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Rh "Fair," Chester replied. Whatever his faults were, he had no stomach for lying. "But I've no doubt the place will be all right eventually. The only thing that troubles me is whether I'll be able to hang out till the dividends begin."

He paused, but Moniz did not speak. This was food for thought for the Portuguese. To begin with, he had never suspected Chester Trent was short of money, and to go on with here was an answer to a question that had often bothered him. There would have been no difficulty about finances if Trent had found pearls in any quantity. Possibly, thought Moniz, his own somewhat exciting but entirely unprofitable experiments off. the reef had been unprofitable because there were no pearls there to be found. In that case the interest Moniz would have in the whole affair would drop down to zero.

"A lot of work has been put in there, you know," said Chester.

"You put in a lot of work off the reef without much better results," observed Moniz.

"You mean pearling," Chester said, screwing up his eyebrows.

"Yes. You fooled me over that."

"Fooled you?"

"In a way—yes. Don't you remember when I was over on Tao Tao some time ago you gave