rook, had thought possible. The hospital would cost a
large sum, but this did not account for everything. Although Bernard
often used the formal manners of the old school, he had a rude vein; he
had broken down stubborn opposition and beaten determined strikers
while he developed the famous iron mines. No doubt, he saw in Jim
qualities like his and now meant to leave him the most part of his
estate. All Jim got would be taken from the others, and Mordaunt
thought Holbrook's caution indicated that his share had been severely
cut down. Jim was going to get money Mordaunt had imagined was his.

He let the engine go, the car leaped forward, and he drove furiously
until he reached the Dryholm lodge, for he wanted to find out if his
supposition was correct. When he put the car into the garage a man was
cleaning a limousine.

"I'm afraid I have given you another job," Mordaunt said. "You haven't
got the big car properly polished yet."

"She got very wet when I took Mr. Dearham to town."

"It was a bad day. Did he keep you waiting in the rain?"

"I was outside the lawyers' office for an hour," the man replied.

Mordaunt frowned as he went to the house. The reason for Holbrook's
caution was plain, and if Janet Halliday imagined Bernard meant to
leave Jim nothing, she was much deceived. Bernard had probably meant
to deceive her, but Mordaunt thought he would not meddle. He went to
his room and stopped for some time, smoking and pondering.

A few days afterwards, Jim and Jake, wearing long waders and yellow
oilskins, crept up a hollow in the sands. It was about nine o'clock in
the evening, they were a mile from land, and light mist drifted about
the bay, but the moon shone through. The tide was flowing, the water
rippled noisily in the channel, and flakes of muddy foam and trailing
weed floated past. The harsh cry of a black-backed gull rang across
the flats and small wading birds whistled about the water's edge.
Farther off, the clanging call of black geese came out of the mist.

Jim carried a heavy ten-bore gun and his feet sank in the mud as he
crept quietly up the hollow. He liked this rough shooting, and now and
then Jake and he went out at nights. When one had hunted fierce game
in Canada, shooting driven pheasants was tame sport, and the beaters
found the birds; but on the sands one must match one's intelligence
against the instinctive cunning of the ducks and geese. Besides, there
was some risk tha