[Nautilus by Laura E. Richards]@TWC D-Link book
Nautilus

CHAPTER III
13/21

If there was, I should admire to see how they sounded on the reed organ.

It would make a pretty pin, if 't wasn't so big!" She was about to hand the shell back quietly--she looked like a rose-leaf in moonlight, this pretty Lena, but she was practical, and had little imagination--but John caught it from her with a swift yet timorous motion.
"I want to hear it," he said, his pleading eyes on the Skipper's face.
"I want to hear what it says!" The dark man nodded and smiled; but a moment later, seeing the lean fingers of Mr.Endymion Scraper about to clutch the treasure, he took it quietly in his own hand again, and turned to the old man.
"Gentleman spoke to me ?" he inquired, blandly.
The gentleman had not spoken, but had made a series of gasps and grunts, expressive of extreme impatience and eagerness.
"That's a poor specimen," he cried now, eying the shell greedily, "a very poor specimen! What do you expect to get for it, hey ?" "A perfect specimen!" replied the Skipper, calmly.

"The gentleman has but to look at it closer"-- and he held it nearer to the greedy corkscrew eyes--"to see that it is a rare specimen, more perfect than often seen in museums.

I brought up this shell myself, with care choosing it; its price is five dollars." Mr.Endymion Scraper gave a scream, which he tried to turn into a disdainful chuckle.
"Five cents would be nearer it!" he cried, angrily.

"Think we're all fools down here, hey?
Go 'long with your five dollars." "No, Senor, not all fools!" said the Skipper.


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