“I 'd rather loot him, if I had the choice; the old General has lots of money. Stapylton, scuttle the ship, if you like, but first let me land the cargo. Of all the vengeances a man can wreak on another the weakest is to kill him. For my part, I 'd cherish the fellow that injured me. I 'd set myself to study his tastes and learn his ambitions. I 'd watch over him and follow him, being, as it were, his dearest of all friends,—read backwards!”
“This is tiresome scoundrelism. I'll to bed,” said Stapylton, taking a candle from the table.
“Well, if you must shoot this fellow, wait till he's married; wait for the honeymoon.”
“There's some sense in that. I 'll go and sleep over it.”
CHAPTER XVIII. AUNT DOROTHEA.
“You must come down with me for one day, Tom, to see an old aunt of mine at Bournemouth,” said Hunter to young Dill. “I never omitted going to see her the first thing whenever I landed in England, and she 'll not forgive me if I were to do so now.”
“But why should I go, sir? My presence would only trouble the comfort of a family meeting.”
“Quite the reverse. She 'll be delighted to see you. It will be such a triumph to her, amongst all her neighbors, to have had a visit from the hero of the day,—the fellow that all the print-shops are full of. Why, man, you are worth five hundred pounds to me. I 'm not sure I might not say double as much.”
“In that case, sir, I 'm perfectly at your orders.”