"If Gorton's hair was false, I never noticed it, that's all; I never saw him without a hat, that I remember, except in that inquest-room." "Had he been to Australia?" Pike paused to take another surreptitious gaze. "Can't say, my lord. Never heard." "Was his name Gorton, or Gordon? Come, Pike," continued Lord Hartledon, good-humouredly, "there's a sort of mutual alliance between you and me; you did me a service once unasked, and I allow you to live free and undisturbed on my ground. I think you _do_ know something of this man; it is a fancy I have taken up." "I never knew his name was anything but Gorton," said Pike carelessly; "never heard it nor thought it." "Did you happen to hear him ever speak of that mutiny on board the Australian ship _Morning Star_? You have heard of it, I daresay: a George Gordon was the ringleader." If ever the cool impudence was suddenly taken out of a man, this question seemed to take it out of Pike. He did not reply for some time; and when he did, it was in low and humble tones. "My lord, I hope you'll pardon my rough thoughts and ways, which haven't been used to such as you--and the sight of that boy put me up, for reasons of my own. As to Gorton--I never did hear him speak of the thing you mention. His name's Gorton, and nothing else, as far as I know; and his hair's his own, for all I ever saw." "He did not give you his confidence, then?" "No, never. Not about himself nor anything else, past or present." "And did not let a word slip? As to--for instance, as to his having been a passenger on board the _Morning Star_ at the time of the mutiny?" Pike had moved away a step, and stood with his arms on the hurdles, his head bent on them, his face turned from Lord Hartledon. "Gorton said nothing to me. As to that mutiny--I think I read something about it in the newspapers, but I forget what. I was just getting up from some weeks of rheumatic fever at the time; I'd caught it working in the fields; and news don't leave much impression in illness. Gorton never spoke of it to me. I never heard him say who or what he was; and I couldn't speak more truly if your lordship offered to give me the shed as a bribe." "Do you know where Gorton might be found at present?" "I swear before Heaven that I know nothing of the man, and have never heard of him since he went away," cried Pike, with a burst of either fear or passion. "He was a stranger to me when he came, and he was a stranger when he left. I found out the little game he had come about, and saved your lordship from his clutches, which he doesn't know to this day. I know nothing else about him at all." "Well, good evening, Pike. You need not put yourself out for nothing."