern highway, for he always thought out the most ingenious of his schemes while travelling thus.

Ere he had ascended the steps of the house, the splendid car, which only a few weeks before had made a record on the Brooklands track, moved off to the well-appointed garage, where he kept his three other cars.

On entering his own luxurious little den on the left of the hall, he found Jim Jannaway comfortably ensconced before the fire, smoking one of his choicest cigars and with a whisky and soda at his elbow.

"Hulloa!" exclaimed Sir Felix surprised. "I thought you were on your way out to the East? You were to have left this morning, weren't you?"

And he threw off his heavy coat and stood with his back to the fire.

"Yes. But I've remained, because I've discovered something," replied the other. "I've found out the reason why that girl Griffin got away."

"Oh! Why?" asked Challas quickly. "It was a great misfortune for us.

She's evidently discovered who we are, and why we wanted the information."

"Well--he played us false."

"Who--Mullet?"

"Yes. The girl appealed to his honour, and all that, and he found out that she was a friend of that Doctor Diamond, the fellow who attended Holmboe before he died and got hold of a portion of his papers. This man, it appears, had befriended Mullet in some way--so he, like a fool, let her go."

"Fool--idiot!" cried Challas. "Then the brute's betrayed us!"

"Absolutely!"

"By letting the girl go, he's exposed us. Griffin now knows that we are working against him. And he is, according to old Erich, the only man we have to fear."

"Except that man Farquhar, partner with Sir George Gavin, the newspaper owner."

"Ah! I forgot him. But surely he doesn't count?"

"Yes, he does," protested Jannaway. "He's in love with the girl. Hence we must see that he turns his back upon her, or there may be further trouble. I foresee pretty awkward complications in that direction."

"Very well, my dear boy, all that I leave to you," answered Sir Felix, with a heavy, thoughtful look.

"But it does not lessen our danger. If we're not careful we'll lose the thing altogether," Jannaway pointed out. "I've been a full fortnight making careful investigations. The Doctor called on Griffin the day before yesterday, and what's more, the girl has written to Charlie, asking him to meet her."

"How have you found that out?"

Jim Jannaway smiled.

"No matter," he laughed. "Except that Laura, the parlour-maid at Pembridge, is a friend of mine. I took her to the Tivoli last Thursday.

Told her I was a lawyer's clerk."

"By Jove, Jim," exclaimed the Baronet, "you're always ingenious when you've set your mind on worming out a secret."

"A little love costs nothing," laughed the nonchalant adventurer, "and very often does a lot."

"Well, we must know what's going on between them, that's quite plain,"

remarked Challas. "I never expected Charlie to give us away."

"Bah! he always was chicken-hearted where women were concerned. He must have been in love once, I fancy, and hasn't got over the attack yet."

"We must be very watchful, Jim."

"That's why I didn't leave for Constantinople, as you suggested," was the other's reply, as he tossed the end of his cigar into the fire and lazily rose from his comfortable chair. "My own idea, Felix, is that Charlie is growing far too scrupulous. One day we shall have him in a fit of remorse making some nasty confession or other, taking the consequences, and putting us both into a confounded hole. Think what it would mean for you!"

"By Jove, yes!" gasped the other, turning pale at the very suggestion of exposure. "We can't afford to risk that."

"I maintain that if Charlie lets the girl escape us and give us away, as he has done, then he'll do something worse before long," exclaimed the crafty man with a curious glance at the Baronet, whose back was at that moment turned to him.

Challas was silent. He clearly saw the drift of the man's argument.

"Well?" he asked at last, lowering his voice. "What do you suggest?"

"Suggest? Why there's only one course open, my dear fellow," replied the other, glancing apprehensively at the door. "Get rid of him while there's yet time."

"He might retaliate."

"Not if he's arrested over in France," Jannaway exclaimed. "The French police won't bother over any information that he may give concerning us.

Your reputation stands too high. They'll only regard him as a type of gentlemanly blackmailer such as every wealthy man has to contend with.

If we don't do that, then good-bye to all our hopes concerning Holmboe's secret," he added.

"I fear I must agree with you, Jim," said the other, very slowly. "He was a fool for not allowing you to force the truth from the girl. I had intended that she should a.s.sist us, and--"

"And by Heaven! she shall do so, even now, if you will only leave matters to me," interrupted the clever, good-looking adventurer, leaning his back easily against the table.