suffering; yet no sooner did he recover health and spirits a little
than his old interest revived, and with his interest all the old
jealousies.

He bitterly resented Toro's assumption of the command.

"Let the blustering bully fool impose upon them if he will," he said to
himself again and again; "he never could take me in. It shall be my
task to show them who can render the most real service to the band."

Their programme suited Hunston well.

What could better have accorded with his humour than the devotion of
all their time, thought, and energies to the persecution--perhaps to
the entire destruction, of the Harkaway family?

It was all gone on with avowedly to avenge the death of Mathias.

Little cared Hunston about the dead brigand chief.

Indeed, but for the presence of his widow in their midst, and the
occasional mention of his name, Hunston would, in all probability, have
forgotten that he had ever existed.

As it was, he made it his especial task to hang about the parts of the
town where the Harkaways were most likely to be met. And never did he
appear twice in the same dress.

One evening, strolling into a dancing garden, he chanced to come upon a
smart young lady, whose appearance attracted his attention at once.