I could not warn Laputa, for that would seal my own fate, even if I were believed.

It was clear that Laputa must go to Dupree's Drift, for otherwise I could not escape; and it was equally clear that I must find the means of spoiling the Portugoose's game.
A shadow fell across the sunlight, and I looked up to see the man I was thinking of standing before me.

He had a cigarette in his mouth, and his hands in the pockets of his riding-breeches.

He stood eyeing me with a curious smile on his face.
'Well, Mr Storekeeper,' he said, 'you and I have met before under pleasanter circumstances.' I said nothing, my mind being busy with what to do at the drift.
'We were shipmates, if I am not mistaken,' he said.

'I dare say you found it nicer work smoking on the after-deck than lying here in the sun.' Still I said nothing.