'I go alone,' he said quietly.
'Alone!'
'Yes, except for the two or three personal friends who wish to accompany me—as friends, and not as a body-guard. I dare say the boy there,' and he nodded at Hamilton, 'will be wanting to step ashore with me.'
'Oh, yes, I shall step ashore at the same moment, or perhaps half a second later,' Hamilton said joyously. 'I'm a great steppist.'
'Bear in mind that I am going too,' Sarrasin interposed.
'We shall not go without you, Captain Sarrasin,' Ericson answered with a smile. For he felt well assured that when Captain Sarrasin stepped ashore, Mrs. Sarrasin would be in step with him.
'Do you go unarmed?' Sir Rupert asked.
'Absolutely unarmed. I am not a despot coming to recapture a rebel kingdom—I am going to offer my people what help I can to save their Republic for them. If they will have me, I believe I can save the Republic; if they will not——' He threw out his hands with the air of one who would say, 'Then, come what will, it is no fault of mine.'
'Suppose they actually turn against you?'
'I don't believe they will. But if they do, it will no less have been an experiment well worth the trying, and it will only be a life lost.'