"Red--he got me--he--"
"Good!" said Thirkle into my ear, as if speaking to me. "I never thought the little chap had the innards for it, but he did as long as he could strike from behind."
Petrak was holding Buckrow down, and his victim was breathing hard and writhing under him, with his face buried in the ground. He coughed twice, as if there was something caught in his throat, and then was still.
"Did ye get him Petrak?"
"I done for him, Thirkle. I done for him good. That"s the last of Bucky.
Mind how I fooled him, Thirkle? Said my jaw was broke."
"Good work, Reddy, lad. Good work, but be sure or he"ll wing ye yet. Sure he ain"t playing c.h.i.n.k with ye?"
"Oh, he"s done right enough. That leaves two of us--hey, Thirkle? Ye know Bucky would a done for ye but for me--wouldn"t he, Thirkle? Ye know that"s right--don"t ye, Thirkle?"
"That"s right, Reddy," said Thirkle. "It"s a good job he"s done for--and now there is two of us, you and me, Reddy. I never did like Bucky; but I like you, Red. He wanted his fight, and he got it. I knew ye wouldn"t take that from him. No man could stand for such as that in here."
"That leaves all the more for us--don"t it, Thirkle?"
"All the more for us, Reddy. Drag him out, and now we"ll settle this navvy"s job. It"s one man less in the fo"c"sle mess, and dead men tell no tales; and now we"ll have to do the work a bit short-handed; but we can clean it up between us now, and no more fighting going on."
Petrak pulled the body out after him, and Thirkle helped him carry it into the brush, where they dumped it without ceremony, and Thirkle found another bottle of brandy and offered it to Petrak.
"I"ll just take a pair of these pistols, Reddy," he said, relieving him of the belt he had taken from Buckrow. "You don"t need all those pistols, now that Bucky is done for."
"But ye was to bear no arms, Thirkle," grinned Petrak.
"That"s what I told Bucky, but you and me"ll get along better than we did with Bucky; and ye don"t intend to hold me to that--do ye, Red?"
"I was only joking a bit, Thirkle. We"re together now on the split, ain"t we? Well, friends don"t have to make such agreements. I sail with you, and you sail with me; and no articles signed beyond that, I say. What, Thirkle?"
"That"s what. Have another drink, Red. That was a good job ye did for me with Bucky, even if he did play you mean."
"He was a bad one, all right," agreed Petrak, wiping his mouth and giving Thirkle the bottle. "Bad Buckrow they called him when I first knew him, and bad he was to the end; but I never looked to give to him, leastwise not the way I did, in a hole like that. Howsome it be, I don"t stand for no smash in the mouth like he give me--ain"t that right, Thirkle?"
"Right you are, but it"s time we had this stuff cleaned up now. You and Mr. Trenholm set at it while I put Bucky under ground."
Petrak and I resumed the work of carrying the sacks into the crevice, while Thirkle busied himself at digging a grave in the soft sand near the place they had deposited Buckrow"s body. The little red-headed man began to whistle a music-hall tune softly, but Thirkle cautioned him against making any unnecessary noise.
I was in an agony from my cramped position, and tugging at the sacks served to increase my torture. The tangle of ropes which Buckrow had put on my ankles caught in loose stones and chafed the flesh until the blood came; and my wrists, pulled down with tight knots, which I had to strain against to keep my balance, throbbed and pained and tingled, my arms being numbed by the blood in the bound arteries.
Petrak kept before me, with the sacks between us, and his b.l.o.o.d.y knife pulled to the front of his belt. After he had stowed each sack he helped me back out, or a.s.sisted me to turn, which was always a hard task for me.
If I let my end of the sack slip out of my fingers he was ready for me with knife or pistol, so there was no opportunity to take a pistol or knife from him, even if I had not been helplessly hobbled.
"Mind ye don"t try any monkey-business with me," he warned the second time we went in. "If ye do, I"ll give ye what Bucky got, and ye mind that. I"m no gent to fool with, as ye ought to savvy by this; and if ye think I be, try something."
But, for all his warning, I was ready to risk death if I saw the chance to make a fight. I hoped that Thirkle would give him more of the brandy, but Thirkle kept the bottle to himself. When we pressed into the crevice I wore the ropes on my wrists against the stones as much as I could, trying to cut the bonds on the rough points of the walls. Once I stumbled and fell and groped for a splinter of stone, but he menaced me with his knife and kicked me until I got to my feet again.
I had given up hope of being rescued by Captain Riggs. Even if he found the camp, I doubted that he would attack until it would be too late for me, as he would naturally suppose Buckrow and Long Jim to be near by.
It was coming on toward twilight, and there were still seven sacks to be carried in. Thirkle had finished burying Buckrow, and set to dragging the sacks close to the entrance of the crevice, so we would not have to carry them so far.
Petrak made several attempts to talk with him; but Thirkle made short answers, for when he took the pistols he had dropped his mask of affability and a.s.sumed his old commanding airs.
"It"ll be dark before we get back to the boats," suggested Petrak, as we stood over the five sacks which were left.
"Mighty dark," said Thirkle gruffly, sitting cross-legged, counting a packet of English banknotes.
"That"s what ye want, aint" it?" asked Petrak, who noticed that Thirkle was not so friendly as he had been.
"You keep to work and never mind so much talk," said Thirkle. "If ye stand there that way, it"ll be morning before we get away."
"I"m workin", ain"t I? Can"t a man stop to breathe, himself, I"d like to know?"
Thirkle made no reply, but went on running his thumb over the ends of the notes. I stood and watched them, waiting for Petrak to stoop and take a sack.
"Yer goin" to play fair with me--ain"t ye, Thirkle?" whined Petrak, a trace of fear crossing his face. "We"re in together, share and share alike now--ain"t we, Thirkle? I can ask that, can"t I?"
"Ye"ll get yer share, Reddy," said Thirkle, smiling.
"That"s half--ain"t it, Thirkle? Ye mind what I done for ye with Bucky, don"t ye?"
"Aye, half of it, of course, Red. Reef that jaw of yours now, lad, and clap on. Don"t stand there like a Jew and wrangle over the loot. Want to stop and count it now, lad?"
"Ye told Long Jim to do for me--didn"t ye, Thirkle?" Petrak grinned, and his fingers twitched toward the b.u.t.t of a pistol. I knew what was in his mind.
"What"s that?" demanded Thirkle. "Oh, run along now, Red, like a good chap, and get the gold stowed. Didn"t I tell ye to get Long Jim, and didn"t ye get him? What more"s to be said? Run along now, Reddy, and pack it away."
"That"s what Long Jim said," insisted Petrak doggedly. There was murder in his eyes, while his face was livid with fear.
"Then he lied, and ye ought to take my word against his. Don"t be a fool now, Reddy, like the others. Ye"ll get your share, bank on that. Yer a good sort, Petrak; and I need ye to help me get it away, and we"ll share and share alike, as I told ye. Do you think I"d play dirt with ye after all we"ve been through together, Reddy?"
"Course not. Don"t mind my lip, Thirkle, old chap. No harm done, is there?"
"No harm done, Reddy," said Thirkle, glancing at me suspiciously, as if he thought I had been turning Petrak against him.
"No harm in what I say, Thirkle," and Petrak took up the end of the sack.
His mistrust of Thirkle gave me an idea, which I put into play as soon as we were well inside the crevice.
"Petrak," I whispered dropping my end of the sack, and compelling him to let it down.
"What"s up now?" he whispered.
"He"ll kill you, too, Reddy. He"s planning it out; and if you let him, he"ll kill both of us before he quits this island. Are you going to let him do it, Reddy?"
He growled out something and fumbled at his belt, and it was touch and go with him whether he would knife me and then run out and tell Thirkle to gain credit with him.
"His mind is made up, Reddy. He may let us help him get a boat into the water, but that"s all. He"ll murder both of us like dogs."