"I have been doing my best at Pierside, but I cannot find a single clue.

Vasa is not to be found." "Vasa!" exclaimed Archie and the Professor, both profoundly astonished.
Don Pedro raised his eyebrows.
"Certainly.

Vasa, if anyone, must have killed your assistant, since he alone could have known that the jewels were buried with Inca Caxas." "But, my dear sir," argued Hope good-naturedly, "if Vasa stole the manuscript, whether translated or not, he certainly must have learned the truth long, long ago, since thirty years have elapsed.

In that event he must have stolen the jewels, as Professor Braddock remarked lately, before he sold the mummy to the Parisian collector." "That may be so," said Don Pedro obstinately, while the Professor muttered his approval, "but we cannot be certain on that point.

No one--I agree with the Professor in this--would have risked his neck to steal a mere mummy, therefore the motive for the committal of the crime must have been the emeralds.