He did not take his eyes off Betty.
“No,” he said, “for that is enough to see. It is more than enough. A fine young woman. Only once or twice in my life have I seen finer. Too fine to be wasted on a silly ineffectual. Yes, too fine to be won except by a man.”
He swung around on me and said with a wink:
“I have a feeling, Mr. Pitt, that an interesting voyage lies before us. And—and a short time ago I didn’t think anything could interest me much except gold—which means power.”
“Do you feel that we are going to find gold at this alleged gold-field in the alleged hidden country to which we are going?”
“Naturally. Else we would not be found there now.”
“Have you any positive reason for believing gold is to be found there? Not that story of the alleged miner,” I hastened on. “You don’t expect any reasoning being to accept that story as a reason. Have you any real reason for thinking there is gold at this so-called Kalmut Fiord?”
His eyebrows raised a trifle and he smiled as one might at a child who displays unexpected shrewdness.
“You do not have much confidence in the miner’s story, Mr. Pitt?” he asked.
“The maundering of a delirious man,” I retorted. “Surely you would not change the purpose of this expedition on such slender information as that.”