"No; let up a bit--just enough so he can answer me first, I want to find out what all this means. Now look here, Knox, you're an army officer, are you?" "Yes," I managed to gasp, sobbing in an effort to catch breath, as the iron fingers at my throat relaxed slightly. "Well then, what is all this to you? Why are you butting in on my game? Was Beaucaire a friend of yours?" "I can hardly claim that," I admitted. "We never met until I came aboard this steamer. All I am interested in is justice to others." "To others? Oh, I suppose you mean those girls--you know them then?" "I have never even seen them," I said, now speaking more easily. "Thockmorton chanced to tell me about them yesterday, and their condition appealed to me, just as it naturally would to any true man. I thought probably you did not understand the situation, and hoped that if I told you the truth you might respond." "Oh, you did, did you? You must have figured me as being pretty soft. Well, what do you think now?" His tone so completely ended my hope of compromise that I replied hotly, "That you are a dirty, piratical cur. I may have doubted your purpose at first, for I am not used to your kind, but this is so no longer. You deliberately ruined and robbed Beaucaire, in order to gain possession of these two girls. You have admitted as much." He laughed, in no way angered by my plain speech; indeed it almost seemed as though he felt complimented. "Hardly admit, my friend, for that is not my style. I let others do the guessing. What do you think of that, Carver? It seems we rank rather high in the estimation of the young man." His eyes again centered on me. "And you are really not acquainted with either of the ladies?" "No."