"
He left them, and going into the compound, found Bulger and Toley looking
with curiosity at the body of Diggle.
"Hi, sir!" said Bulger as Desmond came up to them: "this here bit o'
velvet is explained at last. Mr. Toley, he slit it with his cutlass, sir,
and never did I see a man so down in the mouth when he knowed what was
under it. 'T'ent nothing at all, sir; just three letters; and what for he
went and burnt them three letters into the back of his hand 'twould beat
a Daniel to explain.
"'F u r,' sir, that's what they spells; but whether 'tis rabbit skin or
fox I can't say, though 'tis most likely fox, knowing the man."
Desmond stooped and looked at the unclad right hand. The letters F U R
were branded livid below the knuckles.
"He was always quoting Latin, Bulger," he said. "'Fur' is a Latin word:
it means 'thief.'"
"Which I might have knowed it, sir, only I think as how the man that did
the stampin' might have done it in plain English. I don't hold with these
foreign lingos, sir; there allers seems something sly and deceivin' about
em. No right man 'ud ever think 'fur' meant 'thief'! Thief an' all, sir,
he's dead. Mr. Toley and me'll put him away decent like: and it won't do
him no harm if we just says 'Our Father' over the grave."
Desmond was turning away when three of his men came into the compound,
two grasping a Frenchman by the arms, the third a black boy. The former
Desmond recognized as the man whom he had seen expostulating with Diggle;
the latter was Scipio Africanus, looking scared and miserable.
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