"Well, I've fired him, haven't I?" said Bobo with an aggrieved air. To Jack he added: "Now you've done your worst, get!" Jack put on an air of swaggering bravado. "Oh, all right! I'm sick of the job anyhow! I wouldn't work for you now for ten times the salary!" Miriam laughed insultingly. Jack arose. He still had to make a good exit. "It's hard enough to take all the work and the responsibility," he said with assumed bitterness, "but when your boss marries a----" "You'll leave her out of it, or I'll smash you!" cried Bobo. "Come on! Let's settle it man to man," said Jack. "I'm ready any time!" "You get out of here!" shouted Bobo. "Or I'll call the house detective!" Jack went, slamming the door. He proceeded to his own room, chuckling. Later, while he was packing, he heard a timid knock. Bobo was standing outside with a deprecating air. "Can I come in?" "Sure! Where's Miriam?" "We're safe. She's gone out to see about getting me another secretary." Jack laughed. "Poor Bobo!" "It went off all right," said Bobo. "She doesn't suspect a thing!" "Fine!" said Jack. "What are you going to do?" "Take a little trip. British Guiana. Boat leaves Saturday." "Lucky Dog!" "What, already!" "Oh, it was my fate, I suppose." 37 Jack was counting on the fact that the circumstances of his quarrel with Bobo would be faithfully reported to "Mr. B." and that the latter would satisfy himself that he, Jack, actually boarded the steamship for British Guiana. He moved to a more modest hotel, as befitted his altered circumstances, but on Saturday morning he returned to the Madagascar and loitered in the lobby, ostentatiously bidding good-by to the acquaintances he had made there, whose demeanor, by the way, had noticeably cooled since he lost his job. He did not see Bobo again, but he had a distant glimpse of Kate passing through the lobby, a charming figure in her maid's dress with lace apron and cap, her eyes demurely cast down. Jack had the satisfaction, at length, of observing that he was the object of a covert interest on the part of a well-dressed, sharp-eyed youth of much the same type as those he had formerly known in "Mr. B.'s" service. When he was sure of this he took a taxi for the boat. Baldwin, who seemed to have a genuinely friendly feeling for him, offered to see him off, and Jack was not averse, of course, to having another witness to his actual departure. As he and Baldwin stood on the promenade deck of S.S. _Covenas_ Jack saw the sharp-eyed one watching from the crowd on the dock. Evidently his instructions were to make sure that Jack did not escape down the gang-plank at the last moment. Stanley Larkin was safely aboard the ship, but according to pre-arrangement he and Jack gave no sign of recognition.