Trenhum. Roundaboutish, but not far; and I'm
thinkin' I might lead ye on to 'em, sir, if ye'd let me have the sack we
had, sir. Ye done for Jim right enough, but that's my sack now."
"Throw down that knife and unbuckle your belt, and see that you don't
reach for a pistol," I said.
There was something in his manner that led me to believe he had a trap
for me; either he had seen Long Jim move, or thought Thirkle and Buckrow
might come down upon us if he could keep me talking.
He dropped the knife, and as he reached for the buckle of the belt I
turned my head in an involuntary movement to make sure that Long Jim had
not recovered, an action bred by the suspicious manner of Petrak. The
pirate was lying as he had fallen, with his arms over his head and his
pistol a yard away; but the little red-headed man turned and ran in
the flash of my eye. I fired at him as he scurried behind a sprawling
hemp-tree, but missed; and he never stopped, and I stood and listened as
he crashed through the brush.
It would have been senseless to pursue him. As he had kept on toward the
beach, away from the direction of Thirkle's camp, I knew he was not going
back to the others, and reasoned that he would hardly dare to return to
Thirkle, who had probably missed the sack of gold, or would demand
explanations which Petrak would have difficulty in giving.
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