"What is it worth to you then to go to the trouble to make these inquiries?"
"Nothing to make inquiries, but if this Chinese woman should prove to be the Princess Skeep Hup, and I am the means of delivering her up to you, I shall expect half of that money you told me you were going to get with her, or, in other words, $5,000."
Harry heard Ah Lung give an angry exclamation, and he feared that he was going to say something which would spoil everything, but the Chinaman controlled himself.
"Why, this is almost as bad as blackmail," he said, sarcastically. "I don't mind paying a thousand dollars, but five thousand! It is nonsense!"
"It has to be or I won't work."
"Come, I'll be liberal with you. I'll make it two thousand. Go ahead and find out for me."
"Not a cent less than $5,000, Brother Lung."
"Dr. Garshaski, I believe you know something definite, that this is a deal to blackmail me."
Dr. Garshaski! Harry almost jumped off the couch.
Now he knew whose voice he had been listening to.