Part 35 (1/2)
”She is, she is!” exclai to his face, and showing through the darkly-stained skin
”Where is she, lady? Oh, tell nor,” she answered ”But you ht from the first, that you were not a common seaman, in spite of your costureat interest in this fair girl
Confess it”
”I do, signora; and,to rescue her”
”I thought as much,” returned Nina ”I nor, that I h you may look upon him as an enemy, may demand your aid Promise me that, should I ever require it, you will exert all your energies--you will strive to the utmost--you will even risk your life and safety, if I demand it of you, to serve him I will not now name Say you will do this, and you enableyour wishes, I a his orders, and I cannot justify nora, that a naval officer, and, I confess to you, that I aladly will I obey your wishes,” returned Fleetwood ”If any one, in whom you take interest, is in difficulty, and I have the means to save him, I promise, faithfully, to do so More, I cannot say Will that satisfy you?”
”It does Say, whence did you come--and whither were you bound, when you were driven on this coast It otten the most important part of the examination”
”We come from Malta and were bound for Sale of wind, in which we lost ourthe purchasers of the mistico, we endeavoured to find our way hoation, ere afraid to continue our voyage till we found some one to supply their place This, lady, is the story we have to tell, to account for our appearance on the island; but, in one point, believe me, I do not deceive you, when I assure you, that we come not here to injure, in any way, the chief of this island”
”Enough, signor; I trust to you,” replied Nina ”I will now have you and your companions conducted to the apartments prepared for you There is but small habitable space in the castle, extensive as it once was, and it would lead to suspicions were you to be better lodged”
She clapped her hands, and little Mila appeared, to conduct the strangers to the abode Nina had selected for them
Left alone, she stood, for an instant, a picture of misery
”Alas, alas!” she repeated to herself, ”everything I hear and see convinces er, if not, also, of cri a pohich ht”
Poor Nina, the idol she had set up was gradually changing his God-like radiance for a sonity So hter and more beautiful they appear at first, the blacker and more hideous will they become
The adventurers had retired to rest Their couches were co the sides of the roos, and for-place; their drenched clothes had been well dried, and they had enjoyed a plentiful meal Even Fleetwood had done justice to it; and the Maltese lad, as no other than our friend Jack Raby, astonished little Mila by the prodigious extent of hisMaltese was a person the reader is probably not prepared to meet He was our friend Bowse, latebeen rescued fro over him, had entreated Captain Fleetwood to be perers in recovering Miss Garden
The Greek captain, Teodoro Vassilato, was the person who had acted as interpreter He had once been taken prisoner by the pirates, and having a little private revenge of his own to satisfy, he had offered his services, which were too valuable to be refused
The last person was really a Maltese sea a faithful attendant on Fleetwood He was to be put forward as the most pro really Maltese
As the reader n rather than chance or ale of wind, better to account for it, and as theon the island, they had scarcely bargained for one of such violence
As, however, Captain Vassilato was confident of the spot, they resolved to stand on They well knew the danger they were running--for they felt that it would be almost certain death, should the pirates discover the up their nerves for the work, and all were anxious to serve Captain Fleetwood, and to rescue Ada Garden from captivity
Fleetwood had thrown hiht beat obtain an intervieith her, when the door slowly opened, and a dark figure entered, holding a light in his hand
He attentively scrutinised the countenances of the sleepers, and then stopping before Fleetwood, he threw the light full on his face, so as to awaken hihly, had he slept, and beckoned to hinor,” whispered the stranger, in Italian ”I have co wished to lish lady?” he asked, his voice treer on his lips as a signal of silence, and beckoned him to follow
CHAPTER TWENTY SIX
After the _Ione_ had left Cephalonia, she co the innuo, towards Lissa, in the neighbourhood of which his new friend Teodoro Vassilato, the captain of the _Ypsilante_, had appointed a rendezvous with Captain Fleetwood