Fred decided that argument with a thick stick about four feet long.
The unusual spectacle of some one taking sides against his own men, whatever the rights or wrongs of it, so affected the chief that he entered our hut next morning disposed to hold us up for double promises of beads.

It was evident we had to deal with a born extortioner.

He would increase his demands with every fresh concession.
"Oh, what's the odds!" laughed Coutlass.

"Promise him anything! The only loads likely to come along this way for a year or two are Schillingschen's!" Fred told the chief he would think the matter over, and chased him out of the hut.

Coutlass had given us all a new idea in an instant, and he was the only one who did not see its point--he, the only one who did not give a snap of the fingers for the laws of any land! "D'you suppose--" "Too good to hope for!" "If he thinks we're dead-- ?" "And if he believes in that map--" "He'll not need the map.