Ten hours
will determine all I wish to know, and with you I trust the safety of
the party till my return: be vigilant, but be prudent"
"If you should not appear at the appointed hour," exclaimed Griffith, as
he beheld the Pilot turning to depart, "where am I to seek, and how
serve you?"
"Seek me not, but return to your vessel; my earliest years were passed
on this coast,--and I can leave the island, should it be necessary, as I
entered it, aided by this disguise and my own knowledge: in such an
event, look to your charge, and forget me entirely."
Griffith could distinguish the silent wave of his hand when the Pilot
concluded, and the next instant he was left alone. For several minutes
the young man continued where he had been standing, musing on the
singular endowments and restless enterprise of the being with whom
chance had thus unexpectedly brought him in contact, and with whose fate
and fortune his own prospects had, by the intervention of unlooked-for
circumstances, become intimately connected. When the reflections excited
by recent occurrences had passed away, he entered within the sweeping
circle of the ruinous walls, and, after a very cursory survey of the
state of the dilapidated building, he was satisfied that it contained
enough secret places to conceal his men, until the return of the Pilot
should warn them that the hour had come when they must attempt the
seizure of the devoted sportsmen, or darkness should again facilitate
their return to the Ariel.
Pages:
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
287