“We do not know, or we should scarcely have asked your assistance,” Kitwater replied with some show of reason.  “It is because we have heard of your wonderful powers in tracing people that we have come to you.  Our only cause for attending the trial at which you saw us was to hear the evidence you gave and to draw our own conclusions from it.  That those conclusions were complimentary to you, our presence here is evidence of.  We know that we could not put our case in better hands, and we will leave it with you to say whether or not you will help us.  As I said just now, my companion is dumb, while I am blind; we cannot do much ourselves.  Will you not take pity upon us and help us to find the man who betrayed and ruined us?”

“But he may be at the other end of the world at this moment?” I said.

“That does not matter,” he returned.  “We know that wherever he may be, you will find him.  All we ask you to do is to bring us face to face with him.  We will manage the rest.  It will be strange then if we are not able to get him to a proper way of thinking.”

This was the most unusual case I had had to do with, and for the moment I scarcely knew what to say.  I turned to the blind man once more.

“Have you any idea where the man went after he robbed you?”

“He crossed the province of Yunnan into Burmah,” he replied.  “After that he made his way through Mandalay to Rangoon, and shipped on board the steamer Jemadar for London.”

“When did the Jemadar reach London?”

“On the twenty-third of June,” he answered.  “We have made inquiries upon that point.”

I made a note of this and then continued my inquiries.

“One other question,” I said.  “While we are on the subject, what do you suppose would be the total value of the treasure of which he robbed you?”

“That is very difficult to say,” Kitwater replied, and then turned to his companion and held out his hand.  The other took it and tapped upon the palm with the tips of his fingers in a sort of dot-and-telegraph fashion that I had never seen used before.

“My friend says that there were ninety-three stones, all rubies and sapphires; they were of exquisite lustre and extraordinary size.  Possibly they might have been worth anything from a hundred and seventy thousand pounds to a quarter of a million.”

I opened my eyes on hearing this.  Were the men telling me the truth?  I asked myself, or were they trying to interest me in the case by exaggerating the value of the treasure?

“What you say is almost incomprehensible,” I continued.  “I trust you will forgive me, but can you substantiate what you say?”

“When we say that we are willing to pay your expenses in advance if you will try to find the man, I think we are giving you very good proof of our bona fides,” he remarked.  “I am afraid we cannot give you any other, seeing as I have said, that we are both poor men.  If you are prepared to take up our case, we shall be under a life-long gratitude to you, but if you cannot, we must endeavour to find some one else who will undertake the task.”