"Has he, then, gone ahead?" asked Mrs. Weldon. "He has fled, Mrs. Weldon," replied Dick Sand. "This Harris is a traitor, and it is according to Negoro's plan that he led us this far." "For what motive?" quickly asked Mrs. Weldon. "I do not know," replied Dick Sand; "but what I do know is, that we must return, without delay, to the coast."
"That man—a traitor!" repeated Mrs. Weldon. "I had a presentiment of it! And you think, Dick, that he is in league with Negoro?"
"That may be, Mrs. Weldon. The wretch is on our track. Chance has brought these two scoundrels together, and—"
"And I hope that they will not be separated when I find them again!" said Hercules. "I will break the head of one against the other's head!" added the giant, holding out his formidable fists.
"But my child!" cried Mrs. Weldon. "The care that I hoped to find for him at the farm of San Felice—"
"Jack will get well," said old Tom, "when he approaches the more healthy part of the coast."
"Dick," remarked Mrs. Weldon, "you are sure that this Harris has betrayed us?"
"Yes, Mrs. Weldon," replied the young novice, who would have liked to avoid any explanation on this subject.
He also hastened to add, while looking at the old black:
"This very night Tom and I discovered his treason, and if he had not jumped on his horse and fled, I would have killed him."