"What do you mean by bringing your devilish good spirits here? Have you no bowels? Kindly chuck it for once and for all."
Guthrie, squatting on his haunches, feeling his bicycle tyres, turned up to him a face grown suddenly rutted and haggard as a Japanese gargoyle.
"That drum-and-fife band is only a bluff, Dick," he said quietly. "The Leopard is G. I., and if that boy loses his eyes as well, neither of us will ever climb out of the soup again."
Tryon came out of the gate and stared at him interestedly.
"What do you mean? How can the Leopard----"
"I mean that the reef is gone--for good, this time."
"The reef gone?" reiterated Tryon stupidly. "Why--good Lord, I thought you'd found it richer and stronger than ever!"
"So we did. But, my boy, mining is the biggest gamble in the world. It pinched out, sudden as a stroke of apoplexy, a few days after Lundi's accident. We've got a month's crushing in hand now, and when that's gone, we'll have to shut down. We're bust!"
"But what about that five-hundred-ounce clean-up you handed him?"
"All bluff! I drew two thousand quid for native wages and threw it into the melting-pot. That lovely button goes back to the bank tomorrow. They've got to be bluffed, too, until Lundi's able to stand the truth."
"I don't know if he'll thank you for it, Emma," said Tryon, at last.
"I don't say he will; I don't say Lundi can't take his physic when he's got to, as well as any man. But I can reckon he's got an overdose already. I'll wait."
Tryon stared a while into the shrewd, wizened face, then said thoughtfully:
"I think you're quite right. There are moments when enough is too much, and I haven't a doubt but that a little extra bad luck would just finish what chance he has of seeing again. Keep it up your sleeve anyway, until we hear my brother's verdict."
"Oh, I'll keep it," said Emma grimly. "Once his bandages are off, we'll let the hornets buzz, but not before."
"Meantime," remarked Tryon, "if you like to make me a present of the information, I will promise to use it carefully and for nothing but Druro's benefit."
Guthrie gave him a long, expressionless glance.
"There are worse things than having your eyes clawed out by a leopard," continued Dick enigmatically.