He made no reply but kept on hugging the exchequer, rocking back and forth, and timing his monotonous croon to the rattle of treasure in the king's strong rooms.
Warily as I could, I circled about, creeping on all fours and screening myself by the little hills and ridges. My design was to come up on Gilhooly from behind and snatch the exchequer away from him.
But he heard me. Before I had come within a dozen feet of him, he stopped his singing, leaped to his feet, and whirled around. The next moment he had placed himself at a safe distance.
"I'm too many for you," he shouted. "Go away, or I'll call the police."
I was in a sweat for fear some of King Gaddbai's soldiers would locate us and develop their zetbais. One flash of that violet fire would do the business for both Gilhooly and me, and the professor's cherished plans would go by the board. Besides, I had plans of my own, and it seemed as though Gilhooly was destined to make a mess of everything.
"Oh, come, now," I cried, in a bit of a temper. "That won't do you any good, Gilhooly. It doesn't belong to you, and you haven't any right to keep it."
"Don't we ever keep anything that don't belong to us?" he asked sarcastically. "I'm not that sort of a fellow, for I keep everything in the railroad line that I can get my hands on."
Logic and reason were utterly dead in his mind. Whims he had, but they were but fancies of the moment. As I stood there looking at him, I wondered how the people of Baigadd had ever managed to keep him hauling their trains as long as they had.
"Good-by," he called suddenly, taking the exchequer under his arm. "I think I'll go to the office and——"
Just then I made a dash at him. With a mocking laugh he whirled about and raced off across the hills, myself in hot pursuit.