Part 29 (1/2)
”I am as you have just said, a _medium_,” he replied with significant emphasis. ”As such, I need not tell you, I have no personal interest in the communications which are made through me.”
I nodded, and took out my pocket-book, from which I extracted a hundred ruble-note (about $75).
”I promised to show you something interesting,” I remarked, as I laid it on the table.
M. Auguste turned his head, and his lip curled slightly.
”I am afraid my sight is not very good,” he said negligently. ”Is not that object rather small?”
”It is merely a specimen,” I responded, counting out nine others, and laying them beside the first.
”Ah, now I fancy I can see what you are showing me,” he admitted.
”There is a history attached to these notes,” I explained. ”They represent the amount of a bet which I have just won.”
”Really! That is most interesting.”
”I now have another bet of similar nature pending, which I hope also to be able to win.”
”I am tempted to wish you success,” put in the medium encouragingly.
”The chances of success are so great that if you were a betting man I should be inclined to ask you to make a joint affair of it,” I said.
”My dear M. V----, I am not a bigot. I have no objection to a wager provided the stakes are made worth my while.”
”I think they should be. Well, I will tell you plainly, I stand to win this amount if the Baltic Fleet does not sail for another month.”
M. Auguste smiled pleasantly.
”I congratulate you,” he said. ”From what I have heard the repairs will take at least that time.”
”But that is not all. This bet of mine is continuous. I win a similar stake for every month which pa.s.ses without the fleet having left harbor.”
M. Auguste gazed at me steadily before speaking.
”If your bet were renewable weekly instead of monthly, you might become quite a rich man.”
I saw that I was dealing with a cormorant. I made a hasty mental calculation. Half of one thousand rubles was about $375 a week, and the information I had led me to believe that Port Arthur was capable of holding out for another six months at least. To delay the sailing of the Baltic Fleet till then would cost roughly $10,000--say 15,000 rubles.
I decided that neither England nor j.a.pan would grudge the price.
”I think your suggestion is a good one,” I answered M. Auguste. ”In that case, should you be willing to share the bet?”
”I should be willing to undertake it entirely,” was the response.
The scoundrel wanted $20,000!
Had I been dealing with an honest man I should have let him have the money. But he had raised his terms so artfully that I felt sure that if I yielded this he would at once make some fresh demand.
I therefore shook my head, and began picking up the notes on the table.