“Yes,” Jimmy answered concisely.
“You don’t seem to have been very successful.”
“I dare say our appearance proves it,” Bethune smiled. “As a matter of fact, we haven’t cleared our expenses yet.”
Clay did not know what to think of this frankness; he imagined that if the man had any wish to extort the best terms he could, he would have been less candid. He saw that he must be cautious, for he had done a risky thing in asking Farquhar to meet him. He would rather have left the fellow alone and tried to destroy the wreck before they reached it; but he knew that he might not live to do so. He had had his warnings and he could not leave the matter open.
“It’s obvious that, as the salvage people abandoned the vessel, something has happened to give you a chance,” he said. “However, as you can’t have money enough to buy a proper outfit, you’re not likely to make much use of the opportunity. You want steam and the best diving gear, and I guess you found them too expensive.”
“We might do better if we had them,” Bethune admitted.
“Very well; are you willing to take a partner?”
There was uncompromising refusal in Jimmy’s face, but he did not speak, and Clay surmised that Bethune had given him a warning kick under the table. Bethune, in fact, had done so, and was thinking hard. To refuse would imply that they expected to succeed and that the salvage could be easily accomplished with such poor apparatus as they could obtain; but this was not advisable, because it would encourage Clay to anticipate them.
“We might consider a sleeping partner who’d be content with his profit on the money he supplied,” he said.
“That means you intend to keep the practical operations in your own hands?”