“You must confess,” he said, “that I have some cause to be satisfied with the conclusion of our little rivalry.”
“Conclusion my sock-suspenders!” snorted the Saint. “I haven’t started yet!”
“In that case, Templar, you would appear to have sacrificed your chance for ever. . . . But your diagnosis, in a way, was quite correct—I was about to outline to you the programme which I propose to follow with regard to your immediate future.”
“Careers for our Boys,” quoth Simon irreverently.
Bittle clasped his hands across his stomach.
“Before we proceed with that interesting exposition, however,” he said, “I think there are two members of the company who would like to be present.” He turned to one of the guard. “Lambert, will you go and see if Mr. Bloem and Mr. Maggs have recovered sufficiently to join us?”
The man left the saloon, and there was silence for a moment. Presently Bittle said:
“While we’re waiting, perhaps you’d care to tell me how you managed to escape?”
The Saint grinned.
“Nothing is easier. When I was an infant, a celebrated clairvoyant and cardsharper told me that I had been born under the sign of the Zodiac known to astronomers as Humpty Dumpty and to the lay public as the Egg. Taking his words to heart, I early applied myself to the study of the science of Levitation, in the hope of averting the doom which had been prophesied for me. I succeeded so well, by virtue of years of practice and self-denial and hours of fasting and prayer, that I can now back myself to bounce to almost unlimited heights. Consequently, when I fell into your little trap, I was able to fall out again, if you get the idea. I think that’s the whole story—except that an aunt of mine once had an under-gardener whose nephew knew a man whose father had once shaken hands with a lady who remembered meeting a dentist in Maida Vale whose second cousin twice removed was the divorced wife of a Manchester stockbroker who once ate a pint of whelks with a lawn-mower on Wigan Pier for a bet. In fact,” went on Simon, warming to his subject, “we are a very distinguished family. Another aunt of mine had gout and a mother-in-law whose cook married a gas-fitter who——”