“Oh, he’ll catch him, all right!” said Kane, with supreme confidence.
“Do you really think so?” asked the count.
“If he does not,” insisted Kane, “this pirate chap will be the first fellow Nick was ever up against whom he did not catch in the end. But what are those questions, Nick?”
“Why, I’ll begin with this one. You quoted one remark made by the pirate which suggested that it might have been followed by another on the same subject later on. But, first, let me ask you if he did take your race cups—your trophies?”
“Yes—confound him! He did take them—every one of them!”
“That brings me back to the question. When reference was first made to them, you asked him to spare you those, and he replied that he thought that subject could be arranged. Now, his reply to you would suggest that he intended to permit you to retain them, provided you made up their value to him in some other form. Was there anything of that sort mentioned?”
Kane leaned back in his chair, and lighted a fresh cigar.
“You are a cute proposition, Nick,” he said. “I was saving that as a sort of surprise for you, but I see you are beyond surprising.”
“Then he did refer to the subject again?”
“No; he did not refer to it again in words, but he left a note behind him about it.”