"Do you mean to say, Mr. Gilhooly," cried Meigs, "that you can overlook Quinn’s criminal folly in casting us adrift in the unknown?" "I cannot only overlook it," was the quiet response, "but I can forgive it. Almost I am of the opinion that it was justifiable." "Faugh!" rasped Meigs. "You have not recovered your reason after all or you would not talk that way." "Let us not engage in useless disputes, gentlemen," put in the professor. "There is another affair to engage us. It was thought," Quinn went on, with an expressive look at me, "that Mr. Gilhooly had fled the realm and taken the imperial exchequer with him." "It was I who took the exchequer," said I, "and it is I who hope to return it to the king." "What about the Bolla?" queried Quinn, giving me a sharp look. "It is here," said I, touching the makeshift bundle I was carrying under my arm. "At least," I added, "there is a strange looking black stone among the gold coins and I suppose it must be King Golbai’s palladium." "We were sent forth to look for Mr. Gilhooly and the stolen treasure," remarked the professor. "Olox and his Gaddbaizets are likewise on the road, but we have been able to leave them pretty well in the rear." "What was thought of my absence?" I asked. "Very little, Mr. Munn. Every officer of the state seemed united in fixing the blame upon Mr. Gilhooly. Since he was known to be mentally unsound, no crime could be attached to his act." "I shall tell the truth of it," I declared. "And be condemned to death by zet," said the professor, gazing at me fixedly. "Let the king believe what he will," said Gilhooly. "I should rather have it so since it means so much to Mr. Munn." "Why did you not keep on to the other kingdom with the Bolla?" inquired Quinn of me. "Because I didn’t think I should be doing the right thing," I replied. "Ah! And why this sudden change in your sentiments, Mr. Munn?" "I can’t explain it, professor." "I believe it is a theory of yours that one thief has the right to take from another what does not belong to either of them." "Two wrongs do not make a right." "Indeed! The change in your sentiments is most sudden—and remarkable. Will you please untie the sleeves of your coat and allow me to have a look at that black stone?" I lowered my bundle and opened it. "There," said I, but poorly concealing the contempt I felt for the black stone as I pointed to it. "You may take stock in the superstition if you will, professor, but I will have none of it." The professor gave me a queer smile, then picked up the Bolla and surveyed it curiously. "Would you like to look at it, Mr. Meigs?" he asked. "A fetish like this is a sure sign of barbarism," observed Meigs, taking the stone. "The creatures who inhabit this planet are not of a very high order mentally." He passed the Bolla to Popham and Popham handed it to Markham. It was presently returned to me and I packed it away as before.