A Bid for Fortune

A Bid for Fortune, by Guy
Boothby

The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Bid for Fortune, by Guy Boothby
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
Title: A Bid for Fortune or Dr. Nikola's Vendetta
Author: Guy Boothby
Release Date: May 29, 2007 [EBook #21640]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A BID FOR
FORTUNE ***

Produced by Marilynda Fraser-Cunliffe, Mary Meehan and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net

A BID FOR FORTUNE
DR. NIKOLA'S VENDETTA

By GUY BOOTHBY
Author of "Dr. Nikola," "The Beautiful White Devil," etc., etc.

WARD, LOCK & CO., LIMITED LONDON, MELBOURNE AND
TORONTO 1918

[Illustration: "Again she turned her face from me."]

CONTENTS.

Part I.
PROLOGUE--Dr. Nikola
CHAPTER I.
I determine to take a Holiday,--Sydney, and what Befel me there
CHAPTER II.
London
CHAPTER III.
I Visit my Relations
CHAPTER IV.
I Save an Important Life

CHAPTER V.
Mystery
CHAPTER VI.
I Meet Dr. Nikola again
CHAPTER VII.
Port Said, and what Befel us there
CHAPTER VIII.
Our Imprisonment and Attempt at Escape
CHAPTER IX.
Dr. Nikola permits us a Free Passage

Part II.

CHAPTER I.
We reach Australia, and the Result
CHAPTER II.
On the Trail
CHAPTER III.

Lord Beckenham's Story
CHAPTER IV.
Following up a Clue
CHAPTER V.
The Islands, and what we found there
CHAPTER VI.
Conclusion

A BID FOR FORTUNE


PART I

PROLOGUE
DR. NIKOLA
The manager of the new Imperial Restaurant on the Thames
Embankment went into his luxurious private office and shut the door.
Having done so, he first scratched his chin reflectively, and then took a
letter from the drawer in which it had reposed for more than two
months and perused it carefully. Though he was not aware of it, this
was the thirtieth time he had read it since breakfast that morning. And
yet he was not a whit nearer understanding it than he had been at the
beginning. He turned it over and scrutinized the back, where not a sign
of writing was to be seen; he held it up to the window, as if he might

hope to discover something from the water-mark; but there was nothing
in either of these places of a nature calculated to set his troubled mind
at rest. Then he took a magnificent repeater watch from his waistcoat
pocket and glanced at the dial; the hands stood at half-past seven. He
immediately threw the letter on the table, and as he did so his anxiety
found relief in words.
"It's really the most extraordinary affair I ever had to do with," he
remarked. "And as I've been in the business just three-and-thirty years
at eleven a.m. next Monday morning, I ought to know something about
it. I only hope I've done right, that's all."
As he spoke, the chief bookkeeper, who had the treble advantage of
being tall, pretty, and just eight-and-twenty years of age, entered the
room. She noticed the open letter and the look upon her chief's face,
and her curiosity was proportionately excited.
"You seem worried, Mr. McPherson," she said tenderly, as she put
down the papers she had brought in for his signature.
"You have just hit it, Miss O'Sullivan," he answered, pushing them
farther on to the table. "I am worried about many things, but
particularly about this letter."
He handed the epistle to her, and she, being desirous of impressing him
with her business capabilities, read it with ostentatious care. But it was
noticeable that when she reached the signature she too turned back to
the beginning, and then deliberately read it over again. The manager
rose, crossed to the mantelpiece, and rang for the head waiter. Having
relieved his feelings in this way, he seated himself again at his
writing-table, put on his glasses, and stared at his companion, while
waiting for her to speak.
"It's very funny," she said. "Very funny indeed!"
"It's the most extraordinary communication I have ever received," he
replied with conviction. "You see it is written from Cuyaba, Brazil. The
date is three months ago to a day. Now I have taken the trouble to find

out where and what Cuyaba is."
He made this confession with an air of conscious pride, and having
done so, laid himself back in his chair, stuck his thumbs into the
armholes of his waistcoat, and looked at his fair subordinate for
approval. Nor was he destined to be disappointed. He was a bachelor in
possession of a snug income, and she, besides being pretty, was a lady