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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Margaret Tudor, by Annie T. Colcock
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Margaret Tudor
+       A Romance of Old St. Augustine
+
+Author: Annie T. Colcock
+
+Illustrator: W. B. Gilbert
+
+Release Date: January 17, 2008 [EBook #24335]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MARGARET TUDOR ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Suzanne Shell, Stephen Blundell and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+THE STORY OF MARGARET TUDOR
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: MARGARET TUDOR.]
+
+
+
+
+          MARGARET TUDOR
+
+ _A Romance of Old St. Augustine_
+
+       By ANNIE T. COLCOCK
+
+
+         _Illustrated by_
+          W. B. GILBERT
+
+
+          [Illustration]
+
+
+      NEW YORK · FREDERICK A.
+    STOKES COMPANY · PUBLISHERS
+
+
+
+
+ COPYRIGHT, 1901,
+ BY FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY
+
+ _All rights reserved_
+
+
+Transcriber's Note:
+
+    Minor typographical errors have been corrected without note. The oe
+    ligature is shown as [oe].
+
+
+
+
+    "That thee is sent receive in buxomnesse,
+    The wrastling of this world asketh a fall,
+    Here is no home, here is but wildernesse,
+        .       .       .       .       .
+    Looke up on high, and thanké God of all!"
+                                CHAUCER.
+
+
+
+
+NOTE.
+
+
+The names of Mr. John Rivers,--kinsman and agent of Lord Ashley,--Dr.
+Wm. Scrivener and Margaret Tudor appear in the passenger list of the
+_Carolina_, as given in the Shaftesbury Papers (Collections of the South
+Carolina Historical Society, Vol. V, page 135). In the same (page 169)
+may be found a brief account of the capture, at Santa Catalina, of Mr.
+Rivers, Capt. Baulk, some seamen, _a woman, and a girl_; also (page 175)
+mention of the unsuccessful embassy of Mr. Collins; and (page 204) the
+Memorial to the Spanish Ambassador touching the delivery of the
+prisoners, one of whom is alluded to as _Margaret_, presumably Margaret
+Tudor.
+
+The names of the two Spaniards, Seņor de Colis and Don Pedro Melinza,
+each appear once in the Shaftesbury Papers (pages 25 and 443): the
+latter individual was evidently a person of some consequence in San
+Augustin; the former, in the year 1663, was "Governour and
+Captain-General, Cavallier, and Knight of the Order of St. James."
+
+                                                     ANNIE T. COLCOCK.
+
+
+
+
+THE STORY OF MARGARET TUDOR
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+
+San Augustin, this 29th of June, Anno Domini 1670.
+
+It is now more than a month since our captivity began, and there seems
+scant likelihood that it will come to a speedy close,--altho', being in
+good health myself, and of an age when hope dies slowly, I despair not
+of recovering both liberty and friends. Yet, in the event of our further
+detention, of sickness or any other evil that may befall me--and there
+is one threatening--I write these pages of true history, praying that
+they may some time reach the hand of my guardian and uncle, Dr. William
+Scrivener, if he be still alive and dwelling in these parts. Should they
+chance, instead, to meet the eyes of some friendly-disposed person of
+English blood and Protestant faith, to whom the name of William
+Scrivener is unknown, I beseech him to deliver them to any person
+sailing with the sloop _Three Brothers_, which did set out from the
+Island of Barbadoes on the 2nd of November last,--being in the hire of
+Sir Thomas Colleton, and bearing freight and passengers for these
+shores.
+
+If the sloop has suffered some misadventure (as I fear is not
+unlikely,--either at the hands of the Spaniards, or else of the Indians
+of these parts, who do show themselves most unfriendly to all
+Englishmen, being set on to mischief by the Spanish friars), then I pray
+that word may be forwarded to his Lordship, the Duke of Albemarle, and
+others of the Lords Proprietors who did commission and furnish a fleet
+of three vessels, to wit: the _Carolina_, the _Port Royal_, and the
+_Albemarle_, which did weigh anchor at the Downs in August of last year,
+and set forth to plant an English colony at Port Royal.
+
+In particular would I implore that word might reach Lord Ashley, seeing
+that his kinsman, Mr. John Rivers, is here detained a prisoner in sorry
+state, laden with chains in the dungeon of the Castle--for which may God
+forgive me, I being in some degree to blame; and yet, since it hath
+pleased Heaven to grant me the fair face that wrought the mischief, I
+hold myself the less guilty and grieve the more bitterly, inasmuch as I
+love him with a maid's true love and would willingly give my life to
+spare him hurt.
+
+If it were so that I might give the true narrative of our present
+plight, and how it fell about, without cumbering the tale with mention
+of my own name, it would please me best; but as those who read it may be
+strangers, I would better tell my story from the start.
+
+Of myself it is enough to say that my name is Margaret Tudor, and saving
+my uncle, Dr. Scrivener, I am alone in the world and well-nigh
+portionless--my father having spent his all, and life and liberty to
+boot, in the service of King Charles, being one of those unfortunate
+royalists who plotted for His Majesty's return in the year '55. For, as
+Cromwell did discover their designs ere they were fully ripe, many were
+taken prisoners, of whom some suffered death and others banishment. Of
+these last was my father, who was torn from the arms of his young wife
+and babe and sent in slavery to Barbadoes. We could learn nothing of his
+after fate, though many inquiries were made in his behalf.
+
+And so it fell about that,--my mother having gone to her rest,--I did
+take passage with my uncle, Dr. William Scrivener, on board the
+_Carolina_, with intent to stop at Barbadoes and make some search for my
+poor father in the hope that he yet lived.
+
+Among the passengers of the _Carolina_ was Lord Ashley's kinsman and
+agent, Mr. John Rivers, of whom I can find naught to say that seems
+fitting; for although it may hap that in this great world there are
+other men of a countenance as fine, a mien as noble, and a heart as
+brave and tender, it has not been my lot as yet to encounter them.
+
+Together we did sail for three months on the great deep, in danger of
+pirates, in peril of tempests, and in long hours of golden calm when the
+waters burned blue around us and the wide heaven shone pale and clear
+over our heads. And in all that time we came to know one another passing
+well; and Mr. Rivers heard my father's story and promised to aid us in
+our search.
+
+It was October when we reached Barbadoes and landed. Of the news that we
+obtained, and the strange chance that brought it to our ears, it is
+needless here to speak. Let it suffice that my dear father did not
+suffer long, as death soon freed him from his bondage.
+
+We had no further cause to detain us in Barbadoes, so we yielded to the
+persuasions of Mr. Rivers that we should continue with the expedition to
+Port Royal; and, in November, we set sail once more in the _Three
+Brothers_, a sloop hired to replace the _Albemarle_, which, in
+consequence of a broken cable, had been driven ashore in a gale and lost
+upon the rocks.
+
+From now on, for the truth's sake, I must needs tell somewhat of my
+intercourse with Mr. Rivers. It may seem I am lacking in a proper
+modesty if I declare that, even then, there was more than friendship
+betwixt us. But surely there were reasons enough and to spare. That I
+should love him was no mystery--he being the gallant gentleman he is;
+and, since there chanced to be no other maid upon the vessel of proper
+age and gentle condition, I suppose it was in nature that he should make
+the best of the little society he had. But nay, I would be false to my
+own faith if I doubted that it was foreordained of Heaven that we should
+come together and love one another.
+
+It is true that I did not make confession of this belief until I had
+tormented my would-be lord with every teasing device that entered into
+my brain. But though he was often cast down for hours together, he gave
+me to understand that he could read my heart in my blue eyes.
+
+"An you were to swear upon your soul you hated me, dear lady, I'd not
+believe it," he once said. "Mistress Margaret is too unversed in city
+ways and shallow coquetries to play a part--and 'tis for that I love her
+so." And though it angered me to have him praise my innocence and
+country airs, I knew he spoke the truth, and that a time would come when
+I would own my love for him. And so it did.
+
+A terrible storm had raged for eight-and-forty hours. There had been
+wild, black, awful nights, and sullen days when the gray curtains of the
+sky were torn asunder and whirled over us in inky folds, their tattered
+fringes lashing up the seas, and whipping our frail bark till it skulked
+and cowered, like a beaten cur that looks in vain for mercy. We had
+drifted northward far from our course, our two consorts had disappeared,
+and we had well-nigh given up hope, when with the dawning of the third
+day the wind lulled, and through the ragged clouds we saw the blue arch
+of heaven high above us.
+
+I had climbed out upon the deck alone; and from a sheltered corner I saw
+the sun rise and gild a far-off strip of shore that lay to west of us.
+It seemed a vision of a new heaven and a new earth, and I gave God
+thanks. Then a hand touched mine, and a voice whispered my name--and
+other words that need not be recorded here; and I could answer nothing
+in denial, for the reason that my heart was too full.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+
+The land to west of us was Virginia, and we sought harbour at Nancemund,
+and lay there some weeks for needful repairs on the sloop, which was
+also provisioned afresh for her further voyage.
+
+It was then the month of February; we had been six months a-journeying,
+and still the promised land was far away.
+
+This tale of mine, however, bids fair to spin itself at too great
+length, so I must hasten on to the story of our captivity.
+
+In spite of fairly good weather on our way southward we somehow over
+passed the latitude of Port Royal harbour; and of a Saturday in May--the
+fifteenth day of the month--we did cast anchor at a little isle upon the
+coast, in order to obtain wood and water for the sloop's needs.
+
+This island is within the territory of the Spaniards, who have named it
+Santa Catalina. It lies some days' journey north of San Augustin,--the
+exact latitude I know not, although I have heard it more times than
+one; but there are some things that abide never in a woman's brain.
+
+Here appeared many Indians, who seemed at first not unfriendly, and
+spoke words of welcome to us in the Spanish tongue.
+
+Much trading was done aboard the sloop, and the barbarians appeared
+strangely content with strings of paltry beads and the cast-off garments
+of the crew, giving in their stead good provender, and skins of the wild
+deer dressed soft and fine.
+
+The second day of our stay, Mr. Rivers, with the ship's master and three
+seamen, went ashore with such stuff as the Indians desire, to trade for
+pork and other provisions; and it being a Monday morn, Dame Barbara did
+crave leave to take her washing and go with them, in the hope of finding
+a softer water to cleanse the linen.
+
+It was early morning; the breeze from the land blew sweet and fragrant,
+and the woods beyond the sandy beach bourgeoned in new leafage, green
+and tender. I longed for the scent of the warm earth, and the tuneful
+courting of bird-lovers in the thicket; so I prayed my uncle to let me
+go ashore with the dame. He acceded willingly enough; but Mr. Rivers,
+who is always over-anxious where my safety is concerned, counselled me
+earnestly not to leave the ship.
+
+I was ever a headstrong maid, and the sunshine and the scent of far-off
+flowers had set me nearly wild with longing; so I chid him roundly for
+his caution and merrily warned him to beware how he sought to clip the
+wings of a free bird. Go I did, therefore, though he smiled and shook
+his head at me; and when we all parted company at the watering-place he
+seemed uneasy still, and, looking backward over his shoulder as I waved
+farewell, entreated me to wander no farther from the shore.
+
+The little spring where they had left us welled up, cold and clear, at
+the foot of a tall cypress-tree, and trickled thence in a tiny stream, a
+mere thread of crystal, that tangled itself in the low bush and wound
+its way helplessly through the level wooded country, as though seeking
+for some gentle slope that would lead it to the sea.
+
+The dame rinsed her linen till it fairly shone, and spread it out to dry
+in a sunny nook; while I lay prone on the warm earth and stirred up the
+damp brown leaves that had drifted into a tiny hollow, and found beneath
+them a wee green vine with little white star-flowers that blinked up at
+the sun and me. And I dreamed of the new home we would make for
+ourselves in this far country, and of the very good and docile wife I
+would be to my dear love. Then at last,--because I grew aweary at the
+prospect of my very great obedience in the future, and because, too, I
+thought it was high time my gallant gentleman came back to ask me how I
+did,--up from the ground I started, rousing the dame from a sweet nap.
+
+"Look, Barbara! the linen is dry; the sun is on its westering way, and
+the shadows grow longer and longer.--'Tis very strange that Mr. Rivers
+and the master have not returned!"
+
+"Mayhap they have clean forgot us and gone back to the ship alone,"
+moaned the old woman, rubbing her sleepy eyes and beginning at once to
+croak misfortune, after the manner of her class.
+
+Such an idea was past belief and set me smiling. I laid my hollowed
+palms behind my ears and listened.
+
+Master Wind, passing through the tree-tops, had set every leaf
+a-whispering and nid-nodding to its gossips,--just as the peddler on his
+way through the village at home stirs all the women-folk to chattering
+about the latest news from the whole countryside. In the thicket beside
+us a chorus of feathered singers were all a-twitter, each trying to
+outdo his neighbour; but one saucy fellow piped the merriest tune of
+all, mingling in a delicious medley the sweetest notes of all the rest.
+Of a sudden, as I listened, there was a soft rustle in the undergrowth,
+and out from a clump of myrtles bounced a little brown rabbit, who
+cocked an astonished eye at me and disappeared again with a series of
+soundless leaps and a terrified whisk of his little white tail. Upon
+that the laugh in my throat bubbled over; I dropped my hands and turned
+to the dame.
+
+"Gather up your linen, good Barbara, and let us explore the trail
+ourselves. They are doubtless picnicking somewhere in the woods beyond,
+and 'tis very discourteous not to bid us to the entertainment."
+
+She would have demurred at first: the linen was not to be left, and yet
+was too weighty to carry; her back was aweary and she was fain to rest
+in peace. But Mistress Margaret was minded to have her own way, and,
+dividing the bundle in two, started on ahead with the larger share of
+it; so that, will she, nill she, the dame must follow.
+
+I knew, of course, that I was disobeying Mr. Rivers's last injunction,
+and 'twas that thought quite as much as the sweet woodland airs that
+lured me on: I desired, above all things, to behold the countenance of
+my gallant gentleman when he discovered my wilfulness. So I hastened
+forward, pausing now and again to encourage the good dame and entice her
+still farther with glowing descriptions of new beauties just coming into
+view.
+
+It fell about, therefore, that I was some forty paces in advance of her
+when I suddenly came upon the Indian settlement and saw there a sight
+that made my heart stand still.
+
+I drew back hastily behind the trunk of a wide-branched oak, whence I
+could look--unseen, I thought--upon the town.
+
+A great concourse of barbarians was assembled in the open space before
+the chief building, which was of considerable size, built round after
+the manner of a dove-house, and completely thatched with palmetto
+leaves. Many smaller buildings surrounded it: one, in especial, I would
+have done well to take note of; for it was doubtless a kind of sentinel
+or watch-tower, being set on tall, upright timbers which gave it an
+elevation much greater than any part of the surrounding country.
+
+I had eyes for naught, however, but one figure, that stood, with hands
+and feet bound, at the foot of a great wooden cross planted opposite the
+entrance of the chief building. It was my dear love--I knew him on the
+instant by the proud poise of his head and shoulders. He was speaking in
+his usual calm and courtly tones to the circle of half-naked savages,
+who seemed to hear him with respectful consideration, though they made
+no motion to loose his bonds.
+
+On the ground beside him lay the ship's master, old Captain Baulk, and
+the three seamen, their arms securely pinioned. Near them was the bale
+of goods which had been brought from the ship: it lay wide open, and was
+being most unscrupulously rifled of its contents.
+
+For the moment I thought it was the sight of the gewgaws this bale
+contained that had roused the cupidity of the barbarians; but now I
+believe otherwise. The savages would have paid for them willingly, in
+skins and such like, and then suffered our men to depart in peace, had
+not that smooth-tongued hypocrite, Ignacio, been behind. But this, of
+course, was unknown to me at the time.
+
+The idea came over me, like a flash, that we should go for help to the
+ship; and I turned quickly and signalled the dame to be silent. It was
+too late, however, for she had caught sight of the savages and of our
+men bound in the midst of them; and turning to the right about with a
+shrill scream, she cast away the bundle of linen and started back the
+way we had come at a speed which 'tis likely she had never equalled in
+her life before. After her I hastened, and implored her to be still,
+lest the barbarians should hear and overtake us. My one thought was to
+summon aid; for, though there seemed to be over two hundred of the
+Indians, I believed that our handful of men, armed with muskets, swords,
+and pikes, would be sufficient to strike terror into them at once.
+
+We had scarce run an hundred yards down the trail when four savages
+stepped from a thicket and laid hands upon us. They had lain in wait,
+there is no doubt, so 'twas evident we had been seen some while before.
+
+Barbara resisted them with much wild shrieking, but I submitted in
+silence. 'Twas not that I was any braver than she, but simply that I
+could not believe that they meant to do us any real harm; and all the
+while I was possessed with the thought that there was some one stationed
+in the thicket who was directing the actions of the savages. It appeared
+to me that, as they fastened our arms behind us, their eyeballs rolled
+ever toward a certain myrtle-bush, as if they were waiting for a cue.
+
+We were led back at once to the town, and I shall never forget the look
+upon my dear love's face as he caught sight of me.
+
+"Margaret--you also! I had hoped you and the dame were safe!" he cried
+out, as our captors led us to his side.
+
+"'Twas all my wilfulness--I came hither seeking you," I answered, and
+hung my head.
+
+He looked at me dumbly, and then turned his face away; and I saw his
+arms writhing in their bonds. A strange feeling came upon me, part shame
+and sorrow that I should have grieved him so, and part exultation
+that--whatever our fate--at least we would meet it side by side. Fear
+had the least place in my thoughts as I waited, breathless, for the
+outcome of this strange situation. My eyes wandered round the circle of
+barbarians, and I noted with some wonderment that numbers of the men
+wore their crowns shaven, after the manner of a priest's tonsure.
+
+One among them, who seemed of greater consequence than the rest, began
+to speak; but I could make nothing of his discourse, although he used
+many words that I thought had somewhat of a Spanish ring.
+
+Yet his meaning was fathomed by Mr. Rivers, who gave him the reply on
+the instant, couched in the Spanish, and delivered with some heat and
+indignation.
+
+There was a stir among the barbarians, and presently there appeared a
+new figure on the scene. The shaven crown, the bare feet, the coarse
+woollen robe fastened by a knotted cord about the waist, all denoted a
+friar of the Franciscan order.
+
+"So," muttered Mr. Rivers, under his breath, "now we have the real chief
+to deal with."
+
+Scarcely less swarthy than the Indians themselves was the dark face of
+the Spanish friar. As he came forward into the open space, he raised his
+eyes to the great cross at the foot of which we were standing, and
+straightway bent the knee and crossed himself. Some few of the Indians
+likewise made the sign upon their breasts, though the greater part
+contained themselves with the same stolidity that had marked them from
+the first.
+
+Mr. Rivers gave a low laugh, and turned to me with a curling lip. "These
+be Christians," he said.
+
+The Spaniard caught the sneer, and a scowl gathered on his coarse face;
+but he checked it suddenly and began in smooth tones to address us.
+
+Old Captain Baulk had raised himself to a sitting posture, and the
+seamen all held themselves in attitudes of strained attention.
+
+"What says he?" I asked, in a whisper, of my dear love, when the friar
+had ceased and turned away from us.
+
+"Naught but a tissue of lies," exclaimed Mr. Rivers, through his
+clenched teeth. "He would have us believe that he is wholly
+irresponsible for the doings of these 'banditos'; but he will exert what
+influence he has among the believers of his flock to procure our
+release,--I would we had fallen among infidels! These can have learned
+naught of their teacher but deceit. They tricked us, on the plea of our
+most mutual confidence, to lay aside our arms, and then fell instantly
+upon us and made us captive."
+
+"I would to Heaven I could have gone back to the ship and given
+warning," I sighed dolefully. "Yet perhaps some of them may come out to
+search for us."
+
+"Now God forbid!" exclaimed Mr. Rivers, "for they would walk into a
+trap. Some of these Indians have muskets and ammunition, and are
+therefore as well armed as our men. If many more of us were taken there
+would not be left able-bodied men enough to sail the sloop. 'Twould be
+better if they held off and waited for the Indians to take the
+initiative. My hope is that we will be able to treat with the savages
+for ransom,--that is, if the friar bears us no real ill will. See, here
+he comes again, with his oily tongue."
+
+The shifty eyes and full-lipped mouth of the man filled me with a
+sudden loathing. Fear began to take hold of me at last, and a little sob
+broke in my throat.
+
+My dear love turned to me with a quick, warm glance.
+
+"Cheer up, sweetheart," he whispered. "It is too soon to lose courage.
+Come, where is my brave Margaret?"
+
+"Here!" I answered, and forced a smile on my quivering lips.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+
+The rest of the day passed by like a long nightmare. The friar had us
+removed to a small but strongly built hut, containing two rooms,
+separated by a thin partition of hides nailed to a row of upright studs.
+These were of squared timber, as was the floor also, and the outer frame
+and wall-plate. The roof and sides were overlaid with thatch; and there
+was no window, only a square opening in the roof which admitted the
+light, and also let out the smoke when a fire was built upon the floor.
+
+As dark came on, two young Indian girls entered the hut, where we sat,
+bound, with our backs against the wall.
+
+They seemed kindly disposed and gentle-mannered, for all their
+outlandish garb, which consisted of a petticoat of long gray moss, and
+strings of little shells and beads of divers colours festooned about the
+neck.
+
+They loosed Barbara and me, for which we were mightily grateful, as our
+arms had grown numb and sore. We made signs that they should cut the
+bonds of the men also, which they declined to do. Yet they touched us
+with gentle hands, and stroked our shoulders in token of their good
+will.
+
+After this they brought wet clay and spread it upon the floor, and on
+this laid a fire and kindled it; going forth again, they returned with
+food and set it before us, making signs that we who were free should
+feed the rest.
+
+While I was serving my dear love--who made pitiable pretence of enjoying
+my ministrations--the friar entered the hut, accompanied by two others
+who were doubtless of mixed Spanish and Indian blood.
+
+They bore with them heavy manacles and chains, which they fastened upon
+our men, cutting the leathern thongs which had held them until now.
+
+Mr. Rivers demanded to know by whose orders this was done.
+
+"For it would seem our true jailers are not the Indians. These fetters
+are of Spanish forging. Is it to your nation, padre, we are indebted for
+this urgent hospitality?"
+
+To this the friar made answer at great length, and what he said appeared
+to enrage our men, who broke forth in a round volley of oaths as soon as
+our jailers had left the hut. I turned to Mr. Rivers for explanation.
+
+"'Tis as I supposed," he said, "and the friar is at the bottom of it
+all. He maintains now that in landing here and attempting to trade with
+the Indians we have committed an offence against the sovereignty of
+Santo Domingo, which claims all this coast as Spanish territory. These
+Indians, he declares, are under the protection of his government, and
+therefore are not free to dispose of any goods to us English, or to
+receive any favours at our hands; as such dealings would be to the
+prejudice of the Spanish rights and influence over this country.
+Therefore he has claimed us from the Indians and proposes himself to
+hold us prisoners, awaiting the decision of the Governor at San
+Augustin."
+
+As I look back now, it seems to me that in those first hours of our
+captivity I grew older by many years. That gladsome morning, with its
+wilful moods and joyous daring, fell away back into the past, and seemed
+as unreal as the day-dreams of my childhood.
+
+We slept that night, Dame Barbara and I, upon a soft and springy couch
+of moss piled in the little inner room. That is to say, we lay there
+silently; but I think I scarce closed my eyes.
+
+The wind, drifting through the gaping thatch, caught the loose corner of
+a shrivelled strip of hide dangling on the rude partition wall, and
+kept it swinging back and forth, with a faint tap-tap, tap-tap, the
+whole night long. As it swung outward I could catch fleeting glimpses of
+the little group huddled about the dying fire; and for hours I lay and
+listened to the low murmur of their voices and the heavy clank and
+rattle of their chains.
+
+Old Captain Baulk was in a garrulous mood, and he poured into the
+sailors' ears a horrid tale of how the Spaniards had massacred the first
+French settlers on this coast.
+
+"'Twas just about one hundred years ago," he droned in a gruesome
+whisper. "Ribault's settlement was on the River May, somewhere in these
+latitudes. There were about nine hundred of them in all, 'tis said,
+counting the women and children; and not one of them escaped. The bodies
+of dead and wounded were alike hung upon a tree for the crows----"
+
+"In God's name, hold your croaking tongue!" Mr. Rivers broke in angrily.
+"'Tis bad enough for the women as things are, and if they overhear these
+old wives' tales, think you it will make them rest easier?"
+
+"Not old wives' tales, Mr. Rivers, but the fact, sir,--the bloody fact."
+
+"Silence!" whispered my betrothed, in a voice that made me tremble,--for
+he hath a hot temper when it is roused. "Unless thou canst hold that
+ill-omened tongue of thine, there presently will be another bloody fact
+between thy teeth!"
+
+A sudden silence fell. 'Twas broken finally by my dear love, whose
+generous nature soon repented of a harshly spoken word.
+
+"I was over-hasty, my good Baulk; but I would not for the world have
+Mistress Tudor hear aught of those horrors. And times have changed
+greatly in an hundred years. But this inaction, this inaction! 'Tis
+terrible upon a man!"
+
+A suppressed groan accompanied the exclamation, and my heart ached for
+him. It must indeed be hard for men--who are used to carving their own
+fates and wresting from fortune their desires--suddenly to be forced to
+play the woman's part of patient waiting.
+
+The next day brought no relief.
+
+From the windowless hut we could see naught of what passed without; but
+about an hour before noon we heard a drum beat in the village. The sound
+grew ever fainter, as though receding; then came the distant report of
+musketry, and we grew anxious for our people on the sloop. Hours passed
+by, and again came the sound of heavy firing, which gradually died away
+as before.
+
+Late in the afternoon we were joined by another prisoner, whom--from his
+dress of skins--we mistook at first sight for a young Indian; but 'twas
+no other than the lad Poole, who was in Mr. Rivers's service and most
+loyally attached to his master.
+
+From him we learned that the Indians and some Spaniards had been
+parleying with our men all day. He had swum ashore with a letter to the
+friar, and had been received with kindness by the savages, who clad him
+after their own fashion. The friar, however, vouchsafed him no reply;
+and after a time gave a signal to his men to fire on the sloop. The
+arrows of the Indians and the muskets of the Spaniards had finally
+compelled the _Three Brothers_ to weigh anchor and put out to sea.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+
+Day after day dragged by. We grew aweary of discussing the possibilities
+of our escape and fell gradually into silence.
+
+It was on the first day of June that Don Pedro de Melinza arrived in the
+galley from San Augustin, and our captivity took on a new phase.
+
+He is a handsome man, this Spanish Don, and he bears himself with the
+airs of a courtier--when it so pleases him. As he stood that day at the
+open door of our hut prison, in the full glow of the summer morning, he
+was a goodly sight. His thick black hair was worn in a fringe of wavy
+locks that rested lightly on his flaring collar. His leathern doublet
+fitted close to his slight, strong figure, and through its slashed
+sleeves there was a shimmer of fine silk. In his right hand he held his
+plumed sombrero against his breast; his left rested carelessly on the
+hilt of his sword.
+
+I could find no flaw in his courteous greetings; but I looked into his
+countenance and liked it not.
+
+The nose was straight and high, the keen dark eyes set deep in the olive
+face; but beneath the short, curled moustache projected a full, red
+under lip.
+
+Show me, in a man, an open brow, a clear eye, a firm-set mouth, and a
+chin that neither aims to meet the nose nor lags back upon the breast;
+and I will dub him honest, and brave, and clean-minded. But if his
+forehead skulks backward, his chin recedes, and his nether lip curls
+over redly--though the other traits be handsome, and the figure full of
+grace and strength controlled--trust that man I never could! Such an one
+I saw once in my early childhood. My mother pointed him out to me and
+bade me note him well.
+
+"That man," she said, "was once your father's friend and close comrade;
+yet now he walks free and lives in ease, while my poor husband is in
+slavery. Why is it thus? Because he over yonder was false to his oath,
+to his friends, and to his king. He sold them all, like Esau, for a mess
+of pottage. Mark him well, my child, and beware of his like; for in
+these days they are not a few, and woe to any who trust in them!"
+
+I remembered those words of my mother when the Seņor Don Pedro de
+Melinza y de Colis made his bow to us that summer's day. The meaning of
+his courtly phrases was lost upon me; but I gathered from his manner
+that he had come in the guise of a friend,--and I trembled at the
+prospect of such friendship.
+
+Nevertheless I was right glad when the fetters were struck from my dear
+love and his companions, and we were taken upon the Spanish galley and
+served like Christians.
+
+At the earliest opportunity Mr. Rivers hastened to make things clear to
+me. "Our deliverer"--so he termed him, whereat I marvelled
+somewhat,--"our deliverer assures me that Padre Ignacio's action is
+condemned greatly by his uncle, Seņor de Colis, the Governor and
+Captain-General at San Augustin. Don Pedro has been sent to transport us
+thither, where we will be entertained with some fitness until we can
+communicate with our friends."
+
+"Says he so? 'Twill be well if he keeps his word; but to my thinking he
+has not the face of an honest man."
+
+Mr. Rivers looked at me gravely. "That is a hard speech from such gentle
+lips," he said. "Don Pedro is a Spanish gentleman of high lineage. His
+uncle, Seņor de Colis, is a knight of the Order of St. James. Such hold
+their honour dear. Until he gives us cause to distrust him, let us have
+the grace to believe that he _is_ an honest man."
+
+I looked back into the frank gray eyes of my true and gallant love, and
+I felt rebuked. 'Twas a woman's instinct, only, that made me doubt the
+Spaniard; and this simple trust of a noble nature in the integrity of
+his fellow man seemed a vastly finer instinct than my own.
+
+From that moment I laid by my suspicions, and met the courteous advances
+of Seņor de Melinza with as much of graciousness as I knew how. But, as
+we spoke for the most part in different tongues, little conversation was
+possible to us.
+
+I marvelled at the ease with which Mr. Rivers conversed in both Spanish
+and French. Of the latter I was not wholly ignorant myself,--although in
+my quiet country life I had had little opportunity of putting my
+knowledge to the test, seldom attempting to do more than "prick in some
+flowers" of foreign speech upon the fabric of my mother tongue; so it
+was with great timidity that I essayed at first to thread the mazes of
+an unfamiliar language.
+
+The Spaniard, however, greeted my attempts with courteous comprehension,
+and after a time I was emboldened to ask some questions concerning the
+town of San Augustin, and to comment upon the vivid beauty of the skies
+and the blue waves around us. Upon that he broke into rapturous praises
+of his own land of Spain--"the fairest spot upon the earth!" As I
+listened, smilingly, it seemed to me that I perceived a shadow gathering
+upon the brow of my dear love.
+
+So far the galley had depended solely upon her oars--of which there were
+six banks, of two oars each, on either side,--but now, the wind having
+freshened, Don Pedro ordered her two small lateen sails to be hoisted.
+While he was giving these directions and superintending their
+fulfilment, Mr. Rivers drew closer to my side, saying, in a rapid
+whisper:
+
+"You have somewhat misread me, sweetheart, in regard to your demeanour
+toward our host. 'Tis surely needless for you to put yourself to the
+pain of conversing with him at such length."
+
+Now it must be remembered that in the last few hours our situation had
+greatly changed. I had left a dark and dirty hovel for a cushioned couch
+upon a breezy deck. In the tiny cabin which had been placed at my
+disposal, I had, with Barbara's aid, rearranged my tangled locks and my
+disordered clothing; so that I was no longer ashamed of my untidy
+appearance. With my outward transformation there had come a reaction in
+my spirits, which bounded upward to their accustomed level.
+
+The salt air was fresh upon my cheek; the motion of our vessel,
+careening gaily on the dancing waves, was joyous and inspiring. I forgot
+that we were sailing southward, and that, if our English friends had
+survived to begin their intended settlement, we were leaving them
+farther and farther behind. My thoughts went back to the earlier days of
+our journey over seas; and a flash of the wilful mischief, which I
+thought had all died from my heart, rose suddenly within me.
+
+I leaned back upon my cushioned seat and looked with half-veiled eyes at
+my gallant gentleman.
+
+"These nice distinctions, Mr. Rivers, are too difficult for me," I said.
+"If this Spanish cavalier of high lineage and honest intentions is
+worthy of any gratitude, methinks a few civil words can scarcely overpay
+him."
+
+A heightened colour in the cheek of my betrothed testified to the warmth
+of his feelings in the matter, as he replied:
+
+"You are wholly in the right, my dearest lady! If civil words can cancel
+aught of our indebtedness I shall not be sparing of them. Nevertheless,
+permit me, I entreat you, to assume the entire burden of our gratitude
+and the whole payment thereof."
+
+"Not so," I rejoined, with some spirit. "Despite our beggared fortunes,
+I trust no one has ever found a Tudor bankrupt in either courtesy or
+gratitude; and--by your leave, sir--I will be no exception!"
+
+This I said, not because I was so mightily beholden to the Spaniard;
+but--shame upon me!--because Mr. Rivers had chosen to reprove me, a
+while since, for my uncharity.
+
+'Tis passing strange how we women can find pleasure in giving pain to
+the man we love; while if he suffered from any other cause we would
+gladly die to relieve him! 'Twould seem a cruel trait in a woman's
+character--and I do trust that I am not cruel! But I must admit that
+when I greeted Don Pedro, on his return, with added cordiality, it was
+nothing in his dark, eager countenance that set my heart beating--but
+rather the glimpse I had caught of a bitten lip, a knotted brow, and a
+pair of woeful gray eyes gazing out to sea.
+
+Repentance came speedily, however. There was that in the Spaniard's
+manner that aroused my sleeping doubts of him; and I soon fell silent
+and sought to be alone.
+
+My gallant gentleman had withdrawn himself in a pique, and, in the
+company of old Captain Baulk and the lad Poole, seemed to have wholly
+forgotten my existence.
+
+I made Dame Barbara sit beside me, and, feigning headache, leaned my
+head upon her shoulder and closed my eyes. The dame rocked herself
+gently to and fro, and from time to time gave vent to smothered prayers
+and doleful ejaculations that set my thoughts working upon my own
+misdoings.
+
+Through my half-shut eyes I saw the sun go down behind the strip of
+shore, and watched the blue skies pale to faintest green and richest
+amber. A little flock of white cloudlets, swimming in the transparent
+depths, caught fire suddenly and changed to pink flames, then glowed
+darkly red like burning coals, and faded, finally to gray ashes in the
+purpling west.
+
+"Lord, have mercy on our sinful hearts!" groaned Dame Barbara softly.
+
+"Amen!" I sighed, and wondered what ailed mine, that it could be so very
+wicked as to add to the burden of anxiety that my dear love had to bear!
+A few tears stole from under my half-closed lids, and I was very
+miserable and forlorn, when suddenly I felt a hand laid upon mine.
+
+I looked up hastily, and saw the face of my gallant gentleman, very
+grave and penitent, in the fast-deepening twilight. My heart gave a glad
+leap within my bosom; but I puckered my lips woefully and heaved a
+mighty sigh.
+
+"Thank you, dear Dame, for your kind nursing," I said to Barbara.
+"Truly, I know not what I should do without your motherly comforting at
+times."
+
+Mr. Rivers took my hand, and drew me gently away, saying:
+
+"See what a bright star hangs yonder, above the sombre shores!"
+
+I glanced at the glittering point of light, and then, over my shoulder,
+at the shadowy decks. The Spaniard was not in sight, and only the bent
+figure of the dame was very near.
+
+My dear love raised my fingers to his lips. "Forgive me, sweetheart, for
+being so churlish--but you cannot know the fears that fill me when I see
+that man's dark face gazing into yours, and realize that we are utterly
+in his power."
+
+"Surely he would not harm me!" I said, hastily.
+
+"'Tis that he may learn to love you," said Mr. Rivers gravely.
+
+"He may spare himself the pain of it!" I cried. "Have you not told him
+that we are betrothed?"
+
+"Aye, love--but he may lose his heart in spite of that. What wonder if
+he does? The miracle would be if he could look upon your face unmoved."
+
+"Am I so wondrous pretty, then?"
+
+"Fairer than any woman living!" he declared. I knew well enough it was a
+tender falsehood, but since he seemed to believe it himself it was every
+whit as satisfactory as if it had been truth!
+
+"Be comforted," I whispered, reassuringly. "I know very well how to make
+myself quite homely. I have only to pull all my curls back from my brow
+and club them behind: straightway I will become so old and ugly that no
+man would care to look me twice in the face. Wait till to-morrow, and
+you will see!"
+
+A laugh broke from Mr. Rivers's lips, and then he sighed heavily.
+
+"Nay, sweetheart, if it be the head-dress you assumed one day some
+months ago for my peculiar punishment, I pray you will not try its
+efficacy on the Spaniard; for it serves but to make you the more
+irresistible."
+
+But already I have dwelt longer upon myself and my own feelings than is
+needful for the telling of my tale. I must hasten on to those
+happenings that more nearly concerned Mr. Rivers. Yet, in looking
+backward, I find it hard to tear my thoughts from the memory of that
+last hour of quiet converse with my dear love, under the starlit
+southern skies. How seldom we realize our moments of great happiness
+until after they have slipped away! It seemed to me then that we were in
+the shadow of a dark-winged host of fears; but now I know that it served
+only to make our mutual faith burn the more brightly.
+
+I did not, thereafter, neglect Mr. Rivers's warning, and avoided the
+Spaniard as much as possible. My dear love lingered always at my elbow,
+and replied for me, in easy Spanish, to all the courteous speeches of
+Don Pedro.
+
+Sometimes I think it would have been far better had he left me to follow
+my own course. There are some men who need only a hint of rivalry to
+spur them on where of their own choice they had never thought to
+adventure. Melinza's attentions did not diminish, while his manner
+toward Mr. Rivers lost in cordiality as time went on.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+
+Among the Spaniard's followers was a young mulatto whom he called
+"Tomas." Very tall and slight of figure was he, yet sinewy and strong,
+with corded muscles twining under the brown skin of his lean young
+limbs. He wore a loose shirt, open at the throat, with sleeves uprolled
+to the shoulder; and his short, full trousers reached barely to the
+knee.
+
+I was admiring the agile grace of the lad as he bestirred himself upon
+the deck the last morning of our voyage. With him young Poole (clothed
+once more like a Christian, in borrowed garments) was engaged in the
+task of shifting a great coil of rope; and the sturdy, fair-skinned
+English youth was a pretty contrast to the other.
+
+Don Pedro was standing near to Mr. Rivers and myself, and his eyes took
+the same direction as our own.
+
+"They are well matched in size," said he, pointing to the lads. "Let us
+see which can bear off the palm for strength." He called out a few words
+in Spanish to the young mulatto, who raised his dark head--curled over
+with shiny rings of coal-black hair--and showed a gleaming row of white
+teeth as he turned his smiling face toward his master.
+
+Mr. Rivers spoke a word to Poole, and the boy blushed from brow to neck,
+and his blue eyes fell sheepishly; but he stood up against the other
+with a right good will, and there was not a hair's difference in their
+height.
+
+At a signal from Don Pedro the lads grappled with each other; the brown
+and ruddy limbs were close entwined, and with bare feet gripping the
+decks they swayed back and forth like twin saplings caught in a gale.
+
+In the first onset the mulatto had the best of it; his lithe dark limbs
+coiled about his adversary with paralyzing force: but soon the greater
+weight of the English youth began to tell; his young, well-knit figure
+straightened and grew tense.
+
+I saw a sudden snarl upon the other's upturned face. His short, thick
+upper lip curled back upon his teeth as a dog's will when in anger. He
+rolled his eyes in the direction of his master, who threw him a
+contemptuous curse. Stung into sudden rage, the mulatto thrust forth his
+head and sank his sharp white teeth in the shoulder of young Poole.
+
+There was a startled cry, and the English youth loosened his grasp. In
+another moment the two figures rolled upon the deck, and the flaxen head
+was undermost.
+
+"Foul play!" cried Mr. Rivers, springing forward to tear the lads apart;
+for now the mulatto's fingers were at his opponent's throat.
+
+Melinza's hand flew to his sword; with a volley of oaths he interposed
+the shining blade between Mr. Rivers and the writhing figures on the
+floor. Quick as thought another blade flashed from its sheath, and the
+angerful gray eyes of my betrothed burned in indignant challenge.
+
+I had looked on in dumb amaze; but at the sight of the naked weapons I
+screamed aloud.
+
+Instantly the two men seemed to recollect themselves. They drew back and
+eyed each other coldly.
+
+"_Hasta conveniente ocasion, caballero!_" said the Spaniard, returning
+his sword to its scabbard, and bowing low.
+
+"_A la disposicion de vuestra seņoria, Don Pedro_," replied my
+betrothed, following his example.
+
+And I, listening, but knowing no word of the language, believed that an
+apology had passed between them!
+
+The scuffle on the deck had ceased when the swords clashed forth, and
+the lads had risen to their feet. Melinza turned now to young Tomas and
+struck him a sharp blow on the cheek.
+
+"Away with you both!" said the gesture of his impatient arm; but I
+believe his tongue uttered naught but curses.
+
+All of our English had appeared upon the deck, and when Melinza strode
+past them with a scowl still upon his brow they exchanged meaning
+glances. Captain Baulk shook his grizzled head as he approached us.
+
+"What have I always said, Mr. Rivers"----he began; but my betrothed
+looked toward me and laid a finger on his lip. Afterward they drew apart
+and conversed in whispers. What they said, I never knew; for when Mr.
+Rivers returned to my side he spoke of naught but the dolphins sporting
+in the blue waters, and the chances of our reaching San Augustin ere
+nightfall.
+
+"So," I thought, "I am no longer to be a sharer in their discussions, in
+their hopes or fears. I am but a very child, to be watched over and
+amused, to be wiled away from danger with a sweetmeat or a toy! And
+truly, I have deserved to be treated thus. But now 'tis time for me to
+put away childish things and prove myself a woman."
+
+I had the wit, however, not to make known my resolutions, nor to insist
+on sharing his confidence. I leaned over the vessel's side and watched
+the silver flashing of the two long lines of oars as they cut the waves,
+and I held my peace. But in my heart there was tumult. I had seen the
+glitter of a sword held in my dear love's face!--and I grew cold at the
+memory. I had coquetted with the man whose sword it was!--and that
+thought sent hot surges over my whole body. I shut my eyes and wished
+God had made them less blue; I bit my lip because it was so red. I had
+not thought, till now, that my fair face might bring danger on my
+beloved.
+
+He stood at my side, so handsome and so debonair; a goodly man to look
+upon and a loyal heart to trust; not over-fervent in matters of
+religion, yet never soiling his lips with a coarse oath, or his honour
+with a lie! As I glanced up at him, and he bent down toward me, I
+suddenly recalled the disloyal caution of our father Abraham when he
+journeyed in the land of strangers; and I thought: "Surely must God
+honour a man who is true to his love at any cost of danger!"
+
+So passed the day.
+
+It was evening when we crossed the bar and entered Matanzas Bay. The
+setting sun cast a crimson glow over the waters; I thought of the blood
+of the French martyrs that once stained these waves, and I shuddered.
+
+Outlined against the western sky was the town of San Augustin,--square
+walls and low, flat roofs built along a low, green shore. The
+watch-tower of the castle fort rose up in menace as we came nearer.
+
+Upon the deck of the Spanish galley, hand in hand, stood my love and I.
+
+"Yonder is----our destination," said Mr. Rivers.
+
+"Our prison, you would say," I answered him, "and so I think also.
+Nevertheless, I would rather stand here, at your side, than anywhere
+else in this wide world--_alone_!"
+
+He smiled and raised my fingers to his lips. "Verily, dear lady, so
+would I also."
+
+There was a rattle of heavy chains, and a loud plash as the anchor
+slipped down in the darkening waters.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+
+We were received by the Spanish Governor immediately after our landing.
+
+I had already pictured him, in my thoughts, as a man of commanding
+presence, with keen, dark eyes set in a stern countenance; crisp,
+curling locks--such as Melinza's--but silvered lightly on the temples;
+an air of potency, of fire, as though his bold spirit defied the heavy
+hand of time.
+
+'Twas therefore a matter of great surprise to me--and some relief--when,
+instead, I beheld advancing toward us a spare little figure with
+snow-white hair and a pallid face. His small blue eyes blinked upon us
+with a watery stare; his flabby cheeks were seamed with wrinkles, and
+his tremulous lips twitched and writhed in the shadowy semblance of a
+smile: there was naught about him to suggest either the soldier or the
+man of parts.
+
+He was attired with some pretension, in a doublet of purple velvet with
+sleeves of a lighter color. His short, full trousers were garnished at
+the knee with immense roses; his shrunken nether limbs were cased in
+silken hose of a pale lavender hue, and silver buckles fastened the
+tufted purple ribbons on his shoes. On his breast was the red cross of
+St. James--patent of nobility; had it not been for that and his fine
+attire he might have passed for a blear-eyed and decrepit tailor from
+Haberdashery Lane.
+
+I plucked up heart at the sight of this little manikin.
+
+"Can this be the Governor and Captain-General of San Augustin?" I
+whispered in the ear of my betrothed.
+
+"'Tis not at the court of _our_ Charles only that kissing, or promotion,
+goes by favour!" was his answer, in a quick aside. Then he met the
+advancing dignitary and responded with grave punctilio to the suave
+welcome that was accorded us.
+
+Melinza's part was that of master of ceremonies on this occasion. He
+appeared to have laid aside his rancour, and his handsome olive
+countenance was lightened with an expression of great benignance when he
+presented me to the Governor as--"_the honourable and distinguished
+seņorita Doņa Margarita de Tudor_."
+
+I looked up at Mr. Rivers with an involuntary smile.
+
+"My betrothed, your Excellency," he said simply, taking me by the hand.
+
+The blear-eyed Governor made me a compliment, with a wrinkled hand upon
+his heart. I understood no word of it, and he spoke no French, so Mr.
+Rivers relieved the situation with his usual ease.
+
+This audience had been held in the courtyard of the castle, which is a
+place of great strength,--being, in effect, a square fort built of
+stone, covering about an acre of ground, and garrisoned by more than
+three hundred men.
+
+We stood in a little group beneath a dim lamp that hung in a carved
+portico which appeared to be the entrance to a chapel. Captain Baulk and
+the rest were a little aloof from us; and all around, at the open doors
+of the casemates, lurked many of the swarthy soldiery.
+
+Suddenly light footsteps sounded on the flagged pavement of the chapel
+in our rear, and a tall, graceful woman stepped forth and laid her hand
+upon my shoulder. Through the delicate folds of black, filmy lace
+veiling her head and shoulders gleamed a pair of luminous eyes that
+burned me with their gaze.
+
+She waved aside the salutations of the two Spaniards and spoke directly
+to me in a rich, low voice. The sight of a woman was so welcome to me
+that I held out both hands in eager response; but she made no move to
+take them: her bright eyes scanned the faces of our party, lingering on
+that of my betrothed, to whom she next addressed herself, with a little
+careless gesture of her white hand in my direction.
+
+Mr. Rivers bowed low, and said, in French: "Madame, I commend her to
+your good care." Then to me: "Margaret, the Governor's lady offers you
+the protection of her roof."
+
+His eyes bade me accept it, and I turned slowly to the imperious
+stranger and murmured: "Madame, I thank you."
+
+"So!" she exclaimed, "you can speak, then? You are not dumb? I had
+thought it was a pretty waxen effigy of Our Lady, for the padre here,"
+and she laughed mockingly, with a glance over her shoulder.
+
+Another had joined our group, but his bare feet had sounded no warning
+tread. The sight of the coarse habit and the tonsured head struck a
+chill through me. Two sombre eyes held mine for a moment, then their
+owner turned silently away and re-entered the chapel door.
+
+Melinza was standing by, with a gathering frown on his forehead.
+
+"Such condescension on your part, Doņa Orosia, is needless. We can
+provide accommodations for all our English guests here in the castle."
+
+"What! Would Don Pedro stoop to trick out a lady's boudoir?--Nay, she
+would die of the horrors within these gloomy walls. Come with me, child,
+I can furnish better entertainment."
+
+I turned hastily toward my dear love.
+
+"Go!" said his eyes to me.
+
+Then I thought of Barbara, and very timidly I asked leave to keep her by
+me.
+
+"She may follow us," said the Governor's lady carelessly, and sharply
+clapped her hands. Two runners appeared, bearing a closed chair, and set
+it down before us.
+
+"Enter," said my self-elected guardian. "You are so slight there is room
+for us both."
+
+In dazed fashion I obeyed her, and then she followed me.
+
+I thought I should be crushed in the narrow space, and the idea of being
+thus suddenly torn away from my betrothed filled me with terror. I made
+a desperate effort to spring out again; but a soft, strong hand gripped
+my arm and held me still, and in a moment we were borne swiftly away
+from the courtyard into the dark without.
+
+I wrung my hands bitterly, and burst into tears.
+
+"_O cielos!_ what have we here?" cried the rich voice, petulantly. "'Tis
+not a waxen saint, after all, but a living fountain! Do not drown me, I
+pray you. What is there to weep for? Art afraid, little fool? See, I am
+but a woman, not an ogress."
+
+But 'twas not alone for myself that I feared: the thought of my dear
+love in Melinza's power terrified me more than aught else,--yet I dared
+not put my suspicions into words. I tried hard to control my voice as I
+implored that I might be taken back to the fort and to Mr. Rivers.
+
+"Is it for the Englishman, or Melinza, that you are weeping?" demanded
+my companion sharply.
+
+"Madame!" I retorted, with indignation, "Mr. Rivers is my betrothed
+husband."
+
+"Good cause for affliction, doubtless," she replied, "but spare me your
+lamentations. Nay, you may _not_ return to the fort. 'Tis no fit place
+for an honest woman,--and you seem too much a fool to be aught else.
+Here, we have arrived----"
+
+She pushed me out upon the unpaved street, then dragged me through an
+open doorway, across a narrow court filled with blooming plants, and
+into a lighted room furnished with rich hangings, and chairs, tables,
+and cabinets of fine workmanship.
+
+I gazed around me in wonder and confusion of mind.
+
+"How does it please your pretty saintship? 'Tis something better than
+either Padre Ignacio's hut or Melinza's galley, is it not? Are you
+content to remain?"
+
+"Madame," I said desperately, "do with me what you will; only see, I
+pray you, that my betrothed comes to no harm."
+
+"What should harm him?" she demanded. "Is he not the guest of my
+husband?"
+
+"His guest, madame, or his prisoner?"
+
+She gave me a keen glance. "Whichever rôle he may have the wit--or the
+folly--to play."
+
+I wrung my hands again. "Madame, madame, do not trifle with me!"
+
+"Child, what should make thee so afraid?"
+
+I hesitated, then exclaimed: "Seņor de Melinza bears him no good
+will--he may strive to prejudice your husband!"
+
+The Governor's wife looked intently at me. "Why should Melinza have
+aught against your Englishman?"
+
+I could not answer,--perhaps I had been a fool to speak. I dropped my
+face in my hands, silently.
+
+Doņa Orosia leaned forward and took me by the wrists. "Look at me!" she
+said.
+
+Timidly I raised my eyes, and she studied my countenance for a long
+minute.
+
+"'Tis absurd," she said then, and pushed me aside. "'Tis impossible! And
+yet----a new face, a new face and passably pretty. Oh, my God, these
+men! are they worth one real heart pang? Tell me," she cried, fiercely,
+and shook me roughly by the shoulder, "has Melinza made love to you
+already?"
+
+"Never, madame, never!" I answered quickly, frightened by her vehemence.
+"Indeed, their quarrel did not concern me. 'Twas about two lads that had
+a wrestling-match upon the galley. And although they were both angered
+at the time, there may be no ill feeling between them now. I was foolish
+to speak of it. Forget my imprudence, I pray you!"
+
+But her face remained thoughtful. "Tell me the whole story," she said;
+and when I had done so she was silent.
+
+I sat and watched her anxiously. She was a beautiful woman, with a
+wealth of dark hair, a richly tinted cheek, glorious eyes, and a small,
+soft, red-lipped, passionate mouth--folded close, at that moment, in a
+scornful curve.
+
+Suddenly she rose and touched a bell. A young negress answered the
+summons. Doņa Orosia spoke a few rapid words to her in Spanish, then
+turned coldly to me.
+
+"Go with her; she will show you to your apartment, and your woman will
+attend you there later on. You must be too weary to-night to join us at
+a formal meal, and your wardrobe must be somewhat in need of
+replenishing. To-morrow you shall have whatever you require. I bid you
+goodnight!"--and she dismissed me with a haughty gesture of her white
+hand.
+
+The chamber that had been assigned to me--which I was glad to share with
+the good Dame Barbara--was long and narrow. There was a window at one
+end that gave upon the sea; and through the heavy barred grating, set
+strongly in the thick casement, I could look out upon the low sea-wall,
+and, beyond that, at the smooth bosom of the dreaming ocean, heaving
+softly in the quiet starlight, as though such a sorrow lay hidden in its
+deep heart as troubled even its sleep with sighs.
+
+If I pressed my face close against the bars I could see, to the left of
+me, the ramparts of the castle, where my dear love was. The slow tears
+rose in my eyes as I thought that this night the same roof would not
+shelter us, nor would there be the same swaying deck beneath our feet.
+
+While we had been together no very real sense of danger had oppressed
+me; but from the first hour of our parting my heart grew heavier with
+forebodings of the evil and sorrow which were yet to come.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+
+At first all seemed to go well enough. The Governor's lady was fairly
+gracious to me; old Seņor de Colis was profuse in his leering smiles and
+wordy compliments, none of which I could understand; I saw Mr. Rivers
+and Melinza from time to time, and they seemed upon good terms with each
+other: but I did not believe this state of affairs could last,--and I
+was right in my fears.
+
+One night ('twas the twenty-second of June, and the weather was sultry
+and oppressive; the sea held its breath, and the round moon burned hot
+in the hazy sky) the evening meal was served in the little courtyard of
+the Governor's house, and both Mr. Rivers and Melinza were our guests.
+
+This was not the first occasion on which we had all broken bread at the
+same board; but there was now an air of mockery in the civilities of
+Melinza,--he passed the salt to my betrothed with a glance of veiled
+hostility, and pledged him in a glass of wine with a smile that ill
+concealed the angry curl of his sullen red lip.
+
+'Twas a strange meal; the memory of it is like a picture stamped upon my
+brain.
+
+From the tall brass candlesticks upon the table, the unflickering tapers
+shone down upon gleaming damask and glistening silver, and kindled
+sparks amid the diamonds that caught up the folds of lace on the dark
+head of Doņa Orosia, and that gemmed the white fingers clasping her
+slow-moving fan. Hers was a beauty that boldly challenged men's
+admiration and exacted tribute of their eyes. The white-haired Governor
+paid it in full measure, with a fixed and watery gaze from beneath his
+half-closed lids, and a senile smile lurking under his waxed moustache.
+But whenever I glanced upward I met the eyes of Mr. Rivers and Don Pedro
+turned upon me; and I felt a strange thrill made up, in part, of triumph
+that my dear love was not to be won from his allegiance, and in part of
+terror because there was that in the Spaniard's gaze that betokened a
+nature ruled wholly by its hot passions and a will to win what it craved
+by fair means or by foul.
+
+I could eat little for the heat and the pungent flavour of strange
+sauces, so I dallied with my plate only as an excuse for lowered
+eyes; and, although I listened all the while with strained attention,
+the talk ran by too swiftly for me to grasp any of its meaning.
+
+[Illustration: "TO THE BRIGHTEST EYES AND THE LIPS MOST WORTHY OF
+KISSES!"--_Page 55._]
+
+But Doņa Orosia was neither deaf nor blind; her keen black eyes had
+noted every glance that passed her by. With a deeper flush on her olive
+cheek, and a prouder poise of her haughty head, she made to me at last
+the signal for withdrawal.
+
+The three gentlemen, glasses in hand, rose from their seats; and, as we
+passed beneath the arched trellis that led away from the paved court
+into the fragrant garden, Don Pedro lifted his glass to his lips with a
+gesture in our direction, and exclaimed in French:
+
+"To the fairest face in San Augustin! To the brightest eyes and the lips
+most worthy of kisses! May the light of those eyes never be withdrawn
+from these old walls, nor the lips lack a Spanish blade to guard them
+from all trespassers!"
+
+The Governor, who understood not the French words, lifted his glass in
+courteous imitation of his nephew's gesture; but Mr. Rivers coloured
+hotly and set down his upon the table.
+
+"I like not your toast, Seņor Melinza, whichever way I construe it. The
+face I hold fairest here shall leave San Augustin the day that I
+depart; and, since it is the face of my promised wife, it needs no other
+sword than mine to fend off trespassers!"
+
+He, too, spoke in French; and as the words passed his lips I felt the
+soft, strong hand of Doņa Orosia grasp my arm and drag me backward among
+the screening vines, beyond the red light of the tapers, where we could
+listen unseen.
+
+Melinza was laughing softly. "Seņor Rivers says he cannot construe my
+toast to his liking; but perhaps if I give it him in the Spanish tongue
+he may find the interpretation more to his taste!" Then he lifted his
+glass again and slowly repeated the words in his own language, with a
+meaning glance toward the Governor.
+
+The old man drained his goblet to the dregs, and then turned a flushed
+face upon the Englishman and laid his hand upon his sword.
+
+My dear love had no thoughts of prudence left,--for Melinza's words had
+been a direct charge of cowardice,--so for all answer he took the frail
+goblet from the table and threw it in the younger Spaniard's face.
+
+There was a tinkle of broken glass upon the stone pavement, and Melinza
+wiped the red wine from his cheek. Then he held up the stained kerchief
+before the eyes of my dear love and spoke a few words in his softest
+voice.
+
+An angry smile flickered over the countenance of my betrothed; he bowed
+stiffly in response.
+
+The blear-eyed Governor broke in hotly, with his hand still upon his
+sword; his dull eyes narrowed, and the blood mounted higher in his
+wrinkled cheek: but his nephew laid a restraining hand upon his arm,
+and, with another laughing speech and a profound bow to Mr. Rivers,
+pointed toward the door.
+
+I saw the three of them depart through the passageway that led to the
+street entrance. I heard the creak of the hinges, and the clang of the
+bars as they fell back into place. Then a strong, sweet odour of crushed
+blossoms turned me faint. I loosed my hold of the screening vines and
+stepped backward with a sudden struggle for breath.
+
+The woman beside me caught my arm a second time and drew me still
+farther away down the moonlit path.
+
+"Is he aught of a swordsman, this fine cavalier of thine?" she demanded,
+grasping my shoulder tightly and scanning my face with her scornful
+eyes.
+
+Then my senses came to me: I knew what had happened--what was bound to
+follow; and I began to speak wildly and to pray her to prevent bloodshed
+between them.
+
+I scarce know what I said; but the words poured from my lips, and for
+very despair I checked them not. I told her of my orphan state--of that
+lone grave in Barbadoes, and the sad young mother who had died of a
+broken heart; I spoke of the long, long journey over seas, the love that
+had come into my life, and the dreams and the hopes that had filled our
+thoughts when we reached the fair, strange shores of this new country;
+and I prayed her, as she was a woman and a wife, to let no harm come to
+my dear love.
+
+"Ah! madame," I cried, "a face so fair as yours needs not the
+championship of one English stranger, who holds already a preference for
+blue eyes and yellow hair. I grant you that he has a sorry taste; but
+oh! I pray you, stop this duel!"
+
+She loosed her hand from the clasp of mine, and looked at me a moment in
+silence; then she laughed bitterly.
+
+"Thou little fool! Thou little blue-eyed fool! What do men see in that
+face of thine to move them so? A painter might love thee for the gold of
+thy hair, thy white brow, and thy blue eyes,--they would grace a
+pictured saint above a shrine,--but for a man's kisses, and such love
+as might tempt him to risk his very life for thee,--_cielos_! it is more
+than passing strange." Then, as I stood dumb before her, she tapped me
+lightly on the cheek. "Go to! Art such a fool as to think that _either_
+sword will be drawn for _my_ beauty's sake?"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+
+That night I had but little sleep.
+
+About an hour after midnight there was a great stir in the house and the
+sound of opening doors and hurrying footsteps. The unwonted noises
+terrified me. I leaned against the door, with a heart beating thickly,
+and I listened. What evil tidings did those sounds portend? There was a
+loud outcry in a woman's voice,--the voice of Doņa Orosia.
+
+I felt that I must know what havoc Fate had wrought in the last hours. I
+looked at Barbara--she slumbered peacefully on her hard pallet; the
+moonlight, streaming through the barred window, showed me her withered
+face relaxed in almost childlike peacefulness. I would not rouse
+her,--'twas a blessed thing to sleep and forget; but _I_ dared not
+sleep, for I knew not what would be the horror of my waking. With my
+cheek pressed close against the door I waited a moment longer. Perhaps
+only those planks intervened 'twixt me and my life's tragedy!
+
+I laid my hand upon the latch. I feared to know the truth,--and yet, if
+I did not hear it, I must die of dread. Slowly I turned the key and
+raised the bars: the door swung open.
+
+I stepped out upon the balcony that overhung the court and I looked
+over. There was no one in sight; the white moonlight lay over
+everything, and a strong perfume floated up from the flowers in the
+garden beyond.
+
+I crept down the stair and stood still in the centre of the empty court.
+Voices sounded near me, but I knew not whence they came. Trembling
+still, I moved toward the passage that led to the outer door, and I saw
+that it was bright as day. The door stood ajar. Those who had last gone
+out had been strangely forgetful--or greatly agitated.
+
+Scarce knowing what I did, I crossed the threshold and hurried down the
+street in the direction of the fort.
+
+A group of three men stood upon the corner. At the sight of them I
+paused and hid in the shadow of the wall; but, one of them turning his
+face toward me, I recognized Captain Baulk, and, going quickly forward,
+I laid my hand upon his arm.
+
+"How is he? Where have they taken him?" I whispered.
+
+"What! is't Mistress Tudor? Have they turned you adrift, then? Lor',
+'tis a frail craft to be out o' harbour such foul weather!"
+
+"How is he?" I repeated, tightening my grasp upon his sleeve.
+
+"Dead as a pickled herring, poor lad!"
+
+My head struck heavily against the wall as I fell, but I made no outcry.
+
+"Sink me! but the poor lassie thought I meant Mr. Rivers!" I heard the
+old sailor exclaim as he dropped on his knees beside me,--and the words
+stayed my failing senses.
+
+"Whom did you mean?" I gasped.
+
+"Young Poole has been done to death, Mistress Margaret. As honest a lad
+as ever lived, too,--more's the pity!"
+
+I struggled to raise myself, crying: "What do you tell me? Have they
+killed the lad in pure spite against his master? And where is Mr.
+Rivers?"
+
+They made me no answer.
+
+"He is dead, then! I knew it, my heart told me so!"
+
+"Eh! poor lass! 'Tis not so bad as that--yet bad enough. They've hung
+chains enough upon him to anchor a man-o'-war, and moored him fast in
+the dungeon of the fort. D--n 'em for a crew o' dastard furriners!--an'
+he own cousin to an English earl!"
+
+"Can you not tell me a straight tale?" I cried. "What has he done to be
+so ill served? And whose the enmity behind it all,--Melinza's, or the
+Governor's?"
+
+"Lor'!" exclaimed one of the sailors, "the young Don is past revenge,
+mistress. If he lives out the night 'tis more than I look to see."
+
+"Here, now, let me tell the tale, lad," the old captain interposed.
+"'Twas a duel began it, Mistress Tudor. The young bloods were so keen
+after fighting they could not wait for sunrise, but must needs have it
+out by moonlight on the beach. 'Twas over yonder, in the lee of the
+castle walls."
+
+"Mr. Rivers and Don Pedro?"
+
+"Aye, mistress. The Governor was not by,--'tis likely he knew naught of
+it."
+
+"Not so!" I cried, "he had his share in the quarrel, and they left the
+house in company."
+
+"Mayhap," said Captain Baulk, "I'd not gainsay it--for I trust no one o'
+them; but he chose to go with his weather eye shut rather than take
+precaution 'gainst the squall. So they had it out all by their
+selves,--and none of us a whit the wiser, saving young Poole, who had
+guessed somewhat was amiss and followed his master."
+
+"What then? Speak quickly! Was Mr. Rivers wounded?"
+
+"Not he! That's to say, not by any thrust of the Don's. Lor', but it
+must ha' been a pretty fight! Pity no man saw it that lives to tell!"
+
+"In the name of mercy, sir, speak plainly!"
+
+"Aye, my young mistress, but give me time an' I will. Mr. Rivers ere
+long did get in such a thrust that the Don went down before it as
+suddenly as a ship with all her hull stove in. He lay stranded, with the
+blood flowing away in a dark stream over the white sands. Our young
+gentleman, gallant heart, did throw away his sword and fall down beside
+the Spaniard and strive to staunch his wounds, crying aloud most lustily
+for aid. Who should hear him but young Poole and that yellow devil of a
+Tomas! They came from opposite quarters, and Poole was in the shadow, so
+the other saw him not. The mulatto ran up alongside, and, seeing 'twas
+the Don who had fallen, he whipped out a knife from his belt and struck
+at our young master as he knelt there on the ground. Nay, now, do not
+take on so! Did I not say he was but little hurt? Had the blow struck
+him fairly in the back, as it was meant to do, doubtless it would have
+put an end to him; but Poole was to the rescue, poor lad! He threw
+himself on the mulatto in the nick o' time. The knife had barely grazed
+Mr. Rivers on the shoulder; but young Tomas never let go his hold of it.
+He and the faithful lad rolled together on the ground--and Poole never
+rose again. His body was stabbed through in a dozen places. Mr. Rivers
+had no time to interfere; ere he could rise from his knees, or even put
+out a hand to take his sword, a dozen soldiers had laid hands on him.
+That devil of a Tomas finished his evil work, and then picked himself up
+and walked away; never a one laid a finger on him or cried shame on the
+foul deed!"
+
+The old sailor paused, and each man of the group breathed a curse
+through his clinched teeth.
+
+"They have taken Mr. Rivers to the dungeon of the fort?" I whispered.
+
+"Aye, so they tell us. None of us were there, which is perhaps for the
+good of our necks,--yet I would we had had a chance to strike a blow in
+defence of the poor lad."
+
+"And the Spaniard--Don Pedro?"
+
+"They carried him into the Governor's own house a while since. I think
+his wound is mortal."
+
+"Then he has brought his death upon himself, for he forced Mr. Rivers
+into the quarrel," I declared hastily.
+
+"'Twas bound to come," admitted Captain Baulk, "there has been bad
+blood between them from the very first. But what are we to do with you,
+mistress? Did they put you out in anger?"
+
+"Nay," I exclaimed, "I heard a great disturbance and hastened out to
+seek the cause. The outer door was left unbarred."
+
+"Why then, mistress, we would best make for it again before 'tis shut!
+This is no hour and no place for a young maid to be out alone." Taking
+me by the hand he led me back the way I had come; but we were too late.
+The entrance was closed and barred against us.
+
+"Now, what's to do?" exclaimed the old sailor in dismay.
+
+I had been too crushed and dazed by the ill news to think before of my
+imprudence; but now I realized how very unwisely I had acted. I turned
+hastily to the old captain.
+
+"Go and leave me, my good friend," I said. "Already there has been
+enough trouble of my making. Do not let me have to answer for more. I
+will wait here and call for some one to open for me. 'Tis better for me
+to say what is the truth--that I wandered out in my anxiety. Go, I pray
+you, and be discrete in your conduct, that they may have no just cause
+to imprison you also."
+
+He saw the wisdom of it and went away out of sight, while I beat with
+all my might upon the door.
+
+In a moment steps sounded within, the bars fell, and the door was drawn
+back. It was the Governor himself who stood there. He looked at me in
+astonishment as he drew aside for me to pass.
+
+I attempted no explanation; for I knew he could not understand me.
+Doubtless he would tell his lady and she would hold me to account.
+Slowly I mounted to the balcony above and pushed open the door of my
+chamber.
+
+The dame still slept peacefully. I went softly to the window and knelt
+down. My heart was sick for the faithful lad who had died in defending
+Mr. Rivers. Poor boy! He had no mother--I wonder if there was a little
+lass anywhere whom he loved? But no, he was young for that. I think his
+love was all his master's. And to die for those whom we love best is not
+so sad a fate as to live for their undoing!
+
+The hot tears ran down my face. I leaned my cheek against the bars and
+set free my thoughts, which flew, as swift as homing pigeons, to my dear
+love in his dungeon cell.
+
+Oh! I would that all the prayers I pray, and all the tender thoughts I
+think of him, had wings in very truth; and that after they had flown
+heavenward they might bear thence some balm, some essence of divinest
+pity, to cheer him in his loneliness! If it were so, then there would be
+in never-ending flight, up from the barred window where I kneel, and
+downward to the narrow slit in his prison wall, two shining lines of
+fluttering white wings coming and going all these long nights through!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+
+Many days have passed since I began to write these pages.
+
+All the morning after that terrible night, with Barbara I waited
+fearfully for some manifestation of Doņa Orosia's anger. But there was
+none, nor were we summoned out that day. Food was brought to us, and we
+remained like prisoners in our chamber. Don Pedro was very low, the
+servant told us, and the Governor's lady was nursing him.
+
+A week went by,--the longest week I had ever known,--and then we heard
+that Melinza would recover. However, it was not until he had lain ill a
+fortnight that Doņa Orosia came to visit me.
+
+I was sitting by the window with my head upon my hand, and Barbara was
+putting some stitches in the worn places in her gown, when the door
+opened to admit my hostess.
+
+She came straight toward me with a glint of anger in her dark eyes. The
+long nights of anxious watching had driven back the blood from her
+smooth olive cheek, and the red lips showed the redder for her
+unaccustomed pallor. She laid one hand on my head, tilting it backward.
+
+"You little white-faced fool! I would you had never set foot in this
+town," she cried bitterly.
+
+"Ah! madame, I came not of my own free will," I answered her. "I and my
+dear love would willingly go hence, an you gave us the means to do so!"
+
+"'Tis likely that we shall, truly," she replied. "'Tis likely that the
+Governor of San Augustin will keep a galley to ply up and down the coast
+for the convenience of you English intruders! There came two more of you
+this morning, from the friar at Santa Catalina."
+
+"Two more English prisoners!" I exclaimed. "Who are they, madame?"
+
+"I know not, and I care not," she said. "I meddle not with things that
+do not concern me. I come here now but to hear how you came to be on the
+streets at midnight. Had I been in the Governor's place then, I would
+have shut the door in your face."
+
+I told her the truth, as it had happened to me; and when she had heard
+it her brow lightened somewhat.
+
+"Are you deceiving me? You did not leave here till _after_ the duel had
+taken place?"
+
+"Madame," I said, "I have never yet told a lie, and I would not now were
+it to save my life."
+
+Her lip curled slightly as she turned to go. "Stir not from this room,
+then, until Don Pedro is well enough to leave the house," she said. "If
+I could prevent it he should never look upon your face again." She
+paused an instant, then added: "I _will_ prevent it!"
+
+"Amen to that!" I said, and I felt the blood burn warmly in my cheek.
+
+She turned and looked at me, and I met her gaze with defiant eyes.
+
+"Amen to that, madame!--for truly I hate him with all my heart!"
+
+She stood still, a slow crimson rising in her pale face, and I trembled
+a little at my own daring. Then, to my surprise, she laughed at me.
+
+"You think that you hate him desperately?" she exclaimed. "Silly child,
+it is not in thy power to hate that man as I do, as I have done for
+years!" and with that she went away and left me wondering.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+
+July, the 16th day.
+
+Two things have happened recently to break the sad monotony of my life
+within these walls.
+
+Doņa Orosia and Melinza have had a disagreement, which has resulted in
+his removal hence--at his own demand. Although I know nothing of the
+cause of their quarrel, Doņa Orosia's last words to me, the other day,
+make it possible to understand the man's reluctance to remain here in
+her care,--and yet they say it was her nursing that saved his life! I
+would that I could understand it all!
+
+Since his departure I have had the freedom of the courtyard and garden;
+and yesterday, by good chance, I had speech with one of the newly
+arrived English prisoners.
+
+It had been a day of terrible heat, and just at nightfall I wandered out
+into the garden all alone. There is a high wall to it, which so joins
+the dwelling that together they form a hollow square. This wall is of
+soft gray stone; it is of a good thickness, and about a man's height.
+Along the top of it sharp spikes are set; and near one corner is a
+wrought-iron gate of great strength, which is kept securely locked.
+
+It is not often that I venture near this gate, for it looks out upon the
+street, and I care not to be seen by any Indian or half-breed Spaniard
+who might go loitering by; but as I stood in the vine-covered arbour in
+the centre of the garden I heard a man's voice from the direction of the
+gate, humming a stave of a maritime air that I had heard sung oft and
+again by the sailors on the sloop, in which some unknown fair one is
+ardently invited to--
+
+                       "--be the Captain's lady!"
+
+and I knew it must be a friend. So I made haste thither and peered out
+into the street.
+
+Sure enough it was old Captain Baulk, and with him a gentleman whose
+face, even in the twilight, was well known to me,--he being none other
+than Mr. John Collins of Barbadoes (the same who had given us news of my
+poor father's end, and one of our fellow passengers on the _Three
+Brothers_).
+
+They both greeted me most kindly and inquired earnestly how I did and if
+I was well treated. It seems that for days they had been trying to get
+speech with me, but could find none to deliver a message; so for two
+nights past they had hung about the gate, hoping that by chance I might
+come out to them.
+
+Mr. Collins related to me how the sloop had been sent back to Santa
+Catalina with letters to the friar and the Governor of San Augustin,
+demanding our release on the ground that as peace was now subsisting
+between the crowns of England and of Spain, and no act of hostility had
+been committed by us, our capture was unwarrantable. But Padre Ignacio,
+with his plausible tongue, had beguiled them ashore into his power.
+
+"The man is a very devil for fair words and smooth deceits," declared
+Mr. Collins. "In spite of all the warnings we had received, some of us
+landed without first demanding hostages of the Indians; and when we
+would have departed two of us were forcibly detained on pretence of our
+lacking proper credentials to prove our honesty. In sooth he charged us
+with piratical intentions, though we had not so much as cracked a pistol
+or inveigled one barbarian aboard. The sloop lingered for three days,
+but finally made off, leaving us in the hands of the padre. He
+despatched us here in canoes, under a guard of some twenty half-naked
+savages, with shaven crowns, who are no more converted Christians than
+the fiends in hell!"
+
+I asked, then, for news of my uncle, Dr. Scrivener, and Mr. Collins
+assured me that he was most anxious for my safety, and would have come
+back with them to demand us of the friar, but he had received a hurt in
+the neck during the attack at Santa Catalina and was in no state to
+travel, although the wound was healing well--for which God be thanked!
+
+So far, all the prisoners, except Mr. Rivers, have the freedom of the
+town; but Captain Baulk declared he would as lief be confined within the
+fort.
+
+"There be scarce two honest men--saving ourselves--in all San Augustin,"
+he said. "The lodging-house where we sleep is crowded with dirty,
+thieving half-breeds, who would as willingly slit a man's throat as a
+pig's. Though they hold us as guests against our will, we must e'en pay
+our own score; and some fine night--you mark me!--we shall find
+ourselves lacking our purses."
+
+"Then the Governor will be at the cost of our entertainment," said Mr.
+Collins.
+
+"'Twill be prison fare, sir," grunted the old sailor, "and we'll be
+lucky if he doesn't find it cheaper to heave us overboard and be done
+with it!"
+
+"Tut! man,--hold your croaking tongue in the poor young lady's
+presence," whispered Mr. Collins; but I heard what he said, and bade
+him tell us our true case and what real hope there was of our
+liberation.
+
+"There is every certainty," he said. "When word reaches their Lordships
+in England, they will not fail to make complaint to the Spanish
+Council,--and they have no just cause for refusing to set us free. But I
+trust we shall not have to wait for that. If we had a Governor of
+spirit, instead of a timorous old man like Sayle, he would have already
+sent the frigate down here to demand us of the Spaniards. There are not
+lacking men to carry out the enterprise: Captain Brayne could scarce be
+restrained from swooping down on the whole garrison--as Rob Searle did,
+not long ago, when he rescued Dr. Woodward out of their clutches."
+
+"Captain Brayne!--the frigate! Do you mean that the _Carolina_ has
+arrived?"
+
+"Two months ahead of our sloop," declared Mr. Collins; "but Governor
+Sayle has despatched her to Virginia for provisions, of which we were
+beginning to run short. The _Port Royal_ has not been heard of, so 'tis
+feared she went down in the storm."
+
+He went on to tell me of the new settlement which had been already laid
+out at a place called Kiawah,--a very fair and fruitful country, which
+Heaven grant I may one day see!
+
+In my turn I related all that had befallen me since we reached this
+place. They heard me out very gravely, and promised to contrive some
+means of communicating with me in case of need.
+
+Then, as it grew very late, we parted, promising to meet the following
+night; and I crept softly back to the house and my little room, greatly
+comforted that I now had a worthy gentleman like Mr. Collins with whom I
+could advise; for with his knowledge of the Spanish tongue and his sound
+judgment I hope he may influence the Governor in our favour.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The sun is setting now, I think, although I cannot see it from my
+window; for all the sky without is faintly pink, and every ripple on the
+bay turns a blushing cheek toward the west. I must lay by my pen and
+watch for an opportunity to keep tryst at the gateway with my two good
+friends....
+
+Nine of the clock.
+
+God help me! I waited in the garden till I heard a whistle, and stole
+down to the gate as before.
+
+A man put out his hand and caught at mine through the bars. It was that
+vile Tomas--the wretch who would have murdered my dear love! I screamed
+and fled, but he called after me in Spanish. The words were strange to
+me--but the tones of his voice and the coarse laughter needed no
+interpreter!
+
+As I flew across the garden, too frightened to attempt concealment, Doņa
+Orosia stepped out into the courtyard and demanded an explanation. I
+knew not what to say, for I could not divulge the motive that had sent
+me out; but I told her that a man had called me from the gate, and when
+I went near to see who it might be I recognized the servant of Melinza.
+
+She seemed to doubt me at first, till I described him closely; then she
+was greatly angered and forbade me the garden altogether.
+
+"If I find you here alone again," she hissed, seizing my shoulder with
+no gentle grasp, "if I find you here again, I will turn the key upon you
+and keep you prisoner in your chamber."
+
+So now I dare not venture beyond the court and the balconies; and there
+will be no chance of speaking with Mr. Collins unless he dares to come
+under my window, and there is little hope of his doing that unseen, for
+'tis in full view from the ramparts of the fort, where a sentry paces
+day and night.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+
+August, the 7th day.
+
+When I began this tale of our captivity it was with the hope that I
+might find some means of sending it to friends, in this country or in
+England, who would interest themselves in obtaining our release.
+However, from what Mr. Collins told me, I feel assured that news of Mr.
+Rivers's capture has already been sent to their Lordships the
+proprietors, and this record of mine seems now but wasted labour. Yet
+from time to time, for my own solace, I shall add to it; and perchance,
+some day in safety and freedom, I and----another----may together read
+its tear-stained pages.
+
+This day I have completed the seventeenth year of my age. It is a double
+anniversary, for one year ago this night--it being the eve of our
+departure from England--I first set eyes upon my dear love.
+
+Can it be possible that he, in his dolorous prison, has taken account of
+the passing days and remembers that night--a year ago? 'Twould be liker
+a man if he took no thought of the date till it was past,--yet I do
+greatly wonder if he has forgotten.
+
+As for me, the memory has lived with me all these hours since I unclosed
+my eyes at dawn.
+
+I can see now the brightly lighted cabin of the _Carolina_, where the
+long supper-table was laid for the many passengers who were to set out
+on the morrow for a new world. I had been somehow parted from my uncle,
+Dr. Scrivener, and I stood in the cabin doorway half afraid to venture
+in and meet the eyes of all the strangers present. I felt the colour
+mounting warmly in my cheek, and my feet were very fain to run away,
+when Captain Henry Brayne, the brave and cheery commander of the
+frigate, caught sight of me, and, rising hastily, led me to a seat at
+his own right hand.
+
+(I do recollect that I wore a new gown of fine blue cloth--a soft and
+tender colour, that became me well.)
+
+As I took my place I glanced shyly round, and saw, at the farther end of
+the long table, the gallantest gentleman I had ever set eyes upon in all
+my sixteen years of life. He was looking directly at me, and presently
+he lifted his glass and said:
+
+"Captain Brayne, I give you _the Carolina and every treasure she
+contains_!"
+
+There was some laughter as the toast was drunk, and my uncle--who had
+only that moment entered and taken his seat beside me--asked of me an
+explanation.
+
+"Nay, Dr. Scrivener," said the jovial captain, "'tis not likely the
+little lady was attending. But now I give you--_the health of Mistress
+Tudor!_ (and it will not be the first time it has been proposed
+to-night!)"
+
+And that was but a year ago. I would never have guessed that at
+seventeen I could feel so very old.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+
+San Augustin's Day--August, the 28th.
+
+Oh! but I have been angered this day!
+
+What? when my betrothed lies in prison, ill, perhaps, or fretting his
+brave heart away, am I to be dragged forth to make part of a pageant for
+the entertainment of his jailers? I would sooner have the lowest cell in
+the dungeon--aye! and starve and stifle for lack of food and air, than
+be forced to deck myself out in borrowed bravery, and sit mowing and
+smiling in a gay pavilion, and clap hands in transport over the fine
+cavalier airs of the man I hold most in abhorrence!
+
+Do they take me for so vapid a little fool that I may be compelled to
+any course they choose? Nay, then, they have learned a lesson. Oh, but
+it is good to be in a fair rage for once!
+
+I had grown so weary and sick at heart that the blood crawled sluggishly
+in my veins; my eyes were dull and heavy; I had sat listlessly, with
+idle hands, day after day, waiting--waiting for I knew not what!
+Therefore it was that I had no will or courage to oppose the Governor's
+wife when she came to me this morning and bade me wear the gown she
+brought, and pin a flower in my hair, and sit with her in the Governor's
+pavilion to see the fine parade go by.
+
+"This is a great day in San Augustin," she said, "being the
+one-hundred-and-fifth anniversary of its founding by the Spanish."
+
+As the captives of olden times made part of the triumph of their
+conquerors, 'twas very fit that I, forsooth, should lend what little I
+possessed of youth and fairness to the making of a Spanish holiday!
+
+But I was too spiritless, then, to dare a refusal. I bowed my head
+meekly enough while Chépa--the smiling, good-natured negress--gathered
+up the rustling folds of the green silk petticoat and slipped it over my
+shoulders. I made no demur while she looped and twisted the long tresses
+of my yellow hair, fastening it high with a tall comb, and tying a knot
+of black velvet riband upon each of the wilful little bunches of curls
+that ever come tumbling about my ears.
+
+When all was finished, and the lace mantilla fastened to my comb and
+draped about my shoulders, I was moved by Barbara's cries of admiration
+to cast one glance upon the mirror. 'Twas an unfamiliar picture that I
+saw there, and my pale face blushed with some mortification that it
+should have lent itself so kindly to a foreign fashion.
+
+I would have thrown off all the braveries that minute; but just then
+came a message from Doņa Orosia, bidding me hasten.
+
+"What matters anything to me now?" I thought wearily; and, slowly
+descending to the courtyard, I took my place in the closed chair that
+waited, and was borne after the Governor's lady to the Plaza, where, at
+the western end facing upon the little open square, was the gay
+pavilion.
+
+Its red and yellow banners shone gaudily in the hot sunlight of the
+summer afternoon, and the fresh sea breeze kept the tassels and
+streamers all a-flutter, like butterflies hovering over a bed of
+flowers.
+
+Three sides of the Plaza were lined with spectators, but the eastern
+end--which opened out toward the bay--was kept clear for the troops to
+enter.
+
+Against the slight railing of the little pavilion leaned Doņa Orosia,
+strangely fair in a gown of black lace and primrose yellow, that
+transformed the soft contours of her throat and cheek from pale olive to
+the purest pearl. She deigned to bestow but a single cold, unfriendly
+glance upon me; then she bent forward as before, her lifted fan
+shielding her eyes from the glare of the sun-kissed sea.
+
+Presently, with the blare of trumpets and the deep rolling of the drums,
+the King's troops came in sight, three hundred strong.
+
+At the head of the little band, which marched afoot, rode Melinza and
+the Governor. 'Twas the first time I had seen a horse in the town.
+
+Old Seņor de Colis was mounted on a handsome bay that pranced and
+curvetted beneath him, to his most evident discomfort; but Melinza's
+seat was superb. It was a dappled gray he rode, with flowing mane and
+tail of silvery white; a crimson rosette was fastened to its crimped
+forelock, and the long saddle-cloth was richly embroidered.
+
+As the little company swept round the square, the two horsemen saluted
+our pavilion. Don Pedro lifted his plumed hat high, and I saw that his
+face was pale from his recent wound, but the bold black eyes were as
+bright as ever they had been before.
+
+I drew back hastily from the front of the pavilion and made no pretence
+of returning his salute. Then, for the first time since I had taken my
+seat beside her, Doņa Orosia spoke to me.
+
+"Why such scant courtesy?" she asked, with lifted brows.
+
+"Madame," I answered, "had my betrothed been here at my side, an
+honoured guest, I would have had more graciousness at my command."
+
+"What!" she exclaimed, "have you not yet had time to forget your
+quarrelsome cavalier?"
+
+"I will forget him, madame, when I cease to remember the treachery of
+those who called themselves his entertainers."
+
+She flushed angrily. "Your tongue has more of spirit than your face. I
+wonder that you have the courage to say this to me."
+
+"I dare, because I have nothing more to lose, madame!"
+
+"Say you so? Would you rather I gave you into Melinza's keeping?"
+
+"Nay!" I cried, "you could not--such unfaith would surpass the limits of
+even Spanish treachery! And you would not--it would please you better
+_if he never set eyes upon my face again_! I only wonder that you should
+have brought me here to-day!"
+
+She opened her lips to speak; but the blare of the trumpets drowned the
+words, and she turned away from me.
+
+The troops were drawn in line across the square: on the right, the
+Spanish regulars of the garrison; on the left, the militia companies,
+which had come up while we were speaking. These last were made up, for
+the most part, of mulattoes and half-breed Indians,--a swarthy-faced,
+ill-looking band that appeared fitter for savage warfare of stealth and
+ambuscade and poisoned arrows than for valorous exploits and honest
+sword-play.
+
+The various man[oe]uvres of the troops, under the skilled leadership of
+Don Pedro, occupied our attention for upward of an hour, during all
+which time my companion appeared quite unconscious of my presence. She
+sat motionless save for the swaying of her fan. Only once did her face
+express aught but fixed attention--and that was when a sudden fanfare of
+the trumpets caused the Governor's horse to plunge, and the old man
+lurched forward on the pommel of his saddle, his plumed hat slipping
+down over his eyes.
+
+For an instant the swaying fan was still; a low laugh sounded in my ear,
+and, turning, I saw the red lips of the Governor's lady take on a very
+scornful curve.
+
+She received him graciously enough, however, when--the review being
+over--he dismounted and joined us in the pavilion.
+
+Melinza had retired with the troops; but just as the last rank
+disappeared from view he came galloping back at full speed, flung
+himself from the saddle, and, throwing the reins to an attendant,
+mounted the pavilion stair.
+
+I felt that Doņa Orosia's eyes were upon me, and I believed that she
+liked me none the less for my hostility to the man. It may have been
+this that gave me courage--I do not know--I think I would not have
+touched his hand in any case.
+
+He flushed deeply when I put both of mine behind my back; then, with the
+utmost effrontery, he leaned forward and plucked away one little black
+rosette that had fallen loose from my curls and was slipping down upon
+my shoulder. This he raised to his lips with a laugh, and then fastened
+upon his breast.
+
+I was deeply angered, and I cast about for some means of retaliation
+that would show him the scorn I held him in.
+
+At the foot of the pavilion stood the youth who was holding Melinza's
+horse.
+
+I leaned over the railing, and, loosing quickly from my hair the fellow
+to the rosette Don Pedro wore, I tossed it to the lad below, saying, in
+almost the only Spanish words I knew,--
+
+"It is a gift!"
+
+Melinza's face grew white with anger; he tore off the bit of riband and
+ground it under his heel; then he strode down the stair, mounted his
+horse, and rode away.
+
+The Governor's lady watched him till he was out of sight; then, with a
+strange smile, she said to me,--
+
+"I never knew before that blue eyes had so much of fire in them. I
+think, my little saint, 'tis time I sent you back to your old duenna."
+
+"I would thank you for so much grace!" was my reply. And back to Barbara
+I was despatched forthwith.
+
+But though I have been some hours in my chamber, my indignation has not
+cooled. The very sight of that man's countenance is more than I can
+endure!
+
+I am resolved that I will never set foot outside my door when there is
+any chance of my encountering him, and so I shall inform the Governor's
+wife when she returns....
+
+She laughs at me! She declares I shall do whatever is her pleasure! And
+what is my puny strength to hers? With all the will in the world to
+resist her, I am as wax in her hands!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+
+The first day of March.
+
+For six months I have added nothing to this record; though time and
+again I have taken up my pen to write, and then laid it by, with no mark
+upon the fresh page. Can heartache be written down in words? Can
+loneliness and longing,--the desolation of one who has no human creature
+on whom to lavish love and care,--the dull misery that is known only to
+those whose best beloved are suffering the worst woes of this woeful
+life,--can all these be told? Ah, no! one can only feel them--bear
+them--and be crushed by them.
+
+If it had not been for the good old dame, I know not what would have
+become of me. Many a day and many a night I have clung to her for hours,
+weeping--crying aloud, "I cannot bear it! I cannot!" What choice had I
+but to bear it? And tears cannot flow forever; the calm of utter
+weariness succeeds.
+
+'Tis not that I have been ill treated. I am well housed, and daintily
+clothed and fed. Unless Melinza--or some other guest--is present, I sit
+at the Governor's own table. His wife makes of me something between a
+companion and a plaything: one moment I have to bear with her capricious
+kindness; the next, I am teased or driven away from her with as little
+courtesy as she shows to the noble hound that follows her like her own
+shadow.
+
+Until lately I have seen little of Melinza. Early in the winter he went
+away to the Habana and remained absent two months, during which time I
+had more peace of mind than I have known since first we came here. But
+since his return he has tried in various ways to force himself into my
+presence; and Doņa Orosia,--who could so easily shield me if she
+chose,--before she comes to my relief, permits him to annoy me until I
+am roused to the point of passionate repulse. One could almost think she
+loves to see me suffer--unless it is the sight of his discomfiture that
+affords her such satisfaction.
+
+But all of this I could endure if only my dear love were free! I have
+heard that he is ill. It may not be true,--God grant that it is not!
+Still, though the rumour came to me by devious ways, and through old
+Barbara's lips at last (and she is ever prone to think the worst), it is
+more than possible! I, myself, have suffered somewhat from this long
+confinement; and in how much worse case is he!
+
+I have tried to occupy myself, that I may keep my thoughts from dwelling
+forever on our unhappy state. In the past six months I have so far
+mastered the Spanish tongue that now I can converse in it with more ease
+than in the French. The Governor declares that I have the true
+intonation; and even Doņa Orosia admits that I have shown some aptitude.
+I care nothing for it as a mere accomplishment; but I hope that the
+knowledge may be of use if ever we attempt escape. (Though what chance
+of escape is there when Mr. Rivers is within stone walls and I have no
+means of even holding converse with Mr. Collins?)
+
+I have one other accomplishment that has won me more favour with the
+Governor's wife than aught else. She discovered, one day, that I have
+some skill with the lute, and a voice not lacking in sweetness; and now
+she will have me sing to her by the hour until my throat is weary and I
+have to plead for rest.
+
+I had, recently, a conversation with her that has haunted me every hour
+since; for it showed me a side of her nature that I had not seen before,
+and that leads me to think that under her caprice and petulance there is
+a deep purpose hidden.
+
+I had exhausted my list of songs, and as she still demanded more I
+bethought me of a curious old ballad I had heard many years ago. The air
+eluded me for some while; but my fingers, straying over the strings,
+fell suddenly into the plaintive melody; with it, the words too came
+back to me.
+
+    I bade my love fareweel, wi' tears;
+      He bade fareweel to me.
+    "How sall I pass the lang, lang years?"
+      "I maun be gane," quo' he.
+
+    The tear-draps frae mine een did rin
+      Like water frae a spring;
+    But while I grat, my love gaed in
+      To feast and reveling!
+
+    The tear-draps frae mine een did start
+      Salt as the briny tide:
+    Sae sair my grief, sae fu' my heart,
+      I wept a river wide.
+
+    Adoon that stream my man did rove,
+      And crossed the tearfu' sea.
+    O whaur'll I get a leal true love
+      To bide at hame wi' me?
+
+    The lang, lang years they winna pass;
+      My lord is still awa'.
+    Mayhap he loves a fairer lass--
+      O wae the warst ava!
+
+    How sall I wile my lover hame?
+      I'll drink the tearfu' seas!
+    My red mou' to their briny faem,
+      I'll drain them to the lees!
+
+    Then gin he comes na hameward soon
+      His ain true love to wed,
+    I'll kilt my claes and don my shoon
+      And cross the sea's dry bed.
+
+    "Oh in thine heart, my love, my lord,
+      Mak' room, mak' room for me;
+    Or at thy feet, by my true word,
+      Thy lady's grave sall be!"
+
+"A melancholy air, yet with somewhat of a pleasing sadness in its minor
+cadences," commented Doņa Orosia when I had ceased. "Translate me the
+words, an your Spanish is sufficient."
+
+"That it is not, I fear," was my reply, "and the task is beyond me for
+the further reason that the song is not even English, but in a dialect
+of the Scots. 'Tis only the plaint of a poor lady whose mind seems to
+have gone astray in her long waiting for a faithless lover"--and I gave
+her the sense of the verses as best I could.
+
+"Nay," said the Spanish woman, with a singular smile. "She hath more wit
+than you credit her with. You mark me, the flood of a woman's tears will
+bear a man further than a mighty river, and her sighs waft him away more
+speedily than the strongest gale. And once he has gone, taking with him
+such a memory of her, 'twould be far easier for her to drink the ocean
+dry than to wile him home. For let a man but suspect that a woman
+_could_ break her heart for him, and he----is more than content to let
+her do it!"
+
+She paused; but I made no answer, having none upon my tongue. Presently
+she added: "When once a woman has the folly to plead for herself, in
+that moment she murders Love; and every tear she sheds thereafter
+becomes another clod upon his grave. There remains but one thing for her
+to do----"
+
+"Herself to die!" I murmured.
+
+"Nay, child! To live and be revenged!" She turned a flushed face toward
+me; and, though the water stood in her eyes, they were hard and angry.
+"To be revenged! To plot and to scheme; to bide her time patiently; to
+study his heart's desire, and to foster it; and then----"
+
+"And then?" I questioned softly, with little shivers of repulsion
+chilling me from head to foot.
+
+"_To rob him of it._"
+
+The words were spoken deliberately, in a voice that was resonant and
+slow. 'Twas not like the outburst of a moment's impulse--the sudden
+jangling of a harpstring rudely touched; it was rather with the fateful
+emphasis of a clock striking the hour, heralded by a premonitory
+quiver--a gathering together of inward forces that had waited through
+long moments for this final utterance.
+
+What manner of woman was this? I caught my breath with a little
+shuddering cry.
+
+Doņa Orosia turned quickly.
+
+"Go! Leave me!" she cried. "Do you linger? Can I never be rid of you?
+Out of my sight! I would have a moment's respite from your great eyes
+and your white face. Go!"
+
+And I obeyed her.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+
+March, the 9th day.
+
+Doņa Orosia sent for me at noon to-day. There was news to tell, and she
+chose to be the one to tell it.
+
+I found her in her favourite seat,--a great soft couch, covered with
+rich Moorish stuffs, and placed under the shadow of the balcony that
+overlooks the sunny garden. Up each of the light pillars from which
+spring the graceful arches that support this balcony climbs a mass of
+blooming vines that weave their delicate tendrils round the railing
+above and then trail downward again in festoons of swaying colour.
+Behind, in the luminous shadow, she lay coiled and half asleep; with a
+large fan of bronze turkey-feathers in one lazy hand, the other teasing
+the tawny hound which was stretched out at her feet.
+
+She opened her great eyes as I came near.
+
+"Ah! the little blue-eyed Margarita, the little saint who frowns when
+men worship at her shrine," she said slowly. "There is news for you. The
+_Virgen de la Mar_ arrived last night from Habana, bringing the
+commands of the Council of Spain that the English prisoners here
+detained be liberated forthwith. For it seems that there has been
+presented to the Council, through our ambassador to the English Court, a
+memorial, which clearly proves that these persons have given no
+provocation to any subject of his Catholic Majesty, Charles the Second
+of Spain, and are therefore unlawfully imprisoned. How like you that?"
+The waving fan was suddenly stilled, and the brilliant eyes half veiled.
+
+"Is this true?" I asked, for my heart misgave me.
+
+She laughed. "It is true that the _Virgen de la Mar_ has brought those
+orders to the Governor of San Augustin--and that my husband has received
+them."
+
+"Will he obey them, seņora?"
+
+"Will who obey them?" she asked; and there was a gleam of white teeth
+under the red, curling lip. "My husband, or the Governor of San
+Augustin?"
+
+"Are they not the same?"
+
+"If you think so, little fool," she cried, half rising from her couch;
+"if you think so still, you would better go back to your chamber and
+pray yourself and your lover out of prison!"
+
+I made no answer; I waited, without much hope, for what she would say
+next. My heart was very full, but I would not pleasure her by weeping.
+
+"Child," she continued, sinking back among the cushions and speaking in
+a slow, impressive manner, "there are _two_ Governors in San
+Augustin--and they take their commands neither from the child-King, the
+Queen-mother, nor any of the Spanish Council. My husband is not one; he
+obeys them both by turns. His Excellency Don Pedro Melinza decrees that
+these orders from Spain shall be carried out except in the case of one
+Seņor Rivers, who will be held here to answer for an unprovoked assault
+on one of his Majesty's subjects, whom he severely wounded; also for
+inciting others of his fellow prisoners to break their parole, and for
+various other offences against the peace of this garrison,--all of which
+charges Melinza will swear to be true."
+
+"Is he so lost to honour? And will your husband uphold him in the lie?"
+
+"Hear me out," she continued in the same tone. "Melinza also decides
+that these orders do not include the English seņorita, Doņa Margaret,
+whom he intends to detain here for----for reasons best known to himself;
+although the other Governor of San Augustin decrees"----she started up
+from her nest of pillows and continued in a wholly different tone: "_I_
+say--_I_ say--that you shall quit this place with the other prisoners,
+and my husband dares not oppose me! I am sick of your white face and
+your saintly blue eyes; I am wearied to death of your company; but I
+swear Melinza shall not have you! Therefore go you must, and speedily."
+
+"And leave my betrothed at Don Pedro's mercy?"
+
+"What is that to me? Let him rot in his dungeon. I care not--so I am rid
+of your white face."
+
+She shut her eyes angrily and thrust out her slippered foot at the
+sleeping hound. He lifted his great head and yawned; then, gathering up
+his huge bulk from the ground, he drew closer to his mistress's side and
+sniffed the air with solicitude, as though seeking a cause for her
+displeasure. There was a dish of cakes beside her, and she took one in
+her white fingers and threw it to the dog. He let it fall to the ground,
+and nosed it doubtfully, putting forth an experimental tongue,--till,
+finding it to his taste, he swallowed it at a gulp. His mistress
+laughed, and tossed him another, which disappeared in his great jaws. A
+third met the same fate; but the fourth she extended to him in her pink
+palm, and, as he would have taken it she snatched the hand away. Again
+and again the poor brute strove to seize the proffered morsel, but each
+time it was lifted out of his reach; till finally his lithe body was
+launched upward, and he snapped both the cake and the hand that teased
+him.
+
+'Twas the merest scratch, and truly the dog meant it not in anger; but
+on the instant Doņa Orosia flushed crimson to her very brow, and,
+drawing up her silken skirt, she snatched a jewelled dagger from her
+garter and plunged it to the hilt in the poor beast's throat. The red
+blood spouted, and the huge body dropped in a tawny heap.
+
+I rushed forward and lifted the great head; but the eyes were glazed.
+
+"Seņora!" I cried, "seņora! the poor brute loved you!"
+
+She spurned the limp body with a careless foot, saying,--
+
+"So did--once--the man who gave it me."
+
+Then she clapped her hands, and the negro servant came and at her
+command dragged away the carcass, wiped the bloody floor, and brought a
+basin of clear water and a linen cloth to bathe the scratch on her hand.
+When he had gone she made me bind it up with her broidered kerchief and
+stamped her foot because I drew the knot over-tight.
+
+"Doņa Orosia," I said, when I had done it to her liking. "If all you
+care for, in this other matter, is to get rid of my white face, I pray
+you kill me with your dagger and ask your lord to let my love go free."
+
+She looked up curiously. "Would you die for him?" she asked.
+
+"Most willingly, an it please you to make my death his ransom."
+
+Still she gazed at me and seemed strangely stirred. "Once I loved like
+that," she said in musing tones. "I will tell thee a tale, child, for I
+like not the reproach in those blue eyes. Five years ago, when I was as
+young as thou art now, I lived with my parents in Valencia, where the
+flowers are even sweeter and the skies bluer than here in sunny Florida.
+I had a lover in those days, who followed me like my shadow, and, in
+spite of my old duenna, found many a moment to pour his passion in my
+ears. He was a brave man and a handsome, and he won my heart from me.
+Though he had no great fortune I would have wed him willingly and
+followed him over land and sea. I never doubted him for a day; and when
+he came to my father's house with an old nobleman, his uncle and the
+head of his family, I was well content; for my mother told me they had
+asked for my hand and it had been promised. But when my father called me
+in at last to see my future husband, it was the old man who met me with
+a simper on his wrinkled face. I turned to the nephew; but he was gazing
+out of the window----"
+
+She broke off with a fierce laugh and then added bitterly,--"And so I
+came to marry my husband, the Governor of San Augustin!"
+
+"The other was Don Pedro?"
+
+"Has thy baby wit compassed that much? Yes, the other was Melinza."
+
+"But if you once loved him why should there be hate between you now?"
+
+"Why? thou little fool! Why?"--she put out one hand and drew me closer,
+so that she could look deep into my eyes. "Why does a woman ever hate a
+man? Canst tell me that?"
+
+We gazed at each other so until I saw--I scarce know what I saw! My head
+swam, and of a sudden it came over me that when the angels fell from
+heaven there must have been an awful beauty in their eyes!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+
+I awoke this morning with a sense of horror haunting me,--and then I
+recalled the scene of yesterday and the dumb appeal in the eyes of the
+dying hound. The story the Spanish woman had told me of her own past
+pleaded nothing in excuse. Hatred and cruelty seemed strange fruit for
+love to bear.
+
+I thought of my own ill fortunes, and I said within me: True Love sits
+at the door of the heart to guard it from all evil passions. Loss and
+Pain may enter in, and Sorrow bear them company; but Revenge and
+Cruelty, Untruth, and all their evil kin, must hide their shamed faces
+and pass by!
+
+Secure in the thought of the pure affection that reigned in my own
+bosom, I went forth and met Temptation, and straightway fell from the
+high path in which I believed my feet to be so surely fixed!
+
+Doņa Orosia seemed to be in a strangely gentle mood.
+
+"Child, how pale thy face is! Didst thou not lie awake all night? Deny
+it not, 'tis writ most plainly in the dark shadows round those great
+blue eyes. Come, rest here beside me"--and she drew me down upon the
+couch and slipped a soft pillow under my head.
+
+I was fairly dumfounded at this unwonted courtesy, and could find no
+words to meet it with. But she appeared unconscious of my silence and
+continued speaking.
+
+"'Tis the thought of the English lover that robs thee of sleep,
+Margarita mia! Thou wouldst give thy very life to procure his freedom;
+is it not so? Would any task be too hard for thee with this end in
+view?"
+
+I could not answer; I clasped my hands and looked at her in silence.
+
+"I thought as much," she said, smiling, and laid a gentle finger on my
+cheek.
+
+"Oh, seņora, you will aid me to save him! You will plead with the
+Governor--you will set him free?"
+
+She drew back coldly. "You ask too much. I have told you that there are
+two Governors in San Augustin--I divide the honours with Melinza; but I
+plead with him for naught."
+
+I turned away to hide the quivering of my lip.
+
+"Listen to me," she added more kindly. "Between Pedro Melinza and Orosia
+de Colis there is at present an armed peace; since each holds a
+hostage. Not that I care anything for the Englishman, but my husband is
+undesirous of defying the commands of the Council. Although he bears no
+love to your nation, he maintains that it is not the policy of our
+government, at present, to ignore openly the friendly relations that are
+supposed to exist between the Crowns of England and of Spain. It seems
+that the duplicate of the Council's orders has been sent to the Governor
+of your new settlement on this coast; and if he sends hither to demand
+the delivery of the prisoners, Seņor de Colis would rather choose to
+yield up all, than to risk a reprimand from the authorities at home.
+
+"Dost thou understand all this? Well, let us now see the reverse of the
+picture.
+
+"Melinza sets his own desires in the scale, and they outweigh all
+politic scruples. He has sworn that so long as I stand between him and
+you, so long will Seņor Rivers remain in the castle dungeon,--unless
+Death steps kindly in to set your lover free."
+
+A little sob broke in my throat at these cruel words. Doņa Orosia laid
+her hand on mine.
+
+"Poor little one!" she said.
+
+"You pity me, seņora! What is your pity worth?" I demanded, forcing back
+the tears.
+
+"I have a way of escape to offer," she answered softly.
+
+"Escape for him? Or for me?"
+
+"For both. Now listen! There is but one way to relax Melinza's hold on
+Seņor Rivers. He would exchange him willingly for you."
+
+"Better for us both to die!" I exclaimed indignantly.
+
+"I would sooner kill you with my own hands than give you up to him,"
+said Doņa Orosia, with a cold smile.
+
+"Then what do you mean, seņora?"
+
+"I mean, Margarita mia, that you should feign a tenderness for him and
+let him think that it is I who would keep two loving souls apart."
+
+"What! when I have shown him naught but dislike in all these months? He
+could never be so witless as to believe in such a sudden
+transformation."
+
+"Such is the vanity of man," said Doņa Orosia, "that he would find it
+easier to believe that you had feigned hatred all this while from fear
+of me, than to doubt that you had eventually fallen a victim to his
+fascinations."
+
+"What would it advantage me if I did deceive him?"
+
+"He would then cease to oppose the liberation of all the other
+prisoners."
+
+"But what of my fate, seņora?"
+
+"Leave that in my hands, little one,--I am not powerless. I give thee my
+word he shall never have thee. At the last moment we shall undeceive
+him"--and she laughed a low laugh of triumph.
+
+I glanced up quickly.
+
+"So!" I exclaimed. "This will be your revenge! And you would bribe me,
+with my dear love's freedom, to act a part in it! To lie for you; to
+play at love where I feel only loathing; to sully my lips with feigned
+caresses; and to make a mockery of the holiest thing in life!"
+
+"Is your Englishman not worth some sacrifice?" she asked, with lifted
+brows.
+
+What could I say? I left her. I hastened to my little room, shut fast
+the door, and bolted it on the inner side. Then I knelt at the barred
+window and looked out at the sunlight and the sea.
+
+The blue waves danced happily, and the fresh wind kissed the sparkling
+ripples till the foam curled over them--as white lids droop coyly over
+laughing eyes. Two snowy gulls dipped and soared, flashing now against
+the blue sky--now into the blue sea. I gazed at their white wings--and
+thought of all the vain prayers I had sent up to Heaven.
+
+And then the dark hour of my life closed down on me.
+
+I bethought me of my father, that loyal gentleman whose only fault was
+that he served his Prince too well,--a Prince whose gratitude had never
+prompted him to inquire concerning that servant's fate, or to offer a
+word of consolation to the wife who had lost her all. I bethought me of
+my young mother, of her white, tear-stained face, of the long hours she
+had spent upon her knees, and how at last she prayed: "Lord! only to
+know that he is dead!"--yet she died ignorant.
+
+Then did the devil come to me and whisper: "Of what use is it to have
+patience and faith? Does thy God bear thee in mind--or is his memory
+like that of the Prince thy father served? Dost thou still believe that
+He doeth all things well, and is there still trust in thy heart? Come,
+make friends of those who would aid thee--never mind a little lie!
+Wouldst be happy? Wouldst save thy dear love? Then cease thy vain
+prayers and take thy fate in thine own hands."
+
+I rose up from my knees and looked out again upon the laughing
+waters,--I would do this evil thing that good might come. I would act a
+lying part, and soil my soul, so that I and my dear love might win
+freedom and happiness. But I would pray no more--for I could not ask
+God's blessing on a lie.
+
+Then I went slowly back to where my temptress waited.
+
+"Doņa Orosia," I said, "I take your offer. I am young--I would be happy;
+and you--you would be revenged! I am not the little fool you think me: I
+know you too well to believe that you would aid me out of love; I laugh
+at your pity; but I trust your hate!"
+
+"_Bueno_," she said. "It is enough. We understand one another,--but I
+must teach thee the part, or thou wilt fail."
+
+"I am not so simple, seņora, I can feign love--for love's sake."
+
+"Yet I would have thee set round with thorns, my sweet. The rose that is
+too easy plucked is not worth wearing. And do thou give only promises
+and never fulfil them,--I'd baulk him of every kiss he thinks to win!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+
+A day went by, and though I had become even letter-perfect in my new
+rôle I had not the chance to play it to my audience; but it came at
+last.
+
+It was in the long, dreamy hour of the early afternoon, when sleep comes
+easiest. Doņa Orosia had ordered her couch to be placed in the shadiest
+part of the breezy garden, close against the gray stone wall. Designedly
+she chose the corner nearest the iron gate, through which we could
+command a portion of the sunny street; and here she lay and made me sing
+to her all the songs I knew, the while she dozed and waked again, and
+whiles teased her parrot into uttering discordant cries until for very
+anger I would sing no more.
+
+Suddenly she laid aside her petulance, and with a quick, imperious
+gesture bade me take up the lute again; then, falling back among her
+pillows, she closed her eyes and let her bosom rise and fall with the
+gentle breathings of a sleeping child.
+
+I hesitated in some astonishment; but again the sharp command hissed
+from her softly parted lips,--
+
+"Sing, little fool!--Melinza passes!"
+
+I touched the lute with shaking fingers and lifted my trembling voice.
+The notes stuck in my throat and came forth huskily at first; but then I
+thought on my dear love in his hateful prison, and I sung as I had never
+sung before.
+
+Above the gray wall I saw Don Pedro's plumed hat passing by. He reached
+the gate and halted, gazing in with eager eyes. His quick glance
+compassed the green nook, passed over the sleeping figure, and fixed
+itself upon my face.
+
+The song died away; I leaned forward, smiling, and laid a warning finger
+on my lip.
+
+He made me a bow so courtly that the feather in his laced hat swept the
+ground.
+
+"So, seņorita, the caged bird can sing?"
+
+"When her jailer wills it so, Don Pedro," I said softly, and smiled--and
+sighed--and gave a half-fearful glance over my shoulder; then added, in
+a lower whisper: "And when she wills otherwise, I must be silent."
+
+"How, would she even keep a lock upon your lips?"
+
+"Upon my lips--and my eyes also. Indeed, my very brows are under her
+jurisdiction, and are oft constrained to frown, against their will!"
+
+"So!" he exclaimed; and I saw a sweet doubt creep over his face. "Must I
+place to her account the many frowns you have bestowed on me?"
+
+"_Si, seņor_--and add to those some others that would not be coerced."
+
+The fire in his black eyes frightened me not a little as he whispered:
+
+"If that be true, then grant me the rose in your bosom, lady!"
+
+I lifted a trembling hand to the flower, and shot a frightened glance at
+the seņora's quivering lashes.
+
+"Oh! I dare not!" I murmured, and let my hand fall against the lute upon
+my knee. The jangling strings roused the pretended sleeper from her
+dreams.
+
+She half rose, and, seizing a pillow from her couch, hurled it at me,
+saying angrily: "Here is for such awkwardness!"
+
+The soft missile failed of its proper mark; but found another in the
+green parrot, who was dangling, head downward, from his perch; and there
+was an angry squawk from the insulted bird.
+
+I threw a timorous glance toward the gateway, motioning the intruder
+away. He would have lingered, being to all appearances greatly angered
+at the discourteous treatment of my lady warder; but prudence prevailed,
+and he fell back out of sight, with a hand upon his heart, protesting
+dumbly.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The comedy had just begun. Now it must be played through to the end.
+
+It is a strange thing to see the zest with which my gentle jailer
+prepares, each day, an ambush for the unwary foe, and how he always
+falls into the trap--to be assailed by me with smiles, and soft
+complaints, piteous appeals for sympathy, and shy admissions of my
+tender friendship; which are always cut short by some well-contrived
+interruption or the sudden appearance of Doņa Orosia on the scene.
+Though only a week has passed, already Don Pedro would take oath that I
+love him well.
+
+Early this morning I heard him underneath my window; and I was right
+glad of the chance to smile on him from behind the protecting bars. This
+meeting had not been of Doņa Orosia's contriving, so I thought I would
+use it for my own ends.
+
+I vowed to him that I was unhappy--which was true. I protested that I
+was sick with longing for freedom--and that, too, was no lie. But to
+that I added a whole tissue of falsehood, declaring that I had never
+drawn a free breath since I came into the world; that my uncle had been
+a tyrant, and the man to whom he had betrothed me was jealous and
+exacting; that I had been brought across the seas against my will; and
+that I dreaded the hardships of life in this new country. I said I had
+no wish to rejoin the English settlers, and I denied, with tears, any
+partiality for my dear love. Heaven forgive me! but I professed I loved
+Don Pedro better than any man I had ever seen, and I entreated him to
+take me away from these barbarous shores.
+
+I had not thought that I could move him, yet, strange to say, the man
+seemed touched. I wondered as I listened to him, for I had thought him
+all bad, and deemed his passion but a passing fancy. He was speaking now
+of Habana, a city of some refinement, where, as his wife, I would enjoy
+the companionship of other ladies of my own station.
+
+"I'd never suffer thee to live here, my fairest lady, where yon dark
+devil of a woman could vent her spite on thee!" he whispered softly; and
+my conscience smote me, for I was playing with a man's heart, of flesh
+and blood.
+
+But I bethought me, if there was in truth any good in that heart, I
+would dare appeal to it; for I mistrusted that at any time Doņa Orosia
+would break her promised word.
+
+"Truly, Don Pedro, I would go gladly, for I hate the very sight of these
+walls; but--if you love me--I would crave of your graciousness another
+boon. Set free the English gentleman who was my promised husband, and
+send him, with the other prisoners, back to his friends."
+
+There was no answer, and I feared I had overstepped the mark; but I
+dared further.
+
+"Seņor de Melinza," I said, "it is true that I come of a race for which
+you have no love, and that I hold a creed which you condemn;
+nevertheless it must be remembered that we have our own code of
+chivalry, and there have lived and died in England as brave knights and
+true as even your valiant Cid. I would not have the man I am to wed
+guilty of an unknightly act. Therefore be generous. You have been
+mutually wounded; but it was in fair duello,"--this I said feigning
+ignorance of the coward blow that so nearly reached my dear love's
+heart,--"and now, Don Pedro, it would be the more honourable to set free
+the countryman of your promised bride and send him in safety to his
+friends."
+
+"Seņorita," said the Spaniard,--and there was a cloud upon his brow,--"I
+would you had asked me any boon but this. Nevertheless I give you my
+knightly word that the man shall go, and go unharmed."
+
+"I thank you, Don Pedro," I said, and fought down the cry of joy that
+struggled to my lips. Then, because I could find no other words, and
+feared to fail in the part I had to play, I took Dame Barbara's scissors
+and cut off a long lock of my yellow hair, bound it with riband, and
+threw it down to him as guerdon for the favour he had granted me.
+
+This noon, when I joined the Governor's wife as usual under the
+vine-hung balcony, I boasted cheerfully of the promise I had wrung from
+Melinza; and she demanded at once to hear all that had passed between
+us,--then called me a fool for my pains!
+
+"Little marplot! Had you shown less concern for the fate of your
+Englishman, it would have been vastly better. You do but cast obstacles
+in my way. There is nothing for me to do now but hotly to oppose his
+leaving! If needs must I will pretend a liking for the man myself, and
+vow to hold him as my guest yet a while longer, for the sake of his
+pretty wit and his gallant bearing,--any device to throw dust in their
+eyes, so that we seem not to be of the same minds and putting up the
+selfsame plea. Oh! little saint with the blue eyes, your _métier_ is not
+diplomacy!"
+
+"In sooth, seņora, till you first taught me to dissemble I was
+unlessoned in the art."
+
+She laughed then, and said that when I had less faith in others I could
+more easily deceive.
+
+"If the little Margarita believed Melinza's pretty fable about Habana,
+and the excellent company there which his _wife_ would enjoy, 'tis no
+wonder that she made a tangle of her own little web."
+
+"But Doņa Orosia, think you he would deal unfairly with me? His words
+rang so true--even a bad man may love honestly! And if I trifle with the
+one saving virtue in his heart, will it not be a grievous sin?"
+
+The mocking smile died out of the Spaniard's eyes and left them
+fathomless and sombre.
+
+I felt as one who--looking into an open window, and seeing the light of
+a taper glancing and flickering within--draws back abashed, when
+suddenly the flame is quenched, and only the hollow dark stares back at
+his blinded gaze.
+
+"If he loves you," she said slowly, "it is but as he has loved before,
+more times than one. He would skim the cream of passion, brush the dew
+from the flower, crush the first sweetness from the myrtle-blooms,--and
+leave the rest. You child, what do you know of men? It is only the
+unattainable that is worth striving for. There is much of the brute
+beast in their passions. Did you mark, the other day, how the dead hound
+turned a scornful nozzle to the first sweet morsel that I pressed on his
+acceptance? But afterward, the fear of losing it made him eager to the
+leaping-point. Just so I shall trick his master--shall let him see thee,
+_almost_ grasp and taste; then, when the moment of mad longing comes,
+I'll stab him with the final loss of thee! Only so can I arouse a desire
+that will outlive a day; for I know men's hearts to the core, thou
+blue-eyed babe!"
+
+"Seņora," I cried, stung by her scornful words, "I cannot say I know
+men's hearts; but I do know the heart of one true gentleman; and I
+believe, when he had won from me the betrothal kiss, I was not less
+desirable in his eyes!"
+
+"So you believe," she said, and shook her head. "_Bueno_, go on
+believing--while you can. Woman's faith in man's fealty lives just so
+long----" and she bent forward from her couch, plucked a fragile blossom
+from the swaying vines, and cast it under foot.
+
+I would have spoken again of my trust in the leal true heart that
+trusted me; but I saw the trembling of the laces on her bosom, I saw the
+dark eyes growing more angerful, and a slow crimson rising in the rich
+cheek. She was always "studying her revenge,"--this beautiful, unhappy
+woman, "keeping her wounds green which otherwise might heal and do
+well."
+
+As I watched her a great pity overcame me, so that I held my peace.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+
+The 20th of March--a day never to be forgot!
+
+I have seen Mr. Rivers. It is the first time since that night--nine
+months ago. I have seen him and spoken with him in the presence of
+Melinza, Doņa Orosia, and the Governor.
+
+Whatever may befall us now, nothing can take away the memory of this
+last hour. If ever we leave these walls together and taste freedom
+again, it will have been dearly bought. A maid's truth tarnished, and
+the brave heart of a most loyal gentleman robbed of its faith! Dear God,
+what a price to pay!
+
+'Twas noon when Doņa Orosia came herself to fetch me.
+
+"There is some deviltry afoot," she said. "I cannot fathom it as yet;
+but, as you hope for freedom for yourself and your Englishman, don't
+fail to play your part to the end. Come quickly! Melinza demands to see
+you, and the Governor permits it. Don't blame me, child--I can do
+nothing to prevent it. But, I warn you, act the part, whatever it may
+cost you."
+
+I followed her, as in a dream, along the corridor, into the room where
+the old Governor sat in his arm-chair beside a carved table, whereon
+were a decanter of wine, glasses half drained, and a litter of
+playing-cards. He drummed upon the table with his withered fingers, and
+looked uneasily, first at his wife's flushed face as she entered the
+door, and then at the determined countenance of Melinza, who was
+standing before the heavy arras which divided that room from another in
+the rear.
+
+"Doņa Margarita," said the Governor, clearing his throat nervously, "is
+it so that you are detained within my house against your will?"
+
+"Your Excellency," I began, and was thankful I could speak truth, "I,
+and all the other English, have been held here in San Augustin for many
+a long month against our will."
+
+"Without the orders of the Spanish Council I could not liberate you,
+seņorita; though now we purpose to do so, having authority. But
+concerning yourself--Melinza assures me that you do not desire to be
+sent with your countrymen."
+
+I felt my heart grow cold. Must I still cling to the lie? I looked at
+Doņa Orosia, whose black eyes flashed a warning.
+
+"That is true, Seņor de Colis," I said, and my voice sounded far off and
+strange.
+
+"You would wish to remain here as my guest and companion, Margarita,"
+said the Governor's wife in vehement tones.
+
+I looked at her in wonder. What did they desire between them? My head
+swam, and I would have said Yes to her also; but her black eyes menaced
+me again. I drew a deep breath and shook my head. "No, please your
+Excellency."
+
+Melinza smiled a slow triumphant smile. "Doņa Orosia is unfortunate. I
+trust I shall be more successful. You would rather go to Habana as _my_
+companion,--is it not so, Margarita mia?"--and he stepped forward and
+held forth his hand to me.
+
+One day in the early spring Doņa Orosia had called me to see a new pet
+which had been brought to her, a young crocodile, loathsome and hideous;
+and she had forced me to touch the tethered monster as it crawled, the
+length of its chain, over the floor. I do remember the cold disgust I
+felt at the horrid contact; but it was as naught to the feeling that
+passed over me when I let the Spaniard take my hand.
+
+He drew me toward him, laughing softly. "Who doubts that the lady goes
+willingly?" and lifted his voice with a defiant question in its ringing
+tones.
+
+"I do, seņor!"--and it was my dear love who pushed aside the arras and
+came forward into the room,--my dear love, wasted by fever and long
+imprisonment, white and gaunt and spectral, yet bearing himself with all
+his olden dignity.
+
+The Spaniard turned to meet him, holding me still within the circle of
+his arm. I gave one final glance at the Governor's wife and read my cue.
+After that I could see nothing but my love's white face.
+
+"Have I lied to you, Seņor Englishman? Do you believe, now, that I hold
+that golden tress as a pledge of future favours? The lady on whose faith
+you were ready to stake your soul is here to answer for herself, and she
+has thrown in her lot with me--with me, seņor."
+
+"Margaret--Margaret!" cried my dear love, "tell him he lies,
+sweetheart!"
+
+I opened my lips, but the words died on my tongue. Again my poor love
+cried to me, holding out his arms. I saw his white face grow paler
+still, and he swayed uncertainly where he stood. Then, gathering all his
+strength, he threw himself upon the Spaniard and would have torn us
+apart, had not his weak limbs given way, so that he fell prone upon the
+floor.
+
+Melinza's hand went to his sword; he drew the blade and held it to my
+dear love's throat.
+
+[Illustration: "SPARE THE MAN, DON PEDRO! I LIKE NOT THE SIGHT OF
+BLOOD."--_Page 125._]
+
+At last my voice came back to me; I laid my hand upon the Spaniard's
+arm. "Spare the man, Don Pedro! I like not the sight of blood!"
+
+Then I saw mortal agony in a brave man's eyes. He made no move to rise,
+but lay there at my feet and looked at me.
+
+"Margaret Tudor," he said, "do you love me still?"
+
+I looked down at him. If I spoke truth, Melinza's blade would soon cut
+short his hearing of it. A wild laugh rose in my throat; I could not
+hold it back, and it rang out, merrily mad, in the silent room.
+
+"Seņores," I said, "Seņores, I love a brave man, not a coward!" and that
+was truth, though none in that room read me aright, save Doņa Orosia.
+
+The man at my side laughed with me, and he at my feet gave me one look
+and swooned away.
+
+Melinza sheathed his sword, saying, "Your Excellency, the prisoner
+appears convinced; so you can scarce doubt the evidence yourself."
+
+The Governor cleared his throat again, and glanced helplessly toward his
+wife. She stepped forward with scornful composure and took my arm.
+
+"Things are come to a pretty pass, Seņor de Colis, when Don Pedro brings
+his prisoners under this roof and your wife is made a witness to a
+brawl. I crave your leave to withdraw; and I take this girl with me till
+the question of her guardianship is settled." Then, still holding me by
+the arm, she left the room; and neither of the two men ventured to stop
+our progress.
+
+Arrived at my chamber Doņa Orosia opened the door and thrust me in,
+bidding me draw the bolt securely.
+
+I was left alone with my thoughts. Such thoughts as they are! I cannot
+weep; my eyes are hot and dry. There is no grief like unto this. Oh, my
+mother! when your beloved clasped you to his heart in that last
+farewell, there were between you thoughts of parting, of bodily pains to
+be borne, of scourgings and fetters,--aye, and of death. But what were
+those compared with what I have to bear, who am humbled in the sight of
+my dear love?
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+
+After writing these words I cast aside my pen, and, throwing myself upon
+the bed, buried my face in the pillow. I could feel the drumming pulses
+in my ears, and my heart swelled till it was like to burst within my
+bosom. Though I pressed my hot fingers against my close-shut eyes, I
+still could see my poor love's white, set face, the great hollows in his
+bearded cheeks, the blue veins on his thin temples, and the large eyes,
+one moment all love-lighted, the next, stricken with horror at the sight
+of my unfaith.
+
+How long I lay there I can scarcely tell. It was many hours after noon
+when I heard heavy steps without my door, which suddenly began to shake
+as though one beat upon it with frantic hands.
+
+"Who is there?" I cried, lifting my head.
+
+"Oh! Mistress Margaret! a God's mercy--undo the door!"
+
+I drew the bolt in haste, and Dame Barbara burst in and dropped down,
+weeping, at my feet.
+
+"Lord love ye, Mistress Margaret! Lord help us both this day! They have
+sent off all our men to meet the blessed English ship--and we two poor
+women left behind!"
+
+I could not think it true. I seized the weeping dame by her heaving
+shoulders and fairly dragged her to her feet, demanding what proof she
+had that this was so. She pointed dumbly to the window, and fell
+a-sobbing louder than before.
+
+Then I looked out.
+
+The _Carolina_ frigate stood off the bar of Matanzas Bay, and over the
+waves, in the direction of the frigate, went a small boat impelled by
+the brawny arms of six swarthy Spaniards. With them were the English
+prisoners: I saw the honest face of Captain Baulk, and next him worthy
+Master Collins; also the three seamen of the Barbadian sloop; and
+another, whom I did not know, but guessed to be the second of the two
+unlucky messengers; and--in the midst of all--my dear love.
+
+He lay full length, his white face resting against the good captain's
+knees; and my first thought was one of terror lest he was dead: but I
+saw him lift himself, and give one long look at the castle walls, then
+fall back as before--and I knew, in that moment, he put me from his
+heart for ever.
+
+They were gone, all gone. Doņa Orosia had played me false--God had
+turned His face from me--and the man I loved would never love me more.
+
+I turned away from the window to the weeping dame, and I laughed,
+laughed again as I had done in the face of my dear love that very morn.
+
+"The piece is near ended, dame," I said. "'Tis almost time to pray _God
+save His Majesty_ and draw the curtain. But what strange tricks does
+Fate play sometimes with her helpless puppets! She did cast us, long
+ago, for a lightsome comedy, and lo! 'tis to be a tragedy instead! Think
+you, dear Barbara, that death would come easier by means of yonder
+bed-cord, or of those great scissors dangling at thy waist? Or, perhaps,
+if thou couldst play Othello to my Desdemona, it might seem a gentler
+prelude to the grave. How heavy is a lie, good dame? Think you it would
+drag a soul to hell? If so, I need not to go alone; for if I lied to
+Melinza, he also lied to me--and Doņa Orosia also"--then a strong
+shudder shook my frame. "Barbara, Barbara, must I e'en have their
+company for all eternity?"
+
+She ran to me, good soul, and hushed me like a child to her ample bosom.
+
+"Lord help ye, dear lamb! And He will--He will!" I heard her say over
+and over; then everything turned dark before my eyes, and I thought
+death had come to me indeed.
+
+When consciousness returned I lay upon my bed in a gray twilight, and
+beside me were Dame Barbara and the Governor's wife.
+
+As my eyes fell upon Doņa Orosia, I cried out bitterly that I had been a
+fool to trust even to her hate; for now she had grown weary of her
+revenge, and would discard her tool without paying the price for it.
+
+She covered my mouth with her hand, laughing shortly.
+
+"Melinza thinks he has been too sharp for me. He despatched the
+prisoners in great haste to the English ship without my knowledge. I
+went to him just now and demanded to know if he dared to send away Seņor
+Rivers without leave from me.
+
+"'Aye,' he said, and bowed to me. 'Since Doņa Orosia desired for some
+reason to detain him here, I thought it best to be rid of him at once;
+but the girl remains.'
+
+"'The girl remains in my guardianship,' said I.
+
+"'Until to-morrow,' Melinza answered. 'To-morrow the _Virgen de la Mar_
+returns to Habana, and with her go the English girl and your humble
+servant.'
+
+"'The Governor,' I cried, 'will not permit it!'
+
+"'Will he not? Ask him,' said Melinza, 'ask his Excellency the Governor
+of San Augustin!' Then he laughed at me--_Dios!_ he laughed at me!"
+
+She bit her red lip at the remembrance, and clenched her white hands.
+
+"And did you ask the Governor, seņora?"
+
+She nodded fiercely. "The old dotard! He did but shrug his shoulders and
+offer me a diamond necklace in exchange for my pretty puppet of a
+plaything. It is plain Melinza has some hold upon him, what it is I
+cannot guess; but it is stronger than my wishes. He would sooner brave
+my anger than oppose his nephew's schemes."
+
+I watched the dark shadow settling on her brow, and I thought all hope
+was over.
+
+"Doņa Orosia," I said at last, "will you lend me your dagger?"
+
+"Not yet, child--not unless there is no other way to thwart them both.
+Look--" she said, and threw a purse of gold pieces on the bed beside me.
+"This is your purchase money, and 'twill serve to buy assistance. When I
+could make no better terms, I was forced to take this and a kiss to
+boot--Pah!" and she rubbed her cheek. "To-morrow, when the tide is
+full, the _Virgen de la Mar_ will leave the harbour. Before then I must
+contrive your escape."
+
+"And Barbara's," I added, for I could see the poor dame was in deep
+anxiety.
+
+Doņa Orosia stared. "Upon my soul, we had all forgotten the old woman.
+She might have gone well enough with the other prisoners; but how am I
+to smuggle _two_ women from the town?"
+
+Then I besought her not to separate me from the dame, to whom I clung as
+my last friend; and after a time she yielded me a grudging promise and
+left me, bidding me make ready for the evening meal, at which I must
+appear in order not to arouse the Governor's suspicions.
+
+My hands were cold and trembling; but with Barbara's aid I decked me out
+in one of the gay gowns which had been given me by my protectress, and,
+taking up a fan--with which I had learned the Spanish trick of screening
+my face upon occasion--I joined the Governor and his beautiful spouse in
+the brightly lighted _comedor_, where covers at table were laid for
+three. I was thankful for Melinza's absence, for to play at love-making
+that night would have been beyond my powers.
+
+At first I could eat nothing; but an urgent glance from Doņa Orosia,
+and the thought of what need there would be for all my strength prompted
+me to force some morsels, in spite of the convulsive swelling of my
+throat. I made shift, also, to answer when addressed by either host or
+hostess; but the Governor was in no great spirits himself and seemed to
+stand in some awe of his lady's frown.
+
+Suddenly, without the door, sounded voices in altercation, and a servant
+entered, protesting with many apologies that there was a reverend father
+without who demanded to see his Excellency at once on a matter that
+would brook no delay.
+
+The Governor leaned back in his chair with an air of great annoyance;
+but Doņa Orosia said quickly, "Bid the father enter."
+
+A tall form in a friar's dark habit appeared on the threshold. I
+recognized, under the cowl, the thin, sallow face and the sombre eyes. I
+had seen them at the door of the chapel in the castle courtyard on the
+night of our arrival, and many times since. They belonged to Padre
+Felipe, the confessor of the Governor's wife, and her adviser, I
+believed, in affairs temporal as well as spiritual. Something told me he
+had come hither at her bidding, and I glanced at her for confirmation;
+but Doņa Orosia leaned with one elbow on the table, her chin upon her
+white hand, the other rounded arm outstretched with an almond in the
+slim fingers for the delectation of the green parrot on his perch beside
+her. Not a flicker of interest was visible on her beautiful, sullen
+face; so I turned away with some disappointment to hear what the padre
+was saying.
+
+His voice was low-pitched and husky, and I could scarce distinguish what
+he said, save that it concerned someone who was ill--nay, _dead_, it
+seemed, and needing instant burial.
+
+The Governor listened with a gathering scowl upon his face, till
+suddenly he started up with such haste that his chair fell backward with
+a noisy clatter.
+
+"_Santa Maria!_ Dead of the black vomit? And you come hither with the
+vile contagion clinging to your very garments!"
+
+"Nay," said the friar's deep, hollow voice, as he lifted a reassuring
+hand. "I have changed my robes. You and yours are in no danger, my son."
+
+"In no danger!" repeated the Governor, his face becoming purple and his
+voice choked; "no danger, when the foul carcass lies unburied, tainting
+the very air with death! Throw it over in the sea--nay, set fire to the
+miserable hut in which it lies, and let all be consumed together!"
+
+"Who is it that is dead?" asked Doņa Orosia. She had risen, and stood
+with one hand holding back her skirts, her full, red upper lip slightly
+drawn, and her delicate nostrils dilated, as though the very mention of
+the loathed disease filled her with disgust.
+
+"A wretched half-breed boy, some thieving member of the padre's flock,"
+exclaimed the Governor impatiently. "Set fire to the hut, I say!"
+
+But Doņa Orosia interrupted once again. "Padre, what is it that you
+desire?"
+
+The sombre eyes were turned on her for the first time. "The boy was a
+Christian, my daughter, and I would give him Christian burial."
+
+"Surely," said Doņa Orosia. "What is to prevent?"
+
+"Would you spread the infection through the town?" exclaimed the
+Governor, white with fear.
+
+"Nay," said the friar, "I ask but a permit to take the body without the
+gates. None but I and a few of my followers need be exposed to danger.
+Let a bell be rung before us, to warn all in the streets to stand away;
+and we will carry a vessel of strong incense before the bier. Those who
+go out with me, I pledge you my word, shall not return for some days
+till they are free of all taint themselves."
+
+"My plan is better,--to burn hut, corpse, and all," replied the
+Governor. But Padre Felipe turned on him fiercely.
+
+"How shall I keep my hold upon my people, and they retain their faith in
+consecrated things, if you treat a Christian's body as you would the
+carcass of a dog?"
+
+"As you will," the Governor exclaimed; and, throwing himself into a
+chair, he called for pen and paper. "Here," he added presently, "deliver
+this to Don Pedro de Melinza, and bid him warn the sentries at the gate.
+Say, furthermore, that if any one in the town comes within twenty paces
+of the bier, out of the gate he shall go also."
+
+The friar received the permit silently, lifted his hand in benediction,
+and left the apartment.
+
+As my glance returned from the doorway it met that of Doņa Orosia, and
+in hers there was a passing flash of triumph. Soon after, she rose, and
+together we withdrew. I felt her hand upon my arm tighten convulsively;
+but I walked on with the same sense of unreality that had oppressed me
+all the day.
+
+When we reached my chamber she bade me change my dress again for
+something dark and warm; for the night air was damp and chill. As I did
+so I slipped within my bosom the roll of closely written pages
+containing these annals of my prisonment. Then I asked for Barbara, and
+Doņa Orosia quietly replied,--
+
+"She has gone upon an errand and will join us in due time." Then she
+threw a mantle over my head, wrapped herself in another, and led me out
+into the garden.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+
+It was a moonless night, and a haze of cloud obscured the stars. We
+passed silently under the vine-covered arbour, across the garden, to the
+gateway. Into the heavy lock Doņa Orosia slipped a great key; it turned
+easily, the door swung open, and we stepped out. Locking it once more,
+my companion took my arm and hurried me along the dark, deserted street.
+We turned a corner, came upon an open square, and paused beside a huge
+palmetto that grew near the centre. I heard the crisp rustle of its
+leaves in the night wind, and I shivered with a nameless dread.
+
+Then, through the darkness, two dim forms approached us. My heart beat
+quickly, and I drew the mantle closer round my face; but one of them
+proved to be the friar, the other, my dear, dear Barbara. I sprang to
+meet her with a quick cry; but Doņa Orosia laid a hand upon my lips and
+hurried me on. Padre Felipe now led the way, and we followed him for
+some moments more until he paused before a low doorway and motioned us
+to enter.
+
+"Seņora," I whispered, "why do you come? I have no fear of the disease,
+but why should you needlessly expose yourself?"
+
+"Little fool," she answered, pushing me gently on, "there is no fever,
+no contagion here."
+
+Wondering still, I entered the narrow passage, and beyond it a dimly
+lighted room.
+
+On the floor lay a long wooden stretcher covered with hide; at its foot
+and head, fixed each in a rude socket, were two candles, still
+unlighted. A brass pot with long chains, and a heap of dark cloth, lay
+upon the floor; there was also a rough table on which stood a bottle of
+water and a loaf of bread; otherwise, except for a dim lamp upon the
+wall, the room was empty. Doņa Orosia looked around, with quick eyes
+taking in every detail; then she turned to Padre Felipe.
+
+"Can you trust the bearers?"
+
+He bowed his head.
+
+"Then the only difficulty is this old woman. Better to leave her
+behind."
+
+But again I pleaded most earnestly; and presently the friar left the
+room and returned soon after with a dingy cloak, with which he enveloped
+the poor dame from head to foot.
+
+"Let her follow behind," he said, "and if there is no trouble she may
+pass out with us." He charged her, then, to keep her face hidden and to
+stand well away from the light of the candles.
+
+After that there was a pause, and the Spanish woman and the friar looked
+at each other.
+
+"See you do not fail!" she said.
+
+"And remember your word," he replied.
+
+"A solid silver service for the new mission chapel at San Juan,--I swear
+it," was the quick response; "that is, if you succeed."
+
+The friar folded his arms silently.
+
+"Nay, then, in any case! only do your utmost," whispered Doņa Orosia
+hurriedly.
+
+"The result is as God wills it," said Padre Felipe calmly, and, pointing
+to the stretcher, he bade me lie down upon it. I did so, trembling in
+every limb, and he would have covered me over with the wrappings when
+the Governor's wife pushed him aside, knelt down herself, and slipped
+into my hand a little dagger, whispering:
+
+"In case you are discovered."
+
+I hid it in my bosom, thanking her. "Farewell, seņora," I said, with
+tears, "you have been kind to me and I am very grateful. Whether or not
+I win freedom and friends, I believe you have done your utmost for me. I
+cannot think"--and I lifted my head close to hers and whispered--"I
+cannot think it is for revenge alone. There must be some pity prompting
+it."
+
+"Thou little foolish one," she said, and laughed, pushing me back upon
+the bier. Then suddenly I felt a hot tear drop upon my forehead. She
+stooped lower and kissed me on the cheek.
+
+I gave a little cry and would have risen again; but she drew the dark
+coverings over me and I could see no longer. As I felt her soft hands
+tucking me in, as a mother would her babe, I could only weep silently
+and pray God bless her.
+
+A pungent smoke of something burning filled the room and reached me even
+through the coverings. I heard the padre lighting the tapers at my head
+and feet. After a time the stretcher on which I lay was lifted up and
+carried, foot foremost, from the room--out of the passage and into the
+street. I heard the feet of my bearers pattering on the ground as we
+moved onward at a swinging pace; I was conscious of the heavy smoke of
+burning incense that enveloped us; I heard the sound of a bell going
+before me, and a voice raised in a steady cry of warning; but I could
+see nothing save a faint radiance through the wrappings, where the
+candles burned.
+
+After a time there was a halt and I heard voices in dispute. My fingers
+closed around the hilt of the seņora's dagger. If death must come, so
+be it! I thought, and felt no fear, only regret that my dear love could
+never understand, unless the spirit that quivered so wildly within my
+still and shrouded form could speed to him in the first moment of its
+freedom and whisper the truth to his heart!
+
+Another voice joined in. It was Melinza's own.
+
+"Stand back!" he called loudly. "Out of the way, slaves! Who dares
+dispute the orders of his Excellency? If a man goes within twenty paces
+of that leprous crew he may follow them to perdition; but there'll be no
+longer any room for him within these walls!"
+
+A murmur rose, and died away in the distance. We moved on once more.
+Then sounded the rattling clang of iron bars--but it came from behind
+us. The bell had ceased to ring; but as we moved slowly on I heard the
+voice of the padre chanting in a low and solemn key. Then utter silence
+fell, except the unshod footfall of my bearers and a murmur as of
+night-winds in the trees. Suddenly an owl hooted overhead, and then----I
+must have fainted.
+
+I thought I was again in the Barbadian sloop, during the storm. Bound in
+my narrow berth I rocked and swayed, while overhead the boisterous wind
+howled in the rigging. The strained timbers creaked and groaned, and now
+and then sounded the sharp snapping of some frail spar. A woman's
+sobbing reached me through it all,--the low, gasping sobs of one whose
+breath is spent. I pushed back the covers and looked around me.
+
+It was gray dawn in the forest. Through the tossing branches overhead I
+saw the pale clouds scudding beneath an angry heaven. I looked toward my
+feet and perceived the back of a strange man with dark head, bent
+shoulders, and bare brown arms grasping the sides of my litter. Some one
+was at my head also; turning quickly, I met his eyes looking into mine:
+it was Padre Felipe. I sat up, with a sudden gasp.
+
+"Barbara!" I cried, "where are you, Barbara?"
+
+When only the weak sobs answered me I threw myself from the litter to
+the ground, falling in an impotent heap with my feet entangled in the
+wrappings. But I caught sight of my good dame staggering on behind, half
+dragged, half carried by two Indian youths. Her clothing was torn and
+draggled, her face pitiably scratched, while great tears chased each
+other down her wrinkled cheeks.
+
+The litter had stopped. Padre Felipe helped me to my feet; but I turned
+from him and threw my arms around Barbara's neck. She clung to me
+desperately, her breath catching and her voice broken as she tried to
+speak.
+
+The friar took her by the shoulder roughly.
+
+"She is worn out with tramping through the woods all night. It is no
+wonder! But 'twas her own doing, for she would come; now she must keep
+up or be left behind. We must reach shelter before the storm breaks in
+earnest, for it will be no light one."
+
+A heavier gust passed while he was speaking; there was a louder moan in
+the tree-tops, and a broken branch crashed down at our very feet.
+
+"Have we much farther to go?" I asked. He shook his head.
+
+"About a league, perhaps?"
+
+"Not more," was his reply.
+
+"Then put the poor dame in the litter, and I will walk."
+
+He looked intently at me. "Can you do it?"
+
+"Better than she. I feel faint here," I added, laying my hand upon my
+bosom, "but my limbs are young and strong and unwearied."
+
+"You want food," was his brief comment; and, turning to the litter, he
+drew out from a concealed pouch that was slung beneath it, a bottle of
+water, and a loaf of bread, and gave me to drink and to eat. I took it
+gladly, and Barbara did likewise. I thought, then, he would have taken
+some himself; but he put by the remainder, saying he had no need of it,
+and signed to the old woman to take her place in the litter, which was
+then raised by two of his followers. The third went in advance to clear
+away obstacles from the path, and we followed behind, I clinging to the
+padre's arm.
+
+He said no more to me, but the touch of his hand was not ungentle. I
+marked how he led me over the smoothest ground, choosing the briars
+himself, though his feet were bare, and shielding me with his arm from
+the sharp blades of the dwarf palmettos that hedged the way.
+
+As I walked beside him I could but marvel at the strange turns of Fate;
+for now it seemed that I would owe my deliverance, in part, to one of
+the very class I most hated as being the first cause of our captivity.
+From time to time I glanced up at his dark, stern face, and wondered
+whether, if I had not chanced to be his charge and under his sworn
+protection, he could have found it in his heart to burn me for a
+heretic!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+
+The light grew ever stronger behind the hurrying clouds, but the deep
+places in the forest held their shadows still. Tall cypress-trees reared
+their heads amid the hollows and spread their branches like a wide
+canopy over our heads; huge live-oaks crowned the hummocks; and here and
+there great laurels lifted their pyramids of glossy, dark-green foliage.
+Our passage was frequently obstructed by fallen logs, mossed over with
+the growth of years; and tangles of vine, tough-stemmed and supple,
+flung themselves from tree to tree across our path, resisting our
+advance. All through the forest's higher corridors howled the riotous
+wind; but along the tunneled ways we traveled it was scarce perceptible
+at times.
+
+In spite of my fatigue I felt a greater strength rising within me. We
+had come so far without pursuit! I began to hope as I had never done
+before; for was not my dear love free, and my face also set toward
+friends?
+
+As I mused thus we reached a higher level, and, through a rent in the
+stormy sky a shaft of morning sunlight glanced across my shoulder and
+plunged forward into the woods beyond. I looked back, startled, and for
+a brief moment saw the sun's golden disc; then a black cloud effaced it
+from the sky.
+
+"Padre!" I cried, "we are travelling westward!"
+
+"Yes," he said calmly.
+
+"Westward!" I exclaimed again. "Westward--and inland! when the English
+settlement lies to the north of us, upon the coast!"
+
+He bowed again in silent acquiescence. Then my indignation broke forth,
+and without stopping for further question I accused him bitterly of
+breach of trust.
+
+"Did you not promise Doņa Orosia to deliver me to my friends?" I cried.
+
+"What cause have you to doubt my good faith?" he asked, turning his
+sombre eyes toward me, but still speaking in the same calm tones. "Had I
+a ship at San Augustin in which we could set sail? Or could such a ship
+have left the harbour unperceived? Not even a canoe could have been
+obtained there without danger of discovery. We have a long journey
+before us,--could we set out upon it unprovisioned?"
+
+I hung my head, ashamed, of my doubts. Once it was not my nature to be
+suspicious; but so much of trouble had come to me of late that I began
+to fear I would never again feel the same confidence in my fellow
+creatures, the same implicit trust in Heaven that I had held two years
+ago. I had never been a stranger to trouble; but, as a child, I knew it
+only as a formless cloud that cast its shadow sometimes on my path,
+dimming the sunlight for a moment and hushing the song upon my lips.
+Even when my mother died I was too young for more than a child's
+grief--an April shower of tears; and although my earliest maidenhood was
+often lonely, I had made me my own happiness with bright imaginings, and
+prayed God to bring them to pass. So I awaited my future always with a
+smile and never doubted that it would be fair. All that had gone by.
+Trouble had shown its face to me, and I knew it for something terrible
+and strong, ready to leap at my throat and crush life out of me. What
+wonder, then, that I walked fearfully from hour to hour?
+
+Padre Felipe spoke again after a time. "The woods are thinning," he
+said. "A few more steps and we shall come out on the shores of the San
+Juan, near to a small village of the Yemassees, in which there are many
+whose eyes have been opened to the truth. There we shall find shelter
+from the storm, and means to pursue our journey when the clouds are
+past. Let us hasten; the bearers with the litter are far ahead."
+
+He gave me his arm once more, and ere many minutes were past, we came in
+sight of the bold stream of the San Juan and the crowded huts of an
+Indian village.
+
+The settlement did not appear to be near so large as that at Santa
+Catalina, nor did the buildings seem of as great size and
+commodiousness. The most imposing edifice I took to be the mission
+chapel, for before it was the great cross mounted aloft. It was circular
+in shape, with mud walls, and a thatched roof rising to an apex. There
+was a door in the side, of heavy planks battened strongly together; but
+I could perceive no windows, only a few very small square apertures,
+close under the eaves, for light and air.
+
+The clouds were beginning to spill great drops upon our heads, so we
+quickened our steps into a run. The litter and its bearers had paused
+beside the door of the chapel, and from the neighbouring huts several
+Indians emerged and advanced to meet us. A young woman with a little
+copper-coloured babe strapped to her back, its tiny head just visible
+over her shoulder, peered at us from the low doorway of her mud-walled
+dwelling, but meeting my eyes, drew back hastily out of sight.
+
+I was very weary, and Barbara, who had dismounted from the litter,
+seemed unable to stand. The padre was holding converse with those of his
+dark-skinned flock who had approached; so we two women crouched down
+under the chapel eaves and gazed around us at the wind-tossed,
+rain-blurred scene.
+
+Before us was a thick grove of trees; to the left we could catch
+glimpses of the river, gray and angry like the sky, and all along its
+banks the huddled dwellings of the poor barbarians, whose ideals of
+architecture were no whit better than those of the wasp,--not near so
+complex as those of the ant and the bee.
+
+Suddenly, while we waited there forlorn, my thoughts flew back to an
+English home, with its ivied walls, its turreted roof, its long faįade
+of warm red brick. I saw green slopes, broad terraces, a generous
+portal, and a spacious hall; I thought of a room with an ample chimney
+set round with painted tiles, and I pictured myself kneeling upon the
+bearskin rug before a blazing fire, with my head upon my mother's knee
+and her fingers toying with my hair. For that moment I forgot even my
+dear love, and I would have given all the world just to be a little
+child at home.
+
+The padre turned to us at last and motioned us to follow him. He led us
+to the rear of the chapel, where, plastered against the wall, was a
+semicircular excrescence,--a tiny cell, with a narrow door hewn from a
+single plank and fastened with a heavy padlock. Drawing forth a key from
+his belt he unlocked this and bade us enter. We did so, and he closed
+the door behind us.
+
+Within, the hard earth floor was slightly raised and covered with mats
+of woven palmetto-leaves. A narrow chink in the wall admitted a faint
+ray of light, enabling us to perceive dimly the few objects which the
+room contained. Apparently it was Padre Felipe's sleeping apartment and
+the chapel vestry combined in one. There was a curtained doorway that
+gave access to the chapel itself; pushing aside the hangings, we could
+see the dim interior, empty except for the high altar set with tall
+candles, and a carven crucifix upon the wall.
+
+As I caught sight of these emblems of a Christian faith I bethought me
+of the bloody sacrifices that had been offered to a pitiful God in the
+name of orthodoxy, and I wondered whether heretics like us would not be
+safer out in the wild woods and the driving storm--aye, even at the
+mercy of infidel barbarians; but suddenly I remembered the solid silver
+service which was to be the gift of Doņa Orosia to this little new
+mission, and I took courage.
+
+The rain was now pouring in torrents from the thatched roof, and the
+wind, which blew from the northeast, dashed it back against the mud
+walls of our refuge. I turned to Barbara and gave voice to an anxiety
+that for some time, had been growing within me.
+
+"Dear dame," I said, "think you this storm is worse at sea?"
+
+"Aye, my lamb,'tis from an ugly quarter; but the _Carolina_ has
+weathered harder blows, and haply she has found good anchorage in some
+safe harbour."
+
+I tried to think the same; nevertheless, in the long hours that we sat
+there, listening to the heavy gusts and beating rain, my heart went
+faint at the possibility of this new danger to my beloved.
+
+It must have been past noon when the padre came to us again. He brought
+food with him freshly cooked,--meat and fish, and broth of parched
+corn-flour, not unpleasant to the taste.
+
+"The wind is abating," he declared, "and the clouds are breaking away.
+When the rain ceases we may venture to pursue our journey."
+
+I begged to know how he purposed to convey us, for neither Barbara nor
+I could go afoot much longer.
+
+Then he laid his plans before us. This wide river, the San Juan, flowing
+by the settlement, continues northward for many miles and then curves
+eastward and empties itself into the sea. We were to start in two swift
+canoes--piraguas, he styled them--and, keeping at first under the lee of
+the shore, follow the river to its mouth, then proceed up the coast
+along the safe passage afforded by an outlying chain of islands. It
+would be a journey of about ten days to the Indian settlement at Santa
+Helena; the Indians there, he explained, were allies of our English
+friends and would doubtless aid us to rejoin them.
+
+I asked if we must pass by Santa Catalina; and he said 'twas on our way,
+but no one there would hinder us while we were under his protection.
+
+"Unless," he added, "the Governor of San Augustin sends out a ship to
+intercept us there, or anywhere upon the way; in which case there will
+be naught for me to do but give you up to him."
+
+Upon that I was in a fever to be gone; for I felt that the day could not
+pass by without Melinza's discovering my flight, and I would endure any
+hardship rather than risk his intercepting us.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+
+It was not until the rain-clouds had all passed by that the padre chose
+to embark. The wind was still high, and our frail canoes were roughly
+cradled on the river's turbulent bosom.
+
+Padre Felipe, Barbara, and I, with two Indians, filled the smaller of
+the two piraguas; the other held five Indians and a store of provisions
+for the journey.
+
+The afternoon sky was naught but windy gloom; white clouds rolled over
+us in billowy folds, and tattered scarves of mist trailed lower still
+and seemed almost to snare their fringes on the topmost branches of the
+forest. Close under the protecting river-bank sped our light canoes,
+cutting their way through the gray waters. The dark-skinned crews bent
+to the paddle silently, with corded muscles tightening in their lean
+brown arms, and still, impassive faces fixed upon the seething current
+or the swiftly flying shores.
+
+The gloom deepened slowly with the coming of the night. The waters
+darkened, the dun forest became black and vague. At last, to my eyes,
+it seemed that the sailing shadows in the sky, the inky, swirling
+stream, and the mysterious shores blended in one all-pervading
+impenetrable midnight. I could not realize that we were moving; it
+seemed, rather, that we alone were still, while over us and around us
+the spirits of the night flew past. I felt the wind of unseen wings
+lifting my hair; I heard the splash and gurgle of strange creatures
+swimming by. With my hands close locked on Barbara's arm, and wide eyes
+staring into nothingness, I waited for some human sound to break the
+palpitating silence.
+
+Finally the padre spoke. He asked some question in the Indian tongue.
+One of the rowers grunted in reply, and there was a sudden cessation of
+the rapid paddle-strokes. Then a signal was given to the other canoe,
+and after some further discussion I felt that we approached the shore.
+There was a scraping, jarring sound, followed by the soft trampling of
+feet upon a marshy bank; and then a hand drew me up and guided me to
+land.
+
+"The tide is running too strongly against us," explained the voice of
+Padre Felipe. "We will rest an hour or two and wait for it to turn."
+
+They kindled a fire somehow and spread a blanket upon the damp ground.
+I remember that Barbara and I stretched ourselves upon it and I laid my
+head against the dame's shoulder,--then weariness overcame me.
+
+It seemed the very next moment that I was roused; but the fire was out,
+and in the sky glimmered a few dim stars. There was a strange calm
+reigning as we re-embarked; for the wind had died and the whole aspect
+of the night had changed. All around us a faintly luminous sky lifted
+itself above the dense horizon line, and the broad bosom of the river
+paled to the hue of molten lead. Still brighter grew the heavens; the
+thin clouds drew aside, and the crescent of a waning moon spilled glory
+over us. And now our dark piraguas sped over the surface of a silver
+stream, and every paddle-blade dripped diamonds.
+
+It is a noble river, this San Juan, with its broad sweeps and curves. At
+times it widens to a lake, and again thrusts itself into the shores as
+though its waters filled the print of some giant hand that in ages past
+had rested heavily with outspread fingers on the yielding soil. Aided by
+the strong current we glided on as swiftly as the passing hours. Our
+faces were set eastward now, and I waited, breathless, for the day to
+wake.
+
+There was a slow parting of the filmy skies, as though Dawn's rosy
+fingers brushed aside the curtains of her couch; then came a gleam of
+golden hair that slid across her downy pillows. A long-drawn sigh
+shivered across the silent world, and with a sudden dazzlement we saw--
+
+                  --"the opening eyelids of the Morn."
+
+From the southwest a fresh wind arose and swept clean the blue heavens;
+and, with the early sunbeams sparkling on the ripples of the tide, the
+canoes darted on toward the river's mouth. A heron flew up from the
+marshes suddenly, and sailed over our heads on its strong white wings.
+As I watched it dip out of sight in the river far beyond us I caught
+sight of another gleaming wing that slowly unfurled itself toward the
+sky.
+
+Touching the padre's arm, I pointed to it.
+
+"A sail!" he said.
+
+Our canoes quickly sought the curve of the shore and crept with caution
+toward the unknown vessel.
+
+"It can scarcely be the Habana ship," murmured the padre, "for the
+_Virgen de la Mar_ was at anchor in the harbour when we left San
+Augustin, and ere morning the storm had risen, so she would hardly have
+ventured forth to sea."
+
+"There are other vessels carrying sail that ply between the fort and
+these coast islands. We came from Santa Catalina aboard one of them," I
+whispered.
+
+"Yes," said the padre, "but this is too large." He paused for some
+moments, and then added: "Do you see the long, straight lines of her
+hull, and the square stern? This is no Spanish galley, but a frigate of
+English build."
+
+"'Tis the _Carolina_!" I exclaimed, "'tis the _Carolina_!"
+
+"Oh! the blessed, blessed English ship!" sobbed the good dame.
+
+Then all energies were bent to reach her, for it was plain that she was
+making ready to leave her anchorage.
+
+"If we could only signal to those on board!" I cried. "Loose your
+neck-kerchief, Barbara, and wave it--wave it in the sunlight!"
+
+"We are too close to the shore," the padre said. "She can scarce
+distinguish us until we strike out into the open."
+
+"But how plainly we can perceive her crew! And see the stir upon the
+decks--are they not drawing up the anchor? Oh, Padre Felipe!" I cried
+piteously, "wave to them! signal them! or they will leave us after all!"
+
+The friar rose carefully to his feet; he, too, was heartily glad of this
+chance to be rid of his charges, and in no mind to let it slip by. With
+Barbara's white kerchief in his hand he was about to make another effort
+to attract the notice of the _Carolina_, when suddenly he glanced over
+his shoulder toward the land, his hand fell quickly to his side, and he
+dropped back into his seat with an exclamation of dismay.
+
+One of the Indians rose immediately, and with shaded eyes gazed along
+the beach as it stretched away southward to San Augustin. He gave a
+grunt of acquiescence and sat down, and the motion of the paddles
+ceased.
+
+"What have you seen?" I cried in agony, struggling also to my feet.
+
+We were so near the river's mouth--almost upon the blue waves of the
+ocean rolling out to the shining east! Under the lee of the northern
+shore lay the English ship; and south of us the coast spun out its
+gleaming line of sandy beach away, away back to the prison we had left.
+But what were those dark forms that swarmed the sands?
+
+"We are too late!" muttered the Spanish friar. "Discovering your flight,
+they have not waited for calm weather to follow in a swift
+sailing-vessel, as I had thought they would, but have sent out a
+search-party afoot to overtake you at the outset."
+
+"But we must reach the _Carolina_ before they arrive, Padre!"
+
+"It can be done, easy enough," he answered, "but what shall I and my
+followers do if we are seen? Girl, I have too much at stake! I choose
+not to incur the Governor's anger. 'Tis not likely that they connect us
+with your disappearance, for Doņa Orosia swore to shield me in the
+matter. I have done all I could. It is thus far and no farther. But you
+may yet escape; 'tis only a little distance to the ship; take up the
+paddles and make your way thither."
+
+As he spoke he stepped from our canoe to the larger one which had closed
+up with us, and the two Indians followed him.
+
+"Padre! oh, Padre! Do not leave me, do not desert me!"
+
+They paid no heed to my appeal save to give a mighty shove to our canoe
+that sent it out toward midstream; then, seizing their paddles, with
+swift strokes they sent their own piragua speeding up the river.
+
+It had all passed so quickly--so suddenly our hopes had been destroyed!
+Barbara and I had been thrown forward by the impetus given to our frail
+boat, and we cowered down in silence for a moment. The current was still
+bearing us outward; but every second our motion slackened: we would
+never reach the ship without some effort on our part.
+
+I seized a paddle and worked vigorously; but the light boat only swung
+round and round.
+
+"Barbara!" I cried, "take the other paddle and work with me. I can do
+nothing all alone!"
+
+The dame obeyed me, sobbing and praying under her breath; but we made
+sorry work of it.
+
+I looked shoreward and could see our pursuers drawing closer and closer;
+they had not yet perceived us, but in a moment more they could not fail
+to do so. As they drew still nearer, riding on his dappled gray in the
+midst of them, I recognized Melinza! With him were a troop of Spanish
+soldiers--I saw the sunlight flashing on their arms--and some twenty
+half-naked Indians, who might so easily swim out and drag us back to
+land!
+
+"They see us! Mistress Margaret, they see us!" shouted Barbara.
+
+"Oh! not yet, dame, not yet!" I groaned, plying the paddle wildly.
+
+"The English, my lamb--the English see us! Look you, they are putting
+put a boat from the ship!"
+
+It was true; but ere I could utter a "Thank God!" a yell from the shore
+told us that those fiends had seen us also. Barbara would have dropped
+her paddle in despair, but I ordered her sternly to make what play she
+could. As for me, I dipped my blade now on one side, now on the other;
+the trick of it had come to me like an inspiration; my fingers tightened
+their hold, and my arms worked with the strength born of a great terror.
+
+Our pursuers had reached the river-shore, and a swarm of dark forms now
+threw themselves into the stream. But the long-boat from the frigate
+came toward us rapidly; I saw white English faces and heard shouts of
+encouragement in my mother tongue.
+
+Then a volley of musketry rang out from the land. Instantly, the frigate
+made response; her heavy guns thundered forth, and the white smoke
+wreathed her like a cloud. But all the shots were falling short.
+
+[Illustration: "NEARER CAME THE LONG BOAT, YET NEARER WAS THE FOREMOST
+SWIMMER."--_Page 162._]
+
+Nearer came the long-boat, yet nearer was the foremost swimmer. I saw
+his brown arms cleaving the clear tide, I saw the white eyeballs
+gleaming in his dark face. Friends and foes were now so close together
+that from the shore it was impossible to distinguish them; so the shots
+had ceased, and in their place rang out wild curses and savage yells. A
+sinewy brown hand rose from the water and seized the edge of our
+frail canoe, tilting it far over. The sudden jerk destroyed my balance,
+and in a moment I felt the waters close over my head.
+
+Strong hands grasped me as I rose again and I battled fiercely; for I
+thought the Indian had me in his hold, and I chose rather, to die. But
+my weak strength was overcome, and I was lifted--aye, thank God!--lifted
+into the English boat, and Master Collins wiped the water from my face.
+
+I saw them drag the dame in also, and then I closed my eyes. I did not
+faint,--never in all my life had I been so very much alive; but the
+sunlight and the blue sky were too bright for me.
+
+I cannot tell much of what followed. There were a few more shots, and
+one of the English sailors dropped his oar and held up a bleeding hand.
+I sought my kerchief to bind it up for him, but I could not find it. And
+then, I looked up and saw the _Carolina_ close beside us. A ringing
+cheer went up to heaven, and kind hands raised me to the deck. The
+sunburnt face of Captain Brayne bent over me, and there were tears in
+his honest eyes.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+
+
+There were other women on the ship, and one of them came forward and led
+me away to her cabin and aided me to rid myself of my drenched garments,
+lending me others in their stead. I learned from her that the _Carolina_
+had come direct from Barbadoes, bearing freight and some very few
+passengers,--the noise of our treatment at the Spaniards' hands
+deterring many who would else have ventured to throw in their lot with
+the young colony. Captain Brayne bore also the duplicate of the orders
+of the Spanish Council--which had been forwarded from England to
+Barbadoes; and he had been instructed by their Lordships the
+Proprietors, to stop at San Augustin and demand the prisoners.
+
+All this my new friend told me during her kindly ministrations. She
+asked, also, many questions concerning my escape and the treatment I had
+received during our long captivity; but I was too exhausted to answer
+these at length, and begged that I might be left awhile to rest. She
+went away then, to get me a soothing potion from the ship's surgeon;
+and I made haste to unwrap the little packet that had lain hidden in my
+bosom, in which was the written story of my prison life. As I smoothed
+out the damp pages I thought of how I would place it in my dear love's
+hand and leave him to read all that my tongue could never say to him!
+
+I slept for some hours and woke refreshed. Then came a message from the
+captain, asking if I would see him. I was eager to be out, for many
+reasons, the chief being my desire to see him from whom I had been so
+long parted; it was his face I sought first among the many familiar ones
+that crowded round me. Besides Captain Brayne I recognized other
+officers of the _Carolina_ as the same with whom I had sailed from the
+Downs nearly two years ago. All my fellow prisoners--save one--greeted
+me joyfully and kindly. But that one missing face--where was it?
+
+It was on my tongue to ask for Mr. Rivers; then, of a sudden, it came
+over me _how_ we had parted. So! and he still believed me--that thing
+which I had shown myself. He had nursed his doubts for two whole days
+and nights, and now he would not even come forward to touch my hand and
+wish me joy of my escape. It seemed to me I caught glances of pity
+passing between one and another of the lookers-on. Did they wait to see
+how Margaret Tudor would bear her lover's apathy? A jilted maid!
+
+There was a mist before my eyes; but I smiled and said little gracious
+words of thanks to each and all of them, and wished in my heart that I
+was dead. Oh, my love! whatever doubts you may have had of me were paid
+back that cruel moment in full measure. I recalled some of the hard
+speeches I had heard from the embittered Spanish woman, and I thought
+within myself, All men are made after the same pattern!
+
+Captain Brayne and Master Collins and good old Captain Baulk of the
+_Three Brothers_ had been in earnest conversation for some moments; and
+now the _Carolina's_ commander came to me and took me gently by the
+hand, leading me aside.
+
+"Mistress Margaret," he said, "there is one aboard this ship to whom
+your coming may mean life instead of death. He is very ill,--so ill that
+we despaired of him till now,--and one name is ever on his lips. Are you
+too weak and unstrung, my dear young lady, to go with me to his sick
+bed?"
+
+That was how the truth came to me. I cannot write of what I felt.
+
+"Take me to him," I said.
+
+He lay in his berth; his large eyes were alight with fever, and he was
+talking ceaselessly, now in broken whispers, now with a proud defiance
+in his husky tones.
+
+"God knows what the devils did to him," murmured Henry Brayne. "He was
+once a proper figure of a man; but starvation and ill usage have worn
+him to a shadow!"
+
+Aye, but a shadow with a gnawing sorrow at its heart.
+
+"You may taunt me, Seņor de Melinza," whispered the broken voice, "you
+may taunt me with my helplessness. I may not break these bonds, it is
+true; but neither can you sever those that bind to me the love of a
+true-hearted English maid.... That is a foul lie, Don Pedro, and I cast
+it back into your teeth!... Strike a helpless prisoner? Do so, and you
+add but another black deed to the long score that stands against the
+name of Spaniard. Some day the reckoning will come, seņor--I dare stake
+my soul on that!... I'll not believe it; no! not upon your oath, Don
+Pedro!... Margaret, Margaret! Tell him he lies, dear lady!... In God's
+name, speak, sweetheart!" And though I knelt beside him, and called his
+name again and again, he was deaf to my voice and put me by with feeble
+hands, crying ever: "Margaret! Margaret!" till I thought my heart would
+break.
+
+Oh! the terror of this new jailer--dread Disease--that held him in its
+grip while Death lurked grimly in the background! For no wiles or
+blandishments of mine could move them or loose their hold upon the life
+most dear to me. When there was but man to deal with, my faith failed me
+and I ceased praying; now it was my punishment that only God's mercy
+could set my dear love free,--and it might be his pleasure to loose him
+in another world and leave me still on earth to mourn his loss.
+
+As, hour after hour, I listened to his ravings, a deeper understanding
+of the horrors of his long captivity began to grow upon me. I could
+scarce forbear crying out when I thought how I had touched the hand of
+that vile Spaniard, and listened, smiling, when he spoke of love to me.
+
+How terrible a thing is hatred! Heaven pardon me, but I think there is
+somewhat of it in my heart. Yet, now that the fever is abating, and my
+beloved is coming back to me from the very brink of the grave, I do pray
+that I may forgive mine enemy, even as God in His clemency has pardoned
+me!
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+He knows me at last. It was some hours ago. I was bending over him, and
+a light of recognition dawned in his eyes.
+
+"Margaret! _Margaret!_ is it _you_? I dreamed just now----that----that
+you were untrue to me!"
+
+"Did you so, dear love?" I answered. "Forget it then, and rest; for now
+the fever and the dreams are past."
+
+He smiled at me and fell asleep like a little child.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In the long hours that I have watched beside him I have written these
+last pages of my story; and some time, when he is awake and strong
+enough to bear the truth, I will put them all into his hand and leave
+him here alone. And I think, when he has read them through to the end,
+he will discern--between the lines--more of my heart than I have words
+to tell.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Margaret Tudor, by Annie T. Colcock
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+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MARGARET TUDOR ***
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