For the life of him he could not repress the utter incredulity he felt at this astounding statement.
"I don't think you believe me," she said, smiling the ghost of a smile. "I know it sounds impossible, but it's true. He never meant for me to leave there alive. He was going to do away with me so as to leave no trace."
Suddenly he knew that she was speaking the truth.
"Esther—do you know what you're saying?"
Cold horror gripped him. It seemed unthinkable that this tender young creature so close to him had lately passed through the hell she described. In a daze he listened to the dry, hoarse voice as it continued:
"Oh, I know all right. He kept me stupefied. I never knew how I got there; I didn't even know I was there … it was only through an accident that I came to at all, otherwise… Such a silly accident! All because Captain Holliday didn't give me the injection properly."
"Holliday?"
He wondered if he had heard aright. She did not answer, going off, at first softly, then with increasing vehemence into convulsions of laughter that shook her from head to foot. He clasped her close in his arms and held her to him, smoothing her rough curls and whispering:
"Steady on, Esther dear! It's all over now. You're safe with me; I sha'n't let anything happen to you!"
She subsided at last, the tears spilling over her lashes and down her cheeks unheeded. He wiped them away, realising how spent she was with the effort of relating, even so briefly, her terrible experience.