“And what would she die of?” asks he.
“Why, what but consumption?” says I.
Buck laughed.
“Consumption of victuals is all that’s wrong with her,” he says, and then he says no more, but goes on deck leaving me harpooned.
I’d taken in this consumption business as honest coin, and now, by Buck’s manner and words, I saw that Pat had been lying to us.
The skylight was open, and seeing Buck’s shadow across it, I called him down and, “For the love of God,” I says, “don’t tell me that the old man has been stuffing us. What’s his meaning?”
“It’s a family affair,” says Buck, “and I’d sooner leave it at that till we get to the end of it, but if you ask his meaning, why I’ll tell you straight that Pat has only one meaning in everything he does, and that’s robbery. He’s making to best me. I can’t see his game yet or what he is playing for, I can only say the stake’s big or he wouldn’t be pulling the girl into it.”
“But where’s the meaning of it?” I says, “unless he’s sending the girl to queer our pitch with Levenstein, and that wouldn’t be worth his trouble; there’s not enough business doing at Levua to make it worth his while, considering the big deals he’s always after.”
“Well,” says Buck, “I don’t know what’s his game, but I’m going to find out.”
III