“And what if I am?” asked the cautious Hank.
“Then I’ll join you, if you’ll let me.”
“Well,” said Hank, “I told those two ginks at the Club I wasn’t. They’ve no understanding, for one thing, and for another I don’t want them to be spreading the news. But I am. For one thing I want a holiday and for another I want that twenty-five thousand dollars. Twenty, I mean, for it will take me all of five thousand dollars to catch him.”
“How much have you?”
“One thousand, about, and then I’ve got my royalties for the trap coming in.”
“That rat trap thing?”
“Yep.”
“How much does it bring you a year, if it’s not rude to ask?”
“Well, I reckon to net in royalties about one thousand five hundred a quarter and the returns are rising. The British are taking to it and Seligmann’s had an order for five thousand traps only last week for London delivery. I can borrow from them in advance of royalties.”