ir, is it, then, a prisoner that you are in search of?"

"Sir," said De Chemerant, rising, "a thousand pardons for repeating to
you that the king ordered me to make inquiries of you instead of----"

"Good, very good, sir," said the governor. "Then I may open the
windows?" asked the baron, who was suffocated in this apartment.

"I see nothing to prevent, baron."

The governor arose.

"So, baron," said De Chemerant, "it is understood that you do not inform
the guide who is to conduct me of my destination, until the moment of
our departure?"

"But in the meantime, sir, if I send for him, what shall I say to him?"

The visitor seemed astonished at the simplicity of the governor, and
said to him, "Who is this guide, sir?"

"One of my blacks, who works at the king's house, a good league from
here. He is an oddity who has run away himself so often that he is more
familiar with the inaccessible spots of the island than with the open
roads."

"Is this slave reliable, sir?"

"Entirely, sir; he would have no object in leading you astray; beside, I
will warn him that if he does, I will have his nose and ears out off."

"It is impossible that he should resist such a consideration, baron. But
to reply to your objection--how will this negro occupy himself until the
moment of our departure?"

"An idea!" cried the baron triumphantly; "he can be flogged; that will
mislead him; he believes that no one summons him here other than for
that reason."

"That would be, certainly, an excellent means, baron, of working a
diversion in his ideas, but it will suffice, I think, to keep him shut
up until the moment of our departure. Ah! I had forgotten another thing,
baron; I beg you will see that, during my absence, everything that can
be found in the way of delicacies in fruit, vegetables, game, fine
wines, confections, etc., etc., be sent on board ship. You need not
consider expense, I will meet that."

"I understand you, sir; I must collect, in the way of refreshments, all
that it is possible to keep on board during the first days of the
voyage, as much so as if it were for the entertainment of a person of
the greatest distinction," said the governor curiously.

"You understand me marvelously well, baron. But I fancy this black, our
guide, has viewed, at least from the outside, the habitation at Devil's
Cliff."

"Yes, sir; and he tells very strange stories about that house and the
solitudes where it is builded."

"Ah, well, b