The triumph of Zappa at recovering Miss Garden was great, in proportion
to his anger against those whom he suspected to have assisted at her
escape; but once having got her again in his power, and safe inside his
well-fortified harbour, he felt as a cat does towards the unfortunate
mouse it has caught and killed--that he might leave and return to her
when he pleased, without a chance of her again running away: he
therefore hurried off to the fort, at the summit of the cliffs, to
superintend the destruction of the English flotilla, which he believed
had been sent against him; for he could not have supposed that so small
a force as was really there would have thus boldly followed him to the
very mouth of his den.
On his arrival at the fort, he found old Vlacco busily engaged in
pointing the guns to bear down on the British boats; and on his sounding
his well-known bugle, a large number of his followers collected with
their fire-arms, to assist in the defence of the post. While they all
were occupied in firing at the enemy, Vlacco sent into the tower to
bring a supply of powder for the guns, from some casks, which, with the
usual carelessness of the Greeks, had been left there without the
slightest precaution against accident. A cask was broached, and much of
the powder scattered about. After the boats had disappeared, the
pirates were retiring from the fort, when Tompion's gallant attack on
the mistico called them back, and it was at this time that a spark from
the lantern of a man, sent for a further supply of powder, fell among
the scattered grains, and produced the conflagration I have before
spoken of. As the flames burst forth, and burnt with terrific energy,
Zappa flew towards the building, in vain endeavouring to find means of
entrance. Wherever he attempted it at the door or window, the fire
drove him back. In vain he called on the name of Nina. She neither
answered nor did she appear at either of the casements. His usual calm
demeanour had completely deserted him, and he seemed like a madman as he
rushed round the building, urging his followers to bring ladders to
enable him to mount to the story, where he expected to find her. Two
were at last found, but they were far too short to be of use, and he was
soon warned to retire to a distance by the explosion of another cask of
powder, which shook the old walls to their foundation, and he had
scarcely got to a secure position, when the remainder igniting, the
whole edifice came tumbling down at once, and lay a heap of smoking
ruins on the ground. Some of the burning embers had fallen on the roof
of the adjoining building, and that now blazed up, and being very dry
and rotten, burnt with equal fury, so that in a very short time it was
reduced to a heap of ashes: the old walls of the castle, against which
it was built, alone standing. It was thus that all traces of the means
by which the prisoners had made their escape were obliterated. The
islanders could do nothing to stop the progress of the flames, for the
only water procurable was from a deep well, whence only a small quantity
could be drawn up at a time, and there were no means at hand to get it
from the sea, over the cliffs.
The conflagration had the effect of attracting the population, far and
near, to the spot--the fishermen and other inhabitants of the
neighbouring village, the seamen from the vessels, and indeed everybody
in the bay, came rushing up the ravine to see what was taking place.
Zappa stood at a distance, contemplating the scene of havoc. He thought
of Nina in all her youth and beauty, of her fond affection, her deep
devotion, of all the sacrifices she had made for him--and callous and
bad as was his heart, a transient pang of bitter regret visited it, for
the cruel return he had made her.
"This, then, Nina Montifalcone, is the fate I have reserved for you. An
agonising death the only reward I can give you for that love which still
endured after I had torn aside the bright veil with which your fervid
imagination had clothed me, and showed myself to you in my real
colours--that love which I verily believed would have endured after you
knew that my heart had been captivated by one still younger, still more
beautiful, than yourself."
As he gave vent aloud to these feelings, so strange to his bosom, which
now agitated him, he suddenly stood like one transfixed, his breath came
thick, his eye dilated, for there before him, with the full glare of the
fire falling on her, stood the figure of Nina. Her countenance was pale
as death, and she neither spoke nor approached him.
"Who are you?" he exclaimed at length, in a voice trembling with
emotion; "speak, if you would not drive me to distraction. Tell me
whence you come, and why you now come to seek me."
"I am Nina Montifalcone,--some time your wife, whom you oft have told
you loved," she replied, in a tone of deep dejection. "What I soon
shall be, the greedy worm may best tell."
Her voice recalled him to his senses, though her words seemed strange.
"Nina," he exclaimed, "you overheard my vain ravings when I thought you
had fallen a victim to yon devouring flames; but think no more of them,
and tell me by what miracle you escaped from the tower, before the
flames burst forth--for afterwards, no power could have saved you."
"I had gone to comfort and succour the unfortunate, those whom your
injustice has made prisoners in this island, and I sought you even now
to plead for them," she answered boldly; the tone of meek sorrow with
which she had before spoken being no longer discernible.
"You take me unawares, and would work on me at a weak moment, Nina," he
replied. "But know you, girl, that the persons of whom you speak are
spies, come here in disguise to work my destruction? Ah! you look
surprised, incredulous! Yes, these men--these pretended Maltese--are no
other than Englishmen, belonging to a ship of war lying at no great
distance from this island, for the express purpose of capturing my
vessel, my gallant _Sea Hawk_, if they can fall in with her; and I have
not told you all--their leader is the captain himself, the very man to
whom that fair English girl, of whom you are so foolishly jealous, is
betrothed. I knew this, I say, from the first; but I pretended
ignorance, for I wished to discover who were their accomplices among
those I trusted. He even now lies dead or dying in the bay below, and I
left the fair girl with him, that she might know I did not kill him; but
I tell you, Nina, if he were to recover, he should not live to escape,
and to bring destruction on me. If he dies now, it is through his own
folly, and no one can accuse me of having slain him; so, except you
would wish to make his blood rest on my head, do not pray for his
recovery."
"Oh! you would not do so black a deed--you would not slay an innocent
man because he came to regain the bride of whom you had deprived him!
for I feel assured that for no other object did he visit this island;
and that should he recover, were you to give her to him, and allow him
and those who came with him to depart, he would promise never to molest
you, or to take advantage in any way of the knowledge he has obtained by
his visit to this island."
Nina spoke with firmness and energy, as she said this, for she fancied
that her arguments were so good, she could not fail to gain her object.
"Ah! have you been consulting with the English signora and her lover,
that you plead their cause so well?" he exclaimed, with the bitter tone
in which he often spoke. "Well, I will see to it, and now come to the
fair lady's palace, she will afford us lodging there, since ours is
burnt down; which, Nina, it appears, troubles you but little. Know you
not, girl, that I have there lost property to the value of many thousand
piastres? That is alone enough to sour a man's temper, till he can
replace them, which, were I to follow your wishes, it would be long
enough before I could do."
"My mind was too much occupied with the object I have spoken to you
about, to think of the loss, even though everything I possessed was
destroyed," she replied, quietly. "But I still felt thankful that I was
preserved from the dreadful fate which would have been mine had I
remained in the building; and if you also feel gratitude to Heaven for
this, show it by granting life and liberty to the English captain and
his friends. You accuse me of being influenced by them to plead their
cause; but it is not they who influence me,--it is honour, justice,
right, and oh! my husband, remember that their fate may soon be yours,
and that if you show not mercy to them, you can expect none in return."
"I know that, Nina, I expect none," he answered, fiercely. "Were I to
fall into the power of my enemies, they would tear me limb from limb,
and mock my dying agonies with their laughter, ere they showed me mercy
or gave me liberty. I do, Nina, as I expect to be done by; I hope for
nothing else. But why do I stand prating here? My house is burnt to
the ground, and my property destroyed, so we must go and crave shelter
of the Signora Ada, for you and I have many things to do before I again
close my eyes in sleep."
When they arrived at the Stranger's Tower, as the Greeks had called the
building inhabited by Ada, they found that she and Marianna had already
arrived there, and returned to their former quarters, according to
Nina's advice, as if nothing had happened to disturb them. She had,
indeed, seen them safe lodged there before she sought her husband; and
she now returned to them by his directions, to take some rest, which she
much required, while he occupied the lower and still unfurnished chamber
as a sort of council-hall, where he summoned Vlacco and some of his
chief officers to consult what, under the present circumstances, it
would be necessary for them to do.
As soon as old Vlacco and one or two others had arrived, he sent to have
all the prisoners brought before him, that he might examine them
respecting their object in venturing on his island, and their motive for
leaving it. His visit to the _Ione_ must be remembered, and that he
there only learned that her captain had gone on a secret expedition, and
he naturally concluded that he was accompanied by his own crew. His
surprise was, therefore, very great, when Captain Vassilato, Bowse, and
the Maltese, Pietro, were dragged rudely into his presence.
"What!" he muttered, as he saw the honest skipper. "Have my people
again done their work so clumsily, that another vessel has floated to
bear evidence against me? It must be he, and yet he looks so
unconscious of having seen me before, that I must be deceived. There
were five prisoners," he remarked, aloud. "Where are the other two?"
"We cannot find them, chief," was the answer. "We have looked in every
direction, we have inquired of all, but no one has seen them or heard of
them."
"How is this?" exclaimed Zappa. "I left one of them, whom I knew to be
no other than the captain of an English ship of war, sent here to watch
the _Sea Hawk_, wounded and dying in old Listi's boat, with the stranger
lady and her attendant watching him, and as they, I hear, have already
returned here, I suppose they would not have deserted him. Let them and
the Lady Nina be summoned."
In two minutes the two ladies and Marianna stood before him; but he
neither rose nor showed them any courtesy.
"Can you inform me, signora, where Captain Fleetwood is to be found?" he
exclaimed, with vehemence, addressing Miss Garden, in Italian. "Ah, you
thought I was so blind as not to recognise him; you thought I did not
observe the fond affection with which you bent over him as he lay
wounded in the boat; indeed, you fancied that we keep so careless a
watch in this island, that any strangers may come without our
discovering them; but let that hope desert you for the future, and now
answer me truly, madam."
This was the first intimation that Ada had received that the disguise of
Fleetwood had been seen through, and horror at what the consequences
might be almost made her sink fainting on the ground; but by a strenuous
effort, she recovered sufficiently to answer with apparent calmness--
"The person, whom you state to be Captain Fleetwood, was removed from
the boat to the hut of a fisherman on the beach, as he was in no
condition to be carried up here."
"By whom--by whom was he removed?" asked the pirate, impatiently. "You
could not have carried him."
"By a man habited as a Maltese, and by your own surgeon, whom I had
summoned to attend on him," replied Ada, firmly.
"Why, that must be Salamonsi's cottage," remarked Zappa, turning to
Vlacco. "Send down forthwith, and let the boy and Signor Paolo be
brought up here; and mark you, if the English captain has recovered the
use of his tongue, let him be conveyed here also--he shall answer for
himself." He said this in Romaic, so Ada did not understand the cruel
order; but Nina did, and, with an imploring look, she stepped to his
side, and besought him to revoke the command; but he roughly repulsed
her, and, turning to the other three prisoners, he asked, in the _lingua
Franca_, often used by him,--"By what right have you, who were
hospitably entertained in this island, attempted to run off with persons
whom you knew were my prisoners?"
On this the Maltese seaman, Pietro, stepped forward, and, with the
volubility for which the islanders are celebrated, made the long
statement which had been previously agreed on, finishing by stating that
he and his two companions had been engaged by the lady to convey her on
board an English ship, and that they had no reason to suppose they were
injuring any one by so doing. As this was all said in Maltese, scarcely
a word of which language Zappa understood, he was not a little puzzled,
and was insisting on having it repeated in some more intelligible
tongue, when Marianna, who was highly delighted with it, not the less so
that she knew it contained scarcely a word of truth, volunteered to
translate it into Italian, and immediately began with such little
additions and touches of her own as she thought would increase the force
and probability of the story.
"That will do," said Zappa, who was not very easily imposed upon, as she
was continuing her own commentaries on what had occurred; then turning
to Captain Vassilato, "What defence have you to make?"
"As you do not understand my language, and I speak but little _lingua
Franca_, I can say no more than my shipmate," he replied between his
teeth, in the language he mentioned.
"And you," said Zappa, in the same patois, turning to Bowse. "What have
you to say for yourself."
Poor Bowse, who knew but little of any language except his
mother-tongue, his accent undeniably betraying him whenever he did
attempt to express himself, thought silence would be his best course, so
shaking his head he pointed to his tongue and gave forth some
inarticulate sounds, unlike any known dialect.
"You have spoken loud enough before, accursed spy," exclaimed the
pirate, in Italian, starting up, and menacing him with his dagger. "So
you thought I did not know you either; you thought I should not remember
the man with whom I once have crossed blades, even though I fancied he
was food for the fish of the sea. Fools that you were to venture into
the lion's den; or, venturing in, to attempt to carry off his prey. But
enough of this, your guilt is clear; you came as spies, and you shall
meet their reward. Over the cliffs with the three; we will quickly send
their companions after them."
He said this in Italian, and then repeated it in Romaic.
Old Vlacco, who was now in his element, and delighted at the decision of
his chief--indeed, he longed to propose that Ada and Marianna should be
made to bear them company--seized the unfortunate men, and was dragging
them off with the aid of others of the pirates, when Nina flew to the
door to bar their exit.
"No, this must not, this shall not be!" she exclaimed, in a voice hoarse
and trembling with agitation, so unlike her own usual sweet tone.
"Wretch, pirate, robber, murderer! You have crimes enough already on
your head, without adding others of yet blacker dye, to drag me and all
who witness them down to destruction with yourself. If you murder them,
you murder me, for I will not live to be the wife of a wretch so
accursed; and, think you that yon fair girl would yield to your wishes--
would, forsooth, become your bride, even were I gone, and her brave
lover also dead, and no one even on earth to protect her? I tell you,
monster, no! You have seen, that meek and delicate as she appears, how
much she can endure without complaining; you have yet to learn that she
has an unconquerable spirit, and a reliance on the God of Heaven, which
would enable her to defend herself from you. Now, do your worst!
Murder me if you will. It will but be a fair return for what I have
lost for you. Murder those men. Insist on your followers executing
your vile commands, and, from that moment, you lose my love, valueless
it may be, and you lose all hopes of gaining that of any other human
creature whose love is worth the winning, and who knows of your
misdeeds; and you bring down the sure and rapid vengeance of an outraged
Heaven on your defenceless head."
The pirate at first heard her thus boldly speak with astonishment, and
then with rage, which increased till it passed his control. His hand
had been clutching his dagger; and, as she uttered these last words,
almost, it is to be hoped, before he himself was aware of what he was
about, he hurled it with terrific violence at her, uttering a howl like
that of a tiger. The weapon flew from his hand; it wounded her delicate
neck, and stuck quivering in the rough planking of the door. She
neither screamed nor sank to the ground, but stood, as before, unmoved
as a marble statue, though her cheek blanched to a yet more pallid hue
than before, while the red stream issued from the wound, and ran down
her bosom. Ada sprang forward to support her, but she waved her off.
"Stay," she said, "I must yet speak again. That unmanly blow has done
more than pierce the frail body, it has cut asunder ties which I thought
would have endured till life became extinct; it has unriveted links
which I believed would have survived, in strength and beauty, the decay
even of the cold grave; but I have been taught this night to abhor the
false idol I once worshipped so devotedly; and now I shall welcome
death, come when it may, as my only release from misery. Ah! that wound
would have been less unkind had it ended at once the bitter mockery of
life!"
Even the callous pirate, as he saw the blood flowing from the pure neck
which had been so often bent in fondness over him, felt a pang of
regret, and a dread of the consequences, not unmixed with admiration of
a spirit so determined as she exhibited.
"Pardon me, Nina!" he exclaimed, springing towards her. "I knew not
what I was about. I would not injure you, girl, for worlds! Say you
forgive me--say you are not hurt, and I will do all you desire with
regard to these men."
"The wound is but a scratch, as you may see," she answered, calmly,
keeping him off with her hands, and still standing before the door.
"That will quickly heal. My forgiveness can be but of little value to
you, but you have it, and my petition is, that you do not injure these
men."
"You have preserved their lives for this night, at all events; but I
cannot let them go free to betray me and my followers to our enemies,"
he answered. "Vlacco, there are, I think, some chambers beneath this
tower, and formerly used as dungeons, which may again serve the purpose
when cleared out of rubbish. They will not be able easily to escape
from thence; and, meantime, place a strong guard upon them in the
basement story, and see that they hold communication with no one."
The old pirate, with an angry look, showed the disappointment he felt at
not being allowed to dispense summary justice to the prisoners,
signified to his chief that his orders should be strictly obeyed; and,
just as matters had been brought into this state, the messenger, who had
been sent to bring up the prisoners and Signor Paolo, returned with the
announcement that none of them were to be found. The old fisherman
accompanied them, with great dismay in his looks, asserting that he had
nothing at all to do with the matter. He had but one instant returned
to his cottage, after having assisted in the endeavours to extinguish
the fire; he found the door open, and some one had apparently been
placed on the mats, which served as his bed, for there was some blood on
them, and some pieces of linen and lint lying about, and that was all he
knew. He had not spoken to, nor seen Signor Paolo that night. Zappa's
anger was very great at hearing this, and he was very nearly revoking
the reprieve he had granted to the other prisoners. He believed that
treachery had been practised, though, except Paolo and Nina, he knew not
whom to suspect; and, while she denied all knowledge of the event, her
brother was nowhere to be found; so, weary as he was, he set off with
Vlacco and his officers to investigate the matter at the bay.