CHAPTER THIRTY THREE.
The triumph of Zappa at recovering Miss Garden was great, in proportionto his anger against those whom he suspected to have assisted at herescape; but once having got her again in his power, and safe inside hiswell-fortified harbour, he felt as a cat does towards the unfortunatemouse it has caught and killed--that he might leave and return to herwhen he pleased, without a chance of her again running away: hetherefore hurried off to the fort, at the summit of the cliffs, tosuperintend the destruction of the English flotilla, which he believedhad been sent against him; for he could not have supposed that so smalla force as was really there would have thus boldly followed him to thevery mouth of his den.
On his arrival at the fort, he found old Vlacco busily engaged inpointing the guns to bear down on the British boats; and on his soundinghis well-known bugle, a large number of his followers collected withtheir fire-arms, to assist in the defence of the post. While they allwere occupied in firing at the enemy, Vlacco sent into the tower tobring a supply of powder for the guns, from some casks, which, with theusual carelessness of the Greeks, had been left there without theslightest precaution against accident. A cask was broached, and much ofthe powder scattered about. After the boats had disappeared, thepirates were retiring from the fort, when Tompion's gallant attack onthe mistico called them back, and it was at this time that a spark fromthe lantern of a man, sent for a further supply of powder, fell amongthe scattered grains, and produced the conflagration I have beforespoken of. As the flames burst forth, and burnt with terrific energy,Zappa flew towards the building, in vain endeavouring to find means ofentrance. Wherever he attempted it at the door or window, the firedrove him back. In vain he called on the name of Nina. She neitheranswered nor did she appear at either of the casements. His usual calmdemeanour had completely deserted him, and he seemed like a madman as herushed round the building, urging his followers to bring ladders toenable him to mount to the story, where he expected to find her. Twowere at last found, but they were far too short to be of use, and he wassoon warned to retire to a distance by the explosion of another cask ofpowder, which shook the old walls to their foundation, and he hadscarcely got to a secure position, when the remainder igniting, thewhole edifice came tumbling down at once, and lay a heap of smokingruins on the ground. Some of the burning embers had fallen on the roofof the adjoining building, and that now blazed up, and being very dryand rotten, burnt with equal fury, so that in a very short time it wasreduced to a heap of ashes: the old walls of the castle, against whichit was built, alone standing. It was thus that all traces of the meansby which the prisoners had made their escape were obliterated. Theislanders could do nothing to stop the progress of the flames, for theonly water procurable was from a deep well, whence only a small quantitycould be drawn up at a time, and there were no means at hand to get itfrom the sea, over the cliffs.
The conflagration had the effect of attracting the population, far andnear, to the spot--the fishermen and other inhabitants of theneighbouring village, the seamen from the vessels, and indeed everybodyin the bay, came rushing up the ravine to see what was taking place.
Zappa stood at a distance, contemplating the scene of havoc. He thoughtof Nina in all her youth and beauty, of her fond affection, her deepdevotion, of all the sacrifices she had made for him--and callous andbad as was his heart, a transient pang of bitter regret visited it, forthe cruel return he had made her.
"This, then, Nina Montifalcone, is the fate I have reserved for you. Anagonising death the only reward I can give you for that love which stillendured after I had torn aside the bright veil with which your fervidimagination had clothed me, and showed myself to you in my realcolours--that love which I verily believed would have endured after youknew that my heart had been captivated by one still younger, still morebeautiful, than yourself."
As he gave vent aloud to these feelings, so strange to his bosom, whichnow agitated him, he suddenly stood like one transfixed, his breath camethick, his eye dilated, for there before him, with the full glare of thefire falling on her, stood the figure of Nina. Her countenance was paleas death, and she neither spoke nor approached him.
"Who are you?" he exclaimed at length, in a voice trembling withemotion; "speak, if you would not drive me to distraction. Tell mewhence you come, and why you now come to seek me."
"I am Nina Montifalcone,--some time your wife, whom you oft have toldyou loved," she replied, in a tone of deep dejection. "What I soonshall 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 youhad 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 theflames burst forth--for afterwards, no power could have saved you."
"I had gone to comfort and succour the unfortunate, those whom yourinjustice has made prisoners in this island, and I sought you even nowto plead for them," she answered boldly; the tone of meek sorrow withwhich she had before spoken being no longer discernible.
"You take me unawares, and would work on me at a weak moment, Nina," hereplied. "But know you, girl, that the persons of whom you speak arespies, come here in disguise to work my destruction? Ah! you looksurprised, incredulous! Yes, these men--these pretended Maltese--are noother than Englishmen, belonging to a ship of war lying at no greatdistance from this island, for the express purpose of capturing myvessel, my gallant _Sea Hawk_, if they can fall in with her; and I havenot told you all--their leader is the captain himself, the very man towhom that fair English girl, of whom you are so foolishly jealous, isbetrothed. I knew this, I say, from the first; but I pretendedignorance, for I wished to discover who were their accomplices amongthose I trusted. He even now lies dead or dying in the bay below, and Ileft the fair girl with him, that she might know I did not kill him; butI 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 ownfolly, and no one can accuse me of having slain him; so, except youwould wish to make his blood rest on my head, do not pray for hisrecovery."
"Oh! you would not do so black a deed--you would not slay an innocentman 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 himand those who came with him to depart, he would promise never to molestyou, or to take advantage in any way of the knowledge he has obtained byhis visit to this island."
Nina spoke with firmness and energy, as she said this, for she fanciedthat 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 tonein which he often spoke. "Well, I will see to it, and now come to thefair lady's palace, she will afford us lodging there, since ours isburnt down; which, Nina, it appears, troubles you but little. Know younot, girl, that I have there lost property to the value of many thousandpiastres? That is alone enough to sour a man's temper, till he canreplace them, which, were I to follow your wishes, it would be longenough before I could do."
"My mind was too much occupied with the object I have spoken to youabout, to think of the loss, even though everything I possessed wasdestroyed," she replied, quietly. "But I still felt thankful that I waspreserved from the dreadful fate which would have been mine had Iremained in the building; and if you also feel gratitude to Heaven forthis, show it by granting life and liberty to the English captain andhis friends. You accuse me of being influenced by them to plead theircause; 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 tofall into the power of my enem
ies, they would tear me limb from limb,and mock my dying agonies with their laughter, ere they showed me mercyor gave me liberty. I do, Nina, as I expect to be done by; I hope fornothing else. But why do I stand prating here? My house is burnt tothe ground, and my property destroyed, so we must go and crave shelterof the Signora Ada, for you and I have many things to do before I againclose my eyes in sleep."
When they arrived at the Stranger's Tower, as the Greeks had called thebuilding inhabited by Ada, they found that she and Marianna had alreadyarrived there, and returned to their former quarters, according toNina's advice, as if nothing had happened to disturb them. She had,indeed, seen them safe lodged there before she sought her husband; andshe now returned to them by his directions, to take some rest, which shemuch required, while he occupied the lower and still unfurnished chamberas a sort of council-hall, where he summoned Vlacco and some of hischief officers to consult what, under the present circumstances, itwould be necessary for them to do.
As soon as old Vlacco and one or two others had arrived, he sent to haveall the prisoners brought before him, that he might examine themrespecting their object in venturing on his island, and their motive forleaving it. His visit to the _Ione_ must be remembered, and that hethere only learned that her captain had gone on a secret expedition, andhe naturally concluded that he was accompanied by his own crew. Hissurprise was, therefore, very great, when Captain Vassilato, Bowse, andthe Maltese, Pietro, were dragged rudely into his presence.
"What!" he muttered, as he saw the honest skipper. "Have my peopleagain done their work so clumsily, that another vessel has floated tobear evidence against me? It must be he, and yet he looks sounconscious of having seen me before, that I must be deceived. Therewere five prisoners," he remarked, aloud. "Where are the other two?"
"We cannot find them, chief," was the answer. "We have looked in everydirection, we have inquired of all, but no one has seen them or heard ofthem."
"How is this?" exclaimed Zappa. "I left one of them, whom I knew to beno other than the captain of an English ship of war, sent here to watchthe _Sea Hawk_, wounded and dying in old Listi's boat, with the strangerlady and her attendant watching him, and as they, I hear, have alreadyreturned here, I suppose they would not have deserted him. Let them andthe Lady Nina be summoned."
In two minutes the two ladies and Marianna stood before him; but heneither rose nor showed them any courtesy.
"Can you inform me, signora, where Captain Fleetwood is to be found?" heexclaimed, with vehemence, addressing Miss Garden, in Italian. "Ah, youthought I was so blind as not to recognise him; you thought I did notobserve the fond affection with which you bent over him as he laywounded in the boat; indeed, you fancied that we keep so careless awatch in this island, that any strangers may come without ourdiscovering them; but let that hope desert you for the future, and nowanswer me truly, madam."
This was the first intimation that Ada had received that the disguise ofFleetwood had been seen through, and horror at what the consequencesmight be almost made her sink fainting on the ground; but by a strenuouseffort, she recovered sufficiently to answer with apparent calmness--
"The person, whom you state to be Captain Fleetwood, was removed fromthe boat to the hut of a fisherman on the beach, as he was in nocondition to be carried up here."
"By whom--by whom was he removed?" asked the pirate, impatiently. "Youcould not have carried him."
"By a man habited as a Maltese, and by your own surgeon, whom I hadsummoned to attend on him," replied Ada, firmly.
"Why, that must be Salamonsi's cottage," remarked Zappa, turning toVlacco. "Send down forthwith, and let the boy and Signor Paolo bebrought up here; and mark you, if the English captain has recovered theuse of his tongue, let him be conveyed here also--he shall answer forhimself." He said this in Romaic, so Ada did not understand the cruelorder; but Nina did, and, with an imploring look, she stepped to hisside, and besought him to revoke the command; but he roughly repulsedher, and, turning to the other three prisoners, he asked, in the _linguaFranca_, often used by him,--"By what right have you, who werehospitably entertained in this island, attempted to run off with personswhom you knew were my prisoners?"
On this the Maltese seaman, Pietro, stepped forward, and, with thevolubility for which the islanders are celebrated, made the longstatement which had been previously agreed on, finishing by stating thathe and his two companions had been engaged by the lady to convey her onboard an English ship, and that they had no reason to suppose they wereinjuring any one by so doing. As this was all said in Maltese, scarcelya word of which language Zappa understood, he was not a little puzzled,and was insisting on having it repeated in some more intelligibletongue, when Marianna, who was highly delighted with it, not the less sothat she knew it contained scarcely a word of truth, volunteered totranslate it into Italian, and immediately began with such littleadditions and touches of her own as she thought would increase the forceand probability of the story.
"That will do," said Zappa, who was not very easily imposed upon, as shewas continuing her own commentaries on what had occurred; then turningto Captain Vassilato, "What defence have you to make?"
"As you do not understand my language, and I speak but little _linguaFranca_, I can say no more than my shipmate," he replied between histeeth, in the language he mentioned.
"And you," said Zappa, in the same patois, turning to Bowse. "What haveyou to say for yourself."
Poor Bowse, who knew but little of any language except hismother-tongue, his accent undeniably betraying him whenever he didattempt to express himself, thought silence would be his best course, soshaking his head he pointed to his tongue and gave forth someinarticulate sounds, unlike any known dialect.
"You have spoken loud enough before, accursed spy," exclaimed thepirate, in Italian, starting up, and menacing him with his dagger. "Soyou thought I did not know you either; you thought I should not rememberthe man with whom I once have crossed blades, even though I fancied hewas food for the fish of the sea. Fools that you were to venture intothe lion's den; or, venturing in, to attempt to carry off his prey. Butenough of this, your guilt is clear; you came as spies, and you shallmeet their reward. Over the cliffs with the three; we will quickly sendtheir 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 ofhis chief--indeed, he longed to propose that Ada and Marianna should bemade to bear them company--seized the unfortunate men, and was draggingthem off with the aid of others of the pirates, when Nina flew to thedoor to bar their exit.
"No, this must not, this shall not be!" she exclaimed, in a voice hoarseand trembling with agitation, so unlike her own usual sweet tone."Wretch, pirate, robber, murderer! You have crimes enough already onyour head, without adding others of yet blacker dye, to drag me and allwho 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 soaccursed; and, think you that yon fair girl would yield to your wishes--would, forsooth, become your bride, even were I gone, and her bravelover 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, howmuch she can endure without complaining; you have yet to learn that shehas an unconquerable spirit, and a reliance on the God of Heaven, whichwould 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 havelost for you. Murder those men. Insist on your followers executingyour vile commands, and, from that moment, you lose my love, valuelessit may be, and you lose all hopes of gaining that of any other humancreature whose love is worth the winning, and who knows of yourmisdeeds; and you bring down the sure and rapid vengeance of an outragedHeaven on your defenceless head."
The pirate at first heard her thus boldly speak with astonishment, andthen with rage, which increased till it passed his control. His handhad been clutching his dagg
er; and, as she uttered these last words,almost, it is to be hoped, before he himself was aware of what he wasabout, he hurled it with terrific violence at her, uttering a howl likethat of a tiger. The weapon flew from his hand; it wounded her delicateneck, and stuck quivering in the rough planking of the door. Sheneither screamed nor sank to the ground, but stood, as before, unmovedas a marble statue, though her cheek blanched to a yet more pallid huethan before, while the red stream issued from the wound, and ran downher bosom. Ada sprang forward to support her, but she waved her off.
"Stay," she said, "I must yet speak again. That unmanly blow has donemore than pierce the frail body, it has cut asunder ties which I thoughtwould have endured till life became extinct; it has unriveted linkswhich I believed would have survived, in strength and beauty, the decayeven of the cold grave; but I have been taught this night to abhor thefalse idol I once worshipped so devotedly; and now I shall welcomedeath, come when it may, as my only release from misery. Ah! that woundwould have been less unkind had it ended at once the bitter mockery oflife!"
Even the callous pirate, as he saw the blood flowing from the pure neckwhich had been so often bent in fondness over him, felt a pang ofregret, and a dread of the consequences, not unmixed with admiration ofa spirit so determined as she exhibited.
"Pardon me, Nina!" he exclaimed, springing towards her. "I knew notwhat I was about. I would not injure you, girl, for worlds! Say youforgive me--say you are not hurt, and I will do all you desire withregard 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 toyou, but you have it, and my petition is, that you do not injure thesemen."
"You have preserved their lives for this night, at all events; but Icannot let them go free to betray me and my followers to our enemies,"he answered. "Vlacco, there are, I think, some chambers beneath thistower, and formerly used as dungeons, which may again serve the purposewhen cleared out of rubbish. They will not be able easily to escapefrom thence; and, meantime, place a strong guard upon them in thebasement story, and see that they hold communication with no one."
The old pirate, with an angry look, showed the disappointment he felt atnot 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 hadbeen sent to bring up the prisoners and Signor Paolo, returned with theannouncement that none of them were to be found. The old fishermanaccompanied them, with great dismay in his looks, asserting that he hadnothing at all to do with the matter. He had but one instant returnedto his cottage, after having assisted in the endeavours to extinguishthe fire; he found the door open, and some one had apparently beenplaced on the mats, which served as his bed, for there was some blood onthem, and some pieces of linen and lint lying about, and that was all heknew. He had not spoken to, nor seen Signor Paolo that night. Zappa'sanger was very great at hearing this, and he was very nearly revokingthe reprieve he had granted to the other prisoners. He believed thattreachery had been practised, though, except Paolo and Nina, he knew notwhom to suspect; and, while she denied all knowledge of the event, herbrother was nowhere to be found; so, weary as he was, he set off withVlacco and his officers to investigate the matter at the bay.