'because I see it in
your jacket pocket last night when I was dryin' your duds. I'll take a
check.'

"He started to say somethin' and then stopped. After a spell he seemed
to give in all to once.

"'Very good,' he says. 'You get my breakfast ready and I'll make out the
check.'

"That breakfast cost him twenty-five dollars; thirty really, because he
added another five for an extry cup of coffee. I told him to make the
check payable to 'Bearer,' as 'twas quicker to write than 'Solomon.'

"He had two more meals that day and at bedtime I had his checks
amountin' to ninety-five dollars. The fog stayed with us all the time
and nobody come to pick us up. And the next mornin's outlook was just as
bad, bein' a drizzlin' rain and a high wind. The mainland beach was in
sight but that's all except salt water and rain.

"He was surprisin'ly cheerful all that day, eatin' like a horse
and givin' up his meal checks without a whimper. If things had been
different from what they was I'd have felt like a mean sneak thief.
BEIN' as they was, I counted up the hundred and ten I'd made that day
without a pinch of conscience.

"This was a Wednesday. On Thursday, the third day of our Robinson
Crusoe business, the weather was still thick, though there was signs of
clearin'. Fatty come to me after breakfast--which cost him thirty-five,
payable, as usual, to 'Bearer'--with almost a grin on his big face.

"'Berry,' he says, 'I owe you an apology. I thought you was a green
Rube, like the rest down here, but you're as sharp as they make 'em. I
ain't the man to squeal when I get let in on a bad deal, and the chap
who can work me for a sucker is entitled to all he can make. But this
pay-as-you-go business is too slow and troublesome. What'll you take for
the rest of the grub in the locker there, spot cash? Be white, and make
a fair price.'

"I'd been expectin' somethin' like this, and I was ready for him.

"'Two hundred and sixty-five dollars,' says I, prompt.

"He done a little figgerin'. 'Well, allowin' that I have to put up on
this heap of desolation for the better part of four days more, that's
cheap, accordin' to your former rates,' he says. 'I'll go you. But why
not make it two fifty, even?'

"'Two hundred and sixty-five's my price,' says I. So he handed over
another 'Bearer' check, and his board bill was paid for a week.

"Friday was a fine day, clear as a bell. Me and Williams had a real
picnicky, sociable time. Livin' outdoor th