"What is amusing you?" he asked.
She told him, though she spoke with difficulty.
"It is not quite so bad as that," he said. "If there is no hitch in
our plans, we should be on the island within five hours. We have
everything thought out as far as may be in view of the unknown. At any
rate, Miss Yorke, if we succeed in getting you safely ashore, you
personally will have but slight cause for further anxiety. The
proposal is that Marcel shall take you at once to the hut of an old
convict whom he can trust----"
"A convict!" she gasped. The word was ominous, and she was hardly
awake.
"The population of Fernando Noronha is almost entirely made of convicts
and soldiers," he explained.
"But am I to be left there alone?"
"What else is there to be done? You cannot join in the attack on a
fort--and that offers our only chance, it would seem. Granted an
effective surprise, we may carry it. Then your guardian will bring you
to us."
"What if you fail?"
"We must not fail," he said quietly.
"Please do not hide the alternative from me," she pleaded. "I have
endured so much----"
"Well, don't you see, this man--who, by the way, is married, and has a
daughter aged fourteen--will, if necessary, reveal your presence to the
Governor. By that time, say, in a day or two, the excitement will have
died down, the news of your escape will be cabled to England, you will
be sent to the coast on the Government steamer, and you can travel home
by the next mail.
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