"For God's sake, let us get out of this accursed place!" whispered the Skipper as the noise died away. The Bo's'n raised his head and opened his eyes, as if he feared to see again the grewsome sight. The Skipper crawled along the floor and whispered in my ear a second time:
"For God's sake, let us get away!"
"Do you think I want to stay here, Captain?" I asked.
"You'd better give me that girl," suggested the Skipper, rising. "I s'pose you don't mind holding——"
I laid Cynthia in the Captain's arms.
"She's pretty solid," said he, as her senseless form pressed with all its weight against his breast. "S'pose you help me carry her inside."
Without a word I put my arms around her shoulders.
Lacelle hovered near with a candle end. It looked to me like one of those I had seen in the great hall. We carried the dear girl through the archway and into her own chamber. We placed her upon the blanket and pillow which Lacelle had got ready. As I laid her head gently down it turned to one side, the chain which I had seen slipped out of her neck band, and the serpent ring and the locket were exposed to view. The serpent's eyes emitted two red sparks—a baleful light it seemed, but I cared little for that. Something else had caught my eye. Something pleasurable at last amid all this misery. The locket had fallen open, and encircled within its golden rim I saw a face, one that I had not often seen, it is true, yet one that I recognised. It was my own.
I motioned to the Skipper to replace the chain and ring, for I knew that Lacelle would take fright again at the sight of the strange bauble. I felt also that Cynthia would be enraged if she learned that any one had seen the face within the locket. I snapped the cover to, even as I saw it, and then the Skipper came to do what I asked of him. He stood between me and Cynthia, and bending over her, he did what he chose—I did not see what, but I saw him put his hand to his waistcoat pocket, and I felt sure that he had abstracted that dread circle of mystery.
When I returned to the cave, I found that the Bo's'n had made a fire and was cooking some of the pork. There were no vessels to be seen, and we were for the moment safe. He and the Skipper went boldly down to the shore and rolled the casks up to the cave. They brought water and all the things that we had carried ashore with us.