Fred nodded, smiling up at him.
"You see, you're such on all-in scoundrel!" Brown assured him.
"You! You poor drunkard!" Coutlass turned his back on Brown, and faced Fred squarely. "You are a man, Mr. Oakes! I can speak to you as to my brother."
Fred smiled blandly.
"I will speak to you God's truth!"
Fred grinned.
"I will tell you where the ivory is!"
Fred threw his head back and laughed outright.
"I speak to you on my honor! That mother of misery, Lady Saffren Waldon, stole a map from Shillingschen. Before I would agree to set the town on fire I made her give me that for a hostage, lest she should prove treacherous and leave me behind after all! I have it now! It is marked with a circle to show where Schillingschen believes the stuff must be, because he has searched everywhere else!"
"If that map is worth anything," Fred countered, "how did Lady Saffren
Waldon care to leave you behind with it?"