Page 521 - for-the-term-of-his-natural-life

betray him, though, for that matter, Rex had suggested a
precaution which rendered betrayal almost impossible.
‘What’s in the bundle, old man?’ asked Will Staples, after
they had got clear of the ship.
‘Clothes,’ returned Blunt. ‘We can’t bring him off, if it is
him, in his canaries. He puts on these duds, d’ye see, sinks
Her Majesty’s livery, and comes aboard, a ‘shipwrecked
mariner’.’
‘That’s well thought of. Whose notion’s that? The Mad-
am’s, I’ll be bound.’
‘Ay.’
‘She’s a knowing one.’
And the sinister laughter of the pair floated across the
violet water.
‘Go easy, man,’ said Blunt, as they neared the shore.
‘They’re all awake at Eaglehawk; and if those cursed dogs
give tongue there’ll be a boat out in a twinkling. It’s lucky
the wind’s off shore.’
Staples lay on his oar and listened. The night was moon-
less, and the ship had already disappeared from view. They
were approaching the promontory from the south-east, and
this isthmus of the guarded Neck was hidden by the out-
lying cliff. In the south-western angle of this cliff, about
midway between the summit and the sea, was an arch,
which vomited a red and flickering light, that faintly shone
upon the sea in the track of the boat. The light was lambent
and uncertain, now sinking almost into insignificance, and
now leaping up with a fierceness that caused a deep glow
to throb in the very heart of the mountain. Sometimes a

0 For the Term of His Natural Life