I gave Nares the correspondence, and he skimmed it
through.
"Now, captain," said I, "I want a fresh mind on this.
What does it mean?"
"It's large enough text," replied the captain. "It
means you're to stake your pile on Speedy, hand him
over all you can, and hold your tongue. I almost wish
you hadn't shown it me," he added wearily. "What with
the specie from the wreck and the opium-money, it comes
to a biggish deal."
"That's supposing that I do it?" said I.
"Exactly," said he, "supposing you do it."
"And there are pros and cons to that," I observed.
"There's San Quentin, to start in with," said the
captain; "and suppose you clear the penitentiary,
there's the nasty taste in the mouth. The figure's big
enough to make bad trouble, but it's not big enough to
be picturesque; and I should guess a man always feels
kind of small who has sold himself under six ciphers.
That would be my way, at least; there's an excitement
about a million that might carry me on; but the other
way, I should feel kind of lonely when I woke in bed.
Pages:
393
394
395
396
397
398
399
400
401
402
403
404
405
406
407
408
409
410
411
412
413
414
415
416
417