the commander of a ship. As I see that you and I are not likely to understand each other I will give instructions to put the ship about at once, and take you back. It’s plain I made a mistake in having anything to do with you.”
I made as if to go.
“Stop, you idiot!”
“Mr. Batters? What did you observe?”
“I apologise! I apologise! What you say is right. I have been used to rummy ways. I can’t slough ’em at sight. Even a snake takes time to change its skin. But when you talk about the value I set on the things I’ve got here being nonsense, it’s you who’re mistaken, not me. Look at that!”
He held up a hideous-looking image. I took it from him, to find it heavier than I had expected.
“That’s gold—solid. Weighs every bit of twenty pounds, sixteen ounces to the pound. It’s got diamonds for eyes, twenty-five or thirty carats apiece; pearls for teeth, and its forehead is studded with opals. The stones in the rings, bracelets, and bangles are all real. I tell you what you’re holding in your hands is not worth far short of fifty thousand pounds.”
“It may be so. I’m no judge of such things. But what proof have I of the correctness of your statements?”
“That’s it; what proof have you? You’ve only my word. You may cut my heart out if I’m wrong. And what I say is this. When we get to London we’ll have them all sold, or else valued—whichever you please. You shall either have half the things—toss for first choice, then choose turn and turn about; or half of whatever they fetch.”
“You’ll give me a written undertaking to that effect?”
“I will.”
“And I can take an inventory of everything you have?”
