In order to keep us isolated from the people, we were to be conduced at once to a pleasant valley, which would be free to us for our exclusive use. Natives skilled in farming would be furnished us for a time as instructors; but it would be expected that we should pledge our honor not to make any attempt to leave the valley without permission.
Every heart among us sank. A deep look was in Captain Mason’s eyes. It was on the end of my tongue to say, “Captain, let him know that we can make our own vessels and leave in them;” but a glance at him informed me that he had forgotten nothing, and that anything but a cheerful acceptance of the old bandit’s conditions, until we might devise and execute plans of our own, would precipitate immediate disaster. And then I understood why the captain had asked no question about the barkentine.
He said to me, under his breath:
“You have an easy tongue. We must keep our people blind for the present. Brace them up and flatter the king.”
The colonists were in the apathy of weariness and repletion. The glow with which I put the situation to them was barely needed to secure their acquiescence.
I turned to the king. Only with difficulty could I see him clearly through the intensely dramatic picture made by the girl. All through the conference I had seen her intense anxiety. What did it mean? With her sweet audacity, she might have made some sign. As I read her conduct, it betrayed a terrible uneasiness lest we refuse or were ungracious. Clearly she was greatly relieved by our acceptance.
I thanked the king and gratefully accepted his proffers. He then informed us that we should immediately be conducted to our valley, made comfortable, and supplied with everything needful.
The cavalcade, conduced by the armed guard, started through the enchanted forest, and mysteries throbbed in the very air. Never had I seen so pathetic a spectacle as this draggling procession of civilized people marched as dumb cattle to the shambles by a horde of savages.
Captain Mason, Christopher, and I stood apart as the others filed past. The man of the sea was in a deep reverie.
“If the king,” I said, “has been so careful to conceal this island from the world, why should he plan sending us away to betray it?”