"Nonsense. You told me once you were looking to me."

"God knows that's true—but——"

"Well, I'm better now."

Lancaster stared at the emaciated face, set in its iron-hard lines, and gained a deeper sense of the man's indomitable will.

"You must rest now. Promise me," he said.

"On one condition: that you send Forshaw to me tonight."

"You're really not fit——"

"My God, Lancaster," Hector groaned in an agony; "how can I rest with this thing before me? You must do as I ask."

The Lieutenant-Governor silently pressed the sick man's hand, trying to express in that simple action all he felt.

"I'll send him, Major," he said.