The Pit-Prop Syndicate Freeman Wills Crofts (english novels for beginners TXT) š
- Author: Freeman Wills Crofts
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āBut it works in,ā Hilliard commented. āIf the driver saw what you were looking at and your expression, he would naturally guess what you had noticed, and he would warn his boss that you had tumbled to it. The manager would look surprised and annoyed for a moment, then he would see he must divert your suspicion, and talk to you as if nothing had happened.ā
āQuite. Thatās just what I thought. But again, I may have been mistaken.ā
They continued discussing the matter for some time longer, and then the conversation turned into other channels. Finally the clocks chiming midnight aroused Merriman, and he got up and said he must be going.
Three days later he had a note from Hilliard.
āCome in tonight about ten if you are doing nothing,ā it read. āI have a scheme on, and I hope youāll join in with me. Tell you when I see you.ā
It happened that Merriman was not engaged that evening, and shortly after ten the two men were occupying the same armchairs at the same open window, their glasses within easy reach and their cigars well under way.
āAnd what is your great idea?ā Merriman asked when they had conversed for a few moments. āIf itās as good as your cigars, Iām on.ā
Hilliard moved nervously, as if he found a difficulty in replying. Merriman could see that he was excited, and his own interest quickened.
āItās about that tale of yours,ā Hilliard said at length. āIāve been thinking it over.ā
He paused as if in doubt. Merriman felt like Alice when she had heard the mock-turtleās story, but he waited in silence, and presently Hilliard went on.
āYou told it with a certain amount of hesitation,ā he said. āYou suggested you might be mistaken in thinking there was anything in it. Now Iām going to make a suggestion with even more hesitation, for itās ten times wilder than yours, and there is simply nothing to back it up. But here goes all the same.ā
His indecision had passed now, and he went on fluently and with a certain excitement.
āHere you have a trade with something fishy about it. Perhaps you think thatās putting it too strongly; if so, let us say there is something peculiar about it; something, at all events, to call oneās attention to it, as being in some way out of the common. And when we do think about it, whatās the first thing we discover?ā
Hilliard looked inquiringly at his friend. The latter sat listening carefully, but did not speak, and Hilliard answered his own question.
āWhy, that itās an export trade from France to Englandā āan export trade only, mind you. As far as you learned, these peopleās boat runs the pit-props to England, but carries nothing back. Isnāt that so?ā
āThey didnāt mention return cargoes,ā Merriman answered, ābut that doesnāt mean there arenāt any. I did not go into the thing exhaustively.ā
āBut what could there be? What possible thing could be shipped in bulk from this country to the middle of a wood near Bordeaux? Something, mind you, that you, there at the very place, didnāt see. Can you think of anything?ā
āNot at the moment. But I donāt see what that has to do with it.ā
āQuite possibly nothing, and yet itās an interesting point.ā
āDonāt see it.ā
āWell, look here. Iāve been making inquiries, and I find most of our pit-props come from Norway and the Baltic. But the ships that bring them donāt go back empty. They carry coal. Now do you see?ā
It was becoming evident that Hilliard was talking of something quite definite, and Merrimanās interest increased still further.
āI daresay Iām a frightful ass,ā he said, ābut Iām blessed if I know what youāre driving at.ā
āCosts,ā Hilliard returned. āLook at it from the point of view of costs. Timber in Norway is as plentiful and as cheap to cut as in the Landes, indeed, possibly cheaper, for there is water there available for power. But your freight will be much less if you can get a return cargo. Therefore, a priori, it should be cheaper to bring props from Norway than from France. Do you follow me so far?ā
Merriman nodded.
āIf it costs the same amount to cut the props at each place,ā Hilliard resumed, āand the Norwegian freight is lower, the Norwegian props must be cheaper in England. How then do your friends make it pay?ā
āMethods more up to date perhaps. Things looked efficient, and that manager seemed pretty wide-awake.ā
Hilliard shook his head.
āPerhaps, but I doubt it. I donāt think you have much to teach the Norwegians about the export of timber. Mind you, it may be all right, but it seems to me a question if the Bordeaux people have a paying trade.ā
Merriman was puzzled.
āBut it must pay or they wouldnāt go on with it. Mr. Coburn said it was paying well enough.ā
Hilliard bent forward eagerly.
āOf course he would say so,ā he cried. āDonāt you see that his saying so is in itself suspicious? Why should he want to tell you that if there was nothing to make you doubt it?ā
āThere is nothing to make me doubt it. See here, Hilliard, I donāt for the life of me know what youāre getting at. For the Lordās sake explain yourself.ā
āAh,ā Hilliard returned with a smile, āyou see you werenāt brought up in the Customs. Do you know, Merriman, that the thing of all others weāre keenest on is an import trade that doesnāt pay?ā He paused a moment, then added slowly: āBecause if a trade which doesnāt
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