“I shook my head. ‘She’s but a girl,’ I told him. ‘There was no need of killing the cow. But what matter for that? And the other—was no one’s blame.’
“His hand gripped my arm till I winced. ‘You mean it?’ he begged, hungrily.
“I clapped him on the shoulder. ‘Forget it all,’ I urged. ‘No harm will come.’
“‘It is not that I’m afraid,’ he told me swiftly; and I saw that I had roused him as I hoped to do.
“‘Sure of that?’ I asked.
“His eyes flamed. ‘I fear nothing, except myself,’ he exclaimed. ‘But I hear her word always; and I cannot bear it, Mark.’
“Before more could be said, Cap’n Tobbey came toward us; and Eric laughed as though at some jest of mine. His laughter was not a pleasant thing to hear, and I would have wished to reassure the man. But thereafter he gave me no further opportunity.
“I could see the thing was on his mind through the days that followed. He could not forget it; and he took to standing watch at the masthead when there was no need. I asked him once why he did this.
“‘To get the scarred bull, Mark,’ he told me. ‘That will end it.’
“‘You’ll never see him again!’