“Hullo!” said he. “Back again? You look better.”
“Exercise,” said Orde, in his hearty manner. “Exercise, old boy! You ought to try it. Greatest thing in the world. Just took a row to the end of the piers and back, and I'm as fit as a fiddle!”
XXXVI
Orde immediately set into motion the machinery of banking to borrow on the California timber. Taylor took charge of this, as the only man in Monrovia who had Orde's confidence. At the end of a necessary delay Orde received notice that the West had been heard from. He stepped across the hall to the lawyer's office.
“Well, Frank,” said he, “glad we managed to push it through with so little trouble.”
Taylor arose, shut carefully the door into his outer office, walked to the window, looked contemplatively out upon the hotel backyard, and returned to his desk.
“But there is trouble,” said he curtly.
“What's the matter?” asked Orde.
“The banks refuse the loan.”