So thinking he opened the note.
“Hillo, he’s written it in red ink! How the devil did that happen? My ink was black. No matter, it seems he’s cleverer than we thought; he’s got some things concealed on his person yet, I fancy, although we searched him twice. No matter, let’s see what he says.
“What does this ‘D—w—g’ mean?” thought Capt. Jack, as he puzzled himself over the note.
“There is some mystery here, or why say ‘by our solemn oath’? Perhaps he belongs to some secret band, who knows? It was well I opened it, or perhaps I might have fallen into a trap!
“‘My former note explains all,’ does it? What other note has he written then, I wonder? How could he write unknown to the prison officers, eh?
“Ha, ha, Mr. Phillip Redgill, I begin to smell a rat,” thought Capt. Jack. “He has made friends with some one in the prison, no doubt; that cross-eyed turnkey, I shouldn’t wonder. Oh, if I catch the rascals up to any kind of tricks to thwart me in my plans, I’ll have them all hung, that I will.
“‘This night decides my fate,’ eh? Quite right there, Mr. Phillip; quite correct, and no mistake. ‘But I must be careful.’ Yes, Capt. Jack, you must be very careful of yourself in dealing with this tricky customer, for it strikes me that this Capt. Gingles may be some powerful friend of his, and an enemy to me.
“What shall I do.
“Shall I take the note myself, or let one of the ‘dozen’ do it? No, I must take it myself, for if this Gingles gives the money, ten to one my men would bolt off with it.”
For several hours Capt. Jack didn’t know how to act in the matter.