'No; I need not appear in the matter. The field I speak of, which is probably very rich in itself, is so situated that we might work it for a year without being discovered. Meanwhile, by making frequent trips to Ballarat and Bendigo, you could sell a great deal of my gold along with such as we may earn. Then I should sail for England, taking with me as much gold as I could safely handle, leaving you to sell more, and eventually join me with the remainder. In this way we can, if we choose, rid ourselves of three hundred thousand pounds' worth without attracting any particular attention.'
'You reckoned on finding me greedy for gold.'
'I reckoned more on finding you willing to seize an opportunity of exacting from society some return for death, torture, and infamy!'
'There was a time when you might have prevailed.'
'That time may come again. It needs only a new grievance—the law to bruise you, the women to betray.'
Jim shook his head. He felt the disc of Lucy's locket pressing against his breast under his folded arms. 'I cannot believe it,' he said.
The other was silent for some moments, and Jim watched him with troubled eyes. None of the cruelty and the viciousness to which Ryder had given utterance found expression in his features, which were marked with sensitive lines and some refinement. Done thought of Brummy the Nut, and it seemed to him little short of miraculous that this man had been able to come through similar experiences and yet show no evidence of it in his face. Ryder arose and moved away a few paces.
'If you go from here to another field,' he said, 'leave word for me at one of the stores.'
'Are you going?'
'I may not leave Jim Crow for a few days.'