Fiction > Book editions > London, 1885 - Dynamiter

THE FAIR CUBAN\ lol
and the diamonds of Golconda ? No, child, that man, for
all his yacht and title, that man must fear and must ol)ey
me. To-night, then, as soon as it is dark, we must take
our way through the swamp by the path which I shall
presently show you ; thence, across the highlands of the
isle, a track is blazed, which shall conduct us to the haven
on the north; and close by the yacht is riding. Should
my pursuers come before the hour at which I look to see
them, they will still arrive too late ; a trusty man attends
on the mainland; as soon as they appear, we shall behold,
if it be dark, the redness of a tire, if it be day, a pillar of
smoke, on the opposing headland ; and thus warned, we
shall have time to put the swamp between ourselves and
danger. Meantime, I would conceal this bag ; I would,
before all things, be seen to arrive at the house with
empty hands ; a blabbing slave might else undo us. For
see ! ' he added ; and holding up the bag, which he had
already shown me, he poured into my lap a shower of
unmounted jewels, brighter than flowers, of every size
and colour, and catching, as they fell, upon a million
dainty facets, the ardour of the sun.
I could not restrain a cry of admiration.
'Even in your ignorant eyes,' pursued my father,
' they command respect. Yet what are they but pebbles,
passive to the tool, cold as death ? Ingrate ! ' he cried.
' Each one of these — miracles of nature's patience, con-
ceived out of the dust in centuries of microscopical
activity, each one is, for you and me, a year of life,
lil.^ei-ty and mutual affection. How, then, should I
cherish them ! and why do I delay to place them beyond
reach ! Teresa, follow me.'
He rose to his feet, and led me to the borders of the
great jungle, where they overhung, in a wall of poisonous
and dusky foliage, the declivity of the hill on which my
father's house stood planted. For some while he skirted,
with attentive eyes, the margin of the thicket. Then,
seeming to recognise some mark, for his countenance
became immediately lightened of a load of thought, he
paused and addressed me. ' Here/ said he, 'is the
entrance of the secret path that I have mentioned,