“Probably,” he said, “those rascals may have discovered that magazine?”
“It is to be feared they may,” Mr. Wolston answered.
“What is most to be feared,” Captain Gould declared, “is that in their ignorance they may blow up the house.”
“And themselves with it!” Jack exclaimed.
“Well, if Rock Castle had to go to blazes in the explosion, it would be one solution, for I imagine that those left of the filthy creatures would decamp, without any heart to come back!”
Leaving the boatswain on sentry-go at the battery, the others went back to the store-house. Breakfast was eaten together; how happy a meal it would have been if all the party had been gathered in the big hall at Rock Castle!
The next four days brought no change in the situation. Beyond keeping proper watch over the island, they did not know how to fill the long hours. How different everything would have been if the Unicorn had not been compelled to put in to Cape Town for repairs. They would all have been settled down at Rock Castle more than two months ago! And now that Fritz and Jenny were married, who could say that another wedding would not be celebrated soon, the union of Ernest and Hannah, which the corvette’s chaplain might have blessed in the chapel of Rock Castle? There might have been whispers of a third union—by and by—when Dolly should be eighteen.
Everyone fought bravely against despondency. As for John Block, he had lost none of his native good humour. They took long walks among the plantations. They watched Deliverance Bay, although no attack by the pirogues was to be apprehended while the sun was in the sky. Then, with night, all their anxiety returned, anticipating an attack in force.
So while the women retired within the second room of the store-house, the men made the rounds of the shore, ready to concentrate at the foot of the knoll if the enemy approached the island.
On the 29th of January, during the morning, there was still nothing unusual to be noted. The sun rose in a horizon undimmed by the faintest haze. The day would be very hot, and the light sea-breeze could hardly last until the evening.