“Three against two! that’s not a fair fight!” cried the young Englishman, dropping down from the tree, and ranging himself on the weaker side. “Perhaps it’ll be a better match now,” added he, taking a pistol from under the breast of his coat, and cocking it as he did so—evidently with the intention of using it, should the affair be carried further.
“And who are you, sir?” demanded the overseer, with as much arrogance as he could throw into his manner. “Who, sir, may I inquire, is the white man who thus places himself in opposition to the laws of the island? You know the penalty, sir; and by my word, you shall pay it!”
“If I have committed a breach of the laws,” replied Herbert, “I presume I shall have to answer for it. But I have yet to learn what law I have broken; and I don’t choose that you shall be my judge.”
“You are aiding in the escape of a slave!”
“That’s not true,” interrupted the yellow hunter. “The slave is already captured; he could not have escaped; and this young gentleman—who is as much a stranger to me as to you—I am sure, had no intention of assisting him to escape.”
“Bah!” exclaimed the overseer; “we care not for your talk—we deny your right to capture him; and you had no business to interfere. We had already tracked him down with the dogs; and should have had him without any help from you. He is our prize, therefore; and I again demand of you to give him up!”
“Indeed!” sneeringly responded the yellow hunter.
“I make the demand,” continued the other, without noticing the sneer, “in the name of Jacob Jessuron—whose overseer I’ve told you I am.”
“Perhaps, were you Jacob Jessuron himself, I might resist your demand,” rejoined the hunter, coolly, and without any appearance of braggadocio.
“You refuse to surrender him, then?” said the overseer, as if making his final overture.