One of the crew obeyed, and, as the wind entered sharply, and the lights flickered and grew dim, there half staggered, half rushed from the gloom, the figure of a man, wild, wet, whose clothes were torn and whose face was freshly cut and marked with many livid signs of violence. "Sanchez!" From his place the Black Seigneur rose. The others looked around wonderingly; some with rough pity. "What's the matter, man?" said one. "You look as if you had had a bad fall." "Fall!" Standing in the center of the room, where he had come to a sudden stop, the man gazed, bewildered, resentful, about him; then above the circle of questioning faces, his uncertain look lifted; caught and remained fixed on that of the Black Seigneur. "Fall?" he repeated, articulating with difficulty. "No; I had--no fall--but I will speak--with my master--alone!" CHAPTER XIII THE SEETHING OF THE SEA "'I have concluded to deal leniently with you,' said the Governor; 'set you free!' I could not believe." Alone in the little chamber, the door of which now was closed, shutting them from sight of the company in the general eating and drinking room adjoining, Sanchez and the Black Seigneur sat together. Before them the viands that had been placed on the table were untouched; the filled glasses, untasted. As he spoke, the man bent forward, his words disjointed; his eyes gleaming. "'But,' the Governor added, 'the criminal must be taught not to forget'; then turned to his soldiers. 'Beat me this fellow from the Mount!' he commanded." "What!" The blood sprang to the dark face of the listener; he half started from his chair. "And they did! A merry chase, down the streets, across the sands! I, an old soldier!" His voice choked. "Beaten like a dog!" For some moments the young man looked at him; then again sank back; stared straight ahead. Without, the laughter and harsh voices of the islanders had become louder; within the little chamber, the only sound now was the hard, persistent ticking of the clock on the shelf. "But how," at length Desaurac made a movement, "did he--" "Learn!" violently. "The way I told you he would!" "You mean--" "That I was betrayed and you were--by the Lady Elise--" "Impossible!" the Black Seigneur exclaimed with sudden violence. "Because she has a pretty face!" sneered the other. "Silence! Or--" "That is it!" The servant's voice rose stridently. "Beaten at one end, threatened at the other!" The arm the young man had reached out fell to his side. "Hush! You're mad; you don't know what you're saying!" "And you did not know what you were doing! Oh, I dare say it--I tell you now I little liked the task of taking her back; expecting some sort of treachery, and, when it came, was not surprised! Any more than, when they had brought me before the Governor, I saw her at the cloister--watching, hiding--" "Hiding!"