"
Schmidt looked up and grinned.
"So that's how she's blowin', is it?" he asked. "Why didn't you
say so in the first place? Wot's in it for me if I help you?"
"She ought to pay us well to get her back to civilization," explained
Schneider, "an' I tell you what I'll do. I'll just whack up with
the two men that helps me. I'll take half an' they can divide the
other half--you an' whoever the other bloke is. I'm sick of this
place, an' the sooner I get out of it the better I'll like it.
What do you say?"
"Suits me," replied Schmidt. "I wouldn't know how to reach the
mainland myself, an' know that none o' the other fellows would,
so's you're the only one that knows anything of navigation you're
the fellow I'll tie to."
Momulla the Maori pricked up his ears. He had a smattering of every
tongue that is spoken upon the seas, and more than a few times had
he sailed on English ships, so that he understood fairly well all
that had passed between Schneider and Schmidt since he had stumbled
upon them.
He rose to his feet and stepped into the clearing. Schneider and
his companion started as nervously as though a ghost had risen
before them. Schneider reached for his revolver. Momulla raised
his right hand, palm forward, as a sign of his pacific intentions.
"I am a friend," he said.
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