"Within reach, anyhow, and with my first mate hangin' on t' him. Maybe the barkey anchors in a French port. Might be Spanish fur choice, if y' like--there's no knowin'. But he's within hail, same as them coppers of yours. The ace, ma'am, the ace. Y' might put in a day arskin' me why I let him go at ten thousand dollars. Th' hull shoot is worth heaps an' heaps more." Leah watched his face closely. "Worth five thousand pounds, perhaps?" "Well," he drawled, equally watchful; "I shouldn't mind goin' nap on that, all things being on th' square. Naow if----" "Wait! Wait, I tell you!" She clasped her hands across her forehead and paced the room with slow steps, which did not betray the nervous hurry of her overwrought brain. Strange watched her, as a naturalist might watch an entirely new animal. Clever and hard as he was in his bullying way, he felt instinctively that he had little chance of getting the better of this woman, unless--as he phrased it--he kept his tail up. "She's the dandiest devil I ever sot eyes on," was his admiring verdict. "Golly, wot a flyer! Huh!" Lady Jim, twisting her hands distressfully, strolled slowly up and down, with bent head and thoughtful looks. At times she would halt and reflect deeply; then her face would brighten as she resumed her prowling. Sometimes she glanced at Strange, sitting like a graven image in his chair, and occasionally she peered into any near mirror as if to seek inspiration from her own wicked eyes. For ten minutes amidst a petrifying silence she behaved thus; then, having solved part of her problem--the solution of the other part depended upon Strange's consent--she returned to face him. "Do you mind imprisonment?" she asked casually. The sailor jumped. "Goin' t' begin agin?" he demanded irritably. "Answer my question. Do you mind imprisonment?" "I do an' I don't, accordin' to th' dollars. Give it a name." "Five thousand pounds." "Twenty-five thousand, States currency," mused the captain. "Y wish me t' sample one of your gaols fur thet." She nodded. "On charges of conspiracy and blackmail." Strange jumped again. "My gun! D'y' intend t' advertise th' circus?" "I intend to have my husband set free to enjoy his own. Since you have kidnapped him, you shall confess and suffer--for five thousand pounds." "Leavin' you out, ma'am?" "Oh, I had nothing to do with it, nor had my poor husband. You and Dr. Demetrius are the rascals." "Huh! An' what'll y' pay the Doc.?" "Nothing," she said serenely: "the Russian Government is paying him." "Whew!" Strange whistled with a stare; "they've got him at las'." "If you mean the Russian authorities, yes." "Poor chap! He wasn't bad fur a foreiner. I kind o' froze on t' him somehow. But this catchy-catchy biznai ain't none o' mine, so let him slide." He shook his head vigorously. "Slide it is. An' this noo game o' yours, ma'am?"