The Buccaneer Chief: A Romance of the Spanish Main

"And your prisoner, are you still satisfied with him?"

"More than ever. He is a charming gentleman, who does not at all deserve the melancholy fate thrust on him; I really feel an interest in him."

"Confound it, that comes expensive, I did not take that interest into account, and I was wrong, I see."

"What do you mean, sir?" the Major protested with an indignant air.

"Nothing but what I say to you, my dear sir. Hang it, you amuse me with your scruples, after taking money from all parties during the last eighteen months; the Cardinal is dead and the King is on the point of following him, that is what you wished to tell me, is it not? A new reign is preparing, and it is probable that, if only through a spirit of contradiction, the new government will upset everything done by the one that preceded it, and that its first care will be to open the prison doors; you also wished to tell me that Count de Barmont, who possesses warm friends at court, who will not fail to employ their influence on his behalf, cannot fail to be set at liberty ere long. Confusion, I knew all that as well and even better than you, but what matter?"

"How, what matter?"

"Certainly, if Count de Barmont has devoted friends, he has implacable enemies; bear that in mind."

"And the result will be?"

"That in four days at the latest, you will receive an order signed by Louis XIII. himself."

"To what effect?"

"Oh! Good heaven, no great thing, except that Count de Barmont will be immediately transferred from St. Marguerite to the Bastille; and once there," he added in a hollow voice, which made the Major shudder involuntarily, "a man is eternally erased from the number of the living or only leaves it a corpse or a maniac. Do you comprehend me now?"

"Yes, I understand you, sir; but who guarantees that the Count will not have escaped before the four days to which you refer?"

"Oh! With a governor like yourself, Major, such an eventuality seems to me highly improbable."

"Well, well," the Major observed, "very extraordinary tales are told about the escape of prisoners."

"That is true; but another thing reassures me against this escape."

"And what is that, sir?"

"Merely that the Count himself declared that he would never consent to escape, and was not at all anxious about liberty."

"Well, sir, that is the very thing that deceives you; it seems that he has now changed his opinion, and is eagerly soliciting through his friends to obtain his liberty."

"Ah! Have we come to that point?" the stranger said, fixing on the Major a glance which flashed through the gloom.

The governor bowed.

There was a silence, during which no other sound was audible, save that of the heavy flight of the nocturnal birds in the ruins.

"A truce to further chattering," the stranger resumed in a fierce voice; "how much do you ask to prevent the prisoner escaping until the king's order reaches you?"

"Two hundred thousand livres," the Major answered roughly.

"Was I not right in telling you that it would be expensive?" the stranger said with a grin.

"Dear or not, that is my price, and I shall not bate it."

"Very good, you shall have it."

"When?"

"Tomorrow."

"That will be too late."

"What?" the stranger asked haughtily.

"I said it would be too late," the Major repeated imperturbably.

"In that case, when must you have it?"

"At once."

"Do you fancy I carry 200,000 livres about me?"

"I do not say that, but I can accompany you where you are going, and on reaching Antibes, we will say, you can pay me the amount."

"That is a good plan."

"Is it not?"

"Yes, only there is an obstacle to its success."

"I do not see one."

"But I do."

"What is it, sir?"

"That, if I give you a meeting here, and come disguised and alone, I have probably an object."

"Of course! You wish to remain incog."

"You are full of penetration, my dear sir; and yet we can come to an understanding."

"I do not see how, unless you consent to what I ask."

"You are a judge of diamonds, since we have hitherto only bargained in them."

"That is true, I am a tolerable judge of them."

"Here is one that is worth 100,000 crowns, take it."

And he offered a small case of black shagreen.

The Major eagerly seized it.