“But why abduct the women?” asked the old man.
“Because they think I can be coerced more easily. They are under the impression that I am—fond of Miss Carrington. At any rate, they know I’m enough of a friend to pay, rather than subject her to the hazard.”
“Pay! I can’t pay! My whole fortune isn’t over twenty thousand dollars. It I will gladly sacrifice, but more is impossible.”
“You’re not to pay, my old friend,” said Croyden. “Mr. Macloud and I are the ones aimed at and we will pay.”
“I won’t permit it, sir!” the Captain exclaimed. “There is no reason for you——”
“Tut! tut!” said Croyden, “you forget that we are wholly responsible; but for us, Miss Carrington and Miss Cavendish would not have been abducted. The obligation is ours, and we will discharge it. It is our plain, our very plain, duty.”
The old man threw up his hands in the extremity of despair.
“I don’t know what to do!” he said. “I don’t know what to do!”
“Do nothing—leave everything to us. We’ll have Miss Carrington back in three days.”
“And safe?”