“You see,” whispered John Paul Jones, “I am right. Siki is there, and that was the voice of the master.”
Blake was heard to grumble out some reply; but the other man silenced him instantly.
“That will do,” said he. “Excuses will not answer at this stage of the proceedings. To put yourself back in my good graces you must do more than invent reasons why you failed in your part of the plan. Rather than remain and guard the way against the surprise which came, you went ashore, and so ruined all.”
“Oh, very well,” grumbled Blake, “put it all on me, if you will.”
“You are the one to bear the blame, and bear it you shall. Unless you do something that will lead to our securing this secret paper, you shall not receive a shilling of that which I promised you.”
“A bargain’s a bargain,” said Blake.
“And good faith is good faith,” said the other man.
“You are right, Danvers,” said a boy’s voice.
“You keep still, you pup,” growled Blake. “I don’t see what good you are in this, anyway.”
“It was my father that found out about the paper and sent for Danvers to come to Philadelphia so that he might be able to get his hands on it. Isn’t that so, Danvers?”