“Tell David to saddle Rachel directly.”
And in five minutes Mr. Meadows, with a shirt, a razor, a comb, and a map of Australia, was galloping by cross lanes to the nearest railway station. There he telegraphed Mr. Clinton to meet him at Peel's Coffee-House at two o'clock. The message flashed up to town like lightning. The man followed it slowly like the wind.
CHAPTER LV.
MEADOWS found Mr. Clinton at Peel's. “Mr. Clinton, I want a man of intelligence to be at my service for twenty-four hours. I give you the first offer.”
Mr. Clinton replied that really he had so many irons in the fire that twenty-four hours—
Meadows put a fifty-pound note on the table.
“Will all your irons iron you out fifty pounds as flat as that?”
“Why, hem?”
“No, nor five. Come, sir, sharp is the word. Can you be my servant for twenty-four hours for fifty pounds? yes or no!”