“`Prove your words, you——!’ said he.

“`I will!’ said I. `If you will turn up your right shirt-sleeve to the shoulder, I will either prove my words or I will eat them.’

“He turned white and said not a word.  You see, I knew something of his ways, and I was aware of that part of the mechanism which he and all such sharpers use consists of an elastic down the arm with a clip just above the wrist.  It is by means of this clip that they withdraw from their hands the cards which they do not want, while they substitute other cards from another hiding place.  I reckoned on it being there, and it was.  He cursed me, slunk out of the saloon, and was hardly seen again during the voyage.  For once, at any rate, I got level with Mister Sparrow MacCoy.

“But he soon had his revenge upon me, for when it came to influencing my brother he outweighed me every time.  Edward had kept himself straight in London for the first few weeks, and had done some business with his American watches, until this villain came across his path once more.  I did my best, but the best was little enough.  The next thing I heard there had been a scandal at one of the Northumberland Avenue hotels:  a traveller had been fleeced of a large sum by two confederate card-sharpers, and the matter was in the hands of Scotland Yard.  The first I learned of it was in the evening paper, and I was at once certain that my brother and MacCoy were back at their old games.  I hurried at once to Edward’s lodgings.  They told me that he and a tall gentleman (whom I recognized as MacCoy) had gone off together, and that he had left the lodgings and taken his things with him.  The landlady had heard them give several directions to the cabman, ending with Euston Station, and she had accidentally overheard the tall gentleman saying something about Manchester.  She believed that that was their destination.

“A glance at the time-table showed me that the most likely train was at five, though there was another at 4:35 which they might have caught.  I had only time to get the later one, but found no sign of them either at the depot or in the train.  They must have gone on by the earlier one, so I determined to follow them to Manchester and search for them in the hotels there.  One last appeal to my brother by all that he owed to my mother might even now be the salvation of him.  My nerves were overstrung, and I lit a cigar to steady them.  At that moment, just as the train was moving off, the door of my compartment was flung open, and there were MacCoy and my brother on the platform.

“They were both disguised, and with good reason, for they knew that the London police were after them.  MacCoy had a great astrakhan collar drawn up, so that only his eyes and nose were showing.  My brother was dressed like a woman, with a black veil half down his face, but of course it did not deceive me for an instant, nor would it have done so even if I had not known that he had often used such a dress before.  I started up, and as I did so MacCoy recognized me.  He said something, the conductor slammed the door, and they were shown into the next compartment.  I tried to stop the train so as to follow them, but the wheels were already moving, and it was too late.