"I didn't allow for the sun on the side of the foresight," he said. "Or perhaps I am a bit shaky after the run. In any event they can't go far."
A hurrying step on the coral behind him caught his ear. Instantly he sprang up and faced about—to see Iris.
"They are escaping," she said.
"No fear of that," he replied, turning away from her.
"Where are the others?"
"Dead!"
"Do you mean that you killed nearly all those men?"
"Six of them. There were nine in all."
He knelt again, lifting the rifle. Iris threw herself on her knees by his side. There was something awful to her in this chill and business-like declaration of a fixed purpose.
"Mr. Jenks," she said, clasping her hands in an agony of entreaty, "do not kill more men for my sake!"