"Why, Robert, what do you know of Adrian Van Zoon?"

"I was told by a dying man to beware of him, and I've always heard that
dying men speak the truth. And this was a dying man who was in a
position to know. I'm sure his advice was meant well and was based on
knowledge. I think, Mr. Huysman, that I shall have a large score to
settle with Adrian Van Zoon."

"Well, maybe you have. But tell me, lad, how you were lost and how you
came back."

So, Robert told the long story again, as he had told it to Elihu Strong,
though he knew that he was telling it now to one who took a deeper and
more personal interest in him than Colonel Strong, good friend though
the latter was. Jacobus Huysman had settled back into his usual calm,
smoking his long pipe, and interrupting at rare intervals with a short
question or two.

"It iss a wonderful story," he said, when Robert finished, "and I can
see that your time on the island wass not wholly lost. You gained
something there, Robert, my lad. I cannot tell just what it iss, but I
can see it in you."

"I feel that way myself, sir."

"No time iss ever lost by the right kind of a man. We can put every hour
to some profit, even if it iss not the kind of profit we first intended.
But I will not preach to one who hass just risen from the dead. Are you
sure, Robert, you will not have a dinner now? We have some splendid fish