"Then we have only an hour to live," said I, smiling, "if we do not make for the yacht."
"You're not going back to the yacht, my lord?"
"I'm puzzled," I admitted. "If we go this ruffian will escape. And if we don't go—"
"Why, we," Hogvardt ended for me, "may not escape."
I saw that Hogvardt's sense of responsibility was heavy; he always regarded himself as the shepherd, his employers as the sheep. I believe this attitude of his confirmed my destiny, for I said, without hesitation:
"Oh, we'll chance that. When they know what a villain the fellow is, they'll turn against him. Besides, we said we'd wait here."
Denny seized on my last words with alacrity. When you are determined to do a rash thing, there is great comfort in feeling that you are already committed to it by some previous act or promise.
"So we did," he cried. "Then that settles it, Hogvardt."
"His lordship certainly expressed that intention," observed Watkins, appearing at this moment with a large loaf of bread and a great pitcher of milk. I eyed these viands.
"I bought the house and its contents," said I. "Come along."