’I’ll tell you one thing I have learned, and I had to go to Bristol to learn it. Orange, never trust a woman. I might have been all right now but for Polly Skittles. I was an ass, I allow that. I sent word to her at the Pig and Whistle where I was, and asked her to come to me and share my fortune with me. Well, she couldn’t keep her tongue in her head, but was bragging about the rich man she was going to marry, and so from hint to circumstance, and all was blown. The beaks were on the scent and after me, and I had to make a run for it. I got on board the "Susanna" for Port Isaac. I thought if I managed to get there, I might give them the slip again. And now, damn it all, here am I stranded at Boscastle, and when the news reaches Bristol that the "Susanna" has been lost, it will be known also that I am saved, and the beaks will be after me again.’ ’What has become of the money, Sampson?’ ’Oh, blast it! there is the mischief. I brought away all I had with me, and it has gone down in the "Susanna." I did have some trifle about me when I came ashore, but those who saved my life relieved me of my purse. That was natural, and I cannot complain; I’d have done the same. But I am mad to think that all the gold of Ophir lies at the bottom of the Atlantic.’ ’What is to be done now?’ ’You must provide me with money.’ ’Nonsense, Sampy. I—I have nothing. You know that well enough.’ ’I don’t know anything about it. You’re clever enough to get what you want. You hooked Captain Trecarrel fast enough when you had set your mind on having him.’ Orange became scarlet. ’You are cruel, Sampson; you are worse, you are brutal. I will have nothing more to say to you.’ ’Yes, you will,’ said he, insolently. ’If you don’t I’ll go myself to Welltown, and force that pale-faced fool to give me money.’ ’You know that she was plundered as well as others. Her money was sunk in Ophir.’ ’I know that she can take her husband’s money now. I suppose she has wit enough to keep the keys of his cash-box. Women are not such fools as to omit that.’ ’I cannot ask her for money; indeed I cannot, Sampy.’ ’Look here, Orange. How the devil am I to get away from this place without blunt? And how am I to live when I get away without ditto? You don’t suppose I can dig and plough, do you?’ ’I tell you I have nothing.’ ’Then you must get me something. I’ve been overhauling this office and I can find nothing in it. There is a drawer locked in the desk that I have not opened and examined, but I shall know its contents before long, even if I have to break the lock. I don’t, however, expect to get much out of it. A man does not leave money in such an uninhabited place as this.’ ’If I get you a little you must be content with that.’ ’If you get me a little I will be content with it only as long as it lasts, and when spent, then I shall want more.’