IN A LONELY SPOT. The dark night happily favoured them; and what was also in their favour was the fact that Sieur Simon's boat lay at anchor, and his hoys had been plying backwards and forwards all the afternoon, making the men on guard pay but little attention to the gentle plash of the oars as Andreas and Harry sent the long boat shooting off into the bay. One thought distressed the faithful Andreas: he had done his best to lay in a store of food, but he knew it was a very inadequate provision if the boys were to be left long in the desert island. No one spoke for some time; then, when they had safely passed the ship, and were well out to sea, they had plenty to say to each other. Harry told how he had heard the baying of the dogs from his hiding-place; how they had come nearer and nearer, and he had felt a strange horror, which nothing else had ever given him before, at the idea of being torn in pieces by those blood-thirsty animals; then how the sounds had told him the dogs were close at hand, the shouting and yelling negroes urging them on, and the pirates mingling oaths with these cries as they were entangled in the scrub or the mangrove branches. Yes, and at last they had come close by, up to the foot of the tree, and had paused there as the baying dogs rushed round and round undecided, till one of them had evidently scented out the trail made by Andreas, and the negroes had hunted the dogs forward. Harry's face as he told the story still bore traces of the terrible ordeal he had passed through during those few moments of intense suspense. 'I fancied before that I was brave, but I only know that when I heard those evil beasts I had no more courage left in me than a zany at a village fair; and when they had passed by, I lay on the floor of my hiding-place as if I were already dead. I have never before been in such dire terror of my life; but in truth such barbarous ways are not honest warfare.' 'Yet I saw my father hunted down by wild dogs,' said Andreas, on whom this fact had made a lasting impression; and Carlo looked grave, for he knew well enough that his people it was who had perpetrated such cruelties on the gentle Indians, and that Spain would ever have to bear the shame of the first cruelties in the New World--cruelties which other nations had not been slow to adopt; till the black plague-spot had spread all over the fair lands and the newly discovered islands. All night they rowed hard, and when daylight came, and with it all the glory of the tropical sunrise, St. Catherine was no longer in sight; and unless any other knew the secret of the desert island and betrayed the knowledge to Sieur Simon, they were saved. Each in his own heart thanked God. Harry's face began to recover its more cheerful expression: he was not leaving his loved ones as was Carlo; but was this journey bringing him much nearer his own home? 'When shall we sight this place?' asked Carlo wearily, when the sun beating down on their heads reminded him that he was now not nearly as strong as before his illness; 'and what do you call it, Andreas? It seems as if we were going to a land of nowhere.' 'It has no name known to the white men, Senor; but my father, who took me there when I was a boy, always called it by an Indian name which meant "Queen of the Water," because of the one tall Jagua palm-tree which stands high and solitary on it, and can be seen from a long distance.' 'Then we are already in sight,' said Harry suddenly. 'Look, Andreas, there, right ahead! You have come straight as an arrow.' This welcome news gave them fresh courage, and on they sped. Nearer and nearer they came; they could now discern the wild scrub bordering the sand on which the surf painted a long line of white foam; they could see the motion of the leaves as the soft breeze disturbed the luxuriant undergrowth; but suddenly Andreas, standing up, dropped his oar from sheer surprise. 'Queen of the Water is not a desert island now!' he said. 'Look, Senor!' The boys also gazed now at the shore; and there, sure enough, on a small rock that jutted out into the sea, they saw a weird-looking figure walking slowly up and down, and waving long thin arms as if to warn off the intruders. The man, who hardly looked human even from this distance, appeared to be intent only on this one action; and so strange did it seem, that the three looked at each other with the same question expressed on their faces, and this was, 'Shall we land?' 'If there is one man there may be more,' said Carlo, in despair; 'but I can row no more. We may as well be killed here as go on to another island and die by the way.' 'He is no Indian, but a white man,' remarked Andreas, again scanning the rock; 'his beard is long, and his hair too. He either wishes us ill, or wishes to warn us from some danger; and yet I never heard of any one living here. This is indeed a misfortune.' 'Well, we must risk it,' said Harry, seeing Carlo was looking terribly white and done up; 'and I think if we run the boat in here, at our right hand, that old fellow will not come up with us till we are well landed, for he will have nigh upon a mile to walk. If I'm not right, you may call me an ass for my pains, Carlo.' Andreas approved, and presently they were obliged to keep all their wits sharp in order to enter the semicircular harbour, for there was some danger in getting the boat through the tumbling surf. But the Indian was too well accustomed to landing a boat to come to grief, and very soon the three stood on firm land; and after dragging up the boat out of reach of the waves, they looked anxiously around their new home. Near them, above the low cliff, was a clearing made by nature, where grew bananas, cacao, and bois-immortel, among which could also be seen a few orange-trees and Avocado pears; so that there was no fear of dying of thirst. But what interested them most was the strange weird figure, who, instead of following them, still kept on the same rock, and still waved his arms as if warding off some visible enemy. Andreas gazed a few minutes in silence; then all at once his eyes lighted up. 'It is no enemy: it must be a poor man whom the pirates have brought here. That is their fashion. I have heard them speak of it. They land some one who has offended them, and leave him to die alone; though often they will give him a musket and a little powder.' 'Then I should say that poor man is mad,' said Harry. 'If so, he may be more dangerous than a pirate. But look, Andreas; if the pirates have been once they may come again.' 'No, not for many a long day; they must have sighted this desert island by chance, and landed this poor man here, knowing it was uninhabited.' 'Well, I will go and see what I can make of him,' said Harry, 'whilst you get a rest, Carlo; for you must not be ill here, and Andreas will begin unloading the boat.' 'Take care, Harry,' cried Carlo; 'nay, wait: I will come with you--I can't bear you to run the risk alone.' 'I have been through so many perilous scrapes that one more or less makes but little difference. Still, come along, Senorito, we may perhaps make the poor man forget his troubles.' So the two walked slowly along the shore till they came within a few yards of the weird figure; and Harry, wishing to attract his attention, called out to him and asked him what he did there. Then the figure paused, and gazed at the new-comers as if they were an unfamiliar sight, and began muttering through his long grey beard Spanish words of no meaning. 'Senor Carlo, this poor fellow is a Spaniard; but I see no sign of a musket. Speak to him, and ask him where he sleeps, and why he is here.' Carlo began very courteously to inquire how the stranger had reached the island, as no boat was in sight; but suddenly he stopped short in his sentence, and clung wildly to Harry. 'Harry, Harry Fenn, look again, that man is--can you not see? It is my father; and yet I hardly knew him. See the ring on his finger?' Harry would certainly not have recognised the Marquis, whom he had seen but little of; but in his astonishment he called out his name. 'The Senor Estevan del Campo! Surely it cannot be! Gracious Heaven!' 'Yes, yes,' said the poor man, 'that is my name. Who called me? Yes, yes, Estevan del Campo!' 'Oh, sir, here is your son,' said Harry; and then Carlo, summoning up his courage, rushed toward his poor father and knelt by his side. 'Father, father, do you not know me? I am Carlo, your son. Forgive me if I ever spoke harshly, father.' 'Carlo my son? No, no, I have no son, no country. Don't let any one come here to find out my hiding-place; I warn them off. The pirates left me here; that was the kindest thing they did for me. I have no name, no titles. Don't tell any one where I am. What do they call it?--marooning--they marooned me, left me to die alone. It was their kindness; I bear them no grudge for doing that. No name, no country!' 'No, no,' cried Carlo; 'we will take care of you, father; you shall not die alone.' And turning his arm round the poor thin arm of his father, Carlo dragged him forward; and Harry, following behind, wiped away a few tears from his eyes; for it was indeed a sight to have touched the hardest heart. But evidently the poor Marquis was out of his mind and had not much longer to live. The sound of human voices seemed to soothe him after a time; and when they reached the shade of the grove where Andreas had set out some food for the travellers, he was no longer muttering his few sentences. The surprise of the Indian can easily be imagined, and the poor fellow's pity for his old master was quite touching to witness, even though he had never received much kindness at his hands. Little by little the Marquis began to take in dimly that Carlo was with him, and to accept the services of Andreas as he waited on him; but though not actually starved, he had taken but little trouble to collect food, and the horror of loneliness and shame at his past treason seemed to have done the work of years. Carlo, who had all along been feeling a grudge against his father, could now forgive and forget everything. 'Oh, Andreas, how fortunate it was that you brought us here! Stay with us now, and do not go back to St. Catherine: I am so much afraid that your absence will be discovered, and then---- Do stay, and let us share our misfortunes and our luck.' It was a great temptation to Andreas, and for a few moments he brooded in silence over the proposal; but he had learnt Christianity in a way not understood by many Christians. He considered that if he stayed he would certainly save himself, but if he returned he might help to save the poor ladies, who had now no protectors; and Andreas knew that the word of a pirate was but a poor thing to trust in. He believed that he could help them, and anyhow he could give them the knowledge that Carlo was safe and that the Marquis was found. What did his life matter? Had not the Padre told him these words: 'Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends,' and to the poor Indian the words were simple and powerful, and to be, if needs were, carried out literally. It took him but a few moments to make up his mind. 'Andreas must go back,' he said, smiling, now his decision was made; 'for the Senora and the Senorita will want to know the good news, and they may want also to come to the Queen of the Water. Andreas loves Senor Carlo dearly, but he will go away first and then come again.' So towards evening, several hours before the sun set, Andreas was escorted to the boat, while the boys helped to push it off from the shore, and the Marquis stood by once more as if he were giving orders, though he merely said, 'Tell them, Andreas, that I did it for the best. The rascals deceived me. Tell them that, Andreas, and don't let my little Felipa think badly of me.'