“A little shaky, a little t-tongue-tied yet. I was in the—the w-water half an hour, and it d-didn’t d-do me any good. Better, though, than when I used to s-study you through my eyeglasses and t-try to size you up on that damned steamer.”
“So you weren’t unconscious at all. I half suspected it at times,” Lang exclaimed.
“Oh, partly, partly. I was d-dopy a good d-deal. I must have had”—he stopped and seemed to collect himself—“some sort of fit or stroke ashore, when those pirates were—er—cross-questioning me. I didn’t know about being taken to sea—couldn’t make out where I was. Came to myself slowly—couldn’t move at first—afraid to try to speak—decided it was safest to play dead——”
“I think you shouldn’t talk much now,” Lang interposed. “You can tell me all the story when you’re a bit better.”
“Then when I tried to speak to you at the last, wanting to give a message to Eva, I couldn’t get the words together. The——”
“Hush!” Eva put in. “I’ll tell it. Father had seen Floyd a few days before at Biloxi, and knew that he must be hunting him. So he buried the things hurriedly, for fear of anything happening, and he painted the negro. He knew that I would catch the idea. It used to be a game with us, you know—puzzle pictures. Father has been an artist all his life. Isn’t it strange? He was at the bungalow all the time we were in Mobile, and we didn’t know it. There had been some mistake about the dates. He didn’t expect me South till two weeks later—but we’re mixing the story all up. Of course you know why he sent for you now?”
“Well, I might make a guess,” Lang admitted.
“It’s like this,” Morrison began again, haltingly. “I’m getting better fast, but the doctor here says I can’t travel for a week, and that I must avoid exertion for a month. I can guide, but I won’t be much good else. Eva says you’re temporarily out of medical work. Fate has thrown you in with us, and you might as well go the rest of the way. I pay expenses; you’re chief mate, and you get a one-third share of whatever we find. What do you say?”
“There isn’t any doubt about what I’ll say,” said Lang. “It’s a remarkably generous proposition. Too generous, I’m afraid, for I don’t know anything about mining work. But I’ll do my best, and I’ll climb rocks and chop ice till I drop. I suppose,” he added cautiously, “that there isn’t any doubt about the genuineness of the emeralds? I could hardly believe the story.”
“Absolutely none. I had them ex-examined by the best men in Valparaiso. In fact, the word g-got out that I’d made an emerald strike, and I had all sorts of fellows after me. When we start again we’ll have to be secret or we’ll have a fleet trailing us down the coast.”