“Yes,” said the girl, and the man drew his comrade aside.
“You and I have got to see her through, and your quarters would be the safest place,” he said.
Appleby stared at him as he asked, “Have you taken leave of your senses, Harper?”
“No,” said his companion dryly. “I guess they’re where they are of most use to me. Everybody’s entitled to what he can pick up to-night, and there are not many of the Sin Verguenza would dispute your claim. It’s beginning to strike you?”
“I hope it will not strike Miss Harding too,” said Appleby, whose face flushed. “Still, I can think of nothing else.”
Then he went back slowly to where the girl was standing.
“I fancy I can find you shelter if you will trust yourself to me; and when your father asks any of my men about you they will send him to you,” he said. “It is, however, necessary that you should take my arm.”
Nettie flashed a swift glance at him, but the man was regarding her steadily with gravely sympathetic eyes, and it was with a curious intuitive confidence she moved away with him. They passed bands of roysterers and houses with shattered doors, and finally entered a patio littered with furniture. An olive-faced man with a rifle stood on guard in it, and the color swept into the girl’s face as she saw his grin; but he let them pass, and Appleby went on, moving stiffly, and very grim in face, up a stairway that led to a veranda. There he took down a lantern that hung on a lattice, and gave it the girl as he pointed to a door.
“There is a strong bolt inside,” he said in a curiously even voice. “I do not know of any other place in Santa Marta where you would be as safe to-night.”
Nettie turned with a little shiver, and looked down into the patio. There were lights behind most of the lattices, and she could hear loud laughter and the clink of glasses, while here and there ragged figures with rifles showed up on the veranda. Then she straightened herself with an effort and looked steadily at Appleby. He stood wearily before her, very ragged, and very disreputable as far as appearance went, but he did not avoid her gaze.