"Look here, John Ramsay, I like the cut of your jib, or you wouldn't be sitting there opposite me. I'm generally considered an 'old Bob Ridley' to cross, but any man'll tell you I make an up and down good friend. As I say, I've taken a fancy to you, and what's more, I've scraped together a bit of money here and there. Tell me one thing,--are you sure this, what's her outlandish name again--Juanita--is really fond of you?"
"And you're fool enough to think you can't be happy without her?"
"If it is foolish to think so, I am. What are you driving at?"
He scratched his head musingly. Presently he asked--
"How much d'you think it would cost to hire a schooner for the trip down to this island she talks about?"
"I don't know, because she hasn't told me where the island is."
"Well, now, that's what I call a pity, but at any rate"--here he leant towards me and dropped his voice almost to a whisper--"if you think your chance with her hangs on your finding money enough for that cruise dash my wig if I won't lend it to you."
If he had offered to produce the moon from his waistcoat pocket, and give me a bite of it, I could not have been more surprised. He was the last man in the world I should have expected to receive assistance from. So, for a second or two, I hardly knew what to say, then I managed to stammer out--
"That's awfully generous of you seeing you know nothing about me; but do you mean it? Honest Injun?"
In his excitement he had struggled down from his bed, and now stood before me as weird a picture in the half light as any man could wish to see.
"Well, there you are," he said; "there's my offer--take it or leave it, just as you please. Up to three hundred pounds the money's yours; come for it when you will."
"But I may never be able to repay you. Remember, bar what I've told you, you don't know anything of me."
"Never mind that; I like the cut of your jib, that's enough for me. If you can't repay me inside of a year you may before I die. At any rate, there it is, and good luck go with you. Only, remember your promise--not a word to Juanita of me; you'll find it safest in the long run to let her suppose you're doing it all yourself."
Had I only known then the reasons which actuated this surprising offer, I doubt if I should have been so quick to accept it; but not being able to see into the future, of course it was impossible for me to avert the trouble that was threatening my devoted head.