"No matter," he answered. "All finish now."
"Shall I surrender to him or shall I fight?"
"No matter," he said once again. "M'sieur, suppose you go back to ma'm'selle, and soon Simon come. His diable lead him to you. His diable tell you what to say. All finish now!"
He walked past me noiselessly, a tenuous shadow, and his bearing was as proud as that of his race had been in the long ago, when they were lords where their white masters ruled. He entered the passage at the back of the mine, through which I had come when I encountered Lacroix the first time with his gold.
And as he passed I thought I saw Lacroix's face peering out at me through the shadows of the caves. I started toward him. Then I saw only the face of the cliff. My mind was playing me tricks; I thought it had created that apparition out of my thoughts.
I went back to Jacqueline and took my seat upon the earth-bag barricade. I had my revolver in my hand, but it was not loaded. I threw the cartridges upon the floor.
It seemed only a few minutes before a voice hailed me from the tunnel.
"M. Hewlett! Are you prepared to speak with M. Leroux?"
It was Raoul's voice, and I answered yes.
A moment later Leroux came from the tunnel toward me. I got down from the barricade and met him at the stream. He stood upon one side and I at the other, and the stream gurgled and played between us.