lling on that ship to Natal would pay for it all. Also
I have weighed my own interest in the matter, for I am anxious that you
should start upon this hazardous journey of ours up country with a mind
absolutely free from self-reproach or any money care, for thus you will
be able to do me better service. Therefore I beg that you will say no
more of the episode. I have only one thing to add, namely that I have
myself bought up at par value a few of the debentures. The price of them
will pay the lawyers and the liquidation fees; moreover they give me a
status as a shareholder which will enable me to sue Mr. Jacob for his
fraud, to which business I have already issued instructions. For please
understand that I have not paid off any shares still standing in his
name or in those of his friends."

Here I may add that nothing ever came of this action, for the lawyers
found themselves unable to serve any writ upon that elusive person,
Mr. Jacob, who by then had probably adopted the name of some other
patriarch.

"Please put it all down as a rich man's whim," he concluded.

"I can't call that a whim which has returned L1,500 odd to my pocket
that I had lost upon a gamble, Lord Ragnall."

"Do you remember, Quatermain, how you won L250 upon a gamble at my place
and what you did with it, which sum probably represented to you twenty
or fifty times what it would to me? Also if that argument does not
appeal to you, may I remark that I do not expect you to give me your
services as a professional hunter and guide for nothing."

"Ah!" I answered, fixing on this point and ignoring the rest, "now
we come to business. If I may look upon this amount as salary, a very
handsome salary by the way, paid in advance, you taking the risks of my
dying or becoming incapacitated before it is earned, I will say no more
of the matter. If not I must refuse to accept what is an unearned gift."

"I confess, Quatermain, that I did not regard it in that light, though I
might have been willing to call it a retaining fee. However, do not let
us wrangle about money any more. We can always settle our accounts when
the bill is added up, if ever we reach so far. Now let us come to more
important details."

So we fell to discussing the scheme, route and details of our proposed
journey. Expenditure being practically no object, there were several
plans open to us. We might sail up the coast and go by Kilwa, as I had
done on the search for the Holy Flower, or we