"Eligible!" broke in Blake. "No man is that, far as she's concerned,
unless it's you, Jimmy."

"Chuck it! You're always knocking yourself. But about this plan that's
bothering you? Out with it."

"That's talking! All right, here it is, straight--I want you to get
back aboard and steam away, fast as you can hike. You can run into
Port Mozambique, if you're going north, and arrange for a boat to call
by for me."

"You're daft!" cried Lord James. "Daft! Mad as a hatter! Can you fancy
for a moment I'd go off and leave you here?"

"Guess you can't help yourself, Jimmy. The most you can do is force me
to take to the jungle. You can't get me aboard. I tell you, I've
figured it all out. I won't go aboard and let her do--what she's
planning to do. You ought to know. Jimmy, that when I say a thing, I
mean it. She's not going to set eyes on me again until after she's
back in America. Is that plain?"

"Tom--old man! that's like you!" cried the Englishman, and again he
gripped the other's rough hand. "I see now what you're driving at.
It's a thing few men would have the bigness to do. You're giving up a
certainty, because your love for her is great enough, unselfish enough
to consider only her good. D'you fancy I could do such a thing? You're
risking everything. Shows you're fit, even for her!"

"It's little enough--for her!" put in Blake.