Extra precautions were taken to guard the women from attacks from the inside.  The window bars were locked securely and heavy bolts were placed on the doors leading to the lower regions.  It was now only too apparent that Skaggs and Wyckholme had wrought well in anticipation of a rebellion by the native shareholders.  Each window had its adjustable grates, every outer door was protected by heavy iron gates.

By nightfall Deppingham’s forces were in full possession of every advantage that their position afforded.  In the cool of the evening, they sat down to rest in the great stone gallery overlooking the sea, satisfied that they were reasonably secure from any assault that their foes might undertake.  No sign of hostility had been observed during the day.  Japat looked, as observed from the chateau, to be the most peaceful spot in the world.

Chase came from his room, still stiff and sore, but with fresh, white bandages on his blistered hands.  He asked and received permission to light a cigarette, and then dropped wearily into a seat near the Princess, who sat upon the stone railing.  She was leaning back against the column and looking dreamily out across the lowlands toward the starlit sea.  The never-ceasing rush of the mountain stream came plainly up to them from below; now and then a cool dash of spray floated to their faces from the waterfall hard by.

The soft light from the shaded windows fell upon her glorious face.  Chase sat in silence for many minutes, covertly feasting his eyes upon her loveliness.  Her trim, graceful, seductive figure was outlined against the darkness; a delicate, sensuous fragrance exhaled from her person, filling him with an indescribable delight and languor; the spell of her beauty was upon him and he felt the leap of his blood.

“If I were you,” he said at last, reluctant to despoil the picture, “I wouldn’t sit up there.  It would be a very simple matter for one of our friends to pick you off with a shot from below.  Please let me pull up a chair for you.”

She smiled languidly, without a trace of uneasiness in her manner.

“Dear officer of the day, do you think they are so foolish as to pick us off in particles?  Not at all.  They will dispose of us wholesale, not by the piece.  By the way, has Neenah been made quite comfortable?”

“I believe so.  She and Selim have the room beyond mine, thanks to Lady Deppingham.”

“Agnes tells me that she is very interesting—­quite like a princess out of a fairy book.  You recall the princesses who were always being captured by ogres and evil princes and afterward satisfactorily rescued by those dear knights admirable?  Did Selim steal her in the beginning?”

“You forget the pot of sapphires and the big ruby.”

“They say that princesses can be bought very cheaply.”

“Depends entirely upon the quality of princess you desire.  It’s very much like buying rare gems or old paintings, I’d say.”