The marvel to me is, he
didn't turn you a blind eye. But Hales is a humane man. He did time
in his youth, but he's not the sort that you are, Foe--the sort that
could leave a man to die solitary and forsaken. Belike, too, the
prize was so great in his grasp that he didn't care how much, in
reason, might run through his fingers.
"--Listen! When you sighted him, he had made a careful offing of the
southern reefs, and had hauled up close to his wind. Where do you
suppose he was bound? He was fetching up to beat back to Valparaiso.
Being Yankee born and not a stocking-banker like old Buck Vliet, he
was all for Valparaiso with an island to sell to the Chilian
Government, and a concession and a syndicate fair in view. This
cargo of beads, cheap guns, sham jewellery, canned meats, and rum,
that he had aboard for the islands, would keep: the rum would even be
improved by a little Christian delay. But, if he sank it all, all
was nothing to the secret he carried.
"--And then you hove on his view, for partner: and he took you in.
. . . I hope you'll remember him gratefully after this, Foe.
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