Page:Raymond Spears--Diamond Tolls.djvu/216

 "You were almost shanghaied that time, for a fact," she laughed. "I just had to do it, though. You understand why—he fell for it beautifully. If he thinks you and I and Murdong, down the river, are all in a gang together, he'll think twice before he bothers any of us any more. He told you about it, didn't he?"

"The diamonds, you mean?" he asked, "and the"

"And the shooting? Oh, I did shoot him, if that's what he said."

"Yes," Urleigh admitted.

"What did he say about the shooting?"

"He said he had been taking coke—snow—and he was dippy. He said he just went aboard your boat, to make a social call, so to speak, and you shot him, careless-like, smiling. He said if only you had acted frightened, he wouldn't have thought anything about it. He made up his mind that you had played him, somehow, and coaxed him to follow you and brought him aboard, just so you could have an excuse to shoot him."

"He thought I had flirted with him!" she exclaimed. "Aren't men fools, anyhow—I mean about women!"

"Well, you know, really—I'm—I'm in no position to judge," Urleigh answered, really somewhat bewildered.