Jim's answer was a note of two words: "My racket!" which, when the great man had perused, he shook his finger warningly and departed, I thought, with a sorrowful countenance.
Although Mr.Longhurst knew nothing of Bellairs, the shady lawyer knew all about the Wrecker Boss.

He had seen him enter the ring with manifest expectation; he saw him depart, and the bids continue, with manifest surprise and disappointment.

"Hullo," he plainly thought, "this is not the ring I'm fighting, then ?" And he determined to put on a spurt.
"Eighteen thousand," said he.
"And fifty," said Jim, taking a leaf out of his adversary's book.
"Twenty thousand," from Bellairs.
"And fifty," from Jim, with a little nervous titter.
And with one consent they returned to the old pace, only now it was Bellairs who took the hundreds, and Jim who did the fifty business.

But by this time our idea had gone abroad.

I could hear the word "opium" pass from mouth to mouth; and by the looks directed at us, I could see we were supposed to have some private information.