"She is right" Roger murmured. "My wound is painful but I doubt its being dangerous, and at least it has resulted in my being allowed to remain with you. Bad as things are we must not lose heart but try to devise some means of either placating or tricking our captors."
He strove to get into his voice a note of optimism, although his heart could not have been heavier. Clarissa's touching faith in his capabilities only added to his misery. He had not a notion that might even alleviate their situation, was still too hampered by pain to think clearly, and greatly doubted if he would be given any chance at all to influence such decisions as might be taken about their future.
Closing his eyes, so that Amanda might not see the tears that welled up into them, he thought of Charles. Young, handsome, rich, titled, debonair, no man could have been more favoured by the gods, yet in one awful moment he had been snatched from those who loved him. His wit and kindness, quick perception and gentle nature had made him the most delightful of companions, and they would all miss him terribly. Roger's heart bled for Georgma. Her passionate half-gipsy blood had caused her to love many men, but for Charles she had had in addition something of a mother's fondness and had found with him a mental contentment that she had never known before, so his loss must prove for her a cruel affliction.
Every few moments a stab of pain shot through Roger's head, rendering all his efforts to concentrate abortive; so he was forced to give up, and lay for a while in a semi-stupor. He was roused from it by Amanda's uttering an exclamation. Opening his eyes, he saw that she was staring with a frightened expression towards the cabin door. Raising himself a little he saw that in it stood the fearsome figure of a Carib Indian whose hook-nosed face seemed to protrude from his chest.
A moment later he realized that the Indian was a hunch-back, and Amanda saw that her fears were groundless, for from his long ape-like arms there dangled a brush in one hand and a dustpan in the other. He had evidently been sent to tidy up the cabin and had found the things in Tom's closet. Having given them a not unfriendly grin he set about his task, swept up the broken glass, removed a wrecked chair and tied back the torn curtains. Then he signed to Jenny to pull Georgina away from the table.
As Jenny half lifted her mistress in her arms Roger saw that Georgina's lovely face had an unnaturally blank expression, and he feared that the shock of Charles's death had unhinged her mind. Without a murmur, she allowed herself to be led away and made comfortable in a chair on the far side of the cabin.
The hunch-back left them for a few minutes, to return carrying a big basket piled high with tropical fruits, then he went to investigate the larder. Fetching from it half a ham, a round of curried beef, a big wedge of cheese, a cake, biscuits and several bottles of wine, he set them out on the table, but did not bother to lay it with plates, cutlery or glasses, before going away again.
Five minutes later the pirate who had been put on board as the captain of the prize crew came in, accompanied by a woman. At the first glance Roger saw that Amanda's description of Joao de Mondego as a fearsome-looking individual was no exaggeration. He was very tall and at some time must have been severely burnt, as his face was almost fleshless and the scarred skin was drawn so tightly across the bones that it had the terrifying appearance of a living skull. He was dressed in buff breeches and a gold-laced coat that must have once belonged to a gentleman of the last generation. Two pistols and a knife were thrust through his broad leather, silver-studded belt, and in his hand he carried a naked cutlass.
The woman, on the other hand, was strikingly handsome. She was a splendidly-built mulatto with fine dark eyes, and an abundance of lustrous black hair that fell about her shoulders in carefully-curled ringlets. Her coffee-coloured skin was without a blemish, her nose was large but not flattened, and her partly negroid ancestry showed only in her full, ripe mouth.
She was wearing gold-tasselled, patent-leather Hessian boots, a knee-length mustard-coloured skirt, and a scarlet blouse which was so tight that it accentuated the shape of her full breasts almost to the point of indecency. In a black silk sash round her waist she carried a silver-mounted pistol and an ivory-handled riding switch. Roger judged her to be about thirty, but, having coloured blood, she might have been considerably younger.
Both of them surveyed the prisoners in silence for a moment, then the man said in guttural French: "Come, Lucette; let us eat." Upon which they sat down at the table and set to. Using only their fingers and sheath knives they crammed the food into their mouths and washed it down with copious draughts of wine straight from the bottles.
For a quarter of an hour they gorged themselves without exchanging a word. At length Joao gave a great belch and sat back; then his companion got lazily to her feet and, fixing her big sloe-like eyes on Amanda, said in an educated voice, using the lisping French commonly spoken by Creoles:
"You are the tallest, so your clothes will fit me best. Where are they?"
Amanda told her the situation of her cabin, and with lithe grace she lounged Out through the door. There was silence for a moment, then Clarissa, also using French, asked the pirate:
"What do you intend to do with us?"
A slow grin spread over Joao de Mondego’s skull-like face and he replied with a heavy accent due to his Portuguese origin. "You'll see in good time, my pretty. There's no call to be frightened, though. Provided you're a sensible wench no harm will come to you."
His words were reassuring, but the implication that lay behind them was far from being so. Again a tense silence fell, while he continued to eye her speculatively between swigs at the bottle of claret that was before him.
He had just finished it when the mulatto he had called Lucette came in again. She was still wearing the same clothes but now had on over her scarlet shirt a brocade jacket of Amanda's. Showing her fine white teeth in a full-lipped smile, she said:
"Your things fit me very well, Madame. I shall find a good use for them." Then she asked: "Which of you is the Countess?"
Georgina did not even look up, but Amanda waved a hand in her' direction, and the mulatto walked over to her. For a moment Lucette stood looking down on the grief-stricken figure, then she said smoothly: "I think your ear-rings would suit me, lady. Be good enough to hand them over."
It seemed as though Georgina had not even heard her, as she made no move to obey; her eyes remained blank and her face expressionless. Lucette's brows drew together in a frown and she exclaimed: "You sulky bitch, you need a lesson." Then, thrusting out a hand, she seized one of the diamond drops and tore it from Georgina's ear. With a cry of pain Georgina suddenly came to life. Her eyes blazing, she threw up an arm, thrust the mulatto away and sprang to her feet. Roger, too, jerked himself erect. His head was swimming and his legs unsteady, but he lurched forward, crying in angry protest:
"Can you not see that the Countess is unwell. She is suffering from the shock of her husband's death. Have the decency to treat her grief with respect."
For an answer Lucette turned, took a step towards him and struck him in the face with her clenched fist. The blow caught him on the left eye. A pall of blackness suddenly eclipsed his vision. Against it he saw stars and whirling circles, then his weak knees gave under him and he fell back in Amanda's arms.
Never had he felt so angry and humiliated. He could have sobbed with rage at the lack of strength which rendered him impotent to defend those he loved, even from a woman. As it was he could only let Amanda lower him back on to the settee, and sit there with his aching head buried in his hands.
It was another cry which brought his head swiftly up again, but this time it did not come from Georgina. Realizing the futility of resistance, she had given up her other ear-ring, and the mulatto was standing opposite one of the cracked mirrors fixing the diamonds in her ears.