nto your cause, but also one whose honesty is proof against
the temptation to appropriate to himself a yacht which will cost not far
short of forty thousand pounds. For you must remember that unless the
yacht's papers are absolutely in order, and her apparent ownership
unimpeachable, it will be no good at all; she must be, so far at least
as all documentary evidence goes, the indisputable property of the
supposititious man of whom we have been speaking: and, that being the
case, there will be nothing but his own inherent honesty to prevent him
from taking absolute possession of her and doing exactly as he pleases
with her, even to selling her, should he be so minded. Now, where are
you going to find a man whom you can trust to that extent?"

"I don't know, I'm sure," answered Montijo; "at least, I didn't until I
met you, Jack. But if you are willing to be the man--"

"Oh, nonsense, my dear fellow," interrupted Jack, "that won't do at all,
you know!"

"Why not?" asked Montijo. "Is it because you don't care to interfere in
Cuban affairs? I thought that perhaps, as you are obliged to take a
longish holiday, with change of scene and interests, an outdoor life,
and so on, you would rather enjoy the excitement--"

"Enjoy it?" echoed Singleton. "My dear fellow, `enjoy' is not the word,
I should simply revel in it; all the more because my sympathies are
wholly with the Cubans, while I--or rather my firm, have an old grudge
against the Spaniards, who once played us a very dirty trick, of which,
however, I need say nothing just now. No, it is not that; it is--"

"Well, what is it?" demanded Montijo, seeing that Jack paused
hesitatingly.

"So near as I can put it," answered Jack, "it is this. Your father
doesn't know me from Adam; and you only know as much as you learned of
me during the time that we were together at Dulwich. How then can you
possibly tell that I should behave on the square with you? How can you
tell that, after having been put into legal possession of the yacht, I
should not order you and your father ashore and forbid you both to ever
set foot upon her decks again?"

Montijo laughed joyously. "Never mind how I know it, Jack," he
answered. "I do know it, and that is enough. And if that is not a
sufficiently convincing argument for you, here is another. You will
admit that, in order to avoid the difficulty which I have pointed out,
we must trust somebody, mustn't we? Very well. Now I say that