"
"I don't see why," Phinuit argued: "it's an open and shut proposition,
if ever there was one."
"But you are asking me to renounce something upon which I have set much
store for many years, monsieur. I can't be expected to do that in an
hour or even a day."
You shall have your answer, I promise you, by the time we make our
landfall--perhaps before."
"The sooner, the better."
"Are you sure, monsieur? But one thought it was the tortoise who won
the famous race."
"Take all the time you need," Captain Monk conceded generously, "to
come to a sensible decision."
"But how good you are to me, monsieur!"
XXV
THE MALCONTENT
Singular though the statement may seem, when one remembers the
conditions that circumscribed his freedom of action on board the
Sybarite, that he stood utterly alone in that company of conspirators
and their creatures, alone and unarmed, with never a friend to guard
his back or even to whisper him one word of counsel, warning or
encouragement, with only his naked wits and hands to fortify and
sustain his heart: it is still no exaggeration to say that Lanyard got
an extraordinary amount of private diversion out of those last few
days.
Pages:
374
375
376
377
378
379
380
381
382
383
384
385
386
387
388
389
390
391
392
393
394
395
396
397
398