"
"And the thief was on board all the time?"
"Don't think he was when you crossed. I've got t' wait till th' boat
docks before I can get particulars. It's like this. Th' chap who took
th' sapphires engaged passage as a steward. His cabin-mate saw him
lookin' over th' stones. He'd taken 'em out o' their settings. This
man Jameson pinches 'em, but his mate follows him up an' has it out
with him in a waterfront groggery. Got 'em back. Cool customer. I
went on board th' next morning an' quizzed him. An' say, he done me up
brown. As unblinkin' a liar 's I ever met. Took me t' his cabin an'
showed me what he professed Jameson had swiped. Nothing but a pearl
an' coral brooch. He did it so natural that I swallowed th' bull,
horns an' hoofs. I've had every pawnshop in New York looked over, but
they ain't there. I've been busy on the maharajah's emeralds. There's
a case. Cleverest ever. Some drug, atomized through a keyhole, which
puts y' t' by-by."
"A drug? Why, say, two of my neighbors have been robbed within the
past three days, and they all complained of violent headaches.
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