"You had chosen the site too cleverly; the
fern-brake would have hidden us, anyway. Let that pass."
"But there was the bonfire and the look-out, both unattended."
"Oh, if we're to start re-arguing arguments that kept us tired for
about three years," answered Foe, "you built the bonfire on the wrong
slope, as I always told you. And I'd cut down your flagstaff."
"We won't quarrel about _that_, since here we are," Farrell retorted
with a savage grin. "So I'll drop it and get on with the story.
And the next thing to be mentioned in the story, Foe, is that for a
clever man, you're about the biggest fool alive. You have no end of
knowledge in you, which I admired on the island. The way you found
all kinds of plants and things and turned them to account, and
explained to me how traders and practical chemists could make
fortunes out of them--why, it was wonderful. But it wasn't so
wonderful to me as that, with all this knowledge, you'd never turned
it to account, so to speak, when, with a third of it, at your age,
I'd have been a millionaire. And the ways and manners of a gentleman
you had, too; which I could easier set about copying--as I did.
Pages:
436
437
438
439
440
441
442
443
444
445
446
447
448
449
450
451
452
453
454
455
456
457
458
459
460