I pointed at the scarlet bush.
"Do you see that plant with the red flowers?" said I. "I have a fancy to take a stroll in that direction and see how far we can get up the cliff."
Garth struck his palm with his clenched fist.
"Okewood!" he exclaimed, "By Jove! I believe you're on to something!"
"I am!" I answered rashly and cursed myself for a babbling fool. For Garth, his curiosity afire, forthwith plied me with questions.
"Don't press me just yet!" I countered. "I'm still groping in the dark. You shall know all in good time!"
But he would not be pacified. Two heads were better than one, he argued, and very often a clear-sighted, shrewd man of business could see a deal farther than an expert.
"Well," I said, "for all that, I think I'll keep my own counsel until we've looked round a bit more!"
At that Garth became huffy. We were partners in this venture, he reminded me, and we must have no secrets. He did not think he should have to recall that fact to my mind.
The stifling heat and the fatigue of our long climb had made us both a bit cross, I suppose. At any rate I was pretty short with him.