In spite of success, a certain depression seemed to have settled upon them all. Perhaps it was due to the oppressive heat; perhaps it was the inevitable reaction from excitement and victory. In the faint rays of the deck lantern Elliott could scarcely see his comrades’ faces, but by daylight they looked ten years older.
“This is the plan I had thought of,” replied Henninger, “though I hardly dared to mention it, as you say, till we had really won out. We’ll run into Durban and divide the gold on board. Some of it we will deposit in the banks there; some we’ll deposit in Cape Town, a little at a time, so as not to attract attention. We can express some of it to New York, and one or two of us can sail for England on the mail-steamer and take some of it along. The important thing is to scatter it, and I think we can get off quite unnoticed, if we are careful.”
“Just how much did we make of it?” asked Hawke, from the bottom of the companion-ladder.
“One million, seven hundred thousand, and odd,” replied Henninger, in an uninterested tone. “Nearly three hundred and fifty thousand apiece. Of course, if we can find anything of any of Sullivan’s relatives we’ll fix them up with his share.”
“What are you going to do with your share of it?” Bennett inquired, curiously.
Henninger gave a short laugh. “How do I know? Blow it in, I suppose, in some fool way, and go out looking for more. What I imagine I’m going to do is to live on it for the rest of my life, but I know myself better than that. It means an income of say fourteen thousand a year, doesn’t it? I’ve seen that much put on the turn of a card.”
“Don’t go and be a fool,” said Elliott “I’ve lived for most of my years on about one-tenth of fourteen thousand.”
“And I’ve lived for months on nothing at all. No, it’s no use handing out nice, sensible motherly advice, for there’s only one kind of life for me. I’ve got the fever in me, and I’ll be looking for the road to the end of the rainbow as long as I live, I fancy. Do you remember our conversation on the Atlantic liner, Elliott? I never said so much for myself before or since, and I won’t do it now, thanks. Talk to Hawke and Bennett; they haven’t been on the rainbow road so long.”
“You said that night that you wanted to win this game so as to get out of grafting,” Elliott retorted.
“Well, so I do—only I know I won’t,” said Henninger.