"We are waiting for Mauresco, Admiral."
"Yes, yes, the high priest, Mauresco! The handsome high priest, Mauresco! Where can Mauresco be? Call Mauresco! Go and call Mauresco! Searching as usual for his lost bauble, perhaps."
A dozen men ran to obey his orders. They disappeared through the archway, and there were cries of "Mauresco!" "Mauresco!" We heard shrill whistles and calls, but Mauresco did not appear. I was glad that I knew the reason why.
I saw that the lad turned his eyes ever toward the doorway, hoping probably that the watch would be relaxed, and once or twice I was almost tempted to cry out, "Try it now, Trevelyan, try it now!" The moment came at last, for it seemed to me that their potations had made the bandits somewhat careless.
"Go bring the sepulchre!" ordered the Admiral. At these dreadful words the boy shrank to the wall and stood there, his face leaned against the inhospitable rock.
Two men now entered, bringing what, I could not determine, except that they walked about six feet apart, and that the something between them glinted in certain places in the lamplight, and made a jingling noise as they came. Some of the ruffians were filling their flagons and cups, but as the two approached, bearing what the Admiral had called the sepulchre, they all came forward and crowded around this new object of interest. The guards at the door had relaxed their watchfulness and were gazing with the rest.
"Now is the time," I whispered. "Will he never——" A shout! Another, and twenty more! A rush to the doorway! The lad had made a bolt for it and was gone!