Page:Ballinger Price--Fortune of the Indies.djvu/272

 the one which, had puzzled the settlement gentleman.)

"Poor Nick!" Mr. Bolliver murmured. "Really, if all his business is transacted along these lines! He's no older than I am, but—upon my soul!"

Alan was too weary for more thought. He could only shake his head at intervals and mutter:

"Think of it! It's not possible, you know—none of it!"

Mr. Nicholas Tyler paced his office in a more desperate frame of mind than ever. Here lay the good tidings, in his hand—and Bart and Jane were steaming away from them. How could he catch them now? How stop them from an anxious and vain chase all over Changhow? Another telegram to the settlement—that would be the thing to do!

"Yes, yes, that's it," Mr. Tyler agreed with himself distractedly, and he despatched his message.

It was answered by one which said that the boys had left for Shanghai.

"Tut, tut," Mr. Tyler mused in annoyance.