"Betteredge!" says Mr. Franklin, with equal solemnity, "I'm convinced at
last." He shook hands with me--and I felt that I had converted him.
With the relation of this extraordinary circumstance, my reappearance
in these pages comes to an end. Let nobody laugh at the unique anecdote
here related. You are welcome to be as merry as you please over
everything else I have written. But when I write of ROBINSON CRUSOE, by
the Lord it's serious--and I request you to take it accordingly!
When this is said, all is said. Ladies and gentlemen, I make my bow, and
shut up the story.
EPILOGUE
THE FINDING OF THE DIAMOND
I
The Statement of SERGEANT CLIFF'S MAN (1849)
On the twenty-seventh of June last, I received instructions from
Sergeant Cuff to follow three men; suspected of murder, and described as
Indians. They had been seen on the Tower Wharf that morning, embarking
on board the steamer bound for Rotterdam.
I left London by a steamer belonging to another company, which sailed
on the morning of Thursday the twenty-eighth. Arriving at Rotterdam,
I succeeded in finding the commander of the Wednesday's steamer.
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