He advanced fifteen hundred rupees on them, and sent them to Burragee, the jeweller at Madras and, six weeks afterwards, he paid me another three thousand five hundred.

I sent up another batch and, last week, I got an order from the jewellers for fifteen hundred pounds; so that I have more than eighteen hundred in hand now, and I don't think that I have sent more than a third of the gems away." "Well, that is a piece of luck, Stanley! Why on earth did the brigands give you the gems ?" "Well, uncle, they are things that, from what they told me, there is great difficulty and risk in trying to dispose of.

They are a royal monopoly, and nobody dare buy them or, if they do, will give next to nothing for them; because of the risk of the transaction, and because they know that the vendors are in a fix, and must sell.
Besides, there is a strong chance of their handing over anyone who offers such things to the authorities.

That was one reason why they gave them to me.

Then, too, they had made a good haul of merchandise which was, to them, a great deal more valuable, as there was no difficulty in disposing of it.