"
"I would not trust you," she replied. "What guarantee have I that
you would not take my money and then do as you pleased with me and
mine regardless of your promise?"
"I think you will do as I bid," he said, turning to leave the
cabin. "Remember that I have your son--if you chance to hear the
agonized wail of a tortured child it may console you to reflect
that it is because of your stubbornness that the baby suffers--and
that it is your baby."
"You would not do it!" cried the girl. "You would not--could not
be so fiendishly cruel!"
"It is not I that am cruel, but you," he returned, "for you permit
a paltry sum of money to stand between your baby and immunity from
suffering."
The end of it was that Jane Clayton wrote out a cheque of large
denomination and handed it to Nikolas Rokoff, who left her cabin
with a grin of satisfaction upon his lips.
The following day the hatch was removed from Tarzan's cell, and as
he looked up he saw Paulvitch's head framed in the square of light
above him.
"Come up," commanded the Russian. "But bear in mind that you will
be shot if you make a single move to attack me or any other aboard
the ship."
The ape-man swung himself lightly to the deck. About him, but at
a respectful distance, stood a half-dozen sailors armed with rifles
and revolvers.
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