Forbes’s brows relaxed. “Not much she won’t,” he returned. “She’ll come to time, all right, and mighty soon, too. I know how to handle the sex. She’ll be too proud to confess the truth, and she’ll praise me up to the skies. You’ll see! Besides, I don’t want the old man’s money; I’ll have enough of my own. I want his social help. Well! is it a bargain?”
Howard hesitated. “I must think about it for a while, captain,” he returned.
“What do you want to think about? Oh! I guess I see! You’ve got an idea of marrying the girl yourself, I reckon. Humph! Son-in-law saves girl, and rich daddy saves son-in-law. I don’t blame you, but I guess I’ll just have to queer that game once for all. Gallegher!”
The last word came like a pistol-shot. Howard leaped to his feet, only to find three armed men standing behind him.
Forbes threw himself back in his chair and laughed.
“Stung!” he remarked lightly. “You might as well go quietly, Howard. There’s no use of committing suicide, you know. We won’t hurt you—you’re too valuable. And we’ll turn you loose—after the ceremony.”
X
For one moment, as the men closed in on him, Howard struggled with a furious desire to wrest a cutlass from one of them, and with it exact terms from the others. The odds, though great, were not necessarily overwhelming, and victory would mean much. Had he stood on equal terms before the law, he would have risked everything in an immediate fight.
But he did not stand even. Against him as a convict fighting for freedom, Forbes could throw the entire population of his colony; even Jackson might join in the unequal odds. The result of a struggle on that basis must be inevitable; Dorothy would lose her only defender. Later, when the time came, if it did come, to shift the fight to the defense of womanhood, he would have a better cause and might win allies. So he surrendered.
“Take him to the Chester,” ordered Forbes, “and lock him up. Give him anything he wants to make him comfortable, and see after his meals. If he makes any trouble, put him in irons. Off with you.”