"Crack on, and go broke; buck you up like anything!"

"Never knew you anything else, Joe."

A quavering cough, and out it had come:

"Now--in a word--won't your 'Island Navigation Company' buy my ships?"

A pause, a twinkle, a puff of smoke. "Make it worth my while!" He had said it in jest; and then, in a flash, the idea had come to him. Rosamund and her youngsters! What a chance to put something between them and destitution when he had joined the majority! And so he said:" We don't want your silly ships."

That claw of a hand waved in deprecation. "They're very good ships-- doing quite well. It's only my wretched health. If I were a strong man I shouldn't dream...."

"What d'you want for'em?" Good Lord! how he jumped if you asked him a plain question. The chap was as nervous as a guinea-fowl!

"Here are the figures--for the last four years. I think you'll agree that I couldn't ask less than seventy thousand."