CHAPTER XXII
AN UNEXPECTED OFFER
"To leave?" It was Sonia Turgeinov who spoke. "You mean--" Her eyesturned oceanward but saw nothing.
He made a quick gesture toward a break in the outline of the shore wherethe island swept around. "Beyond!" he said succinctly and she had nodoubt as to his meaning. The tent he had put up where it could not beseen from the sea. But their boat--He looked at the little craft, a toodistinct object on the sands. Those on a vessel skirting the shore couldnot fail to discover that incriminating bit of evidence with theirglasses. And there was no way of getting rid of it. He could not destroyit with his bare hands. It was unsinkable. If he set it adrift, wind andsea would drive it straight back.
"They probably discovered our absence about daybreak and surmisedcorrectly the direction the breeze would carry us," he muttered halfbitterly. "We must go at once." These last words he spoke firmly.
"But where?" Again it was Sonia Turgeinov who questioned him. BettyDalrymple remained silent; her eyes shone with a new inscrutable light;her cheek, though pale, had the warmth of a live pearl. She touched thesands with the tip of her shoe.
But he did not regard her, nor did he answer Sonia Turgeinov. Going tothe tent, he bent over the basket of biscuits and hastily filled hispockets. Then, throwing a woman's heavy cloak over his arm, he steppedquickly to Miss Dalrymple's side.
"Come," he said laconically.
Her foot, Cinderella's for daintiness, ceased its motion; she turned atonce. Around her lips a strange little smile flitted but faded almostimmediately. Save for her straightness and that proud characteristicpoise of the head, she might have seemed, at that moment of emergency,a veritable Griselda for acquiescence. He started to walk away, when--
"What about me?" cried Sonia Turgeinov.
"You can come or you can stay," said Mr. Heatherbloom. "The chances arethat the prince will see the boat, land and get you."
"And if he doesn't?"
"There are plenty of biscuits, and I'll send back for you when I can."
"That prospect is not very inviting," she demurred. "Suppose I elect notto risk it--to go with you?"
"It is for you to decide, and quickly," he said in a cold crisp tone.
"You dismiss my fate bruskly, Monsieur," she returned.
"There is no time to bandy words, Madam," he retorted warmly. "I am notoblivious to you--I trust I would not be to any woman--but every minutenow is precious."
"Of course!" An instant she looked at the girl and a spark appeared inthe dark eyes. Then Sonia Turgeinov's features abruptly relaxed and shewaved her hand carelessly. "I have decided," she said in her oldmanner. "Go! My best adieus, Monsieur--Mademoiselle." With a gaycourtesy. "Farewell! babes in the wood!" Her voice was once moremocking. They moved silently away but before they had gone far enough todisappear in the forest she suddenly ran toward them. "No, no!" she saidin a different voice. "I have changed my mind. It is such a tiny, thing,that boat--in the glare and shine. They might not see it, and then--"She shuddered, "How frightfully lonesome!--the terrible nights--"
He made an impatient gesture. "After me, then! You, Miss Dalrymple, willcome last."
"Ah, you think I am coming because I may wish to help them?" SoniaTurgeinov said quickly.
"I intend to take no chances," he returned in the same tone. And thethree moved on.
He set a sharp pace; if there was need for haste at all it was now, atthe beginning of their flight. They plunged deeper into the forest; noone spoke; only the crackling under foot and certain wood sounds brokethe stillness. Unfortunately the soil was soft so that their footprintsmight be followed by any one versed in woodcraft. At times they wereforced to skirt unusually thick places, but in spite of these deviationsMr. Heatherbloom was enabled generally to keep to their course byconsulting a small compass he had found in the boat. It was essential tomaintain as straight a line as possible. People sometimes walked roundand round in forests; he took no chance of that; better a moment lostnow and then, while stopping to wait for the quivering pointer tosettle, than returning, perhaps, to the very spot they had left.
As thus they advanced, often he looked around to reassure himself thatthe young girl, in spite of the roughness of the way, yet followed. OnceSonia Turgeinov arrested that swift backward look; her own shone withcuriosity.
"How in heaven's name did you do it, Monsieur?" she asked suddenly,drawing nearer. "Get out of that cell, I mean. When last I saw you onthe ship, you were as securely fastened as a prisoner in the fortress atPetersburg. Of course you must have had some one to help--"
He answered coldly, recalling a promise to protect Francois. He could,however, and did, tell her the truth in this without involving theyouth. "When the third officer, my jailer, came to the cell and releasedmy hands--well, I did the best I could, surprised him, got the keys andleft him there in my stead. A little Jap trick for handling men that Ilearned in San Francisco long ago," he added.
Her dark eyes lingered on him not without a trace of admiration."Mademoiselle is fortunate, indeed, in her champion," she murmured. "Andyet that does not explain the preparations for departure--the provisionsin the boat--other little details. How came you by that compass, forexample?"
"It explains all that will be explained."
"Which means, once more, you do not trust me?" She shrugged. "_Ehbien_!" And again they went on in silence.
Toward noon, reaching a fringe of the forest, they found before them awide open space where the ground was higher and dry, but the walkingmore difficult. The grass, long and tenacious, twined snake-like aroundtheir ankles; they had to go more slowly, but reached, at length, thetop of the eminence. Here Mr. Heatherbloom stopped. They ate theirbiscuit and rested, but only for a brief while. Scanning the distance,in the direction they had come, he suddenly discerned moving forms onthe farthest edge of the open space--forms which advanced toward them.No doubt as to their purpose could be entertained; his excellency hadlanded and was already in pursuit. A smoldering fire leaped from Mr.Heatherbloom's eyes while rage that she should thus be driven harderfilled his breast. Fool! that he had not killed the prince whenopportunity had offered that night in the cabin. His clemencymight--probably would--cost her dear.
"We've got to go on, and faster," said the young man. His hands wereclenched; his arms were stiff at his side. "Can you do it?" he askedBetty Dalrymple. She answered; standing in a green recess, she had neverappeared more beautiful to him than in that moment of peril. Green andred things flashed behind her--tiny feathered creatures that shone likejewels. The dewdrops from the branches in sunless places were glisteningbrilliants in the gold of her hair. But he had no time to gaze. Thefigures were drawing nearer.
"You used to be able to run, Betty. It seems as if it's all myfault"--hoarsely--"but you'll have to do so now."
Again that ready response from her! Did she, in the excitement of themoment, call him by a Christian name not Horatio? He did not takecognizance of it; neither did Sonia Turgeinov seem to.
The latter spoke quickly: "I remain here."
"Of course," said Mr. Heatherbloom, with a glance back toward the openspace.
She overlooked the significance or bitterness in his accent. "Keep tothe right," she said swiftly. "Believe me or not, I'll send them to theleft. It's your only chance. Otherwise they would overtake you in anhour. Among the prince's men are Cossacks trained to feats ofendurance."
"You would do that?" He looked at her quickly. The dark eyes did notswerve from the gray ones.
"Did I betray you on the boat?" said Sonia Turgeinov rather haughtily.
"No," he conceded.
"And yet I knew you! You know that," she affirmed.
"Yes; you knew me." Slowly.
"Did I tell his excellency who you were, when he had you, a prisoner?"she demanded.
And--"No," he was obliged to say again.
"See." She took from her breast a tiny cross. "I had that as a child.Would I kiss it, and--tell you a lie in the next breath?" He di
d notanswer. "I have lived up to the letter of my contract with hisexcellency. It is at an end. Perhaps I am a little sorry for my ownpart"--with a laugh slightly reckless--"or maybe"--with a flash ofseriousness--- "I have become, in the least, afraid. Your laws are verysevere, and--I had not counted on mademoiselle's steadfast resistanceto--_mon Dieu!_--a prince who had been considered irresistible--whoseprincipality is larger than one of your states--who would have made her,in truth, a czaritza. I had fancied," in a rush of words, "the madepisode might end as it did in the prince's favorite _Fire and Sword_trilogy, with wedding-bells and rejoicing." She paused abruptly. "I hadalso not counted on the all-important possibility that mademoisellemight have bestowed her heart on another--"
"Madam!" It was Betty Dalrymple who spoke quickly.
Sonia Turgeinov laughed maliciously. "Go," she said, "or"--almostfiercely--"I may change my mind."
They went; Sonia Turgeinov turned and looked out over the open space.The approaching figures were now much nearer.