He laughed outright.
"You must learn to see things," he observed, "from the point of view of others. Remember that I am well aware of this: Rushby and you, when you met, compared notes and hatched a plot together. John Bannister himself may, or may not, have been a party to your mild conspiracy. That is a point that does not affect the issue. I am not so sure Rushby spoke the truth when he told us he had hidden the map in the Spaniard's Tomb; otherwise, I cannot see why we did not find it. I go back to Rushby, and I take you with me, to learn the real truth."
"How will you do that?" I asked.
I thought, at first, that he had ignored the question; for he answered in a round-about way.
"There is a game of cards called Poker," he observed, "at which I myself am tolerably proficient. In this game--with which you are too young to be well acquainted--there is a method of gaining by what is known as Bluff. Amos played the game of Bluff on Bannister, and failed. He tried it again on Rushby, and was singularly successful. In other words, Baverstock pretended that he held you in his power, and he was never asked to show his cards. To bluff, therefore is a risky business, which should be practised only in moments of emergency or urgent need. I go now to William Rushby, to lay my hand upon the table, knowing for a certainty that I hold the best card in the pack."
"I quite fail to understand you," said I, shaking my head; for all this was so much double Dutch to me.
"You," said Forsyth, "are the best card in the pack. There is no occasion for us to bluff. We have you in our power, as we have also Rushby. Between you, you know the truth. If one will not speak, the other will. If neither speaks, Amos can have his way, and both of you can leave your bones in this savage country, where you have ventured of your own free will."
I saw now there was nothing about the matter so subtle as I had thought. After all, it was no more than the old game they had played from the beginning.
"I see," said I, quite slowly.
"I am glad of that," said Forsyth.