The Dark Secret of Josephine

For a moment Roger contemplated rebellion, but he was still so feverish and weak that a child could have knocked him down. He had no doubts whatever that if he told the women to refuse to go they would be fetched, and it seemed better to go with them on the remote chance that by giving his life he might be able to save one of them in a crisis, rather than to remain behind and face the ghastly torture of not knowing what was happening to them. Rallying all his strength, he began to offer up frantic prayers for help, then led them from the cabin.

Out on the deck the scene was reminiscent of that—now seeming to the prisoners a whole lifetime away—which had taken place barely ten days earlier when Circe had crossed the Tropic of Cancer. There was no canvas bath and the dais was lower, but on it was the same pair of big chairs which had been used as thrones, and to either side of an open space before them the whole ship's company was con­gregated.

The thrones were occupied by Joao de Mondego and Lucette. In front of them was an upended cask of rum, the top of which had been stove in. Everyone present held a pannikin and most of the men were still avidly lapping down their first tot. As the captives appeared they were greeted with cheers, boos and cat-calls. The hunch-back led them up to the cask, pannikins were produced from somewhere and Pedro the Carib, who was doing the honours behind it, ladled out a portion equivalent to a fifth of a bottle for each of them; then ordered them to drink it.

Amanda and Jenny only sipped theirs; Clarissa took a mouthful, then choked and spluttered; Georgina flung hers at Pedro's feet.

Instantly Lucette's voice rang out: "Fill for her again, Pedro. If the noble Countess abuses more of our good liquor we will make her lick it up off the deck."

A shout of laughter greeted her threat. Pedro refilled the pannikin and again handed it to Georgina. Roger said in English loud enough for those with him to hear. "For God's sake drink the stuff, and more if you can get it. 'Twill deaden your sensibilities."

Obediently, between chokes and gasps, they swallowed the fiery liquor. Then the hunch-back led them to a wooden bench, placed opposite the dais but some distance from it, and signed to them to sit down. A moment later he seized Roger's arms from behind, thrust a cord between them and his back, then drew it tight and knotted it firmly. Instinctively Roger strove to free himself, but his struggles only provoked more raucous laughter from the spectators: and, having secured his arms, the hunch-back next firmly lashed his ankles, so that should he stand up with the intention of moving forward he would fall flat on his face.

His last hope was gone of grabbing a knife from someone and, perhaps, bringing this ghastly parry to a premature end by stabbing Joao or Lucette; his left eye was now completely closed, but with the other he took stock of the assembly. Including Joao, Lucette, Pedro, and the hunch-back, the prize crew numbered only a dozen, with probably a man at the wheel and another on look-out duty.

Bloggs was present with nine of his cronies, and all eight of the Porto Ricans.

The ship's fiddler had been one of Bloggs's following from the start; and now, seated on a chair in front of the rum barrel, he struck up a merry tune. Darkness had come with the swiftness usual in the tropics, but the bizarre scene was lighted by lanterns hung in the rigging. Some of the men began a rhythmic clapping, then four of them came out on to the circle of deck amidships that had been kept clear and danced a hornpipe.

After it the revellers lined up for another tot of rum. Then one of the pirates sang a soulful ballad in a deep baritone. The ship was moving almost silently over the deep waters, and in any other circum­stances the captives would have been enraptured by his untutored talent; but, as things were, they could only listen with an awful apprehension of what might yet befall them as the night advanced.

Thunderous applause led to an encore, but after it the less musical among the men had had enough and called loudly for a country dance. Marshalled by Pedro the Carib, they formed two lines, and to the scraping of the fiddle began to tap their feet, bob awkwardly at one another, then utter loud shouts and leap about in a travesty of a gavotte.

The country dance was followed by more rum, then a succession of rollicking choruses in which the French-speaking pirates, the English mutineers and the Spanish-reared Porto Ricans at first were given a hearing in turn, but later endeavoured to out-shout one another; so that their combined voices merged into an ear-splitting babel of sound.

At length, when the din subsided, someone called for a pavan.

Most of them had asked others to be their partners, when one of the Circe's men came up to Jenny and said: "Please, Missy, will 'e dance wi' me?"

Jenny cast an anxious glance round, but there seemed nothing for It but to accept. Reluctantly she stood up. The sailor put his arm round her and whirled her away. Others nearby saw them move off and swiftly followed his example. Half a dozen claimants squabbled over which of them should lead out Clarissa, Georgina and Amanda. Two free fights ensued, but those not involved seized upon the three girls and pulled them willy-nilly into the dance.

Roger now sat on the bench alone, suffering the worst torments that hell has to offer. He had fooled Catherine the Great of Russia, defied a Spanish Prime Minister, beaten the unscrupulous Fouché at his own game, tricked France's Minister of War, the shrewd Carnot, stood up to Robespierre, Danton, Hubert, and a legion of other evil, ruthless men. He had caused a Spanish hidalgo to be hung from a lamp-post, and had slain the finest swordsman in all France in single combat: but now, against this filthy, villainous, verminous, brainless, besotted crew he was utterly helpless.

Staring with his single good eye at his wife in the close embrace of a bearded, broken-nosed ruffian, he cursed the day when he had opposed his old master's wish that he should return to France, and instead lightly declared his intention of going off to the West Indies.

Better a thousand times Paris in the throes of Revolution, with all its horrors, squalor and dangers, for they were things with which, given courage and wits, one stood a fair chance of coping.

Yet, when the dance ended, to his unutterable relief, the partners of the four women brought them back to the bench. The night was hot and they were panting from the exertions to which they had been forced, but otherwise showed no ill effects from their unwelcome experience.

Soon the fiddler struck up again, and this time there was a wild scramble to secure the women as partners. Bloggs was in the forefront of the rush, and buffeting two other applicants aside with his huge fists seized upon Jenny. Lucette had taken the deck with Joao. Pedro grabbed Georgina, a British seaman Amanda and one of the Porto Ricans Clarissa.

The moon had risen silvering the sea. Again Roger crouched on the bench, straining against his bonds in agony of mind while the nightmare dance went on; but once more all the women were brought decorously back when from temporary exhaustion the fiddler ceased his scraping.

Now that Pedro had abandoned his post at the rum barrel the men were helping themselves, and some were already reeling about the decks so drunk that they were barging into their fellows. It was then that one of the Circe's men shouted: "The Mermaid! Come, Mermaid, show us your pretty tail!"

The cry was taken up by the rest of the mutineers, and some of them volubly explained to the pirates about the fancy-dress that Clarissa had worn at the crossing of the Tropic of Cancer. Soon a deputation was crowding round her, urging her to don her Mermaid's costume. Her face, paper-white, she stubbornly refused, but one of Bloggs's friends, known as Marlinspike Joe, shouted at her:

"Go put it on wench, or we'll strip you and put it on for you."

Stark fear in her blue eyes, Clarissa looked at Amanda. Feeling that worse might befall unless the raucous crew were humoured, Amanda nodded, and beckoned to Jenny. Together the three women stood up and walked towards the cabins beneath the poop, followed by Marlinspike Joe and a few of his companions.

While they were away the bulk of the crew began to sing again. They had reached the stage when bawdy songs claimed priority over all else, and for the next quarter of an hour obscenities in French, English and Spanish echoed out over the tranquil moonlit waters.

They died away in a triumphant shout from the starboard entrance to the after cabins. Marlinspike Joe and his friends emerged bearing shoulder high on a scantling Clarissa in her Mermaid's costume.

At the sight of her the men broke into a ragged drunken cheer, interspersed with shouted comments of indescribable indecency. Her bearers set her down in front of the two thrones and for a few minutes she was subjected to a hail of ribald comment. With a view to moderat­ing her previous appearance in the role, she had not brushed out her hair, and wore a cloak draped over the upper part of her body, but when her bearers had lowered the scantling to the dais. Marlinspike Joe pulled the cloak from her, so that her naked shoulders gleamed white in the moonlight. There fell a sudden hush and one could almost hear the intake of breath as scores of eyes fastened upon her.

Lucette leant forward and shouted at the fiddler: "Play man; play a dance."

Bloggs was standing near her and asked her to partner him. She hesitated only a moment, then agreed. The fiddler struck up and once again the deck was filled with a mass of lurching couples. But Joao did not rise from his chair and Marlinspike Joe remained standing just below him, his lecherous gaze riveted on Clarissa. Suddenly he leant forward, grasped Clarissa's tail and dragged it from her. Beneath it she had on only her shift and now her bare legs were displayed up to the knee for all to see.

With a drunken laugh Joao bent down, caught her in his arms and lifted her on to his knees. Her scream rang out above the fiddler's music. Everyone stopped dancing. Lucette thrust Bloggs from her and marched up to the dais.

"Enough!" she cried. "Put down that wench, or it will be the worse for you when we reach our lair."

"To hell with that!" he shouted back. "I claim a Captain's privilege. Tonight this pretty baggage sleeps with me."

chapter VII

ORDEAL BY MOONLIGHT

The moon was now high in a cloudless sky. Its brilliant light eclipsed the stars and dimmed that of the lanterns hanging in the rigging. Flooding the scene it splashed the deck with jagged patches of silver between the stark black shadows of the groups of revellers, and threw their features into sharp relief.

But Clarissa's scream had brought an abrupt pause in their revelry. The fiddler stopped his scraping, feet no longer stamped and shuffled on the deck, all movement ceased; the whole company had become as rigid as though suddenly turned to stone by the baleful glare from a Medusa's head.

Every face was turned towards the dais. Upon it Joao still sat enthroned, one of his long arms tightly encircling Clarissa's waist. She lay where he had dragged her, half sprawled across his knees. Her face had flushed scarlet and, sobbing with shame, she buried it in her hands; but she could not hide her naked legs and shoulders. Lucette stood just below them, her arms akimbo, her fine head thrown back. All eyes were riveted upon the group. The tropic night was warm and still. Even the seamen who were drunk held their breath as they awaited the outcome of the quarrel. Lucette's voice rang out. It was loud and angry, but Rodger detected a nervous tremor in it.

"You will sleep alone!" she shouted. "Leave the little one be! I'll not permit that you should have your pleasure of her."

"So you're jealous, eh?" Joao retorted, with an ugly leer.

"Nay!" she brazenly flung back. "'Twas only your repertoire of strange blandishments that has reconciled me these past few weeks to waking each morning with your skull's-head next to mine. Now they are stale to me, and among the new men aboard there are others I have a mind to try as bedfellows. I care not for you, nor who is the first to rape her once we get ashore; but I am determined that you shall follow the rules of our fraternity."

"Well and what are those rules?" he cried mockingly. "By ancient custom it is declared that a Captain should have first pick of any captured women. After that, lots are drawn by all and a roster made by which each watch of the night some man gets his turn with one or other, till all have spliced each of them. Then come the daily auctions for further turns; the highest bidder securing first choice and the cash going into a common kitty. What could be fairer? I stand by it, and claim nought but a Captain's right to take this tender chick's maiden­head—if so be she still has one to be taken."

A guffaw of laughter greeted the sally with which he ended. It drowned the groan that Roger could not stifle. He could close his one good eye to the scene but not his ears, and Joao's brutal words confirmed his worst fears, bearing out all that he had heard of the customs -of the pirates. His bound hands were clasped behind him, and in an attempt to alleviate his agony of mind by agony of body he dug his nails into his palms with all the strength he could muster.

A sudden rustle and heavy thump beside him caused him to open his eye. Amanda had slid from the bench on to the deck in a dead faint. Beyond the place she had occupied Georgina and Jenny sat, clinging to one another, their faces dead white, their eyes staring in horrified apprehension. But no one even glanced at Amanda as she fell, for Lucette was speaking again.

"You are no Captain," she declared, "only a lieutenant given the task of bringing this prize back to our rendezvous. When M. le Vicomte decided to leave the women on board he charged me with their care. 'Tis he, and he alone, who has a Captain's rights over them, and I am answerable to him. I give not a jot what he does to you, but I've no mind to have him throw me to his crocodiles for having failed to protect his interests."

Releasing his hold on Clarissa, so that she slid half fainting to his feet, Joao stood up, stepped over her prostrate form and down on to the deck. Thrusting his face forward into Lucette's, he snarled:

"So I'm no Captain, eh? You spawn of hell, I'll soon teach you that I am, and one whose word is law aboard this ship."

She gave back a pace, but cried defiantly: "You besotted fool! Were you not drunk you would never have the courage to court M. le Vicomte's anger. You have but to wait a week at most to enjoy the wench in accordance with our rules, but do so this night and he'll have you flayed alive. Even a moron would have the sense to wait that long rather than pay such a price."

"Nay, I'll not wait an hour," he bellowed. "M. le Vicomte may be harsh but he is just. Having made me Captain of the prize he'll not take umbrage that I should have exercised a Captain's rights."

"You fool yourself!" Lucette began hotly, but broke off short owing to an unexpected diversion. Unseen by Roger, who had again bowed his head in helpless misery, Georgina had risen from the bench and walked forward until she was confronting Joao. Her voice was low but clear as she said in French.

"Perhaps I can provide a solution to this difficulty. It seems to me that Madame Lucette is right, and that should you take this girl you may pay for it with your life. But there can be no rule against your taking a woman who offers herself freely. Besides she is of tender years and untutored; so would provide you only with poor sport. Since you are so set on having a bedfellow I volunteer to take her place."

Her words filled Roger with mingled feelings of sickening revolt and admiration. All his life he had loved Georgina. She had meant more to him that even Athenals de Rochambeau or his dear Amanda, and the thoughts of her submitting herself to the embrace of this loathsome skull-headed creature filled him with horror. Yet he knew that she had slept with many men, some of whom she had not even cared for; so the ordeal would prove less ghastly for her than for a young virgin like Clarissa. Her bid to save the girl was but one more demonstration of her splendid courage, and on tenter-hooks between fear for her and dread for Clarissa, he listened for Joao de Mondego's answer.

Slowly the pirate surveyed Georgina from feet to head, taking in her fine figure, lovely heart-shaped face, big dark eyes and the abundant ringlets that fell about her shoulders, then he muttered:

"By the Holy Blood, you're a handsome enough piece to tempt any man. I'm mighty flattered, Mam, to have made such a conquest."

Her eyes were unnaturally bright and her voice had a slightly hysterical note as she replied: "You may disabuse yourself of that belief. I offer myself only because, my husband having been killed this morning, I care not what becomes of me."

"Since that is so, you'll keep a while," he grinned, "and I’ll lose nothing by waiting my turn for you when we get ashore. But this chit here is a different kettle offish. Do I not take her now, some other may forestall me."

Turning away, he seized Clarissa by the arm and dragged her to her feet.

Lucette had been staring in amazement and with a new respect at Georgina. Now, grabbing at Joao's arm as he pulled Clarissa up, she exclaimed:

"Shrew me! But you must be fitted only for a mad-house. To persist in this rather than accept all that so well-endowed a woman as the Countess has to offer—and that of her free will—is nothing short of lunacy."

"Enough of your interference!" he roared, and letting Clarissa go he swung round upon her. Next second his fist shot out. It caught Lucette squarely beneath the jaw. Her head snapped back, her body hovered for an instant, then she crashed full length upon the deck.

For a moment he stood cursing her still form obscenely. Then, grasping Clarissa's wrist, he cried: "Now, my little beauty, we'll to your cabin and see all you have still to show under what's left of that mermaid's dress."

"Hi there! Not so fast," a deep voice boomed in English, and Bloggs shouldered his way out from among the spectators.

Being ignorant of the language, Joao gave him an expressionless stare, then turned to Georgina and asked: "What says this fellow?"

With new hope that Clarissa might yet be saved Georgina threw a glance of appeal at Bloggs, and cried: "If you can prevent this awful thing that is about to happen God will surely reward you. I implore you to speak out in that sense—even if it was not that you had in mind."

Instinctively touching his forelock, Bloggs replied: "May it please your Ladyship, one o' my mates 'ere, Jake Harris, by name, speaks a bit o' the Creole lingo. 'E 'eard the skipper wot captured we say particular to Miss Lucette as 'ow she should 'ave a good care of the ladies. That bein' so, it seems to we that she's in the right of it, an' this skull-faced swab is actin' contry to orders about the young missy.".

"Bless you!" exclaimed Georgina, and gave Joao a swift translation; adding on her own account: "So you'd best have a care. These men threaten to raise the whole crew in mutiny against you."

"They would not dare," snapped Joao. "Do they but raise a finger and I'll have them both strung up to the yard arms within ten minutes. Tell them that; and that the decisions of a Captain in his ship are no man's business but his own."

This time it was Jake who gave Bloggs a rough translation. Having done so, he added: "I'll allow 'e's right in that, Ephraim. Anyways 'tis not our quarrel. Do 'e choose to have 'is will of the wench 'e'll not be answerable to we, but to 'is Frenchy master."

Georgina's heart sank; but Bloggs still stood his ground, and muttered aggressively: "Maybe; yet that's not all. Miss Lucette did no more than 'er plain duty. She be a foine woman, an' I've taken a great fancy to she. I'll not stand by and see she handled so by any dago—be 'e or be ‘e not captain o' the ship. Nay, do 'e now give 'im fair warning, Jake. Dost 'e bash 'er down agin, I'll serve 'e as I served Cap'n Cummins."

Joao's blow had knocked Lucette out. While the altercation was proceeding she had remained sprawled motionless upon her back; but now she groaned, half raised herself, looked dully round and put a hand to her aching jaw. As her eyes fell on Joao they suddenly lit with a return of consciousness. Scrambling to her knees, she made to draw her pistol from her sash.

The pirate had not understood a word of Bloggs's last utterance, neither had Jake yet had time to translate his warning. On catching sight of Lucette's movement, quite unaware of the possible results of his act, he gave her a vicious kick in the ribs which sent her over sideways. Then, turning to Pedro the Carib, who was standing nearby, he snapped:

"Have that coffee-coloured bitch disarmed and thrown into the chain locker."

Bloggs took this new brutality as a deliberate challenge. His broad face suddenly became suffused with blood and his eyes flashed murder. Seized in the paroxysm of one of his ungovernable rages, he wrenched his cutlass from its sheath and rushed upon Joao.

Instantly pandemonium broke out among the entire ship's com­pany. Up to that moment the prize crew, Bloggs's fellow mutineers, and the Porto Ricans had all been mingled together, cheerfully fraternizing. Now, every man in the crowd of thirty or so cast a swift, apprehensive glance at his neighbours, sprang away to get nearer others of his own people or plant his back against some solid object; and every man of them reached for a weapon.

For a moment it seemed certain that a most bloody affray was imminent. It was Jake who saved the situation. Raising his voice above the din of trampling feet, threats and curses, he cried in English:

"Steady mates! There's no sense in our all cutting each other's throats. What is the mulatto woman to us, or the young missy either? Hold on, I say! Stand back, and let these two bully-boys fight the matter out between them."

Lucette had staggered to her feet and, knowing enough English to understand the tenor of Jake's shouts, promptly backed him up by yelling to the Creole-speaking prize crew: "Put up your weapons. This is no quarrel with the Circe's men! Joao has brought a duel - upon himself. Give them the deck to have at one another. Form a ring now, and let the best man win."

Joao meanwhile lost no time in defending himself. By springing aside he evaded Bloggs's first murderous slash. Whipping out his own cutlass he parried Bloggs's second cut, and now they were at: it hammer and tongs, the steel of their blades striking sparks from one another, as they clashed, clanged and slithered in swift give and take.

Recognizing sound sense in the shouted appeals of Jake and Lucette the polyglot crowd of seamen took their hands from their knives and pistols and drew back, forming a wide ring to give ample space for the furious combat. For a few moments they watched it with bated breath, then some of them began to shout bets upon its outcome.

Bloggs was obviously the stronger and weightier of the two, but Joao was the taller by three inches and had the longer reach. He, too, was by far the better blade, as years of fighting had made him ex­tremely proficient in the handling of a cutlass, whereas Bloggs was untutored in the art and could only hope to break down the other's guard by his great strength; yet he had one advantage, for he was sober while Joao was three-parts drunk.

At first they seemed so well matched that either might prove the victor, and their respective backers would give no more than evens. But as Joao skilfully parried cut after cut and Bloggs began to pant like a grampus, it became clear that if the pirate could tire his antagonist out he would have him at his mercy.

Stamping, whirling, lunging and slashing, they careered round and round, the bright light of the moon making their every movement as clear to the spectators as if the fight had been taking place in day­time. Both were now gasping from their exertions and rivulets of sweat were running down their faces. As the minutes passed and Bloggs still failed to get a blow home the betting began to go against nun. Soon, three, four and five to one was being offered on Joao.

Roger could not see the fight, as a group of seamen blocked his view of it, and, as his ankles were still tied, he could not leave the bench; but from the beginning he had been praying with all his might that Bloggs would emerge victorious. So, too, had Georgina, yet her heart began to sink as she saw that Bloggs's blows were losing some of their former strength, and that he seemed near exhaustion.

Suddenly, it occurred to her to run in and seize Joao's sword arm from behind. Next moment she darted forward, but Pedro the Carib grabbed a handful of her curls and jerked her back. As she fell in a tumbled heap at his feet the pain of the wrench on her hair caused her to give a piercing scream. It was at that moment the end came with unexpected suddenness.

Joao, well aware that he was carrying a load of liquor, had had the sense to keep to the centre of the deck, moving his feet only when compelled and letting Bloggs circle round him. Just as Georgina screamed Bloggs had reached the limit of his powers to continue battling without pause. Stepping back a couple of paces, he lowered his cutlass, hunched his great shoulders and drew a sobbing breath. Joao, his eyes glinting with ferocious triumph, sprang forward to administer the coup de grace; but the rum had robbed him of his sense of balance. On landing he stumbled and lurched sideways. Before he could recover Bloggs brought up his cutlass in a swift horizontal stroke. It slashed the pirate to the bone through the muscle of his right arm.

With a scream of agony Joao dropped his weapon and staggered back. Bloggs promptly put his foot on the blade, but made no move to go in and finish Joao off. Seeing that he did not intend to do so, Lucette left the dais, on the edge of which she had been standing, and walked forward to confront the wounded man.

An evil smile played about the corners of her full mouth as she stood there gloating for a moment, then she said: "Well, Captain Mondego, you cannot complain that you have not been given fair play. I could have shot you in the back any time within the past ten minutes; but I observed the rules and refrained. Now I am glad of that. Custom decrees that a defeated captain is fair game for anyone who has a score to settle with him, and it will give me special pleasure to obliterate your repulsive face."

Stark terror showed in Joao's eyes. Blood was gushing from the terrible wound in his arm on to the deck, and he was already weaken­ing from its loss. Lurching to one side, he made an effort to lug his pistol from his belt with his left hand. Before he could get it out, Lucette had drawn hers from her sash and pointed it at him. There came a flash and a loud report. The bullet struck him in the mouth. His face blackened by the powder and spurting blood he fell sprawling at her feet.

No one in the crowd made any protest, or even showed surprise at her callous deed. They simply stood round in silence while Joao lay there squirming; until, with a light shrug of her shoulders, she turned to Pedro and said:

"Have him flung over the side to feed the sharks."

The Carib had her order carried out with alacrity and it now became apparent that with Joao's death she had become the dominant personality in the ship. Marching up to the still panting Bloggs she publicly embraced him, kissed him heartily on both cheeks and thanked him in a mixture of French and broken English, then she pushed the pleased but embarrassed quartermaster before her up on to the dais. When Pedro had seen Joao's body overboard she beckoned him up to stand on her other side and, with an arm thrown casually round each of the men's necks, addressed the crew:

"As M. le Vicomte's trusted representative it is within my powers to appoint a successor to Joao de Mondego; but I want no jealousy or discontent aboard. Therefore I will give you a choice. Here are two good men both of proved courage. To him you choose I shall expect all to give implicit obedience."

Pausing she turned to Jake and told him to translate what she had said into English; then, when he had done, she added: "Now which will you have as your temporary Captain?"

The shouts for Bloggs and Pedro seemed about equal in number; so a count of hands had to be taken. As was to be expected the pirates were solid for Pedro and the Circe's English mutineers for Bloggs; but the Porto Ricans were divided, and as they were closer by blood and language to the Carib most ot them voted for him, so by a majority of five he was elected. Bloggs shook him by the hand, to show he harboured no ill feelings, and Lucette slapped him heartily on the back; then she announced that Bloggs would act as Lieutenant. Two minutes later the crowd began to break up. Pedro had the man at the wheel relieved and appointed look-outs for the night, while Bloggs had Roger untied and, having escorted the prisoners to their quarters, posted a guard on the entrance to the after cabins.

For the time being their terrible ordeal was over, but they were all too played out even to discuss it. Still fearful that Marlinspike Joe or some other drunken ruffian might attempt to break in on one of the women during the night, they decided that it would be safer for them all to sleep in the big saloon; so they dragged their mattresses and a few coverings there, and lay down in a row still fully dressed.

From soon after dawn they had been subject to acute anxiety and the strain of the past few hours had been almost beyond endurance. Nature took charge and within a few minutes every one of them was deep in the sleep of complete exhaustion; yet their last waking thoughts had been as harrowing as the worst of nightmares. Lucette's loyalty to her French master, and Bloggs's rage at Joao's treatment of her, had gained them a respite from horrors even to think of which made them feel physically sick—but only a respite. They knew now that, short of a miracle, within the next few days they must suffer utter degradation.

chapter VIII

A MIDNIGHT MARRIAGE

When they woke it was near midday. Their fatigue had been so great that they had slept the clock round. As each of them slowly roused to consciousness they could hardly believe that they had not awakened from some appalling dream, but realization that they were lying on the deck of the big after cabin brought home to them the awful truth. Georgina was stricken anew by the knowledge that her beloved Charles was dead, and burst into heart-rending sobs. It was the sound of her weeping that fully roused the others, and sitting up they gazed woefully about them.

As soon as Roger moved his head began to pain him again, but now the wound ached only dully; and, apart from the fact that his mouth was as parched as a cinder pit, he felt moderately well. On getting up he found that he could walk quite steadily, and going to the table he took a swig of wine from one of the half-empty bottles that was standing on it. As he did so he noticed that the debris of the previous night's meal had been removed and that other items now littered it. Evidently Lucette and her officers had breakfasted there, but any noise they had made while doing so had been insufficient to arouse the prisoners from their sleep of exhaustion.

Jenny had left her mattress and was once more attempting to console Georgina. Amanda and Clarissa were both sitting up and staring before them, their faces pictures of misery. After one quick glance, Roger looked away from them. He ached to say something that would cheer them but could not think of any possible opening which might do so. Never before had he wished himself dead, but now he felt that Charles had been luckier than himself. With an effort he said:

"Come, a wash would freshen us all up; and there's enough food here for us to make a scratch meal afterwards."

Silently they accepted his suggestion. Georgina found evidence in her cabin that Lucette must have slept there; so with Jenny's help she moved her toilet things and some of her clothes into one of the spare cabins. By the time they returned to the saloon the others were all seated round the table. Their cabins had showed no traces of intruders; Roger had had a shave and Amanda looked considerably less haggard with her face made up. Clarissa's resilient youth had already obliterated all signs of her previous night's distress, and Jenny's robust health made her look better than she was feeling. Georgina's beautiful eyes were bleary and she had not attempted to remove from her face the ravages that grief had made upon it; but at least she had ceased weeping and again had full control of herself. Nevertheless, as they helped themselves to the food, and ate a little of it mechanically, depression weighed upon them so heavily that none of them felt capable of making conversation, until Clarissa electrified her companions by remarking:

"I'll not deny that I was near scared to death last night by that hideous fellow's designs upon me; yet all the same I incline to think that being raped is nothing near so terrible an experience as it is painted."

"Clarissa!" exclaimed Amanda in a shocked voice. "How can you speak with such immodesty? And before Roger, too."

Georgina gave a weary tight-lipped travesty of a smile, then observed cynically to Amanda, "Is it not a little late, m'dear, to suppose that Roger has any illusions left about the nature of women. Nothing she can say is likely to make him think better or worse of the sex. Besides, as rape is the only subject upon which any of us have brought our­selves to utter this morning, surely it is better that we should discuss it rather than continue to sit here in dreary silence." Then, turning to Clarissa, she added: "Now child, let us hear the reason for this belief of yours."

"'Tis based upon what a friend of mine once told me at the young ladies' Academy which I attended," Clarissa replied. "She was of French descent and her grandmother had the misfortune to be caught by the Prussians during the Seven Years' War. It so chanced that my friend was playing one day near a summer-house in which her mother and grandmother were talking of that campaign. She distinctly re­members having heard her mother say, 'I cannot think, Mamma, how you survived that brutal assault. The first attentions of a husband are bad enough, but to be raped by a total stranger would drive most women into a mad-house.' At that time my friend did not understand what was meant by the word rape, but when she learned it she recalled this conversation and her grandmother's reply."

Clarissa's cheeks suddenly coloured up, and casting down her eyes she hesitated before going on, until Georgina asked: "Well, what did the grandmother say?"

In a small voice, still looking down, Clarissa answered: "She said: 'My dear, you should realize that there is nothing unnatural about rape, and that until historical times it was normally every female's first experience of physical love. Therefore, providing she can save her face by appearing to have had no alternative but to submit, any sensible woman will shut her eyes, lie back and endeavour to imagine herself the bride of a cave-man lover.'"

Tie story so amused Georgina that she was momentarily taken out of herself and cried with a laugh: "Damme, the old woman was right!"

Roger laughed too, while casting a speculative glance at Clarissa. He wondered if nervous preoccupations with the subject had caused her to blurt out the story, or if she had told it with the deliberate intent of lessening the other women's dread of the role that capture would force upon them in a few days' time. At that moment she lifted her eyes and they met his. There was no trace of hysteria in them; so he decided that his latter assumption had been correct, and in silent admiration he marvelled that so young a woman should show so much courage.

Now that Clarissa had broken the ice they talked for a while of the previous night, freely confessing the fears and emotions they had experienced, but by an unspoken agreement all speculations about their grim future remained barred.

They had been sitting round the table for the best part of an hour when the hunch-backed Indian came in. Walking across to Jenny, he tapped her on the shoulder and pointed to the door, obviously indicating that she was wanted outside. At first she violently shook her head, from fear of what might happen to her if she left the others; but the hunch-back then enunciated a word that was recognizable as 'Bloggs' and kept on saying it. Somewhat reassured by the agreement of the rest that 'Bloggs' really was the word he kept on saying, she followed him out into the passage.

She was absent for about twenty minutes, and when she returned the excitement in her face told them at once that some new develop­ment had occurred. Resuming her place at the table, she said in a low voice:

"Bloggs says that we must not count upon it, but that he has the wish to save us if that be possible."

Muted exclamations of relief and hope greeted her announcement, and she went on: "He says that another mutiny would not be possible, because he and his friends are still, in a sense, on probation. They have been allowed to keep their pikes or cutlasses, but were deprived of their fire-arms. Thus the pirates, having pistols and muskets, could soon overcome them."

"What, then, does he suggest?" Roger asked eagerly.

"He feels that if the pirates be skillfully approached it should prove possible to detach them from their loyalty to the French nobleman who is their master. But before he makes any move at all, he requires an honourable understanding with yourself about the future."

"Honourable!" muttered Amanda in disgust. "And he a mutineer and a murderer! How can one treat honourably with such?"

"It was to him we owe it that worse did not befall last night," Georgina said quickly.

"Indirectly, perhaps, but no more," Amanda retorted. "He inter­vened only because he has taken a fancy to that brazen-faced mulatto woman, and flew into one of his great rages on seeing her mishandled. Had he not killed Captain Cummins in the first place and brought the ship-to by abandoning her wheel, Circe might well have escaped. It was his treachery which has brought us to our present pass; and I'd wager this is some scheme he has hatched to get us into his own hands. I would not trust him an inch."

"I think, Madame, you take too black a view of him," Jenny re­marked. "Not that I would excuse his crimes; but he seems to me a man whose acts are dictated by two warring natures, so is not alto­gether responsible for the evil that he does. At least I can vouch for it that just now he referred with deep sensibility to the kindness shown him after his flogging; and spoke most earnestly of his desire to aid us."

Roger nodded. "I judge you right, Jenny. In any case, even if he is playing for his own ends, I cannot think we are likely to fare worse in his hands than those of this Vicomte de Senlac. Seeing our situation, it would be the height of folly not to clutch at any straw; so I will willingly hear what he has to say. Did he give you any idea of his proposals?"

"No, Sir. He said only that it would be dangerous for him to show special interest in the prisoners, but that he would be coming down to his dinner later than the others; and that if you would send the ladies and myself to our cabins, so that he should find you here alone, he should take that as meaning that you are agreeable to treat with him."

For the moment there was no more to be said on the subject; so they whiled away the afternoon as best they could, until at four o'clock the hunch-back came in to set fresh food upon the table, and, shortly afterwards, Pedro and Lucette arrived to make their main meal of the day.

The Carib, as they had already noticed, was far from being a loquacious man, and he hardly opened his mouth except to cram food into it Lucette, on the other hand, had plenty to say for herself, and after she had satisfied her first hunger she began to question the prisoners on a score of subjects, ranging from their ages and places of birth to the style of hats now being worn in London. In less than twenty minutes Pedro was replete and belched his way out; but Lucette sat on, munching some candied fruits that had been found among the stores, and when Bloggs arrived on the scene she still showed no signs of leaving.

Roger now became worried that finding all the women captives in the saloon Bloggs would assume that his overture had met with rejection; but there seemed no way of hastening Lucette's departure and, short of inviting her dangerous anger, the others could not all walk out as long as she continued her lazy questioning of them.

By the time Bloggs had demolished a great plateful of meat and pickles Roger feared that the chance of talking to him alone that evening was as good as lost, and worse, that he might not risk a further rebuff by making another opportunity. But Georgina had sized up the situation and saved it by saying to Lucette:

"I am accounted something of an artist, Madame; and during our voyage from Madeira I amused myself for a part of the time by designing some clothes that I planned to have made. As they conform to the latest modes, and you are interested in such things, perchance you would care to accompany me to the spare cabin where I keep my trunks. I forget now in which I put them, but between us we should soon rout them out."

Lucette at once accepted the invitation, and, as she stood up, Georgina said to Jenny: "You had best come with us, to help us m our search." That left only Amanda and Clarissa, and no sooner had the others disappeared than they made an excuse to go to their cabins.

After a moment Roger said in a low voice to Bloggs: "I am well aware how desperate is the situation of the ladies and myself, and Jenny has told me that you may be able to help us. I can only say that should you be able to do so, we shall owe you more than we can ever repay."

Bloggs favoured him with a by no means friendly stare, and replied:

"Foine words, my foine gentleman; but 'tis not fer the likes o* you that I be concerned. Tis fer Jenny, who did nurse me when I were near a corpse from the floggin' Cap'n Cummins ordered me; an' fer her ladyship, who showed a poor mariner kindly charity on that same occasion. Tis no wish of mine that they other ladies should suffer what's in store for 'em, either". Yet they'll all get a taste o' hell afore their time unless summat can be done within the next day or so."

"I know it," Roger agreed, "and I ask no mercy for myself. If by giving my life I can aid them, count it as already given. Now, what have you in mind?"

"I've a notion that maybe I could talk round Pedro the Carib. 'E's a queer cuss, that one. 'E don't speak much, but 'e onarstans a bit o' English, an' Jake an' me got quite friendly with 'e up on the poop this forenoon. Seems like 'e got a 'ate agin this Frenchy skipper under who 'e's bin sailin'. I've a mind to put to 'e that now 'e's cap'n o' the Circe, 'e should fly 'is own flag in she, an' make off on 'is own."

"That would certainly create a new situation, but I don't quite see how it would save the ladies from the sort of thing we fear for them."

"Ah, but it could; should you be willin' ter let bygones be bygones, an' gi' me an' my mates a clean ticket."

"You mean forget that the mutiny ever occurred, and the fact that you killed Captain Cummins?"

Bloggs nodded his dark curly head. "For the death o' that tyrant I'll answer to Almighty God; but meantime, should I be caught I've no wish to swing in chains fer it from a gallows in Kingston or On Execution Dock. I were figurin' that you bein' the new Governor of Martinique, you'd maybe 'ave the power to give I a pardon."

As Roger had always placed the welfare of those he loved before any canon of morality, he replied without hesitation. "I have, and I will. I take it,, too, that as your companions are also liable to a hanging for mutiny you want pardons for them as well?"

"That's so, Mister Brook; an* there's yet another thing. Piracy be the resort only o' the most desperate characters, seein' that pirate ships be liable to attack by any naval vessel that may happen along, whatsoever be her nation. But privateerin's a very different kettle o' fish. Tis respectable as well as profitable; an' you bein' Governor of an island could, I make no doubt, give we a privateer's commission."

"Yes, I could do that," Roger agreed, much impressed with the good sense that Bloggs was showing. "And I take it that in return you would arrange for us to be given our freedom?"

"Twas on them lines that I were thinkin'. O' course Pedro an' 'is mates would 'ave to be given a clean bill, clearing they from all counts likely ter arise out o' they's past. They'd not row in wi' we otherwise. But do 'e pledge me yer word about a privateer's commission an' free pardons for all, an' I've a good 'ope 'twill serve as a strong enough inducement fer Pedro an' the rest to agree that you an' the ladies should be put ashore."

"What of Madame Lucette?" Roger asked a shade anxiously. "Think you she can be persuaded to become a party to this deal— or at least prevented from wrecking it?"

Bloggs hesitated a moment, then he grinned. "She be that unpre­dictable'tis more 'an I would say as yet. But so happen she've taken a bit o' a fancy to me; an' me ter her fer that matter.

"Then if Pedro definitely agrees to your proposals, there should be a good chance of winning her over?"

'That's the rig o' it, Mister Brook. Jake an' me will make a cast at 'e durin' second dog watch, an' if all's well I'll broach it to Lucette arter I've boarded she agin this comin' night. Have I yer solemn promise as a gentleman ter abide by our onerstandin'?"

Roger smiled, partly at the thought that despite Bloggs's enthusiasm for the doctrine of Equality' he should still place more faith in the word of a gentleman man in that of one of his own kind; but much more with relief, that above the black pit of tenor in which the Circe's passengers had been plunged these past twenty-four hours there should now have appeared a ray of light. Wisely, he decided that since then-new hope was entirely dependent on Bloggs's goodwill there must be no half measures about burying the past; so standing up he held out his hand and said:

"You have more than my word, for we shall still remain your prisoners until you choose to release us; but I give it you willingly and here is my hand upon it."

Bloggs crushed the extended fingers for a moment in an iron grip, grinned again, and left the cabin.

When he had gone Roger sat down quickly. For the past hour his head had been paining him severely, and after the effort needed for the interview reaction swiftly set in. The stalwart Bloggs had radiated confidence, but now he had gone Roger began to reckon up the odds against his being able to carry his scheme through successfully.

First, he might have read more than was intended into a few surly remarks about the Vicomte by the taciturn Pedro. Secondly, even if Pedro was game to double-cross his master, would his men agree to follow his lead? He was far from having the forceful personality of a Joao de Mondego and, Roger had gathered, owed his position as an officer only to the fact that having known the reefs and shoals of these coasts since boyhood he was an expert at piloting a ship through them. It seemed much more likely that the other pirates would follow whatever lead was given them by Lucette. And on the previous night she had braved Joao's wrath out of loyalty to the Vicomte.

From what Bloggs had said it was clear that she had become his mistress, so he was in a stronger position than anyone else to influence her; but Roger did not feel that any great weight could be attached to that. One look at the big healthy body of such a tawny tigress was enough to tell any man that she revelled in every form of sensuality. Seeing the life she was leading, it could hardly be doubted that in the past dozen years she had willingly allowed herself to be caressed by scores, if not hundreds, of men; That she should have taken the repulsive Joao for a lover showed that her appetite was now jaded to a point where it required constant new stimulants; so it was as good as certain that she looked on Bloggs as no more than just another dish to be tasted. In a week or two she would probably cast him off any­way, and a month later have forgotten his existence; so if his project did not appeal to her it was more than likely that she would rid herself of him overnight—quite possibly by sticking a knife between his ribs.

By the time the others rejoined Roger, he took a very sober view of their chances; and, having given them an outline of his talk with Bloggs, warned them to set no great hopes on his succeeding in his plan. Georgina had relapsed into an apathy of grief, and Roger had a touch of fever, so after Amanda had bathed and re-bandaged his head, they decided to turn in.

Next morning they were awake and up by the time Lucette and Pedro came in to breakfast, and when Pedro had done Bloggs took his place. As Lucette was still there he said nothing of his plan, but, unseen by her, he gave Roger a solemn wink, which seemed to indicate that things were going well, although Amanda inclined to the opinion that it was nothing but an impertinent familiarity.

During a good part of the day Jenny hung about the poop entrance to the after cabins, hoping that Bloggs would have a word with her about their prospects; but he did not do so and left them to spend the dragging hours in futile speculation. Neither did they become any wiser during the dinner hour. Lucette was unusually silent, which suggested that she had something on her mind, but she again remained at table after Pedro had gone back on deck, and did not rise from it until Bloggs had in turn finished his meal; upon which they left the cabin together.

It was over an hour later when Bloggs returned and, touching his forelock, said, "Ladies, I be come ter request the pleasure o' your company out on deck; and yourn too, Mister Brook."

The civility of Bloggs's address raised Roger's hopes, and he shot him a questioning glance.

Bloggs nodded. "Pedro be wi' us. 'E's sounded some o' 'is mates. Some's favourable, some's aginst. But I'll lay they'll all come over when you makes publicly they promises you made to I."

"What of Lucette?" Roger asked anxiously.

"She be considerin' still. 'Tis fer she more than t'others I piped this 'ere meetin'. Love makin' wi' she be easy as kiss yer 'and; but our lingos bein' different makes talkin' 'eavy weather. Seein' that's the way o' things, it come to I that you bein' glib o' tongue could best do your own persuadin'."

By no means sanguine about their prospects, but determined to do his utmost, Roger followed the others out on deck. It was still full daylight, though within an hour a brief twilight followed by night would come with tropical suddenness. In the meantime the north coast of Santo Domingo, along which Circe had been running ever since her capture, could be plainly seen to port, and some three miles distant on her starboard beam the barque of the Vicomte, presumably leading them towards some secluded bay in which he maintained a permanent base.

The deck was crowded with the whole ship's company. They were excitedly exchanging rumours concerning what they believed was about to take place. Bloggs made a way for the prisoners to the main sheet bollards. Lucette was there leaning negligently on one of them. Pedro called for silence then clambered up on to the midships capstan. First in Creole, then in Spanish, he addressed the men.

His words were few but to the point. He stigmatized the Vicomte as a man of mean, intolerant, unpredictable nature, whom no one could trust; and asked why, now they had a ship of their own, they should submit to his tyranny any longer.

Lucette called out: "For the reason that you have previously done so. Because in the past he has brought you much plunder. Because he is a cleverer man and a better leader than any of you will ever be."

A murmur of agreement followed her counter-blast to Pedro's stilted speech; but Bloggs quickly took his place and drowned all opposition by a bull-like roar in which he put the situation to his mates and others who could understand English. The hearty ovation he received from his friends suggested that they had already secretly endorsed his plan, but the attitude of the Porto Ricans remained doubtful, and a number of the pirates were evidently averse to deserting their old master.

It was now Roger's turn, and one of the gifts which had proved most valuable to him in his career was an exceptional ability to express his thoughts, either in speech or writing, with telling clarity. Knowing how much depended on this now he spared no effort to convince his audience of the soundness of Bloggs's arguments.

Upon the English, since they had already been won over, he wasted little time, simply reiterating his promises to Bloggs, but he spoke at length in passable Spanish, and still longer in his impeccable French. In both he dwelt upon the hazardous life led by pirates, who were liable to be shot for the least disobedience by their own captains, could enjoy the pleasures offered in the larger ports of the Caribbean only at the risk of recognition by someone they had despoiled, and more often than not ended up on a gallows. By contrast he painted the life of a law-abiding privateersman in glowing colours, asserting that it was not only safer and happier but equally profitable. Finally, he boldly grasped the nettle by turning to Lucette and crying:

"Now Madame, let us hear you on this question. Do you prefer to continue as an outlaw, or will you encourage the crew of this fine ship to fight her worthily in future under the protection of my mandate?" , Her face was quite expressionless and she was toying with the butt of her silver-mounted pistol. He was suddenly seized with the idea that she was about to whip it out in a swift attempt to shoot him. His eyes held hers, watching for the faintest flicker in them which might give him a second's warning, so that he could escape the ball by throwing himself off the capstan. But his fears were groundless.

Showing her splendid teeth in a broad smile, she replied: "You have made a good case, M. le Gouverneur. But whether I sail with pirates or privateers I can take care of myself; so let the men choose. I will abide by the decision of the majority."

A show of hands was called for. Lucette, three pirates, and two Porto Ricans refrained from voting. These apart, all the others put their hands up for abandoning the Vicomte. It was a clear triumph for Bloggs. But Roger was quick to grasp his chance of continuing to dominate the situation. Beckoning to Pedro, Bloggs and Lucette he said:

"Now we must make our plans; and for that it would be best to return to the cabin."

They followed him obediently as he shepherded the women towards the poop, and when they were all gathered in the saloon a general conversation took place m a jargon of English, French and Spanish. It opened by Roger saying briskly to Pedro:

"The ladies and myself are deeply grateful to you, Captain, and I shall do my utmost to ensure that you have no cause to regret the decision you have taken. I assume that your first move will be to turn the ship about as soon as night has fallen, so as to put as great a distance as possible between ourselves and M. le Vicomte before dawn informs him that we have made off on our own?"

Pedro nodded. "That is what I intend. The next thing to decide is where I should put you ashore in exchange for the pardons and com­mission you have promised us."

Roger raised his eyebrows. "But that is already decided for us. It must be in Martinique."

"No, no!" The Carib gave a violent shake to his lank, greasy locks. "I am born in Cuba and know the coasts of the Great Antilles well; but I have never sailed to the far southward among the lesser islands."

'That difficulty can be overcome. I understand enough of the rudiments of navigation to keep the ship in fair weather on any course we may set."

"But Senor, it is a voyage of a thousand miles. The men would grumble at so great a delay in disposing of the loot we have taken with this ship, and having a fling with the money it fetches."

"That cannot be helped," Roger declared firmly. For over forty-eight hours circumstances had rendered him utterly helpless, but now that he was once more in a position to negotiate he was back on ground that gave such opponents no chance against him. Bloggs and Lucette joined their protests to Pedro's, but Roger produced arguments the logic of which there was no contesting.

First he put it to them that should they conduct their operations in the northern Caribbean they would sooner or later run into the Vicomte, which would at best mean a bloody battle to no profit and at worst the exacting of a terrible vengeance by their old master. Then, more telling still, he pointed out that his writing on a plain sheet of paper would be next to worthless. For the pardons and commission to be any real protection they must be properly drawn up with seals attached, and that could only be done after he had actually assumed his governorship of Martinique.

At that Bloggs and Pedro gave way, but Lucette called them a pair of numbskulls, and vowed that Roger was trying to lead them into a trap. It was certain, she said, that there would be one or more British warships lying in the harbour at Fort Royal; so what was to prevent him on their arriving there from having the Circe boarded and all of them hung.

Roger countered her accusation that he meant to go back on his word by a proposal which would put it out of his power to do so; namely, that instead of entering a port they should anchor in some secluded bay and that as a first move he alone should be put ashore. The womenfolk would remain on board as hostages until he had made his way to the capital and returned with the documents which were to be the price of their freedom.

To this Lucette could raise no objection; so he quickly passed to another matter, and asked: "Now, what of our clothes and personal possessions? I take it you consider those as part of your loot?"

"Certainly," Lucette replied promptly. "You will be allowed to take only the things you stand up in, and we shall assure ourselves that you have no articles of value concealed about you."

He smiled. "I thought as much. But tell me now, how do you propose to fight this ship as a privateer while she is armed with only a bow gun and a stern chaser?"

In the hurried conspiracy which had led to the take-over this point had not occurred to any of them. Now in some consternation they discussed the matter, and the only suggestion forthcoming was that to start with they must confine their operations to attacking ships with their own weight of metal until they could gradually accumulate cannon from such prizes.

Roger's smile broadened to a grin as he said: "I think I can do better for you than that. In the ports of Martinique there must be a number of spare cannon taken from captured ships that are no longer seaworthy. If I can provide you with two broadsides of eight guns will you agree to give up to us all our personal property?"

Lucette met the offer with a sullen frown. She protested that securing an adequate armament was the men's business, and she did not see why she should pay for it by surrendering the fine clothes of the captives and her share of their jewels. But Pedro and Bloggs over­ruled her; and, as a concession to lessen her hostility to the deal, Georgina diplomatically suggested that Amanda, Clarissa and herself should each make her a present of a good gown apiece, together with some silks and laces.

That being settled it was further agreed that the captives should again be allowed the liberty of the ship, so that they could take the an* on deck, and that a better service of meals should be organized at which they would feed with their captors.

By the time Lucette, Bloggs and Pedro left them Roger was again played out. He was also somewhat worried about one aspect of the deal he had made. Had the Circe's legitimate captain applied to him for a privateer's commission it would have been within his rights as a Governor to grant him one—but Pedro was not the Circe's legitimate captain. What would the Circe's owners have to say when they learned of this unorthodox transaction. Of course it could be argued that they had already lost their ship by piracy, and normally they would be able to claim the amount for which she was insured. But should the underwriters maintain that the ship had been re­captured by Roger's coming to an arrangement with her repentant mutineers, they might refuse to pay; then quite possibly the owners would bring an action against him for the value of the vessel and its cargo.

It was a most unpleasant possibility, and one which in the long run might cost him the whole of his small fortune. But being philo­sophical by nature he realized that he had been envisaging a far more terrible outcome to the voyage only a few hours back, and decided that it would be quite time enough to face this new anxiety when they arrived in Martinique. Meanwhile he had every reason to be overwhelmingly thankful that Bloggs's scruples had led to a new situation, and pleased with himself for the way in which he had handled it.

While Amanda attended to his head, she praised him for his clever­ness in inveigling their captors into carrying them to their original destination, and they all agreed that he had performed the next thing to a miracle in securing for them their personal belongings. That night, for the first time since the Circe's capture, they felt a reasonable degree of safety, so decided to sleep in separate cabins. Their relief at the turn events had taken was so profound that all four women wept a little before going to sleep, and mingled their tears with thanks­giving to their Maker for His merciful preservation of them.

In the morning they once more took care with their toilets, and when they had gathered in the big cabin their faces showed fewer signs of strain. Breakfast was the usual casual spread by the hunch­back and the first foods that came handy, and Lucette reminded Roger that he had suggested improving their cuisine. After a moment's thought he looked across at Georgina and said:

"That is simply arranged. Madame la Comtesse shall cook for us.'*

"I?" exclaimed Georgina, aghast

He nodded. "You have ever shown great interest in cooking, and are a very good cook yourself. The rest of us will help you with the meaner tasks, but I place the sceptre of the galley in your most capable hands."

They had known each other for so long, and so intimately, that they were at times able to read one another's thoughts; and now his unspoken intention flashed upon her. He knew that she was grieving desperately for Charles and had decided that to give her a task requir­ing considerable thought would be the best possible thing for her.

An investigation into Monsieur Pirouet's remaining stores occupied them for most of the forenoon, then they went up on to the poop. At a glance they saw that the state of the ship had seriously deteriorated since the ending of Captain Cummins's regime. Instead of the white decks being spotless they were now littered with every kind of filth; and, apart from the man at the wheel and one look-out, the crew were idling the day away, either dozing or playing games of chance in the shade of the awnings. However, the squalor of the once tidy ship was a matter of little moment compared to the fact that the coast of Santo Domingo lay on her starboard side; for, although she was tacking against the wind and making slow progress, every mile now carried her farther from the dreaded Vicomte de Senlac.

After a very welcome three-hour spell in the fresh air, they went below to prepare dinner, and under Georgina's directions the first really appetizing meal they had seen for four days was cooked. Jake had been appointed second mate so that Bloggs could enjoy the hot food with the others. He sat down to table with them almost apologetic­ally, and ate his food in embarrassed silence. Pedro, as usual, wolfed his, and, disdaining the glass that had been set for him, took swigs of wine from the bottle. But Lucette did real justice to each dish and was loud in her praises of Georgina's efforts.

Wishing to repay her compliments in some way, Georgina re­marked: "I should be interested to hear where you learned French, Madame, as you speak it when you wish with hardly a trace of the Creole accent, and most fluently."

Lucette's white teeth flashed between her full red lips. "Madame la Comtesse is most gracious; but French comes naturally to me, for I am a member of a noble French family. I am a Tascher de la Pagerie."

Georgina, taking this to be a bare-faced lie, quickly lowered her eyes to conceal her disbelief at such a pretension; but Roger thought it quite probable that Lucette was speaking the truth.

For well over two hundred years colonies administered by French aristocrats had been established in Saint-Domingue—the western third of the otherwise Spanish-owned island off which they were cruising—Martinique, Guadeloupe and several other islands. By the reign of Louis XV many of them owned vast estates, and on visits to Versailles had outshone their relatives who lived in France, owing to the immense wealth drawn from their plantations. Unlike the British they paid small regard to the colour bar, with the result that a high percentage of this Creole aristocracy now had a good dash of black blood. The Comte de Caylus, whom Roger had fought and killed seven years before, had been a product of just such a family history, for he had owned estates in Martinique as well as Brittany and had himself been a mulatto. Yet, while there seemed to Roger no particular reason to doubt Lucette's claim, it did strike him as strange that the daughter of a French nobleman should, even if captured or kidnapped in the first instance, have willingly adopted the sort of life she was leading. So he asked her:

"How comes it, then, that we find you in your present situation?"

She replied without hesitation, and this time none of them felt doubt of her honesty. "For having aided my young mistress in an intrigue I was punished by being sent to work in the cane fields, so I ran away."

"Pardon my curiosity, Madame," remarked Clarissa, "but what you have just told us is difficult to reconcile with your being the daughter of a nobleman."

"I did not say that I was," Lucette retorted, quite unruffled. "My white blood comes from the present M. de Tascher's grandfather. But I will tell you my story if you wish."

A murmur of encouragement having greeted her offer, she went on: 'I was born on the de la Pagerie estate in Martinique, and as my mother was a slave, I, too, was technically a slave. But, as you must know, there are varying degrees of slavery. My mother was a much beloved servant in the house, and it so happened that she gave birth to me in the same week as Madame de Tascher was delivered of her second daughter, Marie Rose Josephine. In consequence my mother was given Josephine to suckle as well as myself, so we became foster sisters.

"It is the custom on such estates for white children to be given coloured children of their own age as playmates from earliest infancy, on the principle that such a bond will lead to the slave child becoming a most devoted personal servant to the other later in life. For Josephine, I was the natural choice to fill this role, so we were brought up together, and treated in every way as though we were sisters by blood.

"Josephine had no brothers and only one elder sister, named Manette; but she was an insipid creature much given to introspection; so Josephine was much more drawn to myself. She was very pretty and of a very frolicsome disposition. Both of us loved to dance and sing, and as we grew older we encouraged one another in naughty escapades. Out here in the Caribbean white girls as well as coloured began to feel the urges of sex very young, and from the time Josephine and I entered our teens both our minds were filled with the thoughts natural to fully grown women. I let myself be seduced by the over­seer's son; while she developed a passion for the son of one of our neighbours, who fell equally passionately in love with her.

"The name of her beau was William de Kay, and his family, had been settled in Martinique only for some twenty-five years. Originally, I think, their name was MacKay, for they were of noble Scottish descent and related to many great lords in their own country; but they had been deprived of their estates and exiled for having taken up arms in the cause of the Stuart pretender during his attempt to gain the throne of England in 1745.

"Madame de Tascher and Madame de Kay had long been close friends, so from childhood little William was always in and out of the house, or we at his, and was our most cherished playmate. As he and Josephine grew older the two mothers smiled at the devotion they showed to one another, for at that time the parents of both children favoured the idea of a match between them. But later, on both sides, events occurred to alter their plans.

"I never fully understood the complications of the inheritance that devolved on William, but it seems that his father was heir to a Lord Lovell and that his own succession to the estates was dependent on his marrying this old nobleman's niece. Whatever the rights of the matter, news arrived that Lord Lovell had died; it thus became necessary for Monsieur de Kay to present himself as the heir in London, and he decided to take William with him in order that the young man might complete his studies at the University of Oxford.

"At that time William was not aware that he would be called on to marry his cousin, and he considered himself irrevocably pledged to Josephine. Naturally, at the idea of a separation which might last for several years the two young lovers were distraught. Their parents had, some months before, consented to their regarding themselves 4 as unofficially betrothed, but that no longer satisfied them. They craved some means of entering into a more indissoluble bond before a cruel fate tore them from each other's arms.

"Since both were of such tender years, no French priest would have married them without the consent of their parents; but, then being greatly devoted to my young mistress, I took it on myself to secure for them an opportunity to exchange the vows by which they set so much store.

"As you may know, there is nothing incompatible about being a Roman Catholic and a practitioner of Voodoo. In fact, all the best known Christian Saints are also gods and goddesses in the Voodoo pantheon; and a part of the training of the Houngans, as the Voodoo priests are called, is to fully familiarize themselves with all the rituals of the Roman Church. For some time past a local Houngan, who had recently graduated from the Roman Catholic Seminary for coloured men, had been casting eyes of desire upon me, so I had no great difficulty in persuading him to do as I wished. I then told the two lovers that I had found a priest who would marry them in secret, and two nights later the ceremony was duly performed beneath a giant cedar tree that grew not far from la Pagerie mansion.

"Some months after William arrived in England M. de Tascher learned from M. de Kay the conditions of the inheritance, but he was not particularly put out by these rendering a union between their families no longer practical, as by that time he had other plans for Josephine.

"His sister, a Madame Renaudin, who resided in France, was a rich and influential woman. Being a good aunt she was strongly set upon arranging an advantageous marriage for her eldest niece, and it had already been agreed that Manette should cross the ocean to live with her. But, just then, Manette was taken with a fever, and within a week she was dead.

"Monsieur and Madame Tascher decided that Josephine should take her place, but they did not tell her so at once, because she did nothing but dream and talk of William, and they feared to disturb the balance of her mind. Instead, they suppressed his letters to her and hers to him, hoping that both would believe each had lost interest in the other.

"She became greatly worried by William's silence, but no whit less devoted to him; and at last the time came when her parents could no longer postpone breaking it to her that she must forget him, and that they were sending her to France where she was to make a splendid marriage.

"You can imagine their consternation when, instead of protesting and fainting, as they expected her to do, she told them she could not accede to their wishes because she was already married.

"An earthquake could hardly have created a greater upheaval in the household. By threats and abuse they had the whole story out of her that night From her description of the man who she said had married her to William they recognized the Houngan, and sent for him. Threatened with being sent to the galleys, he confessed to having performed the ceremony, and disclosed that it was I who had persuaded «im to unite them by the Catholic ritual.

"By morning the de Taschers had convinced themselves that I had led Josephine into the affair against her will, and that she was the innocent victim of my wicked wiles. That was not altogether true, as she had been overjoyed at the chance to marry William clandestinely; and I shall always hold it against her that she made no effort whatever to defend me when their wrath descended on me like a cyclone.

"They took from me all my pretty clothes and all the presents they had ever given me. They had me stripped naked, tied to the whipping-post and flogged. Then they sent me out to labour in the cane fields. To act so they were fools; for I told everyone the reason for my disgrace, and the story of Josephine's secret marriage went the round of the island. I did not remain in the cane fields long, either. Knowing the house so well it was easy for me to burgle it. One night about a week later I took from it all the valuables I could lay my hands on and made off to the port. In return for part of my loot an old woman that I knew there had me smuggled aboard a ship that was sailing for St. Vincent in the morning, and ever since I have sailed the Caribbean seas."

"You are lucky, Madame," Amanda remarked, "to have led so desperate a life for so long without being either killed or seriously injured."

"I have a charmed life," Lucette replied quite seriously. "In Martinique there was an old coloured woman with some Irish blood whose gift for fortune-telling was infallible. She told me when a girl that I would live a life of wild adventure and witness many fights, but could not be killed by bullet, by steel or by rope; only by a fall from a high place. And you may be certain that nothing would induce me to go up into the rigging, or take any similar risk."

Enthralled by her story, Roger asked: "Did you ever learn what became of Josephine?"

Lucette shrugged. "Some three years later I ran into my brother in Antigua. He told me that Josephine and the de Taschers had declared the story I had put about to be a malicious invention from start to finish; and that she had, after all, gone to France and made a fine marriage; but I know no more than that."

For some while they talked on; then the party broke up, and the prisoners went on deck to enjoy the cool of the evening. Again they slept well, but on coming into the saloon for breakfast they found Bloggs and Lucette awaiting them with long faces.

The bad news was soon told. Some members of the crew were evidently opposed to making the long voyage down to Martinique, and had formed a secret league against them. When the pirate who acted as bos'n had gone down to the hold that morning to supervise the drawing off of the day's water ration, he had found that the spigots of the last remaining full casks had been pulled out, so that the water in them had run to waste. And that was not all. Between two of the casks Pedro the Carib was lying dead with a knife through his back.

As none of them had the least reason to feel affection for Pedro, and his capabilities as a captain left much to be desired, they did not regard his death as a major calamity; but they were much concerned by the sinister manner of it. In addition, the loss of their water was a grave annoyance, as it meant that they could not now proceed to Martinique without first putting in somewhere along the coast at a place where the casks could be refilled.

Lucette and Bloggs agreed that the most likely suspects were the three pirates and two Porto Ricans who had refrained from voting on the question of making off with the Circe as opposed to continuing under the Vicomte. Since the voyage to Martinique was quite a different issue it was possible that others of the pirates were at the bottom of this attempt to keep the ship in the waters that they knew, but as a precaution it was decided to seize the-five suspects and confine them in the lock-up.

When they came to the question of watering, Bloggs had to rely on Lucette's knowledge of the locality, and she advised that they should make for the island of Tortuga. That meant putting the ship about again, as this small island lay off the north coast of Saint-Domingue. But the wind being against them they had not travelled any great distance during the past thirty-six hours, and with it in their favour could hope to reach Tortuga in considerably less.

With some misgiving Roger pointed out that if they put about they might run into the Vicomte; but Lucette said that by now he must be well on his way to his lair, which was far up a creek in the desolate coast of Great Inagua, a hundred miles north of the channel that separated Saint-Domingue from Cuba, and still ignorant of the fact that they were not following him to it. She men supported her argument for going to Tortuga by adding that, whereas they might waste days lying in half a dozen anchorages along the coast they were passing without being able to locate a fresh-water spring, she knew of three bays in Tortuga at any one of which they could refill the casks as soon as they were landed.

In consequence, the five protesting suspects were rounded up and the ship put about without further delay. All that day, on a fair breeze that was a most welcome offset to the broiling sunshine, they again sailed westward along the coast of Santo Domingo. When dinner-time came round Bloggs and Lucette reported that despite their close questioning of the crew, they were no nearer discovering who had killed Pedro, and their investigation made them more inclined than ever to believe that the murderer was one of the men who was now under lock and key. This belief gave them good grounds to hope that there would be no further trouble; so, after an evening spent on deck under a myriad of stars, they turned in with minds that were reasonably tranquil.

Yet next day the passengers woke to find themselves in a situation which filled them with the gravest alarm. The galley was silent, the hunch-back nowhere to be seen. The table in the saloon had not been laid for breakfast, and both the doors leading from the after cabins to the deck were locked. They were prisoners again, and in vain they both beat upon the doors and tried to force them. No one answered their knocking and it soon became evident that the doors were being held to by heavy objects on their far sides.

The mystery of what had occurred during the night deepened when they went to Georgina's old cabin, which since the ship's capture had been occupied by Lucette and Bloggs. That, too, was locked, and apparently empty as no reply came to their snouts and knocking on its door.

It looked as if the unrest among the crew had been much more grave and general than they had supposed; and there was cause for fearing that in a new mutiny both Bloggs and Lucette had been murdered. Roger now roundly cursed himself for his over-cleverness in arguing them into agreeing to make the long voyage down to Martinique. Had he scrawled pardons and a commission for them on pieces of paper they would have accepted them readily enough, and put him and his party ashore two days ago. But it was too late to think of that now, and they could only wait events.

About ten o'clock, on glancing through the stern windows, he noticed that a new course had been set somewhat to starboard, and the ship was now heading away from the coast. By midday the skyline of the big island was becoming obscured by the heat haze. Shortly afterwards, only a few hundred yards away to port, a wooded promon­tory came into view; then another farther off to starboard. Roger had little doubt that the two capes formed the entrance to a bay in the island of Tortuga; so whoever was now in control of the ship evidently intended to carry out Lucette's plan to water there.

A few minutes later they heard shouting, loud bumps and a rattling noise, as the ship's sails were lowered and her anchor let go. Slowly she swung with die tide, bringing into view the bight of the bay. On shore there was a long low house and a number of palm-thatched shacks. At anchor in the foreground lay a barque. As Roger recognized her his heart leapt to his throat, then sank. She was the Vicomte de Senlac's. For the past two days they had believed themselves saved. Now, either through evil chance or treachery, they were once more in dire peril.

chapter IX

THE HARBOUR WHERE EVIL REIGNED

Suppressing an exclamation of dismay, Roger turned away from the window; but the scene beyond it remained as clear in his mind as though he were still staring at a painting, although no oils could have conveyed such vivid colouring as did the blinding sunshine.

Wave after wave of rich green vegetation mounted to tree-covered heights that stood out in scimitar-sharp curves against a sky of cloudless blue. This seemingly impenetrable forest ran down over the two promontories that, like reaching arms, nearly encircled the land-locked bay. At their water-line no shore could be seen, only a belt of deep black shadow where the waves lapped gently at a natural palisade formed by an incredible tangle of mangrove roots. Towards the flattening of this great arc the barrier fell back, giving place to a deep beach of almost white sand that stretched for about a quarter of a mile along the centre of the bay.

A few hundred yards from the water lay the house. It was painted lemon yellow; only one small portion of it had an upper storey, and it appeared larger than it actually was owing to a wide veranda that ran the whole of its length. To one side of it palm-thatched slave quarters spread in higgledy-piggledy confusion and on the other were stockaded corrals containing cattle.

At one end of the beach a schooner lay high and dry almost on her side, evidently being careened, although no men were working on her during the blistering midday heat. Several boats were beached in front of the house, and one of them had just put off. Half a mile nearer to the Circe, the Vicomte's sinister greenish-yellow barque lay with furled sails, yet another vividly contrasting patch of colour against the deep blue water of the lagoon.

Roger was still wondering how to break the news of their ill-fortune to his companions, when Clarissa broke it for him by crying out: "Merciful God! That is the Vicomte's ship!"

The others ran to the window and her cry was followed by a chorus of woeful verification. Then, stunned into silence by this abrupt end to their newly-won security, they watched the boat approach.

Roger, having been unconscious when the Circe was captured, had never seen the Vicomte, but the others had caught glimpses of him on his own poop just before the prize crew had been put on board. Now, they recognized him as the thin, elegantly dressed, smallish figure in the stern. As the boat came nearer they were seized with the wild hope that, all unsuspecting, he was being rowed into a trap. He could know nothing of what had occurred aboard the Circe since he had left her, so must suppose that Joao de Mondego was still in command and waiting to welcome him. If, despite the mystery of their having been locked up, Bloggs still had the upper hand aboard, he must resist the Vicomte or pay for it with his life, and one well-aimed shot from the long gun could sink the boat.

But no shot was fired and the boat disappeared from view beneath the Circe's counter. They knew then that it was not an ill chance but treachery which had brought them to this lagoon and that it must be de Senlac's lair.

For a quarter of an hour they waited fearful, yet impatient, to learn what fate had in store for them. Then the cabin door was thrown open and the Vicomte walked in, followed by Lucette.

De Senlac was in his early forties, somewhat below middle height, spare of figure and thin of face. His eyes were a cold hard blue with heavy lids, his prominent nose was pinched at the nostrils, and his mouth thin with almost bloodless hps. He was dressed in a fashion that had gone out six years before, with the coming of the Revolution: silk coat and stockings, a brocaded waistcoat, laced cravat and patent shoes with silver buckles. He still wore his hair powdered, and on his carefully tended hands there glittered half a dozen rings which must have been worth a small fortune.

Sweeping off his tricorne hat in a gallant bow to the ladies, he said in French to Lucette: "I have not yet had the pleasure of meeting my prisoners; pray, present me."

As she made the introductions, he bowed to each of them again, then said with a thin-lipped smile:

"Madame la Comtesse, Mcsdames; I learn to my distress that you have had cause for grave fears for your safety during the past few days. It may be, too, that having heard tales of the unenviable fate which generally overtakes females when they fall into the hands of sea-rovers, you are still a prey to anxiety. Let me hasten to reassure you. Were you persons of no consequence I could hardly be expected to put myself to considerable trouble on your account; but your birth makes me confident that either from your own resources or those of friends you will be able to reward me suitably for my protection. My followers, I am happy to say, have learned the wisdom of accepting my decisions without argument, and I shall compensate them for having to forgo any expectations they may have entertained regarding you by buying for then: amusement a fresh batch of young women from one of the procurers in Santiago or Port Royal. While you are in Tortuga you have nought to fear, and I trust you will regard your­selves as my honoured guests."

His courteous, if cynical, pronouncement filled them all with unutterable relief. Previously to the bargain Roger had made with Bloggs, to be allowed to go unharmed in exchange for a ransom, was the very best they had hoped for, and after the sudden renewal of their worst fears so recently they could hardly believe their good fortune. Next moment they were thanking him as gratefully as if he had just made them a most handsome present, and it did not even cross their minds to resent his making free with their property, as he went on to say:

"Your jewels will form a pleasant addition to my collection, and Lucette here will decide which of your clothes it will be fitting for you to keep. You have, I am sure, many more than you need; and she deserves some small recompense for the skilful way in which she countered the designs of those who sought to deprive me of your company."

Lucette, hands on hips, was standing beside him, her head turbaned in a colourful handkerchief, so tied that three of its corners stuck out in jaunty points. Tossing it, she said with a laugh that held a suggestion of a sneer:

"Monsieur le Vicomte is most generous; but it required no great skill to get the better of such simpletons. Not one of them showed the least suspicion that it was I who knifed Pedro, or let the last of their water run to waste to provide an excuse for putting the ship about. You should have seen the astonishment in the eyes of that fool Bloggs when he woke this morning to find that I had bound him while he slept, and was about to pull tight the cord with which I strangled him."

De Senlac nodded vigorously and gave a high-pitched chuckle. His obvious approval of her horrifying deeds suddenly brought home to them that he was neither more nor less than a gallows bird in fine plumage; but they swiftly concealed their revulsion, and soon after were again counting themselves lucky that avarice had decided him to protect them from his following of brutal desperadoes.

They were allowed to pack a portmanteau each to take ashore, and Lucette did not prove ungenerous in the things she allowed them to select. Then they followed their luggage into the boat that had brought the Vicomte off, and were rowed to a small jetty below the house. It was November the 28th, eight weeks and two days since they had sailed from Bristol; but as they at last set foot in the Americas it seemed to them as though the few days since the capture of the Circe had been longer than the whole of the rest of their voyage.

The sand of the beach was shimmering with heat, and the sun blazed down mercilessly; so, although they had been exposed to it in the open boat for little over a quarter of an hour, they were all perspiring freely and beginning to fear the effects of sunburn. When they reached the wide veranda of the house, the shade it provided was as welcome as a douche of cold water. On it there were a dozen or so lounge chairs of bamboo, and the Vicomte courteously bowed his prisoners to them. They had scarcely seated themselves when a negro in livery appeared carrying a large jug, filled with what looked as if it might be lemon squash, and glasses. The drink proved delicious but quite unlike anything they had ever tasted, and Lucette told them that it was a concoction made from soursops and rum.

When their glasses were refilled, de Senlac said: "While we finish our drinks let us dispose of the uncongenial subject of business, then we need refer to it no further. How much can you afford to pay me by way of ransom?"

Feeling that it would be futile to suggest too small a sum, Roger replied: "There are five of us, so I suggest five thousand pounds."

The Vicomte gave his high-pitched chuckle. "Come, come, Monsieur le Gouverneur! You set too small a price upon yourself, and one which comes near an insult to the beauty of these ladies. You must do better than that."

Roger spread out his hands and made a little grimace. It was a gesture which came quite naturally to him from having lived for so long in France. "Perhaps you are unaware, Monsieur, that I have not yet taken up my Governorship. It is a reward for certain services I rendered to my government which were of a far from profitable nature; and neither my wife nor I have any private fortune. Mademoiselle Marsham had the misfortune to be left a penniless orphan, Jenny here is entirely dependent on her mistress, and Lady St. Ermins's position is now most uncertain, owing to the death of her husband."

"Monsieur, you bring tears to my eyes." The Vicomte's voice was mocking, then suddenly became harsh as he added: "Yet the tears will be in yours and theirs unless you can raise fifty thousand between you."

"Fifty thousand!" Roger gasped. 'To find even a fifth of that sum would bring me near ruin. I beg you to show us a reasonable con­sideration."

De Senlac shrugged. "Persons of your birth must have connections who could raise itfor you. If not, you know the alternative."

"Oh Monsieur!" Amanda pleaded with clasped hands. "I pray you believe my husband, for he speaks the truth; and we have no relatives to whom we could appeal for so huge a ransom."

"Forgive me, Madame, if I suggest that your memory is at fault. Perhaps if for just one night I allow my men to follow their usual custom of drawing lots for the enjoyment of the favours of yourself and your friends, that would refresh your memory by tomorrow."

They all paled at his abominable threat, but Georgina stepped into the breach and said in a low voice: "My husband's estate apart, I have certain properties of my own, and if the sale of them proved insufficient I am confident that my father would make up the differ­ence."

"Ah!" exclaimed the Vicomte. "Madame la Comtesse shows the most admirable sense, and relieves me from taking a step that I should have found most distasteful."

Roger had far greater cause for relief; but, all the same, he wished that Georgina had made some attempt to get the amount reduced. He thought it quite probable that de Senlac would have settled for half the sum and the full fifty thousand was an appalling ransom to have to find. There would be no question of Georgina's selling Stillwaters as it was hers only for life, but although her rich father would certainly help her, this great inroad into her resources might make it impossible for her to continue living there; and the least he himself could now do would be to hand over to her as his contribu­tion the bulk of his savings. However, there could be no going back on her offer; so he said to de Senlac:

"May we take it then that if Lady St. Ermins writes to her father on the lines she suggests, you will provide means for us to continue our interrupted voyage as soon as possible?"

"No, no, mon ami" the Vicomte cackled. "That is too much to ask. Madame la Comtesse shall write her letter tomorrow, and I will give her to put in it the name of a Genoese banker who is a good friend of mine. It is to him that the money must be remitted; and when the full sum has been paid he will notify me to that effect. Only then can I permit you to depart."

"But that will take months," Amanda protested.

"Yes, four months at the least. Perhaps six or more. As we do not enjoy the amenity of a regular mail service here, my correspondence is subject to the additional delays consequent, on being sent to and collected from certain of the larger Caribbean ports. However, we will do our best to make your stay in Tortuga a pleasant one." "

"You are very kind," Roger forced himself to say. "But should there be such long delay in my taking up my post, my Government may believe me dead and appoint some other in my place, so that I'll lose it altogether. Can you not possibly..."

"May I remind you, Monsieur," the Vicomte cut him short, "that you are very lucky not to be actually dead. You might well have lost your life at the same time as your friend, the Lord St. Ermins."

"That is true," agreed Roger. "Yet since I am alive I am naturally anxious to secure my future. Will you not accept our word of honour to do nought which might invalidate the agreement at which we have arrived; and my promise to raise five thousand pounds to send you on account immediately we reach Martinique?"

De Senlac shook his head. "I regret to disoblige you; but on this point my mind is made up. You must all remain here until I receive definite information that the money is lying to my order in Genoa."

Roger had made his bid and could do no more. From the beginning he had felt that the chances were against.the Vicomte's letting them go on the sole security of their word, but had hoped for a better bargain. Fifty thousand pounds and six months' detention on Tortuga was a heavy price to pay. Yet it was still cheap compared to the alternative; and there was always a possibility that they might be able to escape. The only thing to do was to try to look cheerful and hope that the future might bring better fortune.

Having finished his drink, the Vicomte went on: "As a good half of the hottest hours of the day still lie before us I suggest that we should adjourn for the siesta. At sundown it is my intention to dispense justice to the Circe's crew, and afterwards we will dine. The former may provide you with a spectacle of some interest; to the latter I shall look forward, as I rarely have the opportunity of entertaining persons of my own quality."

Standing up, he made a leg to the ladies and, without waiting for a reply, strutted into the house. Lucette followed him and beckoned the prisoners after her. They entered a wide, airy hall with a broad staircase, up which the Vicomte was mounting to the floor above, but she took them through it and down a passage that ran along the back of the building. Throwing open a row of doors one after the other she said:

"Here are your rooms. They are not often occupied, but I think you will find them quite comfortable. At least you may count your­selves lucky to be in them instead of in the cells. But don't toy with any idea of escaping. You would only get lost in the forest, and we should be certain to catch you; then M. le Vicomte would have your toe-nails torn out, to prevent your running away again. I will send the slaves to you with your baggage. Ask them for anything you may require."

As she strolled away, with her usual feline grace, they looked about them. The rooms were sparsely furnished and the plaster was peeling from the walls; but they were lofty, light and airy, and each had a pair of french windows opening on to the veranda.

Within a few minutes two negroes appeared with their portman­teaux; then a smiling negress who filled all their jugs with water, shook a variety of insects out of the bed curtains, and brought bowls of fruit which she set down on the bedside tables. While she was busy with these chores they stood about discussing in low voices their recent interview; but they were longing to get out of their heavier garments, so as soon as she had gone they pulled them off, had a quick wash and, exhausted by the heat, flung themselves on the beds to rest.

Roger was roused from an uneasy doze by a knocking on his door. Propping himself up on one elbow he called "entrez" and a tall young man came in. He was a handsome, gaily dressed fellow, and his hair, which he wore long, was golden, but his features were slightly negroid, showing him to be a sangmele, as mulattoes having only a small proportion of black blood are termed.

With a bright toothed smile he said in lisping Creole-French: "M. le Vicomte is about to hold his seigneurial court. He requests the presence of yourself and your ladies." After a moment, he added: "My name is Jean Herault. My father is M. le Vicomte's bailiff and I assist him in running the estate. We are likely to see a lot of one another; so I hope we shall get upon good terms."

Scrambling off the bed Roger replied that he was happy to make Monsieur Herault's acquaintance, and would join M. le Vicomte as soon as possible. Then pulling on his clothes he went to rouse the others, and when all of them had dressed they walked through the main hall out on to the veranda.

The sun had already gone down behind the hills so the house was now in shadow; but a number of large, hanging lanterns had been lit along the veranda, and a trestle table carried out on to it. A paunchy, elderly man was arranging writing materials beside a ledger, at one end of the table, and nearby de Senlac stood talking to two of his pirates; a very thick-set dark-visaged sea-dog with at least five hundred pieces-of-eight forming a great collar of silver round his neck, and a taller fellow who had a great hook nose and diamond ear-drops dangling from his ears.

As the prisoners appeared the Vicomte introduced his companions as his two Lieutenants: the dark one as Philo the Greek and the other as Cyrano de la Mer, which was obviously a nom de guerre. He then presented the elderly man as his Bailiff, Hypolite Herault, and when they had made their bows he said:

"I will explain the proceedings that are about to take place. In a domain such as I have established here there are a great variety of duties, varying in their degree of hardship. Apart from our activities at sea, which are our main support, we have cane fields and tobacco plantations farther inland that must be cultivated. There is also the rearing and tending of our livestock, and the repairing and careening of our vessels.

"I own, of course, a number of permanent slaves, but after each voyage the conduct of my seamen during it is reviewed by me. Those who have shown initiative or special bravery are rewarded by periods of leave, so that they may go on the spree in our nearest ports. Others who have proved unsatisfactory are relegated to menial tasks, and those guilty of definite neglect of duty are sent for a time to labour with the slaves.

"When we take a prize, as on the present occasion, I have also to decide on the future of the captured crew. Fighting and sickness are a constant drain on our numbers; so good seamen who are willing to join us are welcomed as recruits. Those who show reluctance are enrolled among the slaves; while officers and others who might prove a focus for future trouble have to be disposed of. Our ways of disposing of them vary, but it is always by some method which will provide good sport for my men."

While he was speaking a motley crowd began to gather below the steps of the veranda. Twilight had now fallen, and as it swiftly deepened the full companies of the two ships assembled, including a score or more who were brought forward with their arms tied behind their backs. The majority of the captives were from the Circe, and among them Roger saw Tom, young Doctor Fergusson, the Second Mate, the Swedish purser, the consumptive Supercargo and Jake Harris, but with them were also four of the pirates who had formed part of the prize crew. Anxiously he searched among the rows of upturned faces for Dan's, but beyond the semi-circles of light cast by the lanterns it was now difficult to make out individual features. For some moments he feared that the ex-smuggler must have fallen a victim to the pirates, then he caught sight of him on the fringe of the crowd and his heart felt lighter than it had for days at the knowledge that his old friend was safe and free.

Dan's apparent treachery had not been mentioned since Roger had come-to after the taking of the Circe, and he had deliberately refrained from speaking of it to the others for his own good reasons. Fearing that the ship might be taken while they were still in her he had given Dan secret instructions that in such an event he was to go over to the enemy, with the idea that it would both save his life and, perhaps, later enable him to help them. To render such a step easier he had told Dan that, should all appear lost, he must bring himself to the enemy's notice by hauling down the Circe's flag. Dan had done so, and the trick had worked. Evidently, with a number of others, he had already been vetted by de Senlac and accepted as a useful member of the pirate fraternity.

The Vicomte now seated himself at the table between Philo the Greek and Cyrano de la Mer. while the elder Herault took one end of it and the younger the other. Georgina sat down in one of the basket chairs nearby, her companions followed her example and, as they did so, a brawny, bald-headed man came out of the crowd to the foot of the steps. Calling up a succession of men before the tribunal he praised some and blamed others. Most of them remained silent but certain of those accused of faults endeavoured to defend themselves, and at these he bellowed a stream of filthy abuse culled from a dozen tongues.

Apparently de Senlac was already well informed on the cases brought before him, as he dealt with all of them swiftly, only on two occasions troubling to consult with his lieutenants; and in several he gave his verdict in less than a minute. Within half an hour the bald man had come to the end of his list and Lucette took his place.

She opened her part of the proceedings by describing how Pedro and Bloggs had conspired to make off with the Circe, and how she had tricked and murdered both in turn. It transpired that once Pedro, was out of the way she had been able to release the members of the prize-crew who had shown reluctance to join him, and later been arrested on suspicion; then with their aid won back some of their companions and some of the Circe's mutineers. She had undertaken to strangle Bloggs during the night, while the others either killed or overcame the men who they felt would remain loyal to Bloggs; and between them in the morning they had brought the ship safely into harbour.

According to how one looked at it the story was either one of high loyalty, brilliant planning, courage and daring, or of the basest treachery, despicable cunning, villainy and murder; but, from the tremendous ovation Lucette received, there could be no doubt about the view that the Vicomte and his followers took of it.

She then played the part of presenter, or accuser and witness, against her companions of the past few days. Those who had given her willing aid were suitably rewarded, those who had had to be won over were detailed for the gruelling work of careening, and four pirates of the prize-crew who had stood out against her till overcome were sentenced to slavery for life.

Finally the Vicomte dealt with those prisoners originally taken from the Circe who had refused to join his following. The seamen, and young Tom, were condemned to slavery, the rest to death.

Herault pere had already entered all the decisions in his ledger, and on de Senlac's rising from the table the crowd began to disperse. Neither Georgina nor her friends had been able to find Monsieur Pirouet in it; so, stepping forward, she enquired what had become of him.

"In him, Madame la Comtesse," the Vicomte informed her, "I have to thank you for presenting me with a most admirable chef. He is at this moment cooking our dinner."

"I am delighted to hear it," Georgina replied, and added quickly: "But why, then, do you throw away an equally excellent valet?

"I fail to comprehend.."

"Tom Jordan was my husband's valet. Although he is quite young, he is highly proficient in his work; yet you have condemned him to slavery in the cane fields."

"I was not aware that he is a valuable servant; but in any case he is one of the recalcitrants who refused to accept me as his master."

"'Send for him, I beg, and offer to take him into your service. He would, I think, feel quite differently about that to becoming a pirate."

With a smile, de Senlac told Jean Herault to fetch Tom to him; then Georgina went on:

"And Doctor Fergusson. During our voyage he proved himself to be both a surgeon and physician of considerable merit You have told us that you lose many of your men from wounds and sickness; so surely...’

"Enough, Madame!" de Senlac cut short her plea harshly. "He is. of the very type most likely to attempt something against me; so better dead." Yet when Jean brought Tom to him he spoke kindly to the young man, and on Georgina's expressing her wish that the valet should enter his service Tom replied at once:

"Since you advise it, m'lady, I'm agreeable to do so."

At that moment one of the negro footmen announced dinner and the Vicomte offered her his arm. Her distress at the brutal sentences he had inflicted lightened a little by the thought that she had at least prevented one of them from being carried out, she took it and, followed by the others, they went into the house.

The dining-room lay on the opposite side of the hall to the row of bedrooms, and on entering it Roger saw that the table had been laid with ten covers. A quick count of heads confirmed his impression that this was one short of their number, and it suddenly occurred to him that, although the Vicomte had said nothing of it, Jenny being a servant he would not expect her to dine with them. From a similar observation Jenny had reached the same conclusion, and, like the sensible girl she was, had backed away into the passage; but, not knowing where to go, now stood there looking decidedly embarrassed. Fortunately, Tom, having been left without orders, had followed them in and was standing just behind her; so Roger stepped over to them and said with a reassuring smile:

"Go to the kitchens and find Monsieur Pirouet. He will give you as good a dinner as we get, and later find somewhere for Tom to sleep."

As Roger turned away from the door he saw that de Senlac had just finished seating the party, and thought his arrangement of it seemed very peculiar. He had taken the top of the table and placed all four women in a row on his left, with the two Heraults and his two Lieutenants opposite to them. Roger was evidently expected to take the bottom of the table, between Philo and Lucette, as that was the only place remaining unoccupied. Quietly he slipped into it, and it was not long before he was able to guess the reason for this unusual placing of the ladies all together.

If the Vicomte had separated them it would have appeared even more odd had he not placed one on either side of him; so he had evaded a deliberate rudeness to Amanda, who should have sat on his right, by seating the sexes on opposite sides of the table. That enabled him to have Jean Herault on his right; and, as the meal progressed, it became obvious that he had a special affection for the young sangmele..

Being a man of the world Roger observed it only with calculated interest Ordinarily, his own instincts being entirely normal, it was only when unnatural relationships between others were particularly blatant that he even noticed them; but, when he saw de Senlac passing the blond Jean titbits off his plate, he hid a smile of cynical satisfaction. It explained why the Vicomte had refrained from claiming a 'Captain's privilege' with Amanda, Georgina or Clarissa, and was a reasonable guarantee that while they remained on Tortuga he was unlikely to force unwelcome attentions upon them.

For the prisoners it was the strangest dinner party they had ever attended, and at times seemed quite unreal. On the one hand the table appointments were elegant, the food excellent, the service of the negro footmen, under the supervision of a mulatto major-domo,everything that could be desired. In fact the setting could not have been more civilized and luxurious had they been in the house of a nobleman who owned great estates in one of the sugar islands. On the other the presence of Philo, Cyrano and Lucette was a constant reminder that they were sitting at table with men steeped in the blackest villainy and a woman who only that morning had strangled her lover.

Yet the Vicomte seemed quite unconscious of this anomaly and now gave the impression that he would not willingly have harmed a rabbit. He was telling Georgina something of the history of that part of the world, and how the French had first secured a foothold there.

Columbus, he said, had formed his first settlement in the great Carib island of Haiti, as Santo Domingo was then called. He had christened it Hispaniola, or Little Spain, and claimed for the Spanish crown all the islands in the Caribbean. But even after the Spaniards had subdued the fierce Caribs in Haiti they had not bothered to colonize its little neighbour, Tortuga. French outlaws and castaways had been the first to do so, and as in the island there were great herds of wild cattle and wild hogs, they had made a living by hunting them and selling the smoked meat to passing ships. It was from their daring handling of the wild bulls that they had got the name Buccaneers.

After some years the Spaniards had sent an expedition to turn them out; so they had taken refuge in the uninhabited parts of Santo Domingo, where, as there were even greater herds, they had re­-established themselves in their occupation. Later, learning that the Spaniards had vacated Tortuga, some of the Buccaneers returned there. Again the Spaniards despatched troops to dislodge them, but by then the French had.greatly increased in numbers, and they proved the better men. Not only had they remained masters of Tortuga, but they wrested the most fertile third of Santo Domingo from their enemies.

Meanwhile, the number of pirates sailing the Spanish Main had increased exceedingly, and before proceeding on a voyage they had formed the habit of raiding the stockyards of the Buccaneers to provision their ships. This constant menace to the living of the Buccaneers caused many of those in Santo Domingo to become planters, which led to their descendants making great fortunes; but on Tortuga the area of cultivable land was negligible, so the Buccaneers there had abandoned their hunting and turned pirate, thus giving the latter their alternative name.

When the Vicomte had concluded this recital, Georgina asked him how it was that he had become a pirate himself. His thin face darkened as he replied:

"In '87 I inherited great estates in Martinique, so came out from France to inspect my property. I found that the climate suited me and that life in the island was delightful. Every reasonable amenity was obtainable, and the nobility formed a cultured and charming society; so I decided to settle there. It was the accursed Revolution that deprived me, like so many others, of wealth and security.

"Soon after our foolish King gave way to his criminal advisers and summoned the States General, our troubles began. By 1790 agitators were arriving in the islands and preaching their iniquitous doctrine of liberty and equality to the slaves. Uprisings followed and on isolated estates the slaves murdered their white masters. For a time we succeeded in localizing these revolts, but we were vilely betrayed by our govern­ment at home. The Convention passed a decree liberating the slaves, and sent a ruffian named Victor Hugues as their representative, to have the decree carried out. Civil war resulted. Later, with the help of the English, these revolts were suppressed; but I am speaking of the early days. In my part of the island we are hopelessly outnumbered. Several of my neighbours, with their wives and children, were massacred and those who survived fled for their lives.

"When I was younger I held a commission in the French Navy, and soon after settling in Martinique I had purchased a schooner which I kept in the harbour of Saint Pierre. By night I managed to get aboard her unseen with half a dozen mulattoes who had remained loyal to me. I had no money, few provisions and no refuge for which I could make; so I decided to continue the war as a free lance.

"Some nights later we surprised a larger vessel which I knew to be armed with cannon. I had planned the attack knowing most of her crew to be ashore; so we succeeded in overpowering the remainder, and forcing them to join us. For upwards of two months I then wrought much havoc among vessels trading with Revolutionary France. It was the English who caused me to abandon those waters, as some months earlier they had declared war on France, and their navy began to make it dangerous for French ships to leave port.

"My search for suitable quarry led me north to Saint-Domingue, but up here I found very similar conditions; so in order to maintain myself it became necessary to make prizes of any ships that offered, irrespective of their flags. My operations were ill regarded by one Bartholomew Redbeard, who had hitherto looked on these parts as his private preserve. By that time both my crew and the armament of my ship had been greatly strengthened; so one fine September morning I gave Monsieur Redbeard battle. By midday he was worsted, and as the sun went down I hanged him from his own yard arm. Those of his followers who survived the conflict agreed to serve under me, and it was they who led me here. Since I acquired this property I have greatly improved it, and as I find the excitement of the life agreeable I shall probably continue in it for some years. However, I am amassing a pleasant fortune in Genoa, to which Madame la Comtesse is about to make a handsome contribution; so if ever I become bored I shall be able to retire to Italy in affluent circumstances."

On the face of it the history he had related appeared to be one of calamitous ill-fortune overcome by audacity and high courage, but all his reluctant guests knew that if fully enquired into it would reveal him as cunning, unscrupulous, and a bloody-minded tyrant who, apart from one battle, had consistently preyed upon the weak. Roger hoped that long before he decided to retire on his ill-gotten gains he would be caught by a ship-of-war, and end his days kicking at empty air as he was hoisted to a gallows.

As the meal progressed conversation became more general, and Roger attempted to draw out his left-hand neighbour. But Philo the

Greek had evidently been selected as one of the Vicomte's Lieutenants only on his qualities as a sea-rover. Although he had been born in Greece and had not come to the Spanish Main until well into his twenties he knew nothing of the history of his country. He was simply a rough diamond who m other circumstances might have made an excellent captain in a trading vessel. He was clearly not an evil man by nature, but accepted the merciless deeds, inseparable from piracy, as part of the way of life fate had decreed that he should lead. His ability to reply to questions was, moreover, considerably hampered by his having to concentrate on eating with some semblance of a propriety to which he was obviously unaccustomed.

Cyrano was much more forthcoming. He was a man-of some education and the son of a Nantes shipowner. Romance had been the cause of his undoing; for he had seduced the daughter of a 'noble of the robe' as the legal nobility of France were termed, and been found out. To save him from prison his father had got him away in one of the family's ships; but she had been captured by pirates off the French island of St. Christopher, and the pirates had pressed him into their service. Finding a life of adventure, with easy money and plenty of women, much more to his taste than a bourgeois existence m France, he had made no attempt to escape but continued in it. Some years later he had joined Bartholomew Redbeard and, in due course, came under the banner of the Vicomte.

They had been talking for some time when he remarked to Roger: "May I congratulate you on your French, Monsieur. You speak it with an accent and fluency quite exceptional in an Englishman."

"Thank you," Roger smiled. "But that is readily accounted for by my having lived for a good part of my life in France."

A momentary silence having fallen, the Vicomte caught the exchange and, looking down the table, said: "I think, then, that we must have met before. When I first saw you this morning your face seemed familiar to me."

"I had the same feeling," Roger replied. "But on your telling us a while back that you have been m the Indies since '87 I decided that I must have been mistaken."

"Why so, if, as you say, you have spent a good part of your life in France?"

"That is true; for I ran away from home to France when I was not yet sixteen, and have since returned there many times, often for lengthy periods."

"In what parts of France have you lived?"

"Mostly in Paris; but at one time or another I have stayed for a while in many of the great provincial cities. However, I spent my first few years in Brittany, and during them my circumstances were such that it is highly improbable that I should have made the acquain­tance of Monsieur le Vicomte. Indeed, had I done so I should certainly recall it."

"Did you never go to Versailles?" the Vicomte persisted. "Yes; and latterly I had the honour to be received on numerous occasions by their Majesties. But that would be after Monsieur le Vicomte had left for Martinique. My early visits to the palace were made only in the role of a young secretary carrying documents to a nobleman who had apartments there." "To whom do you refer?"

"I was at that time in the service of the Marquis de Rochambeau."

There was a moment's silence. During it de Senlac's thin face paled and purple blotches appeared on it Suddenly he sprang to his feet, thrust out a quivering jewelled hand, pointed at Roger and screamed:

"Murderer! Assassin! I know you now! Twas you who foully slew my beloved uncle, M. le Comte de Caylus."

chapter X

A HAND FROM THE GRAVE

That recognition should have led to this caused Roger's heart to bound with swift, terrible misgiving. Rising more slowly he strove to conceal his emotion. With an effort he kept his voice level, as he replied:

"You are mistaken, Monsieur. I killed the Count, but fairly, in a duel."

"Liar! Assassin!" stormed the Vicomte, trembling with rage. "I know the truth! You waylaid his coach like a footpad in the forest of Melun, and did him to death."

"That is not true!" Roger protested hotly. "In the belief that I was not of noble blood, he refused my challenge. I had no alternative other than to force a fight upon him at a place of my own choosing. But it was a fair fight. In fact he was reputed the finest swordsman in all France while I was still a stripling novice; so the odds were all against me."

"Lies! Lies! Lies! Without warning or witnesses you set upon and killed him."

"Comte Lucien de Rochambeau was in his coach, and present throughout the whole affair. M. le Vicomte de la Tour d'Auvergne and the Abbé de Talleyrand-Perigord were also in the immediate neighbourhood. They were aware of all that took place at the en­counter from start to finish. Both afterwards vouched for it that I did nothing unfitting in a man of honour."

"You had no seconds; no doctor was present. You contravened every established rule of duelling. By the law of France that makes you an assassin."

"So thought her Majesty Queen Marie Antoinette until she learned the truth. She then secured me a pardon, and honoured me with her friendship."

"Lies! More lies! You had abused your position in M. de Rochambeau's household to seduce his daughter. Then, when in ignorance of the fact, my good uncle was about to marry her, rather than lose your mistress you murdered him."

"Athenais de Rochambeau was not my mistress," shouted Roger, now almost as angry as de Senlac

"I care not!" the Vicomte yelled back. "The Comte was a father to me! The best man that ever lived! And it was you who took his life. Heaven be praised for having sent me this chance to revenge his death. Mort de Dieu, you shall suffer as few men have! Philo! Cyrano! Seize him!"

Springing aside from his place, Roger grasped the back of his chair and swung it aloft. As Philo ran in he brought its legs crashing down on the pirate's shoulders and their cross-bar struck his head. With a moan, he went down in a heap. But before Roger could raise the chair again the two negro footmen flung themselves on him from behind. As they grabbed his arms Cyrano seized the chair and wrenched it from him. He landed a violent kick on the Frenchman's knee, and received in return a blow beneath the jaw. It was not a knock-out but temporarily deprived him of his powers of resistance. A minute later, while Cyrano limped away cursing with pain, the two powerful negroes secured their grip and held Roger rigid between them.

Everyone had risen from the table and, thrusting his way between the women, de Senlac strode up to his now helpless prisoner. His slightly hooded eyes blazing with rage, he struck Roger across the mouth with the back of his open hand.

"For that," cried Roger, "unless you are prepared to disgrace your ancestry, you will give me satisfaction."

Even as he uttered the words he knew that his chances of goading the Vicomte into a duel were exceedingly slender; and he proved right, for de Senlac sneered: "Are you half-witted? Is it likely that I would afford you a chance to kill me! No, you scum. I mean to stand by and watch you die horribly. Yes, and all shall witness the way in which I avenge my poor uncle. My crews, your women, the other prisoners, even the kitchen hands and slaves—everyone."

Turning away he shot a malevolent glance round the company and said: "Come, let me have your suggestions for the most painful way in which we can send this assassin screaming down to hell."

Now that they could get a word in, Amanda, Georgina and Clarissa all began to plead or attempt to reason with him; but he silenced them with a furious shout.

Cyrano was still cursing as he massaged his injured knee. With a malicious leer at Roger, he said: "I'd like to see him keelhauled. He'd not be so handsome after the barnacles on the ship's bottom had scraped half the flesh off his face."

The Vicomte shook his head. "Nay, we can do better than that. You know how the rope that draws them under is apt to get fouled. He might even drown during the very first trip."

"Why not have him flayed?" suggested the elder Herault laconically.

"No, no!" cried the younger. "Have him die the death the Caribs used to inflict on their enemies. It was yourself who told me of it. I mean that where they stuck them full of thorns, each thorn having been slit to hold a piece of wadding soaked in oil, so that when these were lit the victim danced a death jig clothed in a garment of tiny torches."

Nodding in turn to father and son, de Senlac muttered: "Both ideas have possibilities; but I somewhat favour smearing his stomach with honey and setting the fire-ants to eat their way into him."

Amanda's eyes fluttered up and she fainted.

As Georgina caught and lowered her to a chair Clarissa shrilled at de Senlac: "You cannot do such things! You cannot! Even the Fiend himself would baulk at inflicting such torment."

"I can, Mademoiselle, and I will," came the harsh retort. "More; it now occurs to me to combine these punishments. I'll have my pet crocodiles snap off his feet, make thorn-stuck torches of his arms, flay his back and let the ants have his innards."

Clarissa snatched up a glass from the table and flung it at de Senlac's face.

He dodged the glass but some drops of wine sprayed over his coat. As he flicked at them with his lace handkerchief, he snarled: "The use to which you put that wine shall cost you dear. I'll make you weep a bucket of tears for every drop that splashed me. Aye, you shall slobber and gibber till the colour is washed from those blue eyes of yours."

Facing about, he cried to Roger: "You have heard the sentence I impose. Tomorrow at sundown the first part of it shall be carried out. I'll have you swung out over the pool where I keep my caymens, and they shall battle for which of them gets your toes."

Amanda raised her head from her lap, then flung herself forward, clasped the Vicomte round the knees, and sobbed: "I implore you to have mercy. The affair that so distresses you is long past. Whatever the rights of it leave Our Father in Heaven, who is aware of all, to pass judgment. Oh I beg, I implore you, not to do this terrible thing."

Still seething with almost apoplectic fury, de Senlac kicked her away from him, and shouted: "God can do as He will, Madame, but I am master here. For the murder of my uncle there is nothing that I would not make your husband suffer—nothing! Aye, and as I think on it I've the power to make him squirm mentally as well as physically."

Again he swung on Roger, and with dilated eyes screamed like one possessed. "Since Madame la Comtesse could find fifty thousand pounds to ransom you all, she can find it to save herself. As you die by stages these next few days you may contemplate all that is in store for Madame your wife, and her young spitfire of a cousin. On the night of your death I'll have them stripped of their clothes and flung to my men to make what sport they will with in the moonlight."

Roger, goaded beyond endurance, hurled back insults, imprecations and defiance, but he might just as well have held his tongue. At an abrupt order from de Senlac the negro footmen dragged him from the room and through the hall to the back quarters of the premises. Herault pere had accompanied them and produced a big key. With it he unlocked a massive door studded with iron nails. Through it Roger was thrust into pitch darkness. He stumbled down a few steps, then fell heavily, measuring his length on a stone-flagged floor. A moment later the heavy door clanged-to behind him.

The breath driven from his body, distraught with rage, misery and the bitter knowledge of his helplessness, he would have remained where he lay, had not there come a quick mutter of voices and groping hands that raised him until he was sitting up.

During the past two days the wound in his head had been mending nicely and he had not suffered greatly from it; but now, with every beat of his pulse, pain seared through it again. Temporarily, shock, agony, and the almost unbelievable change in his circumstances which had occurred in less than ten minutes bemused his mind.

After a brief respite he managed to pull himself together sufficiently to reply, in stammered sentences, to the questions with which his fellow prisoners were eagerly bombarding him. They were, he found, young Doctor Fergusson, Jennings, the Circe's Second Mate, and Wells the Supercargo, all of whom had been condemned to death.

In halting phrases he told them what had happened to himself, but without raising false hopes could find no word to comfort them in their equally desperate situation. They had already explored the dungeon and found escape from it impossible; but none of them was bound, so for a while they speculated on the chances of a break-out next time the door was opened. Yet even as they discussed it they knew that with so many armed men at call they would be overcome before they could get out of the house. Despair reduced them temporarily to silence; then, at Fergusson's suggestion, they prayed together earnestly for deliverance. Afterwards fatigue dulled their distraught minds and they lay face down on the hard stone, their heads pillowed on their arms, in an attempt to get some sleep.

The swift succession of questions and answers which had landed Roger in his present sorry pass ran again and again through his mind. He wondered now if by denying that he was the man who had killed de Caylus he could have saved himself, but doubted it. De Senlac had probably seen him a dozen times when he was working in the bureau of the Marquis at the Hotel de Rochambeau in Paris. In any case he would certainly have been one of the guests at the great ball given there for the King and Queen, at which they had sponsored the betrothal of Athenais to his uncle. A denial could have only postponed the evil hour when some chance phrase, or trick of move­ment, struck a spark in the Vicomte's brain and illuminated in it the vivid memory of a past meeting.

As Roger mused upon the matter it struck him as peculiarly grim that for a second time de Caylus should have stretched up a hand out of the grave to drag him down into it. In '89 Roger had put down to ill-chance his arrest for the unorthodox duel he had fought two years earlier, but this seemed more in the nature of a lingering malignity exercised by the restless spirit of the dead Count. In that first case Roger had narrowly escaped execution, but powerful friends and his own wits had saved him. He doubted if anything could save him now.

His only hope lay in Dan. He knew that Dan would willingly risk - his own life in an attempt, if he thought it had the least possibility of succeeding; but there would be no chance of that unless he could get help and he could not be expected to make a martyr of himself to no purpose. His prospects of securing adequate aid seemed far

from good, for as a new recruit among the pirates he had probably been accepted only on probation and was being watched. Even should he be unhampered by restrictions on his movements those whom he could risk asking to join him in a forlorn attempt were lamentably few. Tom was now free, as also was Monsieur Pirouet; but apart from them there could be no more than half a dozen of the Circe's crew who had joined the pirates with some reluctance whom he dare approach. Any of them might well betray him before the attempt could be made, and even if he succeeded in getting together a little band of stalwarts what hope could such a handful have against de Senlac's men, who must number well over fifty?

In spite of all the obstacles with which Dan would be faced Roger had great confidence in the courage and resource of his henchman. In consequence he clung to this one ray of hope and, as he turned miserably from side to side on the hard stone, he kept listening for cautious footsteps outside which might herald his delivery.

Gradually the dark hours passed, but no sounds broke the stillness. High up in the wall on the opposite side of the dungeon to the door two patches of greyness appeared. Within ten minutes they had taken on the sharp outlines of small heavily-barred windows. Dawn had come and with it Roger's last hopes vanished. If Dan had found the odds too high against pulling off a coup during the night, it was a certainty that nothing he could attempt would succeed in daylight.

Although the floor of the dungeon was below ground, as Roger could now see, it was a lofty place and roomy enough to hold a score of prisoners without undue crowding; but its only furnishings were a crock of water and a big earthenware vessel half full of fruit. There were no sanitary arrangements and the place stank abominably.

The windows were closed and, except where one small pane had been knocked out, were encrusted with the grime of ages, so they let in little light and he could still see only imperfectly. To quench his thirst he stretched out a hand to take a paw-paw. As he did so some­thing moved on the pile of fruit. Leaning nearer he saw that, half obscured by the rim of the vessel, a huge black spider was lurking there. Its body was as big as a duck's egg, and its hairy legs as long as those of a good-sized crab. From its face protruded what appeared to be four large teeth, set like those of a rabbit.

At Roger's quick movement of retreat the others roused, and saw the venomous-looking brute at which he was staring. Unbuckling his belt Jennings made a swipe at the spider but missed, and as it scuttled away into a dark corner, he said:

"They're not poisonous, but can give a chap a nasty bite. Lucky the fruit was there fer 'im ter feed on, else 'e might ha' tried ter make a meal orf one of us."

"Oh, what's a spider's bite when we shall so soon have to face death," exclaimed the young Supercargo desperately, and burst into a flood of tears.

They did what they could to comfort him, but his nerve had gone and he quietened down only after a fit of hysterics had reduced him to exhaustion. Then for a long time they sat in silence, being unwilling to talk of what lay in store for them yet unable to think of anything else.

At an hour they judged to be about half-past eight, there came a trampling of footsteps in the passage, the key rasped in the lock and the door was flung open. Followed by five other men Cyrano came down the stone steps.

Roger noticed that his left knee was bandaged and that he grimaced with pain every time he put any weight on the leg. But that was small compensation for what followed.

With evident enjoyment he gave an appraising look at Jennings, Wells and Fergusson in turn, then said in a silky voice: "M. le Vicomte has now settled his programme. For the next three days one of you will provide an overture each morning for a vocal concert by the noble Governor of Martinique towards the latter part of the afternoon; and on the fourth day he will give us his final solo. As inducements to you to give full play to your lungs the first of you is to be keelhauled, the second rent apart from being tied by the hands and feet between two downward bent young palm trees, and the third fed to M. le Vicomte's crocodiles."

Neither Jennings nor the Supercargo knew enough French to understand fully what Cyrano had said, but Fergusson did, and after a moment he gulped: "Which of us is to die today?"

Cyrano pointed at Jennings. "He goes first. As a mate of the Circe he knows well the feel of her deck beneath his feet, and now we mean to make him kiss her bottom." With a glance at his men he added: "Come! What are you waiting for. Get hold of him."

Jennings had grasped enough to realize that when they got him outside they meant to kill him. His eyes starting from their sockets he backed against the wall. Then, mouthing a stream of profanity, he suddenly hurled himself upon the nearest pirate. The man went down under the attack but the others grabbed the mate and dragged him towards the steps. Cursing and kicking he was lugged up them. For minutes afterwards his snouts echoed down the passage, until they gradually died away in the distance.

Meanwhile one of the men had refilled the water jug and tipped a basket full of fresh fruit on to the remains of the old supply. Cyrano made a gesture towards his injured knee, bared his teeth at Roger, and said: "I shall take a special pleasure in watching you dance for M. le Vicomte's crocodiles later in the day." Then he limped up the steps, the door was locked, behind him and the three remaining prisoners were left to their terrifying reflections.

During the rest of the morning, except for short intervals of violent coughing caused by his tubercular lung, Wells lay semi-comatose, but the other two could not free their minds from a series of mental pictures in which the unfortunate Jennings was the central figure. They saw him stripped to the waist, and round his body the knotted bight of a long rope, one end of which had already been passed beneath the Circe amidships. They saw him, fighting and yelling, thrown over the side to splash with whirling arms and legs into the water. They saw the rope now taut and being hauled upon by a mob of running men, so that

Jennings should be dragged under the hull and up the far side of the ship before he could drown. They saw him again on deck, dripping, gasping and bleeding from a score of lacerations to his flesh, while with brutal jests his tormentors revived him with neat rum to undergo the second scraping—and the third, the fourth, the fifth, until they could revive him no more.

Roger knew that there must be sharks in the bay and that they would be attracted by Jennings' blood. He prayed that one of them might get him during the first plunge, and so put an end to his agony swiftly. Yet the thought conjured up sickening visions of the ordeal to which the vengeance-crazed Vicomte intended to inflict upon him later that very day. There seemed little to choose between having one's feet gnawed off by sharks or crocodiles; and for him that would not be followed by a swift if painful end. Tomorrow that fiend in human form meant to burn his arms away, and the next to have the skin stripped from his back. Lastly there would come the excruciating agony of lying pegged out on an ant heap while the fire-ants ate away his vitals.

If his torn legs were given prompt attention it seemed certain that he would survive the first day's unholy sport, but there was a chance that the shock of the burns on the second day would kill him. After the third, at least, he might die from the loss of blood and nervous exhaustion, or have become a raving lunatic no longer capable of registering physical suffering with full consciousness. He could only pray that it would be so.

During the heat of the day the atmosphere became stifling and the stench almost unbearable. Mosquitoes plagued them and the itch of the bites drove them to a frenzy. But gradually the afternoon dragged through its awful length. At last the door was thrown open again.

Cyrano limped down the steps with his gang of butchers. They were carrying cords with which to tie the prisoners' hands behind their backs. The Supercargo, now nearly off his head with fear, screamed and fought but was seized with a desperate fit of coughing and soon overcome. Fergusson was white to the lips but had the fortitude to allow his wrists to be tied without a struggle. So did Roger. He knew that to resist or attempt to get away in this confined space was utterly hopeless. It could lead only to exhausting himself quite fruitlessly. He must husband every ounce of strength he had, just m case a chance offered for him to break away when he was in the open.

But his hands were bound and he would be one against fifty, or more probably a hundred, as the Vicomte meant the slaves also to witness his ruthless revenge. Even if he could drag the end of the cord that now bit into his wrists from the man who held it, what chance would he have? Before he had covered ten yards recapture was certain.

This was his third round with de Caylus. When he had set out upon the first he had expected to meet his death by a sword thrust. Bitterly, he wished now that he had. After all these years de Caylus had caught up with him. As he walked up the stone steps he faced the fact that this must be the end; but a lingering end, from which he could escape only after countless hours of torture.

chapter XI

THE CROCODILE POOL

As Roger was led across the main hall of the house the bright sun­shine was still streaming through its rear windows, and he judged that there must be a good hour to go before brief twilight heralded the tropic night. Out on the veranda Amanda sat hunched in a chair, her head bowed in her hands. The other women were grouped round her and behind them stood four pirates who had evidently been set to keep watch on them. The sound of feet caused Amanda to lift her head. Immediately she saw Roger she jumped up to run to him but one of the men roughly pulled her back. The three prisoners were pushed past the women and down the steps; then each of the pirates took one of the women by the arm, and fell in with them behind Cyrano.

The foreshore presented an animated scene. Boatloads of men from the two ships were landing on the beach; others, and with them a score of slatternly looking women of mixed nationality, were emerg­ing from the long low building which formed the south wing of the house, and little groups of slaves, ranging in colour from coal black to tanned whites, were leaving the lean-to's roofed with banana palm. The pirates and their molls were gaily dressed in looted silks and cottons; whereas the slaves had on only scanty, ragged garments; but nearly all had coloured handkerchiefs knotted about their heads, and a festive atmosphere prevailed. All were making their way across the front of the house towards the northern arm of the bay and laughing and joking as though they were setting out on a bean-feast.

Cyrano now had water on the knee, but was evidently determined not to miss the fun. Muttering curses with every step he took, he led his seven captives and their escort along the strand to a path that - -wound up into the forest.

As they entered it they passed into a new, fantastic, twilight world. Trees of enormous girth reared up two hundred feet in height, but their upper boughs could not be seen because they became lost in a smother of other vegetation. Out of their hollows and every cranny in them sprang ferns, many themselves as large as medium-sized trees. From their branches tangles of lianas and creepers cascaded down like green waterfalls. Some of their stems were as thick as a man's arm, and snaked upwards like green pythons, while countless others looped in all directions or hung down as straight as a weighted string. Between the giant acomas, candle-woods and palms, a vast variety of other trees struggled for room, their branches interlacing. Many were loaded with fruit: golden mangoes, green avocadoes, clusters of yellow paw-paws, prickly soursops looking like huge pears, custard apples, wild apricots, limes and citrons. Below them rioted bushes: and big tufts of coarse grasses half submerged under more tangles, of creeper with here and there the fallen limb of a great tree that,.

even as it rotted, was giving birth to ferns, mosses, and other forms of the teeming life that sprouted everywhere with almost incredible abundance.

The path wound upwards, and after ten minutes' hard trudging they emerged into an open space floored with an outcrop of rock, in the crevices of which only mosses and small plants could find enough soil to maintain a foothold. On the inland side of this clearing a tangle of great boulders sloped up to a twelve-feet-high cliff, over­lapped with verdure where the forest began again; at its far end the cliff continued, curving and rising to a sheer wall over fifty feet in height. Below this high cliff lay the pool, on the edge of which had been erected a long-armed gibbet. To the seaward side of the open ground trees again towered skyward and between them the dense jungle cut off any view of the bay below.

Several score of people had already congregated to see the sport, and the prisoners were led through them to the pool's edge. It was roughly oval and lay in a deep hollow so that the water was some eight feet below the rocky floor of the clearing. Near the place where the boulders stopped a small waterfall tumbled down from the cliff to feed it, and the overflow was carried off, after passing through an iron grille by another that fell into a gully leading down to the sea. From the clearing the only exit, other than that by which they had entered it, was across the gully by a plank bridge, beyond which another track opened leading farther up into the forest.

Men and women were still crowding into the clearing and jostling one another for the best places to sit up on the boulders, where they could get a good view of the proceedings. Some of the slaves had already secured good positions there, but were being roughly dis­possessed by the pirates and their molls and herded with their fellow slaves on the opposite side of the clearing. It was to that side, too, that the prisoners had been brought; and, with the exception of Roger, they were all thrust back by their escorts towards the gap in the rim of the pool where its water poured off down the deep gully. Hoping for a word with Amanda, Roger tried to follow them, but, on a harsh order from Cyrano, he was pulled up short by the man who held the cord tying his wrists. In the wide circle that had now been cleared about the gibbet, he stood between them with every eye in the eager, murmuring throng upon him.

Staring back, he searched the great ring of cruel or indifferent faces for Dan's, still hoping against all reason that his old friend might yet make a last minute attempt at rescue, but he could not see him. That was hardly surprising as in some places the crowd was four deep. Neither could he see Tom, but he caught sight of Monsieur Pirouet. The plump Frenchman was standing a few feet behind Dr. Fergusson, but on meeting Roger's desperate glance, he looked quickly away.

Roger was already suffering a minor torment from the bites mosquitoes had inflicted on him during his many hours in the dungeon, and never in his life had he cut so poor a figure. Gone was all semblance to the debonair Mr. Brook of White's Club or the elegant M. Le Chevalier de Breuc who in other days had supped and danced at the courts of half a dozen continental monarchs. His clothes were torn and stained, his stockings laddered; his hair was matted under a dirty bandage, his face mottled by stings and his eyes dull from sleepless­ness. Even when he had played the part of a sans-culotte> for all the filth of his apparel, his bearing singled him out as a man of vigour and determination; whereas now he stood with slack limbs and hunched shoulders, so that the pirates, fearing he would show them only poor sport, began to jeer at him for cowardice.

Actually he was now endeavouring to close his mind against coherent thought, so that terror might not drive him to some desperate futile act which could only cause even greater distress to Amanda and the others than they were already suffering. For their sakes, too, he wanted to conserve every atom of mental resistance he could muster; so that when the ordeal came, even if he could not manage to remain silent, at least he would not wring their hearts by screaming.

A murmur of excitement and a few cheers heralded the approach of the Vicomte. The crowd parted, forming a ragged lane through which he advanced, a tall malacca cane in one hand, the other resting lightly on the arm of his blond mignon, who in the sunlight looked more than ever like a slightly negroid young Viking. As they came up beside Roger, de Senlac pointed at the long-armed gibbet and said:

"You need fear no mishap, Monsieur, for you are not the first to afford us this type of entertainment, and practice has enabled us to perfect our arrangements. The harness dangling from the arm of the gibbet will be,strapped about your shoulders, and the main post turns upon a pivot so that you may be swung out over the pool. Then we shall lower you by inches until your feet are near enough to the water for my pets to snap off your toes."

For the first time Roger forced himself to look at the water rippling eight feet below him. The sun had now gone down behind the hill and no reflected light flickered from it, but the splashing of the little waterfall kept it in perpetual motion so that he could not see beneath its surface. But on the far side of the pool a narrow sickle-shaped beach shelved up to the cliff-face and, half submerged in the water close in to it, there floated several long shapes whose rough texture gave them the appearance of rotting tree trunks.

De Senlac pomted with his cane. "There are a few of my beauties. Although we talk of them as crocodiles they are, more strictly speaking, a type of alligator and in these parts called cayman. Let us rouse them up for the treat they are about to be given."

Turning, he beckoned to the elder Herault, who was standing a few yards off with two negroes beside him, both of whom carried big wicker baskets on their heads. When the baskets were set down Roger saw that they contained pigs' trotters, cows' hocks and other offal. Selecting half a calf's head Herault pere threw it into the middle of the pool. It had scarcely touched the surface when the water was broken in a score of places. Snouts with knobbly ends were thrust up, long lean jaws gaped open showing rows of strong fang-like teeth, little eyes gleamed evilly, and scaly tails that could have knocked a man off his feet threshed the water into foam. In a moment the leaping and plunging of the ferocious creatures had churned the pool into a seething cauldron.

Herault continued to throw lumps of offal to them until he had half emptied one of the baskets, then the Vicomte checked him by crying: "Enough! We must not take the edge off their appetites. You can give them the rest of their meal afterwards."

But now they had been excited by the food the great reptiles did not settle down. Eager for more they splashed and wallowed, snapping their jaws, lashing their tails, and in this disappointment turning on one another. As Roger watched them with horrified fascination he wished for the twentieth time since the capture of the Circe that he had been caught six months earlier with Athenaxs, and suffered with her the clean swift death of the guillotine.

De Senlac gave Jean Herault's arm a gentle pat, nodded towards the gibbet and said with the smile of an elderly roue giving a present to a young woman he wishes to please: "For you, dear boy, I have reserved the pleasure of fastening the harness upon him. But take care that the straps beneath his arms are tight; otherwise he might slip out of it, and deprive me of my full revenge by making a quick end of himself."

As the tall youth walked past the Vicomte to the gibbet, the man behind Roger untied the cord that bound his wrists. It had been tied so tightly that for a moment his hands hung numb and useless. Flexing his fingers, he glanced wildly round. Amanda and Jenny were on their knees praying for him. Clarissa stood with bowed head and one arm thrown across her face. Georgina, white as a sheet under her tan, was staring at him, all the love that she had borne him through her life in her big eyes. Neither Tom nor Dan was anywhere to be seen.

Jean Herault turned the pivot of the gibbet so that its long arm swung towards the pool's edge. At Roger's side the Vicomte stood watching the graceful movements of the young sangmele with a doting leer. As he reached for the harness Roger acted.

Taking one pace back he brought his right knee up with all his force. It struck de Senlac a violent blow on the bottom. With eyes starting from their sockets and mouth agape he lurched forward. For a second he tottered, his arms flailing wildly, on the very edge of the pool. Then, unable to recover his balance, he pitched head­foremost into it.

His terrified yell was cut short as he hit the water. With the speed and strength exceeding that of tigers the caymans leapt upon him, tearing him limb from limb, until his blood made a great red streak across the heaving surface of the pool.

Roger did not see his enemy's ghastly end. His desperate stroke had given him an outside chance to break away through the ring of spectators and plunge into the forest. If he could succeed in that the dense vegetation would swallow him up. Even a penetration of a dozen yards might be enough to enable him to escape recapture; but it was now or never.

The instant de Senlac jerked forward on to his toes Roger swung about. He had deliberately refrained from using his hands, in order that he might have his fists already clenched. One stride brought him within a yard of the man who had just untied him. His right fist caught the man beneath the jaw and sent him sprawling. He was flat on his back even before the sound of the splash made by the Vicomte's body cut short his yell.

Roger's actions had been so swift that only the nearer members of the crowd had yet grasped the full significance of them. While they remained motionless and gaping in astonished silence he seized the opportunity to shout with all the power of his lungs:

"Dan! Tom! Old Circe men! Help!" Then he yelled in French: "Slaves! Free yourselves! The Tyrant is dead! Take courage! Rally to me!"

His last words were drowned in a pandemonium of shouting, yells and curses. As though the tension had been released by a spring, every figure in the clearing leapt into motion. The younger Herault whipped out a knife and ran at him from one side, the elder from the other. Catching the sangmele’s wrist he gave it a violent twist. The knife slipped from his grasp and fell with a clang upon the rock. He let out a screech of pain; but his father had seized Roger round the waist in a trained wrestler's grip and, with surprising strength for a man of his age, threw him off his balance.

As he went down he caught a glimpse of the women. Amanda and Jenny were on their feet again. The former was clawing the eyes out of her guard and his cheeks were scored with bloody furrows, where her nails had gashed them. The latter was still struggling with hers and beating at his face with her clenched fists. Clarissa had broken free and was running towards him. Georgina had snatched a knife from her guard's belt and was stabbing with it at his stomach.

Roger hit the ground with a thump. Next moment, despite the gallant diversion created by the women, he thought the game was up. Both the Heraults were about to throw themselves upon him and out of the corner of his eye he caught sight of Cyrano brandishing a cavalry sabre.

When the melee started de Senlac's Lieutenant had been talking to some men half-way along the ridge of boulders. As his back was turned he had not seen Roger knee the Vicomte into the pool, and owing to the agony he was suffering from his knee he had made poor speed in recrossing the clearing. Yet now he was only a few yards off, his long curved sword held high ready to deliver a deadly stroke. Roger, prone on his back, could do nothing to evade the flashing blade. His bid for freedom had started so well, but it seemed he had made it in vain.

Help came from an unexpected quarter. The report of a musket rang out above the shouting of the crowd. Cyrano's eyes started in his head, his jaw went slack. Shot through the back, he crashed forward on to his face, his right arm still outstretched so that the tip of his sabre struck a spark from the rock only six inches short of Roger's head.

It was Dan who had saved him. The ex-smuggler and Tom were lying hidden in the undergrowth on the edge of the low cliff above the boulders. Thinking it certain that Roger's hands would be untied before he was bound up afresh in the harness attached to the gibbet, Dan had been waiting for that moment intending, as soon as Roger once more had the use of his fists, to shoot the Vicomte. But Roger had forestalled him with de Senlac so he had to hold his fire until he could aim at a worthwhile target without risk of hitting his master.

Again the element of surprise stood Roger in good stead. As Cyrano fell within a few yards or them, both the Heraults took their eyes from him to stare round in swift apprehension, wondering whence the shot had come, and fearing to be the next target.

Rolling over Roger jumped to his feet, struck Jean a glancing blow with his fist and kicked the older man in the groin. With a screech pere Herault doubled up and staggered back clutching at his genitals. His son landed a kick on Roger's thigh which again sent him sprawling.

Two more pirates were running to the young man's assistance but once more Roger was saved by a new diversion. A bang like that of a small cannon sounded above the din. Tom had discharged a blunderbuss loaded with old nails and scraps of iron into a tightly packed group of pirates and their molls on a flat-topped boulder just below him.

At such close range every fragment from the terrible weapon found a lodgment in human flesh. Screams, curses, groans rent the air. Next moment Dan and Tom, cutlasses in hand, leapt down on to the ledge and were laying about them among the survivors. Those up on the boulder offered no resistance and, scrambling down on to the flat floor of the clearing, the two stalwarts began to hack then-way towards Roger.

But the fight was far from over. Seizing Jean by the ankle Roger lugged at it and brought him down. Shooting out a hand he grabbed Roger by the hair. Next moment they were grappling wildly. One of the pirates who had run up held a pistol. Aiming at Roger's head he fired, but at that second Roger gave a violent jerk to free his hair. The bullet missed him and smashed the sangmele’s elbow. In an instant Roger had struck him in the face and he rolled away now hors de combat.

Their struggle had brought them to the edge of the pool. As Roger scrambled to his knees, both pirates came at him together, and a third was now close on their heels. The nearest aimed a heavy kick at his face, with the intention of sending him over the edge. Roger jerked his head aside so that the man's foot went over his shoulder. Throwing himself forward, he flung his arms round the leg upon which the man was still standing. With a terrific heave he lifted the weighty body straddled above him, then let go. For a moment it was suspended on his back head down and feet in the air. He gave another heave and the man slithered off behind him, with his arms threshing the empty air three feet out from the pool's rim.

The second pirate had clubbed his pistol, but seeing his comrade's desperate situation flung it at Roger's head, then seized the first man's foot in an endeavour to save him. Roger dodged the pistol, scrambled up, and as the third man rushed upon him was just in time to trip this new adversary.

He was gasping as though his lungs would burst; but now after days of helpless despair, he was his old self again. None of these lumbering brutes was his match for quick wits and agility and he felt that only numbers could overcome him.

The last of the three to go down was a mulatto, and in his hand he still held a short sword. He had hardly hit the ground before Roger brought a heel down on his wrist with such force that both of them heard the bone crunch. Stooping, Roger tore the sword from the nerveless fingers. Of all weapons it was the one he would have chosen for such a fight. He plunged it into the side of the pirate who was trying to drag his comrade back from the pool's edge. The wounded man gave a horrible gurgle, flung back his head, and let go; the other flopped into the pool with a resounding splash, came up to give one howl that echoed through the clearing, and was dragged under by the caymans.

The mulatto with the broken wrist scuffled off as swiftly as he could. Jean Herault was some way away moaning over his shattered elbow. His father had collapsed and lay writhing on the ground. Cyrano, paralysed from the waist down by a smashed spine, could now only curse feebly between bouts of vomiting blood. But the man whom Roger had knocked unconscious with a right to the jaw was coming round. Stepping forward, he kicked him hard on the side of the head and put him out again.

Now, for the first time since the murderous affray had started, Roger had a chance to get a full look round. The whole of the open space had become a scene of wild confusion and desperate fighting. Several major melees and a score of individual combats were in progress. Whites and blacks, slaves and pirates, men and women, were all embroiled in life or death struggles. Some were slashing or stabbing at one another, others locked chest to chest strove grimly to strangle or trip their antagonists; a group of negresses had attacked two of the coffee-coloured molls, and were dragging them by the hair towards the pool. Feet stamped, steel clanged on steel, and every moment a pistol shot rang out or a woman gave a piercing scream.

Roger had been facing slightly towards the boulders, and in that direction he saw Dan and Tom. They had half a dozen pirates against them, but were fighting gamely, and had been joined by two of the Circe's men. Looking quickly to his other side he saw Fergusson slicing with a razor-edged machete at a big negro.

Monsieur Pirouet and Jake had been in the plot with Dan. Their part had been to free the other prisoners. The chef had brought, con­cealed under his jacket, a weighty meat chopper. He had been waiting for Dan's shot as the signal to act, but on seeing Roger deal with the Vicomte he had waited no longer. With two swift strokes of his chopper he had cleaved the necks and the jugular veins of the two guards behind whom he had stationed himself. As they fell Jake had dived forward knife in hand and cut the cords that bound the hands of the Doctor and the Supercargo. Fergusson had grabbed the cane-cutting machete from a nearby slave, and was still making good use of it; but young Wells lay dead with a knife through his chest

Amanda too had gone down, but a man named Catamole from the Circe was standing over her with a pike and beating off two of the Porto Ricans, who had evidently decided for the second time to throw in their lot with the pirates. Georgina must have been stunned or wounded, as Monsieur Pirouet was carrying her towards the plank bridge over the deep gully while Jake and Jenny protected his back. For a moment Roger could not see Clarissa, then he caught sight of her some way from the others. Marlinspike Joe had her by the wrist and was dragging her off into the bushes.

In less than a minute Roger had taken in the whole ghastly tangle of slaughter. Racing towards the group fighting above Amanda he drove his sword into the small of the nearest Porto Rican's back. As he intended, it pierced the kidney, from which a blade can be with­drawn with ease instead of becoming muscle-bound. Whipping it out, he left Catamole to deal with the other, and dashed after Clarissa.

Marlinspike Joe had pulled her into the dense vegetation but her cries told Roger whereabouts they were. Crashing his way through the undergrowth and forcing the low branches aside with his free hand, he plunged deeper in until he came upon them. On catching sight of Roger the ruffian let go of Clarissa and attempted to draw his cutlass, but she gamely hung on to his sword arm. That made him easy meat, and without the faintest scruple Roger delivered a lunge that pierced him through the windpipe.

Choked by the rush of his own blood, the lecherous mutineer made a sound like a premature death-rattle, slipped to his knees and, still gurgling, fell from sight through a screen of creepers. Wrenching his point free, Roger took Clarissa by the hand, drew her back into the open and, pointing at the plank bridge, cried:

"Quick! Make for the bridge. Look! They're carrying Georgina across it. Tell them to take her farther up the path into the forest. I'll join you as soon as I am able."

As she set off at a run, he gave another swift look round. Amanda was on her feet She was swaying dizzily, but Fergusson was supporting Iter and leading her towards the bridge, while Catamole still battled with the remaining Porto Rican. Roger had hoped that after being deprived of their leaders, and with the slaves raised against them, the pirates would lose heart, panic and scatter. But things did not seem to be going at all that way. Surprise had enabled him and, his allies to inflict a dozen casualties on them in the first few minutes of the struggle, but now they had recovered from the unexpectedness of the attack they were putting up a stout resistance. They were better armed, more used to handling weapons, and of tougher fibre, than most of their opponents. Moreover, as far as he could judge, only five or six of the Circe's men and less than half of the slaves had responded to his shouts to turn against the pirates.

Many of the slaves were now fleeing down the path towards the bay. All the other molls had come to the rescue of the two the negresses had attacked and it was now the black women who were being dragged screaming towards the pool. At least forty pirates were still unscathed, and a dozen of them had driven Dan's party back to the boulders. One of the Circe's men who had joined up with him had been cut down; the other, a big fair fellow named Kilick, was on his right, and Tom was on his left. But Tom had received a nasty cut across his forehead and blood was streaming down from it over his face.

Charging across the open space Roger flung himself into the fray. Now, he had the chance to use the short sword with maximum effect. It was much thicker than a rapier, so strong enough to parry a stroke from a cutlass without risk of snapping off; yet it enabled him to use the tricks of fence of which he was a pastmaster.

Hearing the pounding of his feet behind them, three of the pirates turned to face him. Leaping from side to side, he feinted—lunged, feinted—lunged, feinted—lunged with incredible rapidity, his point darting hither and thither like lightning. It ripped through the fore­arm of one man, tore open the cheek of another and pinked the stomach of the third, while the frantic slashes they made at him with their heavier weapons met only empty air and threw them off their balance.

None of the wounds was serious, but quite nasty enough to make all three men hastily draw back, thus breaking the semi-circle that had enclosed Dan and his two companions. Roger shouted to them:

"Come on! Now's your chance! Have a care for your backs and make for the bridge."

There was a moment of wild, confused fighting, then they were through. But Tom, faint from loss of blood and half blinded by it, tripped and fell. Kilick smashed the hilt of his cutlass into the face of the nearest pirate, stooped, seized Tom by the arm with his free hand and dragged him to his feet. Staggering but still game Tom lurched along beside him while Roger and Dan laid about them furiously to cover the retreat.

Twilight had begun to fall, and as they backed towards the bridge Roger prayed that night might come quickly; for the pirates now had the upper hand and as long as the light lasted it would give them a better chance to pursue into the forest a party hampered by wounded.

There followed three more minutes of savage cut and thrust, then a new peril threatened the retreating party. Monsieur Pirouet and Jake had got all the women safely across the bridge, while Fergusson and Catamole remained on its near side defending it from a group of pirates who sought to cross it and recapture them. Now three of this group abandoned the attempt, to turn and attack Roger and his companions in the rear.

Their progress towards the bridge was checked no more than a dozen yards from it; but they could get no farther, and with the half-fainting Tom in their midst were compelled to fight back to back. Surrounded and outnumbered as they were, it seemed certain that they must be overwhelmed. Kilick's long reach enabled him to keep his attackers at bay. Dan fought like a demon. Roger's blade snaked 5 in and out constantly menacing the eyes and throats of those who assailed him. But their exertions had already been terrific, and all of them were now near spent

Help came only just in time. Their friends had seen their plight and were doing their utmost to come to their assistance. Pirouet, Jake, Jenny and Clarissa had run back across the bridge. The two men joined Fergusson, Catamole and a ragged dark-haired stranger who had just emerged from the forest to fight beside them. Led by Fergusson, they all fell upon two pirates who were still trying to force the bridge, killed one and drove the other off with a great gash in his sword arm.

Jenny had found a pistol somewhere and Clarissa a knife. Wide-eyed but determined they remained to guard the crossing against the pirates' molls who, close by, had just thrown the negresses into the pool; while Fergusson and his companions ran towards Roger. Another frightful melee ensued; Catamole was cut down by a stroke that half severed his head from his neck, but the others succeeded in reaching the bridge.

One by one they backed across- the plank. Roger went last and a great bearded swashbuckler attempted to follow him, slashing at his head with a cutlass at every backward step he took. But using both hands, Jenny let off her pistol at him, and, by good luck, the bullet tore away part of his left ear. The shock caused him to lower his guard for a second and Roger promptly ran him through. With a loud groan he heeled over sideways and fell into the foaming water twenty feet below. Next moment Roger was safely on the far bank of the gully. Before any of the other pirates could attempt to cross; Dan had wrenched the plank from its lodgment and drawn it in.

Roger was streaming with sweat and so breathless that he could hardly utter, but he managed to gasp: "Get up the path all of you. Some of them have fire-arms. Now they are no longer mixed up with us they will not hesitate to use them."

At that moment a shot rang out Missing his neck only by a finger's-breadth, it snicked away a fragment from the collar of his coat Needing no further warning they all ran up the path until a bend in it hid them from their enemies' view. Panting and moaning as a result of their terrible exertions, they flung themselves down on the ground to rest their aching limbs and get their breath back.

Georgina and Amanda had- already been carried up there, and as soon as Roger had recovered a little he went over to them. Amanda was sitting up, but with her head hanging down and nursing an injured arm. It had been badly wrenched by a pirate who had twisted it and thrown her to the ground. He had then kicked her in the stomach, causing her acute pain and vomiting, but her case gave no cause for immediate alarm. Georgina had fared worse. A pirate had slashed at her head with a cutlass, and only the fact that she had at that instant sprung forward to strike, him in the face had saved her life. Her movement had resulted in her being struck down by the hilt of the weapon instead of its blade, but she was still unconscious.

Doctor Fergusson came over to them and, after examining her head, relieved their fears by saying that her thick hair had saved her from the worst effects of the blow. He could find only a slight fracture under it and thought that although she might suffer from concussion she was in no great danger.

Going over to Dan, Roger thanked him and the others for all they had done, then said he thought it would be best for the party to move farther up the path. There was still a risk that the pirates might find a way to cross the gully, and should they do so the more warning the party had of their approach the more time it would have to get well hidden in the undergrowth.

It was therefore decided that they should proceed until they came upon another clearing, or should they fail to find one within half a mile, halt there while Roger remained behind to watch for any attempt that might be made to follow them.

Meanwhile Fergusson was doing the best he could for the injured.

Shirt tails were torn off to serve as bandages, a sling made for Amanda's

arm, and a rough stretcher constructed from branches on which to

carry Georgina. When these first-aid measures were completed Roger

watched them set off slowly up the hill, then walked down it back

to the entrance of the path.

The twilight had now almost faded into night. He could see enough to be certain that the pirates had withdrawn from the far side of the gully, and just to make out that there were still people moving about farther off, in the clearing. Sitting down he thought over the frightful fight

Less than half an hour had passed since he had sent the Vicomte to a well-deserved death in the pool. During that time at least a score of other people must have died and as many more been seriously injured. The pirates, having been taken by surprise, had suffered much more heavily than their opponents, and they had also lost a number of their slaves who had seized the chance to run off into the forest; but they were still a formidable body, whereas of the Circe's men only Jake and Kilick had succeeded in getting away with the escapers. Several others had attempted to but had been struck down before they could join either of the parties led by Dan or Fergusson. Considering the odds against them Roger thought it little short of a miracle that any of them should have got away, and it still seemed to him almost unbelievable that he should be alive and free himself.

For a good two hours he sat keeping watch. By then it was a long time since the last of the wounded had been carried away, and no sound, save the croaking of the tree-frogs, broke the silence of the dark, deserted clearing. Feeling that no attempt to cross the gully was now likely to take place while the darkness lasted, he got to his feet and began to make his way up the path.

It was no easy matter, as although his eyes had become accustomed to the darkness he could hardly see a yard in front of him and every few paces blundered into the undergrowth. But at length he heard the murmur of voices a little way ahead and emerged from the tunnel -of foliage into a small open space faintly lit by starlight

The party had been getting anxious about him so were much relieved by his appearance. They had, too, been waiting for him to rejoin them before discussing how they might best keep their new-won liberty, and as soon as he had sat down among them they proceeded to do so.

It seemed fairly certain that they would be able to evade recapture by remaining in the forest. To do so presented no problem of hunger or thirst, as there was an abundance of fruit to be had for the picking. There were also any number of wild pigs and game that could be trapped, and an inexhaustible supply of fuel for fires on which to cook them. But to remain there could be only a temporary expedient, and the real question was—how could they get back to civilization?

The man who had joined Fergusson towards the end of the affray proved to be an American trader named Wilson. Nine months before, while on his way from Boston to Jamaica, he had been captured by de Senlac and, with three other passengers who had since died, forced into slavery. On learning this. Roger said to him:

"You must know more of the island than ourselves, Mr. Wilson. What is the name of the nearest town, and how far distant is it?"

"There is only one, Sir," replied Wilson, "and that a miserable place, although it has quite a good harbour. It is called Cayona, and was for many years a very minor post for a French Governor. The force he controlled was so insignificant that he could do no more than protect the handful of planters established nearby on the south coast of the island: so generations of buccaneers have always been the masters of nine-tenths of it, and Cayona a port where they met to enter into every sort of villainy."

"Still, think you we could get a ship there?"

"Not one with an honest master. Soon after France declared herself a Republic, the slaves revolted. They murdered the Governor and the more prosperous of the planters. Since then Cayona has been entirely lawless. It would mean a gruelling march through the forest to reach it, and when we did we should stand a great risk of falling victims of another gang of freebooters; so I certainly do not advise going there."

Dan suggested that they should make for the north coast and camp upon some prominent headland, so that from it they could fly distress signals to attract some passing ship which might pick them up. But the American poured cold water on that idea too, by saying:

"The north coast is so precipitous and rocky that ships do not put in there even when in need of water. We might scan the horizon from it for months without sighting a sail; and when we did it would like as not be that of another pirate."

At that their hearts, which so recently had been filled with fresh hope, sank again. It looked now as if there were no alternative to remaining in the forest, and that they were condemned to live there the hard life of savages, perhaps for months, perhaps for years, before some unforeseeable turn of events enabled them to get away from this accursed island.

chapter xii

NIGHT IN THE FOREST

At the thought a gloomy silence settled on the conference, but Roger was not the man to accept such a miserable existence as long as there was any possible alternative. After a few minutes he sighed and said thoughtfully:

"God knows, I've had my fill of fighting for today, but it seems there's only one thing for it. We must attempt to recapture the Circe"

The starlight penetrated to the glade in which they were sitting only just enough for each of them to make out the vague forms of the companions to whom they were nearest, so Roger could not see the faces of the others; but he heard a murmur of astonishment and dismay run round the circle.

"Why should we not?" he asked. "With Dan, Tom, Jake, Kilick, Monsieur Pirouet, the Doctor, Mr. Wilson and myself, we are eight, not counting such help as the ladies may be able to give us. That is fully sufficient to handle a ship in fair weather for so short a voyage as the ten or twelve miles which are all that separate us from Saint-Domingue."

"Aye, Cap'n; it could be done!" cried Dan. "An' it rejoices me old heart ter hear ye propoundin' sich schemes agin. Let we set out upon it here an' now afore we fall asleep an’ the night be lost."

"To make the attempt tonight is out of the question," Fergusson put in quickly. "At least half of us have been wounded to a greater or lesser degree, and her ladyship is still unconscious."

"Even with that handicap I feel that we should be ill-advised to delay the venture," Roger argued. "Down at the house everything must be in confusion. A score or more of the slaves ran off. It is quite possible that they started to loot or burn it before the pirates got back; so our enemies may have been hard put to it to suppress a mutiny. In any case, all their leaders having been killed or rendered hors de combat, it is certain they are at sixes and sevens. I saw Lucette perched up on a high boulder, and she had the sense to keep out of the fight; but, able and unscrupulous as she is, I greatly doubt if - many of them would be willing to serve under a woman. Both the Heraults are crippled, and neither is of the stuff from which leaders are made. Philo the Greek can hardly be sufficiently recovered from the bash over the head I gave him to take charge. The odds are that they are at this moment squabbling about whom to appoint as their new chief, and they may not finally settle the matter till tomorrow. In the meantime, everyone being his own master, no watch will be kept or guards set We should be able to secure a boat with ease, and with luck we may find the Circe deserted. Such a chance is most unlikely ever to occur again."

The sound sense of what he said impressed them all so strongly 'hat, weary as they were, they agreed that this favourable opportunity to reach a safe port within the next few days must not be lost In consequence, stretcher-bearers were nominated to carry Georgina, and others among them made specially responsible for the protection of the three other women. It was then that Clarissa was discovered to be missing.

Thinking that she had left them only for a moment and must be near at hand, they called to her. But no reply came from the surround­ing darkness. Greatly puzzled, Roger and Dan made their way several hundred yards farther up the track, still calling her name. Only the echoes of their voices came back to them; so they decided that she must have gone a little way down hill towards the clearing.

By that time the party was ready to set off; so they all proceeded down the track in single file, continuing to call to Clarissa as they went. It was not until they were within fifty yards of the gully that they caught a faint reply. Halting, they anxiously discussed what they should do. The scared note in Clarissa's voice as she now shouted to them made it clear that for some reason she had blundered off the track and got hopelessly lost in the pitch dark forest. But the faintness of her cries also made it clear that she was some way off, and for any of them to plunge in after her was to risk getting lost too.

Fergusson suggested that several of them should go in ten yards apart, but the denseness of the vegetation was such that even in formation they must soon have lost touch with one another; so Roger would not hear of it. After a moment's thought he said:

"The safest course would be to guide her back by continuing to call her, but that may prove a long and weary business, as she will probably blunder about all over the place before she gets near enough to be certain of the direction the calls are coming from. But there is no point in us all remaining here, so you had best continue on your way while I remain to do the shouting. We still have most of the night before us, and our chance of getting away in a boat unseen will be all the greater if we wait until our enemies are asleep. You might even snatch an hour or two's badly needed sleep yourselves; but see to it that you take it in turns, and that two or more of you are constantly on watch against surprise. The best place to spend the time of waiting would be on the edge of the forest where the track comes out on to the beach. I shall be able to find you there without difficulty, and I'll join you as soon as I can."

Again the others agreed that his proposals were sound, and the' thought of a few hours' sleep was more than welcome to all of them; so they resumed their weary trudging and left him there.

At intervals he kept on calling to Clarissa and gradually her replies grew louder. After twenty minutes she was near enough for him to encourage her. Soon afterwards there came a loud rustling of the leaves close by him in the darkness. He could just make out her form as she came towards him. Next moment she gave a gasp, flung her arms round his neck and sobbed:

"Oh Roger! Thank God you're safe!"

For the first time in days he laughed. "Safe, m'dear! But it is you whose safety sent us near distraction some half-hour back. What crazy notion impelled you to separate yourself from us and get lost in this nightmarish jungle?"

"I came to seek you," she murmured. "You remained behind down by the gully for so long. I feared that some ill had befallen you. But I blundered in among the trees and could not find my way out again."

"Poor child," he soothed her. "It must have been terrible for you."

"I am no child," she exclaimed with sudden anger. "And I sought you because I love you."

Dumbfounded by this declaration he could find no words to reply as she hurried on: "There! I've said it now. But I don't give a rap! If you'd had half an eye you'd have seen it long ago. You're all that a man should be, and I've loved you since the first moment I set eyes on you."

"Clarissa!" he protested sharply. "You must not say such things."

"Do you not think I know it!" she cried bitterly. "I owe Amanda a debt I never can repay for rescuing me from that dreary life with my Aunt Jane. Oh, I am ashamed as never a woman was; yet I can't help it!"

Roger knew only too well that in such matters most men, and most women too, are the playthings of their own passions, so he reproved her only by saying gently: "Even so you had no right to speak of it, knowing me to be happily married to your cousin."

"Ah, that's the tragedy!" There were now tears in her voice. "I know that you're not Not happily married, I mean. I'll vow you've been unfaithful to Amanda more than once, and I know for a fact that you recently had a hectic love affair when you were in France. More, 'tis common knowledge that while you were away Amanda was unfaithful to you, so that you were near separating from her on your return."

"Who told you these things?"

"No matter, but I know them."

Roger pulled her arms from about his neck and his tone suddenly became harsh. "Do you think, then, that by setting your cap at me, you can seduce me from Amanda?"

"I would I could," came the quick retort. "But even if you'd have me I'd be bound out of common decency to say you nay. Amanda is my friend and benefactress. I'd rather die than bear the shame of having betrayed her trust in me. Yet I know you to be a lonely man at heart and were matters otherwise I'd stop at nothing to have you for my own."

Again he was at a loss for adequate words to chill this desperate youthful passion; but he did his best by saying: "Believe me, you'd regret it soon enough. 'Tis clear that you have heard tales of my doings while abroad; and invested me with a glamour for which there is no warrant I am no braver or better than the average man and, as you have found out for yourself, considerably worse as a husband.

"That I will not believe. But for your courage and resource today I'd have been forced to the life of an unpaid whore in a brothel.

To see you fight is a thing to marvel at, and that it was even in small part for myself made my love for you ten times stronger. As for your frailties, who in this world is without them? And did you but love any woman with all your heart she would wean you .from them."

^r,Listen, Clarissa, he said a trifle hoarsely. "'Tis understandable that you may have formed a wrong impression. But Amanda and I would never have drifted apart had I not been so long abroad. Now that we are reunited I love her as much as I am capable of loving any woman."

"Since you protest it, I'll not argue that. In any case, I have already told you that my last thought would be to endeavour to take you from her."

"Then I beg you to be advised by me. Do your utmost to free your

mind from this infatuation, which can but be embarrassing to us both.

These early loves are rarely lasting, and you are still so young.."

"Young!" she broke in impatiently. "There are no more than eight years between us. I am eighteen, and at that age many of my friends are not only married but about to bear their second child."

Roger knew that she was right, but persisted. "I meant only that you have ample years ahead of you before you need give your heart to the love or a lifetime."

"I have already given it to you."

He sadly shook his head. "In that case I can only say how deeply I regret that you should have fastened your affections on such an unsatisfactory and unworthy object." His tone grew firmer, as he added: "And now, it is only right that I should let you know that I feel in honour bound to terminate, as soon as possible, the situation that your declaration has brought about. It would be indelicate both to Amanda and yourself for me to keep you with us."

"D'you mean that you intend to send me home?" she cried in dismay.

He felt a sudden impulse to laugh, but swiftly suppressed it and replied: "At the moment I am in no position to send anyone any­where ; but should we succeed in getting away I am sure that for your own sake it would be the best thing to do."

"Oh Roger, I beg you not to," she pleaded. "I never meant to say anything, and if I hadn't you wouldn't have known. All this came out only because I was overwrought. You see, until I got near enough to realize it was you calling me I feared you dead and . . . and, my relief at finding you alive proved too much for me."

Moved by her distress, he said with mental reservations: "Very well then, we'll not pursue the subject further. The others must have reached the beach ere this, and the sooner we join them the better. Then you can snatch a couple of hours' sleep before we make the attempt we have planned to get away in the Circe"

"Must we?" she asked. "Go yet, I mean; if there's no immediate hurry. I could drop with fatigue from having staggered about for so long among those awful bushes. Can we not rest here a while before making this new effort? I would so much rather."

Roger considered for a moment, then he shrugged. "As you wish, but we must not remain here above an hour, otherwise our friends will become anxious about us."

"Oh thank you," she sighed. Then backing away she added: "There's a fallen tree trunk here. I stumbled into it just now. It will serve to rest our backs against."

They fumbled about in the dark until they found the tree trunk, and sat down side by side. After a few minutes she said: "Roger, are you angry with me because I told you that I love you?"

"No," he replied. "I would that you had refrained; but no man could be insensible to such a compliment, or so churlish as to think less of anyone because they had admitted that they held him dear."

"Some would, I think; but not you, dear Roger, for you are kind as well as brave."

To that he made no reply. Silence and the deep night then engulfed them. It was over thirty-six hours since, aboard the Circe, Roger had woken from his last proper sleep, and during them his vitality had been drained both mentally and physically. Before he was aware of it he was fast asleep.

He was woken by soft fingers stroking his stubbly cheek, and roused to find himself in a woman's arms with his head pillowed on her breast. As he started up memory flooded back to him, and he realized that he was in the forest with Clarissa.

The darkness hid her smile as she murmured: "Never in all my life have I been so reluctant to do a thing as when I brought myself to wake you; but the night moves on."

"How long have you let me sleep?" he cried apprehensively.

"Two hours; three at the most," she replied with a shrug.

"Thank God it was not more!" he exclaimed, scrambling to his feet. "Are you certain? Did you not also sleep?"

She stood up beside him. "No. I remained awake to wake you should you sleep too long. But don't grudge me those hours, Roger. They are my treasure, and no one can now ever take them from me."

Touched, angry, embarrassed, he could find nothing to say but "Come, we must get down to the others. We had better tell them that I went into the forest to find you and got lost as well."

She laughed. "Tell any fib you please. 'Twill form another secret bond between us. But I vow that I'll give you no cause to blush for it."

Somewhat reassured by this evidence of her intention to refrain from further demonstrations of her feelings for him, he took her by the arm and they walked as fast as they could down to the gully.

While Roger slept the moon had come up and they found the clearing now flooded with silvery light. By it, as they crossed the plank, they could see the still bodies of the men who had died that evening, and were even able to identify some of them. Roger could not repress a shudder as he glanced at the dark pit of the now silent pool, then he hurried Clarissa across the open space to the black tunnel where the path entered it on its far side. Plunging into the gloom again, they made their way down the slope until they were met by a cautious challenge.