74
THE SURAKARTA
weighed this fact. "Now we will have the statement?"
"My first information even of the existence of the Surakarta," Hereford began promptly, "was yesterday when a traveler, who had chanced to come over on the same boat as the Javanese, came to me as the trustee of the Regan estate to tell me why the jewel was brought here. I was, of course, displeased and angry, especially as his story was borne out by a message from Miss Regan, almost at the same time, that she was in town. To assure myself the story was not a mere fabrication I went first to Max, from whom I learned that the jewel really existed."
The German gravely nodded corroboration.
"Then I went to Miss Regan to discover
