So that our case was lamentably
plain; we had paid fifty thousand dollars, borne the
charges of the schooner, and paid fancy interest on
money; and if things went well with us, we might
realise fifteen per cent. of the first outlay. We were
not merely bankrupt, we were comic bankrupts--a fair
butt for jeering in the streets. I hope I bore the
blow with a good countenance; indeed, my mind had long
been quite made up, and since the day we found the
opium I had known the result. But the thought of Jim
and Mamie ached in me like a physical pain, and I
shrank from speech and companionship.
I was in this frame of mind when the captain proposed
that we should land upon the island. I saw he had
something to say, and only feared it might be
consolation, for I could just bear my grief, not
bungling sympathy; and yet I had no choice but to
accede to his proposal.
We walked a while along the beach in silence. The sun
overhead reverberated rays of heat; the staring sand,
the glaring lagoon, tortured our eyes; and the birds
and the boom of the far-away breakers made a savage
symphony.
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