Captain Cable shook hands, and clattered out of the cabin in his great
sea-boots.

Half an hour later the _Olaf_ was alone on that shallow sea, which
seemed lonelier and more silent than ever; for when a strong man quits a
room he often bequeaths a sudden silence to those he leaves behind.




IV

TWO OF A TRADE

"His face reminds one of a sunny graveyard," a witty Frenchwoman had
once said of a man named Paul Deulin. And it is probable that Deulin
alone could have understood what she meant. Those who think in French
have a trick of putting great thoughts into a little compass, and, as
the hollow ball of talk is tossing to and fro, it sometimes rings for a
moment in a deeper note than many ears are tuned to catch.

The careless word seized the attention of one man who happened to hear
it--Reginald Cartoner, a listener, not a talker--and made that man Paul
Deulin's friend for the rest of his life. As there is _point de culte
sans mystere_, so also there can be no lasting friendship without
reserve. And although these two men had met in many parts of the
world--although they had in common more languages than may be counted on
the fingers--they knew but little of each other.