"What, then, do you call yourself?"
"An outlaw," answered the chief, "and king of this island," drily; "an outlaw, and nothing more."
"Well, be it so, sir. Still you are exactly the man I want. I have need, for the execution of my plans, for the carrying out of my projects, of a man who is bound by no locality, by no social consideration. In fact, an outlaw."
The other bowed ironically.
"Now are you disposed to be the man?"
"First," said Tom Mitchell, "let me know what you want of me. I will then give a decisive answer."
"Well, then," replied the envoy, "let us put diplomacy on one side, and speak frankly and openly."
The outlaw leaned back and assumed something like the attitude of a tiger about to spring.
"Sir," he said, with a most singular smile, "I was about to make the very same proposition."
"Very good," replied Monsieur Hebrard; "that shows that we are beginning to understand one another."