"Don't talk of convenience!" cried I in an agony; "a man is drowning, I tell you!"
"We are busy fishing," they responded, "and cannot come."
"Never mind your fishing," I said, "I will give you more money than many a day's fishing will bring; only come—come at once!"
"How much money will you give us?"
"We cannot stay to discuss that now! Come, or it will be too late. I will give you five dollars" (then worth about thirty shillings in English money).
"We won't do it for that," replied the men. "Give us twenty dollars, and we will drag."
"I do not possess so much: do come quickly, and I will give you all I have!"
"How much may that be?"
“I don't know exactly, about fourteen dollars."
At last, but even then slowly enough, the boat was paddled over, and the net let down. Less than a minute sufficed to bring up the body of the missing man. The fishermen were clamorous and indignant because their exorbitant demand was delayed while efforts at resuscitation were being made. But all was in vain—life was extinct.