“What do you want?” demanded Donald shortly.
“Now, see here, Kid. We’ve got a dead cinch to cop de change. It’s dis way. Youse is a amachoor widout a chance in de woild to beat de Slugger. Get me? Well, dere ain’t a bit of sense of de Slugger beatin’ you up for nuttin’, so we frames de bout. De heavy bettin’ will be on de Slugger, so we fixes it for de Slugger to take de big flop. Get me? We let’s it go ’till about de tent’ round, so’s to give de fans a run for dere money. We gets all de money dat we can beg, borrow and steal and puts it on you to win. We puts up a slam-bang fight. You can take de drop a couple of times, and den down goes de Slugger. De fans will just eat it up. De tent’ round will find you stannin’ toe to toe, den de last minute you sends home de fake sleep-punch. De boobs will t’ink it’s on de square. Den in a mont’ we gets a return fight, and we pulls off de ‘grudge stuff’ and we packs de house. Of course, we have to win den, and all our money will be placed on de Slugger. Dat means dat we cop de change twice. Get me?” His ugly lips parted in what he intended as an ingratiating smile. “You come up to de club to-morrow and we rehearses de whole t’ing. Get me?”
Donald’s face turned pale with rage. “I ‘get you,’ you damned little rat!” he rasped. Seizing the surprised Pursell by the collar, he jerked him to his feet, dragged him to the door, and threw him out with such force that he struck the wall with a thump and fell in a heap on the floor.
Pursell rose with a snarl that showed his yellow teeth. A look of bestial hate shot from the one gleaming orb. “We’ll kill you Monday, you——” The air was filled with the vilest objurgations.
Closing the door, Donald walked to the windows and opened them wide, as though to rid the room of the air his visitor had breathed. “I never dreamed there was so much rottenness in the shape of a human being,” he said disgustedly.
At the same hour, at the other side of the city, Douglas was also entertaining a visitor, but of a very different type. He had just entered his room when he heard his sister’s voice.
“May I come in a minute, Doug?” Janet came to the point quickly. “Who is this Mr. McLean who was with you to-day?”
“Oh, that was—er—Donald McLean,” he answered evasively.
“You know what I mean. Who is he? What is he? Where does he come from?”
“I’ll look him up in Bradstreet’s.”