best friend I had--perhaps the only friend I
had--died. He left me his chart and papers. The atoll is known, but
uncharted, because it is far outside the routes. I have no actual proofs
that there will be shell in the lagoon; I have only my friend's word--the
word of a man as honest as sunshine. Where this shell lies there is never
any law. Some pearl thiever may have fallen upon the shell since my friend
discovered it."

"In that case," said Cleigh, "I lose?"

"Frankly, yes! All financial ventures are attended by certain risks."

"Money? Why didn't you come to me for that?"

"What! To you?"

Cunningham's astonishment was perfect.

"Yes. There was a time when I would have staked a good deal on your
word."

Cunningham rested his elbows on the table and clutched his hair--a
despairing gesture.

"No use! I can't get it to you! I can't make you people understand! It
isn't the pearls, it's the game; it's all the things that go toward the
pearls. I want to put over a game no man ever played before."

Jane began to find herself again drawn toward him, but no longer with the
feeling of unsettled mystery. She knew now why he drew her. He was the
male of the species to which she belonged--the out-trailer, the hater of
humdrum, of dull orbits and of routine. The thrilling years he had
spent--business! This was the adventure of which he had always dreamed,
and since it would never arrive as a sequence, he had proceeded to
dramatize it! He was Tom Sawyer grown up; and for a raft on the
Mississippi substitute a seagoing yacht. There was then in this
matter-of-fact world such a man, and he sat across the table from her!

"Supposing I had come to you and you had advanced the money?" said
Cunningham, earnestly. "All cut and dried, not a thrill, not a laugh,
nothing but the pearls! I have never had a boyhood dream realized but,
hang it, I'm going to realize this one!" He struck the table violently.
"Set the British after me, and you'll never see this stuff again. You'll
learn whether my word is worth anything or not. Lay off for eight months,
and if your treasures are not yours again within that time you won't have
to chase me. I'll come to you and have the tooth pulled without gas."

Dennison's eyes softened a little. Neither had he realized any of his
boyhood dreams. For all that, the fellow was as mad as a hatter.

"Of course I'm a colossal ass, and half the fun is knowing that I am." The
banter returned to Cunningham's