Once escaped, once safe in Callao, I might approach my creditors with a good grace; and properly handled by a cunning agent, it was just possible they might accept some easy composition.

The hope recalled me to the bankruptcy.

It was strange, I reflected: often as I had questioned Jim, he had never obliged me with an answer.

In his haste for news about the wreck, my own no less legitimate curiosity had gone disappointed.

Hateful as the thought was to me, I must return at once and find out where I stood.
I left my dinner still unfinished, paying for the whole, of course, and tossing the waiter a gold piece.