Part 41 (2/2)
”Touching e carry yonder?” quoth he, his glance shi+fting to the bale ”Ie he would have betrayed it before we left Algiers, or else he would never have sailed without a stouter bodyguard of his own
”What need of bodyguard for hirips between us--as well it may if what I suspect be true--there is no doubt as to the side upon which the corsairs would range theitello, a smile upon his swarthy face ”Be not so sure These hts To them thou art the Basha, their natural leader”
”Maybe But their allegiance belongs to Asad-ed-Din, the exalted of Allah Did it coe them to stand beside him in spite of any past bonds that may have existed between them and me”
”Yet there were some who murmured when thou wert superseded in the coitello informed him ”I doubt not that many would be influenced by their faith, but ainst the Grand Sultan hi his voice, ”that adoes like myself and thee, ould never know a moment's doubt if it came to a choice of sides But I hope,” he ended in another tone, ”there is no such danger here”
”And so do I, in all faith,” replied Sakr-el-Bahr, with fervour ”Yet I am uneasy, and I must knohere I stand if the worst takes place Go thou ae their humour and endeavour to ascertain upon what numbers I may count if I have to declare war upon Asad or if he declares it upon itello closed one of his black eyes portentously ”Depend upon it,”
he said, ”I'll bring you word anon”
On that they parted, Vigitello to ations, Sakr-el-Bahr slowly to retrace his steps to the poop But at the first bench abaft the gangway he paused, and looked down at the dejected, white-fleshed slave who sat shackled there He sotten in the savour of vengeance
”So you have tasted the whip already,” he said in English ”But that is nothing to what is yet to come You are in luck that there is a wind to-day It will not always be so Soon shall you learn what it was that I endured by your contriving”
Lionel looked up at hiard, blood-injected eyes He wanted to curse his brother, yet was he too overwhelmed by the sense of the fitness of this punish,” he replied
”But you will, sweet brother,” was the answer ”You will care for yourself nantly I speak from experience 'Tis odds you will not live, and that is ret I would you hadhell”
”I tell you I care nothing for myself,” Lionel insisted ”What have you done with Rosamund?”
”Will it surprise you to learn that I have played the gentleman and married her?” Oliverat the very thought ”You hound!”
”Why abuse h he sauntered on, leaving Lionel to writhe there with the tore
An hour later, when the cloudy outline of the Balearic Isles had acquired density and colour, Sakr-el-Bahr and Vigitello ed so
”It is difficult to say exactly,” the boatswain ather I think the odds would be very evenly balanced, and it were rash in thee to precipitate a quarrel”
”I am not like to do so,” replied Sakr-el-Bahr ”I should not be like to do so in any case I but desired to kno I stand in case a quarrel should be forced upon me” And he passed on
Yet his uneasiness was no whit allayed; his difficulties were very far from solved He had undertaken to carry Rosaed her his word to land her upon one or the other shore, and should he fail, she ht even come to conclude that such had never been his real intention Yet hoas he to succeed, now, since Asad was aboard the galeasse? Must he be constrained to carry her back to Algiers as secretly as he had brought her thence, and to keep her there until another opportunity of setting her ashore upon a Christian country should present itself? That was clearly iht with too much risk of detection Indeed, the risk of detection was very iht be betrayed He could think of no way in which to redee to his luck and to some opportunity which it was i hour and more he paced there moodily to and fro, his hands clasped behind hiht, his heart very heavy within him He was taken in the toils of the evil hich he had spun; and it see short of his life itself would be demanded as the price of it That, however, was the least part of his concern All things had miscarried with him and his life recked If at the price of it he could ensure safety to Rosaladly pay But his dis fro that most desired of objects even at such a sacrifice And so he paced on alone and very lonely, waiting and praying for a miracle
CHAPTER XVI THE PANNIER
He was still pacing there when an hour or so before sunset--so out--they stood before the entrance of a long bottle-necked cove under the shadow of the cliffs of Aquila Point on the southern coast of the Island of Formentera He was rendered aware of this and roused fro to hi him to make the cove