Jack found it difficult to credit his eyesight as he gazed at the boy
who formerly had made so much trouble for them and the gigantic ruffian
who stood beside him.
“Judson! Is it possible?” he gasped. “What brought you here?”
“Are you a prisoner, too?” demanded Mr. Jukes.
“A prisoner?” laughed Judson. “Well, that’s a good one, I must say. Only
fools walk into traps.”
“Well, what are you doing here then, boy?” demanded the millionaire,
recollecting his former kindness to Donald. “You ask him, Ready. He’s a
friend of yours.”
“He’s no friend of mine, Mr. Jukes,” denied Jack. “Can’t you see it
all?”
“See what?”
“Why, the contemptible turn-coat is in with these rascals.”
“Impossible!”
“So, Judson,” went on Jack, “this is how you repay our kindness to you?”
“Your kindness,” sneered the boy. “I want none of it. I’m in with a good
crowd now. Besides, I told you in Bomobori I didn’t want to go with your
old expedition.”
“But you didn’t refuse the money I got you from Mr. Jukes,” said Jack.
“Oh, he’s made of money,” chuckled Donald, “and we mean to get some more
of it.”
“You miserable young whelp,” panted the helpless millionaire, purple
with rage, “if I had you in America——”
“And anyhow,” continued Judson, thoroughly enjoying this, “you are only
getting what’s coming to you, Ready. In the States you tried to have me
put in pris—er that is you wanted to tell lies about me.”
“I’m sorry we didn’t have you locked up, now,” said Jack bitterly. “I
suppose you put this gang of scoundrels on our trail.”
“You can suppose anything you want,” was the rejoinder, but a bit of the
old boastfulness crept into his tone, “and you’re going to pay up, too,
before you get out of this. Have you had them searched, Captain Broom?”
“What——?” shouted the millionaire, almost beside himself at this
sudden revelation of the black-bearded man’s identity, “are you ‘Bully’
Broom?”
“My name’s Broom all right,” was the surly reply, “but I want my proper
handle, which is Captain.”
“What have you done with my brother, you infernal rascal?” stormed the
millionaire.
“Now you ain’t going to get along any better by cutting up rough and
losing your temper like that, pard’ner,” was the cool reminder. “You may
be my guest for quite a time, so let’s you and me get along peaceable.
Otherwise we’ll find a way to _make_ you keep a civil tongue in your
head.”
“Did you have them searched?” repeated Donald greedily. “If you did I
want my share of it.”
“They were searched, Judson, but they only had a few dollars; not more
than a hundred at most.”
“Bah!” growled Judson; “then they left some behind at old Baroni’s
place. If we don’t capture the others, then——”
“Never mind that, now,” commanded Broom; “you tell ’em what I told you.”
“All right,” assented Judson, and then, turning to Jack, he said:
“Do you know why you were brought here, Mr. Fresh?”
“To be robbed, I suppose. I see no other explanation to it,” was Jack’s
reply, with a steady look at Judson that made the other drop his eyes.
“I always knew you were a bad lot, Judson, but I never thought you were
as bad as this.”
“Don’t talk to me like that. I’m as good as you,” stormed Judson,
although he looked uneasy. Jack’s shot had told. “To be brief, we want
to make money out of you.”
“In what way?”
“First of all, you must answer our questions.”
“That’s the way,” approved ‘Bully’ Broom, stroking his huge beard. “How
much money did you bring with you from America?”
“Very little cash,” replied the millionaire, who had found it more
prudent to control his temper, “most of the money is in the form of a
letter of credit.”
“Where is that letter of credit?” demanded Judson, interfering.
“It is in Bomobori with the bankers,” was the reply, and Jack rejoiced
to think that Mr. Jukes had managed to tell him that, as most of the
money had been left behind at the hostelry with Captain Sparhawk, who
had been appointed a sort of pay-master to the party.
“Well, now we’ll come down to brass tacks,” growled Broom, after an
interval of thought. “How much is your liberty worth to you?”
“So that’s your game, is it, you rascally blackmailer?” sputtered the
infuriated millionaire. “You won’t get a cent out of me.”
But ‘Bully’ Broom only smiled.
“Perhaps in a few days you’ll sing a different tune,” he said, and
something, not in the words, but in the way they were uttered, sent a
cold shiver down Jack’s spine.