He stepped over to the fireplace in order to light a small hand lamp with which to show the way.
As soon as Feodor had risen from his seat and turned his back on Zeno, the latter stepped swiftly and noiselessly towards the silken cord and pulled it violently.
Immediately the deep tones of the hidden bell sounded from above.
"Ha!" he cried in triumphant wrath; "so the bell is here!"
"Wretch!" hissed Feodor beneath his breath; "you yourself have given the signal!"
Zeno drew his sword and sprang to the door opening on the staircase. Feodor was quite unarmed. The Commodore threw the door open and shrilly blew his seaman's whistle.
Immediately, as if in response to the shrill sound, the hurried footsteps of men were heard ascending the dark staircase.
"Seize that man and put him in irons!" ordered Zeno, pointing with his naked sword to Feodor.
But the men seized Zeno himself, tore the sword from his grasp, and bound his hands behind him. They were not his own seamen as he had expected, but the Master's hidden companions. In a few moments he was bound fast in the armchair in which he had been comfortably seated a few minutes before, and ere he could utter a word he was securely gagged.
"Well," said Feodor, placing himself calmly before his prisoner, "so you have discovered where the bell-ringers are, and for whom they ring! Doubtless you would like also to know who it was that rang. I am Count Feodor von Ungern, the brother whom you betrayed, whom you falsely accused, whom you had condemned to lifelong exile, whom you made a wretched fugitive, whose wife you carried off, and whose child you branded with shame. Since those days I have had no other thought but that of vengeance. I built this tower here merely that I might see your accursed nation's vessels dashed in pieces beneath it. Six hundred of them have I destroyed already, and your proud three-decker will be the first of the seventh hundred. The very moment you pulled that cord, my trusty men burst forth from their concealment, overcame your company, and, without a doubt, slew every one. And now they will put on your men's uniforms, and row off in your own boat to your ship. Then there will be a bath of blood! When every life has been destroyed they will set fire to the ship and let her burn to cinders. Ay! and you will be able to see the magnificent spectacle from the tower windows. There you may enjoy it until at last, with a final crash, the hull bursts into the air. At this sound our two boys will rush out of bed half dressed. To my son I will say: 'Look! That brand on your shoulder which has banished you for ever from the world, which prevents you from ever calling any honourable woman your wife, or disclosing your true name; that mark of infamy, which buries you alive and damns you for ever before you have even sinned—it was that man who stamped it upon you! He it was who robbed you of your heritage, who robbed you of your mother's heart—of everything on earth. He has turned your father into a devil, and of earth he has made a hell for you. That man has a son. There he stands. That stripling is to blame for all your misery. He had no right even to come into the world; by his very birth he utterly destroyed both you and me. He is a thief who has stolen away your good name. Well, you have there two swords. Fall upon each other!' I will say all this, and then you will enjoy the sight of my son killing yours. It may be, of course, that they will kill each other. But what matters that? We will both look on, quite calm and silent. When they have done with each other I will loosen your cords. It will then be our turn. For do not think that I intend to murder you like an assassin. No; I will place your own sword in your hand, and then—then may the Devil and Hell judge us! . . . Men! Take him away!"