"But why did he fly, Archie?"
"Because he knew that the game was up. Mrs. Jasher wrote out this
confession, and told Cockatoo, when he entered the room to get the
emerald, that she had written it. To save his master the Kanaka stabbed
the wretched woman, and, had Random and I not arrived, he would have
secured the confession. I really believe he came back again out of the
mist in the small hours of the morning to steal it. But when he found
that all was vain, he returned here and told the Professor that the
story of the murder had been written out. Therefore there was
nothing left to Braddock but to fly. Although," added Hope, with an
afterthought, "I can't imagine why those two fugitives should drag that
confounded mummy with them."
"But why should the Professor fly?" asked Lucy again. "According to what
Mrs. Jasher writes, he did not strangle poor Sidney."
"No. And I will do him the justice to say that he had no idea of having
his assistant murdered. It was Cockatoo's savage blood which came out in
the deed, and maybe it can be explained by the Kanaka's devotion to the
Professor. It was the same way in the murder of Mrs. Jasher. By killing
Bolton, the Kanaka hoped to save the emeralds for Braddock: in stabbing
Mrs. Jasher, he hoped to save the Professor's life."
"Oh, Archie, will they hang my father?"
Hope winced.
"Call him your step-father," he said quickly. "No, dear, I do not think
he will be hanged; but as an accessory after the fact he will certainly
be condemned to a long term of imprisonment. Cockatoo, however,
assuredly will be hanged, and a good job too. He is only a savage, and
as such is dangerous in a civilized community. I wonder where they have
gone? Did anyone hear them going?"
"No," said Lucy unhesitatingly. "Cook came up this morning to my room,
and said that my father--I mean my step-father--had gone away with
Cockatoo and with the green mummy. I don't know why she should have said
that, as the Professor often went away unexpectedly."
"Perhaps she heard rumors in the village and put two and two together.
I cannot tell. Some instinct must have told her. But I daresay Braddock
and his accomplice fled under cover of the mist and in the small hours
of the morning. They must have known that the confession would bring the
officers of the law to this house."
"I hope they will escape," murmured Lucy.
"Well, I am not sure," said Hope hesitatingly. "Of course, I should like
to avoid a scandal for your sake, and yet it is only right that the two
of them should be punished. Remember, Lucy dear, how Braddock has acted
all along in deceiving us. He knew all, and yet not one of us suspected
him."