The Yellow God | Page 9

as there
is a law of libel in this land. But /The Judge/ has certain sources of
information. It may be that no protest will be made at once, for
baksheesh can stop it for a while, but sooner or later the protest or
repudiation will come, and perhaps some international bother; also
much scandal. As to the scheme itself, it is shamelessly
over-capitalized for the benefit of the promoters--of whom, remember,
Alan, you will appear as one. Now time's up. Perhaps you will take my
advice, and perhaps you won't, but there it is for what it's worth as that
of a man of the world and an old friend of your family. As for your puff
article and your prospectus, I wouldn't put them in /The Judge/ if you
paid me a thousand pounds, which I daresay your friend, Aylward,
would be quite ready to do. Good-bye. Come and see me again
sometime, and tell me what has happened--and, I say"--this last was
shouted through the closing door,--"give my kind regards to Miss
Barbara, for wherever she happens to live, she is an honest woman."
CHAPTER II
THE YELLOW GOD
Alan Vernon walked thoughtfully down the lead-covered stairs, hustled
by eager gentlemen hurrying up to see the great editor, whose bell was
already ringing furiously, and was duly ushered by the obsequious
assistant-chauffeur back into the luxurious motor. There was an electric
lamp in this motor, and by the light of it, his mind being perplexed, he
began to read the typewritten document given to him by Mr. Jackson,

which he still held in his hand.
As it chanced they were blocked for a quarter of an hour near the
Mansion House, so that he found time, if not to master it, at least to
gather enough of its contents to make him open his brown eyes very
wide before the motor pulled up at the granite doorway of his office.
Alan descended from the machine, which departed silently, and stood
for a moment wondering what he should do. His impulse was to jump
into a bus and go straight to his rooms or his club, to which Sir Robert
did not belong, but being no coward, he dismissed it from his mind.
His fate hung in the balance, of that he was well aware. Either he must
disregard Mr. Jackson's warning, confirmed as it was by many secret
fears and instincts of his own, and say nothing except that he had failed
in his mission, or he must take the bull by the horns and break with the
firm. To do the latter meant not only a good deal of moral courage, but
practical ruin, whereas if he chose the former course, probably within a
fortnight he would find himself a rich man. Whatever Jackson and a
few others might say in its depreciation, he was certain that the Sahara
flotation would go through, for it was underwritten, of course upon
terms, by responsible people, moreover the unissued preferred shares
had already been dealt in at a heavy premium. Now to say nothing of
the allotment to which he was entitled upon his holding in the parent
Syndicate, the proportion of cash due to him as a partner, would
amount to quite a hundred thousand pounds. In other words, he, who
had so many reasons for desiring money, would be wealthy. After
working so hard and undergoing so much that he felt to be humiliating
and even degrading, why should he not take his reward and clear out
afterwards?
This he remembered he could do, since probably by some oversight of
Aylward's, who left such matters to his lawyers, his deed of partnership
did not bind him to a fixed term. It could be broken at any moment. To
this argument there was only one possible answer, that of his
conscience. If once he were convinced that things were not right, it
would be dishonest to participate in their profits. And he was convinced.
Mr. Jackson's arguments and his damning document had thrown a flood

of light upon many matters which he had suspected but never quite
understood. He was the partner of, well, adventurers, and the money
which he received would in fact be filched from the pockets of
unsuspecting persons. He would vouch for that of which he was
doubtful and receive the price of sharp practice. In other words he,
Alan Vernon, who had never uttered a wilful untruth or taken a
halfpenny that was not his own, would before the tribunal of his own
mind, stand convicted as a liar and a thief. The thing was not to be
borne. At whatever cost it must be ended. If he were fated to be a
beggar, at least he would be an honest beggar.
With a