Both of them propose
to volunteer to attend you in your travels in the peninsula, if agreeable
to you."
"We should be delighted to have such conductors, and I shall gladly pay all
the expenses incurred," the commander declared, with an earnestness that
attested his sincerity.
"The expense is a matter of no consequence to the two gentlemen; for both
of them would be multimillionaires in America, though pounds don't count so
numerously as dollars. I am not at all sure they wouldn't gladly pay the
expenses of your party as well as their own; but I am not authorized to
speak on this point. I advise you not to mention expense to either of my
associates. But you can form no idea of the depths of gratitude in the
hearts of the three quartered in your cabin for the timely and skilful
service you rendered in saving us from certain death. I base my views on
what I have heard them say, and what I feel myself," said the doctor with
enthusiasm. "I am certain that any suggestion in regard to expense would
hurt the feelings of my friends and companions."
"I thank you, Dr. Ferrolan, for the frankness with which you have spoken,
and I shall assuredly profit by what you have said," added the commander.
"In what I said about expense I have been moved by what I should do myself
if I had the control of the matter, and were as able as Sir Modava and his
lordship to incur a heavy outlay; though I have a sufficient income to
support a bachelor, I am a poor man compared with them.
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