“I would rather fall by your hand than be forced to leave you in an hour of danger!” she said.
“Britomarte, I repeat you shall be forced to do nothing—not even to save yourself; but if you persist in remaining here, you will drive me mad!” he exclaimed.
“I will go, then,” she answered, reluctantly.
Not to give her time to think the matter over, he slipped her arm in his and led her from the grotto, calling to the panic-stricken Irish girl to follow them.
Holding her hand, he helped her to ascend the almost inaccessible height where his “hole in the rock” was situated.
He put her and her attendant in there; and then he closed the opening with fragments of rock, so loosely put together as not to exclude the air; and then he stuck green brushwood in between them in such a way as to make it look like growing bushes and conceal the entrance from the most prying eyes.
Having completed his task, he put his head down among the brushwood and his lips to a small crevice between the fragments of rock, and whispered:
“Good-night, dear Britomarte! Trust in Providence and keep up your spirits. As soon as the pirate ship has gone I will come and release you, and all will be well.”
CHAPTER XXVII.
AT BAY.
Justin returned to the grotto and busied himself with putting out of sight all Britomarte’s and Judith’s little personal effects that might have tempted the cupidity of the pirates or reminded them of the presence of women on the island.