and the figure vanished. It was three nights before the
English lord died at the monastery!"

Ferdinand stood up. "On that same night," he said, in a low, hoarse
whisper, "I saw a figure steal up the path to the castle. It was the
English lord! On the morrow I traced him back again with drops
of blood. They led right into the monastery courtyard. Two days
afterwards he died."

"Silence! all of you!" commanded Guiseppe, with shaking voice. "Are
these things to be spoken of thus openly? Know you not, you children,
that the winds have ears, and he listens there above us."

"It is a thousand feet!" muttered Antonio. "To him our boats can seem
only as specks upon the water."

"You fool!" answered Guiseppe. "Do you think that the man whose
presence brings storm and wind upon us is like ordinary men? Do you
think he cannot hear what he chooses!"

"Ave Maria!" cried Antonio, crossing himself. "I would as soon face
the devil himself as the Count! I shall ask Father Bernard to say a
prayer for me to-night!"

"Do! and I hope his penance will be a stiff one," answered Guiseppe
grimly. "Come, let us trim our sails, and get homeward. The English
ship will not want us, and we can watch who lands from the beach."

"'Twould be no such bad thing if she struck on the rocks, if she
brings such ill luck to the castle," muttered Antonio, as he unfurled
the sail and grasped the tiller. "There would be some pickings for us,
beyond doubt--some pretty pickings!"

CHAPTER XXXIII

"THE DAWN OF A SHORT, SWEET LIFE"

The little group of fishing smacks, homely-looking and uncleanly, on
close examination, presented a very different appearance from the deck
of the English yacht fast nearing the harbour. Their brown sails had
gleamed purple in the dying sunlight, and their rude outline seemed
graceful and shapely as they rose and fell on the long waves. Paul,
who stood on the captain's bridge of his yacht, uttered a little cry
of admiration as they sailed out from the shadows of the huge rock,
and fell into a rude semicircle across the bay.

"What colouring one sees in these southern waters!" he remarked. "Did
you notice the glinting light on those sails?"

His companion, who was holding firmly the rail by his side, looked
up and smiled. "Yes," she said softly; "it is beautiful! We have seen
more beautiful things on this voyage, I think, than I ever saw before
in my life. I have never been so happy! You are not angry with me now