"How!" quoth I, "was it not a wicked, vile and most roguish act to set you adrift thus, to run the peril of sea and a desolate island—"
"What other could he do, Martin, and the ship good as taken by the mutineers? I heard them shouting—for me!" and here she shivered. "True, we have faced perils, have lost all our stores, but at least here am I—safe with you, Martin!" Saying which she rose and presently summoned me to our evening meal.
Having supped, I took beneath my arm my rusty sword (the which I had sharpened and burnished as well as I might) being minded to fetch what remained of our goat: but now she comes very earnest to go with me, and I agreeing readily enough, we set out together forthwith.
CHAPTER XXIX
OF MY ENCOUNTER BENEATH BARTLEMY'S TREE
The moon was very bright, casting great, black shadows athwart our way, and now, once our familiar surroundings were left behind, we fell silent or spake only in low voices, awed by the universal hush of all things; for the night was very still and hot and breathless, not a leaf stirred and no sound to hear save the unceasing roar of the surf.
"Martin," says she, very softly, "here is a night of such infinite quiet that I grow almost afraid—"
"Of what?" I demanded, pausing to look down on her where she limped beside me. And then, 'twixt my teeth, "Is it me you fear?"
"Ah no, no!" cries she, slipping her hand within my arm, "Never, never that, you foolish Martin!" And here she looks at me with such a smile that I must needs glance otherwhere, yet methought her cheeks showed pale in the moonlight.