"And then," Theriere had concluded, "when they think we
are a band of heroes, and the best friends they have on earth
we'll just naturally be in a position to grab the whole lot of
them, and collect ransoms on ten or fifteen instead of just
one."
"Bully!" exclaimed the mucker. "You sure got some bean,
mate."
As a matter of fact Theriere had had no intention of
carrying the matter as far as he had intimated to Billy except
as a last resort. He had been mightily smitten by the face and
fortune of Barbara Harding and had seen in the trend of
events a possible opportunity of so deeply obligating her
father and herself that when he paid court to her she might
fall a willing victim to his wiles. In this case he would be
obliged to risk nothing, and could make away with his accomplices
by explaining to Mr. Harding that he had been compelled to
concoct this other scheme to obtain their assistance
against Simms and Ward; then they could throw the three
into irons and all would be lovely; but now that fool Ward
had upset the whole thing by hitting upon this asinine fire
hoax as an excuse for boarding the Lotus in force, and had
further dampened Theriere's pet scheme by suggesting to Skipper
Simms the danger of Theriere being recognized as they
were boarding the Lotus and bringing suspicion upon them all
immediately.
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