"Why not?" put in Ned. "There's really no limitation of object or time. Any of us may withdraw the deposit to-morrow without notice to any one, if he possess a solid conviction that--that he can't do without it? Do you all agree?"
There was a pause.
"It's d--d rot," said Ted Cruttenden at last sulkily, "but on those conditions I agree."
The Reverend Morris Pugh looked abstractedly over the golden haze in which the whole world was hidden.
"Money is the root of all evil," he began.
"Bosh!" interrupted Dr. Ramsay, springing to his feet. "I'm game! I shall take that money, if some of you aren't too previous, for the first real necessity----"
Ned Cruttenden sprang to his feet also, and laughed. "So will I, if I can only make up my mind as to what constitutes a 'real necessity.'"
The two stood challenging each other, then the red-brown eyes under the shaggy bronze-red eyebrows softened.
"Not much, I'll allow; very often bare life."
Ned stooped to secrete the tobacco-pouch murmuring, "Il faut vivre! Pour moi je n'en vois pas la necessité!"