made
of the yield to the Church of heretic souls, in all of whom Satan stood
fast. The Holy Office had delivered them to the secular arm, and the
letter closed with a circumstantial account of a great _auto-de-fe_ in
the square of Cartagena. Without the wood, upon the edge of white sand,
the men of the _Sea Wraith_ waited for their Captain. At last he came,
so quiet of mien and voice that only Robin-a-dale stared, caught his
breath, and gazed hard upon an ashen face.

Ferne's orders were of the curtest: Begone, every man of them, to the
_Sea Wraith_, and lie at anchor waiting for the morning. For himself, he
should spend the night ashore; they might leave for him the cockboat,
and with the first light he would come aboard. The two prisoners,--place
them in the ransacked bark and let them go whither they would or could.
He glanced in their direction, then turning sharply, crossed the sand to
stand for a moment beside the Franciscan.

"Prithee, thou brown-robed fellow, how looked he in a _sanbenito_--that
tall, fierce, black-bearded Captain that your Provincial mentions here?"
The parchment rustled in his hand.

The friar quailed before the narrowed eyes; then, the old flame in him
leaping up, he answered, boldly enough, "It became him well,
senor,--well as it becomes every enemy to Spain and the Church!"

The other slightly laughed. "Why, go thy ways for a man of courage! but
go quickly, while as yet in all this steadfast world I find no fault
save with myself."

He stood to watch the embarkment of the mariners, who, if they wondered
at this latest command, had learned at least to wonder in silence. But
Robin-a-dale hung back, made protest. "Go!" said his master, whereupon
Robin went indeed--not to the awaiting boat, but with a defiant cry end
a rush across the sloping sand into the thick wood. The green depths
which received him were so labyrinthine, so filled with secret places
wherein to hide, that an hour's search might not dislodge him. The
sometime Captain of the _Cygnet_ let pass his wilfulness, signed to the
boats to push off, awaited in silence the fulfilment of all his
commands; then turning, rounded the eastern point of the tiny bay, and
was lost to sight in the shadows of the now late afternoon.

The sun went down behind the lofty trees; the brief dusk passed, and the
little beach showed faintly beneath the stars, great and small, of a
moonless night. Above the western horizon clouds arose and the ligh