Part 43 (1/2)
”Well, well, signora,” returned Zappa ”You and your attendant are welcoh he deserves nothing at my hands; but whatevera murderer in cold blood Your country , lest they should hurt you Is it not so, lady? I know more of their plans than you suspect The expedition is led by the captain of the _Ione_, in person, and he was on the look out for you, e so inopportunely caenorant that Fleetwood is close to hiree to his assertions, he will but use it as a weapon against ive an opinion on the subject”
”I anor,” she said, aloud; ”and as such I claiht to endeavour to escape as I best can It would therefore be folly in e by what means I have communicated with my countrymen, even if I had done as you suppose, lest you should preventso another tiirl!” exclaimed the pirate, in a tone in which Ada felt that adled with a familiarity she had endeavoured to avoid ”I would rather be your friend than your enemy, if you would letelse that you desire; but it would tax ive it to you”
What he said further, Ada did not hear; for the noise of the firing, which then commenced from the cliffs above, as well as from the boats, drowned his words She tre to her assistance; for she was sufficiently acquainted with the nature of military defences, to know the impracticable character of the harbour into which the pirates, she was afraid, would try to draw theestures of the Greeks, ere rowing, that her countryain the hope revived that, even then, Fleetwoodin her ears She could scarcely refrain froe them on to the succour of their captain; but, just as she fancied they would be alongside, she saw the cliffs, at the entrance of the harbour, towering above her, and the boat shooting in; directly after, the _Sea Hawk_ opened her fire, and her ears were deafened with the reverberating reports of the guns, and the shouts and shrieks of the pirates The moment the boat touched the shore, Zappa and his co,--”To the castle--to the castle! We will give theuns as they retreat”
And Ada found herself left alone with Pietro and Marianna In vain she endeavoured to arouse her lover to a state of consciousness--the sahtful torpor continued which the wound had caused; and her heart alht die before he could receive any proper assistance
”The pirate talks of his generosity Would he allow hi of truce?” she thought ”No, no; it were vain to hope it; and the very entreating him to do so would betray Charles to hie possessed by Paolo Montifalcone, and the great assistance he had been to her; but she had no h she understood that Zappa had, at first, detained hiht be useful to any of his folloere wounded--but then the idea occurred to her--though, perhaps, she did not express it in so many words,--”Can I trust him? He has confessed his unhappy attachment to me I told hi him, my heart was another's, and can I dare to place that favoured rival in his power? He is, apparently, generous, and possesses many excellent qualities; but he is an Italian; and if the tales I have heard of Italians are true, they are less scrupulous than other persons of ridding themselves of those they hate Perhaps he would not conteht of it; but if the teht, were I to trust hi that unhappy youth to commit a murder Oh! God help me! What shall I do?”
Just then, so the sands They attracted the attention of Marianna, who had begun to recover fro over the side of the boat, she screamed out,--”Is it you, Mr Raby? Oh, coht in her supposition; and the next instant theinto the boat
”What, Miss Garden! Are you left here alone? And, good heavens! is that the captain?” he exclaimed, in a tone of voice which showed how deeply he felt, joyous and careless as he was on ordinary occasions
”Oh, Miss Garden, he is not dead!”
”I trust in Heaven he is not, Mr Raby,” replied Ada ”He has been stunned and severely wounded, and, had no one been with him, would have bled to death; even now, I know not what may happen if he does not speedily receive assistance Had we the strength to do so, we ht convey hiain shut up, and his wounds ht thus be properly dressed”
”I am afraid that you, and Marianna, and I, should never be able to carry hi him,” returned Jack Raby ”If I could find our companions, we could easily do it; but I don't knohat becaed into a boat by myself, and knocked down, and told to be quiet; out, as soon as we got in here, the rascals went off to ot one, I felt to see if ht, I jumped out and set off, determined to try and find out what had becoht about going up to the Italian lady, and getting her to reat hurry, because I did not knohen the pirates ht come back; and they will, probably, shut et to speak to her”
”Your suggestion, Mr Raby, affords much hope that we may obtain assistance for Captain Fleetwood,” said Ada ”Oh! hurry up to the tower, and I anora Nina will exert herself to the utmost in our favour Tell her all that happened--tell her that the life of one very dear tous aid; and she will find some one ill come and assist to carry your captain to a place of safety I need scarcely advise you to take every precaution to avoid being stopped on your way”
”Never fear me, Miss Garden,” answered the midshi+p near ht up the cliffs over their heads It's fortunately so dark, that there's very little chance of ain as fast as I can”
Nina Montifalcone was sitting, solitary and sad, at theof her tower, gazing out on the sea, and watching the scene enacting below her
She had risen froone to where she noas, to learn the cause of it The rapid discharge of the guns fro on, and the British boats in full retreat explained what else had happened So interested was she on as going on without, that she did not hear the sound of the footsteps of a person who entered the roonora,” said a voice near her; she started on hearing herself addressed, and saw Jack Raby standing at her elbow ”I have coreat hurry, and have not a nora Garden, your friend, is on the shore of the bay in a boat, and that there is a person very badly wounded in it, ill die if you cannot send him assistance; and also that, if you do not intercede for us with the pira--I mean with the chief of this island,--I and , or shot, or have our throats cut, or be thrown over the cliffs, or, at all events, sent out of the world”
”The Signora Garden, and one in whom she is interested, wounded,”
repeated Nina ”Ah! I see how it is Tellwho is wounded?”
”_Signora, si_, I will not deny it,” said the reater necessity for you to interfere in his favour”
”I tell you, boy, if it were knoho he was, and for what purpose he came here, I could not preserve his life for one instant,” replied Nina
”He ht up here on any account, for he would be certainly recognised in the nor Paolo He alone can assist us”
”What, the Italian gentle up here to fall in with anybody,” said Jack