The Pirate of the Mediterranean Part 40

As Fleetwood considered the delay would not be of consequence, and that no harm could arise from allowing the midshipman to have his way, he gave him leave to do as he proposed, and in two minutes he returned, having accomplished his object.

"There, sir," he said, laughing quietly. "If the pirates miss one of the chairs, they may look for it long enough before they find it or the rope, and in the mean time they will fancy English young ladies can jump forty feet to the ground without hurting themselves. When they try to open the door, too, they'll think we are inside, for I barricadoed it with everything I could find, and there'll be a pretty smash when they shove it open."

"You have done admirably, and now take Marianna's arm, and follow me,"

said Fleetwood, leading the way with Ada.

When Ada Garden found herself once more by Fleetwood's side, she returned her grateful thanks to Heaven for having thus restored her to liberty; for so strong was her confidence in her lover's courage and judgment, that she felt as if all difficulty and danger were over, and that success must await them.

Fleetwood also uttered a silent thanksgiving to Heaven, and a prayer for protection during the still greater danger he knew they must encounter in their endeavour to get out of the harbour; but, of course, he did not tell her this. Neither spoke; they both were confident of the sentiments of each other's heart, and Ada felt it would be useless at that moment to express her grat.i.tude, when she hoped to prove it during the remainder of her life; and he in like manner knew that there would be no necessity to tell her of his love and joy at finding her, when his acts were giving her such convincing evidence of it. They walked on under the shadow of the wall, as noiselessly and rapidly as they could move, towards the commencement of the steep path leading down the ravine. In doing so they had to pa.s.s close to Nina's tower. Fleetwood looked up; no light was seen streaming from the cas.e.m.e.nt, nor was any one heard stirring within.

On they went, and, Fleetwood tenderly supporting Ada, they commenced descending the path. They had got about a quarter of the way down, when Fleetwood fancied he heard the sound of a distant footfall. Could it be the echo of their own feet? he thought, then made a sign to Raby to stop while they listened. There could be no mistake about it. Footsteps were rapidly approaching, and, on looking back, they saw, to their dismay, a dark figure on the cliff above them. Fleetwood drew back under the shadow of an overhanging rock, and he could feel Ada, who had also seen the figure, as she clung closer to his arm, tremble with alarm, which she in vain endeavoured to overcome. Marianna uttered a faint shriek, and was going to repeat it, when Jack Raby gave her a pinch, which effectually recalled her to her senses, and, in a whisper, he threatened to give her another if she made the slightest noise. A minute or two of the most intense anxiety pa.s.sed away, which, under the circ.u.mstances, appeared nearly an hour, and no one appeared.

"If we emerge from where we are, we cannot escape being seen, should the person remain where he was," replied Fleetwood. "It will be better to confront him boldly, and learn his intention in following us, than to allow him to go back and to give information of our attempt. I will leave you, Ada, in charge of Mr Raby, and will return instantly."

"Oh, do not quit me!" exclaimed Ada. "I will go with you--indeed, I am not alarmed for myself; but I know not what may happen to you. They may kill you, Fleetwood--oh, do not go."

"It is absolutely necessary that something should be done, dearest, and there is no greater danger to be feared in going than remaining,"

answered Fleetwood. "Ada, I must force myself from you--it must be done."

"You are right, Charles, I was weak. Go, and I will remain as you wish," she whispered, relinquishing his arm, and he sprang up the path.

Jack did his best to comfort Ada, by a.s.suring her that his captain could easily manage to thrash a dozen Greeks, and that he was not likely to suffer any harm from a single pirate, at all events. Every moment Ada expected to hear the noise of a struggle, a pistol-shot, or the clash of swords. She listened with breathless eagerness, trembling in every limb, and she would have followed her lover, had she not known that her so doing would be against his wish, and could be of no advantage to him, but might cause great harm. It appeared to her an age since he left her, and her anxiety became almost too great to be borne.

"Oh, Mr Raby, cannot you go up and see what has become of Captain Fleetwood? Some accident has happened to him, I am certain," she whispered to the midshipman.

"I must obey orders, Miss Garden, and wait for the captain's return,"

was the answer, in the same low tone. "You need not be alarmed, I can a.s.sure you--he has not been gone two minutes."

He had scarcely spoken when Ada's quick ear caught the sound of footsteps, and she could scarcely restrain her cry of joy, as she sprang forward to meet him. He placed his arm tenderly round her to support her, as he led her on.

"It is very extraordinary," he said; "I could find no one, though I searched the very spot where I had seen him standing. But, come on, dearest, we have time to reach the boat, and to get outside the harbour before the spy, if such he was, can send people to pursue us."

"I am able to walk much faster," said Ada, hastening her steps, "I dread any delay in this dreadful place."

They had not, however, proceeded many paces, when, on turning one of the many angles of the winding path, a person, the same, they fancied, whom they had before seen, appeared suddenly before them, and laid a hand on Fleetwood's arm.

"Stay, signor," he said in a low, deep voice, speaking in the Italian language. "You are already suspected by one who knows not mercy, and if he were to discover your wild attempt to carry off that lady, your death would be the consequence. Return and abandon it; for ere you can get beyond the sound of the waves, as they dash on the cliffs below, you will be pursued and overtaken."

"I know not who you are, signor," said Fleetwood; "but, as I believe your warning is given in kindness, I thank you. To follow your advice is impossible, and I must beg you, as a favour, not to detain us--I need not ask you, I trust, not to betray us."

"I feel sure that Signor Montifalcone will not do so," exclaimed Ada, recognising at once the voice of the young Italian. "He will rather exert himself to a.s.sist us--I am not mistaken in his generosity."

Paolo was silent a minute, when, releasing his grasp of Fleetwood's arm, he sighed as if his heart would break, and took Ada's hand. "Lady," he said, in a tone of deep melancholy, "you sign my death-warrant; but it shall not prevent me from obeying your wishes. I will accompany you to your boat, if you have one prepared, and, when you have gone, I will endeavour to deceive those who attempt to follow you. Further, I know not how to aid you."

"We are grateful to you for your promised aid," said Fleetwood; "and now, lead on, we can ill afford further delay."

"It is for the lady's sake I act," muttered Paolo, beginning to move onward down the path.

Ada overheard him. "It is because you are generous, and would preserve the lives of others, even though you risk your own," she said, in a low tone, touching his arm. "But if there is danger in remaining here, come with us. You can be conveyed in safety to your native country, and can ascertain if your father yet lives."

"What! and leave my unhappy sister to her fate?" said the young man, turning round his countenance towards her, which, even with the faint light afforded by the moon, she observed wore an expression of the deepest grief. "I have but one object to live for,--for her sake alone I consent to endure existence. Do not ask me to quit her."

"Oh that she would have come too," said Ada. "She might yet be saved."

"She would not accompany you, lady," answered Paolo. "Pirate though he is, Zappa is still her husband, and no power would now make her quit him. But I delay you, and increase the risk of discovery, already sufficiently great, by speaking. I will say no more, but that I pray, when in safety in your native land, you will not forget the unhappy exile whom once you knew, and who would gladly have died to serve you."

He spoke as they walked on, and a few minutes more brought them to the mouth of the ravine, whence a full view of the moonlit bay lay before them.

The _Sea Hawk_ and two misticos were at their anchors. No light appeared on board either of them, nor was there any one moving, that Fleetwood could discover, on their decks; nor was the slightest noise heard, except the low, gentle ripple of the untiring water on the sands; yet so smooth and gla.s.s-like was the sea, that every star in the heavens seemed reflected on its surface. He could distinguish, also, the dark boats drawn up on the beach; but he looked in vain for the one his friends were to secure, in which to make their escape.

"They have, with due caution, carefully concealed her," he said to himself. "When we get more to the left, we shall doubtlessly see her."

On descending to the sands, they turned, therefore, sharp round to the left under the cliffs, which, it must be remembered, was the direction of the spot agreed on where the boat was to be in readiness. At length they reached the black rock, alongside of which Fleetwood expected to find her, and, to his great satisfaction, he saw that she was there; and his friends directly after rose from her bottom, where they had concealed themselves while waiting for his coming.

"We were alarmed for your safety, Captain Fleetwood," said Bowse, leaping out to meet them. "We waited so long for you; but everything is in readiness. If you will a.s.sist Miss Garden on board, I will take care of Marianna. But who is this stranger with you?"

"One to whom I owe much," said Ada, stretching out her hand. "Farewell, Signor Montifalcone, may Heaven reward you for what you have done for me."

"Farewell, lady, and may you never know the grief I am doomed to bear,"

returned the Italian; and before Fleetwood, who would have thanked him, could speak, he had retired to a distance; and as they quickly embarked, and urged the boat from the sh.o.r.e, they could see him standing watching them, still as a marble statue.

CHAPTER THIRTY.

"Thank Heaven, you are so far safe, dearest," said Fleetwood, as he placed Ada in the stern sheets of the boat, by the side of Jack Raby, who, it was arranged, should steer, while he took the stroke oar, his companions pulling the others.

With heartfelt grat.i.tude did Ada thank Heaven, for having thus far conducted them in safety through the perils which surrounded them, and implored protection for herself, and for the gallant men, her deliverers, through those they had still to encounter.

They had well employed the time spent in waiting, by carefully m.u.f.fling the oars, so that they should make no noise as they worked in the rullocks, and it was now only necessary to take care to let the blades fall into the water, and to draw them out again with as little splash as possible.

Marianna sat opposite to her mistress; and if not the most delighted of the party at the success which had hitherto attended them, she, at all events, gave more vehement expression to her feelings; and Raby had to apply his former remedy to keep her quiet.

At a sign from Fleetwood, the boat was sent gliding off from the rock; but instead of at once steering out into the bay, she was kept close in sh.o.r.e, under the shadow of the cliffs: the blades of the oars just clearing the sand as they went along.

The boat was a very rough specimen of naval architecture, and wore they to have depended on her speed, the chance of escape would have been small indeed. She was built to pull six oars, with a high bow and stern, and though well suited to serve as a fishing-boat, or to live in the short seas of the Archipelago, was not intended to be used when rapid progress was important. The adventurers had, indeed, selected her, not on account of the qualities she possessed adapted for their purpose, but because she happened to be moored close into the sh.o.r.e, near the east side of the bay, and, what was very important, had her oars left on board her. Pietro, who was a good swimmer, had, it appeared, gone off with his knife in his mouth, and cutting her cable, towed her close enough in for the other two to step into her. They had then brought her round, with the same cautious silence, to where Fleetwood had found her.

The hearts of all beat quick with hope, not unmixed, however, with apprehension, as the boat glided along the sh.o.r.e close to the cliffs.

Fleetwood's glance was roving watchfully round, to notice the first sign of their being discovered, and of any preparations made for their pursuit. The figure of the unhappy Paolo Montifalcone was the only one discernible, as he stood at the end of the rock, to catch a last glimpse of the faint outline of her on whom he had so devotedly set the affection of his ardent nature, without a prospect of return, and his figure soon faded away in the obscurity.

From the sh.o.r.e, the adventurers had now, they thought, less cause to fear; but they looked with suspicious eyes towards the brig, and the two misticos, on the decks of which, at least, one person ought to have been on the watch; but neither of them gave any signs of having life on board.

"If we had suspected the sort of watch there rascals keep, we should have had little difficulty in taking them by surprise," thought Fleetwood. "We may profit by our knowledge on another occasion, but I am afraid they will not _forget_ the lesson I hope we shall give them, to be more vigilant in future."

Of course, it is difficult to describe the sensations which alternately filled Ada's bosom, as the boat progressed round the harbour; hope, joy, grat.i.tude, love, and fear, all were there; and those who would understand what they were, must either have been placed in a similar position, or must endeavour to fancy themselves so placed. At length the eastern point of the harbour was pa.s.sed, and with the towering cliffs of the entrance rising above them on either side, the clear boundless sea appeared ahead. Jack Raby, with the natural impulse of his age, forgetting his own lessons to Marianna, was very nearly giving way to a shout of joy as he found the boat floating freely on the ocean he had learned to love and to confide in; but he recollected himself in time, and merely uttered a whispered "hurra," which could not have been heard above the splash of the water on the rocks close above them.

"Port your helm, Raby, and let us shut out the bay as fast as we can,"