‘It is not possible that a man bent on robbery should lie down and get to sleep in the store, or that he should be left by his accomplices,’ said Blodget; ‘and with regard to his stupid lie about Brown, the man whom he killed, it was probably told because he did not know anything else to say.’
‘But,’ replied Monteagle, ‘in that case why did he address somebody as Brown when first starting from his sleep, and before he had time for premeditation?’
‘There is something in that,’ said Blodget, fixing his eyes very keenly upon those of Monteagle. ‘It would seem as if he expected to be called at a certain hour by this Brown.’
‘And why should he have been worked up to such a pitch of madness as to murder this Brown, if he did not feel that he was playing him false—’
‘No—no—Monteagle. You are reasoning for civilized people now. You don’t know these wild, unscrupulous fellows, who like Jamie had prowled about in the wilderness where no moral or religious instruction can reach them. I tell you that a man left wild, a prey to passions, is more to be feared than the tiger or the catamount.’
‘You seem to think very hard of this Irishman,’ said Monteagle.
‘Is he not a murderer?’
The youth was silent. Many things rushed upon his remembrance, and all through there was running a thread of mystery which induced him to say to himself, ‘How little do you know of what is going on in the world.’