“No! no!” hoarsely cried the young man, as he suddenly started forward, his hands clinched, resolved to attack his enemy. “I’ll fight you here, man to man.”
The Spaniard struck those clinched hands aside and gave Budthorne a thrust that sent him again to the wall, against which he struck and then dropped to the floor.
“Very well,” said Miguel. “Having thought it over, you will change your mind, I believe. I will leave you to consider it all.”
Snatching the torch from the crack, he strode from the room, closing and barring the heavy door behind him.
[CHAPTER IX.—THE FIGHT IN THE CASTLE.]
The night was on the wane when Miguel Bunol returned and found the shivering, half-frozen captive stretched on the bare floor.
Budthorne lifted his head from his curled arms and looked at his enemy with eyes filled with fear and hatred.
“Leave me to die!” he hoarsely said. “You can never force me to sacrifice my sister!”
“Still obstinate!” sneered Bunol. “I had hoped to see a change in you. Unless you decide at once to comply, you will have to remain here through another day, for morning approaches, and we can leave this island only by night.”
“I’ll never give in! I’ll never surrender to your evil influence! You——”