We now took our meals invariably on deck, not wishing to miss any of the strange and beautiful scenery constantly passing. On one occasion, while preparing some food in the galley, I was struck by what appeared to be a secret panel in the wall. Asking Torrence about it, he said:
"Push it up one inch, and then down two. Then if you press it gently inward it will slide open of itself."
I did so, and found that the aperture contained ten small canvas bags, in each of which, as Torrence told me, were a thousand English sovereigns.
"And what on earth have you brought this amount of coin here for?" I inquired in amazement.
Torrence simply said:
"Because I thought we might need it before we got home again. Gold talks, you know, and we may be able to communicate with these people through its medium. Gold is current throughout our world, and I wanted to see if it were good here. If it is valuable we may not expect to find any very abnormal deposits; if not, look out for a bonanza, provided the air ship holds together, so that we can carry it out with us. I have my theory about it."
"And what is that?" I asked.
"Why simply that our little stock of sovereigns won't buy bread enough for a square meal!" he answered.
XVII.
This circumstance reminded me of Torrence's financiering and the discovery of pearls upon the beach. It seemed trivial to concern ourselves about gold when precious stones were to be had with so slight an effort, and I asked why he should care to carry any of the yellow metal away with him.