He shook his head.
"Why should you pay for us?" she demanded, as Marbury detached himself from the group and made for the stairs.
"Because it is my pleasure," he said, and hurried away to his room.
When he returned, with two bags in which were the twelve hundred sovereigns, the silver was in a pile on the floor of the dining-room. Platters and candelabra, spoons and trays had been thrown into an indiscriminate heap, and bound up in a great table-cloth.
"Sam—here!" he said to a negro servant, and pointed to the silver. "Carry it behind me."
Sam's teeth were chattering, and his face took on the peculiar shade which goes with the negro's fear, but discipline prevailed, and he took up the bundle and followed his master, though quaking in every muscle.
Long-Sword was pacing slowly back and forth, his hands behind his back, his head upon his breast. As Marbury approached, he looked up and smiled pleasantly.
"It is a queer trade, monsieur, this of a pirate," he said. "Always over a volcano—never knowing peace and quiet—every man's hand against you, and yours against every man. You may not believe me, but I like it not."
