"Whe-ew! My colonel, I think I could have managed that matter better! I

think if I had had that girl in my power as you had, she should not

have escaped me!"

"Bah! bah! bah! Stop boasting, since it was through your neglect--yours!

yours! that I lost this girl!"

"Mine!" exclaimed Black Donald, in astonishment.

"Aye, yours! for if you had done your duty, performed your engagement,

kept your word, and delivered me from this fatal Capitola, I had not

lost my ward, nor my son his wealthy bride!" exclaimed Le Noir,

angrily.

"Capitola! Capitola again! What on earth had she to do with the loss of

Clara Day?" cried Black Donald, in wonder.

"Everything to do with it, sir! By a cunning artifice she delivered

Clara from our power--actually set her free and covered her flight

until she was in security!"

"That girl again! Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha! Ho, ho, ho ho, ho!" laughed and

roared Black Donald, slapping his knees.

Le Noir ground and gnashed his teeth in rage, muttering hoarsely: "Yes, you may laugh, confound you, since it is granted those who win to

do so! You may laugh; for you have done me out of five thousand

dollars, and what on earth have you performed to earn it?"

"Come, come, my colonel, fair and easy! I don't know which is

vulgarest, to betray loss of temper or love of money, and you are doing

both. However, it is between friends. But how the demon did that girl,

that capital Capitola, get Clara off from right under your eyes?"

"By changing clothes with her, confound you! I will tell you all about

it," replied Le Noir, who thereupon commenced and related the whole

stratagem by which Capitola freed Clara, including the manner in which

she accompanied them to the church and revealed herself at the altar.

Black Donald threw himself back and roared with laughter, vigorously

slapping his knees and crying: "That girl! that capital Capitola! I would not sell my prospect of

possessing her for double your bribe."

"Your 'prospect!' Your prospect is about as deceptive as a fata

morgana! What have you been doing, I ask you again, toward realizing

this prospect and earning the money you have already received?"

"Fair and easy, my colonel! Don't let temper get the better of justice!

What have I been doing toward earning the money you have already paid

me? In the first place, I lost time and risked my liberty watching

around Hurricane Hall. Then, when I had identified the girl and the

room she slept in by seeing her at the window, I put three of my best

men in jeopardy to capture her. Then, when she, the witch, had captured

them, I sacrificed all my good looks, transmogrifying myself into a

frightful old field preacher, and went to the camp-meeting to watch,

among other things, for an opportunity of carrying her off. The

sorceress! she gave me no such opportunity. I succeeded in nothing

except in fooling the wiseacres and getting admitted to the prison of

my comrades, whom I furnished with instruments by which they made their

escape. Since that time we have had to lie low--yes, literally to lie

low--to keep out of sight, to burrow under ground; in a word, to live

in this cavern."




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