All I do is to put it on a star, revolve the scale till it is opposite those figures on the map underneath, and presto! there you are, the ship's precise location!" There was a ring of triumph in his voice, and his eyes, clear blue this morning as the sea, were sparkling with light.
"You must be well up in mathematics," I said.

"Where did you go to school ?" "Never saw the inside of one, worse luck," was the answer.

"I had to dig it out for myself." "And why do you think I have made this thing ?" he demanded, abruptly.
"Dreaming to leave footprints on the sands of time ?" He laughed one of his horrible mocking laughs.

"Not at all.

To get it patented, to make money from it, to revel in piggishness with all night in while other men do the work.