"But your brother is a lord."
"Yes, but I am not. I have no money in my own right, and never shall have. If I had, I would promise it all to you if you would take me home or to any civilized land."
"Lady Trevelyan could raise the money, and then——"
"She could raise next to nothing, Captain. The estates have been encumbered for years. She is trying to pay off the indebtedness before my brother comes of age; she——"
"What would she say to sixty thousand pounds?"
The boy's face blanched.
"I may as well be frank with you, Captain; she could not procure anything like that sum."
"Well, well, say forty thousand; we won't be particular about a little less. Suppose, now, I should leave you here, Lord George, with provisions for a certain length of time, in a safe place which I know of in this neighbourhood, and you give me a letter to your mother the countess, saying——"
"It is useless," said the boy, hanging his head. "She could not give it to you."
"I'm afraid, then, we'll have to do with you as we have with many a fellow twice your size. It would never do to let you go home and set the English law working against Captain Jonas, plain Captain Jonas."