"
"Marvellous!"
"And I don't think you have any money coming to you, either."
"Mighty intellect!"
"I think you are no good."
"You're not alone in that belief. But what has all that to do with
my sleeping aboard the Santa Cruz?"
"If you want to stay aboard, you'll have to pay in advance. You're
not so foolish as you try to make out."
"Those are glorious words of praise," Kirk acknowledged, "but I'll
make a bet with you."
"What?"
"That you change your mind. I am just as foolish as I appear, and
I'll prove it. I'll bet my ring against your shirts that my name
is Anthony, and if I don't come through with the price of a ticket
to New York you can keep the ring."
"Very well, but meanwhile I don't intend to be stuck for your
bill." The purser was a man of admirable caution.
"All right, then, I shall throw myself upon the mercy of strangers
and take your belongings with me."
By this time the ship was being warped into her berth, and the
dock was crowded. There were little brown customs inspectors in
khaki, little brown policemen in blue, little brown merchants in
white, and huge black Jamaicans in all colors of rags. Here and
there moved a bronzed, businesslike American, and Anthony noticed
that for the most part these were clean-cut, aggressive-looking
young fellows.
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