“Dear old man! I was coming to see you. I had determined to brave the danger, if any there might be.”
“Mercy on us! I’m glad ye didn’t come, my dear boy. The cap’n’s laid in with a dozen or so of his own men, if ye do come aboard, to play some sort of a rough trick on ye. I don’t know what it is, but it may cost ye yer life.”
“Donald, I don’t see how you can endure it.”
“I aint agoin’ to endure it, my boy, not a bit longer than it takes me to get what belongs to me. I don’t forget that a part of the brig is my own property. I’ll get that, and then I’m off, and this blessed boy with me. And now, Percy, what’s up? I can’t be here but a few minutes.”
“Only this, Donald: I want you to let me know the moment Ralph Tryon gets back. That’s all. Just give me the intelligence.”
“I’ll do it, Percy. Shall I find ye at the cottage?”
“No. At the inn—the Allerdale Arms.”
“Eh! Are ye goin’ to cut yer cable, my boy?”
“For a time, yes. Ah, old friend, the warning you sent me may have saved my life. At all events, I shall so regard it.”
“I knew there was something in the wind, Percy. I’m blamed if I can understand it. How she can do it is beyond me. But I don’t s’pose you care to talk about it.”