A fire in the wide stone fireplace dispelled the dampness of the night. Candles in the great silver candelabrum in the center of the broad mahogany board lit the hall, throwing long shadows on the stair. Count Henri sat at the head of that table, presiding over a company composed of his niece, his piratical guest, Gallot, and the captain of the guard.
"You followed Harston?" asked Henri. "You drove him this far afield?"
"I followed Harston," laughed Villiers. "I followed him around the Horn. But he was not fleeing from me. He came seeking something; something I, too, desire."
"What could tempt a pirate to this naked land?" muttered Henri.
"What could tempt a Count of France?" retorted Villiers.
"The rottenness of a royal court might sicken a man of honor."
"D'Chastillons of honor have endured its rottenness for several generations," said Villiers bluntly. "My lord, indulge my curiosity—why did you sell your lands, load your galleon with the furnishings of your castle and sail over the horizon out of the knowledge of men? And why settle here, when your sword and your name might carve out a place for you in any civilized land?"
Henri toyed with the golden seal-chain about his neck.
"As to why I left France," he said, "that is my own affair. But it was chance that left me stranded here. I had brought all my people ashore, and much of the furnishings you mentioned, intending to build a temporary habitation. But my ship, anchored out there in the bay, was driven against the cliffs of the north point and wrecked by a sudden storm out of the west. That left us no way of escape from this spot."
"Then you would return to France, if you could?"
"Not to France. To China, perhaps—or to India—"
"Do you not find it tedious here, my Lady?" asked Villiers, for the first time addressing himself directly to Françoise.
Hunger to see a new face and hear a new voice had brought the girl to the banquet-hall that night. But now she wished she had remained in her chamber with Tina. There was no mistaking the meaning in the glance Villiers turned on her. His speech was decorous, his expression respectful, but it was only a mask through which gleamed the violent and sinister spirit of the man.
"There is little diversion here," she answered in a low voice.
"If you had a ship," Villiers addressed his host, "you would abandon this settlement?"
"Perhaps," admitted the Count.
"I have a ship," said Villiers. "If we could reach an agreement—"
"Agreement?" Henri stared suspiciously at his guest.
"Share and share alike," said Villiers, laying his hand on the board with the fingers spread wide. The gesture was repulsively reminiscent of a great spider. But the fingers quivered with tension, and the buccaneer's eyes burned with a new light.
"Share what?" Henri stared at him in bewilderment. "The gold I brought with me went down in my ship, and unlike the broken timbers, it did not wash ashore."
"Not that!" Villiers made an impatient gesture. "Let us be frank, my lord. Can you pretend it was chance which caused you to land at this particular spot. with thousands of miles of coast to choose from"
"There is no need for me to pretend," answered Henri coldly. "My ship's master was one Jacques Piriou, formerly a buccaneer. He had sailed this coast, and he persuaded me to land here, telling me he had a reason he would later disclose. But this reason he never divulged, because the day we landed he disappeared into the woods, and his headless body was found later by a hunting party. Obviously the Indians slew him."
Villiers stared fixedly at the Count for a space.
"Sink me," quoth he at last. "I believe you, my lord. And I'll make you a proposal. I will admit when I anchored out there in the bay I had other plans in mind. Supposing you to have already secured the treasure, I meant to take this fort by strategy and cut all your throats. But circumstances have caused me to change my mind—" he cast a glance at Françoise that brought color into her face, and made her lift her head indignantly.
"I have a ship to carry you out of exile," said the buccaneer. "But first you must help me secure the treasure."
"What treasure, in Saint Denis' name?" demanded the Count angrily. "You are yammering like that dog Harston, now."
"Did you ever hear of Giovanni da Verrazano?"
"The Italian who sailed as a privateer for France and captured the caravel loaded with Montezuma's treasures which Cortez was sending to Spain?"
"Aye. That was in 1523. The Spaniards claimed to have hanged him in 1527, but they lied. That was the year he sailed over the horizon and vanished from the knowledge of' men. But it was not from the Spaniards that he fled.
