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"Don't
you see what this British officer says about the
safety? Don't you see the cargo's valued at ten
thousand? Schooners are begging just now; I can get my
pick of them at two hundred and fifty a month; and how
does that foot up? It looks like three hundred per
cent. to me."
"You forget," I objected, "the captain himself declares
the rice is damaged."
"That's a point, I know," admitted Jim. "But the rice
is the sluggish article, anyway; it's little more
account than ballast; it's the tea and silks that I
look to: all we have to find is the proportion, and one
look at the manifest will settle that. I've rung up
Lloyd's on purpose; the captain is to meet me there in
an hour, and then I'll be as posted on that brig as if
I built her. Besides, you've no idea what pickings
there are about a wreck--copper, lead, rigging,
anchors, chains, even the crockery, Loudon!"
"You seem to me to forget one trifle," said I. "Before
you pick that wreck you've got to buy her, and how much
will she cost?"
"One hundred dollars," replied Jim, with the
promptitude of an automaton.


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