CHAPTER XLV.
GOOD FOR EVIL--AN UNEXPECTED STROKE OF LUCK FORHUNSTON.
Harkaway, the noble and generous, and Hunston, the villain from boyhoodto manhood, together--face to face!
After all these changes and trials and vicissitudes.
After all these acts of villainy, treachery, and cruelty upon the partof the miserable wretch Hunston. After so many acts of daring upon thepart of our dashing hero, Jack Harkaway.
Not a word was spoken for some moments.
This strange encounter literally deprived them of the power ofutterance.
It was unexpected to both of them.
Startling--appalling was it to Hunston upon regaining consciousness, tofind himself face to face with the man of all others he dreaded andhated most.
Need we say why?
No.
The reader has not, of course, forgotten that Hunston was ignorant ofthe two boys' preservation. Little did he dream that those two destinedvictims had, by little less than a miracle, escaped his vengeance.
Bitter, indeed, therefore, were his feelings now, for he fully believedthat young Jack was in his grave in the Greek mountains.
Under any ordinary circumstances he would have felt tolerably easy, forwell as he knew what an ugly customer was Jack Harkaway in a tussle, hewas also aware that Jack would not take advantage of an enemy'spowerless condition, no matter how deep were the wrongs inflicted.
The murder of Harkaway's boy, Hunston knew well, was a crime whichHarkaway would never look over.
His fate was sealed.
So deeply was he convinced of this that he would have laid violenthands upon himself if he had had the power.
But the crowning crime of self-murder he was powerless to commit.
"So, Hunston," said Harkaway, sternly, "we meet face to face oncemore."
Hunston was silent.
What could he say?
"What new villainy brought you here?" said Harkaway. "What fresh act ofdevilry had you in contemplation when you got on board my vessel?"
Hunston gave him a sickly and scornful smile.
"Do you suppose that I knew where I was?"
"Yes."
Hunston stared.
"Then all I have to say is, that you haven't improved in wit or wisdomwith increasing years. Why, the merest chance brought me here. I am notguilty of gratitude as a rule, you will say."
"True."
"You haven't the satisfaction of saying it," retorted Hunston, quickly;"I have said it for you. But the two men who hid me here had no ideawho I was. Being hard pressed on shore--where you made it too hot tohold me--I took to the water, and when I was nearly sinking, I hailedtheir boat. They took me in and--"
"And you returned the compliment."
"How?"
"By taking them in," said Harkaway.
"They hid me away here to do me a service. I made my tale good to them.As my time, I feel, is nearly up in this world, I don't want to do themany wrong."
Harkaway listened in some astonishment.
The wretch's allusion to his approaching end thrilled Harkawaystrangely.
"Do you feel so ill?" he asked.
Hunston smiled sardonically at this.
"Nearly all over," was his reply. "Laugh away--laugh away!"
"Hush, miserable man, hush!" exclaimed Harkaway. "You have known menearly all my life; you knew me as a schoolboy and as a man."
"Yes."
"And no one has better reason than you to know that Jack Harkaway doesnot fight with helpless enemies, still less does he rejoice over thesufferings of the worst foe he ever had."
Hunston looked up.
A faint gleam of hope appeared in this.
But no; it was impossible.
Too well he knew that his life was forfeited.
But while he was ruminating thus, Harkaway had sent one of the men upon deck to fetch the doctor.
In the course of two or three minutes the man returned, accompanied bythe ship's surgeon.
"A stowaway on board the 'Westward Ho!'" said the doctor, as he enteredthe hold; "I should sooner have expected to find one on board aman-of-war."
"Examine him, please, doctor," said Harkaway anxiously, "and let usknow how he is."
The doctor made no reply, but proceeded without any fuss ordemonstration to feel the sick man's pulse.
"Very low," he said; "in a bad way. We must get him up out of thisplace, for it is enough to choke a black."
He was tended as carefully as if he had been one of their best friends,instead of the bitterest, the most treacherous of their enemies; and,strange to relate, Jack Harkaway appeared not a little concerned aboutthe villain's welfare.
"Do you think that there is any danger?" he asked.
"Immediate, do you mean, sir?" said the doctor.
"Yes."
"Humph! I can scarcely say. Not exactly immediate, perhaps, if care betaken."
"You think he will live?"
"Unless the fever which has set in should take an unfavourable turn. Heis constitutionally strong."
"I know that."
The doctor looked at Harkaway in some surprise.
"You are a bit of a doctor, Mr. Harkaway?"
Jack smiled.
"A very small bit," he answered; "only I have known this man nearly allmy life."
"Indeed!"
The doctor's manner invited confidence, and it was quite clear that hiscuriosity had been awakened.
Harkaway thought it over quickly and quietly, and he came to theconclusion that he could not do better than let the doctor participatein the secret.
"You are surprised that an old acquaintance of mine should be here onboard my ship, lurking and skulking as a stowaway?"
"Well," answered Doctor Anderson, in a constrained manner, "if Iconfess the honest plain truth, I am."
"It is simple enough; the man did not know that he was on my vessel, orit would be about the last vessel in the world he would have chosen forrefuge."
"Refuge?"
"Yes; refuge is the word. Now I am the worst man in the world at halfconfidences. Tell me, are you a good man to keep a secret, doctor?"
"I am."
"Then I may tell you something that will rather startle you."
"You will?"
"Yes. That poor wretch you have the charge of is the worst enemy that Ihave. It is my old schoolfellow, Hunston."
"Hunston!"
"Yes. You remember the name, I perceive."
"I do. But is it possible that the villain has the audacity to venturehere?"
"No; that is just what he would not do. He took to the water, beinghardly pressed by his enemies."
"Why, if your men knew who it was, they would tear him piecemeal."
"Exactly; and that's what I wanted to speak of to you, doctor. We musttake every care not to let them know."
"Really, you are as careful of him as though he were a cherishedfriend."
"Not quite," answered Harkaway; "only I don't care to drop on ahelpless enemy, even such a viper as this Hunston."
"But he is such an utterly bad lot."
"True; and I should not feel the slightest compunction at taking hislife in a tussle, in a fair stand-up fight; but what I can't do, istaking a man's life when he is helpless at my mercy."
The doctor saw that Harkaway did not wish to discuss it further, and sohe contented himself with obeying orders; and so Hunston got restoredto health in the ship of his old schoolfellow, the man whom he hadinjured most deeply.
Care and skill of the first description were lavished upon him.
But for this, Hunston would probably have languished and diedwretchedly upon the coast of Greece, unless an accident had thrown himinto the power of the authorities.
In that case, his destiny would have been speedily accomplished.
His end--the scaffold.