There, then, the typhoid aftermath, which had been predicted would develop in time in Constance some strange and serious ailment, had found a lodgement, and now, bursting into life, lay siege to nature's most wonderful creation, the human brain. A moment of terrifying consternation followed.

"What shall I do now?" Virginia distractedly exclaimed.

"Paddle, paddle, paddle," feebly responded Constance.

Unmindful of the reply, Virginia stood as if transfixed with despair.

She racked her brain for a way out. The situation was fast verging on the tragic.

"I will barricade the door!" she determined. "No, he may smash in the roof or sink us; I must get them away somehow."

"Oh, Constance, dear, try to be strong. Fight down this weakness. The boat is waiting. We must escape. Help me! Oh, G.o.d, help! Help!"

Her voice began in a subdued, frantic appeal, and ended in a sob of heart-rending despair for succor.

Like a shaft of sunshine bursting through a rift in the dark, lowering clouds of dismay, came the answer from Constance:

"I will! I will! Let me think! Oh, yes, we had better go now. Lead on!

Hasten!" And she arose from the seat.

"Thank Heaven. The dark spot has gone," Virginia fervently exclaimed.

"Her brain has cleared again."

How joyfully she struck another match further to accelerate their pa.s.sage.

"Keep close to me, dear. Are you tired? Let me help you." And she placed her right arm about the waist of Constance, the match held forward in her left hand lighting the way. They had proceeded a few steps when the door opened. She drew back with a slight, terrified exclamation: "Oh!"

Jack Sh.o.r.e stood in the doorway.

CHAPTER XVI.

The men had been ash.o.r.e, had found the rope cut in several places, and the dog gone. The circ.u.mstances were so suspicious and frought with so much danger to them, that they decided upon the immediate removal of the child. On their return toward the cabin, Rutley discovered a faint glimmer of light within, and in a whisper, called Jack's attention to it.

"I am sure I blew it out," Jack whispered, alarmed.

"Do you think the child awakened and struck a match?" again whispered Rutley.

"No; no matches within her reach. Perhaps Virginia has come. h.e.l.lo! A strange boat here."

"The light moves," continued Rutley, in a whisper.

"I will get out here," whispered Jack, and he sprang out of the boat quietly onto the platform. "Take the boat to the other end of the cabin."

As he opened the door, the profile of the women and child appeared, dimly outlined by the match light held in Virginia's hand.

As she staggered back, surprised and terrified, for the moment, Jack pushed his way in, closed the door, bolted and locked it, and put the key in his pocket. Then he struck a match and lighted the lamp.

[Ill.u.s.tration: "Virginia drew back with a slight terrified exclamation, 'Oh!' Jack Sh.o.r.e stood in the doorway."]

After surveying the group, he gruffly laughed.

"Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, Signora make a da bold a break in a da house, eh?

Ha, ha, ha, ha. Eesa try tak a Daize from a da nicey home, eh? Ha, ha, ha, ha."

"Yes," she replied, without hesitation or a qualm of fear in her voice. "That was my intention, but the devil's emissary has blocked it."

Without a trace of fear, quietly and strangely free from agitation, Constance made her way to the door, and laid her hand on the bolt to unfasten it.

Jack took hold of her small, round wrist, turned her about and pushed her back a few paces. "Note a beez in a da hurry, Signora."

"Who are you?" she timidly asked.

"Ha, ha, ha, hic, Eesa compan-e-on say I beez a da devil," Jack laughed jeeringly.

"Oh, very well," she replied, mildly. "The devil is always hungry for someone. Who do you want now?"

"A Daize, a da Daize. Yous a lak a me, eh, a Daize?"

"No, no; the devil shall not have my heart. My precious darling now."

And Constance shrank from him, pressing the little form tighter to her breast.

"But you may have money," she indifferently added.

Jack smiled and bowed obsequiously.

"Ten-na years eesa sella da banans, turnoppsis, carrottsis, cababbages--mak a da mon, naw! Now eesa steal a da kid, do anyting for a mak a da mon. Da mon, da mon," he repeated slowly three times, with deep-toned Dago emphasis. "Then eesa-go back a da sunny Italia," a phrase that escaped his lips as though shot from a rapid firer.

In the meantime Rutley had entered from the other door, locked it, and softly crept to the part.i.tion door, where he stood listening and noting, through the small gla.s.s panel, the situation within.

Scorning preliminaries, Virginia said:

"I have brought you all that I could get. Take it!" And she laid a package of crisp banknotes on the table. Jack's eyes bulged and glistened at the sight of so much money within his grasp. He eagerly picked up the package, which was fastened in the middle by a band of paper, flipped the ends of the banknotes back and forth with his finger, then proceeded to count the money. His action was business-like.

Without unfastening the band, he held one end of the package firmly down on the table with the knuckles of his left hand, doubled the other end back, and held it with his fingers and let each note slip back separately to a flat position on the table, until he counted them all.

Meanwhile Virginia had gently pushed Constance to the seat, and as she watched him she muttered, as though speaking to herself: "I could get no more than ten thousand dollars. If that will not satisfy him, then let fate come to the rescue, for a life hangs on the issue tonight."

"Turnoppsis, Carrottsis, Ca-babbages, Ta-rah-rah. Eesa fat a da pack,"

said Jack, as he thrust the package of money inside his vest. "Saw da ood, hic"--But it appearing loose and risky to keep it there, he took it out, rolled it up and forced it in his trousers' back pocket.

"Black a da boots, hic." Still feeling dissatisfied with the security of either pocket he at last put it in the inside pocket of his coat, hanging near the lamp over the table. And then he turned to Virginia.

"Eesa part a da mon? Hic. Much a beez a da tanks, Signora."

"You will now liberate the child?" she pleaded, in faltering speech.

"Ta-rah-rah! You sa fetch a me only a da half!" exclaimed Jack, feigning surprise at her request.