His disengaged right hand was stained as if with blood, and spots
of the same sanguinary hue were on his brow and his garments. The
expression of his face was unmoved as usual.
For a moment he permitted the slippered feet of the trembling girl to
rest upon the deck, though his arm still encompassed her shrinking form,
and, while her great dark eyes, dilated with horror, like those of a
captured bird, threw wild, eager glances to left and right, as if in
search of any desperate refuge from the terrors that possessed her,
he said in his usual quiet tones to the captain,--
"This is the passenger for whom I engaged the cabin. She will, by your
leave, take possession of it at once." So saying, he led her gently
forward and disappeared at the companion-way, conducted by the captain.
Every face on deck had grown pale, and every heart throbbed with the
conviction that we had just beheld the consummation of a most desperate
and bloody deed. It was evident the girl had been snatched suddenly
from the harem of some palace, probably from the royal seraglio itself,
off which we had been lying.
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