"You may as well kill me as leave me here," she said calmly.
"Nonsense," said Hilderman. "If we leave you here, and see that you have no means of getting away by sea, you will have to find your way across the hills or round the cliffs. There is no road, and by the time you return to civilisation we shall be clear."
"That's very thoughtful of you," said Myra. "You bargain on my falling over a precipice or something. A blind girl would have a splendid chance of getting back safely!"
"Good heavens!" Hilderman cried. "I thought you must be able to see. Fuller, this means that that fellow Burnham came with her, and is close at hand. What in the name----"
But he, too, was interrupted, for a great, gaunt figure flashed like some weird animal through the window. A long bare arm reached over Fuller's shoulder and snatched the pistol.
"Yes, Mr. Burnham is with her," said Dennis quietly, as he stood in front of them, stripped to the waist, the water pouring off him in streams, and covered them with the revolver.
Hilderman and Fuller von Guernstein held up their hands as requested.
"This is very awkward," said Fuller. "We shall have to let that wretched Ewart go."
And then Dennis swayed, threw up his arms, and fell sideways, full length on the floor. Myra glanced at him, and threw herself on her knees beside the prostrate form.
Hilderman pushed her gently aside, and knelt down to examine Dennis.
"It's his heart," he announced. "Come Hugo. We're safe now, and the girl's blind. Let's get away."
When I came to myself I was dazed and aching, but, so far as I could discover, there were no bones broken. The curious part about it was the rapidity with which I recalled my fall into the cavern. When I found I could move my limbs freely I sat up, and discovered that I was in a small cabin on board a steamer. I stood up and stretched myself. I was feeling weak and ill, but that would pass off I thought. A minute's speculation decided me that I was on board the _Fiona_, in which case I was shanghaied.
I knew that if I valued my life I must act at once. I opened the door of the cabin, and was surprised to find that it was unlocked. Then I crept cautiously in the shadows of the dawn up the companion-ladder to the deck. Though I heard voices I could see no one close to me. I stole along the deck and listened. The voices were talking quite freely in German. Where could we be? And, more important still, where were we going?