“In a chicle sack somewhere in the storeroom of your uncle’s company.”
“It is? How did it come there?”
The meal was eaten in haste while Pant told his story.
Leaving the dessert for some future time, the rich boy seized Pant by the arm and dragged him out of the place.
“Come on!” he exclaimed. “We haven’t a moment to lose. Chicle is scarce. Your shipment will be sent at once to the factory. There it will be unsacked and broken up. Here! Jump in!” He dragged his friend into a taxi.
“To the Trans-Atlantic Dock,” he commanded the driver.
CHAPTER XXII
A STARTLING REVELATION
What of Johnny and his precious cargo?
As the days passed and land, the shore of his native land, was sighted, the face of the Unwilling Guest once more took on a shrewd, calculating expression of a business man whose financial interests are vast. Already, in his mind, he was entering his office, was sitting at his desk, dictating letters, pushing buttons, issuing orders, calculating profits; he was sitting in financial conferences with other rich and successful men. Little wonder that his chest began to bulge as he strolled the deck.
They were not a day out from New York when Johnny Thompson decided to find out a few things. In spite of himself he had been worried beyond endurance with the thought that after all they had gone through they might be defeated in the end, that the powerful organization which was the Fruit Company would make it impossible to sell their fruit, perhaps even to land it.