The child stared at me hard, and I looked at her, though my eyes were a little the worse for wear, so that she cried out in great fright--the sweet innocent! and then the wench took her away. When she saw my face to-night--to-day--it sent her wild, but she did not remember.” He rubbed his chin in ecstasy and drummed his knee. “Ha! I cannot have the father--so I’ll have the goodly child, and great will be the ransom. Great will be the ransom, my Frenchman!” And once more he tapped Radisson with the tiger. CHAPTER VI THE KIDNAPPING The rejoicing had reached its apogee, and was on the wane. The Puritan had stretched his austereness to the point of levity; the Dutchman had comfortably sweated his obedience and content; the Cavalier had paced it with a pretty air of patronage and an eye for matron and maid; the Indian, come from his far hunting-grounds, bivouacked in the governor’s presence as the pipe of peace went round. About twilight the governor and his party had gone home. Deep in ceremonial as he had been, his mind had run upon Bucklaw and the Spaniards’ country. So, when the dusk was growing into night, the hour came for his visit to the Nell Gwynn. With his two soldier friends and Councillor Drayton, he started by a roundabout for the point where he looked to find Bucklaw. Bucklaw was not there: he had other fish to fry, and the ship’s lights were gone. She had changed her anchorage since afternoon. “It’s a bold scheme,” Bucklaw was saying to his fellow-ruffian in the governor’s garden, “and it may fail, yet ‘twill go hard, but we’ll save our skins. No pluck, no pence. Once again, here’s the trick of it. I’ll go in by the side door I unlocked last night, hide in the hallway, then enter the house quietly or boldly, as the case may be. Plan one: a message from his excellency to Miss Leveret, that he wishes her to join him on the Nell Gwynn. Once outside it’s all right. She cannot escape us. We have our cloaks and we have the Spanish drug. Plan two: make her ours in the house. Out by this hall door-through the grounds--to the beach--the boat in waiting--and so, up anchor and away! Both risky, as you see, but the bolder the game the sweeter the spoil. You’re sure her chamber is above the hallway, and that there’s a staircase to it from the main hall?” “I am very well sure. I know the house up-stairs and down.” Bucklaw looked to his arms. He was about starting on his quest when they heard footsteps, and two figures appeared. It was Iberville and Gering. They paused a moment not far from where the rogues were hid. “I think you will agree,” said Iberville, “that we must fight.” “I have no other mind.” “You will also be glad if we are not come upon, as last night; though, confess, the lady gave you a lease of life?” “If she comes to-night, I hope it will be when I have done with you,” answered Gering.