But it was
evident that I had not guessed wrong when I divined trouble the moment I
came over the side of the yacht.
Holman caught my coat with his left hand as we turned, and he spoke
excitedly.
"Do you know what we're after?" he queried hoarsely.
"It's a scientific expedition," I replied. "That's what you and Captain
Newmarch told me, and I have not questioned any one else."
"But do you know the particular line we are after?"
"No," I replied.
"Well, we're after skulls. Leith has told the Professor about some
ancient boneyard that he knows of, and he's dragging old Herndon down
there."
"I cannot see the crime now," I said. "I've gone after skulls before
to-day. I brought a hundred of them up to Vavau for a German scientist
last year. He was taking them home to European museums to prove that the
Polynesians of ten centuries back had bigger brains than the niggers of
to-day."
"Yes, I know that," gurgled Holman; "but Leith--oh, damn it! I can't get
you to understand! He pulled the Professor into this deal, and the old
man is as green as grass. Herndon supplied the money and all that, and
he's that much of a silly old doodlebug that this fellow is buncoing him
out of his good gold.
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