Part 18 (2/2)
”Isabel? What has become of her?”
”I don't know. . . . I don't know,” the Englishman said, with an effort. ”No . . . no . . . I don't know. . . .”
”But where do you come from? How do you come to be here?”
”I was with Lord Bakefield and Isabel.”
”Ah!” said Simon. ”Then you were of their party?”
”Yes. We spent the night on the _Queen Mary_ . . . and this morning we were set upon here, by the gang. We were retreating, when I dropped.
Lord Bakefield and Isabel fell back on the _Queen Mary_, where it would have been easier for them to defend themselves. Rolleston and his men were not firing at them, however.”
”Rolleston?” echoed Simon.
”A cousin of mine . . . Wilfred Rolleston, a d.a.m.ned brute, capable of anything . . . a scoundrel . . . a crook . . . oh, a madman! A real madman . . . a dipsomaniac. . . .”
”And he's like you in appearance isn't he?” asked Simon, understanding the mistake that had been made.
”I suppose so.”
”And it was to steal the miniature and the pearls that he attacked you?”
”That . . . and something else that he's even more keen on.”
”What?”
”He's in love with Isabel. He asked her to marry him at a time when he hadn't fallen so low. Then Bakefield kicked him out.”
”Oh, it would be too awful,” stammered Simon, ”if that man had succeeded in kidnapping Isabel!”
He stood up. Rolleston, exhausted, said:
”Save her, Simon.”
”But you, Ted? We can't leave you. . . .”
”She comes first. He has sworn to have his revenge; he has sworn that Isabel shall be his wife.”
”But what are we to do? Where are we to look for her?” cried Simon, in despair.
At that moment Jim came up, all out of breath. He was followed by a man whom Simon at once recognized as a groom in Lord Bakefield's service.
”The bloke!” cried Jim. ”The one what looked after the horses. . . . I found him among the rocks . . . d'you see? Over there? They'd tied him up and the horses were tied up in a sort of cave like. . . .”
Simon lost no time:
”Miss Bakefield?”
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