"
In the hurry and excitement of preparation and departure, the orders I
had given and received, and the work that filled every moment, I had
been conscious of the uneasy burden of a task forgotten. I had surely
neglected something. Yet for my life I could not see that we lacked
anything. I had my seven retainers, the boy was safe with us, I had my
purse, we were well-armed, and every man had his ticket to Livermore.
But at last the cause of my troubles came to my mind.
"Great Scott!" I thought. "It's Doddridge Knapp. That little engagement
in the stock-market is casting its shadow before."
It seemed likely indeed that the demands of my warring employers would
clash here as well as in the conflict over the boy.
Yet with all the vengeful feeling that filled my heart as I looked on
the child and called up the memory of my murdered friend, I could but
feel a pang of regret at the prospect that Doddridge Knapp's fortune
should be placed in hazard through any unfaithfulness of mine. He had
trusted me with his plans and his money. And the haunting thought that
his fortune was staked on the venture, and that his ruin might follow,
with the possible beggary of Luella and Mrs. Knapp, should I fail him
at tomorrow's crisis, weighed on my spirits.
My uncomfortable reflections were broken by the clanging engine-bells
and the forward movement of the passengers as the steamboat passed into
the slip at Long Wharf.
"Stand together, boys," I cautioned my men.
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