*CHAPTER XIV*
*RUSSELL EXPLAINS*
The stranger was a lean, spare man with not an ounce of superfluousflesh. He looked like a man that did not know the meaning of fatigue.His face was brown and tanned; his keen grey eyes looked out under bushybrows; the outline of a stubborn chin showed under a ragged moustache.Swan Russell had the air of one who has seen men and things, and hisaspect did not belie him. For the rest, he was an adventurer to hisfinger tips, always ready to take his life in his hands, always eagerfor anything that promised excitement and danger. He had been first onthe field in many a gold rush. He had a keen nose for locality wheremoney is to be made. And yet, despite his shrewdness and energy, he hadalways remained a poor man. Perhaps it was his very restlessness, hisinability to stay in one place long, that kept him in a conditionbordering upon poverty.
"It is strange you should be here to-night," Wilfrid said.
"Not in the least," the other replied, "because I came on purpose tolook for you. I found out in Oldborough that you had come here with Mr.Vardon, and then I elicited the fact that you were somewhere about thecircus. Isn't it rather funny you should find yourself settled downwithin a stone's throw of Samuel Flower's house?"
Wilfrid started. Whoever he met, or wherever he went now, it seemedthat Flower's name was doomed to crop up.
"What do you know about him?" he asked.
"Quite as much as you do," Russell retorted, "and perhaps a little more.Oh, I haven't forgotten about that mutiny on the _Guelder Rose_. If Irecollect, you had a lucky get-out there. Flower is not the man toforgive a thing of that sort, and if he could not have obtained evidenceto convict you, he wouldn't have had the slightest hesitation in buyingit. In the circumstances, wasn't it rather risky to settle down here?"
"Well, you see, I didn't know," Wilfrid explained. "I had no idea thatFlower had a place in the country. Besides, I thought the whole thingwas forgotten. It is two years ago, and so far as I know, Flower madeno attempt to trace me. What will you think when I tell you that he isactually a patient of mine?"
"Oh, I am aware of that," Russell said coolly. "I have not been hangingabout during the last three or four days for nothing. I was amused whenI heard you had been attending Flower. Did he recognize you--I mean, didhe recognize you from your name? I know that you have never met."
"He did not recognize me at first," Wilfrid said; "indeed, the wholething might have passed only I was fool enough to let out that I had atone time been a ship's doctor. Then he gave me one glance, but saidnothing. I began to believe that it was all right till this evening,when I had an unpleasant reminder that it was all wrong."
"Would you mind telling me?" Russell asked. "Mind you, I am not simplycurious. I want information."
"Why not?" Wilfrid said despondingly. "You are an old chum of mine andyou might just as well know what will be common property in Oldboroughin two or three days. That scoundrel has got me in his clutches andmeans to ruin me without delay. But perhaps I had better tell you howthings stand."
"So that's the game?" Russell said, when Wilfrid had finished hisexplanation. "Well, let the fellow do his worst. You were never cutout for a country doctor and the sooner you chuck it and come back toLondon the better. I want a friend to help me. I want a friend to relyupon. And that is the reason why I came to see you. You will nevermake bread and cheese in Oldborough, and you are wasting time there. Ifyou will throw in your lot with me, it will go hard if I can't show youhow to make fifty thousand pounds during the next three months."
"And where are the fifty thousand pounds?" Wilfrid asked cynically. "Itsounds too good to be true."
"The fifty thousand pounds, my dear chap, are at present in SamuelFlower's pocket accompanied by just as much more, which, by all therules of the game, belong to me. I have been robbed of that money assurely as if my pocket had been picked by that rascally ship-owner. Heleft me without a feather to fly with; indeed, I was hard put to it tomanage to get my passage money from the Malay Peninsula to London. But Ihave given him a fright. He knows what to expect."
Swan Russell chuckled as if something amused him greatly.
"But is there a chance of getting this money?" Wilfrid asked.
"My dear fellow, it is a certainty. I don't say there is no danger,because there is; but that is just the thing that would have appealed toyou at one time. Besides, you needn't chuck up your practice. You canrun up and down to London as I want you and leave the good people atOldborough to believe that you have been called away on importantconsultations. Besides, if you will join me in this venture, I may beable to find you the money to pay Flower off."
"When do you want me to start?" Wilfrid asked.
Russell's reply was to the point.
"To-night," he said. "I want you to come to town by the half-past tentrain. We shall be in London a few minutes past eleven, and unless I ammistaken, there is work for you at once. Now don't hesitate, but do whatI ask you and you will never be sorry for it. You can get Vardon tocall at your house when he gets back to Oldborough and explain to yourmother that you have been called away on urgent business. I will findyou a bed and the necessary clothing, and unless anything very, verypressing turns up, you can be back in Oldborough by breakfast time."
Wild as the suggestion was it appealed to Wilfrid. There were nopatients in a critical state to require his attention, he reflectedbitterly. And anything was better than sitting impotently at homewaiting for the end which he believed to be inevitable. On the otherhand, there was the desperate chance of something turning up; some wayof tapping the golden stream which should render him independent ofSamuel Flower. He held out his hand.
"Very well," he said. "I'll come with you. If you'll give me half aminute I'll ask Vardon to call at my house."
Vardon came out of the office of the circus at the same moment, andwithout going into details Wilfrid proceeded to explain.
"I hope you won't think it rude of me," he said, "but Swan Russell is anold friend and it is in my power to do him a service. Will you tell mymother that I shall not be back till to-morrow? And perhaps you willcall upon your client and see what you can do for me in the matter ofthat loan. It is possible that when I come back from London I shall bein a position to find the money myself."
"All right," Vardon said cheerfully, "anything I can do for you, Icertainly will. But if you are going to catch your train you haven'tmuch time to lose."
Mercer and his companion walked quietly down to the station. Wilfridwould have strolled casually on to the platform, but Russell held himback.
"You'll just keep in the shadow till the last moment," he said. "I havevery particular reasons for not being seen here and one of these reasonsyou will see for yourself. One can't be too careful."
Wilfrid asked no further questions. He was content to leave matters inRussell's hands until the latter was ready to explain. He began tounderstand the necessity for caution presently, when, amongst the steadystream of passengers trickling into the station, he saw the familiarform of Samuel Flower.
"There he goes, the beauty," Russell murmured. "Look at the scoundrel.Isn't he the very essence of middle-class respectability? He might passfor a churchwarden or the deacon of a chapel. Of all the scoundrels inthe city of London there is not a more noxious specimen than SamuelFlower. I believe that if you gave that chap the chance of making athousand pounds honestly, or a mere sovereign by defrauding a widow oran orphan, he would choose the latter. And the luck he has had, too!Where would he be now if the whole facts of that _Guelder Rose_ businesshad come to light? What would become of him if a single ship's officerhad survived the wreck of the _Japonica_? But I'll bring him down,Mercer; I'll beat that ruffian to his knees yet. And I have got theinformation, too, if I can only complete it. My only fear is that theother vengeance may reach him first."
"You allude to the matter of the string with five knots, I suppose?"Wilfrid asked.
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A look of surprise crossed Russell's face.
"What on earth do you know about that?" he asked.
"You forget that I was in the Malay Archipelago myself," Wilfridresponded. "You seem to have forgotten the tragic death of the whiteman I told you about. Besides, I was in Flower's house at the verymoment when he received his warning in a registered letter, and thatletter came from Borneo."
Russell chuckled.
"Come along," he said. "We have cut it quite fine enough. You can tellme the rest in the train."