I nodded, but she must have seen my gratitude for her taking such risks on Mr. Vancouver's account. Doubtless that was what made her eyes flash, but at the moment I did not know why. I reflected only that two matters of overshadowing importance must be attended to at once, and that possibly her plans had been disarranged.
"What has become of Christopher and Mr. Vancouver, your Majesty?" I asked.
"I told Christopher to take Mr. Vancouver to the hut, where Mr. Rawley was waiting," she answered, "and then go to meet the colony."
"Thank you. What is to be done with the colony, and what am I to do?"
She raised her eyes, and there was no trace of Beela in them. "I had asked Captain Mason," she answered, "to have each member of the colony bring all the food possible, and had told him that you and Christopher would meet him in the first darkness following the earthquake, at a certain pass just to the west of the clearing where the sacrificial altar is, and that as the natives would be demoralized by the earthquake, you could lead them without much risk past the settlement to your vessel, which might be sailed away at once."
My wonder and gratitude at the intelligence of her plan must have shown in my face, but her tone had no warmth when she added:
"Fortunately, matters have turned out so that I can take the army out of your way. The real danger lay there."
That was why she had admitted the soldiers to the palace grounds and locked the gate. Could any other have given so brilliant a turn to a threatening situation? Yet I only looked at her in silence, and her face had not a trace of the old friendliness. Perhaps it was my own fault. There rang in my ears the demand for a sacrifice; I recalled old Rangan's nod; I remembered the defenseless position of Rawley and Mr. Vancouver; and the brown blood in the Senatra queen unaccountably looked different from the brown blood in Beela.
"Your Majesty," I said, "I will go now and see that all is well with Mr. Vancouver; then I will go and assure a clear opening for the colony, and arrange for Mr. Vancouver and Rawley to join us as we move down the eastern side of the settlement to the harbor."
"Yes," she agreed. I was turning away, but she stopped me. "You will reflect," she said, "that many people in the island are ignorant of what has taken place here today. I will send out runners, but still the entire island can't be covered. All know that a white man has been held for sacrifice to the Black Face in order to stop the earthquakes and avert an eruption. If the earthquake returns, even the people who saw me crowned may become uncontrollable. Should that happen, I am not sufficiently sure of the army to trust it in stopping a sacrifice. There is just one thing to do."