The man's cry aroused the instant attention of the others, and for a few moments there was what can only be described as a sort of hushed hubbub. “All right,” said Melun in a rougher voice than Westerham had yet heard him use. “All right. Don't get scared. Don't worry. It is a new chum!” Westerham, standing very straight, stood smiling at the astonished men before him. The negro had set his lantern down, and was passively leaning with his back against the door. A little man with a bullet-head and a red face got up from his seat at the end of the room and came forward with short, quick, jerky steps. “Is this going to be a meeting?” he asked. Melun nodded. “A meeting,” he said, “but not an oath. That I already have administered in part. The new chum is silent.” “It is most irregular,” grumbled the man with the bullet-head. “Never you mind,” said Melun in a hectoring voice, “it is my affair, and not yours.” “It is our business that you bring him here,” mumbled several of the men. “Don't you bother about things which do not concern you,” rapped out Melun, “until I have had my say. I have said this is to be a meeting, and I am waiting to give my explanation.” At this several men turned and dragged forward a long trestle table, while others quickly set chairs about it; Melun seated himself at its head, beckoning to Westerham to seat himself at his right hand. Still smiling, Westerham looked with his oddly disconcerting gaze along the row of faces before him. Melun, he reflected, must have searched London to have found such an exhibition of evil passions. The men did not look at him; they looked at Melun, warily and anxiously. “In times past,” said Melun, shortly, “you have found it just as well to trust to me. The shares of any spoils we have won have always been fairly adjusted.” For the most part the men nodded assent. “I have told you,” Melun continued, “that at the present time I have on hand a bigger deal than any I have yet attempted. If it comes off it will mean a cool quarter of a million.” Westerham drew in his breath quietly; he was learning the facts indeed. The magnitude of what Melun must have at stake almost staggered him. He knew well enough that if Melun spoke to these men of a quarter of a million, the sum at which he was really aiming must be far greater. [Illustration: “_All right. Don't get scared. It is a new chum!_”] “Now, most of you,” Melun went on, “know that to pull off a thing of this sort capital is required. Our capital has run low. I have, however, been fortunate in securing the interest of this gentleman, who is more than able to furnish us with all the money I need to settle the deal. “I may tell you that he is not new to our kind of work, only hitherto he has gone on his own.”