‘No, I can’t, Phroso,’ said I, and I believe I smiled. Did the dear girl think I should choose that moment for paddling? ‘They’re gaining,’ she cried. ‘Oh, they’re gaining! On, my lord, on!’ ‘How many are rowing?’ ‘Three, my lord, each with two oars.’ ‘Oh, the deuce! It’s no good, Phroso.’ ‘No good, my lord? But if they catch us?’ ‘I wish I could answer you. How near now?’ ‘Half as near as they were before.’ ‘Look round the sea. Are there any boats anywhere? Look all round.’ ‘There’s nothing anywhere, my lord.’ ‘Then the game’s up,’ said I; and I rested on my oars and began to pant. I was not in training for a race. The boat containing the soldiers drew near. Our boat, now motionless, awaited their coming. Phroso sank on the seat and sat with a despairing look in her eyes. But my mood was not the same. Mouraki was dead. I knew the change his death made was great. Mouraki was dead. I did not believe that there was another man in Neopalia who would dare to take any extreme step against me. For why had they not fired? They did not fire now, when they could have shot me through the head without difficulty and without danger. Their boat came alongside of ours. I leant forward and touched Phroso’s hand; she looked up. ‘Courage,’ said I. ‘The braver we look the better we shall come off.’ Then I turned to the pursuers and regarded them steadily, waiting for them to speak. The first communication was in dumb show. The man who was steering--he appeared to be a subordinate officer--covered me with his barrel. ‘I’m absolutely unarmed,’ I said. ‘You know that. You took my revolver away from me.’ ‘You’re trying to escape,’ said he, not shifting his aim. ‘Where’s your warrant for stopping me?’ I demanded. ‘The Pasha--’ ‘The Pasha’s dead. Be careful what you do. I am an Englishman, and in my country I am as great a man as your Pasha was.’ This assertion perhaps was on, or beyond, the confines of strict truth; it had considerable effect, however. ‘You were our prisoner, my lord,’ said the officer more civilly. ‘We cannot allow you to escape. And this lady was a prisoner also. She is not English; she is of the island. And one of the islanders has slain the Pasha. She must answer for it.’ ‘What can she have had to do with it?’ ‘It may have been planned between her and the assassin.’ ‘Oh, and between me and the assassin too, perhaps?’ ‘Perhaps, my lord. It is not my place to inquire into that.’ I shrugged my shoulders with an appearance of mingled carelessness and impatience. ‘Well, what do you want of us?’ I asked. ‘You must accompany us back to Neopalia.’ ‘Well, where did you suppose I was going? Is this a boat to go for a voyage in? Can I row a hundred miles to Rhodes? Come, you’re a silly fellow!’ He was rather embarrassed by my tone. He did not know whether to believe in my sincerity or not. Phroso caught the cue well enough to keep her tongue between her pretty lips, and her lids low over her wondering eyes.