George Allan England

“ Just to get out of sight of you and Zanelli, anywhere!”
“We really can't let you out of our sight altogether; but we might camouflage ourselves a little, sir. Not a bad idea at all!” Jaccard spoke with the suavity that had always marked his manner before the trap was sprung. Now that all was going as if on rollers, and Wingate no longer be-slanged and cursed him, he had resumed his air of deference—though one sensed that it was the thinnest of masks. “The three of us might as well live ashore.” ”

“ Either Zanelli or I will be on duty there all the time. You've only got to punch that button, to get service—medical or otherwise. Fact is, I've done everything for your comfort here that I could think of.”
“I should think you might,” sneered the prisoner, “with me paying for it all, at anywhere from ten or twelve thousand dollars a day up!”
“It comes high, but we have to have it,” Jaccard mocked. “You'll admit there's everything here—or is going to be—that any reasonable man might want.”
“Yes,” said Wingate caustically, “everything, except the one thing all Americans insist on—liberty!” ”

“ You've got no will power left, no manhood. There's nothing ahead of you but to go nutty and die in a padded cell. Besides, what is it to me whether you're ruined or not? I'm looking out for myself. Well, what do you say? Buy yourself free with your whole wad, at once, or shall I get the code book again and frame out another touch on the bank?”
Unable to speak, Wingate choked and gasped. His wan face grew livid, distorted, horrible. His clawlike hands gripped the arms of the chair. A soul in hell, he writhed.
Jaccard laughed easily, and got up. ”

“ He explored most of the island, casually, as his strength permitted. He knew that the tender was hidden away in some cove or other, as a patrol, in case he should make any attempt to escape—though how that could possibly be done he failed to understand—but he never found any trace of the little vessel. Perhaps, thought he, it might lie in some creek or inlet in the swampy part of the island, which he dared not penetrate. Jaccard's remark about snakes stuck in his memory. Rattlers, cotton-mouthed moccasins, venomous Southern reptiles—no, the millionaire wanted no encounters with such! ”

“ No—better still, I'll wireless Zanelli to take you ashore.”
“What?” exclaimed Wingate, aghast.
“Oh, yes, I've thought it all out,” the captain went on. “It can be worked easily enough. By the time you get ashore, I'll be—elsewhere. Zanelli can take care of himself. He'll make his get-away, all right enough, and later I'll whack up with him.”
“You insufferable scoundrel!” snarled Wingate. “Give you all I've got, and ruin myself?”
“Well, why not? You're ruined, anyhow. What are you worth to yourself, to your wife and family, or to anybody else? You're a drag on them and on your business. ”

“ A morphine victim, if only his daily supply seems assured, adopts the maxim that sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof; and Wingate reasoned thus. At certain hours, however, especially at night, appalling terrors gripped the unfortunate man—presciences of disaster, of agony and death. ”

“ If you're satisfied here, all you've got to do is move in. It's pretty nearly complete, but I'll fix it up a bit more for you. All the comforts of home, you see! Here's your thermos bottle, for cold drinks. Here's your washstand, all slick as pins. You'll be snugger than the majority of bugs. ”

“ I'll have some of the wicker chairs from the yacht put in here—the library, too, and the phonograph. Your meals will be served here, hot or cold—vacuum containers, you know; though a man in your situation may not care much for eating. ”