“Mr. Mudd,” said Dick, turning to their prisoner, “you left a note for me in that hut over there by the lake?”
“Ah! So you found it, did you?” replied Mudd. “Well?”
“You asked me to meet you there alone at midnight and promised some important disclosures. You will have an opportunity to make them in the hut very soon, for I’m going to take you there now.”
“You may take me there if you wish, same as you can take a horse to water,” growled Mudd.
“By which I suppose you mean that I shall have the same trouble making you talk against your will that I would in making the horse drink unless he chose—is that it?”
“That is it exactly. Same time, young feller, I’m willing to talk if I’m paid.”
“I told you what I’d do,” said Dick. “You put a million dollars in my hands and I’ll give you a hundred thousand.”
“Will you give it to me in writing?” asked Mudd, quickly.
“Yes, I will.”
“Good enough! Come on to the hut. This is no joke, Dick Darrell. You have been wronged out of a large fortune and I know it. I could name the man who did it if I chose and I have a great mind to do it, too.”