Randolph’s heart leaped.  The appeal revived all his old boyish enthusiasm, with his secret loyalty to the man before him.  But he suddenly remembered his past illusions, and for an instant he hesitated.

“But the bank,” he stammered, scarce knowing what to say.

The captain smiled.  “I will pay you better than the bank; and at the end of four months, in whatever way this job turns out, if you still wish to return here, I will see that you are secured from any loss.  Perhaps you may be able to get a leave of absence.  But your real object must be kept a secret from every one.  Not a word of my existence or my purpose must be blown before I am ready.  You and Jack Redhill are all that know it now.”

“But you have a lawyer?” said the surprised Randolph.

“Not yet.  I’m my own lawyer in this matter until I get fairly under way.  I’ve studied the law enough to know that as soon as I prove that I’m alive the case must go on on account of my heir, whether I choose to cry quits or not.  And it’s just that that holds my hand.”

Randolph stared at the extraordinary man before him.  For a moment, as the strange story of his miraculous escape and his still more wonderful indifference to it all recurred to his mind, he felt a doubt of the narrator’s truthfulness or his sanity.  But another glance at the sailor’s frank eyes dispelled that momentary suspicion.  He held out his hand as frankly, and grasping Captain Dornton’s, said, “I will go.”

V

Randolph’s request for a four months’ leave of absence was granted with little objection and no curiosity.  He had acquired the confidence of his employers, and beyond Mr. Revelstoke’s curt surprise that a young fellow on the road to fortune should sacrifice so much time to irrelevant travel, and the remark, “But you know your own business best,” there was no comment.  It struck the young man, however, that Mr. Dingwall’s slight coolness on receiving the news might be attributed to a suspicion that he was following Miss Avondale, whom he had fancied Dingwall disliked, and he quickly made certain inquiries in regard to Miss Eversleigh and the possibility of his meeting her.  As, without intending it, and to his own surprise, he achieved a blush in so doing, which Dingwall noted, he received a gracious reply, and the suggestion that it was “quite proper” for him, on arriving, to send the young lady his card.

Captain Dornton, under the alias of “Captain Johns,” was ready to catch the next steamer to the Isthmus, and in two days they sailed.  The voyage was uneventful, and if Randolph had expected any enthusiasm on the part of the captain in the mission on which he was now fairly launched, he would have been disappointed.  Although his frankness was unchanged, he volunteered no confidences.  It was evident he was fully acquainted with the legal strength of his claim, yet he, as evidently, deferred