“I am no seaman, but I know something about navigation.”
“You have commanded a vessel, haven’t you?”
“One of them was a whaler, and the other was a gunboat.”
“So I was told. Could you take a vessel from here to San Francisco?”
“I think I could,” said Frank, with a smile. “I brought the Stranger from Bellville around the Horn to ’Frisco.”
Fowler nodded his head, and sat looking at the floor for some minutes in silence. “Speaking of your paymaster,” said he, suddenly—“the reason I asked about him, was because I heard some of your crew wishing that he would make haste and come back. They have spent all their money, and want a new supply. I suppose Walter is able to pay them all their dues?”
“I suppose, too, that the contents of that little safe would make you and me rich.”
“I don’t know, I am sure. The captain keeps money enough with him to pay all expenses, but whether or not he has any more on hand, I don’t know. I have never inquired into the matter.”
“I was told that the safe was full of gold,” said Fowler. “I should think that Walter would be afraid to carry the key about with him.”
“I don’t know that he does,” returned Frank. “But even if he did, why should he be afraid?”
“Oh, because there are plenty of men here who would knock him over for one-tenth of the sum he is known to control. Money is everything in this world, isn’t it?”
“Some people seem to think so,” replied Frank.
“Well, good-by,” said the clerk, jumping up. “I may not be able to see you again before you go out to Wilbur’s, but I shall surely see you while you are there.”
Fowler went away, and Frank was glad to see him go. He did not resume his reading immediately, but sat for a long time looking down at the floor in a brown study. He recalled every word that had passed between himself and the consul’s clerk, and somehow he could not rid himself of the impression that the latter had some reasons for questioning him so closely, other than those he had given. Frank remembered what Barton had told him about the inquiries Waters had made in regard to the contents of Uncle Dick’s strong box, and he could not help connecting that circumstance with the interview he had just had with the consul’s clerk. But when he had done so he laughed at himself.