“I am afraid that you, and Marianna, and I, should never be able to carry him all that way without hurting him,” returned Jack Raby. “If I could find our companions, we could easily do it; but I don’t know what became of them. I was dragged into a boat by myself, and knocked down, and told to be quiet; out, as soon as we got in here, the rascals went off to man their guns, and quite forgot me, I suppose; so, directly I found that they were gone, I felt to see if my head was hurt, and feeling it all right, I jumped out and set off, determined to try and find out what had become of you and the rest. If I could not succeed, I thought about going up to the Italian lady, and getting her to make interest for us all. I was in a great hurry, because I did not know when the pirates might come back; and they will, probably, shut me up somewhere, so that I cannot get to speak to her.”
“Your suggestion, Mr Raby, affords much hope that we may obtain assistance for Captain Fleetwood,” said Ada. “Oh! hurry up to the tower, and I am certain that the Signora Nina will exert herself to the utmost in our favour. Tell her all that happened—tell her that the life of one very dear to me depends on her sending us aid; and she will find some one who will come and assist to carry your captain to a place of safety. I need scarcely advise you to take every precaution to avoid being stopped on your way.”
“Never fear me, Miss Garden,” answered the midshipman, as he leaped on shore. “If I hear any one coming near me, I’ll stow myself away under the rocks, or climb right up the cliffs over their heads. It’s fortunately so dark, that there’s very little chance of my being seen, and I’ll be back again as fast as I can.”
Nina Montifalcone was sitting, solitary and sad, at the window of her tower, gazing out on the sea, and watching the scene enacting below her. She had risen from her couch on hearing the firing and noise, and had gone to where she now was, to learn the cause of it. The rapid discharge of the guns from the brig and fort told her that fighting was going on, and the British boats in full retreat explained what else had happened. So interested was she on what was going on without, that she did not hear the sound of the footsteps of a person who entered the room.
“Signora, signora,” said a voice near her; she started on hearing herself addressed, and saw Jack Raby standing at her elbow. “I have come in a great hurry, and have not a moment to spare, to tell you that Signora Garden, your friend, is on the shore of the bay in a boat, and that there is a person very badly wounded in it, who will die if you cannot send him assistance; and also that, if you do not intercede for us with the pira— I mean with the chief of this island,—I and my companions shall, very likely, to-morrow morning, be hung, or shot, or have our throats cut, or be thrown over the cliffs, or, at all events, sent out of the world.”
“The Signora Garden, and one in whom she is interested, wounded,” repeated Nina. “Ah! I see how it is. Tell me, frankly, boy. Is it the captain of the English brig who is wounded?”
“Signora, si, I will not deny it,” said the midshipman. “There is, therefore, you will see, still greater necessity for you to interfere in his favour.”
“I tell you, boy, if it were known who he was, and for what purpose he came here, I could not preserve his life for one instant,” replied Nina. “He must not be brought up here on any account, for he would be certainly recognised in the morning. Have you met my brother, Signor Paolo. He alone can assist us.”
“What, the Italian gentleman? No, signora. I took too much care in coming up here to fall in with anybody,” said Jack.
“Then I must go in search of him. We shall probably find him among the spectators of the fight. I will send him down to the boat. Tell the signora that there is a cottage close to the shore on the other side of the bay, to the inhabitants of which my brother has been of great service, by preserving the lives of their children in a dire sickness, and thither the wounded man shall be conveyed. If they have any gratitude in their nature, they will perform any service Paolo may require; and the English captain will be safe with them, even should they discover who he is. Now, hasten back to the bay with the message, and entreat Signora Garden to return to her tower, and to appear to take no further interest in him. It will betray him, to a certainty, if she does, and it can do him no good. I will, however, endeavour to arrange that you shall remain with him to attend on him. Tell her that, as soon as I have dispatched Paolo, I will go myself to meet her.”