"I wasn't goin' to tell you that.

But it didn't hurt.

It was Peter--" He felt the damp caress of her curls upon his neck as she bent over him.
"Please tell me, Mister Jolly Roger--is he hurt--bad ?" With the tenderness of a woman Jolly Roger worked his fingers over Peter's scrawny little body.

And Peter, whimpering softly, felt the infinite consolation of their touch.

He was no longer afraid of Jed Hawkins, or of pain, or of death.