The moment Depew was out of sight, the lawyer returned to the passenger agent's office. "My friend has altered his mind," he said. "He will book the other berth, and so have the whole cabin to himself." "Right you are, sir." The same process was gone through as before, and presently the lawyer left the office, with a ticket for the other berth in the cabin Depew was to journey in. Did he intend to travel to America? Not quite as far. The only place the boat stopped at after leaving Liverpool, so the passenger agent told them, was Queenstown. Stopped two or three hours there, sometimes, waiting for the tender to bring off the mails.[Pg 37] [Pg 37] The lawyer determined to leave the ship at Queenstown, and he hoped to bring off his coup there—to bring off the steamer those nineteen crisp Bank of England notes which helped to girdle Mr. Depew's waist.[Pg 38] [Pg 38] CHAPTER V BETWEEN LIVERPOOL AND QUEENSTOWN Mr. Richard Loide was getting into the sere, the yellow leaf. A certain amount of baldness on his head he covered with a wig. His age and the wig prompted him to two courses of action. He knew that he would be at a disadvantage in any personal struggle which might result from the steps he proposed taking. He discreetly determined to avoid one. Firearms, in dealing with the man with the money round his waist, were out of the question. The noise would frustrate the very object he had in view—would attract the attention of others in the ship. He did not desire an audience for the performance he had in mind. So he bethought him of a long, stiletto shaped, yet fine pointed, two-edged knife he had seen for sale in a shop window. He went to that shop, and acquired the weapon, tested its razor-like edge on a hair, then on a piece of paper, and was satisfied with the result.[Pg 39] [Pg 39]
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