“Ah—you’ve sharp eyes in the dark. I didn’t think you’d know me. But it don’t make any odds. How much are you going to give him?”
Mainwaring hesitated. He did not know if it were prudent to tell this man. If Harkness knew it, it might make him a bitter enemy.
“Come, speak out! It may be the best thing you ever did for yourself. You needn’t fear my telling—I want to know for my own satisfaction, and because”—the stranger spoke in a whisper now—“it might better your bargain.”
Mainwaring did not hesitate any longer. He felt in a moment that there was a man before him whose treachery might be bought.
“One hundred thousand dollars,” said Mainwaring promptly, “for the freedom of those two girls, myself, and the negro Ben!”
“Whew! Bill lied to me! You’ve got the spots, sure?”
“If you mean the money, yes. I’ve got it where, for this purpose, I can command it.”
“You could have it paid into a man’s hand, in the border settlements, wherever he named, and you went quiet, so nobody but him would be the wiser?”
“Yes, I have no doubt of it.”