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Among the precious stones taken in this great purchase was the splendidruby of Kishmoor. This, as may be known to the reader, was one of theworld's greatest gems, and was unique alike both for its prodigioussize and the splendor of its color. This precious jewel the Rajah ofKishmoor had, upon a certain occasion, bestowed upon his Queen, and atthe time of her capture she wore it as the centre-piece of a sort of acoronet which encircled her forehead and brow.

Before continuing this narrative the reader may here be informed thatour hero had come into this enchanted world as the supercargo of theship SUSANNA HAYES, of Philadelphia; that he had for several yearsproved himself so honest and industrious a servant to the merchanthouse of the worthy Jeremiah Doolittle that that benevolent man hadgiven to his well-deserving clerk this opportunity at once ofgratifying an inclination for foreign travel and of filling a positionof trust that should redound to his individual profit. The SUSANNAHAYES had entered Kingston Harbor that afternoon, and this wasJonathan's first night spent in those tropical latitudes, whither hisfancy and his imagination had so often carried him while he stood overthe desk filing the accounts of invoices from foreign parts.

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At that moment our hero suddenly became conscious of the fact that asmall wicket in a wooden gate near which he stood had been opened, andthat the eyes of an otherwise concealed countenance were observing himwith the utmost closeness of scrutiny.

He had hardly time to become aware of this observation of his personwhen the gate itself was opened, and there appeared before him, in themoonlight, the bent and crooked figure of an aged negress. She wasclad in a calamanco raiment, and was further adorned with a variety ofgaudily colored trimmings, vastly suggestive of the tropical world ofwhich she was an inhabitant. Her woolly head was enveloped, after thefashion of her people, in the folds of a gigantic and flaming redturban constructed of an entire pocket-handkerchief. Her face waspock-pitted to an incredible degree, so that what with this deformity,emphasized by the pouting of her prodigious and shapeless lips, and therolling of a pair of eyes as yellow as saffron, Jonathan Rugg thoughtthat he had never beheld a figure at once so extraordinary and sorepulsive.

It occurred to our hero that here, maybe, was to overtake him such anadventure as that which he had just a moment before been desiring soardently. Nor was he mistaken; for the negress, first looking this wayand then that, with an extremely wary and cunning expression, andapparently having satisfied herself that the street, for the moment,was pretty empty of passers, beckoned to him to draw nearer. When hehad approached close enough to her she caught him by the sleeve, and,instantly drawing him into the garden beyond, shut and bolted the gatewith a quickness and a silence suggestive of the most extravagantsecrecy.

At the same moment a huge negro suddenly appeared from the shadow ofthe gatepost, and so placed himself between Jonathan and the gate thatany attempt to escape would inevitably have entailed a conflict, uponour hero's part, with the sable and giant guardian.

Bidding our hero to be seated, which he did with no small degree ofembarrassment and constraint, and upon the extreme edge of the gilt andsatin-covered chair, the negress who had been his conductor left himfor the time being to his own contemplation.

Almost before he had an opportunity to compose himself into anythingmore than a part of his ordinary sedateness of demeanor, the silkencurtains at the doorway at the other end of the apartment were suddenlydivided, and Jonathan beheld before him a female figure displaying themost exquisite contour of mould and of proportion. She was cladentirely in white, and was enveloped from head to foot in the folds ofa veil of delicate silver gauze, which, though hiding her countenancefrom recognition, nevertheless permitted sufficient of her beauties tobe discerned to suggest the extreme elegance and loveliness of herlineaments. Advancing toward our hero, and extending to him a taperinghand as white as alabaster, the fingers encircled with a multitude ofjewelled rings, she addressed him thus:

Here stood a table covered with a snow-white cloth, and embellishedwith silver and crystal ornaments of every description. Having seatedherself and having indicated to Jonathan to take the chair opposite toher, the two were presently served with a repast such as our hero hadnot thought could have existed out of the pages of certainextraordinary Oriental tales which one time had fallen to his lot toread.

Hereupon, and having so spoken, she clapped her hands, and an attendantimmediately entered, disclosing the person of the same negress who hadfirst introduced Jonathan into the strange adventure in which he nowfound himself involved. This creature, who appeared still moredeformed and repulsive in the brilliantly lighted room than she had inthe moonlight, carried in her hands a white napkin, which she handed toher mistress. This being opened, disclosed a small ivory ball of aboutthe bigness of a lime. Nodding to the negress to withdraw, the ladyhanded him the ivory ball, and Jonathan took it with no small degree ofcuriosity and examined it carefully. It appeared to be of an exceedingantiquity, and of so deep a yellow as to be almost brown in color. Itwas covered over with strange figures and characters of an Orientalsort, which appeared to our hero to be of Chinese workmanship.

At these words the lady, who had been watching him all the time with amost unaccountable eagerness, burst forth into words of such heart-feltgratitude as to entirely overwhelm our hero. When her transports hadbeen somewhat assuaged she permitted him to depart, and the negressconducted him back through the garden, whence she presently showed himthrough the gate whither he had entered and out into the street.

Finding himself once more in the open street, Jonathan Rugg stood for awhile in the moonlight, endeavoring to compose his mind into somewhatof that sobriety that was habitual with him; for, indeed, he was not alittle excited by the unexpected incidents that had just befallen him.From this effort at composure he was aroused by observing that a littlegentleman clad all in black had stopped at a little distance away andwas looking very intently at him. In the brightness of the moonlightour hero could see that the little gentleman possessed but a singleeye, and that he carried a gold-headed cane in his hand. He had hardlytime to observe these particulars, when the other approached him withevery appearance of politeness and cordiality.

His conductor having struck a light with a flint and steel, our hero bythe illumination of a single candle presently discovered himself to bein a bedchamber furnished with no small degree of comfort, and evenelegance, and having every appearance of a bachelor's chamber.

So saying he was as good as his word, and not only drew the shuttersto, but shot the heavy iron bolt into its place. Having accomplishedthis he bade our hero to be seated, and placing before him someexceedingly superior rum, together with some equally excellent tobacco,they presently fell into the friendliest discourse imaginable. In thecourse of their talk, which after awhile became exceedinglyconfidential, Jonathan confided to his new friend the circumstances ofthe adventure into which he had been led by the beautiful stranger, andto all that he said concerning his adventure his interlocutor listenedwith the closest and most scrupulously riveted attention.

As Jonathan concluded his reply the little gentleman suddenly arosefrom his chair and moved briskly around to the other side of the room.Our hero, watching him with some surprise, beheld him clap to the doorand with a single movement shoot the bolt and turn the key therein.The next instant he turned to Jonathan a visage transformed as suddenlyas though he had dropped a mask from his face. The gossiping andpolite little old bachelor was there no longer, but in his stead a manwith a countenance convulsed with some furious and nameless passion.

The malignant passions that distorted every lineament of thecountenance of the little old gentleman in black filled our hero withsuch astonishment that he knew not whether he were asleep or awake; butwhen he beheld the other advancing with the naked and shining knife inhis hand his reason returned to him like a flash. Leaping to his feet,he lost no time in putting the table between himself and his suddenenemy.

"Cry as loud as you please!" exclaimed the other. "No one is near thisplace to hear you! Cry until you are hoarse; no one in thisneighborhood will stop to ask what is the matter with you. I tell youI am determined to possess myself of that ivory ball, and have it Ishall, even though I am obliged to cut out your heart to get it!" Ashe spoke he grinned with so extraordinary and devilish a distortion ofhis countenance, and with such an appearance of every intention ofcarrying out his threat as to send the goose-flesh creeping like icyfingers up and down our hero's spine with the most incredible rapidityand acuteness.

"Fool!" cried the other, hardly giving him time to end. "Do you, then,think that I have time to chatter with you while two villains are lyingin wait for me, perhaps at the very door? Blame your own self for yourdeath!" And, gnashing his teeth with an indescribable menace, andresting his hand upon the table, he vaulted with incredible agilityclean across it and upon our hero, who, entirely unprepared for such anextraordinary attack, was flung back against the wall, with an arm asstrong as steel clutching his throat and a knife flashing in his veryeyes with dreadful portent of instant death.

So our hero stood stunned and bedazed, gazing down upon his victim,like a man turned into a stone. His brain appeared to him to expandlike a bubble, the blood surged and bummed in his ears with everygigantic beat of his heart, his vision swam, and his trembling handswere bedewed with a cold and repugnant sweat. The dead figure upon thefloor at his feet gazed at him with a wide, glassy stare, and in theconfusion of his mind it appeared to Jonathan that he was, indeed, amurderer. e24fc04721