"You're to keep to your prison till further orders," said Bart one day
as he entered the place.
"Who says so!" cried Humphrey, angrily.
"Lufftenant."
"What! Mazzard?"
"Yes, sir. His orders."
"Curse Lieutenant Mazzard!" cried Humphrey. "Where is the captain!"
No answer.
"Is this so-called lieutenant master here!"
"Tries to be," grumbled Bart.
"The captain is away, then?"
"Orders are, not to answer questions," said Bart, abruptly; and he left
the chamber.
Humphrey was better. The whims and caprices of a sick man were giving
way to the return of health, and with this he began to chafe angrily.
He laughed bitterly and seated himself by the window to gaze out at the
dim arcade of forest, and wait till such time as he felt disposed to go
out, and then have a good wander about the ruins, and perhaps go down
that path where he had been arrested by the appearance of the captain.
He had no hope of encountering any of his crew, for, from what he could
gather, fully half the survivors, sick of the prisoner's life, had
joined the buccaneer crew, while the rest had been taken to some place
farther along the coast--where, he could not gather from Dinny, who had
been letting his tongue run and then suddenly stopped short. But all
the same he clung to the hope that in the captain's absence he might
discover something which would help him in his efforts to escape and
come back, if not as commander, at all events as guide to an expedition
that should root out this hornets'-nest.
Mid-day arrived, and he was looking forward to the coming of Dinny with
his meal, an important matter to a man with nothing to do, and only his
bitter thoughts for companions. The Irishman lightened his weary hours
too, and every time he came the captive felt some little hope of winning
him over to help him to escape.
"Ah, Dinny, my lad!" he said as he heard a step, and the hanging curtain
was drawn aside, "what is it to-day?"
"Fish, eggs, and fruit," said Bart, gruffly.
"Oh! it's you!" said Humphrey, bitterly. "Dinny away with that cursed
schooner!"
"Schooner's as fine a craft as ever sailed," growled Bart. "Orders to
answer no questions."
"You need not answer, my good fellow," said the prisoner, haughtily.
"That scoundrel of a buccaneer is away--I know that, and Dinny is with
him, or you would not be doing this."
Bart's heavy face lightened as he saw the bitterness of the prisoner's
manner when he spoke of the captain; but it grew sombre directly after,
as if he resented it; and spreading the meal upon a broad stone, covered
with a white cloth--a stone in front of the great idol, and probably
once used for human sacrifice--he sullenly left the place.
The prisoner sat for a few minutes by the window wondering whether Lady
Jenny was thinking about him, and sighed as he told himself that she was
pining for him as he pined for her. Then turning to the mid-day meal he
began with capital appetite, and not at all after the fashion of a man
in love, to discuss some very excellent fish, which was made more
enjoyable by a flask of fine wine.
"Yes," he said, half aloud, "I shall go just where I please."
He stopped and listened, for a voice certainly whispered from somewhere
close at hand the word "Kelly!"
"Yes! what is it? Who called?" said the prisoner, aloud.
There was a momentary silence, and then a peculiar whispering voice
said--
"Don't be frightened."
"I'm not," said Humphrey, trying to make out whence the voice came, and
only able to surmise that it was from somewhere over the dark corner
where he slept.
"I want Dennis Kelly," said the voice.
"He's not here. Away with the schooner," continued Humphrey.
"Oh!"
The ejaculation came like a moan of disappointment.
"Here, who are you?" cried Humphrey.
"No; he cannot be away, sir. But hist! hush, for heaven's sake! You
will be heard," said the voice. "Speak low."
"Well, I'll speak in a whisper if you like," said Humphrey. "But where
are you?"
"Up above your chamber," was the reply. "There is a place where the
stones are broken away."
"Then I am watched," thought Humphrey, as the announcement recalled the
captain.
"Can you see me?" he asked.
"I cannot see you where you are now, but I could if you went and lay
down upon your couch."
"Then I'll go there," said Humphrey, crossing the great chamber to throw
himself on the blankets and skins. "Now, then, what do you want with
Dinny?"
"I knew the captain had gone to sea," said the voice, evasively; "but I
did not know Kelly had been taken too. He cannot be, without letting me
know."
"Can you come down and talk to me!"
"No; you are too well watched."
"Then how did you get here?"
"I crept through the forest and climbed up," was the reply. "I can see
you now."
"But how did you know you could see me there?"
"I thought I could. I was watching for someone a little while ago, and
saw the captain looking down through here."
"I thought as much," said Humphrey, half aloud; and he was about to
speak again when Bart entered suddenly, looked sharply round, and showed
the wisdom of his new visitor by going straight to the window and
looking out.
"Who were you talking to?" he said, gruffly, as he came back, still
looking suspiciously round.
"To myself," said Humphrey, quite truthfully, for his last remark had
been so addressed.
Bart uttered a grunt, and glanced at the dinner.
"Done?" he said.
"No. Surely I may spend as long as I like over my meals here."
Bart nodded and went out, the heavy curtain falling behind him; while
Humphrey slowly rose and went back to the stone altar, where he filled a
silver cup from the flask and drank, and then began humming an air.
After this he walked to the curtain and peered cautiously through into
the dark corridor, to see the heavy figure of the buccaneer's henchman
go slowly along past the patches of dull green light streaming through
the openings which occurred some thirty feet apart.
"Gone!" said Humphrey, returning quickly. "Are you there?"
"Yes. I could hear everything."
"Listen!" said Humphrey, quickly. "You are Mistress Greenheys?"
"Yes."
"And you love Dennis Kelly?"
There was silence.
"You need not fear me. I know your history," continued Humphrey. "You
are, like myself, a prisoner and in the power of that black-looking
lieutenant."