"I do. But is it possible that the villain has the audacity to venture here?"
"No; that is just what he would not do. He took to the water, being hardly pressed by his enemies."
"Why, if your men knew who it was, they would tear him piecemeal."
"Exactly; and that's what I wanted to speak of to you, doctor. We must take every care not to let them know."
"Really, you are as careful of him as though he were a cherished friend."
"Not quite," answered Harkaway; "only I don't care to drop on a helpless enemy, even such a viper as this Hunston."
"But he is such an utterly bad lot."
"True; and I should not feel the slightest compunction at taking his life in a tussle, in a fair stand-up fight; but what I can't do, is taking a man's life when he is helpless at my mercy."
The doctor saw that Harkaway did not wish to discuss it further, and so he contented himself with obeying orders; and so Hunston got restored to health in the ship of his old schoolfellow, the man whom he had injured most deeply.
Care and skill of the first description were lavished upon him.