Page:Barbour--Lost island.djvu/147

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LOST ISLAND

"But have n't you got a home?" David asked, thinking of the cottage at Brooklyn.

"Yes," said Tempest, grinning; "It's under my hat. The beauty of having a home like that is that you don't have a lot of fuss when the time comes for moving on. My baggage has consisted of a toothbrush and a banjo for years. Now I only have the toothbrush. I had to part with the banjo some time ago, owing to the fact that the landlady of a boarding-house considered it necessary for me to pay my bill. That was in England. It was a wrench, parting from the old banjo, because we'd had some good times together, especially when we had n't got the price of a ham sandwich for supper. It's wonderful what power a little music has to soothe the hungry beast in you. I often wonder whether somebody else with a healthy appetite takes that banjo for supper these days."

That night Dave slept for ten solid hours in Tempest's "guest chamber," awakening with a

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