"I have never even seen such an animal."
"Have you ever quarrelled with a man, and then fought a duel with him?"
"I have quarrelled with many men, but have never fought a duel."
"Have you ever been up in a balloon or down a coal-mine?"
"Neither one nor the other."
"Have you ever been pursued by Red Indians, or by wolves, or had a fight with a bear?"
"I have never been so fortunate. I wish, for your sake, that I had."
"Have you ever been shipwrecked?" Van Duren gave a little start, but did not immediately answer.
He slowly exhaled the smoke, in a long, thin curl, from between his lips before he spoke. "Yes--I have been shipwrecked," he said, at last.
Miriam's merry laugh rang out, and she clapped her hands for glee. "Every man knows some adventure worth telling," she said. "Yours is a shipwreck. I knew that I should find out what it was at last.--And now you will tell me all about it, won't you?" She looked at him with a pretty air of entreaty, and moved her chair a little closer to his.