Strange, loving words of the Man of Galilee, spoken on the mountain-side long, long ago, and echoed now by childish lips in the dying light of the cavern to these two men, drunk with brute-lust for human blood! For Vic the words struck like blows. All the years since his father's death he had waited for this hour. At last he had met and vanquished the man who had taken his father's life, and now, exultant in his victory, came this little child's voice.
The cave darkened. A mist, half blood, half blindness, came before his eyes, but clear to his ears there sounded the ringing words:
“Vengeance is mine; I will repay!”
It was the voice of Discipline calling to his better judgment, as Bug's innocent pleading spoke to the finer man within him.
Under his grip Gresh lay motionless, all power of resistance threshed out of him.
“Are you ready to quit?” Vic questioned, hoarsely, bending over the almost lifeless form.
The outlaw mumbled assent.
“Then I'll let you live, you miserable wretch, and the courts will take care of you.”
Burleigh himself was faint from strife and loss of blood. As he relaxed his vigilance the last atom of strength, the last hope of escape returned to Gresh. He sprang to his feet, staggered blindly then, quick as a panther, he leaped through the hole in the farther wall, wriggled swiftly into the blind crevices of the inner cave, and was gone.
It was Trench who dressed Vic's head that night and shielded him until his strength returned. But it was Bond Saxon who counseled patience.