SV - 05 - Sergeant Verity and the Swell Mob. by Francis Selwyn Page B

the eyes of his adversary and
found them expressionless.
    The
man passed his tongue slowly across his lips, as though he found this an aid to
thought.
    'You'm
a runner,' he repeated quietly, 'from the hulks! You'm took your ticket o'
leave!'
    'Stop
a bit,' said Joe reasonably. 'You've no cause to take a part. Act sensible and
you shan't suffer by it. A week or two shall see you richer than you are now.
It ain't your quarrel.'
    The ragged man's
mouth widened in amusement.
    'See
me rich?' he sniggered. 'You don't look to me like a man of substance, my
friend. Where's the proof?'
    Joe
measured the distance between himself and the barrels of the shotgun. He slid
his right foot forward and the man drew back at once, keeping the aim of the
gun steady.
    'You
stop that nonsense soon as you like, young shaver,' he said quietly. 'Right
then, Mr Will and Master Harry! If you please.'
    Two
more figures stepped round from the far side of the lighthouse, where they had
been concealed during the brief conversation. One was a fair-haired man in a
smock similar to the first. The other was a boy of seventeen or eighteen with
weak limbs and blotched complexion. They both carried guns, blunderbuss
muzzle-loaders. Stunning Joe knew all too well that they fired a hail of metal
fragments at each shot, enough to drive a dozen iron fragments into his body at
this range. The ragged man turned to Will, speaking as though Joe O'Meara could
not hear them.
    'Ten
sovereigns was give for the last,' he said thoughtfully, 'but then that was two
year or more since. ‘Twould be fifteen or twenty now, p'raps, having a new
governor that don't want to dirty his snotter!'
    He
turned again to Joe with the same humorous grin. Beyond the ridge above them there
was a long hollow booming sound.
    'Warning
gun,' said the fair-haired man philosophically. 'They knew 'e gone, then.
They'd give twenty to 'ave 'e back. Least that.'
    Joe
stood with his back still pressed to the wooden planking of the door, the
three guns held in a semi-circle before him.
    'Twenty!'
he said incredulously. 'You could have two hundred in a week more!' His eyes
were anxiously upon the crest above them, fearing the first appearance of dark
uniformed figures.
    'Never mind a week
more,' said the man with the shotgun. 'What's in 'ee pockets now?' Joe shook
his head.
    '
'at's the problem, 'at is,' said the man thoughtfully. 'Two hundred what might
come next week or never. And a good chance of being had for aiding an'
abetting.'
    'Twenty's
safer,' said Will. 'Twenty's sure, an' no questions to answer either. If he
could toss two hundred around as easy as tha', wha's he doin' on the hulks?'
    'Wait!'
said Joe urgently. 'Take me where it's safe, and let me send a message for the
money. Keep me till it comes. If it don't, then ask your twenty guineas of the
law.'
    He
watched them, looking for the glint of greed in their eyes. But they grinned
back at him, unbelieving.
    'You'm
shy of the cat, my friend,' said the man with the shotgun jovially. 'They d'
all get their backs skinned when they'm fetched back. You'm shy o' that!'
    'If
I'm took back, my son,' said Joe bitterly, 'them that's got the two hundred
sovs and more shall know why. And you shall hear from them in good time!'
    The threat was
lost upon them.
    'Oh-ah?' said the
man with the shotgun, as though the matter hardly concerned him, 'S'posing they
can find us, and s'posing they don't hear from us first.' He stepped back,
while the two blunderbusses were trained on Stunning Joe, and pointed the
shotgun at the blue summer sky. The blast of the first barrel rocked and
reverberated from the cliffs, its echoes hardly dying before the explosion of
the second barrel woke them again. From beyond the rising ground there was an
answering howl of dogs and presently the black figures appeared in silhouette
against the hot blue of the afternoon sky. In a long moment of stillness before
they came to the little group at the Lower Light, Joe listened to the