As he spoke the man opened his eyes and gazed up at them. Wild gleaming dark eyes they were, looking all the darker for the haggard pallor of his face. He raised himself on his elbow and made a clutch at his breast. There was something hidden there, and he kept his hand closed upon it.
Harding put the cup with more tea to his lips again, and again he drank greedily. Then he tried to raise himself into a sitting posture, but sank back on the floor.
"I'll cheat the beaks after all," he said hoarsely. A grim smile flickered over his face. "I swore I'd never be caught."
He looked from one man to the other.
"They'll make no gallows-bird o' me," he added with a sort of hoarse chuckle. He still kept his hand clutched upon his breast. Gray noticed the action, and a vivid curiosity rose up in him to know what the man kept so jealously hidden there. He must have shown this in his face, for the man addressed him sharply.
"What are you starin' at, eh? Do you think I've got the Kohinoor hidden about me? Well, I ain't got it."
"I don't think anything about you, my man," replied Gray loftily. He turned to Harding. "What are we going to do with him?"
"Lend me a hand and we'll lift him on my bunk," said Harding.
"I'll lie here," broke from the man. "You just leave me alone." He pushed away the food Harding offered him. "I can't swallow. Just leave me alone."
Gray shrugged his shoulders and walked to the door. The man's eyes followed him with a suspicious glance.