nted, "but that wouldn't make it
so, it is to mademoiselle's appreciation that you and I owe this treat,
and you know it. Now quit cocking those automatic eyebrows at me;
you've been doing that ever since we met, and they haven't gone off
yet, not once."

Irrepressible, Liane's laughter pealed; and though he couldn't help
smiling, Lanyard hastened to offer up himself on the altar of peace.

"But--messieurs!--you interest me so much. Won't you tell me quickly
what possible value my poor talents can have found in your sight?"

"You tell him, Monk," Phinuit said irreverently--"I'm no tale-bearer."

Monk elevated his eyebrows above recognition of the impertinence, and
offered Lanyard a bow of formidable courtesy.

"They are such, monsieur," he said with that deliberation which becomes
a diplomatic personage--"your talents are such that you can, if you
will, become invaluable to us."

Phinuit chuckled outright at Lanyard's look of polite obtuseness.

"Never sail a straight course--can you skipper?--when you can get there
by tacking. Here: I'm a plain-spoken guy, let me act as an interpreter.
Mr. Lanyard: this giddy association of malefactors here present has the
honour to invite you to become a full-fledged working member and
stockholder of equal interest with the rest of us, participating in all
benefits of the organization, including police protection. And as added
inducement we're willing to waive initiation fee and dues. Do I make
myself clear?"

"But perfectly."

"It's like this: I've told you how we came together, the five of us,
including Jules and Monsieur le Comte de Lorgnes. Now we expect this
venture, our first, to pan out handsomely. There'll be a juicy melon
cut when we get to New York. There's a lot more--I think you
understand--than the Montalais plunder to whack up on. We'll make the
average get-rich-quick scheme look like playing store in the back-yard
with two pins the top price for anything on the shelves. And there
isn't any sane reason why we need stop at that. In fact, we don't mean
to. The Sybarite will make more voyages, and if anything should happen
to stop it, there are other means of making the U. S. Customs look
foolish. Each of us contributes valuable and essential services,
mademoiselle, the skipper, my kid-brother, even I--and I pull a strong
oar with the New York Police Department into the bargain. But there's a
vacancy in our ranks, the opening left by the death of de Lorgnes, an
o