Landtakers: The Story of an Epoch

What was a mere problem of diplomacy for McGovern made a problem of conscience for Cabell. He temporized over it for two days, consigned it to the future, raked it up in the dead of night, put it behind him again, and on the third day he found himself in the store more or less at a loss for words.

But Gursey seemed relieved to be questioned about McGovern. He had been waiting anxiously for this interview ever since it became plain that the overseer at Ningpo was trying to placate Cabell. Yes, he admitted at once, with an air of abject and terrified penitence, he had lied about McGovern in the first place. That was because he thought Cabell might refuse to keep him on the run if he knew the truth. And the money? Well, he HAD made a few quid at Chinaman's Flat, but McGovern had taken it from him. Every penny, he insisted, his bony hands straying nervously about the neck of his shirt, a baggy garment that exposed rather than covered the emaciated body underneath. He had been starving when he ran into Peters in Sydney. Peters would swear. .