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"Why, great Scott, Ellins," goes on Megrue enthusiastic, "don't you know that buried treasure stuff is the stalest kind of tourist bait in use on the whole Florida coast? The hotel people have been handing that out for the past fifty years. Wouldn't think anyone could be still found who'd bite at it, would you? But it seems they exist.
Nobody dared look at anybody else. At least, I didn't. I was waverin' between a gasp and a snicker, and was nearly chokin' over it, when Old Hickory clears his throat raspy and menacin'. "Well, what about it?" he asks snappy. "Why," says Megrue, "it seems too good to be true, that's all.
"Megrue!" says Old Hickory. "If it isn't I'll " It was, all right: Bernard J. Megrue, one of our biggest Western customers, president of a couple of railroads, and director in a lot of companies that's more or less close to the Corrugated Trust. He's a husk, Barney Megrue is big and breezy, with crisp iron-gray hair, lively black eyes, and all the gentle ways of a section boss.
I expect we all felt like we was about to open an April fool package, and wished the others hadn't been there to watch. None of us could pass anyone else the laugh; that was some satisfaction. There was enough outsiders, though, to give us the titter. Megrue was sure to spread the tale among Old Hickory's business friends. And who knew what that pair of foiled interviewers would do to us?
You can suppress the green-goods and gold-brick games, but folks will still go to shoveling sand if you mention pirates to 'em. What I want is to see 'em at it once." The harder you jolt Old Hickory, though, the steadier he gets. "Huh!" says he, smilin' sarcastic. "An ambition such as yours ought to be gratified. Take a good look at us, Megrue." "Wha-a-a-at!" gasps Barney, starin' at him.
In fact, I'm no fisherman at all." "Oh, I see," says Megrue. "Just cruising, eh? Well, that's all right if you like it. People come to Florida for all sorts of things. Which reminds me of something rich. Heard it from my boatman. He tells me there's a party of New York folks down here hunting for pirate gold. Haw, haw! How about that, eh?" Embarrassin' pause. Very.
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