And what the captain said may or may not be imagined.

It cannot be set down.
But the man who ought to have spoken--the man who had such a chance as few men have off the stage--who could have confounded these villains in a breath, and saved the wretched Rattray at once from them and from himself--that unheroic hero remained ignobly silent in his homely hiding-place.

And, what is more, he would do the same again! The rogues had fallen out; now was the time for honest men.

They all thought I had escaped; therefore they would give me a better chance than ever of still escaping; and I have already explained to what purpose I meant to use my first hours of liberty.

That purpose I hold to have justified any ingratitude that I may seem now to have displayed towards the man who had undoubtedly stood between death and me.