"I guess it was rather I that broke down," says Loudon.
"Head not big enough."
"Ever try the blackmail?" inquired Havens.
"Simple as you see me sitting here!" responded Dodd.
"Good business?"
"Well, I'm not a lucky man, you see," returned the
stranger. "It ought to have been good."
"You had a secret?" asked the Glasgow man.
"As big as the State of Texas."
"And the other man was rich?"
"He wasn't exactly Jay Gould, but I guess he could buy
these islands if he wanted."
"Why, what was wrong, then? Couldn't you get hands on
him?"
"It took time, but I had him cornered at last; and
then----
"What then?"
"The speculation turned bottom up. I became the man's
bosom friend."
"The deuce you did!"
"He couldn't have been particular, you mean?" asked
Dodd pleasantly. "Well, no; he's a man of rather large
sympathies."
"If you're done talking nonsense, Loudon," said Havens,
"let's be getting to my place for dinner."
Outside, the night was full of the roaring of the surf.
Scattered lights glowed in the green thicket. Native
women came by twos and threes out of the darkness,
smiled and ogled the two whites, perhaps wooed them
with a strain of laughter, and went by again,
bequeathing to the air a heady perfume of palm-oil and
frangipani blossom.
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