"Police!" said Hunston, contemptuously turning round to the speaker.
"What do you mean by that?"
"Why, I took you for the police in pursuit of me."
"What have you been doing?"
"Am I among friends?"
"We are brigands, but you can speak freely."
"Well, then, I am an unlucky wretch who has been forced to bolt away from his master and his living—and all for nothing."
"What do you call nothing?" said Toro.
"A trifling peccadillo, sir; nothing more, I assure you—merely a few pounds and a paltry bit of jewellery belonging to an Englishwoman of the name of Harkaway."
They all pricked up their ears at this name.