Captain Lawton made a dive across the saloon toward the door of a stateroom. Sawyer grinned momentarily, straightening his face before the other could look around.
“Wait a minute, captain!” he ordered. “Don’t ask him anything about your six hundred. Leave that to me.”
“I’d like to take him by the throat and throttle the money out of him,” hissed Lawton.
“I dare say. But that wouldn’t be according to law. Let me handle him. If he has your money, I’ll guarantee that you’ll get it back.”
“All right!” answered the captain reluctantly. “If I have your word, why——”
“Well, you have my word,” was the quick assurance. “I’ll hide behind this curtain at the foot of the companionway until you bring him out of his stateroom. He’s a desperate man, for all that he looks so meek in general, and I don’t want to have a fight here. It isn’t necessary, and I always like to do my work in a quiet way—when I can.”
“What shall I say he is wanted for?” asked Lawton, hesitating.
“Tell him he has to sign a declaration for the customs department. Be sure you don’t give him a hint that there is anything wrong.”
“I’m not afraid of him,” snapped the captain.
“Of course you’re not. I don’t mean that he would hurt you—or me, either. But he might have a gun handy, and send a bullet through his own head. That’s all.”