“You aren’t fit for a decent man’s speaking to,” I said.
“You let her drown.”
It gave me suddenly the measure of his ignorance; he did not know
anything--nothing. His hell was uncertainty. Well, let him stay there.
“Where is she?” he said. “Where is she?”
“Where she’s no need to fear you,” I answered.
He had a sudden convulsive gesture, as if searching for a weapon.
“If you’ll tell me she’s alive...” he began.
“Oh, I’m not dead,” I answered.
“Never a drowned puppy was more,” he said, with a flash of vivacity.
“You hang here--for murder--or in England for piracy.”
“Then I’ve little to want to live for,” I sneered at him.
“You let her drown,” he said. “You took her from that house, a young
girl, in a little boat. And you can hold up your head.”
“I was trying to save her from you,” I answered.
“By God,” he said. “These English--I’ve seen them, spit the child on the
mother’s breast. I’ve seen them set fire to the thatch of the widow and
childless. But this.... But this.... I can save you, I tell you.”
“You can’t make me go through worse than I’ve borne,” I answered. Sorrow
and all he might wish on my head, my life was too precious to him till I
spoke. I wasn’t going to speak.
“I’ll search every ship in the harbour,” he said passionately.
“Do,” I said. “Bring your _Lugareños_ to the task.”
Upon the whole, I wasn’t much afraid. Unless he got definite evidence he
couldn’t--in the face of the consul’s protests, and the presence of the
admiral--touch the _Lion_ again. He fixed his eyes intently upon me.
“You came in the American brigantine,” he said. “It’s known you landed
in her boat.”
I didn’t answer him; it was plain enough that the _drogher’s_ arrival
had either not been reported to him, or it had been searched in vain.
“In her boat,” he repeated. “I tell you I know she is not dead; even
you, an Englishman, must have a different face if she were.”
“I don’t at least ask you for life,” I said, “to enjoy with her.”
“She’s alive,” he said. “Alive! As for where, it matters little. I’ll
search every inch of the island, every road, every _hacienda_. You don’t
realize my power.”
“Then search the bottom of the sea,” I shouted.
“Let’s look at the matter in the right light.”
He had mastered his grief, his incertitude. He was himself again, and
the smile had returned--as if at the moment he forced his features to
their natural lines.
“Send one of your friars to heaven--you’ll never go there yourself to
meet her.”
“If you will tell me she’s alive, I’ll save you.”