“Johann,” she said, “I gave my word of honour to this young man that if he came here no harm would happen to him.”
“I read the note you have shoved under his door,” said Golden Beard. “That iss why we are here, Karl and I.”
Neeland remembered the wax in the keyhole then. He turned his eyes on Ilse Dumont, curiously, less certain of her treachery now.
Meanwhile, Golden Beard continued busily unwinding things from his apparently too stout person, and presently disengaged three life-belts.
One of these he adjusted to his own person, then, putting on his voluminous overcoat, took the pistol from Ali Baba, who, in turn, adjusted one of the remaining life-belts to his body. 240
Neeland, deeply perplexed and uncomfortable, watched these operations in silence, trying to divine some reason for them.
“Now, then!” said Golden Beard to the girl; and his voice sounded cold and incisive in the silence.
“This is not the way to do it,” she said in a low tone. “I gave him my word of honour.”
“You will be good enough to buckle on that belt,” returned Golden Beard, staring at her.
Slowly she bent over, picked up the life-belt, and, looping the silk rope over her arm, began to put on the belt. Golden Beard, impatient, presently came to her assistance; then he unhooked from the wall a cloak and threw it over her shoulders.