One fearful fancy took such complete possession of him, that day and night he was brooding on it.
"Once let me see a clear landing," he would mutter to himself, "once let me see my way straight to get ashore in a safe place, and then I'll make the 'Westward Ho!' too hot to hold them. Too hot—ah, yes, a precious deal too hot to hold them, that I would; for I would make up such a blaze as they would never be able to extinguish."
And so he began devoting himself to the arrangements for this villainous purpose.
What is more, he got all his plans mapped out, all ready for the execution of this most diabolical deed.
Little did the happy passengers in the "Westward Ho!" dream of the fatal danger threatening them.
They would not have enjoyed so many sweet slumbers, could they have had the faintest inkling of the truth—if they had suspected that near them was the villain Hunston, following them with a deadly purpose of revenge, which seemed to have increased year by year ever since the schooldays of Jack Harkaway.
CHAPTER XLI.
YOUNG JACK'S CONFIDENCES—HOW TWO INNOCENT CONSPIRATORS
REPENTED—A CHANCE SHOT STRIKES HOME.
"Harry," said young Jack, as they walked up and down the deck arm in arm, "I must tell you something that has been upon my mind for days past."