Tom Tiddler's Island, стр. 60

“Now, look here,” Colin pursued with rising temper, “my wife’s at Wester Voe—in danger. You heard what they said? Well, she and Hazel have to be got out of there, at once, no matter what it costs you. Get that clear. This trouble’s all of your making. You’ve got to settle it. And you’ve got to settle it soon. Grasp that. If anything happens to my wife you’ll wish you’d never been born, Mr. Leven. I mean it.”

“The girls will come to no harm,” Leven declared sullenly.

“That’s a lie, and you know it,” said Colin furiously.

Northfleet intervened again, before Leven could answer.

“Wait a moment, Trent. There is a simple way out.”

He turned to Leven with a sardonic smile.

“Trent and I have only one interest in this affair: to get the girls back safe. These gunmen’s quarrel is with you, Professor Leven. The girls are the merest pawns in the game. And they’re of even less value now, owing to your peculiar attitude with regard to them. As counters in the gunmen’s hands, they’re worthless. Very well, then. What’s to hinder Trent and myself from withdrawing our support from you in exchange for the girls’. That will leave you and your friends very much up against it. I’ve no moral scruples about it, and I don’t suppose Trent has, either.”

“Not I,” said Colin. “Very smart notion.”

“And what’s more,” Northfleet went on icily,

“if that offer isn’t good enough for Mr. Hawes and his pal, I’m quite prepared to go further. I’ll change sides with pleasure, after what I’ve seen of you.”

“Count me in too,” Colin volunteered.

Northfleet made a gesture of acknowledgment.

“Tot that up, Professor Leven. Four gunmen and ourselves—six. Against that you and your two hired ruffians, plus Mr. Beeston here. You’d be scuppered in no time,” he ended with a touch of contempt.

Leven made no reply for a long time.

“Very pretty,” he admitted frankly. “You seem a practical fellow, with no nonsense about you. But,” he added maliciously, “suppose you and your good friends do come out on top, what then? I’ll pay very special attention to you both if there’s any shooting, you may count on that. And when you’ve disposed of us, you’ll be left in a minority compared with the gunmen. What about the girls then?”

“They’ll be no worse off than they are now,” Northfleet observed. “Better, in fact; for while we’re all busy polishing you off, Professor Leven, they can get arms from the Wester Voe gun-room. A girl with a shot-gun is safer than they are just now. I’m not much worried on that account.”

“You think of everything,” said Leven in mock admiration.

“That’s my alternative plan,” Northfleet pointed out, taking no notice of the jeer. “It lands you in Queer Street, you see. Why not be sensible? Have you really no gold to stop their mouths with? A little down, and a promise of more, might get us out of all this tangle. You’re up against it.”

Leven shook his head.

“Not so much as a pennyweight,” he declared, in a tone which carried conviction. “All the last lot went off by the motor-launch.”

“You’ve got some chemicals on hand, haven’t you? HCl, nitric, ammonia—the common stuffs?”

Leven seemed surprised by this question, but he answered it without hesitation.

“Oh, yes, I’ve got a winchester or two of each in my lab.”

Northfleet seemed to consider for a moment before speaking again.

“Can’t you—h’m—procure some gold in the course of a day or two?’ he asked in a peculiar tone.

Leven shook his head definitely.

“No, I haven’t got the materials just now. We’ve run out of them, and I’m waiting for fresh supplies.”

Northfleet nodded as though he had expected some such answer.

“That’s a pity. Well, then, there’s nothing for it but to draw on my private supply.”

Colin was amazed by this, and Leven’s face showed that he was equally surprised.

“But there’s no gold on Ruffa!” he exclaimed.

“Oh, isn’t there?” said Northfleet ironically. “I think you’re mistaken. I’ll guarantee to give these fellows all the gold they want. But they’ll have to wait a day or two for it.”

Before they had time to question him he switched to a fresh subject.

“There’s a cellar down below this, isn’t there? Have you ever been down into it?”

“Beeston has.”

“Notice anything about it?” Northfleet asked, turning to the assistant.

“There’s a trap-door in the floor of it that leads down into a sort of store-room or something, down a flight of steps,” Beeston explained. “It’s quite a small place, but it looks as if it may have been bigger at one time, for one of the walls is fresh. The bricks and mortar are new, I mean, as if part of the original room had been bricked up. At least, that’s what I thought had been done.”

Northfleet seemed much relieved by this information, though he made no comment aloud. Colin thought that he saw the idea. This subcellar was the terminus of the tunnel to Wester Voe. By opening it up they could gain access to the house across the bay and might thus be able to get the two girls out of the hands of the gunmen. In his excitement he almost blurted this out; but his total distrust of Leven stopped the words at his lips.

“If I pay the piper, I call the tune,” Northfleet went on in a sharper tone. “These negotiations will be carried on by me, Professor Leven. That’s understood? You’ll endorse what I say, and apparently it will be your gold that we’re talking about. If you don’t agree—then Trent and I secede at once, and you’re in the soup. There’s no misunderstanding? Very well, then. We can have these fellows back now.”

“You bring them, Beeston,” Leven directed.

He set his shoulders against the mantelpiece with an air of indifference which Colin could see was only a bit of good acting. The assistant left the room and soon returned, accompanied by Zelensky and the gunmen.

“I’m speaking for the three of us,” Northfleet said concisely. “Professor