“Sit down here. This is mighty good of you,” he said. “I never got ditched like that before. Did that conductor throw you off, too?”
“Oh, no. He stopped the train for me to get off. His conscience was hurting him, I think.”
“Well, it’s going to cost the road something, I think. But you’ve stayed by me like a brother,” Bennett went on, deliberatively, “and I’ll make it up to you if I can, and I think I can. There’s something I want to tell you about. It’s no small thing, and it’ll take an hour or two, so you’ll have to come to-morrow afternoon, and bring a note-book. We can’t talk with all these visitors swarming around. They’ll let you in; I’ve fixed it up with the doctor. They said that it was liable to kill me, but I told them that it was a matter of life and death, and they gave in. It is a life and death business, too, for a couple of dozen men have been killed in it already, and there’s a round million, at least, in solid gold. What do you think of that?”
Elliott thought that his comrade was becoming delirious again, but he did not say so. The nurse, who had been keeping an eye on him, came up.
“I really think you’ve talked long enough,” she said, with a sweetness that had the force of a command.
“All right,” said Elliott, getting up. “I’ll see you to-morrow, then. Good-bye.”
“Will it really be all right, nurse, for me to have a long talk with him to-morrow?” he inquired, as soon as he was out of Bennett’s hearing.
“No, it isn’t all right, but the house surgeon has given his consent. I think it’s decidedly dangerous, but your friend said it was an absolute matter of life and death, and it may do him good to get it off his mind. Come, since you’ve got permission; and if it seems to excite him too much, I’ll send you away.”
Elliott felt a good deal of curiosity as to the secret which was to be confided to him, for which a couple of dozen men had died already. Probably it had something to do with Bennett’s rapid journey across the continent, and Elliott felt some apprehension that he might be about to be made the involuntary accessory to some large and unlawful exploit.
His curiosity made him willing to take chances, however, and he waited impatiently for the next afternoon. When it came, he found Bennett propped up on three pillows and looking better. The nurse said that he really was better, that all would probably go well, but that it would be slow work, and this slowness seemed to irritate the patient most of all.