Page:Frank Stockton--Adventures of Captain Horn.djvu/133

ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN HORN said, "when he made such a proposition to me, but I must say I did not expect anything of the kind from you. Do you think, even if we had a bishop with us, that I would propose to marry any woman in the world for the sake of making her what that fellow called the 'boss' of this party?"

It was now Mrs. Cliff's turn to be impatient. "That boss business is a very small matter," she replied, "although, of course, somebody must be head while you are gone, and it was about this that I came to see you. But after hearing what that colored man said, I want to speak of something far more important, which I have been thinking and thinking about, and to which I could see no head or tail until a minute ago. Before I go on, I want you to answer me this question: If you are lost at sea, and never come back, what is to become of that treasure? It is yours now, as you let us know plainly enough, but whose will it be if you should die? It may seem like a selfish and sordid thing for me to talk to you in this way just before you start on such an expedition, but I am a business woman,—since my husband's death I have been obliged to be that, and I look at things with a business eye. Have you considered this matter?"

"Yes, I have," answered the captain, "very seriously."

"And so have I," said Mrs. Cliff. "Whether Edna has or not I don't know, for she has said nothing to me. Now, we are not related to you, and, of course, have no claim upon you in that way, but I do think that, as we have all suffered together, and gone through dangers together, we all ought to share, in some degree at least, in good things as well as bad ones." 121