ton his old Australian companion Ben Joyce, the chief of the escaped convicts. And who knows but that they had conceived the impossible hope of bringing back Ayrton to themselves? He would have been very useful to them, if they could make him turn traitor.
This incident was, therefore, favorably interpreted, and it no longer appeared impossible that they should find Ayrton again. On his side, if he was only a prisoner, Ayrton would no doubt do all he could to escape, and this would be a powerful aid to the settlers!
"If happily," observed Gideon Spilett, "Ayrton did manage to escape, he would go directly to Granite House, for he could not know of the attempted assassination of Herbert, and consequently would never think of our being imprisoned in the corral."
"Oh! I wish that he was there, at Granite House!" cried Pencroft, "and that we were, too! For, although the rascals can do nothing to our house, they may plunder the plateau, our plantations, our poultry-yard!"
Pencroft had become a thorough farmer, heartily attached to his crops. Herbert was more anxious than any to return to Granite House, for he knew how much the presence of the settlers was needed there. And it was he who was keeping them! Therefore, one idea occupied his mind—to leave the corral, and when! He believed he could bear removal to Granite House. He was sure his strength would return more quickly in his room, with the air and sight of the sea!
Several times he pressed Spilett, but the latter, fearing, with good reason, that Herbert's wounds, half healed, might reopen on the way, did not give the order to start.
However, something occurred which compelled them all to yield to the lad's wish, though God alone knew if this determination might cause them grief and remorse.
It was on the 29th of November, seven o'clock in the evening. The settlers were talking in Herbert's room, when they heard Top utter quick barks. Harding, Pencroft, and Spilett seized their guns and ran out of the house. Top, at the foot of the palisade, was jumping and barking, but with pleasure, not anger. "Someone is coming."
"It is not an enemy!"
"Neb, perhaps?"
