Summary.  Italians have shown up on the river bank, and are behaving mysteriously.  Their leader had discovered a cave in a remote part of Africa, where “troglodyte” people mined vast amounts of gold.  He tricked them into sending gold to London, where a gang of Italians known as The Red Hand had it formed into bars and shipped one bar at a time in boxes of dried fish to the dugout on Burney’s Field.  Each time a new bar of gold arrived and was dropped off in the dugout by the dried fish courier (who did not know what was in the box), he shot a sky rocket into the air that burst into a firework in the shape and color of a red hand.  This was the signal for the local Red Hand members to come to the dugout and move the gold into a hiding place in nearby Waterfall Cave, under the Pelham Hills.  However, a local boy found out what was going on, and he intercepted the gold shipments from the dugout before the Italians could get there, and  hid them in a nearby cabin.  A detective from Scotland Yard arrived to investigate, as the gold was claimed by England.  Hawkins helped him solve the mystery, the Italians left the area empty-handed, and the gold was turned over to the English authorities.