“Don’t—don’t, old chap!” cried Dean. “Call me a coward, if you like; I won’t mind. But it’s like sticking one of the Illaka’s spears into me when you, you brave old chap, keep on reproaching yourself; and every word you say is nothing but a lie.”
“Brave old chap!” cried Mark mockingly, and he burst into a strange laugh which made his cousin shiver.
“Don’t!” cried Dean passionately. “What does a fellow want? To be brave? Doesn’t he want to be well and strong?”
“Oh, I suppose so.”
“And there have you been fainting dead away over and over again. Who could be brave when he is like that?”
“There, don’t talk. We are wasting time.”
“What are you going to do?”
“You ask me that, with your uncle waiting to be saved! Come on.”
“Come on where?”
“I must—I must get back to the ruins.”