this he reckoned without the Governor, whom he found really in the
thrall of a severe attack of gout, and almost as severe an attack
of temper nourished by Blood's delay.

The doctor was kept in constant attendance upon him until long after
midnight, when at last he was able to ease the sufferer a little by
a bleeding. Thereupon he would have withdrawn. But Steed would
not hear of it. Blood must sleep in his own chamber to be at hand
in case of need. It was as if Fate made sport of him. For that
night at least the escape must be definitely abandoned.

Not until the early hours of the morning did Peter Blood succeed in
making a temporary escape from Government House on the ground that
he required certain medicaments which he must, himself, procure from
the apothecary.

On that pretext, he made an excursion into the awakening town, and
went straight to Nuttall, whom he found in a state of livid panic.
The unfortunate debtor, who had sat up waiting through the night,
conceived that all was discovered and that his own ruin would be
involved. Peter Blood quieted his fears.

"It will be for to-night instead," he said, with more assurance than
he felt, "if I have to bleed the Governor to death. Be ready as
last night."

"But if there are questions meanwhile?" bleated Nuttall. He was a
thin, pale, small-featured, man with weak eyes that now blinked
desperately.