Miriam hastened her grandfather to the ship, shocked at his feebleness; but for Sampayo he would scarcely have been able to get there.
Only once he spoke to the girl ere he retired to his cabin for the night.
"The money and jewels, Miriam—what have you done with them?"
"They are here, grandfather. I brought everything of value away with me."
"That is right, child. You are a good girl!"
Miriam stood rather sadly beside the bulwarks, gazing at the land in which she had been born, and which she was now leaving forever.
A low sigh broke from her lips.
"Why do you sigh? Are you sorry to quit your native land?" a voice whispered in her ear.
"Yes; though for my grandfather's sake I cannot deeply regret it," Miriam answered, gazing at Diniz with tear-dimmed eyes.
"I have not thanked you yet for having released me from that dreadful place, or even a worse doom. I am still scarcely able to realize my good fortune. What made you, a stranger, think of one whom all others had forgotten?"