“I suppose,” I said, interrupting him, “they can proceed against us for breach of contract, if they like?”
“Proceed against us?” he gasped; “at law? Holy Virgin! Do you not know——?”
“Never mind what I know,” I replied; “at least, I know a good many things now which I did not know when we first met, Mr. Schultz. There will not be any more consignments for your ‘London agents.’ That business is at an end.”
Schultz flashed at me a venomous look of surprise, distrust and fear. His pink complexion faded to an unwholesome yellow, as he sat down hurriedly on the office chair, from which he continued to glare up at me.
“At an end?” he queried. “But I do not understand!”
“I do not know how to make it any clearer,” I told him. “Perhaps you will understand me if I say there is to be no more smuggling!”
“But I did not come here to sell what you call knick-knacks! Anybody can do that. There is nothing in it.”
“No? Well, the business will be closed down as soon as you have sold up the present stock. If it’s worth while you had better have an auction.”
“But why is this?” he persisted; “I lose my job. Why am I dismissed?”
“Captain Welfare will explain all that when he returns—if you care to wait for him.”