He bent across the table,
leaning on his curved fingers, spread apart, like claws.
"Ah," he said slowly. "That is good. You would not betray a man who
trusted you. You mean that?"
"I do."
"Very well, then. I offer you the position of second mate on my yacht,
the _Aphrodite_. She is a sailing vessel, with auxiliary steam, a
seaworthy craft, of two hundred and eighty tons. I pay well, but I ask
good service. The salary is L20 per month, all found. The captain, two
officers, and fourteen men receive ten per cent of the gross profits of
a certain undertaking--the gross profits, remember--divided in
proportion to their wages. If successful, your share, small though it
sounds, will be large enough to make you a comparatively rich man. Do
you accept, yes?"
Dick Royson felt his heart thumping against his ribs. "Why, of course,
I accept," he cried. "But your terms are so generous, to a man without
a profession, that I must ask you one thing? Is the affair such as an
honest man can take part in?"
"It is.
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