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Wickham and the Wallachian Hospodar were liquid lead and wedges in the hand of Destiny. "By George, but this has been a lark!" he cried. "I've sent the wrong thing to everybody in England. These cousins of yours have a packing-case as big as a house. I've muddled the whole business up to that extent, Finsbury, that if it were to get out it's my belief we should get lynched."
And so the packing-case was put on board one of the great ships in the docks, and in a few days away sailed the ship, packing-case, and little seed, far over the ocean, leaving England many thousand miles behind. Not having been to Australia, we cannot describe what the little seed next beheld. But when the sun once again shone upon it, it was in a very different country to this dear land of ours.
Then he went to the door, opened it, looked out, shut it and locked it, and then came back again and sat down without a word in his chair, staring steadily at the impassive face of the mummy in the packing-case. 'Why, what's the matter, doctor? said the professor, a trifle sharply. 'You don't suppose I am afraid of anyone coming to steal my treasure, do you?
They were standing over a long packing-case, some seven feet in length and two and a-half in breadth, in which lay, at full length, wrapped in grave-clothes that had once been gaily coloured, but which were now faded and grey with the grave-dust, the figure of a man with hands crossed over the breast, dead to all appearances, and yet so gruesomely lifelike that it seemed hard to believe that the broad, muscular chest over which the crossed hands lay was not actually heaving and falling with the breath of life.
Now the packing-case was so big that the young lady and the odd man were at their wits' end to know what to do with it. It could not go into the house, for there was no door wide enough to admit it. It could not remain out in the yard either, for the young lady could not unpack it that day, as she happened to be very busy bottling plums.
His eyes were almost invisible amidst an intricate map of wrinkles which covered his yellow face. "Evening, John," said Fletcher and, pulling me with him, he made for the head of the steps. As I came abreast of the packing-case, the Chinaman lifted the lamp and directed its light fully upon my face.
This he had with him, and this he ate in the darkness and the lumbering, pounding, thundering noise which made him giddy, as never had he been in a train of any kind before. Still he ate, having had no breakfast, and being a child, and half a German, and not knowing at all how or when he ever would eat again. If it had been put in a packing-case, he would have been defeated at the onset.
Sam exclaimed indignantly; "and besides, Mawruss, the stain ain't all soup, y'understand some of it gets wet in the packing-case." "Well, I wouldn't bother my head about it no more," Morris retorted. "I deposited your check just now and we are lucky, if you would deduct four dollars, that we got our money at all." "Maybe you are and maybe you ain't, Mawruss," Sam commented.
Accordingly, on the following day, the bottle, with the document hermetically sealed within it, was taken on board the brig and carefully packed away in the centre of a large packing-case filled with fine shavings from other cases; and then the entire exterior of the case was painted black and white in a bold chequer pattern, with the words "Please open" in bold red letters on each side, and as soon as the paint was dry Leslie put it on board the catamaran, and, running some three miles to leeward of the island, launched it overboard.
'Now, I said, 'if there's a kick left in you, just mention it, and I'll stamp your ribs in like a packing-case. He thought better of it, and never let on; lay there as mild as a deacon at a funeral; and they took him below to reflect on his native Dutchland. One night we got caught in rather a dirty thing about 25 south.
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