Part 26 (1/2)

”I'll take care of it. Besides, I can use a revolver with my sound limb if necessary.”

”Very well, then; only don't blame me if anything goes wrong. Quexo must stay in any case. There's no need to worry about Blight.”

In less than the predicted time Andy succeeded in rowing the small boat safely through the rapidly subsiding swell. Directly he came alongside, Mr. McKay and the two lads slipped on board, and with no greater inconvenience than a thorough drenching--to which they were now perfectly accustomed--the party landed at the natural quay at the foot of the path leading up to the house.

Everything appeared quiet. A hasty glance at the two storehouses on the lower terrace revealed the astonis.h.i.+ng discovery that nothing had been disturbed.

”Strange,” exclaimed Mr. McKay. ”One would have thought that these would be the first places to be ransacked. Now, carefully, lads! Keep your firearms ready.”

Cautiously they scaled the cliff path and gained the terrace on which the house stood. Still no signs of human beings, except that the door was half open.

Mr. McKay knocked quietly, then, pus.h.i.+ng open the door, he entered. A strange sight met his gaze. Everything movable had been upset or pushed out of place; the floor of the living-room was littered with bedding and the fragments of earthenware vessels.

”The brutes!” e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Mr. McKay savagely. ”They've capsized everything out of sheer mischief. I hope I'll be able to lay my hands on them.”

The lads, not without feeling of mysterious awe at the scene of wanton desolation, crossed the floor of the room and entered the sleeping quarters.

Here the state of confusion was, if possible, greater than in the outer apartment; but a clue to the mystery was afforded by the discovery of the dead body of a sheep, its head wedged in between the bars of a chair.

”Why,” exclaimed Andy, ”the sheep have broken out of their pasture!

”Yes,” replied his father. ”They managed to find their way into the house, though how I cannot imagine. Something must have frightened them and there was a mad stampede. This poor brute contrived to get his head jammed in the chair, and in his struggles he broke his neck.

We've had a rare fright, but, after all, there's nothing of consequence that cannot be set right.”

”Hadn't we better get Quexo ash.o.r.e before it gets dark?”

”Certainly, and Blight as well. I think the best place we can put him is in the small store. He'll be all right for one night, though I'm sorry to keep him bound.”

”The treacherous reptile deserves no consideration.”

”My dear Andy, we are not Nicaraguan revolutionaries. So long as he remains our prisoner we ought to treat him with the same amount of consideration that any other British criminal receives while awaiting trial. To-morrow we must find a place better suited for his reception.”

”There's the farthermost cave, the one beyond those where we've stowed the dynamite,” observed Andy. ”There's not much in it at present; we can build a part.i.tion over the opening and make a door.”

”Yes, it will be far more comfortable than his quarters in Ni Atong.

We'll make a start to-morrow.”

Accordingly Mr. McKay and his son put off in the dinghy--which, by the way, was the larger though more awkwardly-shaped part of the _San Martin's_ gig--and transferred Quexo to the sh.o.r.e. The poor fellow was in a bad state, though his wound showed no signs of complications.

Ellerton had had his hurts attended to as soon as the house was set in order. Beyond the inflammation caused by the searing-iron, his wound gave no reason for undue anxiety.

”Now then, out you come,” ordered Mr. McKay sternly, as Andy and he, armed in case of emergency, returned to the yawl.

Blight obeyed. Indeed, there was no option. His face was a picture of utter cowardice and terror.

”You ain't going to shoot me?” he whined.

”No!” replied Mr. McKay. ”I've already told you what I intend to do with you. So long as you behave yourself you'll be treated properly--far better than you deserve.”

With that the would-be a.s.sa.s.sin took his place in the boat, Mr. McKay seated beside him with a revolver in his hand, while Andy rowed.