"I think I shall not stay. Tell me, how does a lad like you or me set about getting away from Madeira?"
"How much money have you?"
"As much as a gentleman needs."
"Not good enough," I echoed. "This is the one place in the world you cannot leave without paying for the privilege."
He looked down on my bitterness from between his ear flaps.
"Man," he said, "when dealing with people of a racial simplicity, never talk of paying. 'Tis in the nature of the lesser nationalities to bear the white man as a burden."
And I laughed. It was a blessing to laugh. I thought I had forgotten how.
"Tell me that after a month in Funchal," I said. "I will teach you a new way of cooking cactus and how to steal sugar cane when the moon is full."
He regarded me solemnly and shook his head.
"How long have you been here?"