Part 41 (1/2)

”Well, old pal! what d'ye think of our present employ? Better than breakin' stone for them Swan River roads, with twenty pound of iron chain clinkin' at a fellow's ankles. An't it?”

”Better'n that, yes; but not's good as it might be.”

”Tut, man, you're always grumblin'. Five thousand dollars for a trip that isn't like to run up to a month--not more than a fortnight or three weeks, I should say! If that don't content you, I'd like to know what would.”

”Well, mate; I'll tell'ee what wud. _Thirty_ thousand for the trip.

An' Jack Striker an't like to be satisfied wi' anythin' much short o'

that sum.”

”You're joking, Jack?”

”No, I an't, Bill. As you knows, I'm not o' the jokin' sort; an' now mean what I say, sartin as I ever meant anythin' in my life. Both me an' you oughter get thirty thousand apiece o' this yellow stuff--that at the werry least.”

”Why, there wouldn't be enough to go round the lot that's in.”

”Yes, thar wud, an' will. Old as I am, I hain't yit quite lost hearin'.

My yeers are as sharp as they iver wor, an' jist as reliable. Larst night I heerd a whisper pa.s.s atween Padilla an' another o' them Spanish chaps, that's put me up to somethink.”

”What did you hear?”

”That the swag'll tot up to the total o' three hundred thousand dollars.”

”The deuce it will! Why, they said it wasn't half that much. Padilla himself told me so.”

”No matter what he's told you. I tell ye now, it's all o' the six figures I've sayed. In coorse, it's their interest to make it out small as they possibly can; seein' as our share's to be a percentage. I know better now; an' knowin' it, an't agoin' to stan' none o' theer nonsense.

Neyther shud you, Bill. We both o' us are 'bout to risk the same as any o' the t'others.”

”That's true enough.”

”In coorse it is. An' bein' so, we oughter share same as them; can, an'

will, if we stick well thegither. It's jest as eezy one way as t'other.”

”There's something in what you say, mate.”

”Theer's every thin' in it, an' nothin' more than our rights. As I've sayed, we all risk the same, an' that's gettin' our necks streetched.

For if we make a mucker o' the job, it'll be a hangin' matter sure. An'

I dar say theer's got to be blood spilt afore it's finished.”

”What would you advise our doing? You know, Jack, I'll stand by you, whatever you go in for.”

”Well; I want it to be a fair divide, all round; detarmined it sh.e.l.l be.

Why shud the four Spanish fellas get a dollar more'n us others? As I've obsarved, two of them, Gomez an' Hernandez, have set theer eyes on the weemen folks. It's eezy to see that's part o' theer game. Beside, I heerd them talkin' o't. Gomez be arter the light girl, an' Hernandez the dark un. 'Bout that, they may do as they like for ought's I care.

But it's all the more reezun why they oughtent be so greedy 'bout the s.h.i.+nin' stuff. As for Mister Gomez, it's plain he's the head man o' the lot; an' the second mate, who engaged us, is only same's the others, an'

'pears to be controlled by him. 'Twar 'tween them two I overheerd the confab; Gomez sayin' to Padilla that the dust lyin' snug in the cabin-lockers was full valley for three hundred thousan'. An' as theer's eleven o' us to share, that 'ud be nigh on thirty thousan'

apiece, if my 'rithmetic an't out o' recknin'. Bill Davis; I say, we oughter stan' up for our rights.”

”Certainly we should. But there'll be difficulty in getting them, I fear.”

”Not a bit--not a morsel, if we stick out for 'em. The four Spanyards means to go snacks 'mong themselves. But theer be seven o' us outsiders; an' when I tell the others what I've tolt you, they'll be all on our side--if they an't the foolishest o' fools.”

”They won't be that, I take it. A difference of twenty thousand dollars or so in their favour, will make them sensible enough. But what's to be the upshot, or, as they call it in the theatre play-bills, what's the programme!”