"Nay then, not so fast, my lord," he chuckled gaily. "Hearkee, my
master. I did but use my eyes during their everlasting pow-wow. Surely
ye would not grudge me that! And the maid is comely, well worth a
trinket from thy store. Besides," he laughed slyly, "I saw e'en more to
thine interest, for methinks the princess is as much in love with thy
looks as art thou with hers."
"Silence, fool! Thou hast said more than enough already. Think'st thou
the son of a duke royal would look at a brown-skinned savage, an
unbelieving pagan, no matter how comely, as thou call'st it, she might
be!"
But the flush remained, nevertheless, on the dark cheek of the young
nobleman as he strode angrily from the deck.
The moonlight had laid a quivering path of light across the water before
Wildenai raised her bowed head from the ground. But, at length, drawing
her blanket more closely about her, for into the night air the chill of
the ocean had crept, she was about to leave the cave when a sudden sound
from the beach below arrested her. For a moment she listened in silence
while the shout was repeated, then stood dumb with amazement. A third
time it came to her, borne on the rising wind, the terrified cry of a
man in dire distress. Nor was it one of her own people who thus called
out of the darkness for help.
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