“Yes. It’s a splendid life—at least so the novelists say.”
“Humph! I guess those novelists never saw the blue and black water, or they wouldn’t put down any such nonsense! No, sir! this is my first and last trip on the flowing sea. As Paddy said, ‘The next time I ship I’ll travel be land!’”
“Which means that when you return home you’ll do so overland.”
“If I’m ever allowed to return home, which I very much doubt, if this confounded storm keeps up.”
“Oh, it isn’t so bad, Gus.” Oliver mused for a moment, while Gus turned on the berth with a groan. “I wonder if Mr. Whyland is acquainted in San Francisco.”
“Why?”
“If he is, he may be able to give me considerable information about the place.”
“It isn’t likely that he ever heard of this Colonel Mendix.”
“Oh, I suppose not; but he will know about the mining exchange and all that, and that is what I must learn about. They must know something of Mendix. He couldn’t keep that mine a secret so long out there.”
“Suppose you can’t find out a single thing in San Francisco, what then?”