登陆注册
5250600000049

第49章 CHAPTER VI(2)

"Now your talkin' and not yelpin'," said Steptoe, with slow insolence. "D----d if I didn't begin to think you kalkilated I was goin' to employ you as lawyers! Nothing is to prevent him from gettin' up HIS gang, and we hope he'll do it, for you see it puts us both on the same level before the law, for we're both BREAKIN' IT. And we kalkilate that we're as good as any roughs they can pick up at Heavy Tree."

"I reckon!" "Ye can count us in!" said half a dozen voices eagerly.

"But what's the job goin' to pay us?" persisted a Sydney man. "An' arter we've beat off this other gang, are we going to scrub along on grub wages until we're yanked out by process-sarvers three months later? If that's the ticket I'm not in it. I aren't no b--y quartz miner."

"We ain't going to do no more MINING there than the bank," said Steptoe fiercely. "And the bank ain't going to wait no three months for the end of the lawsuit. They'll float the stock of that mine for a couple of millions, and get out of it with a million before a month. And they'll have to buy us off to do that. What they'll pay will depend upon the lead; but we don't move off those claims for less than five thousand dollars, which will be two hundred and fifty dollars to each man. But," said Steptoe in a lower but perfectly distinct voice, "if there should be a row,--and they BEGIN it,--and in the scuffle Tom Marshall, their only witness, should happen to get in the way of a revolver or have his head caved in, there might be some difficulty in their holdin' ANY OF THE MINE against honest, hardworking miners in possession. You hear me?"

There was a breathless silence for the moment, and a slight movement of the men in their chairs, but never in fear or protest.

Every one had heard the speaker distinctly, and every man distinctly understood him. Some of them were criminals, one or two had already the stain of blood on their hands; but even the most timid, who at other times might have shrunk from suggested assassination, saw in the speaker's words only the fair removal of a natural enemy.

"All right, boys. I'm ready to wade in at once. Why ain't we on the road now? We might have been but for foolin' our time away on that man Van Loo."

"Van Loo!" repeated Hall eagerly,--"Van Loo! Was he here?"

"Yes," said Steptoe shortly, administering a kick under the table to Hall, as he had no wish to revive the previous irritability of his comrades. "He's gone, but," turning to the others, "you'd have had to wait for Mr. Hall's arrival, anyhow. And now you've got your order you can start. Go in two parties by different roads, and meet on the other side of the hotel at Hymettus. I'll be there before you. Pick up some shovels and drills as you go; remember you're honest miners, but don't forget your shootin'-irons for all that. Now scatter."

It was well that they did, vacating the room more cheerfully and sympathetically than they had entered it, or Hall's manifest disturbance over Van Loo's visit would have been noticed. When the last man had disappeared Hall turned quickly to Steptoe. "Well, what did he say? Where has he gone?"

"Don't know," said Steptoe, with uneasy curtness. "He was running away with a woman--well, Mrs. Barker, if you want to know," he added, with rising anger, "the wife of one of those cursed partners. Jack Hamlin was here, and was jockeying to stop him, and interfered. But what the devil has that job to do with our job?"

He was losing his temper; everything seemed to turn upon this infernal Van Loo!

"He wasn't running away with Mrs. Barker," gasped Hall,--"it was with her MONEY! and the fear of being connected with the Wheat Trust swindle which he organized, and with our money which I lent him for the same purpose. And he knows all about that job, for I wanted to get him to go into it with us. Your name and mine ain't any too sweet-smelling for the bank, and we ought to have a middleman who knows business to arrange with them. The bank daren't object to him, for they've employed him in even shadier transactions than this when THEY didn't wish to appear. I knew he was in difficulties along with Mrs. Barker's speculations, but I never thought him up to this. And," he added, with sudden desperation, "YOU trusted him, too."

In an instant Steptoe caught the frightened man by the shoulders and was bearing him down on the table. "Are you a traitor, a liar, or a besotted fool?" he said hoarsely. "Speak. WHEN and WHERE did I trust him?"

"You said in your note--I was--to--help him," gasped Hall.

"My note," repeated Steptoe, releasing Hall with astonished eyes.

"Yes," said Hall, tremblingly searching in his vest pocket. "I brought it with me. It isn't much of a note, but there's your signature plain enough."

He handed Steptoe a torn piece of paper folded in a three-cornered shape. Steptoe opened it. He instantly recognized the paper on which he had written his name and sent up to his wife at the Boomville Hotel. But, added to it, in apparently the same hand, in smaller characters, were the words, "Help Van Loo all you can."

The blood rushed into his face. But he quickly collected himself, and said hurriedly, "All right, I had forgotten it. Let the d----d sneak go. We've got what's a thousand times better in this claim at Marshall's, and it's well that he isn't in it to scoop the lion's share. Only we must not waste time getting there now. You go there first, and at once, and set those rascals to work. I'll follow you before Marshall comes up. Get; I'll settle up here."

His face darkened once more as Hall hurried away, leaving him alone. He drew out the piece of paper from his pocket and stared at it again. Yes; it was the one he had sent to his wife. How did Van Loo get hold of it? Was he at the hotel that night? Had he picked it up in the hall or passage when the servant dropped it?

When Hall handed him the paper and he first recognized it a fiendish thought, followed by a spasm of more fiendish rage, had sent the blood to his face. But his crude common sense quickly dismissed that suggestion of his wife's complicity with Van Loo.

同类推荐
  • 末利支提婆华鬘经

    末利支提婆华鬘经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 画鉴

    画鉴

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 宁海将军固山贝子功绩录

    宁海将军固山贝子功绩录

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 洞玄灵宝度人经大梵隐语疏义

    洞玄灵宝度人经大梵隐语疏义

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 黄檗断际禅师宛陵录

    黄檗断际禅师宛陵录

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 能量宇宙系统

    能量宇宙系统

    吕仁,说的就是你,厚颜无耻天地不容铁石心肠狼心狗肺鼠目寸光井底之蛙吃喝嫖赌卑鄙无耻臭不要脸同流合污狼狈为奸被水淹没不知所措满口粗鄙之语的人。“啥?你说啥?”一边坐着长着电视头的人捏了捏手脖子,发出爆豆一样的声音然后看着我。“大哥!我错了!”
  • 宋家客厅:从钱锺书到张爱玲

    宋家客厅:从钱锺书到张爱玲

    本书是宋以朗围绕其父宋淇的一部传记。宋淇(1919—1996),笔名林以亮等,文艺评论家和翻译家,在文学批评、红学研究、翻译、电影等诸多领域均有建树;与张爱玲、钱锺书、傅雷、吴兴华、夏志清等有深交,长期以朋友身份担任张爱玲的文学经纪人和顾问,张爱玲去世前将遗物(包括遗稿)交给宋淇、邝文美夫妇保管。作者在私家资料、家族记忆和公开资料的基础上完成本书的叙述,书中涉及的大量细节不仅还原了宋淇的一生,披露了那一代文化人的相知相惜,破解了不少疑团和误解,也构建了一部“细节文化史”,使读者可以看到20世纪华语文学、翻译、电影和大时代的一个侧影。
  • 恒春县志

    恒春县志

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 伤寒辨要笺记

    伤寒辨要笺记

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 战神重生

    战神重生

    吴剑,一位年轻的龙朔武警,在一次国际战斗任务中遭遇意外获得一枚戒指,穿越到了异世,在得到了战神阿提拉的指点,吴剑不仅学到了最顶级的刀法和兵法,心志也得到了极大的提升。作为战神的传人,吴剑为了恢复楚国与邪神附体的亲兄弟大宝展开了一场又一场不同寻常的修练和争霸之路。
  • 娘娘有药

    娘娘有药

    新婚之夜,她被五花大绑丢上他的床。“女人,你敢嫁给别的男人!”他如狼似虎把她啃得渣都不剩。“原来强迫我的人是你!人间禽兽!”她咬牙切齿扶着墙从床上爬起来。她是来自现代的记忆之王,重生归来,向所有欠她的人讨还血债。可这只妖孽之王,她明明没见过他,却像欠了他一辈子……
  • 本宫要篡位

    本宫要篡位

    上辈子,她作为宠妃、帝母,大权在握,呼风唤雨,无限风光,重活一世,妖妃妖后不再是她的追求,本宫,想做皇帝!
  • 诡鉴

    诡鉴

    十年前,绵山村的村民在一夜之内全部死于非命,刑警队队长李午旭和副队长尹航找不到任何线索,而从外地赶来协助的警察吴思怡在调查中神秘失踪,警方搜寻半年多未果,只得放弃。十年后,已经接受母亲死亡的事实的李佑澄,无意间得知母亲可能还活着,重燃希望之火的他在青梅竹马林珈的帮助下踏上寻找母亲的路,却不曾想接触到了名为“诡鉴”的秘密计划,也因此发现了一个更大的阴谋和危机……
  • 南斗延寿灯仪

    南斗延寿灯仪

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 我们给老师打分吧

    我们给老师打分吧

    本书是快乐少年第四辑之整蛊校园之一,是一部全面反映小学生校园生活的小说,生动有趣描述了小学生的成长经历,肖小笑,“铁三角”中的老大,班长,学习好,头脑灵活,是谋划把老师搞掂的主谋,还有“铁三角”中的唯一女生田田和军师范弥胡,当严肃可爱的老教师石老师碰上这群捣蛋鬼时,她该如何接招?本书生动,幽默,情节简单,适合广大青少年读者。