One evening--in fact on the evening when the crime was committed--the
woman was walking in her garden late. In the moonlight she saw Braddock
and Cockatoo go down along the cinderpath to the jetty near the Fort.
Wondering what they were doing, she waited up, and heard and saw
them--for it was still moonlight--come back long after midnight. The
next day she heard of the murder, and guessed that the Professor and his
slave--for Cockatoo was little else--had rowed up to Pierside in a boat
and there had strangled Sidney and stolen the mummy. She saw Braddock
and accused him. The Professor had then opened the case, and had
pretended astonishment when discovering the corpse of the man whom
Cockatoo had strangled, as he knew perfectly well.
Braddock at first denied having been to Pierside, but Mrs. Jasher
insisted that she would tell the police, so he was forced to make a
clean breast of it to the woman.
"Now for it," said Random, settling himself to hear details of the
crime, for he had often wondered how it had been executed.
"Braddock," read Archie from the confession, for Mrs. Jasher did not
trouble herself with a polite prefix--"Braddock explained that when he
received a letter from Sidney stating that he would have to remain
with the mummy for a night in Pierside, he guessed that his treacherous
assistant intended to effect the robbery. It seems that Sidney by
mistake had left behind the disguise in which he intended to escape.
Aware of this through me"--Mrs. Jasher referred to herself--"he made
Cockatoo assume the dress and row up the river to the Sailor's Rest. The
Kanaka easily could be mistaken for a woman, as he also, like Sidney,
was slender and smooth-chinned. Also, he wore the shawl over his head to
disguise his mop of frizzy hair as much as possible, and for the purpose
of concealing his tattooed face. In the darkness--it was after nine
o'clock--he spoke to Sidney through the window, as he had seen him there
earlier, when searching for him. Cockatoo said that Sidney was much
afraid when he heard that his purpose had been discovered by the
Professor. He offered a share of the plunder to the Kanaka, and Cockatoo
agreed, saying he would come back late, and that Sidney was to admit him
into the bedroom so that they could open the mummy and steal the
jewels. Sidney quite believed that Cockatoo was heart and soul with him,
especially as the cunning Kanaka swore that he was weary of his master's
tyranny. It was when Cockatoo was talking thus that he was seen by Eliza
Flight, who mistook him--very naturally--for a woman. Cockatoo then
returned by boat to the Gartley jetty and told his master. Afterwards,
the Professor, at a much later hour, went down to the jetty and was
rowed up to Pierside by the Kanaka."