"Because," said Haley, changing his tone, "I am going to give you a chance to try it."
Robert sprang to his feet in instant alarm, but too late. Haley had grasped him by the shoulder, and in his grasp the boy's strength was nothing.
"What are you going to do?" asked Robert, with fearful foreboding.
"Wait a minute and you will see!"
The captain had drawn a stout cord, brought for the purpose, from his pocket, and, dragging Robert to a tree, tied him securely to the trunk. The terrible fate destined for him was presented vividly to the imagination of our hero; and, brave as he was, it almost unmanned him. Finding his struggles useless, he resorted to expostulation.
"I am sure you cannot mean this, Captain Haley!" he said. "You won't leave me to perish miserably on this island?"
"Won't I?" returned the captain, with an evil light in his eyes. "Why won't I?"
"Surely, you will not be so inhuman?"
"Look here, boy," said the captain, "you needn't try to come any of your high-flown notions about humanity over me. I owe you a debt, and, by Heaven! I'm going to pay it! You didn't think much of humanity when you wounded me."
"I couldn't help it," said Robert. "I didn't want to hurt you. I only wanted to protect your uncle."