Bones in London

Bones stopped him.

"Any fool can get the shares up to any price he likes, if they're allheld in one hand," he said.

"What?" said the outraged Mr. de Vinne. "Do you suggest I have riggedthe market? Besides, they're not all in one hand. They're prettyevenly distributed."

"Who holds 'em?" asked Bones curiously.

"Well, I've got a parcel, and Pole Brothers have a parcel."

"Pole Brothers, eh?" said Bones, nodding. "Well, well!"

"Come, now, be reasonable. Don't be suspicious, Mr. Tibbetts," saidthe other genially. "Your friend's interests are all right, and theshareholders' interests are all right. You might do worse than getcontrol of the company yourself."

Bones nodded.

"I was thinking of that," he said.

"I assure you," said Mr. de Vinne with great earnestness, "that thepossibilities of the Mazeppa Trading Company are unlimited. We haveconcessions from the Great River to the north of the Frenchterritory – "

"Not worth the paper they're written on, dear old kidder," said Bones, shaking his head. "Chiefs' concessions without endorsement from theColonial Office are no good, dear old thing."

"But the trading concessions are all right," insisted the other. "Youcan't deny that. You understand the Coast customs better than I do.Trading customs hold without endorsement from the Colonial Office."

Bones had to admit that that was a fact.

"I'll think it over," he said. "It appeals to me, old de Vinne. Itreally does appeal to me. Who own the shares?"

"I can give you a list," said Mr. de Vinne, with admirable calm, "andyou'd be well advised to negotiate privately with these gentlemen.You'd probably get the shares for eighteen shillings." He took a goldpencil from his pocket and wrote rapidly a list of names, and Bonestook the paper from his hand and scrutinised them.

Hamilton, a silent and an amazed spectator of the proceedings, waiteduntil de Vinne had gone, and then fell upon his partner.

"You're not going to be such a perfect jackass – " he began, but

Bones's dignified gesture arrested his eloquence.

"Dear old Ham," he said, "senior partner, dear old thing! Let old

Bones have his joke."

"Do you realise," said Hamilton, "that you are contemplating the riskof a quarter of a million? You're mad, Bones!"

Bones grinned.

"Go down to our broker and buy ten thousand shares in old Mazeppa,Ham," he said. "You'll buy them on the market for nineteen shillings, and I've an idea that they're worth about the nineteenth part of afarthing."

"But – " stammered Hamilton.

"It is an order," said Bones, and he spoke in the Bomongo tongue.

"Phew!" said Hamilton. "That carries me a few thousand miles. Iwonder what those devils of the N'gombi are doing now?"

"I'll tell you something they're not doing," said Bones. "They're notbuying Mazeppa shares."

There were two very deeply troubled people in the office of Tibbettsand Hamilton. One was Hamilton himself, and the other was MissMarguerite Whitland. Hamilton had two causes for worry. The first andthe least was the strange extravagance of Bones. The second – and thiswas more serious – was the prospect of breaking to Sanders that nightthat he had been swindled, for swindled he undoubtedly was. Hamiltonhad spent a feverish hour canvassing City opinion on the MazeppaTrading Company, and the report he had had was not encouraging. Hehad, much against his will, carried out the instructions of Bones, andhad purchased in the open market ten thousand shares in the Company – atransaction duly noted by Mr. de Vinne and his interested partner.

"He is biting," said that exultant man over the 'phone. "All we haveto do is to sit steady, and he'll swallow the hook!"

It was impossible that Marguerite Whitland should not know the extentof her employer's commitments. She was a shrewd girl, and had acquireda very fair working knowledge of City affairs during the period of heremployment. She had, too, an instinct for a swindle, and she waspanic-stricken at the thought that Bones was marching headlong tofinancial disaster. Hamilton had gone home to his disagreeable task, when the girl came from her office and stood, her hands clasped behindher, before the desk of the senior partner.

Bones peered up in his short-sighted way.

"Well, young miss?" he said quietly.

"Mr. Tibbetts," she began a little unsteadily, "I'm going to be veryimpertinent."

"Not at all," murmured Bones.

"I've been with you for some time now," said the girl, speakingrapidly, "and I feel that I have a better right to talk to youthan – than – "

"Than anybody in the whole wide world," said Bones, "and that's a fact, dear young Marguerite."

"Yes, yes," she said hurriedly, "but this is something about business, and about – about this deal which you're going into. I've been talkingto Captain Hamilton this afternoon, while you were out, and I know it'sa swindle."

"I know that, too," said Bones calmly.

"But," said the puzzled girl, "you are putting all your money into it.

Mr. Hamilton said that, if this failed, you might be ruined."

Bones nodded. Outwardly calm, the light of battle shone in his eye.

"It's a gamble, dear young typewriter," he said, "a terrific gamble, but it's going to turn out all right for did Bones."

"But Mr. Hamilton said you can't possibly make anything from theproperty – that it is derelict and worth practically nothing. Only atenth of the stores are open, and the trading is – "

Bones smiled.

"I'm not gambling on the property," he said softly. "Oh, dear, no, young fiancée, I'm not gambling on the property."

"Then what on earth are you gambling on?" she asked, a little piqued.

"On me," said Bones in the same tone. "On poor old silly ass Bones, and I'm coming through!"

He got up and came across to her and laid his big hand on her shouldergently.

"If I don't come through, I shan't be a beggar. I shall have enough tobuild a jolly little place, where we can raise cows and horses andvegetables of all descriptions, dear old typewriter. And if I do comethrough, we'll still have that same place – only perhaps we'll have morecows and a pig or two."

She laughed, and he raised her smiling lips to his and kissed them.