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 "Well, he won't take us for a couple of bloated millionaires, anyway, if he has two eyes in his head," Tempest went on. "For the present you 've got to lie on a mattress outside in the sun and be as comfortable as possible. The weather is beautiful now. It's so long since I entertained a guest that I'm enjoying the novelty of it."

In spite of the sudden change in his circumstances and the exciting incidents which he had just passed through, Dave felt very peaceful lying there and listening to the easy chatter of his new friend, who had a wonderful fund of tales to tell about many lands. He had drifted almost all over the surface of the globe, picking up a living in various casual ways, from diamond-mining in Kimberley to salmon-fishing for the canneries. He spoke very modestly of what he had done, as though nothing was more natural than to wander off a few thousand miles and take up the threads of life there just as though he had always lived in that particular spot.