"I want you to shake hands with me, Joe," responded the other, almost inaudibly.
"Assassin!"
"I—I—I don't mean you any harm," gasped jovial Captain Robinson.
"Liar!" thundered Joe Deering; "you dare make that statement, hovering as you do, between life and death!"
"No, no, no, no!" shrieked the jovial captain; "not that, Joe, not that."
"Yes, I say; for you are not long for this world."
"You are not sent to tell me that, Joe," said Robinson, his voice dying away in spite of a desperate effort to make it audible.
"I am."
"Ugh!"
And with a half groan, half grunt, he sank upon the ground prostrate.