With head firmly held between his hands he endeavoured to think the matter out and come to a satisfactory conclusion. Then with a gesture of disgust he put it aside, and, uncovering his eyes, again stared in the direction of the second river.
"The future must tell," he whispered in John's ear. "We will wait patiently, and should it turn out that these men are from the mountains, and know of our presence near at hand, we will at once set about the capture of the prahus and the embarkation of the tribe. That done we shall be able to sail away to the sea, where we can laugh at them. At least, you and the others will be able to do so."
"And what about yerself, sir?" demanded John Marshall with a start, turning upon him suddenly and peering anxiously into his face. "Ain't you a-coming? Do yer mean to say that after all you've gone through you mean to get left behind? I reckon it would be murder. It's suicide, and nothing else."
He gave vent to an indignant snort, and lay there staring into the darkness in the direction of the new-comers, as if he could not trust himself to look any longer at his leader. A moment later, however, he had swung his head round again and had grasped Tyler by the wrist.
"What's the game?" he demanded roughly, and in a curiously hoarse whisper. "Still thinkin' of the kid and her nurse? What are yer after?"
"I'm considering their case," was Tyler's cool answer. "I have put myself in their position and asked myself whether I should like to be deserted under the circumstances. Then I have imagined that I am someone else, who is the leader on this occasion, and I have wondered what he'd do in such a case."
"Do! He'd clear with a whole skin as a general rule!"
"And what action would you take, John, if you were in my shoes? Imagine that for a few seconds, and recollect that as the leader you would be responsible for the safety of each and every member before you thought of a haven for yourself. The child and the woman, who, I suppose, is her nurse, are there. We saw them put into the hut, and we have already made them part of our following. Would you desert them and leave them in the clutches of that tiger?"
It was Tyler's turn now to face his companion in the darkness, and address him as though he had a grievance. It was he who now spoke curtly and with roughness. Placing his lips close to the sailor's ear he spoke sternly and shortly, in such determined tones that John Marshall was amazed and astounded.
"Well?" Tyler demanded curtly again of the boatswain. "You are the leader for the moment; will you clear from the spot and save your own miserable skin, or will you hang back for the sake of the child and the woman?"