"Done for a hundred," he said. "That lady is not the mother of that boy."
"Agreed," answered Dewhurst, with a look of inward triumph. "How to be decided?"
"By the lips of the lady herself."
"Agreed."
"Yes," joined Campbell, "if you can get these lips to move. She looks angry, and now she is moving along probably for home, bequeathing to us the last look of her scorn. We shall give her time to cool down, and Cameron and I will then pay our respects to her. We shall get it out of the boy if she refuse to answer."
It was as Campbell said. The lady with the boy, who held her by the hand, had begun her return along the jetty. The companions kept walking behind; and of these, Campbell and Dewhurst fell back a little from the other two.
"Hark, Campbell," said Dewhurst. "Back me against Cameron for any sum you can get out of him. I'm sure of my quarry; and," laughing within the teeth, he added, "I'll gull him again."
"You're ruined, man," whispered his companion. "The woman is evidently too old, and I am satisfied you will catch some of her wrinkles."
A deeper whisper from Dewhurst conveyed to the ear of his friend—
"I heard the boy call her mother."