"It is lucky," continued Captain Hans, after a pregnant pause, "that none of the men picked up this paper; you would have been knifed before night."
If it is possible, Colonel Odminton turned a shade paler, but he did not say anything. The smallest child could see that he was a broken man.
What a trap had he sprung for himself!
"The case is desperate, sir," began the Captain again. "What do you propose?"
The Colonel shook his head vacantly.
"We can take the launch, the men, and the gold, abandon her here, and land on the coast. We might escape clear."
The Colonel shook his head vigorously. He was ready to give up his life, but not his venture.
"Then we will go, sir. Pay us, give us the launch, and we will go. We cannot stay to be starved and tossed upon the sea with not even a jury-mast and a handkerchief."
"Let them go, father!" Rupert had entered from his own room, and stood pleadingly before the criminal.
The unhappy man looked at his son: back at his Captain; and nodded assent.