He led the way through rocky, winding passages to the great cave, in
which his motley band were enjoying their evening meal with much loud
talk and laughter. At sight of the cloaked and hooded figure of their
master and his fair captive there was a sudden hush, however, and
practically all the men sprang to their feet at once.
"Mendoza, the keys of the prisoner's cell, please," said Don Carlos.
"The señorita wishes to speak to the Englishman."
An elderly man with some keys on a chain attached to his belt hurried
forward at once, and unlocked a massive door giving access to a small
apartment that looked as if it had been hewn out of the solid rock. It
was unfurnished save for a straw mattress with a brown blanket for
covering, and a rough wooden bench, on which, when the door was flung
open, Antony Standish was seated dejectedly with his head between his
hands.
He sprang up with a sharp intake of breath, looking pale, startled and
dishevelled, at sight of Myra and the hooded figure he assumed to be El
Diablo Cojuelo.
"Hullo! What's the idea now?" he asked quickly. "Why have you brought
Miss Rostrevor here?"
"The señorita wishes to assure herself that what she has been told by
Don Carlos de Ruiz is correct," explained El Diablo Cojuelo, in his
disguised and muffled voice. "I, also, wish to hear you say that you
are prepared to accept your freedom and go back with Don Carlos to his
castle, leaving the señorita with me, resigning her to me as your
ransom."
Myra found herself strangely calm, felt as if she had run through the
whole gamut of emotions and exhausted them all.
"Tony, is it true you told Don Carlos that you were willing to go and
leave me here at the mercy of this outlaw, who professes to be
passionately in love with me?" she asked, scarcely recognising her own
voice. "Is it true?"
"True? Er--er--why, of course not," answered Standish, nervously
fingering his little sandy moustache. "I mean to say--er--what exactly
did Don Carlos tell you?"
"That you are prepared to leave me here, knowing that El Diablo Cojuelo
will force me to become his wife, and accept your own freedom rather
than run the risk of punishment," said Myra. "You are prepared to
renounce me, Tony?"
"No, no, nothing of the sort!" exclaimed Tony, his face flushing
duskily. "Nothing of the sort! I distinctly told Don Carlos that
nothing would induce me to surrender you to Cojuelo. Myra, darling,
you know I would never think of doing such a thing."