er pearls on the table, and one by one she
crushed them with her dagger-hilt--crushed in one moment the wealth of
many a petty princeling, and still crushed gem after gem without so much
as a flicker of interest on her cool face. The three men glared at her,
and at each other, and the stress they were under could be felt like an
impending electric storm. Tomlin's teeth gritted together harshly, his
lips were dripping saliva, and he could stand it no longer. He stepped
suddenly before Dolores, seized her hands, and cried:

"Woman, you are mad! Do you know what those things are? They are pearls,
woman, pearls! Stop this crazy destruction, and in God's name let us go
before you madden us."

Dolores turned her cool gaze upon him, drew her hand away easily yet
without apparent effort, and crushed another pearl between her gleaming
teeth.

"Pearls?" she repeated, tossing away the shattered gem. "Pearls, yes,
friend. What of it? Do ye value these trifles, then? Pish! I have such
things as these, aye, one for every hair on thy hot head. But let ye
go--ha! That is in thy hands, my friend, thine and thy companions."

"Yes, we know your price!" gasped Venner hoarsely, staring full into her
eyes. "But what is to prevent us now, when we have you alone, and that
great giant is away, from binding you fast and sailing away with the
treasure you have already put in my vessel?"

"What can prevent?" she echoed, simulating surprise that such a question
should occur to any one. "Nothing shall prevent, my friend, if any of ye
think to try it. Have I not said my treasure is for the man who wins it.
Am I not waiting for the man able to take it, that I may go with him,
too? Here--" She suddenly flung down the pearls at Tomlin's feet,
glided close to Venner, and thrust her red lips up to him, her violet
eyes like brimming pools behind her drooping lashes. "Here, tie me, my
Rupert. Here are my hands; there my feet. Bind me well, and go if thou
canst. What, wilt thou not? There, I knew thee better than thou knowest
thyself."

She stepped back with a low laugh, and her arm brushed his cheek,
sending the hot blood surging to his temples. John Pearse crouched
toward Venner, as if waiting for him to lay a finger on Dolores at his
peril. She smiled at all three, and stepped over to the side of the
chamber, where she carelessly pointed out sacred vessels and altar
furnishings, gems of art and jewel-crusted lamps.

"Here, also, is a reason why ye