“You have heard this news, Knowle?”
“Yes; everything.”
“And you will send a party of men at once?” said the Resident in a half-suffocated voice.
“Directly we can man the boats.”
“Ah!” exclaimed the Resident, sinking into a chair, with his hand to his breast.
“But you are not fit to go with them.”
The Resident smiled faintly and made a gesticulation.
“It’s no use to waste words, Knowle,” said the Doctor. “I know better than you what he can stand, and I have told him it is madness to think of it.”
“Yes; and I am going to be mad,” said the Resident bitterly. “If you have not given your instructions already, sir, pray do so at once. At all costs I must go.”
The Major shrugged his shoulders.