“The terrific glare of the fiend’s eye fell upon me so cruelly that I dared not tell him I had witnessed the fight, so I said, ‘I have not seen the captain for so long a time, that I did not know where he was.’
“‘Ho! ho! that’s it, is it?’ says he. ‘Have you seen him since the morning you fed your sheep on Sudbourn Heath?’
“‘No,’ says I; ‘he was then anxious to see you. Did you find him?’
“‘Yes, I did; and I have reason to think he was lost at sea that very night; for he agreed to come on board, and we have seen nothing more of him, nor two of our crew, since that very time. Two of my men were in the river boat, but I have seen nothing of them since. They were to have joined the crew off the head of the North Vere, but we never saw them again.’
“‘That’s very odd,’ says I; ‘but how did you join the crew?’
“‘I got a cast down the river in Master Mannell’s boat, the old fisherman of Boyton.’
“Then, after a pause,
“‘Here, Jim,’ says he, ‘I’ll make you a present of poor Will’s watch. I do not like to wear it; it grieves me when I look at it. We used to be such friends.’
“Now I thought this very strange, and it confirmed me in the opinion that his conscience would not let him rest. I took the watch, and you have now got it in your hand.”
“What shall I give you for this watch?” said Edward.