Perhaps he found some satisfaction in the fact that he made the greatest splash ever known in that lovely harbor, a splash that would go down in the annals of the Azores as beyond all precedent, and which suddenly quelled the merry laughter, together with sounds of music that had floated across the bay.
It is worth considerable to excel in something, even if it is only a ducking.
Roderic had crossed the Rubicon.
He knew his summary treatment of the Adonis would create tremendous excitement on board the blockade runner.
There were English sailors in charge and these men could not be treated with the same measure of scorn that he might have bestowed had they one and all been Spaniards.
Nevertheless Roderic was far from being panic-stricken in any sense.
He had no sooner dropped Jerome over the rail than he turned to Georgia, and as the noise of the splash still sounded, said grimly:
"He has been disposed of as you suggested, sweetheart. Let us hope the temperature of the water will be sufficient to cool his ardor."
"But you must fly—sanctissima! they will harm, perhaps murder you, and I should never forgive myself for having been the cause. Go, Senor Roderic, go with all haste!" she exclaimed, her hands on his arm, her lustrous midnight orbs glowing as they filled with intense excitement.