It was very
good talk, but we didn't do that. I stipulated for samples of his stuff
for analysis, and he consented--reluctantly.
I think, on the whole, he would rather I didn't examine samples. He made
a motion pocketwards, that gave us an invincible persuasion that he
had a sample upon him, and that at the last instant he decided not to
produce it prematurely.
There was evidently a curious strain of secretiveness in him. He didn't
like to give us samples, and he wouldn't indicate within three hundred
miles the position of this Mordet Island of his. He had it clear in his
mind that he had a secret of immense value, and he had no idea at all of
just how far he ought to go with business people. And so presently,
to gain time for these hesitations of his, he began to talk of other
things. He talked very well. He talked of the Dutch East Indies and of
the Congo, of Portuguese East Africa and Paraguay, of Malays and rich
Chinese merchants, Dyaks and negroes and the spread of the Mahometan
world in Africa to-day. And all this time he was trying to judge if
we were good enough to trust with his adventure.
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