nd
Asher almost burst his sides with laughter.

"And you, too, my dear eldest brother," said Jacob, bitterly, "you
have the advantage of me in years but not in wisdom. You thought,
like the rest of them, to get the money out of me, to help you to
follow me and watch me. So that was it, was it? But I was too much
for you, my dear brother, and you had to go elsewhere for your
draining and ditching."

"So I had, bad cess to you," said Asher; "and fourteen per cent. I
had to pay for the shabby loan I got."

At that Stean and Ross and Thurstan pricked up their ears.

"And did _you_ pay fourteen per cent.?" said Stean.

"I did, bad cess to Marky the Lord, and the grasping old miser behind
him, whoever he is."

And now it was Jacob's turn to look amazed.

"Wait," he said; "I don't like the look of you."

"Then shut your eyes," said Thurstan.

"Did Marky the Lord lend you the money?" asked Jacob of Asher.

"Ay, he did," said Asher.

"And _you_, too, said Jacob?" turning stiffly to Stean.

"Ay," said Stean.

"And _you_?" said Jacob, facing towards Ross.

"I darn say no," said Ross.

"And _you_, as well?" said Jacob, confronting Thurstan.

"Why not?" said Thurstan.

"The blockhead!" cried Jacob, "The scoundrel! It was _my_
money--mine--mine, I tell you, and he might as well have pitched it
into the sea."

Then the four men began to double their fists.

"Wait!" said Asher. "Are you the grasping young miser that asked
fourteen per cent.!"

"He is, clear enough," said Stean.

"Well," said Thurstan, "I really think--look you, boys, I really do
think, but I speak under correction--I really think, all things
considered, this Jacob is a damned rascal."

"I may have the advantage of him in years," said Asher, doubling up
his sleeves, "but if I can't----"

"Go to the devil," said Jacob, and he went below, boiling hot with
rage.

It was idle to keep up the quarrel, for very soon all six were out on
the high seas, bound to each other's company at bed and board, and
doomed to pass the better part of a fortnight together. So before
they came to Iceland they were good friends, after their fashion,
though that was perhaps the fashion of cat and mouse, and being
landed at Reykjavik they were once more in their old relations, with
Jacob as purse-bearer and spokesman.

"And now listen," said that thrifty person. "What's it saying? 'A
bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.' We've got our bird in the
hand, hav