Page:Braddon--The Trail of the Serpent.djvu/170

166 "Do you think you could stand it for half an hour?" Gus enquires.

"Lor, bless you, sir! for half-a-dozen hours, if I was paid accordin'."

"Should you think half-a-crown enough for twenty minutes?"

"Well, I don't know, sir; suppose you made it three shillings?"

"Very good," said Gus; "three shillings it shall be. It's now half-past twelve;" he looks at his watch as he speaks. "I'll sit here and smoke a pipe; and if you lie quiet till ten minutes to one, you'll have earned the three bob."

Gus steps into the boat, and seats himself at the prow; the man's head lies at the stern.

"Can you see me?" Gus inquires.

"Yes, sir, when I squints."

"Very well, then, you can see I don't make a bolt of it. Make your mind easy: there's five minutes gone already."

Gus finishes his pipe, looks at his watch again—a quarter to one. He whistles a scene from an opera, and then jumps out of the boat and pulls up the false bottom.

"All's right," he says; "time's up."

The man gets out and stretches his legs and arms, as if to convince himself that those members are unimpaired.

"Well, was it pretty comfortable?" Gus asks.

"Lor' love you, sir! regular jolly, with the exception of bein' rather warm, and makin' a cove precious dry."

Gus gives the man wherewith to assuage this drought, and says,—

"You may shove the boat down to the water, then. My friend will be here in a minute with the tackle, and we can then see about making a start."

The boat is launched, and the man amuses himself with rowing a few yards up the river, while Gus waits for his friend. In about ten minutes his friend arrives, in the person of Mr. Joseph Peters, of the police force, with a couple of eel-spears over his shoulder (which give him somewhat the appearance of a dry-land Neptune), and a good-sized carpet-bag, which he carries in his hand.

Gus and he exchange a few remarks in the silent alphabet, in which Gus is almost as great an adept as the dumb detective, and they step into the punt.

The boat-builder's man is sent for a gallon of beer in a stone bottle, a half-quartern loaf, and a piece of cheese. These provisions being shipped, Darley and Peters each take an oar, and they pull away from the bank and strike out into the middle of the river.