A shudder ran through Stornaway; he covered his face with his shaking hands. “Dead!”
“By whose hand?”
“Nat Coate’s. I swear that’s the truth! If you knew—if you had seen—you would know I’m telling you the truth! He was stabbed! He was a big fellow, and very strong: I could not have stabbed him, or have dragged his body——” He stopped, gulping. “If I tell you the whole, you’ll believe me? You must believe me! When Brean disappeared, I was afraid—but Nat would tell me nothing! So I went one night—because I had to know! I could not bear it! I found Brean!” Another shudder ran through him. “It was horrible, horrible!” He looked up. “He will stick at nothing! Nothing, I tell you! I wish I had never met him! I wish I had never heard of that curst gold! I wish I were dead!”
“That wish at least is likely soon to be fulfilled,” said John dryly. “There are three murdered men to be answered for.”
“I killed none of them!”
John looked at him consideringly. Hope gleamed in the pale eyes which watched him so furtively. Stornaway put out a tentative hand, and ventured to lay it on his breeched knee. John could almost feel his flesh creep under the touch, but he restrained the impulse to shake the hand off, and sat still.
“You’ve no grudge against me!” Stornaway urged, keeping his eyes fixed on that unyielding face. “If you know what I’ve suffered! I swear, had I guessed what it would all mean, I would never have joined Nat in the business!” He saw the Captain’s mouth curl, not pleasantly, and added hastily: “It was madness! The gull-gropers are after me, and this place is so encumbered it will do me no good when my grandfather dies! I tell you, I had to get money!”
“Unfortunate that this money cannot benefit you for many a day to come!” interrupted the Captain scathingly.
“No, well—I didn’t realize that!” Stornaway muttered. “I wish to God I had never touched it! If I could be quit of it all—but how the devil can I? I didn’t kill those men—no one could be sorrier than I am that they are dead!—but what a fix I am in, what a hellish fix I am in!” He gave a groan, and once more buried his face in his hands.
“Do you want to escape from it indeed?”