He then fell to estimating the
probable amount the crew would receive. The dock was easily worth a
million pounds, or say five million dollars. It would lack one or two
hundred thousand totting up a full five million, but Leonard's
imagination was in no mood to balk at a paltry two hundred thousand more
or less. Say five million! The share of the salvors would amount to--say
fifty per cent, two and a half million. Distribute this among twelve
men. There he was, two hundred and eight thousand, three hundred and
thirty-three dollars and thirty-three cents. Or say two hundred thousand
dollars.
Madden drew a long breath and opened his eyes at his own figures. Was it
possible? He doubted it! He believed it!
He stared out of his open port onto the fantastic sea, amazed that a
great fortune should drift in to him from such a place. What would he
do? How should he live? He could go anywhere, do anything. There came to
him suddenly the precepts of his old teacher in economics at college: "A
fortune is a great moral responsibility. A rich man is a trustee of
society." Did he have the brains to wield this money and make it mean
something to the world? The thought of wealth always comes with a
question. A man's answer to that question determines whether he is a man
or a thing.
Pages:
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118