"I--I heard that they were insured for fifty thousand pounds, and--and that--that you'd stolen the policy."
"Dear me! What a remarkably fine ear this boy must have! Go on, young man!"
Bertie was painfully conscious that these compliments upon his hearing were not to be taken as they were spoken. He earnestly wished that his hearing had not been quite so good, but with that revolver staring him in the face he felt that perhaps it was better on the whole he should go on. Yet the next confession was made with an effort. He felt that his audience would not receive it well.
"I--I--I heard that if--if you were ta--taken you--you would get pe--penal servitude for life."
There was an ominous silence. The words had had exactly the effect he had intuitively expected. It was the long, thin man who spoke.
"Oh! you heard that if we were caught we should get penal servitude for life? And it didn't occur to you that you might help to catch us, eh?"
"No-o, sir."
"It wouldn't. Now wouldn't it occur to you that such a thing as a reward might perhaps be offered, which it might perhaps be worth your while to handle, eh? That such a trifle as five or ten thousand pounds, in the shape of a reward, might come in useful, eh?"
Bertie did not answer. He could not have answered for his life. The fellow's tone seemed to freeze his blood. The dark man put a question.
"Did you hear any names mentioned?"