Page:Curwood--The Courage of Captain Plum.djvu/139

 head dropped to his side. Half apologetically he held out his hand to his companion.

"Captain Plum, we've got a lot to thank you for, Marion and I," he said, a tremble of the passing emotion in his voice. "Obadiah told Marion that help might come to us through you and Marion brought the word to me at the jail late last night—after she had seen you at the window. The old councilor kept his word! You have saved her!"

"Saved her!" gasped Nathaniel. "From what? How?" A hundred questions seemed leaping from his heart to his lips.

"From Strang. Good God, don't you understand? I tell you that I am going to kill Strang!"

Neil stood as though appalled by his companion's incomprehension. "I am going to kill Strang, I tell you!" he cried again, the fire burning deeper through the sweat of his cheeks.

Nathaniel's bewilderment still shone in his face.