"I've thought of that," Peter Gross replied sadly. "But to do as you suggest will take at least two regiments and will cost the lives of several thousand Dyaks. You will have to lay the country bare, and you will sow a seed of hate that is bound to bear fruit. But if I can persuade them to trust me, Bulungan will be pacified. Brooke did it in Sarawak, and I believe I can do it here."
Carver stroked his chin in silence.
"You know the country," he said. "If you have faith and feel you want me, I'll go with you."
"I'll have a lawyer make the contracts at once," Peter Gross replied. "We can sign them to-morrow."
"Can't you take me with you, too, Mr. Gross?" Paddy Rouse asked eagerly.
Peter Gross looked at the lad. The boy's face was eloquent with entreaty.
"How old are you?" he asked.
"Seventeen," came the halting acknowledgment. "But I've done a man's work for a year. Haven't I, avunculus?"
Captain Rouse nodded a reluctant assent. "I hate to miss ye, my boy," he said, "but maybe a year out there would get the deviltry out of ye and make a man of ye. If Peter wants ye, he may have ye."
A flash of inspiration came to Peter Gross as he glanced at the boy's tousled shock of fiery-red hair.