I'd like to have a Montana sheriff's posse on
my heels for horse stealing, and I've prayed to be wrecked on a
desert island like Robinson Crusoe to see if I am man enough to
live it out. I want to stand my trial for murder and defend my
own case, and I want to be found by the eunuchs in the harem of
the Shah. I want to dive for pearls and scale the Matterhorn. I
want to know where the tunnel leads to--the tunnel down under the
Great Pyramid of Gizeh--and I'd love to shoot Niagara Falls in a
barrel."
"It sounds characteristic," murmured Harley, laying the slip on
the coffee table.
"It's true!" declared Brinn. "I said it and I meant it. I'm a
glutton for danger, Mr. Harley, and I'm going to tell you why.
Something happened to me seven years ago--"
"In India?"
"In India. Correct. Something happened to me, sir, which just
took the sunshine out of life. At the time I didn't know all it
meant. I've learned since. For seven years I have been flirting
with death and hoping to fall!"
Harley stared at him uncomprehendingly. "More than ever I fail to
understand."
"I can only ask you to be patient, Mr. Harley. Time is a
wonderful doctor, and I don't say that in seven years the old
wound hasn't healed a bit. But to-night you have, unknowingly,
undone all that time had done. I'm a man that has been down into
hell. I bought myself out. I thought I knew where the pit was
located.
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