"What is this? Why are you preventing my orders being carried out?" asked the Prince bluffly.
I fell back. "Do as you will," said I. "Our lives are in your hands."
Barraclough shouted the answer dictated to him, and there came a sound of angry voices from the other side of the door. An axe descended on it, and it shivered.
"Stand by there," said Barraclough sharply, and Lane closed up.
Outside, the noise continued, but no further blow was struck, and at last Holgate's voice was raised again:
"We will give you till eight o'clock this evening, captain, and good-day to you. If you part with the goods then, I'll keep my promise and put you ashore in the morning. If not——" He went off without finishing his sentence.
"He will not keep his promise, oh, he won't!" said a tense voice in my ear; and, turning, I beheld the Princess.
"That is not the trouble," said I, as low as she. "It is that we have not the treasure, and we are supposed to be in possession of it."
"Who has it?" she asked quickly.
"Your brother denies that he has shifted it, but the mutineers undoubtedly found it gone. It is an unfathomed secret so far."