“Let him! What do I care? Throw all the blame on me—here goes.”
Before I could prevent, he thrust the big knife he always carried, between the metal edges of the bag, and pried the two halves apart.
“Confound you! What did you do that for?” I exclaimed, now seriously vexed at the persistency he displayed.
But Maurice sided against me.
“Bother, George! Why do you make so much fuss about nothing?” he said. “The Doctor is right. By all means let us see what is inside the bag.”
I maintained a sulky silence. It was quite impossible for me to quarrel with Maurice. I loved him too well for that.
“Thunder!” remarked the Doctor, tumbling over the contents of the bag, “nothing very theosophic here. On the contrary, everything seems quite material. Two shirts, a pair of muslin drawers, six collars, four pair of cuffs, a tooth brush, comb, hair brush and a bottle of Brigg’s patent liver pills.”
“Try the other side,” suggested Maurice.
“Well, here we have one or two Calcutta papers, not more than six months old,” continued the Doctor, “a packet of court plaster, a pair of shoes, six pair stockings, pocket ink stand and this book—perhaps that will throw some ray of light upon the dark mystery surrounding our levitating friend.”
“Stop!” I exclaimed. “Stop! I won’t have it. Let Mr. Mirrikh be what he may, I gave him my word that this bag should be forwarded to Radma Gungeet, of Benares. Doctor, I appeal to you as a gentleman”
“What! Radma Gungeet—did you say, Radma Gungeet?” cried the Doctor. He paused with the book unopened in his hand.
“Certainly. That was the address he gave me.”
“That fixes Mirrikh as a Hindoo, at all events. Do you happen to know who and what this Radma Gungeet is?”
“I neither know nor care. He shall have that bag unless Mirrikh comes after it, and I feel thoroughly ashamed of myself to think that it is now impossible for him to receive it with its contents undisturbed.”
“Radma Gungeet is one of the most noted adepts in India,” said the Doctor, slowly. “Wylde, this goes far to show that Mirrikh is one of those singular beings himself.”
