第62章

“HeavenknowswhereIhaven’tbeen。Andhere’souronlychance——andyougiveittothatadventurouslunatictoplayinhisownway——inabrig！”

“Well，youhadavoice——“

“IwishI’dbeeninthisbefore。WeoughttohaverunoutasteamertoLagosoroneofthoseWestCoastplacesanddoneitfromthere。Fancyabriginthechannelatthistimeofyear，ifitblowssouthwest！”

“Idessayyou’dhaveshovedit，George。Stillyouknow，George。Ibelieveinhim。”

“Yes。”Isaid。“Yes，Ibelieveinhim，too。Inaway。Still——“

Wetookupatelegramthatwaslyingonhisdeskandopenedit。

Hisfacebecamealividyellow。Heputtheflimsypaperdownwithaslow，reluctantmovementandtookoffhisglasses。

“George。”hesaid，“theluck’sagainstus。”

“What？”

Hegrimacedwithhismouth——inthequeerestwayatthetelegram。

“That。”

Itookitupandread：

“Motorsmashcompoundfractureoftheleggordonnasmythwhatpricemordetnow“

Foramomentneitherofusspoke。

“That’sallright。”Isaidatlast。

“Eh？”saidmyuncle。

“I’Mgoing。I’llgetthatquaporbust。”

IhadaridiculouspersuasionthatIwas“savingthesituation。”

“I’mgoing。”Isaidquiteconsciouslyanddramatically。Isawthewholeaffair——howshallIputit？——inAmericancolours。

Isatdownbesidehim。“Givemeallthedatayou’vegot。”I

said，“andI’llpullthisthingoff。”

“Butnobodyknowsexactlywhere——“

“Nasmythdoes，andhe’lltellme。”

“He’sbeenveryclose。”saidmyuncle，andregardedme。

“He’lltellmeallright，nowhe’ssmashed。”

Hethought。“Ibelievehewill。”

“George。”hesaid，“ifyoupullthisthingoff——Onceortwicebeforeyou’vesteppedin——withthatsortofWooshofyours——“

Heleftthesentenceunfinished。

“Givemethatnote-book。”Isaid，“andtellmeallyouknow。

Where’stheship？Where’sPollack？Andwhere’sthattelegramfrom？Ifthatquap’stobegot，I’llgetitorbust。Ifyou’llholdonhereuntilIgetbackwithit。”。

AndsoitwasIjumpedintothewildestadventureofmylife。

Irequisitionedmyuncle’sbestcarforthwith。IwentdownthatnighttotheplaceofdespatchnamedonNasmyth’stelegram，BamptonS。O。Oxon，routedhimoutwithalittletroublefromthatcentre，madethingsrightwithhimandgothisexplicitdirections；andIwasinspectingtheMaudMarywithyoungPollack，hiscousinandaide，thefollowingafternoon。Shewasratherashocktomeandnotatallinmystyle，abeastofabriginuredtothepotatotrade，andshereekedfromendtoendwiththefaint，subtlesmellofrawpotatoessothatitprevailedevenoverthetemporarysmellofnewpaint。Shewasabeastofabrig