Look here, Jeekie, you old scamp, I am sorry for you, for you have been
a good friend to me and we are fond of each other. But just understand
this, I am not going to marry that woman if I can help it. It's against
my principles. So I shall wait till to-morrow and then I shall walk out
of this place. If the guards try to stop me I shall shoot them while I
have any cartridges. Then I shall go on until they kill me."
"Oh! But Major, they not kill you--never; they chuck blanket over your
head and take you back to Asika. It Jeekie they kill, skin him alive-o,
and all the rest of it."
"Hope not, Jeekie, because they think we shall die the same day. But if
so, I can't help it. To-morrow morning I shall walk out, and now that's
settled. I am tired and going to sleep," and he threw himself down upon
the bed and, being worn out with weariness and anxiety, soon fell fast
asleep.
But Jeekie did not sleep, although he too lay down upon his bed. On the
contrary, he remained wide awake and reflected, more deeply perhaps
than he had ever done before, being sure the superstition as to the
dependence of Alan's life upon his own was now worn very thin, and that
his hour was at hand.
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