Before anyone could recover from surprise, Captain Carter himself confronted the group. With indolent ease, he covered them with his automatic. In the half-light, his smile was triumphant and evil.
“Avast there, Monahan!” he growled. “Have a care how you blacken my good name! Now stand against yon rock, all of you! And reach for the stars!”
Chapter 24
CAPTAIN CARTER’S SCHEME
Slowly, Mr. Monahan and the Scouts obeyed the captain’s terse command to raise their hands. He lined them up against the rock, but, observing Mr. Livingston’s weakened condition, did not force him to arise.
“I should do you all in now and put an end to this cat-mouse game,” he said in a bored tone. “It would be so easy.”
“I rather doubt that, captain,” Mr. Monahan answered, matching his cool, detached manner. “True, you might shoot and toss us to the fish, but in doing so, you certainly would bring the wrath of the natives down upon your head. Don’t forget that as Ino, the Medicine Man, I still swing a little weight. Do away with me, and you’ll bring the pack down on your back!”
“You over-estimate your quack medical powers, Monahan,” Captain Carter sneered. “But that’s beside the point. Why work against each other when we can make a deal?”
“A deal?”
“This lake holds enough treasure for both of us, with a few trinkets left over for the Scouts to take home to their mamas. Why not team together to get it out?”
“Team with you!” Mr. Monahan exclaimed. “You’ve already betrayed and cheated me! Instead of revealing to my brother that I was safe, you gave him quite the opposite impression. You defrauded him.”