"
"I will have either the girl, or those jewels! By God! I will! I've
got money to work with, plenty of it--not here," cautiously said
Hawke, "but there's your hundred and fifty. Do you stand in?"
"To the death--if you do the handsome thing, my boy!" said the
handsome ruffian, pocketing the notes. "When do I start?"
"Take the midnight train to Southampton, and go at work at once. I
fear they may send some damned spies over there! Now, what's your
plan?" Major Hawke watched his old pal in a brown study.
Jack Blunt had smoked half his cigar, when he brought his white hand
down with a whack. "I have it! A combination of gentleman artist
and literary gent! 'The Mansion Homes of Jersey,' to illustrate a
volume for the use of tourists--London and Southwestern Railway's
enterprise. I'll sneak in and do the grand. You want a correct
sketch and map of house and grounds, and the whole lay out?" Artist
Blunt was delightfully interested in his Jersey tour now.
"Yes!" cried Alan Hawke, his eyes growing wolfish, and he leaned
over to his companion and whispered for a few moments. "That's the
trick, Governor," nodded Jack Blunt, "You work on the double event.
And--I get my money--play or pay?"
"Yes. Put up in good notes--only you are not to bungle!"
"Do you think I would fool around with a 'previous conviction'
against me? The next is a lifer, and I've got to use the knife
or a barker, if I run up against trouble, for I'll never wear the
Queen's jewelry again! I've sworn it!" The man's eyes were gleaming
now like burning coals, "I'll do the grand, and then, take off my
beard and change my garb! I look twenty years older in a stubble
chin.
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