Valentine Williams

“ But bluff, I have often noticed, has a heartening effect upon the bluffer; and I was summoning all my strength to face whatever dark fate was in store for me. For I realized that, whether Grundt and his merry men found the treasure or not, either way my chances at long last of leaving the island alive were of the smallest.
Very coolly Clubfoot flicked the ash from his cigar.
“Quite, quite!” he observed carelessly. “But, for the time being, my friend, let us not forget that you have to forego that protection. An Engländer in the hand is worth two light cruisers in the Pacific. You take me?” ”

“ With his cigar stuck out at a defiant angle from his mouth, he planked his hairy hands palm downwards on his knees.
“I'll put the situation quite plainly before you!” he said. “You're in grave danger, Okewood. I've a rough lot of shipmates and they've got the treasure fever in their blood. My German companions have no liking for their dear English cousins. We have some survivors of Von Spee's squadron: they are absurdly prejudiced against you and your race. The brother of the gentleman who wrote that message in your pocket is with me. ”

“ Apparently Clubfoot believed that I might have information as to the hiding-place of the treasure additional to the indications in the message. Now I began to understand the meaning of his honeyed words, his deadly suavity. And I guessed that he could not afford to kill me—at least not yet.
“Grundt,” said I, speaking with all the decision I could command, “if you think I'm going to work in with you, you're making a big mistake. On the contrary, I'm going to show you what it means for a German, after the armistice, to lay hands on an Allied subject. ”