“Indeed? I should like to know what you mean. It’s something new to be so well appreciated.”
“It doesn’t take much to please me. Kindred tastes and a well-lined pocket go a long way towards it.”
“But if the owner of the well-lined pocket declines to part with the rhino?”
“In this case there is something more at stake than mere rhino, and I think that the present possessor of it will not dare refuse to go shares with me.”
As Captain Cochrane said this he emphasised his meaning by such an unmistakably menacing look that Mr. Torrens shrank together as if struck, and grew pale to the very lips.
“Of whom and of what are you speaking?” he stammered. But his whole manner showed that he entertained no doubt on the subject, and his companion was so sure of his position that he did not trouble himself to enter into explanations, but smiled coolly and remarked: “Suppose we go into my berth to discuss matters more fully? It may save future trouble if we come to an understanding at once, and this place is perhaps not quite private enough.”
Without a word of remonstrance or comment, Mr. Torrens rose and followed the captain into his private berth. The latter closed the door behind his visitor, and pointed out a comfortable chair to him.
“Now then, we will talk business, Mr. —— Torrens. I happen to know that the individual who got potted for a certain diamond robbery had no more to do with the job than I had.”
“How do you happen to know that?”
“Well, during the time that elapsed between receiving a visit from a certain Mr. Stavanger, and the reception of his son as a passenger on board the “Merry Maid,” I made a good many inquiries which enlightened me considerably. I based my inquiries on the circumstance that it was found desirable to send Mr. Hugh Stavanger out of the country—presumably for his health, which happens to be very good. That little yarn about his declining health turning out to be fiction, I looked around for another reason, since it is evident that a reason there must be. It was not difficult to discover that Mr. Hugh Stavanger had of late been leading a very fast life, and that he had been much more flush of money since the robbery than was the case before that event took place. I am not given to being foolishly charitable in my opinions of others, and I did not think myself to be far wrong in believing that I knew the source of his increased income. There was another thing that convinced me that I was right. There had been no hesitation in fixing the guilt of the robbery upon a man against whom there had never been a breath of suspicion, and who had proved himself a valued servant. The rancour with which such a man was pursued to his doom ought to have set blear-eyed Justice on the right track. But she has such a curious knack of toading to wealth and position that a poor devil in the dock stands no chance at all, but may thank his stars that no more lies are raked up against him. No doubt Messrs. Stavanger felt it to be necessary to secure a conviction, since, the affair being apparently settled, the law’s sagacious bloodhounds could turn their attention to a less simple case on the face of it. Perhaps they have not remembered that this Riddell whom they have sent to penal servitude has friends and relations who may even now be trying to find evidence against the real thief.”