Perhaps it was that that portion of his mind which had been left freeto receive impressions was wholly occupied with a scheme – whichappeared in no books or records – for raising the wages of his newsecretary.
But presently the noise penetrated even to him, and he looked up with atouch of annoyance.
"At this hour of the night! … Goodness gracious … respectablebuilding!"
His disjointed comments were interrupted by the sound of a scuffle, anoath, a crash against his door and a groan, and Bones sprang to thedoor and threw it open.
As he did so a man who was leaning against it fell in.
"Shut the door, quick!" he gasped, and Bones obeyed.
The visitor who had so rudely irrupted himself was a man of middle age, wearing a coarse pea-jacket and blue jersey of a seaman, his peaked hatcovered with dust, as Bones perceived later, when the sound ofscurrying footsteps had died away.
The man was gripping his left arm as if in pain, and a thin trickle ofred was running down the back of his big hand.
"Sit down, my jolly old mariner," said Bones anxiously. "What's thematter with you? What's the trouble, dear old sea-dog?"
The man looked up at him with a grimace.
"They nearly got it, the swine!" he growled.
He rolled up his sleeve and, deftly tying a handkerchief around a redpatch, chuckled:
"It is only a scratch," he said. "They've been after me for two days,Harry Weatherall and Jim Curtis. But right's right all the world over.I've suffered enough to get what I've got – starved on the high seas, and starved on Lomo Island. Is it likely that I'm going to let themshare?"
Bones shook his head.
"You sit down, my dear old fellow," he said sympathetically.
The man thrust his hands laboriously into his inside pocket and pulledout a flat oilskin case. From this he extracted a folded and fadedchart.
"I was coming up to see a gentleman in these buildings," he said, "agentleman named Tibbetts."
Bones opened his mouth to speak, but stopped himself.
"Me and Jim Curtis and young Harry, we were together in the Serpent
Queen– my name's Dibbs. That's where we got hold of the yarn about
Lomo Island, though we didn't believe there was anything in it. But when this Dago died – "
"Which Dago?" asked Bones.
"The Dago that knew all about it," said Mr. Dibbs impatiently, "and wecome to split up his kit in his mess-bag, I found this." He shook theoilskin case in Bones's face. "Well, the first thing I did, when I gotto Sydney, was to desert, and I got a chap from Wellington to put upthe money to hire a boat to take me to Lomo. We were wrecked on Lomo."
"So you got there?" said Bones sympathetically.
"Six weeks I was on Lomo. Ate nothing but crabs, drank nothing butrain-water. But the stuff was there all right, only" – he was veryemphatic, was this simple old sea-dog – "it wasn't under the third tree, but the fourth tree. I got down to the first of the boxes, and it wasas much as I could do to lift it out. I couldn't trust any of theKanaka boys who were with me."
"Naturally," said Bones. "An' I'll bet they didn't trust you, thenaughty old Kanakas."
"Look here," said Mr. Dibbs, and he pulled out of his pocket a handfulof gold coins which bore busts of a foreign-looking lady and gentleman."Spanish gold, that is," he said. "There was four thousand in thelittle box. I filled both my pockets, and took 'em back to Sydney whenwe were picked up. I didn't dare try in Australia. 'That gold willkeep,' I says to myself. 'I'll get back to England and find a man whowill put up the money for an expedition' – a gentleman, you understand?"
"I quite understand," said Bones, all a-quiver with excitement.
"And then I met Harry and Jim. They said they'd got somebody who wouldput the money up, an American fellow, Rockefeller. Have you ever heardof him?"
"I've heard of him," said Bones; "he's got a paraffin mine."
"It may be he has, it may be he hasn't," said Mr. Dibbs and rose."Well, sir, I'm very much obliged to you for your kindness. If you'lldirect me to Mr. Tibbetts's office – "
It was a dramatic moment.
"I am Mr. Tibbetts," said Bones simply.
Blank incredulity was on the face of Mr. Dibbs.
"You?" he said. "But I thought Mr. Tibbetts was an older gentleman?"
"Dear old treasure-finder," said Bones, "be assured I am Mr. Tibbetts.
This is my office, and this is my desk. People think I am older because – " He smiled a little sadly, then: "Sit down!" he thundered.
"Let us go into this."
He went into the matter, and the City clocks were booming one when heled his mariner friend into the street.
He was late at the office the next morning, because he was young andhealthy and required nine hours of the deepest slumber that Morpheuskept in stock.
The grey-eyed girl was typing at a very respectable speed the notesBones had given her the evening before. There was a telegram awaitinghim, which he read with satisfaction. Then:
"Leave your work, my young typewriter," said Bones imperiously. "Ihave a matter of the greatest importance to discuss with you! See thatall the doors are closed," he whispered; "lock 'em if necessary."
"I hardly think that's necessary," said the girl. "You see, if anybodycame and found all the doors locked – "
"Idiot!" said Bones, very red.
"I beg your pardon," said the startled girl.
"I was speaking to me," said Bones rapidly. "This is a matter of thegreatest confidence, my jolly old Marguerite " – he paused, shaking athis temerity, for it was only on the previous day that he haddiscovered her name – "a matter which requires tact and discretion, young Marguerite – "
"You needn't say it twice," she said.
"Well once," said Bones, brightening up. "That's a bargain – I'll callyou Marguerite once a day. Now, dear old Marguerite, listen to this."
She listened with the greatest interest, jotting down the preliminaryexpenses. Purchase of steamer, five thousand pounds; provisioning ofsame, three thousand pounds, etc., etc. She even undertook to make acopy of the plan which Mr. Dibbs had given into his charge, and whichBones told her had not left him day nor night.
"I put it in my pyjama pocket when I went to bed," he explainedunnecessarily, "and – " He began to pat himself all over, consternation in his face.
"And you left it in your pyjama pocket," said the girl quietly. "I'lltelephone to your house for it."
"Phew!" said Bones. "It seems incredible. I must have been robbed."
"I don't think so," said the girl; "it is probably under your pillow.
Do you keep your pyjamas under your pillow?"
"That," said Bones, "is a matter which I never discuss in public. Ihate to disappoint you, dear old Marguerite – "
"I'm sorry," said the girl, with such a simulation of regret that Bonesdissolved into a splutter of contrition.
A commissionaire and a taxicab brought the plan, which was discoveredwhere the girl in her wisdom had suggested.
"I'm not so sure how much money I'm going to make out of this," saidBones off-handedly, after