Fiction > Book editions > London, 1885 - Dynamiter

172 NEW ARABIAN NIGHTS.
l)oard, a somewhat larger isle was green with trees, set
with a few low buildings and approached by a pier of
very crazy workmanship ; and a little inshore of us, a
smaller vessel lay at anchor.
I had scarce time to glance to the four quarters, ere
a boat was lowered. I was handed in, Kentish took place
beside me, and we pulled briskly to the pier. A crowd
of villainous, armed loiterers, both black and white,
looked on upon our landing ; and again the word passed
about among the negroes, and again I was received with
prostrations and the same gesture of the flung-up liand.
By this, what with the appearance of these men and the
lawless, sea-girt spot in which I found myself, my courage
l)egan a little to decline, and clinging to the arm of
Mr. Kentish, I begged him to tell me what it meant ?
' Nay, madam,' he returned, ' you know.' And lead-
ing me smartly through the crowd, which continued to
follow at a considerable distance, and at which he still
kept looking back, I thought, with apprehension, he
brought me to a low house that stood alone in an en-
cumbered yard, opened the door, and begged me to
enter.
* But why 1 ' said I. ' I demand to see Sir George.'
' Madam,' returned Mr. Kentish, looking suddenly as
black as thunder, ' to drop all fence, I know neither who
nor what you are ; beyond the fact that you are not the
person whose name you have assumed. But be what
you please, spy, ghost, devil or most ill-judging jester,
if you do not immediately enter that house, I will cut
you to the earth.' And even as he spoke, he threw an
uneasy glance behind him at the following crowd of
blacks.
I did not wait to be twice threatened ; I obeyed at
once and with a palpitating heart ; and the next moment,
the door was locked from the outside and the key with-
drawn. The interior was long, low and quite un-
furnished, but filled, almost from end to end, with sugar-
cane, tar barrels, old tarry rope, and other incongruous
and highly inflammable material ; and not only was the
door locked, but the solitary window barred with iron.