“You don’t mean these two rubies came from that mine?” asked Tom.
“You’ve guessed it,” said Ed. “I took the stones to London to be mounted-and because of their color, the jeweler suspected they had been taken at least two hundred years ago from the fabled lost mine of Kabulistan!”
“Oh, how fascinating!” Sandy exclaimed, and her mother added, “What a treasure trove if someone could find it!”
Ed smiled, “Believe it or not, I brought a book which gives a clue to the mine’s location! I’m giving it to Tom Sr. and Tom Jr.”
Going over to his suitcase, which had been placed on the stairway, Ed opened it and delved inside. His face took on a strange look as he rummaged through the contents.
“The book’s gone!” he cried.
CHAPTER II
CAPSULE EXPLOSION
“ARE YOU sure you packed the book?” Tom asked his cousin.
“Positive! And it may be the only copy in existence! That book’s worth a fortune if it really holds the secret of the Amir’s Mine!”
Ed continued to search frantically through his suitcase, but he finally gave up in despair.
“What’s the name of the book?” Sandy asked.
“Travels in Remotest Araby,” Ed replied, “written in 1728 by an Englishman named Dai-ton.”
Ed explained that after hearing the jeweler’s chance remark, he had hunted up books of the period which told about Kabulistan. In an old bookshop in London, he had finally come upon Travels in Remotest Araby, which described the author’s own visit to the mine.
22
CAPSULE EXPLOSION 23
“What a fool I was not to be more careful!” Ed chided himself. “Anyone could pick the lock of this suitcase with a safety pin! Someone must have stolen the book while I was on my way to Shopton!”