"I hesitated a moment, and he turned to me with the look of a fiend on his dark, handsome face.
""I said you might _go_," he repeated.
""I will double that sum if you know how to keep your tongue still," the man said, thrusting another bill into my hand.
"As I pushed out into midstream the girl grew frantic. With an almost superhuman effort she succeeded in removing the woolen scarf which had been wound so tightly about her mouth, then with a cry which I shall never forget while life lasts, she shrieked out piteously, as she threw out her white arms wildly toward me:
""Help! help! Oh! help, for the love of Heaven! Don"t desert me! Come back! oh, come back and save me!"
"The blood fairly stood still in my veins. Her companion hurled her back so quickly that she completely lost her balance, and fell fainting in his arms.
""Go!" he cried, angrily, "and not one word of what you have seen or heard!"
"I can not desert a lady in distress, sir," I answered.
"With a fury such as I have never seen equaled, he turned and faced me in the moonlight.
""I will give you just one moment to go!" he cried, his right hand creeping toward his hip-pocket--"another moment to get out of sight!"
"I knew that it was as much as my life was worth to remain where I was; so, despite the girl"s pitiful entreaties, I rowed back slowly into midstream and down the river.
"I fairly made my boat fly over the water. I headed straight for Clayton--the nearest village--and there I told my startling story to the people. In less time than it takes to tell it, a half dozen of us started back for Wau-Winet Island. Arriving, we crept silently up the steep path that led to the house. My loud ringing brought the gentleman himself to the door. I shall never forget the fire that leaped into his eyes as he saw me; but nothing daunted, I said to him determinedly:
"I have come here with these men to aid the young girl who appealed to me for help a little while ago."
"My companions pressed close behind me, until they filled the wide entrance hall and closed in around him.
""You are certainly mad!" he cried. "There is no young lady on Wau-Winet Island, nor has any woman ever put foot upon it at least since it has been my property," he added.
""Do you mean to say that I did not row you and a young lady over to this island within this hour, and that she did not appeal to me for help?" I asked.
""Certainly not!" he declared promptly.
""You must be either mad or dreaming to even think of such a thing," he continued, haughtily. "However," turning to my companions, "seeing that you have had the trouble of coming here--brought by this lunatic--you are welcome to look through the house and satisfy yourselves. In fact, I beg that you will do so."
"Much to his surprise, we took him at his word."
CHAPTER V.
THE MYSTERIOUS HOUSE ON LONELY WAU-WINET ISLAND.
"We searched the stone house from cellar to garret in hopes of finding a trace of the beautiful girl I felt sure was imprisoned within its grim walls, the owner following, with a look of defiance on his dark, handsome face.
""She _must_ be on this island," I declared, vehemently. "I rowed you and her over here."
"It is quite true that you rowed _me_ over here, my good fellow, but no fair lady accompanied me, unless it might have been some mermaid. I hope you are satisfied," said he, turning to my companions, "that the man who has brought you here has played you a trick."
"And now stranger, you ask me to take you to Wau-Winet Island on just such a mission, and I answer you that it would be as much as our lives are worth."
"It is evident," returned Hubert Varrick, excitedly, "that there is some fearful mystery, and it is our duty to try to fathom it if it is within our power."
"As you say, sir," replied the man.
At this moment the skiff grated sharply upon the sand, and the two men sprung out.
They had scarcely proceeded half the distance to the house when they were suddenly confronted by a man.
"Who are you, and what do you want here?" he asked.
"I must see the master of Wau-Winet Island," returned Varrick, sternly.
"Are you he?"
"No," returned the man, rather uneasily. "He left the island scarcely five minutes ago in his boat. I am only the man working about the place."
"Tell me," cried Varrick, earnestly, "was there a lady with him? I will pay you well to answer me."
The man"s gaze shifted uneasily.
"There was no lady with him. I suppose that you have heard the strange story about this island, and have come to investigate the matter. Let me tell you, it is more than annoying to my master. Had he heard it he never would have bought the place. As it is he has left it for good and all to-night, and is going to advertise the place for sale. If they had told my master, when he came here to buy, the story that a young and beautiful woman was supposed to have been murdered here many years ago, and that at nights her spirit haunts the place, he never would have bought it. Other people imagine that they seen it; but we, who live here, never have."
The man told this with such apparent earnestness and truth, that Varrick was mystified. Had his eyes deceived him? They evidently had. And then again he told himself that, thinking so much of Gerelda, he had imagined that the face he had seen for a moment in the flash-light bore a striking resemblance to hers. And he persuaded himself to believe that the fisherman"s story was a myth.
He well knew that, of all people in the world, fishermen loved to spin the most exaggerated yarns, and be the heroes of the greatest adventures.
He got out of the matter as gracefully as only Varrick could, apologizing for his intrusion, and expressing himself as only too pleased to know that his imagination had simply been at fault.
"Will you come in?" asked the man, turning to him. "My master has always given orders that we are to be very hospitable to strangers."
"You are very kind, and I thank you for your courtesy," returned Varrick, "but I think not. We will try to cut across the bay and catch the steamer further down."
So saying, he motioned his companion to enter the boat.
The little boat containing the two men was scarcely out of sight, ere the door of the mysterious stone house opened quickly, and a man came cautiously down the path.
"What did they want?"
"They wanted to see you, Captain Frazier," answered the servant.
"What about?" asked the other hoa.r.s.ely.
"They saw you and--and the young lady when you were out in the grounds, a little while since, as the search-light went down, and they came to--to rescue the young lady. I-- I succeeded in convincing them that their eyes had deceived them, and told them that you were so annoyed at that senseless tale that you had gone away from the island; that you did not intend to come back, your aim being to sell the place."
"Bravo, bravo, McDonald!" exclaimed Captain Frazier--for it was he.
"Upon my soul, you did well! You are reducing lying down to a fine art."