CHAPTER TWENTY NINE.
Captain Fleetwood and his companions had carefully kept out of the wayof Zappa when they saw him land, lest, by any unfortunate chance, heshould recognise them; and, when they heard of the expedition on whichhe had been engaged, they had reason to rejoice that they had taken thisprecaution. As soon as the islanders had returned to their homes tofeast and make merry, and to indulge in the juice of the grape--which,on such occasions, is the great resource of the men, as it was in thedays of their ancestors--they set themselves down on the rocks toconsult as to their future proceedings, taking care that no eavesdropperwas within hearing to discover that they were not talking Maltese. Theywere well aware that the risk they ran was much increased by thepirate's knowledge that the _Ione_ was in the vicinity--for it wasnatural he should suspect that she was there with some design againsthim, even though he might not have gained any information respectingtheir expedition. They hesitated, therefore, about returning to thecastle; and the Greek, Captain Vassilato, gave it as his opinion, thatit would be more prudent to seek for food in the village, and to pretendto be anxious to procure lodgings for the night; that instead, however,of entering any house, they should, as soon as the inhabitants wereretiring to rest, slip out and return to the bay; and that, while theywere engaged in getting the boat ready, Captain Fleetwood should go upto the tower and bring down Miss Garden.
"We could not have selected a better night for our attempt," heobserved; "for, fortunately for us, the greater portion, if not thewhole, of the male population will be drunk, and are not likely tointerfere with us. Had it not been for this, we might have found muchdifficulty in getting away unperceived out of the bay."
"What is your opinion, Mr Bowse?" said Fleetwood.
"I am inclined to agree with Captain Vassilato," answered Bowse, "whoseems to know the habits of the people, unless you have any reason tooffer against it."
"I should prefer facing the lion in his den; or, hearing that there arestrangers in the island, he may suspect, and send for us, if we avoidhim. Besides, I fear we may have difficulty in enabling Miss Garden toescape from the tower; and I should wish to visit the mistico to procurea rope and block to lower her, if necessary, from the window. The bayis not more than two miles from the tower, and it will excite lesssuspicion if we are seen going there, as if with the intention ofsleeping on board the mistico; and the old pirate knows, perfectly well,that we cannot get her off without his assistance. I propose that weremain on board the mistico till an hour before midnight, and while yougo on to prepare the boat, I will remain to assist Miss Garden inescaping from the tower, and we will then follow directly after you."
"Well, sir, I think your plan is the safest and best, because we shallthen be independent of everybody," said Bowse. "It will be somewhatmore fatiguing, perhaps, for it will give us a long walk over very roughground; but that is not a matter to be thought of with the object wehave in view. But, by Heavens, sir! here comes that rascally oldpirate, and I should not be surprised if his object is to tell us thatwe must all go and be locked up again, as we were yesterday night, andthen we are regularly done for, I fear."
As Bowse spoke, old Vlacco was seen at the mouth of the ravine, atleast, as well as they could distinguish in the dark, whence he begandescending the rocks to the sands.
"I trust that, even if we are locked up, everything is not lost," saidFleetwood. "At all events, he is coming towards us, and it is our bestpolicy to exhibit no unwillingness to accompany him if he desires it."
The others agreed that such was certainly their only resource; anddirectly afterwards old Vlacco came up to them.
"I have been directed by our chief to desire the presence of youMaltese, forthwith, at the castle. He wishes to examine you as tocertain things, about which you can give him information, and if yousatisfy him, he will probably allow you to depart hence to-morrow. Tellthis to your comrades," he said, looking at Captain Vassilato, whoforthwith translated it into English, carefully making the words soundas much like Maltese as possible.
"We will gladly give him any information in our power," returned theGreek captain. "We were contemplating paying our respects to him; andif you lead on, we will follow you."
"Humph," muttered Vlacco, as he began to climb the ravine, "the fellowgives a ready answer, and I suspect we have got the wrong sow by theear." Or at least he made use of an equally elegant expressionanswering to the above in the Romaic.
"We must adhere firmly to our story," said Captain Vassilato, as theyfollowed the pirate. "But I wonder whether, among his otheraccomplishments, our friend Zappa understands Maltese; if so, you,Pietro, must act as spokesman, and remember, the more dull and stupidyou appear, the better. If, however, we find he does not, I mustcontinue to play the interpreter. It will be dangerous, however, tospeak English in his presence, for depend upon it he knows the sound ofthe language too well to be deceived."
"Your caution is very important," observed Fleetwood. "Mr Bowse and Iwill keep in the back ground, and be silent; and do you, Pietro, putyourself forward, and answer all questions put to us, if he speaks yournative tongue; but if he talks Greek, Captain Vassilato will do so."
It would be absurd to say that the whole party did not feel the fulldanger of their position; but they were brave men, and had strung uptheir nerves to encounter whatever might happen; the expected interviewthey saw would prove as critical as any part of their adventure, andthey were accordingly proportionately anxious for the result. It was,fortunately, perfectly dark by the time they reached the summit of thecliff, and old Vlacco led them to the building they had inhabited on theprevious night.
"There, go in, and I will inform our chief that you are come," he said,pointing to their room. "In the mean time, some supper, I suppose,won't come amiss; and if he should not wish to see you this evening, theeating it will do to pass the time till you go to sleep."
They were agreeably surprised to see little Mila and an old woman, whohad before attended on them, enter with a supply of provisions, to whichthey did as much justice as they were able, and while they werediscussing them, Vlacco returned.
"Well, I told our chief that I believed you were as honest as most men,and I don't think he'll trouble himself about you till to-morrow," heobserved, as he sat down at the table, and helped himself to a cup ofwine. "Let me tell you, if you were the rogues he first thought youmight be, he would have sent every one of you flying over the cliffs,without the slightest ceremony."
The old pirate seemed in a facetious mood, and laughed, and drank, andtalked, in a way very different to what appeared to be his usual habit;but it struck his guests that it was assumed to throw them off theirguard, and that he was eyeing them all the time, much in the way that ahungry cat does a trapful of mice, which she knows will shortly bethrown to her to torment. After some time, he took his departure, andthey heard him lock and bolt the doors behind him. There they were,then, once more prisoners, at the very moment it was all important tothem to be free.
Fleetwood at first was in hopes that the Signora Nina might come toliberate them; but he then recollected that, her lord being returned,she would scarcely be able to escape from the tower without beingobserved; and felt that they must depend on their own exertions to freethemselves. To open the door was out of the question, so they commencedoperations by examining the window. A small lamp had been left there,which they had not on the previous night, and Pietro observed that Milahad placed it on the table, at the moment her grandfather's back hadbeen turned to quit the room, and he suspected that she had done so bythe direction of the Italian lady.
The window was a mere aperture in the highest part of the building; butit was secured with strong iron bars, so firmly fixed in the wall, thatthey soon found it would be impossible to remove them without files ortools to work with. They next tried the roof. On examination, they sawthat it was very rudely put together, and that a great part of it wasformed simply of the rough planks torn from the sides of a vessel--probably som
e unfortunate craft cast on their shore, or brought there asa prize. This they judged would be easily removed, if they could raisea scaffolding to work from.
"Before we do anything, let us put a screen before the window, lest anyone from without should observe our proceedings," said Fleetwood, whowas the chief suggester of what should be done, though his companionswere not behind-hand in conceiving as well as executing the details oftheir plan.
They waited for upwards of an hour, till they hoped old Vlacco would befast asleep; occupying themselves meantime in cutting up a small woodenbench into wedges and levers, to rip open the boards. They then hung acloak across the window, and placed the table against the wall whichthey calculated formed the outer side of the building. On it, theypiled two empty casks, which were ordinarily used as seats, and thus,with the remaining bench, they were able, without difficulty, to reachthe ceiling. This platform was only sufficiently large to allow two towork at a time; so while Captain Fleetwood and Bowse mounted on it, theother two held it firm, and handed up the wedges and cross bars they hadmanufactured. As they were, of course, afraid to make any noise byhammering in the wedges, they first worked away with their knives, tillthey had formed grooves to insert the edge of several; they then placedthe ends of the handspikes against them, and pressing those with alltheir force, they had the satisfaction of seeing that the planking beganto separate. They persevered in their efforts, and the planks beingfortunately old and rotten, and exceedingly dry, from the heat ofsummer, the nails easily drew out, and they were soon able to inserttheir cross bars. They had begun making the hole in the roof, somelittle way from the wall, and it was fortunate they had done so. In aquarter of an hour they had removed enough of the planking to enableFleetwood to draw himself through, when he found that heavy stones wereplaced on the outer edges to keep them down on the wall, and that theyhad had a narrow escape of their coming tumbling through upon theirheads; or of having sent them crashing over, with a loud noise, on theground on the outside. As it was, a quantity of rubbish had fallenthrough, and they found that the whole roof was covered with it, andthat they had by chances selected the spot where it lay the thinnest.
Bowse followed Captain Fleetwood to the roof, and they then assistedtheir Greek friend and Pietro to ascend, after the latter hadextinguished the light, replaced the table bench and casks as before,and swept the rubbish under the straw. As he was a light, active man,by stretching down their hands as he stood on one of the casks, theywere able to drag him through on the roof. They then carefully closeddown the planking, and swept some rubbish over it, so that it wouldrequire a little examination, to discover by what means they had madetheir escape.
So far, they were once more in the open air and at liberty to proceed,if they could reach the ground. The night was like the previous one,with a clear sky and the stars shining brightly, while the moon hadbecome much too small to give more light than just sufficient to enablethem to find their way.
The hazard now was to descend without making a noise, for the night wasso serene that the slightest sound would, they feared, be heard; thoughthe distance did not appear more than an active man could leap withoutdanger. But the walls were broken and crumbling, and it was difficultto find a spot on which they could depend, to take their last hold ofbefore dropping off. After proceeding a few paces to the right,however, the wall appeared more even.
"Now, my friends," whispered Fleetwood, "I will lead the way, and trythe depth--the ground below seems free from stone--and, by grasping theends of your handkerchiefs, I may fall without the fear of breaking mylegs."
On this, the other three, as proposed, formed a rope with theirhandkerchiefs; and all of them leaning over the wall.
Fleetwood threw himself off; and, grasping the handkerchiefs, loweredhimself till he reached the end, and then dropped. The fall wasconsiderably greater than he expected--for the ground sloped away onthat side of the ruin, in a manner on which they had not calculated; andhe had great reason to congratulate himself on the precaution he hadtaken. The other two adventurers insisted on Bowse, who was theheaviest man of the party, following next. He could now better judge ofthe depth; and Fleetwood, having rolled away all the loose stones, hefell without injury. The Greek came next, and was caught in the arms ofhis companions; and Pietro, in like manner, dropped down, the restsaving him as he fell. This feat accomplished, they all breathed morefreely; and crouching down on the ground to avoid being seen, theylistened attentively to ascertain if any one was moving, before theyagain put themselves in motion. Not a sound disturbed the silence ofthe night; and, satisfied that they were not discovered, they creptcautiously on towards the eastward, under the shadow of the wall, in themanner Nina had led Fleetwood on the previous night. It still wanted anhour and a half to the time he had desired Ada to be prepared; and heresolved to employ the interval in ascertaining whether the door of hertower was locked; and, if he found it so, to proceed to the mistico, andprocure the cordage which might be required. Leaving his companions,therefore, seated on the ground, in a sheltered rock, he walked to thetower alone.
He first looked carefully on every side; and, having ascertained that noone was near, he approached the door. It was locked--as he feared itmight be--and, after the most minute examination, he could discover nomeans by which he could open it. He then went under the window, and, invain, tried to attract the attention of the inmates. They were,apparently, too busily employed within. At last, he threw up some smallstones, and after numerous efforts, one entered the casement.
"Who's there?" said a voice, which he recognised as Raby's.
"_Ione_" replied the captain, in a loud whisper.
"Is it you, sir?" exclaimed the midshipman, to whom the answer wasfamiliar. "I'll be down at the door directly."
And Fleetwood heard him hurriedly descending the steps.
"You are much sooner than we expected, sir," said the lad through thechinks of the door. "Can you open the door from the outside?"
"No; can you open it from within?" asked Fleetwood on return.
"No, sir," said the midshipman; "I tried for a whole hour to pick thelock, but could not do it; so I have fitted a chair, strengthened withsome ropes which came with Miss Garden's baggage, and there will be nomore difficulty in getting down from the tower than from the deck of afrigate."
"You have done admirably," replied Fleetwood. "I will not stop to thankyou,--but tell Miss Garden everything is going on well--and I willreturn in an hour."
The adventurers had some difficulty in picking their way among the rocksto the little bay where the mistico lay on the sand; but they succeededin reaching it without encountering any one; and, as they had discoveredthe means of descending to it in the morning by the secret path Imentioned, leading through the cavern, they easily got down. They foundthat the vessel had not been disturbed--indeed, old Vlacco, havingclaimed her for their chief, no one would have ventured to take anythingfrom her. They were thus not only able to procure the rope and blocks,but to provide themselves with some arms they had stowed away where theyhad not been discovered; and some provisions which, should they miss the_Ione's_ boats, might be very important. Although, from the peculiarrig of the mistico, her halyards were too short to be of any service,and her sheets too thick, a coil of small rope was found of sufficientlength for the purpose; and, loaded with their treasures, they badefarewell to the little craft which had served them in such good stead.
"I should like to burn her, to prevent the rascals benefiting by her,"said Captain Vassilato, as they walked along the sand to the entrance ofthe cave. "But, as the so doing would probably betray us to them, wemust leave her to them as a gift; and may she drown some of them beforethey have done with her."
"I would rather we could catch her again with a few of them in her,"observed Bowse. "I never like to wish an enemy worse luck than a goodthrashing, if I can meet him in fair fight; but, to be sure, from whatwe hear of these fellows, they don't deserve much mercy from civilisedmen, though we ha
ve no reason to complain of the way they have treatedus."
"Stay till they discover what we are about, and they would cut ourthroats without ceremony," replied Captain Vassilato. "We shall dowisely not to trust them."
Fleetwood walked on ahead without speaking. His mind was too muchoccupied with the importance of the undertaking, and the risk to her heloved, to allow him to enter into conversation; and, indeed, he wishedhis friends would be silent, for, though it was not probable any of theislanders were within hearing, it was possible that some one might beout, and they might betray themselves. The same thing struck them atlast, and they followed in silence. The most difficult part of thejourney was where they had to mount the rude steps cut in the cliff, andwhere the slightest slip might have proved fatal. They, however,reached the open door in safety, and then proceeded more briskly ontheir way. Wherever they could, they kept as much as possible undershelter; but they had several open spaces to pass, where they could notavoid exposing themselves to view; though, as there were no habitationsin the neighbourhood, they did not fear any danger from thiscircumstance.
Any one who has been engaged in an undertaking, on which not only theirown life and safety depends, but also that of others, and among them ofone dearer than life itself, will understand the feelings which animatedFleetwood's bosom, as the most difficult and dangerous part of the workwas about to be accomplished. The happiness, the pride, the joyunspeakable which would be his, should he succeed in placing her insafety, urged him dauntlessly on; at the same time the thought of whatwould be the result of failure made him grave and serious; his ownspeedy death, but that he set at naught; her misery and continuedcaptivity, and, perhaps, even a fate too horrible for him tocontemplate; and he did not forget that he had companions also, who hadgenerously risked their lives to assist him, and that they also would beinvolved in his destruction. Fortunately the difficulties of the road,the necessity of looking out for the best path among the rocks, and ofwatching for the approach of any person who might interrupt them,prevented him from dwelling so deeply on the subject as to unfit him forthe work.
His heart beat quick as he approached the tower; and, wringing hisfriends' hands as they hurried on to prepare the boat they had fixed on,he remained under Ada's window with the coil of rope, promising tofollow, as soon as possible, with Miss Garden and her companions. JackRaby was on the watch, and appeared at the window as he got under it.So well had the midshipman arranged everything, that not a word wasspoken. He let a line down, which he had made by unstranding a piece ofrope, and twisting up some bits of the carpet; and, though composed ofso many materials, it was sufficiently strong for the purpose; and withit he hauled up the end of the rope and the block through which it wasto run. The block he at once, with a sailor's quickness, securelyfastened on to the iron bar; and, reeving the rope through it, hefastened one end to the chair he had arranged, and then, putting thechair out of the window, he jumped into it, holding on by the other partof the rope, and lowered himself down to Fleetwood's feet.
"All right, sir," he whispered. "I thought it better to try the lengthof the rope and the strength of my chair, before we trusted Miss Gardenin it. She is in capital heart, sir, and so is my new sister. Now,sir, if you will stand by the end, I'll go up again to help her into thechair, and bear it off the wall. I can't ask you to haul me up, sir."
"No, no, jump in, my lad, and be careful, in Heaven's name, that yousecure Miss Garden properly," said Fleetwood, pressing his hand; and hequickly hauled him up again to the window, and the chair once moreappeared, with Ada seated in it, a shawl thrown round her, in trueman-of-war fashion. Raby had taken care to have everything properlyprepared.
"Now, sir, lower away gently, if you please," he whispered, as he leanedout of the window; and Ada Garden safely descended into Fleetwood'sarms. A silent embrace was all he would allow himself, before he hauledup the chair to lower down Marianna, who accomplished the transit withthe same speed as her mistress. Jack Raby did not immediately descend,but, hauling up the rope, he cast off the block, and then passed therope over the bar, and descended by it.
"I won't delay you a moment, Captain Fleetwood," he said. "But I amdetermined the pirates shall not find out how we escaped, and, as thereis a cliff close here, which overhangs the sea, I will, with your leave,heave the chair, and rope, and block, over it, and they will neverdiscover them there; or if they do, they will think that we got over thecliffs."
As Fleetwood considered the delay would not be of consequence, and thatno harm could arise from allowing the midshipman to have his way, hegave him leave to do as he proposed, and in two minutes he returned,having accomplished his object.
"There, sir," he said, laughing quietly. "If the pirates miss one ofthe chairs, they may look for it long enough before they find it or therope, and in the mean time they will fancy English young ladies can jumpforty feet to the ground without hurting themselves. When they try toopen the door, too, they'll think we are inside, for I barricadoed itwith everything I could find, and there'll be a pretty smash when theyshove it open."
"You have done admirably, and now take Marianna's arm, and follow me,"said Fleetwood, leading the way with Ada.
When Ada Garden found herself once more by Fleetwood's side, shereturned her grateful thanks to Heaven for having thus restored her toliberty; for so strong was her confidence in her lover's courage andjudgment, that she felt as if all difficulty and danger were over, andthat success must await them.
Fleetwood also uttered a silent thanksgiving to Heaven, and a prayer forprotection during the still greater danger he knew they must encounterin their endeavour to get out of the harbour; but, of course, he did nottell her this. Neither spoke; they both were confident of thesentiments of each other's heart, and Ada felt it would be useless atthat moment to express her gratitude, when she hoped to prove it duringthe remainder of her life; and he in like manner knew that there wouldbe no necessity to tell her of his love and joy at finding her, when hisacts were giving her such convincing evidence of it. They walked onunder the shadow of the wall, as noiselessly and rapidly as they couldmove, towards the commencement of the steep path leading down theravine. In doing so they had to pass close to Nina's tower. Fleetwoodlooked up; no light was seen streaming from the casement, nor was anyone heard stirring within.
On they went, and, Fleetwood tenderly supporting Ada, they commenceddescending the path. They had got about a quarter of the way down, whenFleetwood fancied he heard the sound of a distant footfall. Could it bethe echo of their own feet? he thought, then made a sign to Raby to stopwhile they listened. There could be no mistake about it. Footstepswere rapidly approaching, and, on looking back, they saw, to theirdismay, a dark figure on the cliff above them. Fleetwood drew backunder the shadow of an overhanging rock, and he could feel Ada, who hadalso seen the figure, as she clung closer to his arm, tremble withalarm, which she in vain endeavoured to overcome. Marianna uttered afaint shriek, and was going to repeat it, when Jack Raby gave her apinch, which effectually recalled her to her senses, and, in a whisper,he threatened to give her another if she made the slightest noise. Aminute or two of the most intense anxiety passed away, which, under thecircumstances, appeared nearly an hour, and no one appeared.
"If we emerge from where we are, we cannot escape being seen, should theperson remain where he was," replied Fleetwood. "It will be better toconfront him boldly, and learn his intention in following us, than toallow him to go back and to give information of our attempt. I willleave you, Ada, in charge of Mr Raby, and will return instantly."
"Oh, do not quit me!" exclaimed Ada. "I will go with you--indeed, I amnot alarmed for myself; but I know not what may happen to you. They maykill you, Fleetwood--oh, do not go."
"It is absolutely necessary that something should be done, dearest, andthere is no greater danger to be feared in going than remaining,"answered Fleetwood. "Ada, I must force myself from you--it must bedone."
"You are right, Charles, I was wea
k. Go, and I will remain as youwish," she whispered, relinquishing his arm, and he sprang up the path.
Jack did his best to comfort Ada, by assuring her that his captain couldeasily manage to thrash a dozen Greeks, and that he was not likely tosuffer any harm from a single pirate, at all events. Every moment Adaexpected to hear the noise of a struggle, a pistol-shot, or the clash ofswords. She listened with breathless eagerness, trembling in everylimb, and she would have followed her lover, had she not known that herso doing would be against his wish, and could be of no advantage to him,but might cause great harm. It appeared to her an age since he lefther, and her anxiety became almost too great to be borne.
"Oh, Mr Raby, cannot you go up and see what has become of CaptainFleetwood? Some accident has happened to him, I am certain," shewhispered to the midshipman.
"I must obey orders, Miss Garden, and wait for the captain's return,"was the answer, in the same low tone. "You need not be alarmed, I canassure you--he has not been gone two minutes."
He had scarcely spoken when Ada's quick ear caught the sound offootsteps, and she could scarcely restrain her cry of joy, as she sprangforward to meet him. He placed his arm tenderly round her to supporther, as he led her on.
"It is very extraordinary," he said; "I could find no one, though Isearched the very spot where I had seen him standing. But, come on,dearest, we have time to reach the boat, and to get outside the harbourbefore the spy, if such he was, can send people to pursue us."
"I am able to walk much faster," said Ada, hastening her steps, "I dreadany delay in this dreadful place."
They had not, however, proceeded many paces, when, on turning one of themany angles of the winding path, a person, the same, they fancied, whomthey had before seen, appeared suddenly before them, and laid a hand onFleetwood's arm.
"Stay, signor," he said in a low, deep voice, speaking in the Italianlanguage. "You are already suspected by one who knows not mercy, and ifhe were to discover your wild attempt to carry off that lady, your deathwould be the consequence. Return and abandon it; for ere you can getbeyond the sound of the waves, as they dash on the cliffs below, youwill be pursued and overtaken."
"I know not who you are, signor," said Fleetwood; "but, as I believeyour warning is given in kindness, I thank you. To follow your adviceis impossible, and I must beg you, as a favour, not to detain us--I neednot ask you, I trust, not to betray us."
"I feel sure that Signor Montifalcone will not do so," exclaimed Ada,recognising at once the voice of the young Italian. "He will ratherexert himself to assist us--I am not mistaken in his generosity."
Paolo was silent a minute, when, releasing his grasp of Fleetwood's arm,he sighed as if his heart would break, and took Ada's hand. "Lady," hesaid, in a tone of deep melancholy, "you sign my death-warrant; but itshall not prevent me from obeying your wishes. I will accompany you toyour boat, if you have one prepared, and, when you have gone, I willendeavour to deceive those who attempt to follow you. Further, I knownot how to aid you."
"We are grateful to you for your promised aid," said Fleetwood; "andnow, lead on, we can ill afford further delay."
"It is for the lady's sake I act," muttered Paolo, beginning to moveonward down the path.
Ada overheard him. "It is because you are generous, and would preservethe lives of others, even though you risk your own," she said, in a lowtone, touching his arm. "But if there is danger in remaining here, comewith us. You can be conveyed in safety to your native country, and canascertain if your father yet lives."
"What! and leave my unhappy sister to her fate?" said the young man,turning round his countenance towards her, which, even with the faintlight afforded by the moon, she observed wore an expression of thedeepest grief. "I have but one object to live for,--for her sake aloneI consent to endure existence. Do not ask me to quit her."
"Oh that she would have come too," said Ada. "She might yet be saved."
"She would not accompany you, lady," answered Paolo. "Pirate though heis, Zappa is still her husband, and no power would now make her quithim. But I delay you, and increase the risk of discovery, alreadysufficiently great, by speaking. I will say no more, but that I pray,when in safety in your native land, you will not forget the unhappyexile whom once you knew, and who would gladly have died to serve you."
He spoke as they walked on, and a few minutes more brought them to themouth of the ravine, whence a full view of the moonlit bay lay beforethem.
The _Sea Hawk_ and two misticos were at their anchors. No lightappeared on board either of them, nor was there any one moving, thatFleetwood could discover, on their decks; nor was the slightest noiseheard, except the low, gentle ripple of the untiring water on the sands;yet so smooth and glass-like was the sea, that every star in the heavensseemed reflected on its surface. He could distinguish, also, the darkboats drawn up on the beach; but he looked in vain for the one hisfriends were to secure, in which to make their escape.
"They have, with due caution, carefully concealed her," he said tohimself. "When we get more to the left, we shall doubtlessly see her."
On descending to the sands, they turned, therefore, sharp round to theleft under the cliffs, which, it must be remembered, was the directionof the spot agreed on where the boat was to be in readiness. At lengththey reached the black rock, alongside of which Fleetwood expected tofind her, and, to his great satisfaction, he saw that she was there; andhis friends directly after rose from her bottom, where they hadconcealed themselves while waiting for his coming.
"We were alarmed for your safety, Captain Fleetwood," said Bowse,leaping out to meet them. "We waited so long for you; but everything isin readiness. If you will assist Miss Garden on board, I will take careof Marianna. But who is this stranger with you?"
"One to whom I owe much," said Ada, stretching out her hand. "Farewell,Signor Montifalcone, may Heaven reward you for what you have done forme."
"Farewell, lady, and may you never know the grief I am doomed to bear,"returned the Italian; and before Fleetwood, who would have thanked him,could speak, he had retired to a distance; and as they quickly embarked,and urged the boat from the shore, they could see him standing watchingthem, still as a marble statue.