Left to myself, I sought for some explanation of this new addition to the catalogue of my mischances.  What were buccaneers doing on this estate?  Had they quitted for the nonce their usual work of snapping up cargo ships?  Had they made a raid upon the house and served Vetch as they had served me?  I had no pity for him, but the thought of the sore straits in which Mistress Lucy might be filled me with disquiet and alarm.

And then another explanation flashed into my mind.  Was it possible that the men had been hired by Vetch himself in pursuance of some villainous scheme for keeping Mistress Lucy in his power?  I thought of this until it became a conviction.  Mistress Lucy’s friends in Spanish Town were surprised and hurt at the absence of news from her; her silence must be due to Vetch.  His motive was not far to seek.  Cludde had been boasting of the bride awaiting him in Jamaica; I could not doubt that Vetch was holding her in durance until Cludde should arrive, and, her minority having expired, she could be cajoled or forced into a marriage with him.  It was essential to the success of this piece of villainy that she should be kept from communication with her friends, and nothing was more natural than that Vetch should hire a gang of buccaneers to assist him in accomplishing his end.  I marveled at his audacity, and burned with rage at my utter helplessness.

It did not occur to me at first that Vetch would know who it was that his hirelings had entrapped.  I supposed that he had established a system of ambushing, so that whoever should arrive at the place might be prevented, if need were, from having speech with Mistress Lucy and learning of the restraint in which she was held.  But on considering this matter further I doubted whether even Vetch would have dared to go this length, for if people came from Spanish Town and did not return, it would certainly be suspected that something was wrong, and I could scarcely believe that no notice would have been taken of it by the authorities, civil or military.  This made my capture the more surprising, for while I did not doubt that Vetch, if he had heard of my coming, would not scruple to lay by the heels one who had defeated him in his former design on Mistress Lucy.  I was at a loss to understand how the identity of his visitor could have become known to him.

I lay awake all night, plagued by the heat and the multitudinous insects, but still more by my anxieties.  In the morning I heard footsteps approaching, and the door being thrown open, I saw that my visitor was Vetch himself.

“So ’tis indeed Mr. Humphrey Bold,” he said, with a grin of malice.  “I scarce believed in my good fortune.  I did not expect to be honored by a visit from Mr. Humphrey Bold.”

I knew not what to say to the insolent wretch who stood smiling there; ’twas clear that he had expected me, which was very puzzling, since none but my friend Mr. Gurney in Spanish Town and Captain Vincent knew of my errand.  Then all at once I remembered the seaman in the hostelry, and my guide’s telling him my name, and the horseman riding by at night; ’twas clear to me now that the man was a spy of Vetch’s, kept on the road for this very purpose of riding ahead of a visitor and giving intimation of his approach.