"
A deep execration broke from the lips of the highwayman.
"Now you see how we know all about it," Charlie went on. "Now, it
entirely depends on yourself whether, in the course of another
hour, we shall hand you over to a magistrate, as the leader of the
gang who robbed the North coach, and took part in the robbery near
Dorking--we have found some of the watches and other plunder in
your bedroom--or whether you escape trial for these offences. You
may be wanted for other, similar affairs."
"Yes, sir," Tony put in. "Now I see him, he answers exactly to the
description of a man the officers have been in search of, for a
long time. He goes by the name of Dick Cureton, and has been
engaged in at least a dozen highway robberies, to my knowledge."
"You see," Charlie went on, "there is no doubt whatever what will
happen, if we hand you over to the officers. You will be hung at
Tyburn, to a moral certainty. There is no getting out of that.
"Now, on the other hand, you have the alternative of making a clean
breast of your dealings with John Dormay, of how he put you at
Lynnwood to act as a spy, how you hid those two letters he gave you
in my father's cabinet, and how he taught you the lying story you
afterwards told before the magistrates at Lancaster.
Pages:
423
424
425
426
427
428
429
430
431
432
433
434
435
436
437
438
439
440
441
442
443
444
445
446
447