第66章

“Specialrisks“becamefrequent。Ilethimexplainhimselfout。

ItappearedhewasalsodemandinganapologyforsomethingIhadsaid。NodoubtIhadinsultedhimgenerously。Atlastcamedefiniteoffers。Ibrokemysilenceandbargained。

“Pollack！”Icriedandhammeredthepartition。

“What’sup？”askedPollack。

Istatedthecaseconcisely。

Therecameasilence。

“He’saCard。”saidPollack。“Let’sgivehimhiscommission。I

don’tmind。”

“Eh？”Icried。

“IsaidhewasaCard，that’sall。”saidPollack。“I’mcoming。”

Heappearedinmydoorwayafaintwhitefigurejoinedourvehementwhisperings。

Wehadtobuythecaptainoff；wehadtopromisehimtenpercent。ofourproblematicalprofits。Weweretogivehimtenpercent。onwhatwesoldthecargoforoverandabovehislegitimatepay，andIfoundinmyout-bargainedanddisorderedstatesmallconsolationinthethoughtthatI，astheGordon-Nasmythexpedition，wastosellthestufftomyselfasBusinessOrganisations。Andhefurtherexasperatedmebyinsistingonhavingourbargaininwriting。“Intheformofaletter。”heinsisted。

“Allright。”Iacquiesced，“intheformofaletter。Heregoes！

Getalight！”

“Andtheapology。”hesaid，foldinguptheletter。

“Allright。”Isaid；“Apology。”

MyhandshookwithangerasIwrote，andafterwardsIcouldnotsleepforhateofhim。AtlastIgotup。Isuffered，Ifound，fromanunusualclumsiness。Istruckmytoeagainstmycabindoor，andcutmyselfasIshaved。Ifoundmyselfatlastpacingthedeckunderthedawninamoodofextremeexasperation。ThesunroseabruptlyandsplashedlightblindinglyintomyeyesandIsworeatthesun。Ifoundmyselfimaginingfreshobstacleswiththemenandtalkingaloudinanticipatoryrehearsaloftheconsequentrow。

Themalariaofthequapwasalreadyinmyblood。

SoonerorlatertheridiculousembargothatnowliesuponallthecoasteastwardofMordetIslandwillbeliftedandtherealityofthedepositsofquapascertained。Iamsurethatweweremerelytakingtheoutcropofastratumofnodulateddepositsthatdipsteeplyseaward。Thoseheapsweremerelythecrumbledoutcontentsoftwoirregularcavitiesintherock；theyareasnaturalasanytalusorheapofthatkind，andthemudalongtheedgeofthewaterformilesismixedwithquap，andisradio-activeandlifelessandfaintlyphosphorescentatnight。

ButthereaderwillfindthefullparticularsofmyimpressionofallthisintheGeologicalMagazineforOctober，l905，andtothatImustreferhim。There，too，hewillfindmyunconfirmedtheoriesofitsnature。IfIamrightitissomethingfarmoresignificantfromthescientificpointofviewthanthoseincidentalconstituentsofvariousraremetals，pitchblende，rutile，andthelike，uponwhichtherevolutionarydiscoveriesofthelastdecadearebased。Thosearejustlittlemolecularcentresofdisintegration，ofthatmysteriousdecayandrottingofthoseelements，elementsonceregardedasthemoststablethingsinnature。Butthereissomething——theonlywordthatcomesnearitisCANCEROUS——andthatisnotverynear，aboutthewholeofquap，somethingthatcreepsandlivesasadiseaselivesbydestroying；anelementalstirringanddisarrangement，incalculablymaleficentandstrange。

Thisisnoimaginativecomparisonofmi