"
"With Mother Charcoal?"
"Just so. She is a worthy old soul, and can be trusted. It will be
best, I think, to tell her the exact state of the case. Leave that to
me."
"You will not delay in warning Stanislas?" said Mariquita, placing her
hand on his arm.
"No; I will go directly after I have spoken to our black friend. Be
easy in your mind, little woman, or Senor Pongo, or whatever you like
to be called, and expect to see me again, and perhaps some one else
you know, within a day or two from now."
Fate, however, decreed that Hyde should be unavoidably delayed in his
errand of warning.
On leaving Mother Charcoal's shanty the second time, he found that his
horse had disappeared. It had been hitched up to a hook near the
doorway, in company with several others, and all were now gone.
"Some mistake? Scarcely that. One of those rascally sailor thieves,
rather; not a four-footed beast is safe from them. What a nuisance it
is! I suppose I must walk back to camp."
What chafed Hyde most was the delay in getting to headquarters. He had
already made up his mind to find McKay as soon as he could, and tell
him exactly what had occurred.
"He will, of course, think first of Mariquita; but that matter can be
easily settled. We will send her on board one of the hospital-ships,
where she will be with nurses of her own sex.
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