"Dodge," announced Cleigh, smiling, "this is Mr. Cunningham. I want you to
remember him."
Dodge agreed with a curt nod.
"If ever you see him in this cabin when I'm absent, you know what to do."
"Yes, sir," replied Dodge, with a wintry smile.
Cunningham laughed.
"So you carry a Texas gunman round with you now? After all, why not? You
never can tell. But don't worry, Cleigh. If ever I make up my mind to
accept Eisenfeldt's offer, I'll lift the yacht first."
Cleigh laughed amusedly.
"How would you go about to steal a yacht like this?"
"That's telling. Now I've got to get back to town. My advice for you is to
come in to-morrow and put up at the Astor, where I can get in touch with
you easily."
"Agreed. That's all, Dodge."
The Texan departed, and Cunningham burst into laughter again.
"You're an interesting man, Cleigh. On my word, you do need a
guardian--gallivanting round the world with all these treasures. Queer
what things we do when we try to forget. Is there any desperate plunge we
wouldn't take if we thought we could leave the Old Man of the Sea behind?
You think you're forgetting when you fly across half the world for a
string of glass beads. I think I'm forgetting when I risk my neck getting
hold of some half-forgotten Rembrandt. But there it is, always at our
shoulder when we turn. One of the richest men in the world! Doesn't that
tingle you when you hear people whisper it as you pass? Just as I tingle
when some woman gasps, 'What a beautiful face!' We both have our withered
leg--only yours is invisible."
The mockery on the face and the irony on the tongue of the man disturbed
Cleigh. Supposing the rogue had his eye on that rug? To what lengths might
he not go to possess it? And he had the infernal ingenuity of his master,
Beelzebub. Or was he just trying Anthony Cleigh's nerves to see whether
they were sound or raw?
"But the beads!" he said.
"I'm sorry. Simply Morrissy ran amuck."
"I am willing to pay half as much again."
"You leave that to me--at the original price. No hold-up. Prices fixed, as
the French say. Those beads will be on board here to-morrow. But why the
devil do you carry that rug abroad?"
"To look at."
"Mad as a hatter!" Cunningham picked up his oilskin and sou'wester. "Hang
it, Cleigh, I've a notion to have a try at that rug just for the sport of
it!"