Said I, 'But
how does it happen, Rung, that you know this?' Rung, smiling and putting
his finger tips together, replied, 'How does it happen that I know so
much about you?' And then he told me a lot of things about myself that I
thought no soul in India knew. It was just wonderful how he did it. 'So
it is: let that be sufficient,' he finished by saying. 'Why did you not
tell me till after the Russian had gone away that you saw him steal the
diamond?' said I. 'If you had told me at the time I could have charged
him with it.' 'You are ignorant,' said Rung; 'you are little more than a
child. The Russian sahib had the evil eye. Had I crossed his purpose
before his face he would have cursed me while he looked at me, and I
should have withered away and died. He has got the diamond, and only by
magic can it ever be recovered from him.'
"Your ladyship and miss, I hope I am not tedious nor wandering from the
point. It will be sufficient to say that when I got down to Chinapore I
found that M. Platzoff had indeed been there, but only just long enough
to see the Colonel and give him an account of Captain Chillington's
death, after which he had at once engaged a palanquin and bearers and
set out with all speed for Bombay. It was now my turn to see the
Colonel, and after I had given over into his hands all my dead master's
property that I had brought with me from the Hills, I told him the story
of the diamond as Rung had told it to me.
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