Part 47 (1/2)
”You have preserved their lives for this night, at all events; but I cannot let theo free to betray me and my followers to our enemies,”
he answered ”Vlacco, there are, I think, soeons, which ain serve the purpose when cleared out of rubbish They will not be able easily to escape frouard upon them in the basement story, and see that they hold cory look, showed the disappoint allowed to dispense sunified to his chief that his orders should be strictly obeyed; and, just as er, who had been sent to bring up the prisoners and Signor Paolo, returned with the announcement that none of thereat dis at all to do with the e, after having assisted in the endeavours to extinguish the fire; he found the door open, and some one had apparently been placed on the mats, which served as his bed, for there was so about, and that was all he knew He had not spoken to, nor seen Signor Paolo that night Zappa's anger was very great at hearing this, and he was very nearly revoking the reprieve he had granted to the other prisoners He believed that treachery had been practised, though, except Paolo and Nina, he knew not whoe of the event, her brother was nowhere to be found; so, weary as he was, he set off with Vlacco and his officers to investigate the matter at the bay
CHAPTER THIRTY FOUR
Left at liberty, Nina and Ada returned to the upper chamber of the tohere the latter entreated the unhappy Italian girl to allow her to dress the wound in her shoulder, which was far deeper and ed to Zappa; but she refused all assistance
”No,” she said; ”no hand but iven; and it matters but little, for I feel that the clouds ofover me, and that very soon the storm will burst to overwhelm me”
But her as more powerful than her frame, and as she spoke she sank down on the divan, and would have fallen to the ground, had not Ada and Marianna ran to support her Overcoitation and loss of blood, she had fainted, and taking advantage of the opportunity, they placed her on a couch, and while they applied restoratives, they bathed the wound, and tried to staunch the blood She gave signs at length of life; but hers was no ordinary faint, and for hours did she continue in that state, wavering on the verge of death As Ada herself, fevered and weary, sat by the side of her friend, she felt almost equally overcome with alarm and anxiety for the fate of her lover What could have become of him? Had Paolo proved treacherous, and, afraid of his recovery, spirited hi the young Italian, and had he not,the mercy of the pirate chief, concealed hier had worn off? This she owned to herself was the most probable cause; but love, even on ordinary occasions, is full of doubt and fears, much more so then had she reason for dread under the circumstances in which he was placed While she believed Zappa was ignorant of who he was, she trusted he was in no other danger than that resulting from his wound; but now that he was discovered, after the dreadful exhibition she had witnessed of the pirate's teht be his fate Why had she quitted hiht Why had she not boldly avoho he was, and her love for him, and dared the pirate to injure him? She had seen the successful effects Nina had produced by such behaviour on the daring outlahy had she not acted in the sa deserted hiers, and, ave her the rief, and she prayed that if Heaven had ordained that heit Daylight surprised her still sitting by the couch whereon lay the yet irl's fate, ht, as she, watched those pallid features, on which an expression of acute pain still rested ”She staked all for love, and has found the idol she madly worshi+pped turned into a de conscience to keep happiness at a distance She remembers that she burst asunder the bonds of duty, that she caused the death of a fond parent; while I, through Heaven's mercy, have never been subject to the temptation to create for myself a retrospect so dreadful”
It would be well, indeed, if all in a position likely to read these pages would remember, as did Ada Garden, when they are subjected to , that there are thousands around them in a far, far worse condition, deprived of all that can make life of value, without hope in this world or the next, and n the dispensation of Providence, by which they receive the infliction from which they suffer, and would feel that even thus they are blessed above their fellows Poor Ada saw that Marianna still slept, and, fearful lest Nina should require assistance, she was herself afraid of retiring to rest, though weariness th she was aroused by a gentle knock at the door, and little Mila entered the roo which she wished to co story, not a word of which Ada could understand So eager had she been, that she did not perceive the condition to which Nina was reduced, believing that she was still asleep fro on her, she burst into loud larief, which very nearly awoke her froy into which she had fallen It was theMarianna, by whose aid she was able toout Paolo, and bringing him to attend on his sister She was absent nearly two hours, but at length returned, accos of Fleetwood, she forbore to ask hiitation into which he was thrown by seeing the condition of his unhappy sister
”You need not tell me who has done this deed,” he muttered, in a hoarse voice, as he bent over her ”I kneould come to this--I kneeary of her, he would cast her aside as a child its broken toy, or would thus destroy her in his mad passion Yet it would have been kinder had he struck deeper, and thus ended her misery with a blow I have remained near her--I have watched over her, ill-treated and despised as I have been,--that, when this should be her fate, though I could not shi+eld her froe her death Yes, my sweet Nina, indifferent as you nor Paolo,” said Ada, not knowing how long he ht continue in this strain, ”your sister is still alive, and I trust that by the aid of your skill, her wound may neither be mortal nor of much consequence”
”Not mortal, lady,” he said, bitterly; ”and yet, I tell you, it would have killed her had it but scratched the skin It is the spirit hich that dagger was cast will destroy her far quicker than the wound”
Ada now entreated hirown more calm, he set skilfully about his office, and he confessed that, if fever did not set in, the wound was of slight importance
When he was at liberty, Ada at last asked hie of hi hione, and that he could nowhere discover the an interpreter, came forith her version of the story She said she had heard that their chief had, on quitting the tower, come down to the bay in a state of passion, in which he had never before been seen, at the non-appearance of the two other prisoners, whom he vowed he would execute the ent search to be made for them in every direction, with the sa to the _Zoe_ was found to be , in which it was, consequently, supposed they had escaped
”Thank Heaven!” ejaculated Ada, with a gleam of joy on her countenance, which showed how nor Paolo, you know not how grateful I aenerous assistance in the matter”
”Do not thank me, lady, nor believe that I knew of, or had any hand in the escape of your countrymen, if indeed they have escaped, of which I would entreat you not to be too sanguine,” he replied; but, seeing the reaction his words were producing, he added, ”and yet, remember, I have no reason to suppose that they are not in a place of safety More I cannot say--and I beseech you not to ask me”
”But I have not told you all,” interrupted little Mila, who guessed that he was no longer translating what she had said ”The one, he ordered as o on board the _Zoe_, and he himself accompanied them She immediately set sail in pursuit, and they say that there is no doubt of the little boat being overtaken; and that even were he to er boats which made the attack on the island, the mistico will, without doubt, sink them all, and destroy everybody in them”
Paolo translated to Ada what Mila said, and the account again renewed her fears for Fleetwood's safety, though still she did not allow hope to abandon her
It may seem that the Italian would have acted a iven the latter information; but he was unhappily hiood, and generous--the spontaneous result of his better nature; the other arising fro to temptation, which was selfish, mad, and wicked The first prompted him to run every personal risk to save his rival froer; the other er to deprive hiirl, whoht save from Zappa's power, and win her for hi e his unhappy sister, who, under his judicious care, recovered, sooner than Ada had expected, froh she saw, too truly, that her words were verified, and that the weapon had struck deeper than the eye could reach
Ada was now confined completely to the upper room of the tower, both because she would not quit her friend, and that sheZappa, who had taken up his abode in the lower part of it Paolo was her onlyforward in the world without, and she felt an unwillingness to hold more communication with hi he said could dispel her fears
The _Zoe_, it appeared, had been out all day; but an ominous silence had been kept as to the result of her expedition Soht back the prisoners; others, that the pirate had, in his rage, ordered the guns to be pointed down on her, and sunk her, with theain, some asserted that the prisoners had not escaped from the island at all, and that they were concealed so evidence was little calculated to alleviate her anxiety; but her heart was fresh and young--her health and spirits were unbroken, and the air which afted through her caseht and pure, and she still hoped on for the best Meantime the pirates were not idle; and she observed frothening and i the fortification of the castle, as well as those on the other side of the harbour They threw up embankments, also, across the neck of land which joined the rock on which the castle stood, to the right of the island, and planted guns to defend the approach to it, as also a whole line along the cliff, which overlooked the entrance to the harbour
Provisions of all sorts were got in from every part of the island, and huts were erected, in which to store them; for the hest life, cared not for shelter, so that there was little chance of their being colected, which ainst any force sent against it
The _Sea Haas also carefully refitted, and the two ht