With a growl he raised his hand, and touched the wall with his finger. Immediately a panel slipped back and disclosed an opening in the solid wood.
I turned to him. "Go!" I said, pointing to the door, "before I forget myself and run thee through. No--not through the panel, but out yonder door."
He waddled back across the room, and turning the key in the lock, opened the door. Stopping on the threshold, he looked back at me as I stood by the open panel. A smile was upon his fat countenance--a smile of triumph.
"Be not so sure that thou wilt explore yon passage to-night, my Lord," he cried in glee. "The battle thou knowest is not ever to the strong;" and as he said this the secret door in the wall slid to with a snap, and with a loud laugh, even as I sprang towards him, he slammed the door of the room and the bolt turned in the lock. He had touched some secret spring outside, that closed the aperture in the wall.
Long I stood there on the floor listening, but I heard no sound. The house was as though all were wrapped in slumber.
Crossing to the window, I looked out; along the sand outside there was passing the figure of a man. I did not have to look twice to know who it was; short, thick, and clumsy, it could be none other than Father Francis.
He halted, and I saw another man step forward to meet him. They were too far away for me to recognize who the stranger was; wrapped in a great cloak, he stood close to Francis and they seemed to be engaged in an earnest conversation, for they would turn and point towards the mansion as they talked, and I saw the priest double in a loud fit of laughter.
At the sight a bitter smile crossed my lips, for I surmised that he was relating how he had outwitted and trapped me.
I turned my head; footsteps soft and slow were coming down the hall, and at the sound I crossed over to the door, and beat upon it with the hilt of the dagger. The steps stopped outside.
"What is it, Señor?" said the low voice of one of the Indian attendants, called José.
"Open, José," I whispered. "'Tis I, Sir Thomas."
A moment of silence. "I dare not, Señor," he whispered. "What would the Count say?"
"Open," I pleaded, "and thou shalt have a fine piece of gold with the face of the great mother across the water on it."