He slept not; or only in short spells of unquiet slumber, taken in his chair—as on the night before, in the open verandah. It was care, not conscience, that kept him awake—apprehension of the future, rather than remorse for the past.
After midnight, and near morning, a thought became uncontrollable—a desire to be satisfied, if not about the last of these interrogatories, at least in relation to the former.
In all likelihood Chakra would, by that time, have returned?—would be found in his lair in the Duppy’s Hole?
Why he had followed the Custos, Jessuron could not tell. He could only guess at the motive. Perhaps he, Chakra, was in fear that his spell might not be sufficient; and, failing, he might find an opportunity to strengthen it? Or, was it that he wished to be witness to the final scene? to exult over his hated enemy in the last hour of life?
Knowing, as the Jew did, the circumstances that had long existed between the two men—their mutual malice—Chakra’s deadly purposes of vengeance—this conjecture was far from improbable.
It was the true one; though he also gave thought to another—that perhaps the myal-man had followed his victim for the purpose of tendering him.
To ascertain that he had succeeded in the preliminary step—that of murdering him—the Jew forsook his chair couch; and, having habited himself for a nocturnal excursion, proceeded in the direction of the Duppy’s Hole.