“He’ll get his cash back,” the captain retorted. “I was stony broke when we parted company, and didn’t have enough money to pay off my crew. I had to raise cash fast to get back here with the equipment we needed to pull off the job.”
“Apparently, it never occurred to you to tell my brother the truth. Or to go to government authorities. That was because you expected to do me in and grab everything for yourself!”
“Oh, I considered it,” Captain Carter admitted with a shrug, “but the scheme offers risks. First, the Scouts loused up my deal by bringing the authorities down on my head. As a result, I got here with a minimum of the explosives I’ll need.”
“You intend to dynamite the lake?”
“That might be the general idea. Know of a better way to get rid of those man chewin’ fish?”
“It might work,” Mr. Monahan conceded grudgingly. “But the point is, what will the natives do when you set off an explosion?”
“I always was one to go for the big chance—take all, lose all, that’s me. First, I aim to set myself up as the big Chief, deposing old mud-in-the-mouth Panomuna. Once that’s done, I’ll say hocus-pocus and toss some grenades into this lake. That should do the trick.”
“You make it sound very easy,” Mr. Monahan replied. “Just how do you propose to depose Panomuna?”
“It’s simple,” Captain Carter boasted. He flashed a cigarette lighter. “I’ll do a snappy job of starting a fire with this little gadget.”
“You think of everything, captain!” Mr. Monahan remarked sarcastically.