"Well, he paid what I asked."
"Rot it all! You didn't ask enough. A feller in a hurry, and likewise rude, ought to be made to pay. Look 'ee here, Mr. Templeton, you're a young feller, and have got a thing or two to learn: you'd best get a notion of charging if you're to be of any use to me."
"What about that, then?" asked Templeton, handing him a couple of pound notes.
"Ah, now, that's better, to be sure! How did 'ee get 'em?" asked Wilkins, pocketing the notes with a pleased smile.
"An Irishman wanted to get to the camp in a hurry. He happened to be polite, so I drove him up in my road yacht. As a matter of fact, we passed the other fellow in his car: he had picked up your mayor, and I gathered he was a business rival of the Irishman. I wasn't sorry we beat him; his big ends dropped off, as I warned him."
Eves noticed that Wilkins's face grew more and more glum as Templeton was speaking, and remembered the telephone call he had answered.
"The Irishman was so pleased that he offered me five pounds," Templeton went on, "but I thought two pounds was a fair charge."
"Then dang me if you ain't done me out of three pounds!" cried the man, irritably. "Did any one ever hear the likes of refusing good money when 'twas offered free? Done me out of three pounds—three pounds, look 'ee, as ought to have been in my pocket! Done me out of it, you have!"
Eves felt that this outburst was not wholly due to Templeton's moderation in charging.
"Well, Mr. Wilkins," said Templeton, quietly, "I'm sorry you're not satisfied. Perhaps we had better part."