“By Jove, I should rather say I have,” blurted out Deppingham. “’Pon my word, they had a shot at me every time I tried to pluck a flower at the roadside.  I’ve got so used to it that I resent it when they don’t have a try at me.”

“Think it was Von Blitz?” asked Browne.

“No.  He couldn’t hit the chateau at two hundred yards.  It is a native.  They shoot like fury.”  He lighted a cigarette and coolly leaned against the column, his gaze bent on the spot where the smoke had been seen.  The others were grouped inside the doors, where they could see without being seen.  A certain sense of horror possessed all of the watchers.  It was as if they were waiting to see him fall with a bullet in his breast—­executed before their eyes.  Several minutes passed.

“For heaven’s sake, why does he stand there?” cried the Princess at last.  “I can endure it no longer.  It may be as he says it is, but it is foolhardy to stand there and taunt the pride of that marksman.  I can’t stay here and wait for it to come.  How can—­”

“He’s been there for ten minutes, Princess,” said Browne.  “Plenty of time for another try.”

“I am not afraid to stand beside him,” said Lady Agnes suddenly.  She had conquered her dread and saw the chance for something theatrical.  Her husband grasped her arm as she started toward the Enemy.

“None of that, Aggie,” he said sharply.

Before they were aware of her intention, the Princess left the shelter and boldly walked across the open space to the side of the man.  He started and opened his lips to give vent to a sharp command.

“It is so easy to be a hero, Mr. Chase, when one is quite sure there is no real danger,” she said, with distinct irony in her tones.  “One can afford to be melodramatic if he knows his part so well as you know yours.”

Chase felt his face burn.  It was a direct declaration that he had planned the whole affair in advance.  He flicked the ashes from his cigarette and then tossed it away, hesitating long before replying.

“Nevertheless, I have the greatest respect for the courage which brings you to my side.  I daresay you are quite justified in your opinion of me.  It all must seem very theatrical to you.  I had not thought of it in that light.  I shall now retire from the centre of the stage.  It will be perfectly safe for you to remain here—­just as it was for me.”  He was leaving her without another word or look.  She repented.

“I am sorry for what I said,” she said eagerly.  “And—­” she looked up at the hills with a sudden widening of her eyes—­“I think I shall not remain.”

He waited for her and they crossed to the entrance together.

Luncheon was quite well over before the spirits of the party reacted from the depression due to the shooting.  Chase made light of the occurrence, but sought to impress upon the others the fact that it was prophetic of more serious events in the future.  In a perfectly cold-blooded manner he told them that the islanders might rise against them at any time, overstepping the bounds of England’s law in a return to the primeval law of might.  He advised the occupants of the chateau to exercise extreme caution at all times.