The Marquis Is Trapped (17 page)

“It’ll cost you a bit to go free and seein’ just who you are, I’m naturally goin’ to expect you’ll find it easy to pay me.”

“This is such extraordinary behaviour,” the Marquis protested.  “And I just cannot believe that this Castle really belongs to you or the land surrounding it.”

The man cackled.

“I’m ain’t goin’ to argue with you about that.  But I’m ’ere and as far as I knows no one ’as a better reason than I ’ave for possessin’ the Castle and the land round it.”

The Marquis recognised that in his present position it would be a mistake to quarrel with him.

“I have already apologised for intruding onto your land and if you want to be paid for any damage I may have done, I will naturally do so.”

“Now that be the right way to talk, my Lord, and what I wants to ’ear.  I should think seein’ as who you are and the size of your ship that ten thousand pounds will not be too difficult for you to find, and it’s what I needs badly at the moment.”

“
Ten thousand pounds
!” cried the Marquis.  “You have to be joking!”

“It’s no joke,” their captor responded.  “Either you pays up or you stays until you does.”

“You cannot expect me to have that sum of money on me or on my yacht,” the Marquis said loftily.

“Well, I’ll take a cheque and with your name I’ll cash it in Kirkwall.  Maybe it’d be wise to take the Captain of your ship along with us to make sure the bank won’t fail to recognise who you be.”

“I am prepared to give you a reasonable amount of money,” the Marquis suggested, playing for time.  “But ten thousand pounds is far too much and the bank would most certainly want a great deal of assurance before parting with such a sum.”

“I’ll convince them it ain’t no trick and, as they’ve dealt with me a few times afore, they knows only too well what’ll ’appen if them don’t pay up.”

The Marquis realised that this man had obviously used force to intimidate the bank and he strongly suspected that he had a great many more followers than the three men they had already seen.

He guessed that he might be one of the infamous pirates who still operated round the North of Scotland and the Orkneys.

The British Navy had attempted to control them for many years, but the Marquis remembered reading that they could sneak in from Norway and Sweden.

They were past masters at handling the light quick sailing boats they frequently used and they knew every bay and cave where they could hide out.

“I think that you must give me time to discuss this with the lady,” the Marquis continued, “and naturally I am not carrying a cheque book with me.”

As if the man facing him had become aware of Celina for the first time, he turned his head to look at her.

Then it was obvious that he was surprised.

In her struggles with the man when he first put the rope around her, the shady hat she was wearing had fallen off her head.

The sun coming through the window glinted on the gold of her hair and although she was clearly terrified, she still looked amazingly beautiful.

The Marquis was fully aware of the way she was being scrutinised by the pirate – if that was what the ruffian indeed was.

He said quickly,

“Because I do not wish my wife to be frightened or bound in the way she is now, I suggest you set us both free.  I will go straight to the yacht to get you at least some of the money you request.”

He noticed, as he referred to Celina as his wife, that she looked at him in surprise and then looked away again.

“You send first for your chequebook and then us’ll talk business.  You might find it quite comfortable where I be puttin’ you, but it ain’t the luxury you’re accustomed to, nor can I provide you with any food or drink.”

Then, sitting up in his chair, he gave orders sharply to the three men who had bound them.

He spoke now in a different language.

The Marquis was uncertain at what was being said, but he thought he recognised the word ‘turret’.

Without his being able to say anything further, the men pulled Celina and him out of the room.

They were dragged up a winding staircase that he had not noticed earlier, and as they began to climb and the stairs twisted, the Marquis realised that they were in a turret.

It was the turret that he and Celina had noticed was not as damaged as the others.

They climbed up for a long time until their captors were breathing heavily and even the Marquis was finding it hard work.

There was a door ahead and he felt that they must be at the top of the turret by now.  When the men finally pushed him and Celina through it, he could see that they were now in a round room with a low ceiling.

They had not quite reached the top and it was then he remembered that the turret they had seen from the ground rose to a high tapered point.

According to Celina this was very characteristic of Orkney Castles.

The room was furnished sparsely with a table, two chairs and a rickety iron bedstead.

The men unwound the ropes they had put around the Marquis and Celina.

“How long will we have to stay here?” the Marquis asked them.

They did not answer and he suddenly realised that they did not understand him.

The chief pirate had spoken to them in a language that might have been that of the Orkney Islanders or some Scandinavian tongue.

Without saying anything, the men went out through the door and the Marquis heard them lock it firmly behind them and there was a clatter of their footsteps going below.

Celina looked round and gave a little cry.

“Just how could this have happened to us?  It was all my fault for wanting to explore the Castle.”

“But how could either of us have imagined that this could have befallen us?” replied the Marquis gently.

He walked over to a small window with bars across it and he could see the wood they had walked through.

“What is going to happen to us?” Celina asked.

“I think the man in charge will go to the yacht and ask for my chequebook.  It will be difficult for the Captain to refuse him, but he may be sensible enough to send two sailors with it.”

“And we have to stay here – until they return?”

“I cannot see any way of getting out,” the Marquis admitted.  “The windows are too small and, as you can see, heavily barred, while the door is securely locked.”

“But you cannot give them as much as ten thousand pounds – it’s a fortune!”

“What I really resent, Celina, is being so weak that I could not resist them taking us prisoner.”

He sat down in the chair and put his fingers up to his forehead.

“We have escaped once in a very astute way,” he said, “and now we have to think of another one.”

Celina walked over to the door and felt the lock – if everything else was old and dilapidated in the Castle, the lock had obviously been added recently.

The Marquis suspected that the pirates were making a fortune out of kidnapping tourists and extracting money from them.

He had to concede that what he had been asked for was a very large sum and he suspected that ordinary people were forced into paying up whatever they had on them – perhaps only a few pounds.

Now he thought it over, he remembered hearing that there were pirates and thieves of every sort in some of the Orkney Islands.

The Captain had actually mentioned earlier it that would be a mistake to let anyone come aboard as sightseers.

“I’ve heard in these parts they are not too particular as to who owns what,” the Captain had said.  “And I’ve no wish to lose anything from
The Neptune
.”

“I do agree with you,” the Marquis had commented.  “And please see that there are arms available for the crew, if we are unfortunate enough to need them.”

He had not repeated this conversation to Celina as he had thought it would scare her, but he wished now that he had been sensible enough to bring his revolver with him when he came ashore.

Celina turned from the door,

“You cannot pay all that money it is
wicked
.  That horrible man will only spend it on riotous living, while you can do so much good with it.”

“I agree with you, Celina, so what we must do now is try to escape, but I cannot see any possible way of doing so as long as we are locked up in this turret.”

Celina looked around and then she tipped back her head to have a good look at the ceiling.

“Just look at that!” she exclaimed pointing upwards with her finger.

The Marquis looked up too and saw that there was a trapdoor in the ceiling that did not look as if it had been used for many years.

The ceiling itself was rough, and most of the plaster had fallen off so that the bare boarding was revealed.

“Are you suggesting that we climb up to it?”

Celina shook her head.

“I am just thinking that it must have been used for a certain purpose on the part of the evil Earl Robert.”

The Marquis thought that there was no way it could help them escape.

“If you are thinking it might help us in some way, I will stand on the table and try to open it from here.”

“Yes, do try, but don’t hurt yourself.”

The trapdoor was almost directly over the table at which the Marquis was sitting and he climbed onto it.

Then putting his hand on the centre of the trapdoor, he pushed.

There was no reaction at all.

In fact, as far as he was concerned, he might have been pushing solid iron.

“I thought that would happen,” sighed Celina.  “It has to be opened from above.”

The Marquis looked down at her from the table.

“How do you suggest we do that?”

To his surprise Celina then walked over to one of the windows – there were four in the turret and they were all without glass.

It had already struck the Marquis that it might be very cold at night because although the bed had a rough mattress on it, there were no blankets they could cover themselves with.

He climbed down from the table and was just about to repeat his question as to how they could get the trapdoor open, when there was the sound of footsteps coming up the stairs.

They both stiffened.

The key turned in the lock and the door opened.

It was the pirate who stood there with his two men beside him.

He walked to the table and slapped a piece of paper down on it and a man from behind him set beside it a small bottle of ink and a quill pen.

“Now write!” the pirate ordered.  “Tell the Captain of your ship to send your chequebook and if you ’as any money on you, I’ll take that now.”

“I suppose there is no way that I can give you this cheque after my wife and I have returned to my yacht?” the Marquis asked him hopefully.

The pirate laughed inanely.

“You must think I’m a ninny to fall for somethin’ like that.  I weren’t born yesterday and if you was workin’ with me, I’d soon find meself clapped in irons!”

The Marquis had to admit this sounded reasonable.

“Very well,” he said, “I’ll send for my chequebook, but I very much doubt if the Captain will hand it over to your man.”

“I’ve thought of that, and I shan’t be sendin’ until tomorrow morning.  They’ll be real worried about you by then and you’ll be worryin’ about your empty stomach!”

The way he spoke was most unpleasant and Celina gave a little cry.

The Marquis sat down at the table.

“Very well – have it
your
way.”

It was not easy with the quill pen, but he managed to write to Captain Gordon,

“
Dear Captain
,

Please give this man my chequebook.

Kexley.
”

The pirate snatched it from him as soon as it was dry and with some difficulty he read the message.

“There is nothing on it to indicate where I am and I can only hope the Captain will give you what you require.”

“If he don’t,” the pirate smirked, “you can write ’im another pleadin’ note.  He’ll know that ’e won’t get ’is own pay till you gets back.”

He put the note into his pocket and walked towards the door.

The man with him picked up the pen and ink before he followed and the door was slammed shut again and locked.

They heard footsteps going slowly but noisily down the stairs.

The Marquis turned towards Celina – she had stood by the window without moving all the time the pirates had been in the room.

Now she ran towards him and he thought that she was coming to him for protection and comfort.

Then when she reached him, she began to whisper and he knew this was the reason why she had come so near to him.

“I have thought of a way,” she murmured, “how we can escape.”