"Wish I could give you some of my enthusiasm. What is it old Kipling says again:
'The game is more than the Player of the Game
'And the ship is more than the crew.'"
"Old Kipling, as you call him, wrote for men. What did he know about me?"
"Enough to guess you wouldn't have much use for us if we shirked standing our chances."
"The chances being?"
"The assault or favour of the other side."
"Favour?" she repeated.
Barraclough nodded and took from his pocket a folded sheet of notepaper.
"Listen to this," he said and read: "'Dear Mr. Barraclough, if you would grant me ten minutes private conversation, at your own convenience, I should be pleased to reward the courtesy with a sum of twenty-five thousand pounds. Faithfully yours, Hugo Van Diest.' And that's only ground bait."
"Did you meet him?"