He had left all his spare cash with the Tesmans, in Samarang, to meet certain bills which would fall due while he was away on his cruise.
Anyhow, that money would not have been any more good to him than if it had been in the innermost depths of the infernal regions.

He said all this brusquely.

He looked with sudden disfavour at that noble forehead, at those great martial moustaches, at the tired eyes of the man sitting opposite him.

Who the devil was he?
What was he, Morrison, doing there, talking like this?
Morrison knew no more of Heyst than the rest of us trading in the Archipelago did.

Had the Swede suddenly risen and hit him on the nose, he could not have been taken more aback than when this stranger, this nondescript wanderer, said with a little bow across the table: "Oh! If that's the case I would be very happy if you'd allow me to be of use!" Morrison didn't understand.