had lived for many years in a hot climate. This was true of him,
for he had spent ten years of his life in the Matabeleland mounted
police.

The young man pulled up a chair to the table.

"I've got an offer to make to you," he said.

"Is there any money in it?"

The other laughed.

"You don't suppose I should make any kind of offer to you that hadn't
money in it?" he answered contemptuously.

Crawley, after a moment's hesitation, poured out another drink and
gulped it down.

"I haven't had a drink to-day," he said apologetically.

"That is an obvious lie," said the younger man; "but now to get to
business. I don't know what your game is in England, but I will tell you
what mine is. I want a free hand, and I can only have a free hand if you
take your daughter away out of the country."

"You want to get rid of her, eh?" asked the other, looking at him
shrewdly.

The young man nodded.

"I tell you, she's a millstone round my neck," he said for the second
time that evening, "and I am scared of her. At any moment she may do
some fool thing and ruin me."

Crawley grinned.

"'For better or for worse,'" he quoted, and then, seeing the ugly look
in the other man's face, he said: "Don't try to frighten me, Mr. Brown
or Jones, or whatever you call yourself, because I can't be frightened.
I have had to deal with worse men than you and I'm still alive. I'll
tell you right now that I'm not going out of England. I've got a big
game on. What did you think of offering me?"

"A thousand pounds," said the other.

"I thought it would be something like that," said Crawley coolly. "It is
a flea-bite to me. You take my tip and find another way of keeping her
quiet. A clever fellow like you, who knows more about dope than any
other man I have met, ought to be able to do the trick without any
assistance from me. Why, didn't you tell me that you knew a drug that
sapped the will power of people and made them do just as you like?
That's the knockout drop to give her. Take my tip and try it."

"You won't accept my offer?" asked the other.

Crawley shook his head.

"I've got a fortune in my hand if I work my cards right," he said. "I've
managed to get a position right under the old devil's nose. I see him
every day, and I have got him scared. What's a thousand pounds to me?
I've lost more than a thousand on one race at Lewes. No, my boy, employ
the resources of science," he said flippantly. "There's no sense in
being a dope