"I believe I have seen you before; we were companions in the rescue."
"We were, and God bless you for the noble service you rendered my mistress!"
"That service was all your own, my gallant fellow."
"You undervalue your own efforts. He who gets into the Mississippi seldom gets out alive. Without your timely assistance, I tremble to think of what might have been the end. My experience of the river enabled me to bring her up; but without your aid at the moment it came I do not think I could have saved her. But this is all past. Thank God, she is yet safe, though another danger hovers over her."
"This foul conspiracy,—will they put it in execution to-night?"
"I heard the villain they call Vernon, an hour ago, engage a deck hand to help him row the boat."
"Then there is indeed danger. I had thought Maxwell's wound would have prevented it for a season."
"A mere scratch. I would your ball had found the villain's heart, if he has one. But Vernon is the most dangerous man—a more accomplished villain."
"Vernon," said Henry, musing; "he was Maxwell's second."
"Yes. That duel was a plot to murder you."