"Say no more. An express shall start at once." "Have you received any letters signed '_An old friend_'?" "Many! I presume, then, that you are that friend; but why not avow yourself?" "I could not." "If all you tell me in those letters be true, it is an odious and infamous action," cried Tom Mitchell. "I know it is, and I have counted on you and your father to see that justice be done," continued Durand. "Count on me," said Tom. "I have seen your friend, and though he does not like me, he won my heart at once." "He will change his mind." "But what can my father do in the matter?" "Everything. You must now understand, my friend, that if I have abandoned my ship in New York to the care of my mate, if I, who hate dry land, have started on a journey through the desert, it must be for powerful reasons." "Doubtless. May I ask what they are?" "Because, my friend, here in there is his most implacable, most ruthless foe," cried Durand. "Here!" exclaimed Tom. "Yes--here, in this island, in that room," replied Pierre Durand, pointing to the one they had left. "Are you sure of his identity?" asked Mitchell. "I have watched him for five years, followed in his track, known every movement he has made," said Durand. "And he does not know you?" cried Tom. "He knows me very well. He came over in my ship; we are the best of friends; he tried to buy me over." "This is incredible," observed the outlaw. "Yet true. I am his confidante, his devoted servant; I enter into all his views, and he counts on me as a slave." Both young men burst out laughing. "Then you have come from New York together?" "Not at all. We met at the fort two days ago, and as I am no longer disguised," said Pierre Durand, "despite all his cunning, he knew me not." "Well, the matter is settled," said Tom Mitchell, in a whisper; "we have our man here; he shall never leave." "My friend," said Pierre Durand, gravely, "that is not the game we have to play. He is as slippery as an eel." "I don't think, if I made up my mind," said the outlaw chief, with a sinister smile, "he would ever escape me." "Well, there is a time for everything. In the first place, learn his projects, so that we may unmask him. This will be all the more easy," said the sea captain, "in that we know who he is, while he is ignorant of our designs." "There is one thing worth mentioning," said the outlaw; "I, too, know him well. He will be rather surprised presently." "Be careful. One word might put him on his guard." "Is not my whole life passed," continued the outlaw, sadly, "in outdoing others in cunning and diplomacy?" "True. I leave, then, everything to you." "And now learn, my friend, that you are free as air, and absolute master of my domains," he added, laughing. Then he picked three flowers, and placing them in his buttonhole, said, "This will give you free passage everywhere you like. Now for your two travelling companions. But follow me."