The doctor pressed the hand which took his, but made no reply in his utter exhaustion, and Carey drew back uttering a sigh, as much from pain as anxiety.
“It’s no use,” he muttered, “there’s no help for it. I’ve got to do it all.”
“Big Dan go mumkull ebberybody?” asked Jackum, quietly, and as if it was all a matter of course.
“No, no,” cried Carey, angrily. “I’d soon kill him.”
“Ha!” cried the black out of the darkness, for it was night now, with the black’s figure just visible in the flames from the shore. “No kill Jackum?”
“Not I,” cried Carey. “Here, let me come by.”
He thrust the black aside, and went under the broken light.
“Look here, Bob,” he cried. “Can that old wretch blow up the ship?”
“Well, sir, that’s what I’ve been thinking. It’s all very well to say you’ll do a thing, but it aren’t always easy, you see.”
“But is the powder magazine close by where he’s lying?”