Hozier, who had aroused her by touching her shoulder, fancied he saw the gleam of merriment in her face.
"What is amusing you?" he asked.
She told him, though she spoke with difficulty.
"It is not quite so bad as that," he said. "If there is no hitch in our plans, we should be on the island within five hours. We have everything thought out as far as may be in view of the unknown. At any rate, Miss Yorke, if we succeed in getting you safely ashore, you personally will have but slight cause for further anxiety. The proposal is that Marcel shall take you at once to the hut of an old convict whom he can trust——"
"A convict!" she gasped. The word was ominous, and she was hardly awake.
"The population of Fernando Noronha is almost entirely made of convicts and soldiers," he explained.
"But am I to be left there alone?"
"What else is there to be done? You cannot join in the attack on a fort—and that offers our only chance, it would seem. Granted an effective surprise, we may carry it. Then your guardian will bring you to us."
"What if you fail?"
"We must not fail," he said quietly.