Vietnam or Thailand ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Updated: June 29, 2025
"Well," he observed, addressing Batley, "you have the courage of your convictions if you have offered to maintain them against all comers, which I understand is what you have done." The man nodded carelessly and Lisle went on: "After all, since I dare say these gentlemen are more used to the shotgun, your superiority doesn't prove very much." Crestwick looked around at him quickly.
In spite of it all, the work went on: foot by foot the wall of pile-bound rock rose and the long wooden conduit curved away down the valley; and when at length the hydraulic plant began to arrive, piecemeal, Lisle found Crestwick eminently useful. He superintended the transport, patrolling the trails and keeping them repaired.
He went back to where the others were sitting and found that they had been joined by Crestwick, who briefly explained that having set out on their trail he had been stopped by the cañon and had followed it up until it led him to them. "It looks worse farther along; we'll have to try it here," Lisle announced. "Can you get down, Nasmyth?" Nasmyth glanced into the rift.
During the meal the others came back and when they had all assembled, looking the worse for their scramble through the bush, Crestwick, who had occasional lapses from good behavior, addressed them collectively. "Wasn't I right?" he asked. "I offered anybody three to one that Lisle would be the first to find her."
A brief silence followed; and then Gladwyne broke it. "I'll try. But suppose I can induce him to leave Crestwick alone?" "So much the better for you," Lisle answered with a dry smile. "I'm not here to make a bargain. I don't want anything for myself." He went out, consoling himself with the last reflection, for the part he had played had been singularly disagreeable.
When they had accomplished it, Marple came running up with two or three others and Nasmyth called to him. "Came in the car, didn't you? Go off for Irvine as hard as you can drive. Drop somebody at my place to run back with a gun." Marple swung round and set off across the field, and Crestwick understood why the gun was wanted when he glanced at the fallen horse.
"Found it expensive, didn't you?" Lisle suggested; and as they reached the foot of the stairs he led his companion toward the door. "Suppose we take a turn along the terrace before we look for your sister." Crestwick went with him, but presently he stopped and leaned on the low wall. "Do you ever feel inclined for a flutter on the stock-market?" he inquired.
Clarence was in his library, and he looked up with some curiosity when Lisle was shown in. Lisle came to the point at once. "You've no doubt noticed that Jim Crestwick has been going pretty hard of late," he said. "Bets, speculation, and that sort of thing. He can't keep it up on a minor's allowance. It will end in a bad smash if he isn't checked." Gladwyne's manner became supercilious.
"But wait a moment: I'd better look for a dry place to put this paper currency." "Where did you get it? You told me at the last settlement that you had hardly a dollar left." Crestwick grinned. "Oh, some of the boys offered to teach me a little game they were playing when we thawed out that claim. I didn't find it difficult, though I must own that I had very good luck.
It was in comparative shelter, but the frost grew more severe and the icy wind, eddying in behind the rock, threatened to overturn the frail structure every now and then. He tried to smoke, but found no comfort in it after he had with difficulty lighted his pipe; he did not feel inclined to talk, and it was a relief to him when Lisle sank into slumber. Crestwick long remembered that night.
Word Of The Day
Others Looking