“Is this the place?” said one harshly, in Portuguese.
“This is the place, Captain,” answered a deep voice that seemed familiar to Hume.
“And where are those robbers hidden?”
“In the wall there. See! there is the gap by which they entered.”
“Hark ye,” said the first man, raising his voice, and speaking in English, “you who are hidden in there. I will lay a train of powder and blow the walls in upon you if you so much as lift a finger upon us. Do you hear?”
“I hear,” said Hume sternly; “and I warn you also that I will shoot you like the dog you are if you attempt to injure one of us.”
There was a laugh, and a third man, whom Hume judged to be Lieutenant Gobo, said: “Would it not be better to blow them in now, Captain?”
“What! and kill the girl you rave about?” said the Captain in Portuguese. “We’ll get her first—moreover, we have no time to waste; the people across the river may yet show fight. Hark to their singing! Blow them up when we have finished this job.”
The deep chant of Chanda’s regiment rolled from beyond.
“Now,” said the man who had been addressed as Captain, “let us begin. Ferrara, which is the entrance to this hidden treasure? It must be in the centre. Where is that witch-doctor—ah, you thief of night, come here! Now, Ferrara, tell him to point out the place.”