Page:Guy Boothby--A Bid for Fortune.djvu/271

Rh give you such a thrashing as you'd remember all your life."

"None o' that, governor. Don't you try it on. Hand us over that fifty quid."

With that the scoundrel whipped out a revolver and pointed it at me. But before he could threaten again I'd got hold of his wrist with one hand, snatched the pistol with the other, and sent him sprawling on his back upon the carpet.

"Now, you brute," I cried, "what am I going to do with you do you think? Get up and clear out of the house before I take my boot to you."

He got up and began to brush his clothes.

"I want my fifty pound," he cried.

"You'll get more than you want if you come here again," I said. "Out you go."

With that I got him by the collar and dragged him out of the room across the hall, much to the butler's astonishment, through the front door, and then kicked him down the steps. He fell in a heap on the gravel.

"All right, my fine bloke," he said as he lay there; "you wait till I get you outside. I'll fix you up, and don't you make no mistake."

But I went back to the dining-room without paying any attention to his threats. Both Mr. Wetherell and Beckenham had been witnesses of what had happened, and now they questioned me about it. I gave them an outline of the story the man had told me and convinced them of its absurdity. Mr. Wetherell then rose to his feet.

"Now shall we go and see McMurtough?"

"Certainly," I said; "I'll be ready as soon as you are."

"You will come with us, I hope, Lord Beckenham?" said Wetherell.