It had been agreed that he was to avoid Carthew, and
above all Carthew's lodging, so that no connection
might be traced between the crew and the pseudonymous
purchaser. But the hour for caution was gone by, and
he caught a tram and made all speed to Mission Street.
Carthew met him in the door.
"Come away, come away from here," said Carthew; and
when they were clear of the house, "All's up!" he
added.
"O, you've heard of the sale, then?" said Wicks.
"The sale!" cried Carthew. "I declare I had forgotten
it." And he told of the voice in the telephone, and the
maddening question: "Why did you want to buy the
FLYING SCUD?"
This circumstance, coming on the back of the monstrous
improbabilities of the sale, was enough to have shaken
the reason of Immanuel Kant. The earth seemed banded
together to defeat them; the stones and the boys on the
street appeared to be in possession of their guilty
secret. Flight was their one thought. The treasure of
the CURRENCY LASS they packed in waist-belts,
expressed their chests to an imaginary address in
British Columbia, and left San Francisco the same
afternoon, booked for Los Angeles.
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