"You were not alone, then?"
"No! William Bowen, the accomplice of Silas Craig, had repented of the horrible work as soon as it was done; and, under pretense of carrying my body to the river, had contrived to convey me to this lonely shed, which belonged to a friend of his."
"Stop a bit, Mr. Treverton," interrupted William; "when Mr. Craig settled with me that we were to set that villainous Frenchman on to you, get up a duel, and rob you of the receipt for the hundred thousand dollars, it was agreed that you were to be attacked in fair fight, and that you were not to be seriously hurt. It was Mr. Silas Craig yonder who couldn't be content with this; it was he who turned out the gas in the thick of the fight, and stabbed you in the back. You dropped down like a dead man; but the lawyer there was too great a coward to make sure whether you were really dead; he dared not approach within a couple of yards of his victim. He told me to ransack your pockets, and secure the receipt; and then, assisted by the Frenchman, to carry the body to the river."
"And you did so?"
"I did; but I contrived to get rid of the Frenchman as soon as we reached the quay, and then, dropping my bleeding burden into a boat, I rowed down to the boat-house, where I sought a surgeon to look at my patient. Mr. Treverton knows the rest."
"I do, William," answered Philip Treverton; "I know that you attended me faithfully and patiently; and then when I recovered you assisted me to get off to California, whence, after nearly a twelve-months' toil, I return so rich a man as to be able to recompense the noble conduct of my old friend, Gerald Leslie. As for yonder wretch," he added, pointing to Craig, "defeat has followed so utterly upon his career of crime that I doubt if the law can do much more to punish him. He will refund the hundred thousand dollars of which he has defrauded his victim."
"I will," gasped the unhappy wretch, rising, and staggering toward the door; "I am rich; take what you will. I shall leave New Orleans forever—"
He stopped suddenly, and passed his handkerchief across his lips; when he removed it, it was stained with patches of crimson.
He had broken a blood-vessel!