Page:Rowland--The Mountain of Fears.djvu/94

  begging an oyster to eat, was squatting in front of this especial one, and caught sight of the pearl through the slit between the two shells."

Leyden turned to me suddenly. "What would you have done in such a case, Doctor?"

"Exactly what you did, I fancy," I answered.

"Yes," he replied, slowly; "I was justified. This Frenchman was detaining me through blackmail and forcing me to work like a dog for fear of being turned over to the Venezuelans. I kept the pearl and a week later managed to escape to Curaçao on a schooner. There I sold my pearl for eight hundred dollars, and as soon as I had the money I wrote to the gentleman who had broken up my expedition and offered him five hundred dollars for all my effects delivered to me at Curaçao. They came on the next Dutch steamer and were handed over to me by the captain upon my payment of the money. Three weeks later they were gracing the [ 78 ]