Facing the Flag (An Intriguing Tale of Piracy, Action & Adventure). Jules VerneЧитать онлайн книгу.

      “Both the madman and his keeper.”

      “Doesn’t anybody know about it up at Healthful House?

      “Not a soul.”

      It was not likely that Gaydon, whose eyes and ears were bandaged, but who preserved all his sang-froid, could have recognized the voices of the Count d’Artigas and Captain Spade. Nor did he have the chance to. No attempt was immediately made to hoist him on board. He had been lying in the bottom of the boat alongside the schooner for fully half an hour, he calculated, before he felt himself lifted, and then lowered, doubtless to the bottom of the hold.

      The kidnapping having been accomplished it would seem that it only remained for the Ebba to weigh anchor, descend the estuary and make her way out to sea through Pamlico Sound. Yet no preparations for departure were made.

      Was it not dangerous to stay where they were after their daring raid? Had the Count d’Artigas hidden his prisoners so securely as to preclude the possibility of their being discovered if the Ebba, whose presence in proximity to Healthful House could not fail to excite suspicion, received a visit from the New-Berne police?

      However this might have been, an hour after the return of the expedition, every soul on board save the watch—the Count d’Artigas, Serko, and Captain Spade in their respective cabins, and the crew in the forecastle, were sound asleep.