The Pirate of the Mediterranean Part 17

"Oh, tell me, where am I? What has happened?" exclaimed Ada, eagerly; but the exertion or excitement caused her again almost to faint.

"Hush, hush, my dear mistress," whispered Marianna. "Do not be alarmed.

You are not in a condition to ask questions, nor to listen to my answers, so I shall say nothing. You have been very ill with a fever, and you are to take this medicine, which will do you much good."

As she spoke, she presented a gla.s.s, filled with a cooling beverage, which, as Ada felt very thirsty, and her mouth dreadfully parched, she gratefully drank off and lay back on her pillows.

She saw that she was in a large cabin, furnished and ornamented with much taste; and through the open stern-ports, from which a light pure breeze blew in and cooled her fevered brow, she saw the calm blue sea glittering in the sunshine, and in the far distance the land rising in picturesque hillocks from out of the water. While she was gazing at this calm and soothing scene, and meditating on the meaning of Marianna's words, she fell into a quiet slumber.

The Maltese girl watched her mistress till she saw that she slept, and then busied herself in putting the cabin in order, and in dusting the furniture, as if she were in a room on sh.o.r.e.

The cabin was, as has been described, in the after part of the vessel, and occupied its entire width. It was fitted up with bird's-eye maple, and the mouldings were gilt.

There were two large sofas, or standing bed-places, on either side, with bra.s.s bars overhead, by which a curtain could be drawn round them.

The s.p.a.ce between the two ports was occupied by a rack, on which were arranged with much taste, a number of richly-embossed arms, pistols, swords, and daggers--and against the bulkhead was another stand, filled with muskets and cutla.s.ses, brightly polished.

On the couch farthest from the door, on the starboard side, lay Ada; with her feet towards the stern, and her head supported by pillows; so that the full force of such air as could find its way through the ports should blow on her face. As she slept, a fresh bloom slowly crept over her cheek, which had hitherto been of a deathlike paleness, and as her faithful attendant watched its appearance, she hailed it as a sign of returning health.

In the centre of the cabin was a table on which now stood a large vase, filled with sweet-scented flowers, which spoke of the sh.o.r.e and civilisation. There was, indeed, in the arrangement of the cabin generally, a mixture of elegant luxury and warlike preparation, which gave it the appearance of the cabin of a yacht fitted for a voyage among savage or treacherous people. Whatever she was, Marianna seemed perfectly at home. Her work-basket was on the table, and various things belonging to it were scattered about; as were several articles of female apparel, which showed also that she considered the cabin sacred to her mistress and herself. When she had arranged everything to her satisfaction, she again sat down composedly to her work, and amused herself, as she plied her needle, by singing a song of her native island, in a tone, however, too low to run any risk of disturbing her mistress. After some time she got tired of singing, and then as some people are apt to do, who are fond of keeping their tongues going when they have n.o.body else to speak to, she began to talk to herself. She did not raise her voice, it is true, above a whisper, but still it was sufficient to give exercise to that little fidgety occupant of the mouth.

"Well, this is all very nice, and very pleasant, and very agreeable; and the gentlemen are very civil, and very respectful, and very kind; but I wonder when we shall ever reach the sh.o.r.e," she said; and then she went on singing again, and then once more began to talk as follows:--"I suppose, as they say, we shall at last reach the sh.o.r.e, and everything will be as it should be, and my mistress will be happy and contented after all her troubles--poor dear, sweet, young lady--I'm sure she ought to be. Well, it does puzzle me, exceedingly--that it does--I cannot make it out, no more, I am sure, would wiser heads than mine. But there is one thing I am very sure of, that Signor Paolo is one of the wisest and most amiable young gentlemen I ever saw. So melancholy, too, he seems--something very dreadful weighs on his spirits, I am sure. I don't think he is in love--I thought so at first; but when I hinted that he was, he gave the nearest approach to a smile of which he is capable, which I'm sure he would not have done, if he was a victim of the tender pa.s.sion. One thing is certain, however--he saved the life of my sweet young mistress. If it had not been for his knowing how to doctor, I'm sure she would have died--dear, dear, how sad it would have been--what would have become of me, too! Well, when she recovers, and I tell her all that has happened, I am sure she'll think the same of him that I do.

When she does begin, she will be asking me so many questions--I wish that I could answer one half of them--first, she'll want to know what has become of the poor old gentleman, her uncle. Well, he certainly was a pa.s.sionate, grumpy, sour old man as ever lived. Yet he had his good points--he had a kind heart, which made him do many a kind thing in his own rough way. He was generous, too, when he thought people deserving, and then he dotingly loved my young mistress, and intended to leave her all his money. What shall I tell her has become of him? I can tell her nothing; for I know no more than she does; or what has become of the brave Captain Bowse, or his polite mates, or even of that stupid long-legged fellow, Mitch.e.l.l. I'm afraid, after the dreadful noise I heard, they must all long ago have gone to the other world. But to believe so would make my young lady sad, and would agitate her, and Signor Paolo says she must be kept quiet, so I will tell her I know nothing. Ah! that will be the safest plan."

While she was running on in this way, a gentle knock was heard at the door--she sprang up, and went to it cautiously.

"Who is there?" she asked.

"It is I, Paolo--may I enter?" answered a voice from without.

"Oh yes, indeed you may, Signor Paolo," she whispered through the keyhole, and at the same time withdrew the bolts from the door. As she did so she fancied she heard a bolt drawn slowly back outside. When the door opened, a young man entered, habited in the Greek costume, though his features were more like those of one born in Italy, as was the language he spoke.

"Has the lady yet awoke, and have you given her the potion I left for her?" he asked in a cautious tone.

"_Si, signor_, she not only awoke, and drank up the draught, but she began to talk, and has now gone to sleep again," replied Marianna. "See how sweetly she sleeps."

The young man stepped across the cabin so that he might be able to see Ada's countenance.

He observed the slight roseate tinge which had visited her cheek, and her calm, quiet breathing.

"The lady does well," he whispered. "I will send you another draught to give her when she awakes, which she will not however do until towards the evening; and then, when she speaks, try to tranquillise her mind, and induce her again to sleep. The slightest agitation might be fatal to her."

"Oh, then, signor, I will tell her anything you advise," answered Marianna. "But I am much puzzled what to say; and I want you to tell me, among many other things, where we are going; because I know that will be one of the first questions she will ask me, and I'm sure I can't answer it."

The young man hesitated before he spoke.

"Tell her," he said, at last, "that we are going to a place where she will be kindly and honourably treated; but that you know not the name of it. I am not the commander of this vessel, nor can I direct her course; and I am not allowed to say more than I have."

"Oh, but you have great influence with him who is commander; and you can make him do what you like, I am sure," urged the Maltese girl.

"Indeed, I cannot," answered the young man, mournfully. "My influence extends but a short way, and can be but rarely exerted in the cause of right. Were I to attempt too much, I should become altogether powerless."

He stopped, as if he had said too much, and seemed about to leave the cabin. He again, however, went up to Marianna, and whispered--"It may be better for your mistress and yourself that she remain as if overcome with illness till the conclusion of the voyage. Urge her not to rise, or to attempt to go on deck; and tell her that the leech who has attended her, has prescribed perfect silence and calmness. You understand me?"

"I do, signor--though I cannot comprehend your reasons," returned Marianna. "But, at all events, you can tell me when the voyage is to be brought to a conclusion. It has lasted already a long time. I did not think the Mediterranean sea was so large."

"Even there I cannot satisfy you," returned he who was called by Marianna Signor Paolo. "Certainly not for many days; it may be even for some weeks. You observe, that we do not always continue sailing. We visit the sh.o.r.e occasionally, and, sometimes, remain hours together at anchor."

"I cannot say exactly that I discovered that," answered the girl. "I thought sometimes the ship appeared to sail very slowly, and that we were very near the sh.o.r.e; but I knew not that we were altogether at rest. Yet I cannot understand why you should not tell me where we are going to."

"Perhaps I myself do not know," returned Paolo evasively. "The commander of this ship does not always say where he will next steer."

"There again--who is your commander?" asked the girl. "It is strange you should not have told me his name."

"You are much too curious, Marianna," answered Signor Paolo. "I must again warn you to prevent your mistress from asking questions, which you cannot answer; and now I must leave you, for the present; for I dare not remain long at a time here."

Saying this, to the great disappointment of Marianna, who had made up her mind to enjoy a long chat, he took his departure; and she bolted and locked the door behind him--saying, as she did so, "I will do as he tells me, at all events; and, as I may not go out, no one else shall come in without my leave."

The bright rays of the sun were streaming through the stern-ports, and glittering on the arms and the gilt mouldings of the bulkheads, when Ada Garden again awoke. Her eyes were dazzled by the bright refulgence which they encountered, and almost blinded, she closed them, till Marianna bethought of drawing the curtain across the foot of her couch.

In so doing she saw that her mistress was awake.

Now, although the glare of the sunlight had disturbed Ada's slumbers, it had had the beneficial effect of imparting somewhat of its brightness to her spirits; and instead of the gloomy oppression which she had before experienced, she now felt a glow of hope circling round her heart; and she was fully prepared to credit the favourable account of the state of affairs which Marianna was about to give her as soon as she was questioned.

"Where am I--what has happened?" she asked, endeavouring to sit up.

"You must take another draught before I am at liberty to tell you anything, my dear signora," answered Marianna, bringing her the goblet which Paolo had sent. She drank the cooling mixture, and it served still further to revive her. "Now let me arrange your pillows, and I will tell you all you want to know," said the faithful girl, arranging her couch. "There, now you are comfortable! Well, first, we are with very kind, considerate people, who do everything I wish; and we are as safe as we can be on board ship--though I wish ships had never been invented; then we are going to a very beautiful place--though, when we are to get there depends on the wind and other circ.u.mstances, which I am not clever enough to explain."

She was running on in this style, when Ada cut her short by abruptly asking--

"Where is my uncle? Is he on board? Why does he not come to me?"

"Ah! there are some little mysteries which I cannot explain just now, and that is one of them," promptly returned Marianna. "The signor colonel is not on board the ship, nor is the good Captain Bowse--they all went away in the other one; and we--that we might be much safer--we came on board this one. Here we are, and here we must remain, till you, my dear signora, can get well enough to go on sh.o.r.e; but there is no hurry, for we could not be better off than we are now. So, as you have asked a great many questions, which your doctor said that if you did I was not to answer, yet I have done so, you must try and go fast asleep again, and forget all about it."

Ada was still too weak, she discovered, to talk; and her mind had not either sufficiently recovered its clearness to perceive the glaring evasiveness of her servant's replies; so, satisfied that her apprehensions of danger were groundless, she amused herself by examining the fittings of the cabin, and by watching through the open ports the magnificent effect of the setting sun, which now just dipping in the water, seemed to convert the whole ocean into a sheet of liquid gold.

She thus discovered that the ship was steering an easterly course, from which she concluded that she was still on her voyage to Cephalonia.

Two more days pa.s.sed away, and served to restore to Ada Garden her strength both of mind and body, though the uncertainty of the past and present, and painful antic.i.p.ations for the future, much r.e.t.a.r.ded her complete recovery.

In vain she questioned Marianna. Her lively attendant knew but little-- and even that, she had been taught, it would be beneficial to her mistress to conceal. The young Italian had once entered the cabin while she was awake, and had felt her pulse, in order to be better able to prescribe for her, but had remained not a moment longer than was absolutely necessary in her presence. She resolved, however, the next time he came to detain and question him; for the description given of him by Marianna, already made her place confidence in him. She had not long to wait for an opportunity; for that evening, just before sunset, his knock was heard at the cabin doors, and with the usual caution he entered.

"How is your mistress?" he asked of Marianna. "Does she feel stronger?"

"She is awake to answer for herself," returned the Maltese girl, "and will gladly speak to you."

The young man started--he had so generally found her unconscious, that he seemed not to have expected to find her able to question him. He, however, crossed the cabin and stood with his arms folded, leaning against the bulkhead, where she could not observe his countenance. Ada was the first to speak.

"I am glad you have come, signor," she said, in a low tone; "for I am anxious to express my grat.i.tude to you for the attention with which, as my maid tells me, you have treated me during my illness, and to which I feel sensible I am much indebted for my recovery."

"Lady, I have but performed the duty in obedience to the order of another," he replied, in a tone so calm that it sounded almost cold to her ear. "I found you suffering, and I have employed what knowledge I possess of the healing art to restore you to health. I rejoice to find that my efforts have not been totally unavailing."