"I don't think it was guarded over-much," said Pentreddle thoughtfully. "You see, sir, the tea-shop man told me that the emerald was under the spell of the Earth Spirit--he called him some queer name I can't remember--to keep away earthquakes. No Japanese would dare to touch the jewel, and it lay--as I saw--on a small altar near the shrine. I managed to stop inside the temple after dark, and stole it." "How did you get away?" said the Squire, wondering at this daring. "I'll tell you that another day, sir, as it is getting late. I did manage to get away and stow the Jewel on board my ship; but I was followed." "Followed? By whom?" "Japanese. I suppose they were priests. I was nearly knifed at Nagasaki and once I was drugged. But I had hidden the emerald away, and they could not find it. When I got to the Port of London I thought that I was safe; but I soon found that I was dogged there also." "By whom?" asked Colpster once more. "Japanese," said Pentreddle again. "Wherever I went I met Japanese. They swarmed all round me. I had written to my mother saying that I would give her the emerald if she came to London. She did, and wrote asking me to go to The Home of Art. But I knew better than to do that, sir. I felt certain that if I gave the jewel to my mother she would run a chance of being killed. There was one big chap with a scar across his cheek. I believe he killed my poor mother." "What makes you think that, Harry?" asked Colpster eagerly. "Because I was loafing round The Home of Art one evening trying to catch a glimpse of my mother, when I saw the beast watching me and the house." "Was the man with the scar a priest?" "He just was," said the sailor vigorously; "a Shinto priest. I saw him in the temple at Kitzuki. Then I was certain that I was being followed by the priests, and wrote and told my mother that I could only give her the emerald secretly. She replied, saying that the whole household at The Home of Art had an appointment to see some play----" "I know all that," said the Squire impatiently. "Skip that." "Well, then, sir, my mother said, that being alone she could leave the house at night without suspicion being aroused. She told me to meet her at nine o'clock at the right-hand corner of the Bayswater side of the Serpentine Bridge, and to look for a red light. But, of course, as I learned later, she was kept in by her sprained foot, and sent Miss Carrol." "Why did you not speak to Miss Carrol?" "I hadn't a chance," said Harry simply. "I guessed that I was being followed." "By the priest with the scar?" "No. By a smaller and slighter-built chap. He dodged at my heels in the fog, so I had just time to shove the box into Miss Carrol's hand--into my mother's hands, as I thought--and then run off in the hope the little beast would follow me." "He did, didn't he?"