cotter seemed to feel his way to the door, as if he were blind, or the room had been suddenly plunged into intense darkness. he hardly dared to breathe till he had opened the front door and admitted a short, enormously stout man who beamed on him mildly behind a pair of huge silver-rimmed spectacles. there was nothing in the stranger to inspire terror in the heart of cotter, but his manner was servile to a degree.
"you see, i have come back again," the foreigner said. "did i not tell you that i should come back, my friend? and it is no use telling me that mr. flower is not in, because i saw him arrive with his beautiful niece. in fact, i stood on the pavement on the other side of the road and watched the carriage come. if it had been all night i had to wait, i should have remained there. you have told your master i am coming?"
"i have done that," cotter whined, "and he will see you at once. will you come this way, please?"
the dutchman bustled into the dining-room and threw his hat and coat carelessly on a chair. then he proceeded to wipe his spectacles on an immense red handkerchief which he produced from the tail pocket of his greasy frock-coat. without ceremony he hustled cotter to the door and closed it.
flower stood moodily gazing into the fire-place without taking the least heed of his visitor. not in the least disconcerted, the dutchman wheeled a big armchair to the fire-place and made himself comfortable. then from another capacious pocket he produced a villainous cigar with the fumes of which he began to poison the room. helping himself liberally to brandy and soda, he sat down patiently waiting for flower to speak. despite the man's fatness and the jovial twinkle in his eyes, there was something about him which spoke of a grim and determined nature. evidently, too, he was master of the situation and knew it. the tension grew until flower could stand it no longer.
"well, what the devil do you want?" he broke out passionately. "what are you doing here just at this time? haven't i got worry enough without you turning up to blackmail me?"
the dutchman waved the suggestion aside.
"there, my friend," he said coolly, "you are entirely wrong. i did not come here to blackmail you at all. you treated me very badly some years ago, and i have bided my time till i could get even with you. i don't know whether you are aware of it or not, but the time has come. i should like to know what you are going to do about it."
"nothing," flower said moodily. "i am going to let matters take their course. i am not afraid of you and the sooner you know it the better, and if you want money, well, you can't have it. for the last two years everything has gone wrong. people fight shy of me and only the smaller firms in the city will have any dealings with my firm. i am supposed to be rich and prosperous, to have made money in my own peculiar way, but i tell you i am a ruined, almost desperate man. two years ago——"
"ah, i know what you are going to say," the dutchman chuckled. "you are going to tell me that everything has gone wrong with you since that trouble over the guelder rose. there was the japonica, too, and the time has gone by when you could make money in coffin wood. well, on the whole, you have been a lucky man. if i choose to find where young dr. mercer is, and if we put our heads together, we could tell a story about the guelder rose which would land mr. samuel flower within the four walls of a gaol. oh, you needn't look at me like that. i am not likely to do you any harm so long as i can make money out of you. i have waited long enough for this opportunity, knowing that you would find yourself in a corner sooner or later, and i have come here to-night to make a proposal. why should you talk about being a ruined and desperate man when you have only to put out your hand and fill your pockets with treasure?"
flower abandoned his place by the fire and began to walk up and down the room again. he was agitated.
"i will not be fool enough to pretend to misunderstand you," he said hoarsely. "i know what you are alluding to. you are speaking about that treasure which awaits us in north borneo. i tell you i dare not. i cannot steel myself to go through that again. as for you, your case is different. though you took a prominent part in that expedition you were wily enough to keep yourself in the background. nobody could identify you with any of the men who fired that mine and washed a whole city to destruction. i used to marvel at your cunning——"
"i hope you admired it," jansen chuckled. "did you think that i was such a fool as to embark upon an enterprise like that without taking proper precautions? did you suppose i didn't expect to be murdered on my way down to the coast? and didn't your native servants do their best, at your instigation, to put me away? not that i bear you any malice. i daresay if things had been otherwise i should have tried to wipe you out, as they say in america. when the time came i discreetly disappeared, and it was generally imagined that i had perished miserably in the jungle. my dear, respected partner, i did nothing of the kind. i kept my head and by and by went back to the scene of the destruction to see what i could pick up for myself."
"you found nothing," flower snarled.
"absolutely nothing," the dutchman said good-naturedly. "you had taken good care of that. but the stuff is there, and you know where it is to be found. that is why i am here to-night; why i want you to accompany me on a final voyage, after which neither of us will ever need to work again. the whole thing has blown over. there are no natives left to tell the tale, and we shall be rich men with a minimum expenditure of trouble. the key of the situation lies with us. you can do nothing without me and i am powerless without you. let us make an offensive and defensive alliance and take out our own staff. what do you say?"
jansen spread his hands cheerfully out to the blaze, his little eyes beaming with good-nature. he was not in the least like a man in the close proximity of his would-be murderer. he seemed to take everything for granted. flower came to an abrupt halt by the fire and looked down at his companion.
"a very pretty programme," he sneered. "quite an excellent programme. we are to fit out an expedition to north borneo together. we are to recover all that priceless treasure—why, the marvellous china and engraved glass alone would be worth a fortune—then come home rich beyond the dream of avarice and live happily for ever afterwards. it sounds delightful, but there is one flaw. you are under the impression that the clan was destroyed root and branch when the city was washed away. you are mistaken. there were survivors, and at least two of them to my certain knowledge are in england at the present moment. do you know that my life is not worth a moment's purchase? do you know that one attempt has already been made upon it? the next may be successful. and when i am got rid of, that treasure will never be seen again by mortal eye. besides, how do you know you are safe yourself? you took extraordinary precautions, i know. but we had men to deal with whose cunning and foresight were far greater than our own. now, in view of what i tell you, are you still bent on going?"
the twinkle had died out of the dutchman's eyes and his rubicund face had grown solemn. he sat for a long time gazing into the fire before he spoke.
"you are sure of this?" he asked. "you are certain there has been no mistake."
by way of response flower took an envelope from his pocket and produced a five-knotted piece of string. he handed it gravely to his companion.
"look at that," he said. "you know what it means. now, that came to me in a registered letter posted by my agent slater, in borneo. mind you, though slater knows nothing about this trouble, my correspondence with him is always conducted in cypher. the letter was so private and confidential that it was written by slater himself and posted by his own hand. and yet, when i come to open the letter, i find this inside. you are an easy-going sort, but i ask you, would not your flesh creep and your hair stand on end if you found a message like that inside of a confidential letter, written, sealed and posted by another person? i tell you the play is finished, the game is up, and i am doomed just as irrevocably as if i were the victim of some incurable malignant disease. come, you are a clever man, dr. jansen, can you show me any way out of this?"
jansen played thoughtfully with the string, but no words crossed his lips. he was baffled.
