“Don’t you believe it.  We’ve got something better to go upon than that.  There was an old Chinese traveller who visited this place in the year ... what was the year, Coddy?”

“Twelve hundred and fifty-seven,” Codd replied without hesitation.

“Well, he describes the glory of the place, the wealth of the inhabitants, and then goes on to tell how the king took him to the great treasure-chamber, where he saw such riches as mortal man had never looked upon before.”

“But that doesn’t tell you where the treasure-chamber is?” argued Hayle.

“Perhaps not, but there are other ways of finding out; that is, if a man has his wits about him.  You’ve got to put two and two together if you want to get on in this world.  Coddy has translated it all, and this is what it amounts to.  When the king had shown the traveller his treasure, the latter declared that his eyes were so blinded by its magnificence that he could scarcely mount the steps to the spot where his majesty gave audience to his people.  In another place it mentions that when the king administered justice he was seated on the throne in the courtyard of the Three-headed Elephants.  Now what we’ve got to do is to find that courtyard, and find it we will.”

“But how do you know that the treasure hasn’t been taken away years ago?  Do you think they were such fools as to leave it behind when they went elsewhere?  Not they!”

Though they were well out of earshot of the land, and alone upon the boat, Kitwater looked round him suspiciously before he answered.  Then a pleasant smile played over his face.  It was as if he were recalling some happy memory.

“How do I know it?” he asked by way of preface.  “If you’ll listen for a moment, I’ll tell you.  If you want more proof, when I’ve done, you must be difficult to please.  When I was up at Moulmein six months ago, I came across a man I hadn’t met for several years.  He was a Frenchman, who I knew had spent the most of his life away back in Burmah.  He was very flush of money at the time, and kept throwing out hints, when we were alone, of a place he knew of where there was the biggest fortune on earth, to be had for the mere picking up and carrying away.  He had brought away as much of it as he could, but he hadn’t time to get it all, before he was chased out by the Chinese, who, he said, were strong in the neighbourhood.”

Kitwater stopped and rubbed his hands with a chuckle.  Decidedly the recollection was a pleasant one.

“Well,” he continued, “to make a long story short, I took advantage of my opportunity, and got his secret out of him by ... well never mind how I managed it.  It is sufficient that I got it.  And the consequence is I know all that is to be known.”

“That’s all very well, but what became of the Frenchman?  How do you know that he isn’t back there again filling his pockets?”