"Aye, aye."
"Nay," cried the girl, with superhuman energy, "these two poor boys have shown themselves better men than most here present. See how they bear their fate. Be men, then, and if they must die, let them die like soldiers."
An animated discussion ensued on this, and finally it was agreed that the hapless boys should die next morning with the traitor Lirico.
CHAPTER XXIV.
QUALMS—THE EVE OF THE END—A SAD VIGIL
Hunston did not close his eyes throughout the night.
The words of Boulgaris rang in his ear like a knell.
Lirico was to die for concealing a part of the spoil which he had made.
What of the four hundred pounds which he, Hunston, had kept back out of the sum fixed upon for the ransom of the two boys, and which Harkaway had deposited in the spot agreed upon?