"Not my scheme," he growled. "Entirely Keith's. I'm a sleeping partner only. He engineered it all, thought of it all, dragged me in."
"You must have made a good thing out of it, Mr. Neil," suggested Palmer respectfully.
The formidable old man eyed the speaker grumpily for a moment.
"About a quarter million, cool, between us," he vouchsafed finally. He was, for some reason, willing to brag a bit.
This statement was received in admiring silence by all but Terry. Everybody but that devil-may-care and lawless pillar of the law was afraid of Neil. But Terry would joke with anybody.
"I hope you're going to let him have a little of it, Neil," he laughed.
The old man shifted his eyes from Palmer to Terry with much the air of restraining heavy guns. Terry met the impact untroubled.
"Judge," grunted the financier at last, "that young man will get his due share. He has tied me up in a contract that even your honoured court would find difficulty in breaking."
With this parting shot he arose and stumped out.
"If Malcolm Neil acknowledges he is tied up," observed Terry, who had not been in the slightest degree disturbed, "he is certainly tied up!"