He dropped his hand on the other man's shoulder and oozed geniality.
"Now, back you go, my lads, and don't worry. Leave it to old Dan to fix Jack o' Judgment, or Bill o' Judgment, or Tom o' Judgment, whoever he may be, and that we'll fix him you can be certain."
Coming away from the meeting, he expressed himself as being perfectly satisfied with its results. He brought Pinto and Crewe back with him in his car, and dropped the latter at Piccadilly Circus. Pinto would have been glad to have joined the "Swell," but the colonel detained him.
"I want to talk to you, Pinto," he said.
"I've had enough business for to-day," said the Portuguese.
"So have I," said the colonel, "but that doesn't prevent my attending to pressing affairs. I was talking to you to-day—or was it yesterday?—about Crotin."
"The Yorkshire woollen merchant?" said Pinto.
"That's the fellow," replied the colonel. "I suggested you should go and see him."
"And I suggested that I shouldn't," said Pinto; "let him rest. You'll never get another chance like you had before."