"In the first place, Mr. Collon," said the old gentleman, who had shown
himself so anxious to obtain my services, "I must introduce myself to
you. My name is Leversidge, John Leversidge, and I am the junior partner
of the firm of Wilson, Burke & Leversidge, of Hatton Garden, Paris,
Calcutta, and Melbourne. We are, as you will have gathered from our
first address, diamond and precious stone merchants, and we do a very
large business in the East generally; also among the Pacific Islands and
in Australia. With the two last named our trade is confined principally
to pearls and gold, neither of them having very much in the way of gems
to offer. Still their connection is worth so much to us as to warrant us
in keeping two buyers almost continuously employed; a fact, I think,
which speaks for itself. Now it so turned out that some six months or so
ago we received a cablegram in London announcing the fact that an
enormous black pearl, in all probability the finest yet brought to
light, had been discovered near one of the islands to the southward of
New Guinea. It had been conveyed first to Thursday Island, which, as
perhaps you are aware, is the head and centre of this particular
industry in Australian waters, and later on, with a considerable amount
of secrecy, to Sydney, where our agent, a man in whom we had the
greatest trust, made it his business to see it on our behalf. The result
was a cypher cablegram to our firm in London, to say that the jewel was,
as far as his knowledge went, absolutely unique, and that in his opinion
it behoved us to purchase it, even at the exorbitant price asked for it
by the rascally individual into whose hands it had now fallen. This was
a person by the name of Bollinson, a half-bred Swede I should say by the
description we received of him; though, for my part, from the way he
treated us, I should think Jew would be somewhat nearer the mark.
Whatever his nationality may have been, however, the fact remains that
he knew his business so well, that when we obtained possession of the
pearl, which we were determined to have at any price, we had paid a sum
for it nearly double what we had originally intended to give. But that
mattered little to us, for we had the _most perfect confidence in our
servant_, who had had to do with pearls all his life, and who since he
had been in our employ had been fortunate enough to secure several
splendid bargains for us. So, to make a long story short, when he cabled
the price--though I must confess we whistled a little at the figure--we
wired back: 'Buy, and bring it home yourself by next boat,' feeling
convinced that we had done the right thing and should not regret it.
Now, as you know, there is to be an Imperial wedding in Europe in six
months' time, and as we had received instructions to submit for his
inspection anything we might have worthy of the honour, we felt morally
certain that the sovereign in question would take the jewel off our
hands, and thus enable us to get our money back and a fair percentage of
interest, besides repaying us for our outlay and our trouble. Sure
enough next day a message came in to us to say that our agent had
completed the sale and was leaving for England that day, not _via_
Melbourne and Adelaide, as we had supposed, or _via_ Vancouver, which
would have been the next best route; but by way of Queensland, the
Barrier Reef, and the Arifura Sea, which was longer, and, as we very
well knew, by no means so safe. Then he added the very significant
information that since he had had the pearl in his keeping no less than
_three separate and distinct attempts_ had been made by other people to
obtain possession of it. All that, you must understand, happened eight
weeks ago. I was in London at the time, and can therefore give you the
information first hand."
"Eight weeks exactly?" I asked, for I always like to be certain of my
dates. Many a good case that I have taken in hand has collapsed for the
simple reason that the parties instructing me had been a little slipshod
in the matter of their dates.
"Eight weeks to-morrow," he answered. "Or rather, since it is now past
midnight, I think I might say eight weeks to-day. However, in this
particular instance the date does not happen to be of much importance."
"In that case I must beg your pardon for interrupting you," I said. "You
were saying, I think, that your agent reported that, before he left
Sydney, no less than three attempts were made by certain parties to
obtain possession of the pearl in question."
"That was so. But it is evident that he managed to elude them, otherwise
he would have cabled again to us on the subject."
"Did you then receive no further message from him?"
"Only one from Brisbane to say that he had joined the mail-boat,
_Monarch of Macedonia_, at that port, and would sail for England in her
that day."
On hearing the name of the vessel I gave a start of surprise, and I
might almost say of horror. "Good heavens!" I cried; "do you mean to say
he was on board the _Monarch of Macedonia_? Why, as all the world knows
by this time, she struck a rock somewhere off the New Guinea Coast and
went to the bottom with all hands but two."
The old gentleman nodded his head. "Your information is quite correct,
my dear sir," he said. "In a fog one night between eleven and twelve
o'clock, she got in closer to the New Guinea Coast than she ought to
have done, and struck on what was evidently an uncharted rock, and sank
in between fifteen and twenty fathoms of water. Of her ship's company
only two were saved, a foremast hand and a first saloon passenger, the
Rev. W. Colway-Brown, a clergyman from Sydney. These two managed, by
some extraordinary means, to secure a boat, and in her they made their
way to the shore, which was between thirty and forty miles distant. Here
they dwelt for a few days in peril of their lives from the natives, and
were ultimately picked up by a trading schooner called _The Kissing
Cup_, whose skipper carried them on to Thursday Island, where they were
taken in and most kindly cared for."
"And your agent? Did you learn anything of his fate?"
"Nothing that was likely to be of any comfort to us," said the old
fellow sadly. "We telegraphed as soon as we heard the news, of course,
first to the agents in Brisbane, who, to prove that he sailed on board
the vessel, wired us the number of his cabin, and then to the Rev.
Colway-Brown, who was still in Thursday Island. The latter replied
immediately to the effect that he remembered quite well seeing the
gentleman in question on deck earlier in the evening, but that he saw
nothing of him after the vessel struck, and could only suppose he must
have been in bed when the accident happened. It was a most unhappy
affair altogether, and, as you may suppose, we were not a little cut up
at the loss of our old servant and trusted friend."
"I can quite believe that," I answered. "And now what is it you want me
to do to help you?"
Mr. Leversidge was silent for a few seconds, and thinking he might be
wondering how he should put the matter to me I did not interrupt him.
"Well, Mr. Collon," he said, after a few moments' thought, "what we want
you to do for us, is to proceed with me to the scene of the wreck as
soon as possible, and to endeavour to obtain from her the pearl which
our agent was bringing home to us. Your reputation as a diver is well
known to us, and I might tell you that directly the news of the wreck
reached us we said to each other, 'That pearl must be recovered at any
cost, and Christopher Collon is the man for the work.' We will, of
course, pay all expenses connected with the expedition. Will you
therefore be good enough to tell me if you will undertake the work, and
if so, what your charge will be?"
Many and strange as my adventures had hitherto been, and curious (for
that is the most charitable term, I think) as were some of the
applications I had had made to me in my time, I don't think I had ever
been made such an extraordinary offer as that brought under my notice by
the old gentleman who had so unexpectedly come in search of me. He had
not been far from the mark when he had said that this was likely to be
one of the strangest cases that had ever come under my observation. Of
one thing I was firmly convinced, and that was that I was not going to
give him a decided answer at once. I did not know how my ground lay, and
nothing was to be gained by giving my promise and being compelled to
withdraw it afterwards. Besides, before I pledged myself, I wanted to
find out how I stood with the law in the matter of the ship herself. I
had no sort of desire to board her and bring off the jewel, and then
find it advertised in all the papers of the world and myself called into
court on a charge of wrecking or piracy, or whatever the particular term
might be that covers that sort of crime.
"You must give me time to think it over," I said, turning to the old
gentleman beside me. "I want to discover my position. For all I know to
the contrary I may be lending myself to a felony, and that would never
do at all. Everybody is aware that the more adventures a jewel goes
through the more valuable it becomes. On the other hand the arm of the
law reaches a long way, and I am not going to be the cat that pulls your
chestnuts out of the fire and burns her paws in so doing. That would
scarcely suit Christopher Collon, however nice it might be for other
people."
"My dear sir," replied Mr. Leversidge, "you need have no fear at all on
that score. We have no desire to incriminate you or to hurt your
interests in any possible way. I shall take charge of the affair myself,
and that should be sufficient guarantee that we are not going to run any
undue risk. I have both my public and my private reputation at stake,
and for my own sake you may be sure I shall take very good care that we
do not come into collision with the law. The good name of my firm is
also in the balance, and that should count for something. No, my dear
sir, the most rigid and absolute secrecy will be maintained, and the
arrangements will be as follows: If you are agreeable, and we can come
to terms, we shall charter a vessel, if possible, in Batavia, fit her
out with the necessary appliances, and sail in her with all speed to the
spot where the catastrophe happened. Then you will descend to the
vessel, discover our agent's luggage, which is certain to be in his
cabin, we shall draw it up to the surface, examine it, obtain the pearl,
and having done so sail again for Batavia, where the amount upon which
we shall have agreed will be paid to you. After that we must separate;
you will go your way, I shall go mine, and not a living soul will be the
wiser."
"That's all very well, but what about the officers and crew of the
vessel we charter? Do you think they will not suspect; and how do you
propose to square them?"
"We will do that, never fear. They will be certain to believe, from the
confident way in which we act, that we have the right to visit the
vessel. Besides, when we have once parted from them, we shall never see
them again. No, I do not think you need be afraid of them. Come, what do
you say?"
"I don't know what to say," I answered. "I'm not sure whether it would
be worth my while to touch it. The risk is so great, and I've got
another offer on hand just now that looks as if it might turn out well.
All these things have to be considered before I can give you an answer."
"Naturally," he replied. "But still I trust you will see your way to
helping us. Your skill as a diver is well known, and I pay you the
compliment of believing that you have one of the rarest of all gifts,
the knowledge of how to hold your tongue when it is necessary. Just
think it over and acquaint me with your decision in the morning."
"Very good," I answered. "I will do so. You shall have my answer after
breakfast, without fail."
"I am glad to hear it, and I thank you. Now, good-night."
"Good-night," I answered, and after that we separated to go to our
respective rooms.
By five o'clock next morning, after a troubled night, I had made up my
mind. If the old gentleman would give the terms I wanted, I would do
what he asked. Half of the amount was to be paid before we left Colombo,
and the balance on our return to Batavia, or on the completion of our
work, provided it did not last more than six months. All expenses were
to be defrayed by his firm, and a document was to be given me,
exonerating me from all blame should the law think fit to come down upon
us for what we were doing. All this I embodied in a letter which I
copied and sent to Mr. Leversidge's room while he was dressing.
After breakfast he found me in the verandah.
"Many thanks for your note," he said promptly. "I shall be most happy to
agree to your terms. We will settle them at once, if you have no
objection."
"That is very kind of you," I answered; "but why this great hurry?"
"Because we must leave in the mail-boat this afternoon for Batavia,
_via_ Singapore," he replied. "As you will see for yourself, there is no
time to be lost."