A thousand men might have tried in vain to persuade me; the treachery of Constantine had fired my heart and driven out all opposing motives. "Do as I bid you," said I, sternly, "and waste no time on it. We will watch here by the old man till you return." "My lord," she replied, "you run on your own death. And you are young, and the young man by you is yet younger." "We are not dead yet," said Denny; and I had never seen him look as he did then; for the gayety was out of his face, and he spoke from between stern-set lips. She raised her hands toward heaven--whether in prayer or in lamentation, I do not know. We turned away and left her to her sad offices, and going back to our places, waited there till dawn began to break, and from the narrow windows we saw the gray crests of the waves dancing and frolicking in the early dawn. As I watched them the old woman was by my elbow. "It is done, my lord," said she. "Are you still of the same mind?" "Still of the same," said I. "It is death--death for you all," she said; and without more she went to the great door. Hogvardt opened it for her, and she walked away down the road, between the high rocks that bounded the path on either side. Then we went and carried the old man to a room that opened off the hall, and, returning, stood in the doorway, cooling our brows in the fresh, early air. And while we stood, Hogvardt said suddenly: "It is five o'clock." "Then we have only an hour to live," said I, smiling, "if we do not make for the yacht." "You're not going back to the yacht, my lord?" "I'm puzzled," I admitted. "If we go this ruffian will escape. And if we don't go--" "Why, we," Hogvardt ended for me, "may not escape." I saw that Hogvardt's sense of responsibility was heavy; he always regarded himself as the shepherd, his employers as the sheep. I believe this attitude of his confirmed my destiny, for I said, without hesitation: "Oh, we'll chance that. When they know what a villain the fellow is, they'll turn against him. Besides, we said we'd wait here." Denny seized on my last words with alacrity. When you are determined to do a rash thing, there is great comfort in feeling that you are already committed to it by some previous act or promise. "So we did," he cried. "Then that settles it, Hogvardt." "His lordship certainly expressed that intention," observed Watkins, appearing at this moment with a large loaf of bread and a great pitcher of milk. I eyed these viands. "I bought the house and its contents," said I. "Come along." Watkins's further researches produced a large chunk of native cheese; and when he had set this down, he remarked: "In a pen behind the house, close to the kitchen windows, there are two goats; and your lordship sees there, on the right of the front door, two cows tethered." I began to laugh, Watkins was so wise and solemn. "We can stand a siege, you mean?" I asked. "Well, I hope it won't come to that."