The friar quailed before the narrowed eyes; then, the old flame in him
leaping up, he answered, boldly enough, "It became him well,
señor,--well as it becomes every enemy to Spain and the Church!"

The other slightly laughed. "Why, go thy ways for a man of courage! but
go quickly, while as yet in all this steadfast world I find no fault
save with myself."

He stood to watch the embarkment of the mariners, who, if they wondered
at this latest command, had learned at least to wonder in silence. But
Robin-a-dale hung back, made protest. "Go!" said his master, whereupon
Robin went indeed--not to the awaiting boat, but with a defiant cry end
a rush across the sloping sand into the thick wood. The green depths
which received him were so labyrinthine, so filled with secret places
wherein to hide, that an hour's search might not dislodge him. The
sometime Captain of the _Cygnet_ let pass his wilfulness, signed to the
boats to push off, awaited in silence the fulfilment of all his
commands; then turning, rounded the eastern point of the tiny bay, and
was lost to sight in the shadows of the now late afternoon.

The sun went down behind the lofty trees; the brief dusk passed, and the
little beach showed faintly beneath the stars, great and small, of a
moonless night. Above the western horizon clouds arose and the lightning
constantly flashed, but there was no thunder, and only the sound of the
low surf upon the shore. Robin, creeping from the wood, saw the _Sea
Wraith_ at anchor, and by the distant lightning the bark from Pampatar
drifting far away without sail or rudder. Rounding the crescent of
gleaming sand, he lost the _Sea Wraith_ and the bark, but found whom he
sought. Finding him, he made no sign, but sat himself down in the lee of