“I don’t know but what you are right,” admitted Tom, very reluctantly, “but it doesn’t seem the right thing to do to leave Jim that way.”
“Festina lenta, Tom,” rejoined the professor. “You remember the old proverb, ‘Make haste slowly.’ We’ll do more by not trying to do things too quickly. We will go back and get ready for to-morrow.”
“What do you know about this Captain Beauchamp, who is evidently the commander of the Marjorie?” Jo inquired.
“He is a buccaneer, a pirate and a slave to do the bidding of anyone who will pay for his service. Still he has the reputation for dealing fairly and is far more likely to hold Jim as hostage for ransom or other advantage than to do him bodily harm.”
“Have you ever had dealings with the captain?”
“No. I have never seen him. Know of him only by hearsay. He is rather well educated, and, I hear, sometimes speaks with a southern drawl, but he even varies that to suit himself.”
“I shall be better satisfied when I know Jim is safe,” concluded Jo.
“Indeed we all shall,” said the professor, and addressing Juarez, “What do you make out about the natives, whom you observed as you were coming down the cliff side?”
“I knew that they were natives by their dress, or lack of it,” said Juarez. “They had but very little clothing on, and I believe that two of the party were ill, for the other four at times assisted their comrades.”
“Likely you were right,” asserted the professor. “Probably it was a pilgrimage to the sulphur spring.”