"You can tie your purse-strings with a hard knot, Uncle Moses, for you will
not have occasion to undo them again for a month," said Captain Ringgold.
"I don't quite like it."
"I don't know that I wonder at the generosity of our hosts," replied the
trustee, as he put his fat arm around the neck of Louis, who stood next to
him. "If this young man had been in the situation of Lord Tremlyn and Sir
Modava when you picked them up, I am very sure I should not have grumbled
if I had been called upon to disburse a sum equal to what this trip will
cost them, if they, or any one, had picked him up. There are two sides to
this question, Captain."
"Then you fight on the other side, though you hold the purse-strings," said
the commander.
"Would I give a hundred thousand dollars for saving Sir Louis's life? His
mother would give ten times that sum, and all the rest of the young man's
fortune. That is a matter about which we must not be mean; and the other
side take that view of it. I quite agree that not another word ought to be
said about expense," responded Uncle Moses, giving the young millionaire
another hug.
"Uncle Moses is not a bit like the miser that could not afford a candle at
his death-bed in the night," added Louis. "If they had done as much for us
as we have for them, I should be glad to take them all around the world,
and pay for an Italian band of music all the way.
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