Left alone, Myra flung herself down on the couch and pressed her hands to her burning cheeks.

"Oh, surely, surely he won"t succeed in fooling or intimidating Tony into surrendering me," she whispered, feeling shaken to the depths. "I feel confident Tony won"t give me up, and yet--oh, I wish I hadn"t made that promise. I don"t want to marry Don Carlos unless--oh, this is driving me crazy! What did he mean by saying Don Carlos might ransom me when Cojuelo had tired of me?"

It was fully an hour before Don Carlos reappeared, and Myra found the time of waiting and the suspense almost unbearable. She started convulsively to her feet as Don Carlos entered, and her heart seemed to miss a beat when she saw that he was smiling triumphantly.

"You are mine, Myra, mine!" he exclaimed exultantly, his dark eyes gleaming. "As I expected, Standish values himself and his own safety more than he values you, and he is ready to surrender you to El Diablo Cojuelo as the price of his freedom."

"I don"t believe it! It can"t be true!" protested Myra breathlessly.

"Tony wouldn"t be such a knave and coward. You have tricked him, I suppose, into saying something which you distort into an offer to surrender me."

"I repeat that Standish is now willing to leave you here at the mercy of Cojuelo, on condition that he is allowed to go scot free," said Don Carlos.

"I don"t believe it! It can"t be true!" Myra reiterated. "Take me to Tony and let me question him."

"Presently you shall have your wish, but first let me give you an account of my interview with Mr. Standish, so that you will know what questions to put to him," said Don Carlos. "Pray be seated, Myra, and calm yourself. Does the prospect of surrendering yourself to me so dismay your heart?"

Myra merely nodded, as she seated herself in the furthermost corner of the couch. She did not know what to say or what to believe, and her blue eyes were dark with dread as she watched Don Carlos, who had a.s.sumed a nonchalant att.i.tude. He put on the coat he had discarded before going to interview Standish, helped himself to a drink from a side table, and lit a cigarette before taking a seat facing Myra.

"Why, I wonder, do you persist in doubting me?" he said, slowly and deliberately. "What I have told you is true. I had myself thrust as a prisoner into the cell in which your dear Tony Standish is at present imprisoned. He welcomed me like a long-lost brother, told me what had happened, and asked me if I could help to arrange terms with Cojuelo."

He broke off with a laugh, flicked the ash from the end of his cigarette, and finished his drink. Myra, waiting almost breathlessly for him to continue, felt that she wanted to shake him for being so tantalisingly deliberate.

"I told him that I had had a conversation with Cojuelo, and that the brigand had told me he meant to kill him by inches and make him die a hundred deaths for having attempted to murder him," resumed Don Carlos at length. "I told him I could ransom him and get him away scot free, but only if he agreed to hand you over to Cojuelo as part of his ransom."

Again he paused, and Myra could not restrain her impatience.

"Well? Go on. Do you mean to tell me Tony agreed?" she asked. "Or have you to pause every now and again to invent a story?"

"To do him justice, I must tell you that Standish did not at once agree," answered Don Carlos, tossing away the b.u.t.t of his cigarette.

"His idea was that Cojuelo had only been bluffing, and that it was merely a question of offering him enough money. Incidentally, you were right in your estimate, Myra. He said he would pay anything up to ten thousand pounds as a ransom for you. When I told him Cojuelo would not part with you for one hundred thousand pounds, he said he"d see him d.a.m.ned first before he"d pay it. So now you know your market value, as rated by Mr. Antony Standish, who has an income, I understand, of something like a hundred thousand pounds a year!"

"So because Tony wasn"t idiot enough to agree to pay more than ten thousand pounds as ransom, you are trying to make out he agreed to resign me and leave me to the tender mercies of Cojuelo?"

Don Carlos shook his head and lit another cigarette with exasperating deliberation.

"Dear Myra, it may wound your pride, but he has resigned you," he said.

"His love did not stand the acid test. I told him it was not a question of money, that Cojuelo had fallen madly in love with you and was afire with desire to make you his own, but thought it might bring him bad luck to take a girl who was betrothed to another man, unless the other man agreed to surrender her to him, or, at least, give her her freedom. Mr. Standish protested that nothing would persuade him to surrender you to Cojuelo."

"And yet you have said he offered to give me up?"

"Hear me out, Myra. I did not say he offered to give you up. I said he was willing to surrender you--which is a distinction with a difference. When he protested that nothing would persuade him to surrender you to Cojuelo, I reminded him that the bandit had threatened to have him scourged and branded with hot irons, that he was absolutely at the devil"s mercy, and I played on his fears. I warned him that Cojuelo was a man of his word and would surely torture him unless he renounced you. He quailed at that, and after some hesitation agreed that he had no alternative but to accept his freedom and leave you here."

"But that does not mean that he renounced me," objected Myra, as Don Carlos paused again.

"What else does it mean, Myra?" asked Don Carlos. "I told him Cojuelo is madly in love with you, as I have said, and that if he accepted his freedom the outlaw would take it as an indication he had given you up.

Yet he is going. True, he talked about organizing a rescue party, swore he would kill Cojuelo if any harm came to you, and all that sort of thing, but that was mere empty talk. The whole point is, as I said in the first place, that he is prepared, in effect, to surrender you to El Diablo Cojuelo as the price of his own freedom and safety."

"I cannot--I will not--believe it," said Myra firmly, rising to her feet. "Not until I hear Tony say himself that he is prepared to renounce me will I believe it. Let me see him."

"As you will," said Don Carlos, rising and putting on his disguise. "I will take you to him. Let me remind you, however, of your promise not to reveal the fact that Don Carlos and El Diablo Cojuelo are one and the same. I hold you to both of your promises--and I have a priest waiting to marry us. Come!"

CHAPTER XVI

He led the way through rocky, winding pa.s.sages 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 senorita 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 ma.s.sive 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 a.s.sumed to be El Diablo Cojuelo.

"Hullo! What"s the idea now?" he asked quickly. "Why have you brought Miss Rostrevor here?"

"The senorita wishes to a.s.sure herself that what she has been told by Don Carlos de Ruiz is correct," explained El Diablo Cojuelo, in his disguised and m.u.f.fled 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 senorita 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 pa.s.sionately 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."

"So you a.s.sert that Don Carlos lied?" demanded Cojuelo sternly. "You did not tell him you would accept your freedom and leave the senorita to me if I refrained from flogging you and branding you? Will you swear that on oath--on your sacred word of honour as an English gentleman?"

"Don Carlos must have misunderstood me," Standish responded, nervously licking his dry lips. "Look here, Cojuelo, drop this fooling and be sensible. I realise you"ve got the whip hand, so to speak, and can dictate your own terms. How much do you want? I told Don Carlos I am willing to pay you ten thousand pounds--that"s something like a million pesetas in your money--to set Miss Rostrevor and me free. Think of it, man--a million, and----"

"You have not answered my question, Senor Standish," interrupted Cojuelo curtly. "Do you a.s.sert that Don Carlos de Ruiz lied when he said you were willing to accept your freedom and leave the Senorita Rostrevor to me? Will you meet Don Carlos face to face and denounce him as a liar?"

"Don Carlos must have misunderstood me," repeated Tony. "It--er--it isn"t a question of calling him a liar. Look here, Cojuelo, what"s the use of all this bluff and bl.u.s.ter? Why don"t you come down to bra.s.s tacks and state your terms?"

"Don Carlos did not misunderstand you, and you are lying," Cojuelo rasped at him. "Confess now to the Senorita Rostrevor that you have renounced her."

"I shall do nothing of the sort, confound you!" Standish exclaimed angrily. "Why the deuce don"t you state your terms and have done with it?"

"My terms were clearly dictated to you through the medium of Don Carlos," said Cojuelo. "I give you your freedom on condition that you renounce the Senorita Rostrevor and surrender her to me. Incidentally, the senorita has promised she will marry me if you renounce her."

"I made the promise, Tony, because Don Car--er--I mean El Diablo Cojuelo--boasted that you would surrender me to save yourself,"

interposed Myra hastily. "I knew nothing would induce you to give me up, Tony. It isn"t true, is it, that you agreed to go away with Don Carlos and leave me here?"

"No, of course I didn"t mean that, Myra," answered Tony, gulping as if he had a lump in his throat. "Didn"t I come here to ransom you?"