Page:Cruise of the Dry Dock.djvu/165

 alone!” “We 'ave enough of th' dock!” came an instant chorus.

Leonard held up a hand, “One moment. I want you to have a voice in this decision. An attempt to tow the dock will be highly adventurous, no doubt dangerous. You were not hired for any such service, and I wish to leave it to a vote.”

“Good, very good, sor! Let's 'ave th' question!”

“Just one moment. You must consider the salvage involved in this matter. If we save the schooner, we will receive as prize money about one-half her value. If we save the dock, we will receive about half her value. The dock is worth a million pounds, about five million dollars. So each man would receive for his portion, in event we salved the dock about… two hundred thousand dollars… a fortune.”

A profound silence fell over the diners. They hunched forward, staring fixedly out of sunburned, gross, dissipated faces. Longshores-men, the scum of London, who had worked all their lives for half a pound a week, gaped at the idea of two hundred thousand dollars.