“Not the least. In the first place, he wouldn’t dare to do anything like that. It would be simply putting his head in the halter.”
“And in the second place?” asked Harry, for Ralph had paused.
“Well, in the second place, Malvin is not that sort of a man. His pose is the meek and mild. The butter-wouldn’t-melt-in-my-mouth-sir sort of an attitude. Not but what snakes in the grass like that aren’t dangerous, but they rarely, if ever, resort to personal attack unless they are mighty sure of coming out on top.”
“I hope you are right,” replied Harry, “but if it should come to a shindy, I’ve got a notion that we might come off only second best. There are three of them and——”
“Three of us,” smiled Ralph. “I’ve an idea that even without weapons we would prove a match for them. But, as I said before, Harry, there’s little fear of matters coming to that pass. Malvin & Co., in the first place, must have probably guessed that the Canadian authorities did not listen very warmly to our tale of woe. In such a belief, they probably think they are perfectly secure in anything they may do.”
“But they know that we suspect them.”
“You hit the nail on the head there,” rejoined Ralph rather seriously. “That’s the worst part of the situation. If Malvin hadn’t overheard us and found out that we were on to his little game, it would have been as easy as rolling off a log to nab the whole boiling, or at least this particular part of it.”
“You think there are more in the game, then? The same thing has occurred to me.”
“I’m sure that there must be more in it. The outfit on board that Artful Dodger, for instance. Those fellows must have been students of Dickens to have thought that name out, but it’s a good one, all right.”
“Yes, it sure fits that fly-by-night craft to a T,” agreed Harry.