lly as you are avowedly out fortune-hunting. Besides, two
guineas a day is an altogether inadequate rate of remuneration for a
young fellow of your exceptional ability--why, before you had been
practising a month you would be earning four or five times that amount,
and you will be sacrificing that possibility for an indefinite period if
you elect to join forces with me. Therefore I contend that if any
profits of any kind accrue to the expedition, you are justly entitled to
them, and I shall not be content unless you consent to take them; indeed
if you refuse I shall be obliged to withdraw my offer altogether, much
as I shall regret having to do so."

Under those circumstances there was of course nothing more to be said;
and finally Dick agreed to Grosvenor's proposal in its entirety, the
more readily that, after all, when he came to reflect upon it, there was
much truth in what Grosvenor had said with regard to the possible loss
which Dick might sustain by attaching himself to the expedition and
burying himself in the wilds for a more or less indefinite period.

As time went on there could be no doubt as to the fact that Grosvenor
was genuinely pleased with the arrangement by which he had secured Dick
as his companion in the projected expedition, nor did he make any secret
of the fact that he regarded the terms of the agreement as eminently
satisfactory from his own point of view; while Dick, for his part, felt
that he had done not at all badly in securing a post at a salary of
sixty-five pounds a month, to be enjoyed the moment that he set foot on
shore. Moreover, that salary was a sure thing for at least six months,
and since Grosvenor insisted upon paying in advance for that period Dick
would be in a position to remit quite a nice little sum home to his
mother, immediately upon his arrival on South African soil. Both
parties to the agreement were thus equally satisfied, and thenceforward
devoted much of their time to elaborating their plans, in order that no
time should be lost upon their arrival.

Grosvenor, with the confidence of the inexperienced, was quite prepared
unhesitatingly to plunge into the very heart of darkest Africa with no
other companions than Dick, and a few Kafir or Hottentot "boys" as
servants; but Dick, although the younger of the two, had discretion
enough to understand that this would be a very unwise thing to do, and
that it would be altogether more prudent in every way to secure the
ser