Commodore Junk Part 57

"Look here!" said Bart, who gasped as he listened to his companion's wild utterances; "are you going mad?"

"No, Bart, I am as sane as you."

"But you said--"

"What I chose to say, man. Let me believe all that if I like. Do you suppose I do not want some s.h.i.+eld against the stings of my own thoughts?

I choose to think all that, and it shall be so. You shall think it too. I am Commodore Junk, and if I wish this man to be my friend, and he consents, it shall be so!"

"And suppose some day natur says, 'I'm stronger than you, and I'll have my way,' what then?"

"I'll prove to nature, Bart, that she lies, for she shall not have her way. If at any time I feel myself the weaker, there are my pistols; there is the sea; there is the great tank with its black waters deep down below the temple."

"And you are going there--to him!"

"I am going there to him. Can you not trust me, Bart?"

The poor fellow made a weary gesture with his hands, and then, as the captain drew himself up, looking supremely handsome in his picturesque garb, and with his face flushed and brightened eyes, Bart followed him towards Humphrey's prison, walking at a distance, and with something of the manner of a faithful watch-dog who had been beaten heavily, but who had his duties to fulfil, and would do them till he died.

CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT.

ANOTHER DUEL.

"Is that his step? No; its that miserable gaoler's," said Humphrey, as he lay back on his soft skin-covered couch with his arms beneath his head in a careless, indolent att.i.tude.

Humphrey was beginning to feel the thrill of returning strength in his veins, and it brought with it his old independence of spirit and the memory that he had been trained to rule. His little episode with Bart that morning had roused him a little, and prepared him for his encounter with the buccaneer captain, upon whom he felt he was about to confer a favour.

A smile played about his lips as the step drew nearer, the difference between it and that of Bart being more and more marked as he listened, and then quite closed his eyes, while the heavy curtain was drawn aside, and the buccaneer entered the chamber. He took a step or two forward, which placed him in front of the stone idol, and there he stood gazing down at the handsome, manly figure of his prisoner, whose unstudied att.i.tude formed a picture in that weird, picturesque place, which made the captain's breath come and go a little more quickly, and a faint sensation of vertigo tempt him to turn and hurry away.

The sensation was momentary. A frown puckered his brow, and he said quietly--

"Asleep?"

"No," said Humphrey, opening his eyes slowly; "no, my good fellow. I was only thinking."

The buccaneer frowned a little more heavily as he listened to his prisoner's cool, careless words, and felt the contemptuous tone in which he was addressed.

"You sent for me," he said, harshly, and his voice sounded coa.r.s.e and rough.

"Well," said Humphrey, with insolent contempt, "how many s.h.i.+ps have you plundered--how many throats have you cut this voyage?"

The buccaneer's eyes seemed to flash as he took a step forward, and made an angry gesture. But he checked himself on the instant, and, with a faint smile, replied--

"Captain Armstrong is disposed to be merry. Why have you sent for me?"

"Merry!" said Humphrey, still ignoring the question; "one need be, shut up in this tomb. Well, you are back again?"

"Yes; I am back again," said the buccaneer, smoothing his brow, and declining to be angry with his prisoner for his insulting way as he still lay back on the couch. "It is but the pecking of a prisoned bird," he said to himself.

"And not been caught and hanged yet? I was in hope that I had seen the last of you."

"I have heard tell before of prisoners reviling their captors," said the buccaneer, quietly.

"Revile! Well, is it not your portion!"

"For treating you with the consideration due to a gentleman?" said the buccaneer, whose features grew more calm and whose eyes brightened as if from satisfaction at finding the prisoner so cool and daring, and in how little account he was held. "I have given orders that the prisoner should be treated well. Is there anything more I can do?"

The harsh grating voice had grown soft, deep, rich, and mellow, while the dark, flas.h.i.+ng eyes seemed to have become dreamy as they rested upon the prisoner's handsome, defiant face.

"Yes," said Humphrey, bitterly; "give me my liberty."

The buccaneer shook his head.

"Curse you! No; you profess to serve me--to treat me well--and you keep me here barred up like some wild beast whom you have caged."

"Barred--caged!" said the buccaneer, raising his eyebrows. "You have freedom to wander where you will."

"Bah! freedom!" cried Humphrey, springing up. "Curse you! why don't I strangle you where you stand?"

At that moment there was a rustling among the leaves outside the window, and Humphrey burst into a mocking laugh.

"How brave!" he cried. "The buccaneer captain comes to see his unarmed prisoner, and his guards wait outside the doorway, while another party stop by the window, ready to spring in."

The buccaneer's face turned of a deep dull red--the glow of annoyance, as he strode to the window and exclaimed fiercely--

"Why are you here? Go!"

"But--"

"Go, Bart," said the buccaneer, more quietly. "Captain Armstrong will not injure me."

There was a heavy rustling sound among the leaves and the buccaneer made as if to go to the great curtain; but he checked himself, turned, and smiling sadly--

"Captain Armstrong will believe me when I tell him that there is no one out there. Come, sir, you have sent for me. You have thought well upon all I said. All this has been so much angry petulance, and you are ready to take me by the hand--to become my friend. No, no; hear me.

You do not think of what your life here may be."

"That of a pirate--a murderer!" cried Humphrey, scornfully.

"No," said the buccaneer, flus.h.i.+ng once more. "I am rich. All that can be a something of the past. This land is mine, and here we can raise up a new nation, for my followers are devoted to me. Come! are we to be friends?"

"Friends!" cried Humphrey, scornfully--"a new nation--your people devoted!--why man, I sent for you to warn you!"

"You--to warn me?"

"Yes. One of your followers is plotting against you. He has been addressing your men; and if you don't take care, my good sir, you will be elevated over your people in a way more lofty than pleasant to the king of a new nation."

"I understand your sneers, sir," said the buccaneer, quietly; and there was more sadness than anger in his tone. "They are unworthy of the brave man who has warned me of a coming danger, and they are from your lips, sir, not from the heart of the brave adversary I have vowed to make my friend."