Thus it was that Hervey kept the four men talking up the jetty, as he knew that Cockatoo with his own sailors was shipping the Professor in the mummy case underneath, and well out of sight.  Cockatoo had come down stream with The Firefly, and in this way had not been discovered.  Throughout that long day the miserable Braddock had crouched like a toad in its hole, trembling at every sound of pursuit, as he knew that the whole of the village was looking for him.  But Cockatoo had hidden him well in the case, in the lid of which holes had been bored.  He had brandy to drink and food to eat, and he knew that he could depend upon the Kanaka.  Had Date not been suspicious, the ruse might have been successful, but to save himself Hervey had to sacrifice the wretched Professor, which he did without the slightest hesitation.  Then came the unlucky shot from the revolver of De Gayangos, which had ended Braddock’s wicked life.  It was Fate.

At the inquest a verdict of “wilful murder” was brought against the Kanaka, but a verdict of “justifiable homicide” was given in favor of the Peruvian.  Thus Cockatoo was hanged for the double murder and Don Pedro went free.  He remained long enough in London to see his daughter married to the man of her choice, and then returned to Lima.

Of course the affair caused more than a nine days’ wonder, and the newspapers were filled with accounts of the murder and the projected escape.  But Lucy was saved from all this publicity, as, in the first place, her name was kept out of print as much as possible, and, in the second, Archie promptly married her, and within a fortnight of her step-father’s death took her to the south of France, and afterwards to Italy.  What with his own money and the money she inherited from her mother—­in which Braddock had a life interest—­the young couple had nearly a thousand a year.

Six months later Sir Frank came into the small San Remo where Mr. and Mrs. Hope lived, with his wife on his arm.  Lady Random looked singularly charming and was assuredly more conversational.  This was the first time the two sets of lovers had met since the tragedy, and now each girl had married the man she loved.  Therefore there was great joy.

“My yacht is over at Monte Carlo,” said Random, “and I am, going with Inez to South America.  She wants to see her father.”

“Yes, I do,” said Lady Random; “and we want you to come also, Lucy—­you and your dear husband.”

Archie and his wife looked at one another, but declined unanimously.

“We would rather stay here in San Remo,” said Mrs. Hope, becoming slightly pale.  “Don’t think me unkind, Inez, but I could not bear to go to Peru.  It is associated too much in my own mind with that terrible green mummy.”

“Oh, Don Pedro has taken that back to the Andes,” explained Sir Frank, “and it is now reposing in the sepulchre in which it was placed, hundreds of years ago, by the Indians, faithful to Inca Caxas.  Inez and I are going up to a kind of forbidden city, where Don Pedro reigns as Inca, and I expect we shall have a jolly time.  I hear there is some big game shooting there.”