Long Live the King, Guy Boothby [red queen ebook TXT] 📗

in Rio, and I want to make sure that he shall not find me."

"That is very easily managed."

"How am I to do it, then?"

"Stay here," said Moreas. "They will never think of looking for you in this quarter of the town. Until we leave, you will be as safe here as if you were in the centre of Africa. You don't surely suppose I haven't good and sufficient reasons for living in this hole? Of course I have, and this is one of them. If you think you can make yourself comfortable here, you are welcome to stay. What have you to say to my proposal?"

"That I shall be only too glad to accept your offer," Max replied. "The arrangement will suit me admirably. And now tell me something of the business in which you want my co-operation. You said, I think, that it was connected with diamonds."

"It is very much connected with diamonds," the other answered. "Eight or nine months ago I happened to be travelling in the diamond country, and it so happened that on this particular field there was a half-witted old lunatic who was everybody's butt. He was an extraordinary individual in many ways, and was always spying about for diamonds, and never finding them, in places where no sane man would dream of looking for them. He had theories of his own, he used to say, though there was no evidence that those theories ever turned up trumps. Every now and then he would mouch off by himself into the wilds, be away for a month or six weeks, and when he put in an appearance again, look as near starvation as a man could well do and still live. But according to his own tale he had never brought anything of value back with him. He had just returned from one of these little expeditions when I tumbled across him. His friends in the mining camp were making great game of him. I should say they got more fun out of that poor old lunatic over that journey than they had ever had from him before. He took it well, however.

"'You laugh at my diamonds,' he would cry, when they had gone a little too far with him; 'well, never mind, Senors, mark my words, the time will come when I shall find more diamonds than all the rest of you put together.' Then he would take two or three old pebbles out of his pocket and fall to polishing them as if he expected to improve their value. I wouldn't have lived that old boy's life amongst those men for something. The practical jokes they played upon him would have raised the temper of a mummy.

"Somehow, I had got the notion in my head that there was more in the old boy than met the eye. He seemed to be sharp enough when there was nobody about. In consequence, I kept my weather eye upon him. As doubtless you know, some of those daft chaps have curious instincts, and, as I have said before, seem able to find things in places where men with better brains would never think of looking for them. I shouldn't have been at all surprised to hear that the old chap had got a _cache_ hidden away somewhere. Having come to this conclusion, I made up my mind as to the part I was going to play. I had plenty of time on my hands just then, and if there was anything worth learning from the old boy I was going to learn it. Accordingly the next time they thought of playing one of their monkey tricks upon him, I determined to be present. Presently rumours got abroad that they were preparing a new joke. It was to be a wonder, I was given to understand. Then I found out what it was, and I tell you it fairly made my blood boil. The first part of the programme I discovered was to drug his liquor and to throw him into a deep sleep. 'Here,' thought I to myself, 'is my chance. As soon as they get everything fixed up and are ready to begin their performance, I'll step in and ring the curtain down.' Things had been a little flat in the district for some time, and a bit of amusement of this sort was just to their liking. The remainder of the day was devoted to anticipating the fun. A couple of hours before sundown, the old fellow looked in at the inn for his usual glass of _cachaca_. In due course the doctored spirit was handed to him. He was about to put his lips to it, when I crossed and took possession of the glass.

"'Don't touch that,' I said, removing it to a safe distance. 'Some of your friends here have been playing a trick upon you. I'll show you directly what is the matter with it.'

"On hearing this an ominous murmur rose in the room. The crowd were not going to be disappointed of their fun by my interference. Presently the principal author of the joke, a Portuguese, and the bully of the neighbourhood, advanced and began to threaten me. The old man looked from one to the other of us, as if he did not know quite what to make of it all. He had had many practical jokes played upon him, but never before had a person come forward as his defender. The Portuguese by this time was looking as dangerous as possible.

"'Be careful, my friend,' said I, as he flourished a pistol before my face, and talked of what he intended doing if I did not leave the room. 'It is my will that this old man shall not drink the stuff you have poured out for him. Surely that is sufficient.'

"'It is not sufficient,' he answered, his temper fairly getting the better of him. 'You have intruded where you are not wanted, and I, for one, am not content to tolerate your behaviour.'

"'Of course that is for you to decide,' I retorted. 'If you don't like it, you can go outside. I don't intend to budge.'

"I could see that he was anxious for a row, and determined to give him a little lesson in the proprieties. I had not been very popular for some time, and was glad of the opportunity to show them what I was able to accomplish if the occasion should arise. Accordingly, I took my revolver from my pocket, and, bidding one of the bystanders toss a coin into the air, clipped it first shot.

"'Now,' I said, turning to the individual who, a moment before, had been so anxious to have my blood, 'you have seen what I can do with this little instrument. I am even better when the target is a man. Perhaps you are still dissatisfied with my behaviour.'

"'No, Senor,' he replied. 'Allow me to say that I am more than satisfied.'

"'Very good,' I answered. 'In that case you will oblige me by drinking with me.'

"Turning to the landlord, I ordered a glass of _Agoadente de Cana_, and when it had been supplied to me once more addressed my antagonist.

"'Let us clink glasses together,' I said, holding mine out to him.

"'But I have no glass,' he replied, and thinking that I did not intend to provide it, was about to order some refreshment for himself.

"'One moment,' I answered; 'there is a glass upon the table. Oblige me by drinking what it contains.'

"This he absolutely refused to do, knowing, of course, that it was drugged. I was firm, however. He had had an opportunity of playing his game and had failed, and now I was going to try mine.

"'Pick it up,' I said, 'and drink what it contains without further delay. If it is good enough for our friend here, it is surely good enough for you.'

"Once more he refused to do as I ordered.

"'I am sorry for that,' I said. 'It seems a pity you should be so anxious to quarrel with me. Let me say, once and for all, that you must either drink, or show me your skill with that weapon in your belt. There is no middle course.'

"On hearing this his swarthy skin turned a sort of sickly green. The man was a coward right through. He did not want to fight after what he had seen of my skill with the revolver, and it was equally certain he had no desire to drink the mixture he had himself prepared. Eventually I gave him three minutes to decide, and, at the expiration of the time, had the happiness to persuade him to decide in favour of my proposal.

"'Your health, Senor,' I said, tossing off the contents of my own glass. 'Your health, and, if you will permit me to wish them to you, pleasant dreams.'

"If he had had half an opportunity he would have upset the glass, but I was on the watch for that. My right hand was in my pocket; the same in which I had placed the revolver, and from the expression upon his face I gathered that he was aware of the fact. At last, seeing that there was nothing for it but to do as I desired, he lifted the glass and tossed off the contents. I assured myself that he had left no heel-tap, and then bade him be seated, returning myself to the game of cards which the old man's entry had interrupted. The strength of the drug must have been considerable, for we had not played more than a dozen hands before his head had fallen forward on the table, and he was fast asleep. I convinced myself that he was not shamming, and then turned to the old man.

"'You see, my venerable friend,' I said, 'what your fate would have been had you drunk what was in that glass. For the future were I in your place, I should bestow my patronage elsewhere. This inn is not safe for you. And now let me escort you to your dwelling. Our friends here are none too amiably disposed towards you, and it is just possible they might take their revenge as soon as my back was turned.' With that we left the inn together and tramped along the track, till we reached the miserable hovel in which he lived. During our walk the old fellow had scarcely spoken. Now he became somewhat more communicative.

"'I am obliged to you, Senor, for what you have done for me,' he began. 'They hate me over there because they think I know more about diamonds than they do.' He was silent again for a few moments. 'And it's quite true,' he added solemnly to himself.

"At the time I regarded this as only another proof of the old boy's idiocy. I had often seen him polishing his pebbles, and, like every one else, had come to the conclusion that he believed them to be diamonds. Now, however, I have the very best of reasons for knowing that it was only another proof of his cleverness. It suited him to pose as a softy, and the pebbles were only a means he had adopted for putting us off the scent.

"'When you come to think of it, it was rather a good thing for you that I visited the hospederia to-night,' I said, when I had seated myself on a log that did duty for a chair, and had lit a cigar. For you see I wanted him to understand plainly that I had rendered him a service, and also that I expected him to be