f death. The smuggler's eyes filled with tears as he looked at her.

"Make haste, Michele!" he said, throwing open the verandah door and
looking out. "Aren't you nearly done, you two? There are a hundred and
fifty things to do!"

Michele, followed by Gino, came in from the verandah.

"I am ready now," he said. "I only want to ask the signora----"

He was moving towards her when Martini caught him by the arm.

"Don't disturb her; she's better alone."

"Let her be!" Marcone added. "We shan't do any good by meddling. God
knows, it's hard enough on all of us; but it's worse for her, poor
soul!"

CHAPTER V.

FOR a week the Gadfly lay in a fearful state. The attack was a violent
one, and the Governor, rendered brutal by fear and perplexity, had not
only chained him hand and foot, but had insisted on his being bound to
his pallet with leather straps, drawn so tight that he could not move
without their cutting into the flesh. He endured everything with his
dogged, bitter stoicism till the end of the sixth day. Then his pride
broke down, and he piteously entreated the prison doctor for a dose
of opium. The doctor was quite willing to give it; but the Governor,
hearing of the request, sharply forbade "any such foolery."

"How do you know what he wants it for?" he said. "It's just as likely as
not that he's shamming all the time and wants to drug the sentinel, or
some such devilry. Rivarez is cunning enough for anything."

"My giving him a dose would hardly help him to drug the sentinel,"
replied the doctor, unable to suppress a smile. "And as for
shamming--there's not much fear of that. He is as likely as not to die."

"Anyway, I won't have it given. If a man wants to be tenderly treated,
he should behave accordingly. He has thoroughly deserved a little sharp
discipline. Perhaps it will be a lesson to him not to play tricks with
the window-bars again."

"The law does not admit of torture, though," the doctor ventured to say;
"and this is coming perilously near it."

"The law says nothing about opium, I think," said the Governor
snappishly.

"It is for you to decide, of course, colonel; but I hope you will let
the straps be taken off at any rate. They are a needless aggravation of
his misery. There's no fear of his escaping now. He couldn't stand if
you let him go free."

"My good sir, a doctor may make a mistake like other people, I suppose.
I have got him safe strapped now, and he's going to stop so."

"A