A door slammed and a key turned.
Still the rush did not come. I waited, nerves strung to the highest pitch. One could have counted sixty in the dead silence.
I knew that some devilish plan had come to the man and that he was working out the details of it in his mind.
"Say the word, Cap," Fleming called to him impatiently.
"Not just yet, my worthy George. We"ll give the meddler an hour to say his prayers. But I"m all for action. Since it isn"t to be a funeral just yet, what do you say to a marriage?"
"I don"t take you."
"H-m! Hold this pa.s.sage for a few minutes, George. You"ll see what you"ll see."
A key turned in a lock. When I heard his voice again the man had stepped inside the cabin used by Evelyn. It lay just back of the storeroom and the portholes of the two rooms were not six feet apart. Every word that was said came clearly to me.
"So you thought you"d trick me, my dear--thought you"d play a smooth trick on your trusting cousin. Fie, Evie!"
"What are you going to do to Mr. Sedgwick?" she demanded.
"There"s been some smooth work somewhere. I grant you that. How the devil did he get aboard here? He didn"t come alone. If he did, what has become of the boat? Speak up, _m"amie_."
"Do you think I"d tell you even if I knew?" she asked scornfully.
He laughed softly, with diabolical enjoyment.
"I think you would--and will. I have ways to force open closed mouths, beloved."
"You would--torture me?"
"If it were necessary," he admitted coolly.
She answered in a blaze of defiance.
"Get out your iron cubes for my fingers, you black-hearted villain!"
"Not for your soft fingers, _ma cherie_. I kiss them one by one as a lover should. Shall we say for your friend"s fingers? If you won"t talk, perhaps he will."
"Are you all tiger, Boris? Isn"t there somewhere in your heart a spark of manhood?" she sobbed, her spirit melted at my danger.
"Rhetorical questions, Evie. Shall we come to business? How did your soon-to-be-deceased lover come on board? Who brought him? What were his plans?"
"If I tell you, will you spare him?" she begged.
"I"ll promise this," he a.s.sured her maliciously. "If you don"t tell I"ll not spare him."
She told all she knew except my plan of rescue. As soon as she mentioned the boat in which I had come the fellow hurried up on deck to intercept it.
I could hear a boat sc.r.a.ping against the side of the schooner as it was being lowered. Fleming and two others got in and paddled back and forth among the bushes. They found nothing.
My friends had managed to slip away unseen and were headed for the _Argos_. You may believe that I wished them a safe and speedy voyage.
Bothwell came down the forecastle ladder swearing. He went straight to Evelyn. Before he opened the door he was all suavity once more.
"They"ve got away this time. Just as well perhaps. We"ll be able to concentrate our attention on the wedding festivities. Can you be ready in half an hour, dear heart?"
"Ready for what?" The words choked in her throat.
"To make your lover a happy man. This is our wedding night, my dear."
"Never! I"d rather lie at the bottom of the bay. I wouldn"t marry you to save my life."
"H-m! You exaggerate, as is the manner of your charming s.e.x. Now I"ll wager that you"d marry me to save--why, to save even that meddling Irishman who is listening to our talk."
She strangled a little cry of despair.
"Why do you hate him so? Is it because he is so much better and braver than you?"
"I don"t hate him. He annoys me. So I step on him, just as I do on this spider."
"Don"t, Boris. I"ll give you all my share of the treasure. I"ll forgive you everything you"ve done. I"ll see that you"re not prosecuted. Be merciful for once."
"Don"t get hysterical, Evie. Sedgwick understands he has got to pay. He took a fighting chance and he has lost. It"s all in the game." The villain must have looked at his watch, and then yawned. "Past 10:30.
Excuse me for a half hour while I settle your friend"s hash. Afterward I"ll be back with the priest."
"No--no! I won"t have it. Boris, if you ever loved me--Oh, G.o.d in heaven, help me now!"
I think that in her wild despair she had flung herself on her knees in front of him. Her voice shook, broke almost into a scream.
"Are these--dramatics--for yourself or for him?" Bothwell asked with a sneer.
"Don"t kill him! Don"t! I"ll do whatever you say."
"Will you marry me--at once--to-night?"
I spoke up from the porthole where I was listening.
"No, she won"t, you scoundrel! As for me, I"d advise you to catch your hare before you cook it."
"I"m on my way to catch it now, dear Sedgwick, just as soon as I break away from the lady," he called back insolently.
"I"ll--marry you." The words came from a parched throat.
"To-night," he demanded.
"Not to-night," she begged. "When we get back to Panama."
"No. I"m not going to give you a chance to welch. Now--here--on this schooner."