iablo
Cojuelo as the price of his freedom."

"I don't believe it! It can't be true!" protested Myra breathlessly.
"Tony wouldn't be such a knave and coward. You have tricked him, I
suppose, into saying something which you distort into an offer to
surrender me."

"I repeat that Standish is now willing to leave you here at the mercy
of Cojuelo, on condition that he is allowed to go scot free," said Don
Carlos.

"I don't believe it! It can't be true!" Myra reiterated. "Take me to
Tony and let me question him."

"Presently you shall have your wish, but first let me give you an
account of my interview with Mr. Standish, so that you will know what
questions to put to him," said Don Carlos. "Pray be seated, Myra, and
calm yourself. Does the prospect of surrendering yourself to me so
dismay your heart?"

Myra merely nodded, as she seated herself in the furthermost corner of
the couch. She did not know what to say or what to believe, and her
blue eyes were dark with dread as she watched Don Carlos, who had
assumed a nonchalant attitude. He put on the coat he had discarded
before going to interview Standish, helped himself to a drink from a
side table, and lit a cigarette before taking a seat facing Myra.

"Why, I wonder, do you persist in doubting me?" he said, slowly and
deliberately. "What I have told you is true. I had myself thrust as a
prisoner into the cell in which your dear Tony Standish is at present
imprisoned. He welcomed me like a long-lost brother, told me what had
happened, and asked me if I could help to arrange terms with Cojuelo."

He broke off with a laugh, flicked the ash from the end of his
cigarette, and finished his drink. Myra, waiting almost breathlessly
for him to continue, felt that she wanted to shake him for being so
tantalisingly deliberate.

"I told him that I had had a conversation with Cojuelo, and that the
brigand had told me he meant to kill him by inches and make him die a
hundred deaths for having attempted to murder him," resumed Don Carlos
at length. "I told him I could ransom him and get him away scot free,
but only if he agreed to hand you over to Cojuelo as part of his
ransom."

Again he paused, and Myra could not restrain her impatience.

"Well? Go on. Do you mean to tell me Tony agreed?" she asked. "Or
have you to pause every now and again to invent a story?"

"To do him justice, I must tell you that Standish did not at once
agree," answered Don Carlos, to