This was an unexpected revelation; and Daniel was all attention.
“What?” he said. “The man who fired at me has been arrested?”
Lefloch was unable to restrain himself at this juncture, and replied,—
“I should say so, lieutenant, and by my hand, before his gun had cooled off.”
The doctor did not wait for the questions which he read in the eyes of his patient. He said at once,—
“It is as Lefloch says, my dear lieutenant; and, if you have not been told anything about it, it was because the slightest excitement would become fatal. Yesterday’s experience has only proved that too clearly. Yes, the assassin is in jail.”
“And his account is made up,” growled the sailor.
But Daniel shrugged his shoulders, and said,—
“I do not want him punished, any more than the ball which hit me. That wretched creature is a mere tool. But, doctor, you know who are the real guilty ones.”
“And justice shall be done, I swear!” broke in the old surgeon, who looked upon the cause of his patient with as much interest as if it were his own. “Our lucky star has sent us a lawyer who is no trifler, and who, if I am not very much mistaken, would like very much to leave Saigon with a loud blast of trumpets.”