Page:The Iron Pirate 1905.djvu/278

264 thought of playing us false, you'd better stop where you are."

I debated on the whole extent of his proposition, and made up my mind on it in a few moments. I was aware that, if I remained at the station, I could expect nothing but speedy death upon the ice, since the doctor had told me that the place would be deserted during the winter. Against this I had to ask myself if my going aboard the nameless ship meant in any way approval of the occupation of those who sailed it; but this suggestion was too trivial, and I dismissed it in a moment; while the thought flashed across my mind that if I could but once be taken to European or American waters, there would be at least the probability that this man might fall into the hands of those who were seeking him. In that case liberty would come with his undoing; which was even more pleasant to think upon than to contemplate it with him yet free as a voracious beast of the seas.

"You accept?" said the doctor, who sat watching me as I thought these things; and I answered him without hesitation— "I accept."

"The captain has your word of honour as between gentlemen?"

"As between—well, if you like it so—as between gentlemen."

The satire of the last word was too much for him, for he was one of the pleasantest fellows in