"By the Great Horn Spoon and the tail of the Sacred Bull, I'll not give her up," said Gardiner; "certainly not to a man like Hunt, or to a dude like Gawthrop. Sooner than that I'll write to the old man and squeal. He'll rub it in, but after all he is the dad, and she——"
Ah, she was everything.
"Let the best man win. I'm in the game, after all," said Gardiner. "And to think if she hadn't recognised me to-day I'd have thrown it up!"
He was not surprised to see Hunt the next afternoon, though every one else in the office was astonished to see him looking for a mere reporter.
"Do you remember what you said to me last night?" asked Hunt rather nervously.
"About what?"
"About somebody called Shanghai Smith?"
He stared out of the window as he spoke.
"I remember, Hunt."
"Can it be done?"