Bart's face worked as they slowly returned along the corridor, and rage and pain were marked in turn upon his features. As they reached the place where he set down his lantern, he stood in a bent attitude, as if pondering upon the words which had been said. "Why are you waiting?" said the captain, imperiously. "Them words o' yours," said Bart. "You said you could kill me." "As I would have done," was the fierce reply, "if harm had befallen him!" "Better it had!" said Bart, bitterly. "Better it had, and you'd killed me. Saved you from pain, and me from a life of misery. Am I to go?" "Yes," said the captain, less firmly, as the man's tones betrayed the agony of his spirit. "Go; I have no one now whom I can trust!" "Don't say that to me," said the poor fellow, hoarsely, as he fell upon his knees and clasped his hands. "Kill me if you like, captain, but don't doubt me. All these years I've done nothing but try and serve you faithful and well." "And you would have slain the man I love!" "Something tempted me, and it said that it was for your good, and when it was like that I felt I could do anything." "You would have betrayed me!" "I would have killed him as give you pain, him who has changed you, and broken you down to what you are. I knew as I now know, that it's ruin to you!" "Silence, man, and go!" "What has he done for you!" cried Bart. "Nought but give you hard words, and curse you ever since he has been here, and yet you go on loving him!" "What have I ever done for you, Bart, but give you hard words and cold looks, and yet you have gone on loving me!" "True," said Bart, hoarsely; "and so I shall till I die!" "And so shall I, Bart, till I die!" "Don't talk like that," he groaned. "It's better to live and suffer than to talk of death. I give in--once more I give in!" "Then go; I will watch!" "No, captain; don't send me away! Trust me this once. I am faithful to you!" "Ay; but not to him." There was a pause, and Bart seemed to be struggling hard with himself, till he had won some terrible victory. "Tell me," he said at last, "tell me to swear. I'll be as true to him as I've been to you, and I'll swear it. I'll die for him, if you say I am!" "Then swear, Bart. Swear that I may depend on you as I would on myself! That, for my sake, you will defend him from all evil, come when it may!" "Because you love him?" said Bart, slowly. "Because I love him, man!" There was a painful silence for a few minutes, and then, as he knelt there, on the time-worn stones, the simple-hearted single-natured man said, in a low husky voice-- "I swear it: so help me God!" Bart rose slowly, with his breath coming and going as if after some terrible struggle, and, as he stood there trembling, he felt his hand seized and held tightly between two warm, moist palms. He let it rest there for a few moments, and then snatched it away. "What are you going to do?" whispered the buccaneer.