“But this is not business—not at all!” said he. “I did not intend to ask for financial assistance, gentlemen.”
“What did you intend, Mr. Allerton?” I inquired.
He refrained from answering the direct question at once, evidently revolving in his mind what he should say. Then he began as follows:
“Ever since I came aboard I have had a feeling that I am among friends; or, at least, congenial spirits. I am embarked on a most Quixotic adventure, gentlemen, and more and more I realize that in order to accomplish what I have set out to do I need assistance—assistance of a rare and practical sort that you are well qualified to furnish. But it is necessary, in order that you understand me and my proposition fully, that I should tell you my story in detail. If I have your kind permission I will at once do so.”
It began to sound interesting, especially in the ears of us three boys who loved adventure. I think he could read the eagerness in our eyes; but he looked earnestly at Captain Steele, who said:
“Fire ahead, Mr. Allerton.”
He obeyed, seeming to choose his words carefully, so as to make the relation as concise as possible.
“My home is in a small New Hampshire town where the Allertons have been the most important family for many generations. I was born in the same room—I think in the same bed—that my father and grandfather were born in. We had a large farm, or estate, and a fine old homestead that was, and is, the pride of the country. We have until recently been considered wealthy; but my poor father in some way acquired a speculative passion which speedily ruined him. On his death, while I was yet a cadet at Annapolis, it was found that all the land and investments he had inherited were gone; indeed, all that was left was the homestead with a few acres surrounding it.
“My mother and my two maiden sisters, one a confirmed invalid and both much older than I, found themselves wholly without resources to support themselves. In this emergency an old lawyer—a friend of the family, who I imagine has little keen ability in business matters, advised my mother to mortgage the place to secure funds for living expenses. It seemed really necessary, for the three forlorn women were unequal to the task of earning their living in any way.
“When this first fund was exhausted they mortgaged the homestead again, and still again; and although they had lived simply and economically, in twelve years the old place has become so plastered with mortgages that it is scarcely worth their face value. Little can be saved from a second lieutenant’s pay, yet I have been able to send something to the dear ones at home, which only had the effect of staving off the inevitable crisis for a time. Uncle Simeon, too, has helped them when he remembered it and had money; but he is a man quite impractical in money matters and the funds required for his electrical experiments are so great that he is nearly as poor as I am. Very foolishly he refuses to commercialize his inventions.