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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Crusade of the Excelsior, by Bret Harte
+
+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: The Crusade of the Excelsior
+
+Author: Bret Harte
+
+Release Date: May 16, 2006 [EBook #2471]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CRUSADE OF THE EXCELSIOR ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Donald Lainson
+
+
+
+
+
+THE CRUSADE OF THE EXCELSIOR
+
+by Bret Harte
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+PART I.--      IN BONDS.
+
+
+CHAPTER I.--   A CRUSADER AND A SIGN
+
+
+CHAPTER II.--  ANOTHER PORTENT
+
+
+CHAPTER III--  "VIGILANCIA"
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.--  IN THE FOG
+
+
+CHAPTER V.--   TODOS SANTOS
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.--  "HAIL AND FAREWELL"
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.-- THE GENTLE CASTAWAYS
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.--IN SANCTUARY
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.--  AN OPEN-AIR PRISON
+
+
+CHAPTER X.--   TODOS SANTOS SOLVES THE MYSTERY
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.--  THE CAPTAIN FOLLOWS HIS SHIP
+
+
+
+PART II.--     FREED.
+
+
+CHAPTER I.--   THE MOURNERS AT SAN FRANCISCO
+
+
+CHAPTER II.--  THE MOURNERS AT TODOS SANTOS
+
+
+CHAPTER III.-- INTERNATIONAL COURTESIES
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.--  A GLEAM OF SUNSHINE
+
+
+CHAPTER V.--   CLOUDS AND CHANGE
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.--  A MORE IMPORTANT ARRIVAL
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.-- THE RETURN OF THE EXCELSIOR
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.--HOSTAGE
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.--  LIBERATED
+
+
+
+
+THE CRUSADE OF THE EXCELSIOR
+
+
+
+
+PART I. IN BONDS.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+A CRUSADER AND A SIGN.
+
+
+It was the 4th of August, 1854, off Cape Corrientes. Morning was
+breaking over a heavy sea, and the closely-reefed topsails of a barque
+that ran before it bearing down upon the faint outline of the Mexican
+coast. Already the white peak of Colima showed, ghost-like, in the east;
+already the long sweep of the Pacific was gathering strength and volume
+as it swept uninterruptedly into the opening Gulf of California.
+
+As the cold light increased, it could be seen that the vessel showed
+evidence of a long voyage and stress of weather. She had lost one of
+her spars, and her starboard davits rolled emptily. Nevertheless, her
+rigging was taut and ship-shape, and her decks scrupulously clean.
+Indeed, in that uncertain light, the only moving figure besides the
+two motionless shadows at the wheel was engaged in scrubbing the
+quarter-deck--which, with its grated settees and stacked camp-chairs,
+seemed to indicate the presence of cabin passengers. For the barque
+Excelsior, from New York to San Francisco, had discharged the bulk of
+her cargo at Callao, and had extended her liberal cabin accommodation to
+swell the feverish Californian immigration, still in its height.
+
+Suddenly there was a slight commotion on deck. An order, issued from
+some invisible depth of the cabin, was so unexpected that it had to be
+repeated sternly and peremptorily. A bustle forward ensued, two or three
+other shadows sprang up by the bulwarks, then the two men bent over the
+wheel, the Excelsior slowly swung round on her heel, and, with a parting
+salutation to the coast, bore away to the northwest and the open sea
+again.
+
+"What's up now?" growled one of the men at the wheel to his companion,
+as they slowly eased up on the helm.
+
+"'Tain't the skipper's, for he's drunk as a biled owl, and ain't stirred
+out of his bunk since eight bells," said the other. "It's the first
+mate's orders; but, I reckon, it's the Senor's idea."
+
+"Then we ain't goin' on to Mazatlan?"
+
+"Not this trip, I reckon," said the third mate, joining them.
+
+"Why?"
+
+The third mate turned and pointed to leeward. The line of coast had
+already sunk enough to permit the faint silhouette of a trail of smoke
+to define the horizon line of sky.
+
+"Steamer goin' in, eh?"
+
+"Yes. D'ye see--it might be too hot, in there!"
+
+"Then the jig's up?"
+
+"No. Suthin's to be done--north of St. Lucas. Hush!"
+
+He made a gesture of silence, although the conversation, since he had
+joined them, had been carried on in a continuous whisper. A figure,
+evidently a passenger, had appeared on deck. One or two of the
+foreign-looking crew who had drawn near the group, with a certain undue
+and irregular familiarity, now slunk away again.
+
+The passenger was a shrewd, exact, rectangular-looking man, who had
+evidently never entirely succumbed to the freedom of the sea either in
+his appearance or habits. He had not even his sea legs yet; and as the
+barque, with the full swell of the Pacific now on her weather bow, was
+plunging uncomfortably, he was fain to cling to the stanchions. This did
+not, however, prevent him from noticing the change in her position, and
+captiously resenting it.
+
+"Look here--you; I say! What have we turned round for? We're going away
+from the land! Ain't we going on to Mazatlan?"
+
+The two men at the wheel looked silently forward, with that exasperating
+unconcern of any landsman's interest peculiar to marine officials. The
+passenger turned impatiently to the third mate.
+
+"But this ain't right, you know. It was understood that we were going
+into Mazatlan. I've got business there."
+
+"My orders, sir," said the mate curtly, turning away.
+
+The practical passenger had been observant enough of sea-going rules to
+recognize that this reason was final, and that it was equally futile to
+demand an interview with the captain when that gentleman was not visibly
+on duty. He turned angrily to the cabin again.
+
+"You look disturbed, my dear Banks. I trust you haven't slept badly,"
+said a very gentle voice from the quarter-rail near him; "or, perhaps,
+the ship's going about has upset you. It's a little rougher on this
+tack."
+
+"That's just it," returned Banks sharply. "We HAVE gone about, and
+we're not going into Mazatlan at all. It's scandalous! I'll speak to
+the captain--I'll complain to the consignees--I've got business at
+Mazatlan--I expect letters--I"--
+
+"Business, my dear fellow?" continued the voice, in gentle protest.
+"You'll have time for business when you get to San Francisco. And as for
+letters--they'll follow you there soon enough. Come over here, my boy,
+and say hail and farewell to the Mexican coast--to the land of Montezuma
+and Pizarro. Come here and see the mountain range from which Balboa
+feasted his eyes on the broad Pacific. Come!"
+
+The speaker, though apparently more at his ease at sea, was in dress and
+appearance fully as unnautical as Banks. As he leaned over the railing,
+his white, close-fitting trousers and small patent-leather boots gave
+him a jaunty, half-military air, which continued up to the second button
+of his black frock-coat, and then so utterly changed its character
+that it was doubtful if a greater contrast could be conceived than that
+offered by the widely spread lapels of his coat, his low turned-down
+collar, loosely knotted silk handkerchief, and the round, smooth-shaven,
+gentle, pacific face above them. His straight long black hair, shining
+as if from recent immersion, was tucked carefully behind his ears, and
+hung in a heavy, even, semicircular fringe around the back of his neck
+where his tall hat usually rested, as if to leave his forehead meekly
+exposed to celestial criticism. When he had joined the ship at Callao,
+his fellow-passengers, rashly trusting to the momentary suggestion of
+his legs on the gang-plank, had pronounced him military; meeting him
+later at dinner, they had regarded the mild Methodistic contour of his
+breast and shoulders above the table, and entertained the wild idea
+of asking him to evoke a blessing. To complete the confusion of
+his appearance, he was called "Senor" Perkins, for no other reason,
+apparently, than his occasional, but masterful, use of the Spanish
+vernacular.
+
+Steadying himself by one of the quarter stanchions, he waved his right
+hand oratorically towards the sinking coast.
+
+"Look at it, sir. One of the finest countries that ever came from the
+hand of the Creator; a land overflowing with milk and honey; containing,
+sir, in that one mountain range, the products of the three zones--and
+yet the abode of the oppressed and down-trodden; the land of faction,
+superstition, tyranny, and political revolution."
+
+"That's all very well," said Banks irritably, "but Mazatlan is a
+well-known commercial port, and has English and American correspondents.
+There's a branch of that Boston firm--Potter, Potts & Potter--there. The
+new line of steamers is going to stop there regularly."
+
+Senor Perkins' soft black eyes fell for an instant, as if accidentally,
+on the third mate, but the next moment he laughed, and, throwing back
+his head, inhaled, with evident relish, a long breath of the sharp, salt
+air.
+
+"Ah!" he said enthusiastically, "THAT'S better than all the business you
+can pick up along a malarious coast. Open your mouth and try to take in
+the free breath of the glorious North Pacific. Ah! isn't it glorious?"
+
+"Where's the captain?" said Banks, with despairing irritation. "I want
+to see him."
+
+"The captain," said Senor Perkins, with a bland, forgiving smile and a
+slight lowering of his voice, "is, I fear, suffering from an accident
+of hospitality, and keeps his state-room. The captain is a good fellow,"
+continued Perkins, with gentle enthusiasm; "a good sailor and careful
+navigator, and exceedingly attentive to his passengers. I shall
+certainly propose getting up some testimonial for him."
+
+"But if he's shut up in his state-room, who's giving the orders?" began
+Banks angrily.
+
+Senor Perkins put up a small, well-kept hand deprecatingly.
+
+"Really, my dear boy, I suppose the captain cannot be omnipresent. Some
+discretion must be left to the other officers. They probably know his
+ideas and what is to be done better than we do. You business men trouble
+yourselves too much about these things. You should take them more
+philosophically. For my part I always confide myself trustingly to these
+people. I enter a ship or railroad car with perfect faith. I say to
+myself, 'This captain, or this conductor, is a responsible man, selected
+with a view to my safety and comfort; he understands how to procure that
+safety and that comfort better than I do. He worries himself; he
+spends hours and nights of vigil to look after me and carry me to my
+destination. Why should I worry myself, who can only assist him by
+passive obedience? Why'--" But here he was interrupted by a headlong
+plunge of the Excelsior, a feminine shriek that was half a laugh, the
+rapid patter of small feet and sweep of flying skirts down the slanting
+deck, and the sudden and violent contact of a pretty figure.
+
+The next moment he had forgotten his philosophy, and his companion his
+business. Both flew to the assistance of the fair intruder, who, albeit
+the least injured of the trio, clung breathlessly to the bulwarks.
+
+"Miss Keene!" ejaculated both gentlemen.
+
+"Oh dear! I beg your pardon," said the young lady, reddening, with a
+naive mingling of hilarity and embarrassment. "But it seemed so stuffy
+in the cabin, and it seemed so easy to get out on deck and pull myself
+up by the railings; and just as I got up here, I suddenly seemed to be
+sliding down the roof of a house."
+
+"And now that you're here, your courage should be rewarded," said the
+Senor, gallantly assisting her to a settee, which he lashed securely.
+"You are perfectly safe now," he added, holding the end of the rope in
+his hand to allow a slight sliding movement of the seat as the vessel
+rolled. "And here is a glorious spectacle for you. Look! the sun is just
+rising."
+
+The young girl glanced over the vast expanse before her with sparkling
+eyes and a suddenly awakened fancy that checked her embarrassed smile,
+and fixed her pretty, parted lips with wonder. The level rays of the
+rising sun striking the white crests of the lifted waves had suffused
+the whole ocean with a pinkish opal color: the darker parts of each wave
+seemed broken into facets instead of curves, and glittered sharply. The
+sea seemed to have lost its fluidity, and become vitreous; so much so,
+that it was difficult to believe that the waves which splintered
+across the Excelsior's bow did not fall upon her deck with the ring of
+shattered glass.
+
+"Sindbad's Valley of Diamonds!" said the young girl, in an awed whisper.
+
+"It's a cross sea in the Gulf of California, so the mate says," said
+Banks practically; "but I don't see why we" . . .
+
+"The Gulf of California?" repeated the young girl, while a slight shade
+of disappointment passed over her bright face; "are we then so near"--
+
+"Not the California you mean, my dear young lady," broke in Senor
+Perkins, "but the old peninsula of California, which is still a part of
+Mexico. It terminates in Cape St. Lucas, a hundred miles from here, but
+it's still a far cry to San Francisco, which is in Upper California. But
+I fancy you don't seem as anxious as our friend Mr. Banks to get to your
+journey's end," he added, with paternal blandness.
+
+The look of relief which had passed over Miss Keene's truthful face gave
+way to one of slight embarrassment.
+
+"It hasn't seemed long," she said hastily; and then added, as if to turn
+the conversation, "What is this peninsula? I remember it on our map at
+school."
+
+"It's not of much account," interrupted Banks positively. "There ain't a
+place on it you ever heard of. It's a kind of wilderness."
+
+"I differ from you," said Senor Perkins gravely. "There are, I have
+been told, some old Mexican settlements along the coast, and there is no
+reason why the country shouldn't be fruitful. But you may have a chance
+to judge for yourself," he continued beamingly. "Since we are not going
+into Mazatlan, we may drop in at some of those places for water. It's
+all on our way, and we shall save the three days we would have lost
+had we touched Mazatlan. That," he added, answering an impatient
+interrogation in Banks' eye, "at least, is the captain's idea, I
+reckon." He laughed, and went on still gayly,--"But what's the use of
+anticipating? Why should we spoil any little surprise that our gallant
+captain may have in store for us? I've been trying to convert this
+business man to my easy philosophy, Miss Keene, but he is incorrigible;
+he is actually lamenting his lost chance of hearing the latest news at
+Mazatlan, and getting the latest market quotations, instead of offering
+a thanksgiving for another uninterrupted day of freedom in this glorious
+air."
+
+With a half humorous extravagance he unloosed his already loose
+necktie, turned his Byron collar still lower, and squared his shoulders
+ostentatiously to the sea breeze. Accustomed as his two companions were
+to his habitually extravagant speech, it did not at that moment seem
+inconsistent with the intoxicating morning air and the exhilaration of
+sky and wave. A breath of awakening and resurrection moved over the face
+of the waters; recreation and new-born life sparkled everywhere; the
+past night seemed forever buried in the vast and exundating sea. The
+reefs had been shaken out, and every sail set to catch the steadier
+breeze of the day; and as the quickening sun shone upon the dazzling
+canvas that seemed to envelop them, they felt as if wrapped in the
+purity of a baptismal robe.
+
+Nevertheless, Miss Keene's eyes occasionally wandered from the charming
+prospect towards the companion-ladder. Presently she became ominously
+and ostentatiously interested in the view again, and at the same moment
+a young man's head and shoulders appeared above the companionway. With
+a bound he was on the slanting deck, moving with the agility and
+adaptability of youth, and approached the group. He was quite surprised
+to find Miss Keene there so early, and Miss Keene was equally surprised
+at his appearance, notwithstanding the phenomenon had occurred with
+singular regularity for the last three weeks. The two spectators of this
+gentle comedy received it as they had often received it before, with a
+mixture of apparent astonishment and patronizing unconsciousness, and,
+after a decent interval, moved away together, leaving the young people
+alone.
+
+The hesitancy and awkwardness which usually followed the first moments
+of their charming isolation were this morning more than usually
+prolonged.
+
+"It seems we are not going into Mazatlan, after all," said Miss Keene at
+last, without lifting her conscious eyes from the sea.
+
+"No," returned the young fellow quickly. "I heard all about it down
+below, and we had quite an indignation meeting over it. I believe Mrs.
+Markham wanted to head a deputation to wait upon the captain in his
+berth. It seems that the first officer, or whosoever is running the
+ship, has concluded we've lost too much time already, and we're going to
+strike a bee-line for Cape St. Lucas, and give Mazatlan the go-by. We'll
+save four days by it. I suppose it don't make any difference to you,
+Miss Keene, does it?"
+
+"I? Oh, no!" said the girl hastily.
+
+"I'M rather sorry," he said hesitatingly.
+
+"Indeed. Are you tired of the ship?" she asked saucily.
+
+"No," he replied bluntly; "but it would have given us four more days
+together--four more days before we separated."
+
+He stopped, with a heightened color. There was a moment of silence, and
+the voices of Senor Perkins and Mr. Banks in political discussion on the
+other side of the deck came faintly. Miss Keene laughed.
+
+"We are a long way from San Francisco yet, and you may think
+differently."
+
+"Never!" he said, impulsively.
+
+He had drawn closer to her, as if to emphasize his speech. She cast
+a quick glance across the deck towards the two disputants, and drew
+herself gently away.
+
+"Do you know," she said suddenly, with a charming smile which robbed
+the act of its sting, "I sometimes wonder if I am REALLY going to San
+Francisco. I don't know how it is; but, somehow, I never can SEE myself
+there."
+
+"I wish you did, for I'M going there," he replied boldly.
+
+Without appearing to notice the significance of his speech, she
+continued gravely:
+
+"I have been so strongly impressed with this feeling at times that it
+makes me quite superstitious. When we had that terrible storm after we
+left Callao, I thought it meant that--that we were all going down, and
+we should never be heard of again."
+
+"As long as we all went together," he said, "I don't know that it would
+be the worst thing that could happen. I remember that storm, Miss Keene.
+And I remember"--He stopped timidly.
+
+"What?" she replied, raising her smiling eyes for the first time to his
+earnest face.
+
+"I remember sitting up all night near your state-room, with a cork
+jacket and lots of things I'd fixed up for you, and thinking I'd die
+before I trusted you alone in the boat to those rascally Lascars of the
+crew."
+
+"But how would you have prevented it?" asked Miss Keene, with a
+compassionate and half-maternal amusement.
+
+"I don't know exactly," he said, coloring; "but I'd have lashed you to
+some spar, or made a raft, and got you ashore on some island."
+
+"And poor Mrs. Markham and Mrs. Brimmer--you'd have left them to the
+boats and the Lascars, I suppose?" smiled Miss Keene.
+
+"Oh, somebody would have looked after Mrs. Markham; and Mrs. Brimmer
+wouldn't have gone with anybody that wasn't well connected. But what's
+the use of talking?" he added ruefully. "Nothing has happened, and
+nothing is going to happen. You will see yourself in San Francisco, even
+if you don't see ME there. You're going to a rich brother, Miss Keene,
+who has friends of his own, and who won't care to know a poor fellow
+whom you tolerated on the passage, but who don't move in Mrs. Brimmer's
+set, and whom Mr. Banks wouldn't indorse commercially."
+
+"Ah, you don't know my brother, Mr. Brace."
+
+"Nor do you, very well, Miss Keene. You were saying, only last night,
+you hardly remembered him."
+
+The young girl sighed.
+
+"I was very young when he went West," she said explanatorily; "but I
+dare say I shall recall him. What I meant is, that he will be very glad
+to know that I have been so happy here, and he will like all those who
+have made me so."
+
+"Then you have been happy?"
+
+"Yes; very." She had withdrawn her eyes, and was looking vaguely towards
+the companion-way. "Everybody has been so kind to me."
+
+"And you are grateful to all?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Equally?"
+
+The ship gave a sudden forward plunge. Miss Keene involuntarily clutched
+the air with her little hand, that had been resting on the settee
+between them, and the young man caught it in his own.
+
+"Equally?" he repeated, with an assumed playfulness that half veiled his
+anxiety. "Equally--from the beaming Senor Perkins, who smiles on all, to
+the gloomy Mr. Hurlstone, who smiles on no one?"
+
+She quickly withdrew her hand, and rose. "I smell the breakfast," she
+said laughingly. "Don't be horrified, Mr. Brace, but I'm very hungry."
+She laid the hand she had withdrawn lightly on his arm. "Now help me
+down to the cabin."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+ANOTHER PORTENT.
+
+
+The saloon of the Excelsior was spacious for the size of the vessel, and
+was furnished in a style superior to most passenger-ships of that epoch.
+The sun was shining through the sliding windows upon the fresh and
+neatly arranged breakfast-table, but the presence of the ominous
+"storm-racks," and partitions for glass and china, and the absence of
+the more delicate passengers, still testified to the potency of the Gulf
+of California. Even those present wore an air of fatigued discontent,
+and the conversation had that jerky interjectional quality which
+belonged to people with a common grievance, but a different individual
+experience. Mr. Winslow had been unable to shave. Mrs. Markham,
+incautiously and surreptitiously opening a port-hole in her state-room
+for a whiff of fresh air while dressing, had been shocked by the
+intrusion of the Pacific Ocean, and was obliged to summon assistance
+and change her dress. Jack Crosby, who had attired himself for tropical
+shore-going in white ducks and patent leathers, shivered in the keen
+northwest Trades, and bewailed the cheap cigars he had expected to buy
+at Mazatlan. The entrance of Miss Keene, who seemed to bring with her
+the freshness and purity of the dazzling outer air, stirred the younger
+men into some gallant attention, embarrassed, however, by a sense of
+self-reproach.
+
+Senor Perkins alone retained his normal serenity. Already seated at
+the table between the two fair-headed children of Mrs. Brimmer, he
+was benevolently performing parental duties in her absence, and gently
+supervising and preparing their victuals even while he carried on an
+ethnological and political discussion with Mrs. Markham.
+
+"Ah, my dear lady," continued the Senor, as he spread a hot biscuit with
+butter and currant jelly for the youngest Miss Brimmer, "I am afraid
+that, with the fastidiousness of your sex, you allow your refined
+instincts against a race who only mix with ours in a menial capacity to
+prejudice your views of their ability for enlightened self-government.
+That may be true of the aborigines of the Old World--like our friends
+the Lascars among the crew"--
+
+"They're so snaky, dark, and deceitful-looking," interrupted Mrs.
+Markham.
+
+"I might differ from you there, and say that the higher blonde types
+like the Anglo-Saxon--to say nothing of the wily Greeks--were the
+deceitful races: it might be difficult for any of us to say what a sly
+and deceitful man should be like"--
+
+"Oor not detheitful--oor a dood man," interpolated the youngest Miss
+Brimmer, fondly regarding the biscuit.
+
+"Thank you, Missie," beamed the Senor; "but to return: our Lascar
+friends, Mrs. Markham, belong to an earlier Asiatic type of civilization
+already decayed or relapsed to barbarism, while the aborigines of the
+New World now existing have never known it--or, like the Aztecs, have
+perished with it. The modern North American aborigine has not yet got
+beyond the tribal condition; mingled with Caucasian blood as he is in
+Mexico and Central America, he is perfectly capable of self-government."
+
+"Then why has he never obtained it?" asked Mrs. Markham.
+
+"He has always been oppressed and kept down by colonists of the Latin
+races; he has been little better than a slave to his oppressor for the
+last two centuries," said Senor Perkins, with a slight darkening of his
+soft eyes.
+
+"Injins is pizen," whispered Mr. Winslow to Miss Keene.
+
+"Who would be free, you know, the poet says, ought themselves to light
+out from the shoulder, and all that sort of thing," suggested Crosby,
+with cheerful vagueness.
+
+"True; but a little assistance and encouragement from mankind generally
+would help them," continued the Senor. "Ah! my dear Mrs. Markham,
+if they could even count on the intelligent sympathy of women like
+yourself, their independence would be assured. And think what a proud
+privilege to have contributed to such a result, to have assisted at the
+birth of the ideal American Republic, for such it would be--a Republic
+of one blood, one faith, one history."
+
+"What on earth, or sea, ever set the old man off again?" inquired
+Crosby, in an aggrieved whisper. "It's two weeks since he's given us any
+Central American independent flapdoodle--long enough for those nigger
+injins to have had half a dozen revolutions. You know that the vessels
+that put into San Juan have saluted one flag in the morning, and have
+been fired at under another in the afternoon."
+
+"Hush!" said Miss Keene. "He's so kind! Look at him now, taking off the
+pinafores of those children and tidying them. He is kinder to them than
+their nurse, and more judicious than their mother. And half his talk
+with Mrs. Markham now is only to please her, because she thinks she
+knows politics. He's always trying to do good to somebody."
+
+"That's so," exclaimed Brace, eager to share Miss Keene's sentiments;
+"and he's so good to those outlandish niggers in the crew. I don't see
+how the captain could get on with the crew without him; he's the only
+one who can talk their gibberish and keep them quiet. I've seen him
+myself quietly drop down among them when they were wrangling. In my
+opinion," continued the young fellow, lowering his voice somewhat
+ostentatiously, "you'll find out when we get to port that he's stopped
+the beginning of many a mutiny among them."
+
+"I reckon they'd make short work of a man like him," said Winslow, whose
+superciliousness was by no means lessened by the community of sentiment
+between Miss Keene and Brace. "I reckon, his political reforms, and his
+poetical high-falutin' wouldn't go as far in the forecastle among live
+men as it does in the cabin with a lot of women. You'll more likely
+find that he's been some sort of steward on a steamer, and he's
+working his passage with us. That's where he gets that smooth,
+equally-attentive-to-anybody sort of style. The way he skirmished around
+Mrs. Brimmer and Mrs. Markham with a basin the other day when it was so
+rough convinced ME. It was a little too professional to suit my style."
+
+"I suppose that was the reason why you went below so suddenly," rejoined
+Brace, whose too sensitive blood was beginning to burn in his cheeks and
+eyes.
+
+"It's a shame to stay below this morning," said Miss Keene,
+instinctively recognizing the cause of the discord and its remedy. "I'm
+going on deck again--if I can manage to get there."
+
+The three gentlemen sprang to accompany her; and, in their efforts to
+keep their physical balance and hers equally, the social equilibrium was
+restored.
+
+By noon, however, the heavy cross-sea had abated, and the Excelsior bore
+west. When she once more rose and fell regularly on the long rhythmical
+swell of the Pacific, most of the passengers regained the deck. Even
+Mrs. Brimmer and Miss Chubb ventured from their staterooms, and were
+conveyed to and installed in some state on a temporary divan of cushions
+and shawls on the lee side. For even in this small republic of equal
+cabin passengers the undemocratic and distinction-loving sex had managed
+to create a sham exclusiveness. Mrs. Brimmer, as the daughter of a
+rich Bostonian, the sister of a prominent lawyer, and the wife of a
+successful San Francisco merchant, who was popularly supposed to be
+part-owner of the Excelsior, was recognized, and alternately caressed
+and hated as their superior. A majority of the male passengers, owning
+no actual or prospective matrimonial subjection to those charming
+toad-eaters, I am afraid continued to enjoy a mild and debasing equality
+among themselves, mitigated only by the concessions of occasional
+gallantry. To them, Mrs. Brimmer was a rather pretty, refined,
+well-dressed woman, whose languid pallor, aristocratic spareness,
+and utter fastidiousness did not, however, preclude a certain nervous
+intensity which occasionally lit up her weary eyes with a dangerous
+phosphorescence, under their brown fringes. Equally acceptable was Miss
+Chubb, her friend and traveling companion; a tall, well-bred girl, with
+faint salmon-pink hair and complexion, that darkened to a fiery brown in
+her shortsighted eyes.
+
+Between these ladies and Mrs. Markham and Miss Keene existed an
+enthusiastic tolerance, which, however, could never be mistaken for
+a generous rivalry. Of the greater popularity of Miss Keene as the
+recognized belle of the Excelsior there could be no question; nor was
+there any from Mrs. Brimmer and her friend. The intellectual preeminence
+of Mrs. Markham was equally, and no less ostentatiously, granted. "Mrs.
+Markham is so clever; I delight to hear you converse together," Mrs.
+Brimmer would say to Senor Perkins, "though I'm sure I hardly dare talk
+to her myself. She might easily go into the lecture-field--perhaps she
+expects to do so in California. My dear Clarissa"--to Miss Chubb--"don't
+she remind you a little of Aunt Jane Winthrop's governess, whom we
+came so near taking to Paris with us, but couldn't on account of her
+defective French?"
+
+When "The Excelsior Banner and South Sea Bubble" was published in lat.
+15 N. and long. 105 W., to which Mrs. Markham contributed the editorials
+and essays, and Senor Perkins three columns of sentimental poetry,
+Mrs. Brimmer did not withhold her praise of the fair editor. When the
+Excelsior "Recrossed the Line," with a suitable tableau vivant and
+pageant, and Miss Keene as California, in white and blue, welcomed from
+the hands of Neptune (Senor Perkins) and Amphitrite (Mrs. Markham) her
+fair sister, Massachusetts (Mrs. Brimmer), and New York (Miss Chubb),
+Mrs. Brimmer was most enthusiastic of the beauty of Miss Keene.
+
+On the present morning Mr. Banks found his disappointment at not going
+into Mazatlan languidly shared by Mrs. Brimmer. That lady even made a
+place for him on the cushions beside her, as she pensively expressed her
+belief that her husband would be still more disappointed.
+
+"Mr. Brimmer, you know, has correspondents at Mazatlan, and no doubt
+he has made particular arrangements for our reception and entertainment
+while there. I should not wonder if he was very indignant. And if, as I
+fear, the officials of the place, knowing Mr. Brimmer's position--and my
+own connections--have prepared to show us social courtesies, it may be
+a graver affair. I shouldn't be surprised if our Government were obliged
+to take notice of it. There is a Captain-General of port--isn't there? I
+think my husband spoke of him."
+
+"Oh, he's probably been shot long ago," broke in Mr. Crosby cheerfully.
+"They put in a new man every revolution. If the wrong party's got in,
+they've likely shipped your husband's correspondent too, and might
+be waiting to get a reception for you with nigger soldiers and ball
+cartridges. Shouldn't wonder if the skipper got wind of something of the
+kind, and that's why he didn't put in. If your husband hadn't been so
+well known, you see, we might have slipped in all right."
+
+Mrs. Brimmer received this speech with the languid obliviousness of
+perception she usually meted out to this chartered jester.
+
+"Do you really think so, Mr. Crosby? And would you have been afraid to
+leave your cabin--or are you joking? You know I never know when you are.
+It is very dreadful, either way."
+
+But here Miss Chubb, with ready tact, interrupted any possible retort
+from Mr. Crosby.
+
+"Look," she said, pointing to some of the other passengers, who, at
+a little distance, had grouped about the first mate in animated
+discussion. "I wonder what those gentlemen are so interested about. Do
+go and see."
+
+Before he could reply, Mr. Winslow, detaching himself from the group,
+hurried towards them.
+
+"Here's a row: Hurlstone is missing! Can't be found anywhere! They think
+he's fallen overboard!"
+
+The two frightened exclamations from Miss Chubb and Mrs. Brimmer
+diverted attention from the sudden paleness of Miss Keene, who had
+impulsively approached them.
+
+"Impossible!" she said hurriedly.
+
+"I fear it is so," said Brace, who had followed Winslow; "although," he
+added in a lower tone, with an angry glance at the latter, "that brute
+need not have blustered it out to frighten everybody. They're searching
+the ship again, but there seems no hope. He hasn't been seen since last
+night. He was supposed to be in his state-room--but as nobody missed
+him--you know how odd and reserved he was--it was only when the steward
+couldn't find him, and began to inquire, that everybody remembered they
+hadn't seen him all day. You are frightened, Miss Keene; pray sit down.
+That fellow Winslow ought to have had more sense."
+
+"It seems so horrible that nobody knew it," said the young girl,
+shuddering; "that we sat here laughing and talking, while perhaps he
+was--Good heavens! what's that?"
+
+A gruff order had been given: in the bustle that ensued the ship began
+to fall off to leeward; a number of the crew had sprung to the davits of
+the quarter boat.
+
+"We're going about, and they're lowering a boat, that's all; but it's as
+good as hopeless," said Brace. "The accident must have happened before
+daylight, or it would have been seen by the watch. It was probably long
+before we came on deck," he added gently; "so comfort yourself, Miss
+Keene, you could have seen nothing."
+
+"It seems so dreadful," murmured the young girl, "that he wasn't even
+missed. Why," she said, suddenly raising her soft eyes to Brace, "YOU
+must have noticed his absence; why, even I"--She stopped with a slight
+confusion, that was, however, luckily diverted by the irrepressible
+Winslow.
+
+"The skipper's been routed out at last, and is giving orders. He don't
+look as if his hat fitted him any too comfortably this morning, does
+he?" he laughed, as a stout, grizzled man, with congested face and
+eyes, and a peremptory voice husky with alcoholic irritation, suddenly
+appeared among the group by the wheel. "I reckon he's cursing his luck
+at having to heave-to and lose this wind."
+
+"But for a human creature's life!" exclaimed Mrs. Markham in horror.
+
+"That's just it. Laying-to now ain't going to save anybody's life, and
+he knows it. He's doin' it for show, just for a clean record in the log,
+and to satisfy you people here, who'd kick up a row if he didn't."
+
+"Then you believe he's lost?" said Miss Keene, with glistening eyes.
+
+"There ain't a doubt of it," returned Winslow shortly.
+
+"I don't agree with you," said a gentle voice.
+
+They turned quickly towards the benevolent face of Senor Perkins, who
+had just joined them.
+
+"I differ from my young friend," continued the Senor courteously,
+"because the accident must have happened at about daybreak, when we were
+close inshore. It would not be impossible for a good swimmer to reach
+the land, or even," continued Senor Perkins, in answer to the ray of
+hope that gleamed in Miss Keene's soft eyes, "for him to have been
+picked up by some passing vessel. The smoke of a large steamer was
+sighted between us and the land at about that time."
+
+"A steamer!" ejaculated Banks eagerly; "that was one of the new line
+with the mails. How provoking!"
+
+He was thinking of his lost letters. Miss Keene turned, heart-sick,
+away. Worse than the ghastly interruption to their easy idyllic life
+was this grim revelation of selfishness. She began to doubt if even the
+hysterical excitement of her sister passengers was not merely a pleasant
+titillation of their bored and inactive nerves.
+
+"I believe the Senor is right, Miss Keene," said Brace, taking her
+aside, "and I'll tell you why." He stopped, looked around him, and went
+on in a lower voice, "There are some circumstances about the affair
+which look more like deliberation than an accident. He has left nothing
+behind him of any value or that gives any clue. If it was a suicide he
+would have left some letter behind for somebody--people always do, you
+know, at such times--and he would have chosen the open sea. It seems
+more probable that he threw himself overboard with the intention of
+reaching the shore."
+
+"But why should he want to leave the ship?" echoed the young girl
+simply.
+
+"Perhaps he found out that we were NOT going to Mazatlan, and this was
+his only chance; it must have happened just as the ship went about and
+stood off from shore again."
+
+"But I don't understand," continued Miss Keene, with a pretty knitting
+of her brows, "why he should be so dreadfully anxious to get ashore
+now."
+
+The young fellow looked at her with the superior smile of youthful
+sagacity.
+
+"Suppose he had particular reasons for not going to San Francisco, where
+our laws could reach him! Suppose he had committed some offense! Suppose
+he was afraid of being questioned or recognized!"
+
+The young girl rose indignantly.
+
+"This is really too shameful! Who dare talk like that?"
+
+Brace colored quickly.
+
+"Who? Why, everybody," he stammered, for a moment abandoning his
+attitude of individual acumen; "it's the talk of the ship."
+
+"Is it? And before they know whether he's alive or dead--perhaps even
+while he is still struggling with death--all they can do is to take his
+character away!" she repeated, with flashing eyes.
+
+"And I'm even worse than they are," he returned, his temper rising with
+his color. "I ought to have known I was talking to one of HIS friends,
+instead of one whom I thought was MINE. I beg your pardon."
+
+He turned away as Miss Keene, apparently not heeding his pique, crossed
+the deck, and entered into conversation with Mrs. Markham.
+
+It is to be feared that she found little consolation among the other
+passengers, or even those of her own sex, whom this profound event
+had united in a certain freemasonry of sympathy and interest--to the
+exclusion of their former cliques. She soon learned, as the return of
+the boats to the ship and the ship to her course might have clearly told
+her, that there was no chance of recovering the missing passenger. She
+learned that the theory advanced by Brace was the one generally held by
+them; but with an added romance of detail, that excited at once their
+commiseration and admiration. Mrs. Brimmer remembered to have heard him,
+the second or third night out from Callao, groaning in his state-room;
+but having mistakenly referred the emotion to ordinary seasickness,
+she had no doubt lost an opportunity for confidential disclosure. "I am
+sure," she added, "that had somebody as resolute and practical as you,
+dear Mrs. Markham, approached him the next day, he would have revealed
+his sorrow." Miss Chubb was quite certain that she had seen him one
+night, in tears, by the quarter railing. "I saw his eyes glistening
+under his slouched hat as I passed. I remember thinking, at the time,
+that he oughtn't to have been left alone with such a dreadful temptation
+before him to slip overboard and end his sorrow or his crime." Mrs.
+Markham also remembered that it was about five o'clock--or was it
+six?--that morning when she distinctly thought she had heard a splash,
+and she was almost impelled to get up and look out of the bull's-eye.
+She should never forgive herself for resisting that impulse, for she
+was positive now that she would have seen his ghastly face in the water.
+Some indignation was felt that the captain, after a cursory survey
+of his stateroom, had ordered it to be locked until his fate was more
+positively known, and the usual seals placed on his effects for their
+delivery to the authorities at San Francisco. It was believed that some
+clue to his secret would be found among his personal chattels, if only
+in the form of a keepsake, a locket, or a bit of jewelry. Miss Chubb had
+noticed that he wore a seal ring, but not on the engagement-finger. In
+some vague feminine way it was admitted without discussion that one of
+their own sex was mixed up in the affair, and, with the exception of
+Miss Keene, general credence was given to the theory that Mazatlan
+contained his loadstar--the fatal partner and accomplice of his crime,
+the siren that allured him to his watery grave. I regret to say that the
+facts gathered by the gentlemen were equally ineffective. The steward
+who had attended the missing man was obliged to confess that their most
+protracted and confidential conversation had been on the comparative
+efficiency of ship biscuits and soda crackers. Mr. Banks, who was known
+to have spoken to him, could only remember that one warm evening, in
+reply to a casual remark about the weather, the missing man, burying his
+ears further in the turned-up collar of his pea-jacket, had stated, "'It
+was cold enough to freeze the ears off a brass monkey,'--a remark, no
+doubt, sir, intended to convey a reason for his hiding his own." Only
+Senor Perkins retained his serene optimism unimpaired.
+
+"Take my word for it, we shall yet hear good news of our missing friend.
+Let us at least believe it until we know otherwise. Ah! my dear Mrs.
+Markham, why should the Unknown always fill us with apprehension? Its
+surprises are equally often agreeable."
+
+"But we have all been so happy before this; and this seems such an
+unnecessary and cruel awakening," said Miss Keene, lifting her sad eyes
+to the speaker, "that I can't help thinking it's the beginning of the
+end. Good heavens! what's that?"
+
+She had started at the dark figure of one of the foreign-looking
+sailors, who seemed to have suddenly risen out of the deck beside them.
+
+"The Senor Perkins," he said, with an apologetic gesture of his hand to
+his hatless head.
+
+"You want ME, my good man?" asked Senor Perkins paternally.
+
+"Si, Senor; the mate wishes to see the Patrono," he said in Spanish.
+
+"I will come presently."
+
+The sailor hesitated. Senor Perkins took a step nearer to him
+benignantly. The man raised his eyes to Senor Perkins, and said,--
+
+"Vigilancia."
+
+"Bueno!" returned the Senor gently. "Excuse me, ladies, for a moment."
+
+"Perhaps it is some news of poor Mr. Hurlstone?" said Miss Keene, with
+an instinctive girlish movement of hope.
+
+"Who knows?" returned Senor Perkins, waving his hand as he gayly tripped
+after his guide. "Let us believe in the best, dear young lady, the
+best!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+"VIGILANCIA."
+
+
+Without exchanging another word with his escort, Senor Perkins followed
+him to the main hatch, where they descended and groped their way through
+the half obscurity of the lower deck. Here they passed one or two
+shadows, that, recognizing the Senor, seemed to draw aside in a half
+awed, half suppressed shyness, as of caged animals in the presence of
+their trainer. At the fore-hatch they again descended, passing a figure
+that appeared to be keeping watch at the foot of the ladder, and almost
+instantly came upon a group lit up by the glare of a bull's-eye lantern.
+It was composed of the first and second mate, a vicious-looking Peruvian
+sailor with a bandaged head, and, to the Senor's astonishment, the
+missing passenger Hurlstone, seated on the deck, heavily ironed.
+
+"Tell him what you know, Pedro," said the first mate to the Peruvian
+sailor curtly.
+
+"It was just daybreak, Patrono, before we put about," began the man
+in Spanish, "that I thought I saw some one gliding along towards the
+fore-hatch; but I lost sight of him. After we had tumbled up to go on
+the other tack, I heard a noise in the fore-hold. I went down and found
+HIM," pointing to Hurlstone, "hiding there. He had some provisions
+stowed away beside him, and that package. I grabbed him, Patrono.
+He broke away and struck me here"--he pointed to his still wet
+bandage--"and would have got out overboard through the port, but the
+second mate heard the row and came down just in time to stop him."
+
+"When was this?" asked Senor Perkins.
+
+"Guardia di Diana."
+
+"You were chattering, you fellows."
+
+"Quien sabe?" said the Peruvian, lifting his shoulders.
+
+"How does he explain himself?"
+
+"He refuses to speak."
+
+"Take off his irons," said Senor Perkins, in English.
+
+"But"--expostulated the first mate, with a warning gesture.
+
+"I said--take off his irons," repeated Senor Perkins in a dry and
+unfamiliar voice.
+
+The two mates released the shackles. The prisoner raised his eyes to
+Senor Perkins. He was a slightly built man of about thirty, fair-haired
+and hollow-cheeked. His short upper lip was lifted over his teeth, as
+if from hurried or labored breathing; but his features were regular and
+determined, and his large blue eyes shone with a strange abstraction of
+courage and fatuity.
+
+"That will do," continued the Senor, in the same tone. "Now leave him
+with me."
+
+The two mates looked at each other, and hesitated; but at a glance
+from Perkins, turned, and ascended the ladder again. The Peruvian alone
+remained.
+
+"Go!" said the Senor sharply.
+
+The man cast a vindictive look at the prisoner and retreated sullenly.
+
+"Did HE tell you," said the prisoner, looking after the sailor grimly,
+"that I tried to bribe him to let me go, but that I couldn't reach
+his figure? He wanted too much. He thought I had some stolen money or
+valuables here," he added, with a bitter laugh, pointing to the package
+that lay beside him.
+
+"And you hadn't?" said Perkins shortly.
+
+"No."
+
+"I believe you. And now, my young friend," said Perkins, with a singular
+return of his beaming gentleness, "since those two efficient and
+competent officers and this energetic but discourteous seaman are gone,
+would you mind telling me WHAT you were hiding for?"
+
+The prisoner raised his eyes on his questioner. For the last three weeks
+he had lived in the small community of which the Senor was a prominent
+member, but he scarcely recognized him now.
+
+"What if I refuse?" he said.
+
+The Senor shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"Those two excellent men would feel it their duty to bring the Peruvian
+to the captain, and I should be called to interpret to him."
+
+"And I should throw myself overboard the first chance I got. I would
+have done so ten minutes ago, but the mate stopped me."
+
+His eye glistened with the same fatuous determination he had shown at
+first. There was no doubt he would do as he said.
+
+"I believe you would," said the Senor benevolently; "but I see no
+present necessity for that, nor for any trouble whatever, if you will
+kindly tell me WHAT I am to say."
+
+The young man's eyes fell.
+
+"I DID try to conceal myself in the hold," he said bluntly. "I intended
+to remain there hidden while the ship was at Mazatlan. I did not know
+until now that the vessel had changed her course."
+
+"And how did you believe your absence would be accounted for?" asked the
+Senor blandly.
+
+"I thought it would be supposed that I had fallen overboard before we
+entered Mazatlan."
+
+"So that anybody seeking you there would not find you, and you would be
+believed to be dead?"
+
+"Yes." He raised his eyes quickly to Senor Perkins again. "I am neither
+a thief nor a murderer," he said almost savagely, "but I do not choose
+to be recognized by any one who knows me on this side of the grave."
+
+Senor Perkins' eyes sought his, and for an instant seemed to burn
+through the singular, fatuous mist that veiled them.
+
+"My friend," he said cheerfully, after a moment's pause, "you have just
+had a providential escape. I repeat it--a most providential escape.
+Indeed, if I were inclined to prophesy, I would say you were a man
+reserved for some special good fortune."
+
+The prisoner stared at him with angry amazement.
+
+"You are a confirmed somnambulist. Excuse me," continued the Senor, with
+a soft, deprecating gesture; "you are, of course, unaware of it--most
+victims of that singular complaint are, or at least fail to recognize
+the extent of their aberration. In your case it has only been indicated
+by a profound melancholy and natural shunning of society. In a paroxysm
+of your disorder, you rise in the night, fully dress yourself, and glide
+as unconsciously along the deck in pursuance of some vague fancy. You
+pass the honest but energetic sailor who has just left us, who thinks
+you are a phantom, and fails to give the alarm; you are precipitated
+by a lurch of the ship through an open hatchway: the shock renders you
+insensible until you are discovered and restored."
+
+"And who will believe this pretty story?" said the young man scornfully.
+
+"The honest sailor who picked you up, who has related it in his own
+picturesque tongue to ME, who will in turn interpret it to the captain
+and the other passengers," replied Senor Perkins blandly.
+
+"And what of the two mates who were here?" said the prisoner
+hesitatingly.
+
+"They are two competent officers, who are quite content to carry out
+the orders of their superiors, and who understand their duty too well to
+interfere with the reports of their subordinates, on which these orders
+are based. Mr. Brooks, the first officer, though fairly intelligent
+and a good reader of history, is only imperfectly acquainted with the
+languages, and Mr. M'Carthy's knowledge of Spanish is confined to a few
+objurgations which generally preclude extended conversation."
+
+"And who are you," said Hurlstone, more calmly, "who are willing to do
+this for a stranger?"
+
+"A friend--equally of yours, the captain's, and the other passengers',"
+replied Senor Perkins pleasantly. "A man who believes you, my dear sir,
+and, even if he did not, sees no reason to interrupt the harmony that
+has obtained in our little community during our delightful passage.
+Were any scandal to occur, were you to carry out your idea of throwing
+yourself overboard, it would, to say nothing of my personal regret,
+produce a discord for which there is no necessity, and from which no
+personal good can be derived. Here at least your secret is secure, for
+even I do not ask what it is; we meet here on an equality, based on
+our own conduct and courtesy to each other, limited by no antecedent
+prejudice, and restrained by no thought of the future. In a little while
+we shall be separated--why should it not be as friends? Why should we
+not look back upon our little world of this ship as a happy one?"
+
+Hurlstone gazed at the speaker with a troubled air. It was once more
+the quaint benevolent figure whom he had vaguely noted among the other
+passengers, and as vaguely despised. He hesitated a moment, and then,
+half timidly, half reservedly, extended his hand.
+
+"I thank you," he said, "at least for not asking my secret. Perhaps, if
+it was only"--
+
+"Your own--you might tell it," interrupted the Senor, gayly. "I
+understand. I see you recognize my principle. There is no necessity of
+your putting yourself to that pain, or another to that risk. And now, my
+young friend, time presses. I must say a word to our friends above,
+who are waiting, and I shall see that you are taken privately to your
+state-room while most of the other passengers are still on deck. If you
+would permit yourself the weakness of allowing the steward to carry or
+assist you it would be better. Let me advise you that the excitement of
+the last three hours has not left you in your full strength. You must
+really give ME the pleasure of spreading the glad tidings of your safety
+among the passengers, who have been so terribly alarmed."
+
+"They will undoubtedly be relieved," said Hurlstone, with ironical
+bitterness.
+
+"You wrong them," returned the Senor, with gentle reproach; "especially
+the ladies."
+
+The voice of the first mate from above here checked his further speech,
+and, perhaps, prevented him, as he quickly reascended the upper deck,
+from noticing the slight embarrassment of his prisoner.
+
+The Senor's explanations to the mate were evidently explicit and brief.
+In a few moments he reappeared with the steward and his assistant.
+
+"Lean on these men," he said to Hurlstone significantly, "and do not
+overestimate your strength. Thank Heaven, no bones are broken, and you
+are only bruised by the fall. With a little rest, I think we can get
+along without laying the captain's medicine-chest under contribution.
+Our kind friend Mr. Brooks has had the lower deck cleared, so that you
+may gain your state-room without alarming the passengers or fatiguing
+yourself."
+
+He pressed Hurlstone's hand as the latter resigned himself to the
+steward, and was half led, half supported, through the gloom of the
+lower deck. Senor Perkins remained for an instant gazing after him
+with even more than his usual benevolence. Suddenly his arm was touched
+almost rudely. He turned, and encountered the lowering eyes of the
+Peruvian sailor.
+
+"And what is to be done for me?" said the man roughly, in Spanish.
+
+"You?"
+
+"Yes. Who's to pay for this?" he pointed to his bandaged head.
+
+Without changing his bland expression, Senor Perkins apparently allowed
+his soft black eyes to rest, as if fondly, on the angry pupils of the
+Peruvian. The eyes of the latter presently sought the ground.
+
+"My dear Yoto," said Senor Perkins softly, "I scarcely think that
+this question of personal damage can be referred to the State. I will,
+however, look into it. Meantime, let me advise you to control your
+enthusiasm. Too much zeal in a subordinate is even more fatal than
+laxity. For the rest, son, be vigilant--and peaceful. Thou hast meant
+well, much shall be--forgiven thee. For the present, vamos!"
+
+He turned on his heel, and ascended to the upper deck. Here he found the
+passengers thrilling with a vague excitement. A few brief orders, a
+few briefer explanations, dropped by the officers, had already whetted
+curiosity to the keenest point. The Senor was instantly beset with
+interrogations. Gentle, compassionate, with well-rounded periods, he
+related the singular accident that had befallen Mr. Hurlstone, and his
+providential escape from almost certain death. "At the most, he has now
+only the exhaustion of the shock, from which a day of perfect rest will
+recover him; but," he added deprecatingly, "at present he ought not to
+be disturbed or excited."
+
+The story was received by those fellow-passengers who had been strongest
+in their suspicions of Hurlstone's suicide or flight, with a keen sense
+of discomfiture, only mitigated by a humorous perception of the cause
+of the accident. It was agreed that a man whose ludicrous infirmity had
+been the cause of putting the ship out of her course, and the passengers
+out of their comfortable security, could not be wronged by attributing
+to him manlier and more criminal motives. A somnambulist on shipboard
+was clearly a humorous object, who might, however, become a bore. "It
+all accounts for his being so deuced quiet and reserved in the daytime,"
+said Crosby facetiously; "he couldn't keep it up the whole twenty-four
+hours. If he'd only given us a little more of his company when he was
+awake, he wouldn't have gallivanted round at night, and we'd have been
+thirty miles nearer port." Equal amusement was created by the humorous
+suggestion that the unfortunate man had never been entirely awake during
+the voyage, and that he would now, probably for the first time, really
+make the acquaintance of his fellow-voyagers. Listening to this
+badinage with bland tolerance, Senor Perkins no doubt felt that, for the
+maintenance of that perfect amity he so ardently apostrophized, it was
+just as well that Hurlstone was in his state-room, and out of hearing.
+
+He would have been more satisfied, however, had he been permitted to
+hear the feminine comments on this incident. In the eyes of the lady
+passengers Mr. Hurlstone was more a hero than ever; his mysterious
+malady invested him with a vague and spiritual interest; his escape from
+the awful fate reserved to him, in their excited fancy, gave him the
+eclat of having ACTUALLY survived it; while the supposed real incident
+of his fall through the hatchway lent him the additional lustre of a
+wounded and crippled man. That prostrate condition of active humanity,
+which so irresistibly appeals to the feminine imagination as segregating
+their victim from the distractions of his own sex, and, as it were,
+delivering him helpless into their hands, was at once their opportunity,
+and his. All the ladies volunteered to nurse him; it was with difficulty
+that Mrs. Brimmer and Mrs. Markham, reinforced with bandages, flannels,
+and liniments, and supported by different theories, could be kept from
+the door of his state-room. Jellies, potted meats, and delicacies from
+their private stores appeared on trays at his bedside, to be courteously
+declined by the Senor Perkins, in his new functions of a benevolent type
+of Sancho Panza physician. To say that this pleased the gentle optimism
+of the Senor is unnecessary. Even while his companion writhed under the
+sting of this enforced compassion, the good man beamed philosophically
+upon him.
+
+"Take care, or I shall end this cursed farce in my own way," said
+Hurlstone ominously, his eyes again filming with a vague desperation.
+
+"My dear boy," returned the Senor gently, "reflect upon the situation.
+Your suffering, real or implied, produces in the hearts of these gentle
+creatures a sympathy which not only exalts and sustains their higher
+natures, but, I conscientiously believe, gratifies and pleases their
+lower ones. Why should you deny them this opportunity of indulging
+their twofold organisms, and beguiling the tedium of the voyage, merely
+because of some erroneous exhibition of fact?"
+
+Later, Senor Perkins might have added to this exposition the singularly
+stimulating effect which Hurlstone's supposed peculiarity had upon
+the feminine imagination. But there were some secrets which were not
+imparted even to him, and it was only to each other that the ladies
+confided certain details and reminiscences. For it now appeared that
+they had all heard strange noises and stealthy steps at night; and Mrs.
+Brimmer was quite sure that on one occasion the handle of her state-room
+door was softly turned. Mrs. Markham also remembered distinctly that
+only a week before, being unable to sleep, she had ventured out into the
+saloon in a dressing-gown to get her diary, which she had left with a
+portfolio on a chair; that she had a sudden consciousness of another
+presence in the saloon, although she could distinguish nothing by the
+dim light of the swinging lantern; and that, after quickly returning to
+her room, she was quite positive she heard a door close. But the most
+surprising reminiscence developed by the late incident was from Mrs.
+Brimmer's nurse, Susan. As it, apparently, demonstrated the fact that
+Mr. Hurlstone not only walked but TALKED in his sleep, it possessed
+a more mysterious significance. It seemed that Susan was awakened one
+night by the sound of voices, and, opening her door softly, saw a figure
+which she at first supposed to be the Senor Perkins, but which she now
+was satisfied was poor Mr. Hurlstone. As there was no one else to be
+seen, the voices must have proceeded from that single figure; and being
+in a strange and unknown tongue, were inexpressibly weird and awful.
+When pressed to remember what was said, she could only distinguish one
+word--a woman's name--Virgil--Vigil--no: Virginescia!
+
+"It must have been one of those creatures at Callao, whose pictures you
+can buy for ten cents," said Mrs. Brimmer.
+
+"If it is one of them, Susan must have made a mistake in the first two
+syllables of the name," said Mrs. Markham grimly.
+
+"But surely, Miss Keene," said Miss Chubb, turning to that young lady,
+who had taken only the part of a passive listener to this colloquy, and
+was gazing over the railing at the sinking sun, "surely YOU can tell
+us something about this poor young man. If I don't mistake, you are the
+only person he ever honored with his conversation."
+
+"And only once, I think," said the young girl, slightly coloring. "He
+happened to be sitting next to me on deck, and I believe he spoke only
+out of politeness. At least, he seemed very quiet and reserved, and
+talked on general topics, and I thought very intelligently. I--should
+have thought--I mean," she continued hesitatingly--"I thought he was an
+educated gentleman."
+
+"That isn't at all inconsistent with photographs or sleep-walking," said
+Mrs. Brimmer, with one of her vague simplicities. "Uncle Quincey brought
+home a whole sheaf of those women whom he said he'd met; and one of my
+cousins, who was educated at Heidelberg, used to walk in his sleep, as
+it were, all over Europe."
+
+"Did you notice anything queer in his eyes, Miss Keene?" asked Miss
+Chubb vivaciously.
+
+Miss Keene had noticed that his eyes were his best feature, albeit
+somewhat abstracted and melancholy; but, for some vague reason she could
+not explain herself, she answered hurriedly that she had seen nothing
+very particular in them.
+
+"Well," said Mrs. Markham positively, "when he's able to be out again,
+I shall consider it my duty to look him up, and try to keep him
+sufficiently awake in the daytime to ensure his resting better at
+night."
+
+"No one can do it, dear Mrs. Markham, better than you; and no one would
+think of misunderstanding your motives," said Mrs. Brimmer sweetly. "But
+it's getting late, and the air seems to be ever so much colder. Captain
+Bunker says it's because we are really nearing the Californian coast. It
+seems so odd! Mr. Brimmer wrote to me that it was so hot in Sacramento
+that you could do something with eggs in the sun--I forget what."
+
+"Hatch them?" suggested Miss Chubb.
+
+"I think so," returned Mrs. Brimmer, rising. "Let us go below."
+
+The three ladies rustled away, but Miss Keene, throwing a wrap around
+her shoulders, lingered by the railing. With one little hand supporting
+her round chin, she leaned over the darkly heaving water. She was
+thinking of her brief and only interview with that lonely man whose name
+was now in everybody's mouth, but who, until to-day, had been passed
+over by them with an unconcern equal to his own. And yet to her refined
+and delicately feminine taste there appeared no reason why he should not
+have mingled with his fellows, and have accepted the homage from them
+that SHE was instinctively ready to give. He seemed to her like a
+gentleman--and something more. In her limited but joyous knowledge of
+the world--a knowledge gathered in the happy school-life of an orphan
+who but faintly remembered and never missed a parent's care--she knew
+nothing of the mysterious dominance of passion, suffering, or experience
+in fashioning the outward expression of men, and saw only that Mr.
+Hurlstone was unlike any other. That unlikeness was fascinating. He had
+said very little to her in that very brief period. He had not talked
+to her with the general gallantry which she already knew her prettiness
+elicited. Without knowing why, she felt there was a subtle flattery in
+his tacit recognition of that other self of which she, as yet, knew so
+little. She could not remember what they had talked about--nor why. Nor
+was she offended that he had never spoken to her since, nor gone beyond
+a grave lifting of his hat to her when he passed.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+IN THE FOG.
+
+
+By noon of the following day the coast of the Peninsula of California
+had been sighted to leeward. The lower temperature of the northwest
+Trades had driven Mrs. Brimmer and Miss Chubb into their state-rooms to
+consult their wardrobes in view of an impending change from the light
+muslins and easy languid toilets of the Tropics. That momentous question
+for the moment held all other topics in abeyance; and even Mrs. Markham
+and Miss Keene, though they still kept the deck, in shawls and wraps,
+sighed over this feminine evidence of the gentle passing of their
+summer holiday. The gentlemen had already mounted their pea-jackets
+and overcoats, with the single exception of Senor Perkins, who, in
+chivalrous compliment to the elements, still bared his unfettered throat
+and forehead to the breeze. The aspect of the coast, as seen from the
+Excelsior's deck, seemed to bear out Mr. Banks' sweeping indictment of
+the day before. A few low, dome-like hills, yellow and treeless as
+sand dunes, scarcely raised themselves above the horizon. The air, too,
+appeared to have taken upon itself a dry asperity; the sun shone with a
+hard, practical brilliancy. Miss Keene raised her eyes to Senor Perkins
+with a pretty impatience that she sometimes indulged in, as one of the
+privileges of accepted beauty and petted youth.
+
+"I don't think much of your peninsula," she said poutingly. "It looks
+dreadfully flat and uninteresting. It was a great deal nicer on the
+other coast, or even at sea."
+
+"Perhaps you are judging hastily, my dear young friend," said Senor
+Perkins, with habitual tolerance. "I have heard that behind those hills,
+and hidden from sight in some of the canyons, are perfect little Edens
+of beauty and fruitfulness. They are like some ardent natures that cover
+their approaches with the ashes of their burnt-up fires, but only do it
+the better to keep intact their glowing, vivifying, central heat."
+
+"How very poetical, Mr. Perkins!" said Mrs. Markham, with blunt
+admiration. "You ought to put that into verse."
+
+"I have," returned Senor Perkins modestly. "They are some reflections
+on--I hardly dare call them an apostrophe to--the crater of Colima. If
+you will permit me to read them to you this evening, I shall be charmed.
+I hope also to take that opportunity of showing you the verses of a
+gifted woman, not yet known to fame, Mrs. Euphemia M'Corkle, of Peoria,
+Illinois."
+
+Mrs. Markham coughed slightly. The gifted M'Corkle was already known to
+her through certain lines quoted by the Senor; and the entire cabin had
+one evening fled before a larger and more ambitious manuscript of the
+fair Illinoisian. Miss Keene, who dreaded the reappearance of this
+poetical phantom that seemed to haunt the Senor's fancy, could not,
+however, forget that she had been touched on that occasion by a kindly
+moisture of eye and tremulousness of voice in the reader; and, in spite
+of the hopeless bathos of the composition, she had forgiven him. Though
+she did not always understand Senor Perkins, she liked him too well to
+allow him to become ridiculous to others; and at the present moment she
+promptly interposed with a charming assumption of coquetry.
+
+"You forget that you promised to let ME read the manuscript first, and
+in private, and that you engaged to give me my revenge at chess this
+evening. But do as you like. You are all fast becoming faithless. I
+suppose it is because our holiday is drawing to a close, and we shall
+soon forget we ever had any, or be ashamed we ever played so long.
+Everybody seems to be getting nervous and fidgety and preparing for
+civilization again. Mr. Banks, for the last few days, has dressed
+himself regularly as if he were going down town to his office,
+and writes letters in the corner of the saloon as if it were a
+counting-house. Mr. Crosby and Mr. Winslow do nothing but talk of their
+prospects, and I believe they are drawing up articles of partnership
+together. Here is Mr. Brace frightening me by telling me that my brother
+will lock me up, to keep the rich miners from laying their bags of
+gold dust at my feet; and Mrs. Brimmer and Miss Chubb assure me that I
+haven't a decent gown to go ashore in."
+
+"You forget Mr. Hurlstone," said Brace, with ill-concealed bitterness;
+"he seems to have time enough on his hands, and I dare say would
+sympathize with you. You women like idle men."
+
+"If we do, it's because only the idle men have the time to amuse us,"
+retorted Miss Keene. "But," she added, with a laugh, "I suppose I'm
+getting nervous and fidgety myself; for I find myself every now and
+then watching the officers and men, and listening to the orders as if
+something were going to happen again. I never felt so before; I never
+used to have the least concern in what you call 'the working of the
+ship,' and now"--her voice, which had been half playful, half pettish,
+suddenly became grave,--"and now--look at the mate and those men
+forward. There certainly is something going on, or is going to happen.
+What ARE they looking at?"
+
+The mate had clambered halfway up the main ratlines, and was looking
+earnestly to windward. Two or three of the crew on the forecastle were
+gazing in the same direction. The group of cabin-passengers on the
+quarterdeck, following their eyes, saw what appeared to be another low
+shore on the opposite bow.
+
+"Why, there's another coast there!" said Mrs. Markham.
+
+"It's a fog-bank," said Senor Perkins gravely. He quickly crossed the
+deck, exchanged a few words with the officer, and returned. Miss Keene,
+who had felt a sense of relief, nevertheless questioned his face as he
+again stood beside her. But he had recovered his beaming cheerfulness.
+"It's nothing to alarm you," he said, answering her glance, "but it may
+mean delay if we can't get out of it. You don't mind that, I know."
+
+"No," replied the young girl, smiling. "Besides, it would be a new
+experience. We've had winds and calms--we only want fog now to complete
+our adventures. Unless it's going to make everybody cross," she
+continued, with a mischievous glance at Brace.
+
+"You'll find it won't improve the temper of the officers," said Crosby,
+who had joined the group. "There's nothing sailors hate more than a fog.
+They can go to sleep in a hurricane between the rolls of a ship, but a
+fog keeps them awake. It's the one thing they can't shirk. There's the
+skipper tumbled up, too! The old man looks wrathy, don't he? But it's no
+use now; we're going slap into it, and the wind's failing!"
+
+It was true. In the last few moments all that vast glistening surface of
+metallic blue which stretched so far to windward appeared to be slowly
+eaten away as if by some dull, corroding acid; the distant horizon line
+of sea and sky was still distinct and sharply cut, but the whole water
+between them had grown gray, as if some invisible shadow had passed in
+mid-air across it. The actual fog bank had suddenly lost its resemblance
+to the shore, had lifted as a curtain, and now seemed suspended over the
+ship. Gradually it descended; the top-gallant and top-sails were lost
+in this mysterious vapor, yet the horizon line still glimmered faintly.
+Then another mist seemed to rise from the sea and meet it; in another
+instant the deck whereon they stood shrank to the appearance of a
+raft adrift in a faint gray sea. With the complete obliteration of all
+circumambient space, the wind fell. Their isolation was complete.
+
+It was notable that the first and most peculiar effect of this misty
+environment was the absolute silence. The empty, invisible sails above
+did not flap; the sheets and halyards hung limp; even the faint creaking
+of an unseen block overhead was so startling as to draw every eye
+upwards. Muffled orders from viewless figures forward were obeyed by
+phantoms that moved noiselessly through the gray sea that seemed to have
+invaded the deck. Even the passengers spoke in whispers, or held their
+breath, in passive groups, as if fearing to break a silence so replete
+with awe and anticipation. It was next noticed that the vessel was
+subjected to some vague motion; the resistance of the water had ceased,
+the waves no longer hissed under her bows, or nestled and lapped under
+her counter; a dreamy, irregular, and listless rocking had taken the
+place of the regular undulations; at times, a faint and half delicious
+vertigo seemed to overcome their senses; the ship was drifting.
+
+Captain Bunker stood near the bitts, where his brief orders were
+transmitted to the man at the almost useless wheel. At his side Senor
+Perkins beamed with unshaken serenity, and hopefully replied to the
+captain's half surly, half anxious queries.
+
+"By the chart we should be well east of Los Lobos island, d'ye see?"
+he said impatiently. "You don't happen to remember the direction of the
+current off shore when you were running up here?"
+
+"It's five years ago," said the Senor modestly; "but I remember we kept
+well to the west to weather Cape St. Eugenio. My impression is that
+there was a strong northwesterly current setting north of Ballenos Bay."
+
+"And we're in it now," said Captain Bunker shortly. "How near St. Roque
+does it set?"
+
+"Within a mile or two. I should keep away more to the west," said Senor
+Perkins, "and clear"--
+
+"I ain't asking you to run the ship," interrupted Captain Bunker
+sharply. "How's her head now, Mr. Brooks?"
+
+The seamen standing near cast a rapid glance at Senor Perkins, but not
+a muscle of his bland face moved or betrayed a consciousness of the
+insult. Whatever might have been the feeling towards him, at that
+moment the sailors--after their fashion--admired their captain; strong,
+masterful, and imperious. The danger that had cleared his eye, throat,
+and brain, and left him once more the daring and skillful navigator they
+knew, wiped out of their shallow minds the vicious habit that had sunk
+him below their level.
+
+It had now become perceptible to even the inexperienced eyes of the
+passengers that the Excelsior was obeying some new and profound impulse.
+The vague drifting had ceased, and in its place had come a mysterious
+but regular movement, in which the surrounding mist seemed to
+participate, until fog and vessel moved together towards some unseen but
+well-defined bourne. In vain had the boats of the Excelsior, manned
+by her crew, endeavored with a towing-line to check or direct the
+inexplicable movement; in vain had Captain Bunker struggled, with all
+the skilled weapons of seamanship, against his invincible foe; wrapped
+in the impenetrable fog, the ship moved ghost-like to what seemed to be
+her doom.
+
+The anxiety of the officers had not as yet communicated itself to the
+passengers; those who had been most nervous in the ordinary onset of
+wind and wave looked upon the fog as a phenomenon whose only disturbance
+might be delay. To Miss Keene this conveyed no annoyance; rather that
+placid envelopment of cloud soothed her fancy; she submitted herself to
+its soft embraces, and to the mysterious onward movement of the ship,
+as if it were part of a youthful dream. Once she thought of the ship
+of Sindbad, and that fatal loadstone mountain, with an awe that was,
+however, half a pleasure.
+
+"You are not frightened, Miss Keene?" said a voice near her.
+
+She started slightly. It was the voice of Mr. Hurlstone. So thick was
+the fog that his face and figure appeared to come dimly out of it, like
+a part of her dreaming fancy. Without replying to his question, she said
+quickly,--
+
+"You are better then, Mr. Hurlstone? We--we were all so frightened for
+you."
+
+An angry shadow crossed his thin face, and he hesitated. After a pause
+he recovered himself, and said,--
+
+"I was saying you were taking all this very quietly. I don't think
+there's much danger myself. And if we should go ashore here"--
+
+"Well?" suggested Miss Keene, ignoring this first intimation of danger
+in her surprise at the man's manner.
+
+"Well, we should all be separated only a few days earlier, that's all!"
+
+More frightened at the strange bitterness of his voice than by the
+sense of physical peril, she was vaguely moving away towards the dimly
+outlined figures of her companions when she was arrested by a voice
+forward. There was a slight murmur among the passengers.
+
+"What did he say?" asked Miss Keene, "What are 'Breakers ahead'?"
+
+Hurlstone did not reply.
+
+"Where away?" asked a second voice.
+
+The murmur still continuing, Captain Bunker's hoarse voice pierced the
+gloom,--"Silence fore and aft!"
+
+The first voice repeated faintly,--
+
+"On the larboard bow."
+
+There was another silence. Again the voice repeated, as if
+mechanically,--
+
+"Breakers!"
+
+"Where away?"
+
+"On the starboard beam."
+
+"We are in some passage or channel," said Hurlstone quietly.
+
+The young girl glanced round her and saw for the first time that, in
+one of those inexplicable movements she had not understood, the other
+passengers had been withdrawn into a limited space of the deck, as if
+through some authoritative orders, while she and her companion had been
+evidently overlooked. A couple of sailors, who had suddenly taken their
+positions by the quarter-boats, strengthened the accidental separation.
+
+"Is there some one taking care of you?" he asked, half hesitatingly;
+"Mr. Brace--Perkins--or"--
+
+"No," she replied quickly. "Why?"
+
+"Well, we are very near the boat in an emergency, and you might allow me
+to stay here and see you safe in it."
+
+"But the other ladies? Mrs. Markham, and"--
+
+"They'll take their turn after YOU," he said grimly, picking up a wrap
+from the railing and throwing it over her shoulders.
+
+"But--I don't understand!" she stammered, more embarrassed by the
+situation than by any impending peril.
+
+"There is very little danger, I think," he added impatiently. "There is
+scarcely any sea; the ship has very little way on; and these breakers
+are not over rocks. Listen."
+
+She tried to listen. At first she heard nothing but the occasional low
+voice of command near the wheel. Then she became conscious of a gentle,
+soothing murmur through the fog to the right. She had heard such a
+murmuring accompaniment to her girlish dreams at Newport on a still
+summer night. There was nothing to frighten her, but it increased her
+embarrassment.
+
+"And you?" she said awkwardly, raising her soft eyes.
+
+"Oh, if you are all going off in the boats, by Jove, I think I'll stick
+to the ship!" he returned, with a frankness that would have been rude
+but for its utter abstraction.
+
+Miss Keene was silent. The ship moved gently onward. The monotonous cry
+of the leadsman in the chains was the only sound audible. The soundings
+were indicating shoaler water, although the murmuring of the surf had
+been left far astern. The almost imperceptible darkening of the mist
+on either beam seemed to show that the Excelsior was entering some
+land-locked passage. The movement of the vessel slackened, the tide was
+beginning to ebb. Suddenly a wave of far-off clamor, faint but sonorous,
+broke across the ship. There was an interval of breathless silence, and
+then it broke again, and more distinctly. It was the sound of bells!
+
+The thrill of awe which passed through passengers and crew at this
+spiritual challenge from the vast and intangible void around them had
+scarcely subsided when the captain turned to Senor Perkins with a look
+of surly interrogation. The Senor brushed his hat further back on his
+head, wiped his brow, and became thoughtful.
+
+"It's too far south for Rosario," he said deprecatingly; "and the only
+other mission I know of is San Carlos, and that's far inland. But that
+is the Angelus, and those are mission bells, surely."
+
+The captain turned to Mr. Brooks. The voice of invisible command again
+passed along the deck, and, with a splash in the water and the rattling
+of chains, the Excelsior swung slowly round on her anchor on the bosom
+of what seemed a placid bay.
+
+Miss Keene, who, in her complete absorption, had listened to the
+phantom bells with an almost superstitious exaltation, had forgotten the
+presence of her companion, and now turned towards him. But he was gone.
+The imminent danger he had spoken of, half slightingly, he evidently
+considered as past. He had taken the opportunity offered by the slight
+bustle made by the lowering of the quarter-boat and the departure of the
+mate on a voyage of discovery to mingle with the crowd, and regain his
+state-room. With the anchoring of the vessel, the momentary restraint
+was relaxed, the passengers were allowed to pervade the deck, and Mrs.
+Markham and Mr. Brace simultaneously rushed to Miss Keene's side.
+
+"We were awfully alarmed for you, my dear," said Mrs. Markham, "until
+we saw you had a protector. Do tell me--what DID he say? He must have
+thought the danger great to have broken the Senor's orders and come upon
+deck? What did he talk about?"
+
+With a vivid recollection in her mind of Mr. Hurlstone's contemptuous
+ignoring of the other ladies, Miss Keene became slightly embarrassed.
+Her confusion was not removed by the consciousness that the jealous eyes
+of Brace were fixed upon her.
+
+"Perhaps he thought it was night, and walked upon deck in his sleep,"
+remarked Brace sarcastically. "He's probably gone back to bed."
+
+"He offered me his protection very politely, and begged to remain to put
+me in the boat in case of danger," said Miss Keene, recovering herself,
+and directing her reply to Mrs. Markham. "I think that others have made
+me the same kind of offer--who were wide awake," she added mischievously
+to Brace.
+
+"I wouldn't be too sure that they were not foolishly dreaming too,"
+returned Brace, in a lower voice.
+
+"I should think we all were asleep or dreaming here," said Mrs. Markham
+briskly. "Nobody seems to know where we are, and the only man who might
+guess it--Senor Perkins--has gone off in the boat with the mate."
+
+"We're not a mile from shore and a Catholic church," said Crosby, who
+had joined them. "I just left Mrs. Brimmer, who is very High Church, you
+know, quite overcome by these Angelus bells. She's been entreating the
+captain to let her go ashore for vespers. It wouldn't be a bad idea, if
+we could only see what sort of a place we've got to. It wouldn't do to
+go feeling round the settlement in the dark--would it? Hallo! what's
+that? Oh, by Jove, that'll finish Mrs. Brimmer, sure!"
+
+"Hush!" said Miss Keene impulsively.
+
+He stopped. The long-drawn cadence of a chant in thin clear soprano
+voices swept through the fog from the invisible shore, rose high above
+the ship, and then fell, dying away with immeasurable sweetness and
+melancholy. Even when it had passed, a lingering melody seemed to
+fill the deck. Two or three of the foreign sailors crossed themselves
+devoutly; the other passengers withheld their speech, and looked at each
+other. Afraid to break the charm by speech, they listened again, but in
+vain an infinite repose followed that seemed to pervade everything.
+
+It was broken, at last, by the sound of oars in their rowlocks; the boat
+was returning. But it was noticed that the fog had slightly lifted
+from the surface of the water, for the boat was distinctly visible two
+cables' length from the ship as she approached; and it was seen that
+besides the first officer and Senor Perkins there were two strangers
+in the boat. Everybody rushed to the side for a nearer view of those
+strange inhabitants of the unknown shore; but the boat's crew suddenly
+ceased rowing, and lay on their oars until an indistinct hail and
+reply passed between the boat and ship. There was a bustle forward, an
+unexpected thunder from the Excelsior's eight-pounder at the bow
+port; Captain Bunker and the second mate ranged themselves at the
+companionway, and the passengers for the first time became aware that
+they were participating at the reception of visitors of distinction, as
+two strange and bizarre figures stepped upon the deck.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+TODOS SANTOS.
+
+
+It was evident that the two strangers represented some exalted
+military and ecclesiastical authority. This was shown in their dress--a
+long-forgotten, half mediaeval costume, that to the imaginative
+spectator was perfectly in keeping with their mysterious advent, and
+to the more practical as startling as a masquerade. The foremost figure
+wore a broad-brimmed hat of soft felt, with tarnished gold lace, and a
+dark feather tucked in its recurved flap; a short cloak of fine black
+cloth thrown over one shoulder left a buff leathern jacket and breeches,
+ornamented with large round silver buttons, exposed until they were met
+by high boots of untanned yellow buckskin that reached halfway up the
+thigh. A broad baldric of green silk hung from his shoulder across his
+breast, and supported at his side a long sword with an enormous
+basket hilt, through which somewhat coquettishly peeped a white
+lace handkerchief. Tall and erect, in spite of the grizzled hair and
+iron-gray moustaches and wrinkled face of a man of sixty, he suddenly
+halted on the deck with a military precision that made the jingling
+chains and bits of silver on his enormous spurs ring again. He was
+followed by an ecclesiastic of apparently his own age, but smoothly
+shaven, clad in a black silk sotana and sash, and wearing the
+old-fashioned oblong, curl-brimmed hat sacred to "Don Basilo," of the
+modern opera. Behind him appeared the genial face of Senor Perkins,
+shining with the benignant courtesy of a master of ceremonies.
+
+"If this is a fair sample of the circus ashore, I'll take two tickets,"
+whispered Crosby, who had recovered his audacity.
+
+"I have the inexpressible honor," said Senor Perkins to Captain Bunker,
+with a gracious wave of his hand towards the extraordinary figures, "to
+present you to the illustrious Don Miguel Briones, Comandante of the
+Presidio of Todos Santos, at present hidden in the fog, and the very
+reverend and pious Padre Esteban, of the Mission of Todos Santos,
+likewise invisible. When I state to you," he continued, with a slight
+lifting of his voice, so as to include the curious passengers in
+his explanation, "that, with very few exceptions, this is the usual
+condition of the atmosphere at the entrance to the Mission and Presidio
+of Todos Santos, and that the last exception took place thirty-five
+years ago, when a ship entered the harbor, you will understand why these
+distinguished gentlemen have been willing to waive the formality of your
+waiting upon them first, and have taken the initiative. The illustrious
+Comandante has been generous to exempt you from the usual port
+regulations, and to permit you to wood and to water"--
+
+"What port regulation is he talking of?" asked Captain Bunker testily.
+
+"The Mexican regulations forbidding any foreign vessel to communicate
+with the shore," returned Senor Perkins deprecatingly.
+
+"Never heard of 'em. When were they given?"
+
+The Senor turned and addressed a few words to the commander, who stood
+apart in silent dignity.
+
+"In 1792."
+
+"In what?--Is he mad?" said Bunker. "Does he know what year this is?"
+
+"The illustrious commander believes it to be the year of grace 1854,"
+answered Senor Perkins quietly. "In the case of the only two vessels who
+have touched here since 1792 the order was not carried out because they
+were Mexican coasters. The illustrious Comandante explains that
+the order he speaks of as on record distinctly referred to the ship
+'Columbia, which belonged to the General Washington.'"
+
+"General Washington!" echoed Bunker, angrily staring at the Senor.
+"What's this stuff? Do you mean to say they don't know any history later
+than our old Revolutionary War? Haven't they heard of the United States
+among them? Nor California--that we took from them during the late war?"
+
+"Nor how we licked 'em out of their boots, and that's saying a good
+deal," whispered Crosby, glancing at the Comandante's feet.
+
+Senor Perkins raised a gentle, deprecating hand.
+
+"For fifty years the Presidio and the Mission of Todos Santos have had
+but this communication with the outer world," he said blandly. "Hidden
+by impenetrable fogs from the ocean pathway at their door, cut off by
+burning and sterile deserts from the surrounding country, they have
+preserved a trust and propagated a faith in enforced but not unhappy
+seclusion. The wars that have shaken mankind, the dissensions that have
+even disturbed the serenity of their own nation on the mainland,
+have never reached them here. Left to themselves, they have created
+a blameless Arcadia and an ideal community within an extent of twenty
+square leagues. Why should we disturb their innocent complacency and
+tranquil enjoyment by information which cannot increase and might impair
+their present felicity? Why should we dwell upon a late political and
+international episode which, while it has been a benefit to us, has been
+a humiliation to them as a nation, and which might not only imperil our
+position as guests, but interrupt our practical relations to the wood
+and water, with which the country abounds?"
+
+He paused, and before the captain could speak, turned to the silent
+Commander, addressed him in a dozen phrases of fluent and courteous
+Spanish, and once more turned to Captain Bunker.
+
+"I have told him you are touched to the heart with his courtesy, which
+you recognize as coming from the fit representative of the great Mexican
+nation. He reciprocates your fraternal emotion, and begs you to consider
+the Presidio and all that it contains, at your disposition and the
+disposition of your friends--the passengers, particularly those fair
+ladies," said Senor Perkins, turning with graceful promptitude towards
+the group of lady passengers, and slightly elevating himself on the tips
+of his neat boots, "whose white hands he kisses, and at whose feet he
+lays the devotion of a Mexican caballero and officer."
+
+He waved his hand towards the Comandante, who, stepping forward,
+swept the deck with his plumed hat before each of the ladies in solemn
+succession. Recovering himself, he bowed more stiffly to the male
+passengers, picked his handkerchief out of the hilt of his sword,
+gracefully wiped his lips, pulled the end of his long gray moustache,
+and became again rigid.
+
+"The reverend father," continued Senor Perkins, turning towards the
+priest, "regrets that the rules of his order prevent his extending the
+same courtesy to these ladies at the Mission. But he hopes to meet them
+at the Presidio, and they will avail themselves of his aid and counsel
+there and everywhere."
+
+Father Esteban, following the speaker's words with a gracious and ready
+smile, at once moved forward among the passengers, offering an antique
+snuff-box to the gentlemen, or passing before the ladies with slightly
+uplifted benedictory palms and a caressing paternal gesture. Mrs.
+Brimmer, having essayed a French sentence, was delighted and half
+frightened to receive a response from the ecclesiastic, and speedily
+monopolized him until he was summoned by the Commander to the returning
+boat.
+
+"A most accomplished man, my dear," said Mrs. Brimmer, as the
+Excelsior's cannon again thundered after the retiring oars, "like all of
+his order. He says, although Don Miguel does not speak French, that
+his secretary does; and we shall have no difficulty in making ourselves
+understood."
+
+"Then you really intend to go ashore?" said Miss Keene timidly.
+
+"Decidedly," returned Mrs. Brimmer potentially. "It would be most
+unpolite, not to say insulting, if we did not accept the invitation.
+You have no idea of the strictness of Spanish etiquette. Besides, he may
+have heard of Mr. Brimmer."
+
+"As his last information was only up to 1792, he might have forgotten
+it," said Crosby gravely. "So perhaps it would be safer to go on the
+general invitation."
+
+"As Mr. Brimmer's ancestors came over on the Mayflower, long before
+1792, it doesn't seem so very impossible, if it comes to that," said
+Mrs. Brimmer, with her usual unanswerable naivete; "provided always that
+you are not joking, Mr. Crosby. One never knows when you are serious."
+
+"Mrs. Brimmer is quite right; we must all go. This is no mere
+formality," said Senor Perkins, who had returned to the ladies. "Indeed,
+I have myself promised the Comandante to bring YOU," he turned towards
+Miss Keene, "if you will permit Mrs. Markham and myself to act as your
+escort. It was Don Miguel's express request."
+
+A slight flush of pride suffused the cheek of the young girl, but the
+next moment she turned diffidently towards Mrs. Brimmer.
+
+"We must all go together," she said; "shall we not?"
+
+"You see your triumphs have begun already," said Brace, with a nervous
+smile. "You need no longer laugh at me for predicting your fate in San
+Francisco."
+
+Miss Keene cast a hurried glance around her, in the faint hope--she
+scarcely knew why--that Mr. Hurlstone had overheard the Senor's
+invitation; nor could she tell why she was disappointed at not seeing
+him. But he had not appeared on deck during the presence of their
+strange visitors; nor was he in the boat which half an hour later
+conveyed her to the shore. He must have either gone in one of the other
+boats, or fulfilled his strange threat of remaining on the ship.
+
+The boats pulled away together towards the invisible shore, piloted by
+Captain Bunker, the first officer, and Senor Perkins in the foremost
+boat. It had grown warmer, and the fog that stole softly over them
+touched their faces with the tenderness of caressing fingers. Miss
+Keene, wrapped up in the stern sheets of the boat, gave way to the
+dreamy influence of this weird procession through the water, retaining
+only perception enough to be conscious of the singular illusions of the
+mist that alternately thickened and lightened before their bow. At times
+it seemed as if they were driving full upon a vast pier or breakwater of
+cold gray granite, that, opening to let the foremost boat pass, closed
+again before them; at times it seemed as if they had diverged from their
+course, and were once more upon the open sea, the horizon a far-off
+line of vanishing color; at times, faint lights seemed to pierce the
+gathering darkness, or to move like will-o'-wisps across the smooth
+surface, when suddenly the keel grated on the sand. A narrow but
+perfectly well defined strip of palpable strand appeared before them;
+they could faintly discern the moving lower limbs of figures whose
+bodies were still hidden in the mist; then they were lifted from the
+boats; the first few steps on dry land carried them out of the fog that
+seemed to rise like a sloping roof from the water's edge, leaving them
+under its canopy in the full light of actual torches held by a group of
+picturesquely dressed people before the vista of a faintly lit, narrow,
+ascending street. The dim twilight of the closing day lingered under
+this roof of fog, which seemed to hang scarcely a hundred feet above
+them, and showed a wall or rampart of brown adobe on their right that
+extended nearly to the water; to the left, at the distance of a few
+hundred yards, another low brown wall appeared; above it rose a fringe
+of foliage, and, more distant and indistinct, two white towers, that
+were lost in the nebulous gray.
+
+One of the figures dressed in green jackets, who seemed to be in
+authority, now advanced, and, after a moment's parley with Senor Perkins
+while the Excelsior's passengers were being collected from the different
+boats, courteously led the way along the wall of the fortification.
+Presently a low opening or gateway appeared, followed by the challenge
+of a green-jacketed sentry, and the sentence, "Dios y Libertad" It
+was repeated in the interior of a dusky courtyard, surrounded by a
+low corridor, where a dozen green-jacketed men of aboriginal type and
+complexion, carrying antique flintlocks, were drawn up as a guard of
+honor.
+
+"The Comandante," said Senor Perkins, "directs me to extend his
+apologies to the Senor Capitano Bunker for withholding the salute which
+is due alike to his country, himself, and his fair company; but fifty
+years of uninterrupted peace and fog have left his cannon inadequate to
+polite emergencies, and firmly fixed the tampion of his saluting gun.
+But he places the Presidio at your disposition; you will be pleased to
+make its acquaintance while it is still light; and he will await you in
+the guard-room."
+
+Left to themselves, the party dispersed like dismissed school-children
+through the courtyard and corridors, and in the enjoyment of their
+release from a month's confinement on shipboard stretched their cramped
+limbs over the ditches, walls, and parapets, to the edge of the glacis.
+
+Everywhere a ruin that was picturesque, a decay that was refined and
+gentle, a neglect that was graceful, met the eye; the sharp exterior and
+reentering angles were softly rounded and obliterated by overgrowths
+of semitropical creepers; the abatis was filled by a natural brake of
+scrub-oak and manzanita; the clematis flung its long scaling ladders
+over the escarpment, until Nature, slowly but securely investing
+the doomed fortress, had lifted a victorious banner of palm from the
+conquered summit of the citadel! Some strange convulsions of the earth
+had completed the victory; the barbette guns of carved and antique
+bronze commemorating fruitless and long-forgotten triumphs were
+dismounted; one turned in the cheeks of its carriage had a trunnion
+raised piteously in the air like an amputated stump; another, sinking
+through its rotting chassis, had buried itself to its chase in the
+crumbling adobe wall. But above and beyond this gentle chaos of defense
+stretched the real ramparts and escarpments of Todos Santos--the
+impenetrable and unassailable fog! Corroding its brass and iron with
+saline breath, rotting its wood with unending shadow, sapping its
+adobe walls with perpetual moisture, and nourishing the obliterating
+vegetation with its quickening blood, as if laughing to scorn the puny
+embattlements of men--it still bent around the crumbling ruins the
+tender grace of an invisible but all-encompassing arm.
+
+Senor Perkins, who had acted as cicerone to the party, pointed out these
+various mutations with no change from his usual optimism.
+
+"Protected by their peculiar isolation during the late war, there was
+no necessity for any real fortification of the place. Nevertheless, it
+affords some occupation and position for our kind friend, Don Miguel,
+and so serves a beneficial purpose. This little gun," he continued,
+stopping to attentively examine a small but beautifully carved bronze
+six-pounder, which showed indications of better care than the others,
+"seems to be the saluting-gun Don Miguel spoke of. For the last fifty
+years it has spoken only the language of politeness and courtesy, and
+yet through want of care the tampion, as you see, has become swollen and
+choked in its mouth."
+
+"How true in a larger sense," murmured Mrs. Markham, "the habit of
+courtesy alone preserves the fluency of the heart."
+
+"I know you two are saying something very clever," said Mrs. Brimmer,
+whose small French slippers and silk stockings were beginning to show
+their inadequacy to a twilight ramble in the fog; "but I am so slow, and
+I never catch the point. Do repeat it slowly."
+
+"The Senor was only showing us how they managed to shut up a smooth bore
+in this country," said Crosby gravely. "I wonder when we're going
+to have dinner. I suppose old Don Quixote will trot out some of his
+Senoritas. I want to see those choir girls that sang so stunningly a
+while ago."
+
+"I suppose you mean the boys--for they're all boys in the Catholic
+choirs--but then, perhaps you are joking again. Do tell me if you are,
+for this is really amusing. I may laugh--mayn't I?" As the discomfited
+humorist fell again to the rear amidst the laughter of the others, Mrs.
+Brimmer continued naively to Senor Perkins,--"Of course, as Don Miguel
+is a widower, there must be daughters or sisters-in-law who will meet
+us. Why, the priest, you know--even he--must have nieces. Really, it's
+a serious question--if we are to accept his hospitality in a social
+way. Why don't you ask HIM?" she said, pointing to the green-jacketed
+subaltern who was accompanying them.
+
+Senor Perkins looked half embarrassed.
+
+"Repeat your question, my dear lady, and I will translate it."
+
+"Ask him if there are any women at the Presidio."
+
+Senor Perkins drew the subaltern aside. Presently he turned to Mrs.
+Brimmer.
+
+"He says there are four: the wife of the baker, the wife of the saddler,
+the daughter of the trumpeter, and the niece of the cook."
+
+"Good heavens! we can't meet THEM," said Mrs. Brimmer.
+
+Senor Perkins hesitated.
+
+"Perhaps I ought to have told you," he said blandly, "that the old
+Spanish notions of etiquette are very strict. The wives of the officials
+and higher classes do not meet strangers on a first visit, unless they
+are well known."
+
+"That isn't it," said Winslow, joining them excitedly. "I've heard the
+whole story. It's a good joke. Banks has been bragging about us all, and
+saying that these ladies had husbands who were great merchants, and, as
+these chaps consider that all trade is vulgar, you know, they believe
+we are not fit to associate with their women, don't you see? All, except
+one--Miss Keene. She's considered all right. She's to be introduced to
+the Commander's women, and to the sister of the Alcalde."
+
+"She will do nothing of the kind," said Miss Keene indignantly. "If
+these ladies are not to be received with me, we'll all go back to the
+ship together."
+
+She spoke with a quick and perfectly unexpected resolution and
+independence, so foreign to her usual childlike half dependent
+character, that her hearers were astounded. Senor Perkins gazed at
+her thoughtfully; Brace, Crosby, and Winslow admiringly; her sister
+passengers with doubt and apprehension.
+
+"There must be some mistake," said Senor Perkins gently. "I will
+inquire."
+
+He was absent but a few moments. When he returned, his face was beaming.
+
+"It's a ridiculous misapprehension. Our practical friend Banks, in his
+zealous attempts to impress the Comandante's secretary, who knows a
+little English, with the importance of Mr. Brimmer's position as a large
+commission merchant, has, I fear, conveyed only the idea that he was a
+kind of pawnbroker; while Mr. Markham's trade in hides has established
+him as a tanner; and Mr. Banks' own flour speculations, of which he
+is justly proud, have been misinterpreted by him as the work of a
+successful baker!"
+
+"And what idea did he convey about YOU?" asked Crosby audaciously; "it
+might be interesting to us to know, for our own satisfaction."
+
+"I fear they did not do me the honor to inquire," replied Senor Perkins,
+with imperturbable good-humor; "there are some persons, you know, who
+carry all their worldly possessions palpably about with them. I am one
+of them. Call me a citizen of the world, with a strong leniency towards
+young and struggling nationalities; a traveler, at home anywhere; a
+delighted observer of all things, an admirer of brave men, the devoted
+slave of charming women--and you have, in one word, a passenger of the
+good ship Excelsior."
+
+For the first time, Miss Keene noticed a slight irony in Senor Perkins'
+superabundant fluency, and that he did not conceal his preoccupation
+over the silent saluting gun he was still admiring. The approach of Don
+Miguel and Padre Esteban with a small bevy of ladies, however, quickly
+changed her thoughts, and detached the Senor from her side. Her first
+swift feminine impression of the fair strangers was that they were plain
+and dowdy, an impression fully shared by the other lady passengers.
+But her second observation, that they were more gentle, fascinating,
+child-like, and feminine than her own countrywomen, was purely her own.
+Their loose, undulating figures, guiltless of stays; their extravagance
+of short, white, heavily flounced skirt, which looked like a petticoat;
+their lightly wrapped, formless, and hooded shoulders and heads, lent a
+suggestion of dishabille that Mrs. Brimmer at once resented.
+
+"They might, at least, have dressed themselves," she whispered to Mrs.
+Markham.
+
+"I really believe," returned Mrs. Markham, "they've got no bodices on!"
+
+The introductions over, a polyglot conversation ensued in French by the
+Padre and Mrs. Brimmer, and in broken English by Miss Chubb, Miss Keene,
+and the other passengers with the Commander's secretary, varied by
+occasional scraps of college Latin from Mr. Crosby, the whole aided by
+occasional appeals to Senor Perkins. The darkness increasing, the
+party reentered the courtyard, and, passing through the low-studded
+guard-room, entered another corridor, which looked upon a second
+court, enclosed on three sides, the fourth opening upon a broad plaza,
+evidently the public resort of the little town. Encompassing this open
+space, a few red-tiled roofs could be faintly seen in the gathering
+gloom. Chocolate and thin spiced cakes were served in the veranda,
+pending the preparations for a more formal banquet. Already Miss Keene
+had been singled out from her companions for the special attentions of
+her hosts, male and female, to her embarrassment and confusion. Already
+Dona Isabel, the sister of the Alcalde, had drawn her aside, and, with
+caressing frankness, had begun to question her in broken English,--
+
+"But Miss Keene is no name. The Dona Keene is of nothing."
+
+"Well, you may call me Eleanor, if you like," said Miss Keene, smiling.
+
+"Dona Leonor--so; that is good," said Dona Isabel, clapping her hands
+like a child. "But how are you?"
+
+"I beg your pardon," said Miss Keene, greatly amused, "but I don't
+understand."
+
+"Ah, Caramba! What are you, little one?" Seeing that her guest still
+looked puzzled, she continued,--"Ah! Mother of God! Why are your friends
+so polite to you? Why does every one love you so?"
+
+"Do they? Well," stammered Miss Keene, with one of her rare, dazzling
+smiles, and her cheeks girlishly rosy with naive embarrassment, "I
+suppose they think I am pretty."
+
+"Pretty! Ah, yes, you are!" said Dona Isabel, gazing at her curiously.
+"But it is not all that."
+
+"What is it, then?" asked Miss Keene demurely.
+
+"You are a--a--Dama de Grandeza!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+"HAIL AND FAREWELL."
+
+
+Supper was served in the inner room opening from the corridor lit by
+a few swinging lanterns of polished horn and a dozen wax candles of
+sacerdotal size and suggestion. The apartment, though spacious, was low
+and crypt-like, and was not relieved by the two deep oven-like hearths
+that warmed it without the play of firelight. But when the company had
+assembled it was evident that the velvet jackets, gold lace, silver
+buttons, and red sashes of the entertainers not only lost their tawdry
+and theatrical appearance in the half decorous and thoughtful gloom, but
+actually seemed more in harmony with it than the modern dresses of the
+guests. It was the Excelsior party who looked strange and bizarre in
+these surroundings; to the sensitive fancy of Miss Keene, Mrs. Brimmer's
+Parisian toilet had an air of provincial assumption; her own pretty
+Zouave jacket and black silk skirt horrified her with its apparent
+ostentatious eccentricity; and Mrs. Markham and Miss Chubb seemed
+dowdy and overdressed beside the satin mantillas and black lace of the
+Senoritas. Nor were the gentlemen less outres: the stiff correctness
+of Mr. Banks, and the lighter foppishness of Winslow and Crosby, not to
+mention Senor Perkins' more pronounced unconventionality, appeared as
+burlesques of their own characters in a play. The crowning contrast was
+reached by Captain Bunker, who, in accordance with the habits of the
+mercantile marine of that period when in port, wore a shore-going suit
+of black broadcloth, with a tall hat, high shirt collar, and diamond
+pin. Seated next to the Commander, it was no longer Don Miguel who
+looked old-fashioned, it was Captain Bunker who appeared impossible.
+
+Nevertheless, as the meal progressed, lightened by a sweet native wine
+made from the Mission grape, and stimulated by champagne--a present of
+Captain Bunker from the cabin lockers of the Excelsior--this contrast,
+and much of the restraint that it occasioned, seemed to melt away. The
+passengers became talkative; the Commander and his friends unbent, and
+grew sympathetic and inquiring. The temptation to recite the news of the
+last half century, and to recount the wonderful strides of civilization
+in that time, was too great to be resisted by the Excelsior party. That
+some of them--notwithstanding the caution of Senor Perkins--approached
+dangerously near the subject of the late war between the United States
+and Mexico, of which Todos Santos was supposed to be still ignorant,
+or that Crosby in particular seized upon this opportunity for humorous
+exaggeration, may be readily imagined. But as the translation of the
+humorist's speech, as well as the indiscretions of his companions, were
+left to the Senor, in Spanish, and to Mrs. Brimmer and Miss Keene, in
+French, any imminent danger to the harmony of the evening was averted.
+Don Ramon Ramirez, the Alcalde, a youngish man of evident distinction,
+sat next to Miss Keene, and monopolized her conversation with a certain
+curiosity that was both grave and childish in its frank trustfulness.
+Some of his questions were so simple and incompatible with his apparent
+intelligence that she unconsciously lowered her voice in answering them,
+in dread of the ridicule of her companions. She could not resist the
+impression, which repeatedly obtruded upon her imagination, that
+the entire population of Todos Santos were a party of lost children,
+forgotten by their parents, and grown to man and womanhood in utter
+ignorance of the world.
+
+The Commander had, half informally, drunk the health of Captain Bunker,
+without rising from his seat, when, to Miss Keene's alarm, Captain
+Bunker staggered to his feet. He had been drinking freely, as usual; but
+he was bent on indulging a loquacity which his discipline on shipboard
+had hitherto precluded, and which had, perhaps, strengthened his
+solitary habit. His speech was voluble and incoherent, complimentary and
+tactless, kindly and aggressive, courteous and dogmatic. It was left
+to Senor Perkins to translate it to the eye and ear of his host without
+incongruity or offense. This he did so admirably as to elicit not only
+the applause of the foreigners who did not understand English, but of
+his own countrymen who did not understand Spanish.
+
+"I feel," said Senor Perkins, in graceful peroration, "that I have
+done poor justice to the eloquence of this gallant sailor. My unhappy
+translation cannot offer you that voice, at times trembling with
+generous emotion, and again inaudible from excessive modesty in the
+presence of this illustrious assembly--those limbs that waver and bend
+under the undulations of the chivalrous sentiment which carries him away
+as if he were still on that powerful element he daily battles with and
+conquers."
+
+But when coffee and sweets were reached, the crowning triumph of Senor
+Perkins' oratory was achieved. After an impassioned burst of enthusiasm
+towards his hosts in their own tongue, he turned towards his own party
+with bland felicity.
+
+"And how is it with us, dear friends? We find ourselves not in the
+port we were seeking; not in the goal of our ambition, the haven of our
+hopes; but on the shores of the decaying past. 'Ever drifting' on one of
+those--
+
+                       'Shifting
+     Currents of the restless main,'
+
+if our fascinating friend Mrs. Brimmer will permit us to use the words
+of her accomplished fellow-townsman, H. W. Longfellow, of Boston--we
+find ourselves borne not to the busy hum and clatter of modern
+progress, but to the soft cadences of a dying crusade, and the hush of
+ecclesiastical repose. In place of the busy marts of commerce and
+the towering chimneys of labor, we have the ruined embattlements of a
+warlike age, and the crumbling church of an ancient Mission. Towards
+the close of an eventful voyage, during which we have been guided by the
+skillful hand and watchful eye of that gallant navigator Captain Bunker,
+we have turned aside from our onward course of progress to look back for
+a moment upon the faded footprints of those who have so long preceded
+us, who have lived according to their lights, and whose record is now
+before us. As I have just stated, our journey is near its end, and
+we may, in some sense, look upon this occasion, with its sumptuous
+entertainment, and its goodly company of gallant men and fair women, as
+a parting banquet. Our voyage has been a successful one. I do not now
+especially speak of the daring speculations of the distinguished husband
+of a beautiful lady whose delightful society is known to us all--need I
+say I refer to Quincy Brimmer, Esq., of Boston" (loud applause)--"whose
+successful fulfillment of a contract with the Peruvian Government, and
+the landing of munitions of war at Callao, has checked the uprising
+of the Quinquinambo insurgents? I do not refer especially to our
+keen-sighted business friend Mr. Banks" (applause), "who, by buying up
+all the flour in Callao, and shipping it to California, has virtually
+starved into submission the revolutionary party of Ariquipa--I do not
+refer to these admirable illustrations of the relations of commerce and
+politics, for this, my friends--this is history, and beyond my feeble
+praise. Let me rather speak of the social and literary triumphs of our
+little community, of our floating Arcadia--may I say Olympus? Where
+shall we find another Minerva like Mrs. Markham, another Thalia like
+Miss Chubb, another Juno like Mrs. Brimmer, worthy of the Jove-like
+Quincy Brimmer; another Queen of Love and Beauty like--like"--continued
+the gallant Senor, with an effective oratorical pause, and a profound
+obeisance to Miss Keene, "like one whose mantling maiden blushes forbid
+me to name?" (Prolonged applause.) "Where shall we find more worthy
+mortals to worship them than our young friends, the handsome Brace,
+the energetic Winslow, the humorous Crosby? When we look back upon our
+concerts and plays, our minstrel entertainments, with the incomparable
+performances of our friend Crosby as Brother Bones; our recitations,
+to which the genius of Mrs. M'Corkle, of Peoria, Illinois, has lent her
+charm and her manuscript" (a burlesque start of terror from Crosby),
+"I am forcibly impelled to quote the impassioned words from that gifted
+woman,--
+
+     'When idly Life's barque on the billows of Time,
+       Drifts hither and yon by eternity's sea;
+     On the swift feet of verse and the pinions of rhyme
+       My thoughts, Ulricardo, fly ever to thee!'"
+
+"Who's Ulricardo?" interrupted Crosby, with assumed eagerness, followed
+by a "hush!" from the ladies.
+
+"Perhaps I should have anticipated our friend's humorous question," said
+Senor Perkins, with unassailable good-humor. "Ulricardo, though not
+my own name, is a poetical substitute for it, and a mere figure of
+apostrophe. The poem is personal to myself," he continued, with a slight
+increase of color in his smooth cheek which did not escape the attention
+of the ladies,--"purely as an exigency of verse, and that the inspired
+authoress might more easily express herself to a friend. My acquaintance
+with Mrs. M'Corkle has been only epistolary. Pardon this digression, my
+friends, but an allusion to the muse of poetry did not seem to me to be
+inconsistent with our gathering here. Let me briefly conclude by saying
+that the occasion is a happy and memorable one; I think I echo the
+sentiment of all present when I add that it is one which will not be
+easily forgotten by either the grateful guests, whose feelings I have
+tried to express, or the chivalrous hosts, whose kindness I have already
+so feebly translated."
+
+In the applause that followed, and the clicking of glasses, Senor
+Perkins slipped away. He mingled a moment with some of the other guests
+who had already withdrawn to the corridor, lit a cigar, and then passed
+through a narrow doorway on to the ramparts. Here he strolled to some
+distance, as if in deep thought, until he reached a spot where the
+crumbling wall and its fallen debris afforded an easy descent into the
+ditch. Following the ditch, he turned an angle, and came upon the beach,
+and the low sound of oars in the invisible offing. A whistle brought the
+boat to his feet, and without a word he stepped into the stern sheets. A
+few strokes of the oars showed him that the fog had lifted slightly
+from the water, and a green light hanging from the side of the Excelsior
+could be plainly seen. Ten minutes' more steady pulling placed him on
+her deck, where the second officer stood with a number of the sailors
+listlessly grouped around him.
+
+"The landing has been completed?" said Senor Perkins interrogatively.
+
+"All except one boat-load more, which waits to take your final
+instructions," said the mate. "The men have growled a little about it,"
+he added, in a lower tone. "They don't want to lose anything, it seems,"
+he continued, with a half sarcastic laugh.
+
+Senor Perkins smiled peculiarly.
+
+"I am sorry to disappoint them. Who's that in the boat?" he asked
+suddenly.
+
+The mate followed the Senor's glance.
+
+"It is Yoto. He says he is going ashore, and you will not forbid him."
+
+Senor Perkins approached the ship's side.
+
+"Come here," he said to the man.
+
+The Peruvian sailor rose, but did not make the slightest movement to
+obey the command.
+
+"You say you are going ashore?" said Perkins blandly.
+
+"Yes, Patrono."
+
+"What for?"
+
+"To follow him--the thief, the assassin--who struck me here;" he pointed
+to his head. "He has escaped again with his booty."
+
+"You are very foolish, my Yoto; he is no thief, and has no booty. They
+will put YOU in prison, not him."
+
+"YOU say so," said the man surlily. "Perhaps they will hear me--for
+other things," he added significantly.
+
+"And for this you would abandon the cause?"
+
+The man shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"Why not?" he glanced meaningly at two of his companions, who had
+approached the side; "perhaps others would. Who is sending the booty
+ashore, eh?"
+
+"Come out of that boat," said the Senor, leaning over the bulwarks with
+folded arms, and his eyes firmly fixed on the man.
+
+The man did not move. But the Senor's hand suddenly flew to the back
+of his neck, smote violently downwards, and sent eighteen inches of
+glittering steel hurtling through the air. The bowie-knife entered
+the upturned throat of the man and buried itself halfway to the hilt.
+Without a gasp or groan he staggered forward, caught wildly at the side
+of the ship, and disappeared between the boat and the vessel.
+
+"My lads," said Senor Perkins, turning with a gentle smile towards the
+faces that in the light of the swinging lantern formed a ghastly circle
+around him, "when I boarded this ship that had brought aid and succor
+to our oppressors at Callao, I determined to take possession of it
+peacefully, without imperiling the peace and property of the innocent
+passengers who were intrusted to its care, and without endangering your
+own lives or freedom. But I made no allowance for TRAITORS. The blood
+that has been shed to-night has not been spilt in obedience to my
+orders, nor to the cause that we serve; it was from DEFIANCE of it; and
+the real and only culprit has just atoned for it."
+
+He stopped, and then stepped back from the gangway, as if to leave it
+open to the men.
+
+"What I have done," he continued calmly, "I do not ask you to consider
+either as an example or a warning. You are free to do what HE would have
+done," he repeated, with a wave of his hand towards the open gangway and
+the empty boat. "You are free to break your contract and leave the ship,
+and I give you my word that I will not lift a hand to prevent it. But if
+you stay with me," he said, suddenly turning upon them a face as livid
+as their own, "I swear by the living God, that, if between this and the
+accomplishment of my design, you as much as shirk or question any order
+given by me, you shall die the death of that dog who went before you.
+Choose as you please--but quickly."
+
+The mate was the first to move. Without a word, he crossed over to
+the Senor's side. The men hesitated a moment longer, until one, with
+a strange foreign cry, threw himself on his knees before the Senor,
+ejaculating, "Pardon! pardon!" The others followed, some impulsively
+catching at the hand that had just slain their comrade, and covering it
+with kisses!
+
+"Pardon, Patrono--we are yours."
+
+"You are the State's," said Senor Perkins coldly, with every vestige of
+his former urbanity gone from his colorless face. "Enough! Go back to
+your duty." He watched them slink away, and then turned to the mate.
+"Get the last boat-load ready, and report to me."
+
+From that moment another power seemed to dominate the ship. The men no
+longer moved listlessly, or slunk along the deck with perfunctory limbs;
+a feverish haste and eagerness possessed them; the boat was quickly
+loaded, and the mysterious debarkation completed in rapidity and
+silence. This done, the fog once more appeared to rise from the water
+and softly encompass the ship, until she seemed to be obliterated from
+its face. In this vague obscurity, from time to time, the faint rattling
+of chains was heard, the soft creaking of blocks, and later on, the
+regular rise and fall of oars. And then the darkness fell heavier, the
+sounds became more and more indistinct and were utterly lost.
+
+Ashore, however, the lanterns still glittered brightly in the courtyard
+of the Presidio; the noise of laughter and revel still came from the
+supper-room, and, later, the tinkling of guitars and rhythmical
+clapping hands showed that the festivities were being wound up by a
+characteristic fandango. Captain Bunker succumbed early to his potations
+of fiery aguardiente, and was put to bed in the room of the Commander,
+to whom he had sworn eternal friendship and alliance. It was long
+past midnight before the other guests were disposed of in the various
+quarters of the Presidio; but to the ladies were reserved the more
+ostentatious hospitalities of the Alcalde himself, the walls of whose
+ambitious hacienda raised themselves across the plaza and overlooked the
+gardens of the Mission.
+
+It was from one of the deep, quaintly barred windows of the hacienda
+that Miss Keene gazed thoughtfully on the night, unable to compose
+herself to sleep. An antique guest-chamber had been assigned to her in
+deference to her wish to be alone, for which she had declined the couch
+and vivacious prattle of her new friend, Dona Isabel. The events of the
+day had impressed her more deeply than they had her companions, partly
+from her peculiar inexperience of the world, and partly from her
+singular sensitiveness to external causes. The whole quaint story of
+the forgotten and isolated settlement, which had seemed to the other
+passengers as a trivial and half humorous incident, affected her
+imagination profoundly. When she could escape the attentions of her
+entertainers, or the frivolities of her companions, she tried to touch
+the far-off past on the wings of her fancy; she tried to imagine the
+life of those people, forgetting the world and forgotten by it; she
+endeavored to picture the fifty years of solitude amidst these decaying
+ruins, over which even ambition had crumbled and fallen. It seemed to
+her the true conventual seclusion from the world without the loss of
+kinship or home influences; she contrasted it with her boarding-school
+life in the fashionable seminary; she wondered what she would have
+become had she been brought up here; she thought of the happy ignorance
+of Dona Isabel, and--shuddered; and yet she felt herself examining
+the odd furniture of the room with an equally childlike and admiring
+curiosity. And these people looked upon HER as a superior being!
+
+From the deep embrasure of the window she could see the tops of the pear
+and olive trees, in the misty light of an invisible moon that suffused
+the old Mission garden with an ineffable and angelic radiance. To her
+religious fancy it seemed to be a spiritual effusion of the church
+itself, enveloping the two gray dome-shaped towers with an atmosphere
+and repose of its own, until it became the incarnate mystery and passion
+where it stood.
+
+She was suddenly startled by a moving shadow beside the wall, almost
+immediately below her--the figure of a man! He was stealing cautiously
+towards the church, as if to gain the concealment of the shrubbery
+that grew beside it, and, furtively glancing from side to side, looked
+towards her window. She unconsciously drew back, forgetting at the
+moment that her light was extinguished, and that it was impossible
+for the stranger to see her. But she had seen HIM, and in that instant
+recognized Mr. Hurlstone!
+
+Then he HAD come ashore, and secretly, for the other passengers believed
+him still on the ship! But what was he doing there?--and why had he not
+appeared with the others at the entertainment? She could understand
+his avoidance of them from what she knew of his reserved and unsocial
+habits; but when he could so naturally have remained on shipboard, she
+could not, at first, conceive why he should wish to prowl around the
+town at the risk of detection. The idea suddenly occurred to her that
+he had had another attack of his infirmity and was walking in his sleep,
+and for an instant she thought of alarming the house, that some one
+might go to his assistance. But his furtive movements had not the serene
+impassibility of the somnambulist. Another thought withheld her; he had
+looked up at her window! Did he know she was there? A faint stirring of
+shame and pleasure sent a slight color to her cheek. But he had gained
+the corner of the shrubbery and was lost in the shadow. She turned from
+the window. A gentle sense of vague and half maternal pity suffused her
+soft eyes as she at last sought her couch and fell into a deep slumber.
+
+Towards daybreak a wind arose over the sleeping town and far outlying
+waters. It breathed through the leaves of the Mission garden, brushed
+away the clinging mists from the angles of the towers, and restored
+the sharp outlines of the ruined fortifications. It swept across the
+unruffled sea to where the Excelsior, cradled in the softly heaving bay,
+had peacefully swung at anchor on the previous night, and lifted the
+snowy curtain of the fog to seaward as far as the fringe of surf, a
+league away.
+
+But the cradle of the deep was empty--the ship was gone!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+THE GENTLE CASTAWAYS.
+
+
+Miss Keene was awakened from a heavy sleep by a hurried shake of her
+shoulder and an indefinite feeling of alarm. Opening her eyes, she was
+momentarily dazed by the broad light of day, and the spectacle of Mrs.
+Brimmer, pale and agitated, in a half-Spanish dishabille, standing at
+her bedside.
+
+"Get up and dress yourself, my dear, at once," she said hurriedly, but
+at the same time attentively examining Miss Keene's clothes, that were
+lying on the chair: "and thank Heaven you came here in an afternoon
+dress, and not in an evening costume like mine! For something awful has
+happened, and Heaven only knows whether we'll ever see a stitch of our
+clothes again."
+
+"WHAT has happened?" asked Miss Keene impatiently, sitting up in bed,
+more alarmed at the unusual circumstance of Mrs. Brimmer's unfinished
+toilet than at her incomplete speech.
+
+"What, indeed! Nobody knows; but it's something awful--a mutiny, or
+shipwreck, or piracy. But there's your friend, the Commander, calling
+out the troops; and such a set of Christy Minstrels you never saw
+before! There's the Alcalde summoning the Council; there's Mr. Banks
+raving, and running round for a steamboat--as if these people ever heard
+of such a thing!--and Captain Bunker, what with rage and drink, gone
+off in a fit of delirium tremens, and locked up in his room! And the
+Excelsior gone--the Lord knows where!"
+
+"Gone!" repeated Miss Keene, hurrying on her clothes. "Impossible! What
+does Father Esteban tell you? What does Dona Isabel say?"
+
+"That's the most horrible part of it! Do you know those wretched idiots
+believe it's some political revolution among ourselves, like their own
+miserable government. I believe that baby Isabel thinks that King
+George and Washington have something to do with it; at any rate, they're
+anxious to know to what side you belong! So; for goodness' sake! if you
+have to humor them, say we're all on the same side--I mean, don't you
+and Mrs. Markham go against Miss Chubb and me."
+
+Scarcely knowing whether to laugh or cry at Mrs. Brimmer's incoherent
+statement, Miss Keene hastily finished dressing as the door flew open to
+admit the impulsive Dona Isabel and her sister Juanita. The two Mexican
+girls threw themselves in Miss Keene's arms, and then suddenly drew back
+with a movement of bashful and diffident respect.
+
+"Do, pray, ask them, for I daren't," whispered Mrs. Brimmer, trying
+to clasp a mantilla around her, "how this thing is worn, and if they
+haven't got something like a decent bonnet to lend me for a day or two?"
+
+"The Senora has not then heard that her goods, and all the goods of
+the Senores and Senoras, have been discovered safely put ashore at the
+Embarcadero?"
+
+"No?" said Mrs. Brimmer eagerly.
+
+"Ah, yes!" responded Dona Isabel. "Since the Senora is not of the
+revolutionary party."
+
+Mrs. Brimmer cast a supplicatory look at Miss Keene, and hastily quitted
+the room. Miss Keene would have as quickly followed her, but the young
+Ramirez girls threw themselves again tragically upon her breast, and,
+with a mysterious gesture of silence, whispered,--
+
+"Fear nothing, Excellencia! We are yours--we will die for you, no matter
+what Don Ramon, or the Comandante, or the Ayuntamiento, shall decide.
+Trust us, little one!--pardon--Excellencia, we mean."
+
+"What IS the matter?" said Miss Keene, now thoroughly alarmed, and
+releasing herself from the twining arms about her. "For Heaven's sake
+let me go! I must see somebody! Where is--where is Mrs. Markham?"
+
+"The Markham? Is it the severe one?--as thus,"--said Dona Isabel,
+striking an attitude of infantine portentousness.
+
+"Yes," said Miss Keene, smiling in spite of her alarm.
+
+"She is arrested."
+
+"Arrested!" said Eleanor Keene, her cheeks aflame with indignation. "For
+what? Who dare do this thing?"
+
+"The Comandante. She has a missive--a despatch from the
+insurrectionaries."
+
+Without another word, and feeling that she could stand the suspense no
+longer, Miss Keene forced her way past the young girls, unheeding their
+cries of consternation and apology, and quickly reached the patio.
+A single glance showed her that Mrs. Brimmer was gone. With eyes and
+cheeks still burning, she swept past the astounded peons, through the
+gateway, into the open plaza. Only one idea filled her mind--to see the
+Commander, and demand the release of her friend. How she should do it,
+with what arguments she should enforce her demand, never occurred to
+her. She did not even think of asking the assistance of Mr. Brace, Mr.
+Crosby, or any of her fellow-passengers. The consciousness of some vague
+crisis that she alone could meet possessed her completely.
+
+The plaza was swarming with a strange rabble of peons and soldiery; of
+dark, lowering faces, odd-looking weapons and costumes, mules, mustangs,
+and cattle--a heterogeneous mass, swayed by some fierce excitement. That
+she saw none of the Excelsior party among them did not surprise her;
+an instinct of some catastrophe more serious than Mrs. Brimmer's vague
+imaginings frightened but exalted her. With head erect, leveled brows,
+and bright, determined eyes she walked deliberately into the square.
+The crowd parted and gave way before this beautiful girl, with her bared
+head and its invincible crest of chestnut curls. Presently they began
+to follow her, with a compressed murmur of admiration, until, before
+she was halfway across the plaza, the sentries beside the gateway of the
+Presidio were astonished at the vision of a fair-haired and triumphant
+Pallas, who appeared to be leading the entire population of Todos Santos
+to victorious attack. In vain a solitary bugle blew, in vain the rolling
+drum beat an alarm, the sympathetic guard only presented arms as Miss
+Keene, flushed and excited, her eyes darkly humid with gratified pride,
+swept past them into the actual presence of the bewildered and indignant
+Comandante.
+
+The only feminine consciousness she retained was that she was more
+relieved at her deliverance from the wild cattle and unbroken horses of
+her progress than from the Indians and soldiers.
+
+"I want to see Mrs. Markham, and to know by what authority she is
+arrested," said Miss Keene boldly.
+
+"The Senor Comandante can hold no conference with you until you disperse
+your party," interpreted the secretary.
+
+She was about to hurriedly reply that she knew nothing of the crowd that
+had accompanied her; but she was withheld by a newly-born instinct of
+tact.
+
+"How do I know that I shall not be arrested, like my friend?" she said
+quickly. "She is as innocent as myself."
+
+"The Comandante pledges himself, as a hidalgo, that you shall not be
+harmed."
+
+Her first impulse was to advance to the nearest intruders at the gate
+and say, "Do go away, please;" but she was doubtful of its efficiency,
+and was already too exalted by the situation to be satisfied with its
+prosaic weakness. But her newly developed diplomacy again came to her
+aid. "You may tell them so, if you choose, I cannot answer for them,"
+she said, with apparent dark significance.
+
+The secretary advanced on the corridor and exchanged a few words with
+her more impulsive followers. Miss Keene, goddess-like and beautiful,
+remained erect behind him, and sent them a dazzling smile and ravishing
+wave of her little hand. The crowd roared with an effusive and bovine
+delight that half frightened her, and with a dozen "Viva la Reyna
+Americanas!" she was hurried by the Comandante into the guard-room.
+
+"You ask to know of what the Senora Markham is accused," said the
+Commander, more gently. "She has received correspondence from the
+pirate--Perkins!"
+
+"The pirate--Perkins?" said Miss Keene, with indignant incredulity.
+
+"The buccaneer who wrote that letter. Read it to her, Manuel."
+
+The secretary took his eyes from the young girl's glowing face, coughed
+slightly, and then read as follows:--
+
+
+"ON BOARD THE EXCELSIOR, of the Quinquinambo Independent States Navy,
+August 8, 1854.
+
+"To Captain Bunker.--Sir," . . .
+
+"But this is not addressed to YOU!" interrupted Miss Keene indignantly.
+
+"The Captain Bunker is a raving madman," said the Commander gravely.
+"Read on!"
+
+The color gradually faded from the young girl's cheek as the secretary
+continued, in a monotonous voice:--
+
+"I have the honor to inform you that the barque Excelsior was, on the
+8th of July, 1854, and the first year of the Quinquinambo Independence,
+formally condemned by the Federal Council of Quinquinambo, for having
+aided and assisted the enemy with munitions of war and supplies, against
+the law of nations, and the tacit and implied good-will between the
+Republic of the United States and the struggling Confederacies of South
+America; and that, in pursuance thereof, and under the law of reprisals
+and letters of marque, was taken possession of by me yesterday. The
+goods and personal effects belonging to the passengers and yourself
+have been safely landed at the Embarcadero of Todos Santos--a neutral
+port--by my directions; my interpretation of the orders of the Federal
+Council excepting innocent non-combatants and their official protector
+from confiscation or amercement.
+
+"I take the liberty of requesting you to hand the inclosed order on the
+Treasury of the Quinquinambo Confederate States to Don Miguel Briones,
+in payment of certain stores and provisions, and of a piece of
+ordnance known as the saluting cannon of the Presidio of Todos Santos.
+Vigilancia!
+
+"Your obedient servant,
+
+"LEONIDAS BOLIVAR PERKINS,
+
+"Generalissimo Commanding Land and Sea Forces, Quinquinambo Independent
+States."
+
+
+In her consternation at this fuller realization of the vague
+catastrophe, Miss Keene still clung to the idea that had brought her
+there.
+
+"But Mrs. Markham has nothing to do with all this?"
+
+"Then why does she refuse to give up her secret correspondence with the
+pirate Perkins?" returned the secretary.
+
+Miss Keene hesitated. Had Mrs. Markham any previous knowledge of the
+Senor's real character?
+
+"Why don't you arrest the men?" she said scornfully. "There is Mr.
+Banks, Mr. Crosby, Mr. Winslow, and Mr. Brace." She uttered the last
+name more contemptuously, as she thought of that young gentleman's
+protestations and her present unprotected isolation.
+
+"They are already arrested and removed to San Antonio, a league hence,"
+returned the secretary. "It is fact enough that they have confessed that
+their Government has seized the Mexican province of California, and that
+they were on their way to take possession of it."
+
+Miss Keene's heart sank.
+
+"But you knew all this yesterday," she faltered; "and our war with
+Mexico is all over years ago."
+
+"We did not know it last night at the banquet, Senora; nor would we have
+known it but for this treason and division in your own party."
+
+A sudden light flashed upon Miss Keene's mind. She now comprehended the
+advances of Dona Isabel. Extravagant and monstrous as it seemed, these
+people evidently believed that a revolution had taken place in the
+United States; that the two opposing parties had been represented by the
+passengers of the Excelsior; and that one party had succeeded, headed by
+the indomitable Perkins. If she could be able to convince them of
+their blunder, would it be wise to do so? She thought of Mrs. Brimmer's
+supplication to be ranged "on her side," and realized with feminine
+quickness that the situation might be turned to her countrymen's
+advantage. But which side had Todos Santos favored? It was left to her
+woman's wit to discover this, and conceive a plan to rescue her helpless
+companions.
+
+Her suspense was quickly relieved. The Commander and his secretary
+exchanged a few words.
+
+"The Comandante will grant Dona Leonora's request," said the secretary,
+"if she will answer a question."
+
+"What is it?" responded Miss Keene, with inward trepidation.
+
+"The Senora Markham is perhaps beloved by the Pirate Perkins?"
+
+In spite of her danger, in spite of the uncertain fate hanging over
+her party, Miss Keene could with difficulty repress a half hysterical
+inclination to laugh. Even then, it escaped in a sudden twinkle of her
+eye, which both the Commander and his subordinate were quick to notice,
+as she replied demurely, "Perhaps."
+
+It was enough for the Commander. A gleam of antique archness and
+venerable raillery lit up his murky, tobacco-colored pupils; a spasm of
+gallantry crossed the face of the secretary.
+
+"Ah--what would you?--it is the way of the world," said the Commander.
+"We comprehend. Come!"
+
+He led the way across the corridor, and suddenly opened a small
+barred door. Whatever preconceived idea Miss Keene may have had of her
+unfortunate country-woman immured in a noisome cell, and guarded by
+a stern jailer, was quite dissipated by the soft misty sunshine that
+flowed in through the open door. The prison of Mrs. Markham was a part
+of the old glacis which had been allowed to lapse into a wild garden
+that stretched to the edge of the sea. There was a summer-house built
+on--and partly from--a crumbling bastion, and here, under the shade of
+tropical creepers, the melancholy captive was comfortably writing,
+with her portable desk on her knee, and a traveling-bag at her feet.
+A Saratoga trunk of obtrusive proportions stood in the centre of the
+peaceful vegetation, like a newly raised altar to an unknown deity. The
+only suggestion of martial surveillance was an Indian soldier, whose
+musket, reposing on the ground near Mrs. Markham, he had exchanged for
+the rude mattock with which he was quietly digging.
+
+The two women, with a cry of relief, flew into each other's arms. The
+Commander and his secretary discreetly retired to an angle of the wall.
+
+"I find everything as I left it, my dear, even to my slipper-bag," said
+Mrs. Markham. "They've forgotten nothing."
+
+"But you are a captive!" said Eleanor. "What does it mean?"
+
+"Nothing, my dear. I gave them a piece of my mind," said Mrs. Markham,
+looking, however, as if that mental offering had by no means exhausted
+her capital, "and I have written six pages to the Governor at Mazatlan,
+and a full account to Mr. Markham."
+
+"And they won't get them in thirty years!" said Miss Keene impetuously.
+"But where is this letter from Senor Perkins. And, for Heaven's sake,
+tell me if you had the least suspicion before of anything that has
+happened."
+
+"Not in the least. The man is mad, my dear, and I really believe driven
+so by that absurd Illinois woman's poetry. Did you ever see anything
+so ridiculous--and shameful, too--as the 'Ulricardo' business? I don't
+wonder he colored so."
+
+Miss Keene winced with annoyance. Was everybody going crazy, or was
+there anything more in this catastrophe that had only enfeebled the
+minds of her countrywomen! For here was the severe, strong-minded Mrs.
+Markham actually preoccupied, like Mrs. Brimmer, with utterly irrelevant
+particulars, and apparently powerless to grasp the fact that they were
+abandoned on a half hostile strand, and cut off by half a century from
+the rest of the world.
+
+"As to the letter," said Mrs. Markham, quietly, "there it is. There's
+nothing in it that might not have been written by a friend."
+
+Miss Keene took the letter. It was written in a delicate, almost
+feminine hand. She could not help noticing that in one or two instances
+corrections had been made and blots carefully removed with an eraser.
+
+
+"Midnight, on the Excelsior.
+
+"MY FRIEND: When you receive this I shall probably be once more on the
+bosom of that mysterious and mighty element whose majesty has impressed
+us, whose poetry we have loved, and whose moral lessons, I trust, have
+not been entirely thrown away upon us. I go to the deliverance of one of
+those oppressed nations whose history I have often recited to you,
+and in whose destiny you have from time to time expressed a womanly
+sympathy. While it is probable, therefore, that my MOTIVES may not be
+misunderstood by you, or even other dear friends of the Excelsior, it is
+by no means impossible that the celerity and unexpectedness of my ACTION
+may not be perfectly appreciated by the careless mind, and may seem
+to require some explanation. Let me then briefly say that the idea of
+debarking your goods and chattels, and parting from your delightful
+company at Todos Santos, only occurred to me on our unexpected--shall I
+say PROVIDENTIAL?--arrival at that spot; and the necessity of expedition
+forbade me either inviting your cooperation or soliciting your
+confidence. Human intelligence is variously constituted--or, to use a
+more homely phrase, 'many men have many minds'--and it is not impossible
+that a premature disclosure of my plans might have jeopardized that
+harmony which you know it has been my desire to promote. It was my
+original intention to have landed you at Mazatlan, a place really
+inferior in climate and natural attractions to Todo Santos, although,
+perhaps, more easy of access and egress; but the presence of an American
+steamer in the offing would have invested my enterprise with a certain
+publicity foreign, I think, to all our tastes. Taking advantage,
+therefore, of my knowledge of the peninsular coast, and the pardonable
+ignorance of Captain Bunker, I endeavored, through my faithful
+subordinates, to reach a less known port, and a coast rarely
+frequented by reason of its prevailing fog. Here occurred one of those
+dispensations of an overruling power which, dear friend, we have so
+often discussed. We fell in with an unknown current, and were guided by
+a mysterious hand into the bay of Todos Santos!
+
+"You know of my belief in the infinite wisdom and benignity of events;
+you have, dear friend, with certain feminine limitations, shared it with
+me. Could there have been a more perfect illustration of it than the
+power that led us here? On a shore, historic in interest, beautiful
+in climate, hospitable in its people, utterly freed from external
+influences, and absolutely without a compromising future, you are
+landed, my dear friend, with your youthful companions. From the
+crumbling ruins of a decaying Past you are called to construct an
+Arcadia of your own; the rudiments of a new civilization are within your
+grasp; the cost of existence is comparatively trifling; the various
+sums you have with you, which even in the chaos of revolution I have
+succeeded in keeping intact, will more than suffice to your natural
+wants for years to come. Were I not already devoted to the task of
+freeing Quinquinambo, I should willingly share this Elysium with you
+all. But, to use the glowing words of Mrs. M'Corkle, slightly altering
+the refrain--
+
+     'Ah, stay me not!  With flying feet
+     O'er desert sands, I rush to greet
+     My fate, my love, my life, my sweet
+       Quinquinambo!'
+
+"I venture to intrust to your care two unpublished manuscripts of that
+gifted woman. The dangers that may environ my present mission, the
+vicissitudes of battle by sea or land, forbid my imperiling their
+natural descent to posterity. You, my dear friend, will preserve them
+for the ages to come, occasionally refreshing yourself, from time to
+time, from that Parnassian spring.
+
+"Adieu! my friend. I look around the familiar cabin, and miss your
+gentle faces. I feel as Jason might have felt, alone on the deck of the
+Argo when his companions were ashore, except that I know of no Circean
+influences to mar their destiny. In examining the state-rooms to see if
+my orders for the complete restoration of passengers' property had been
+carried out, I allowed myself to look into yours. Lying alone, forgotten
+and overlooked, I saw a peculiar jet hair-pin which I think I have
+observed in the coils of your tresses. May I venture to keep this gentle
+instrument as a reminder of the superior intellect it has so often
+crowned? Adieu, my friend.
+
+"Ever yours, LEONIDAS BOLIVAR PERKINS."
+
+
+"Well?" said Mrs. Markham impatiently, as Miss Keene remained motionless
+with the letter in her hand.
+
+"It seems like a ridiculous nightmare! I can't understand it at all. The
+man that wrote this letter may be mad--but he is neither a pirate nor a
+thief--and yet"--
+
+"He a pirate?" echoed Mrs. Markham indignantly; "He's nothing of the
+kind! It's not even his FAULT!"
+
+"Not his fault?" repeated Miss Keene; "are you mad, too?"
+
+"No--nor a fool, my dear! Don't you see? It's all the fault of Banks and
+Brimmer for compromising the vessel: of that stupid, drunken captain for
+permitting it. Senor Perkins is a liberator, a patriot, who has periled
+himself and his country to treat us magnanimously. Don't you see it?
+It's like that Banks and that Mrs. Brimmer to call HIM a pirate! I've a
+good mind to give the Commander my opinion of THEM."
+
+"Hush!" said Miss Keene, with a sudden recollection of the Commander's
+suspicions, "for Heaven's sake; you do not know what you are saying.
+Look! they were talking with that strange man, and now they are coming
+this way."
+
+The Commander and his secretary approached them. They were both more
+than usually grave; but the look of inquiry and suspicion with which
+they regarded the two women was gone from their eyes.
+
+"The Senor Comandante says you are free, Senoras, and begs you will only
+decide whether you will remain his guests or the guests of the Alcalde.
+But for the present he cannot allow you any communication with the
+prisoners of San Antonio."
+
+"There is further news?" said Miss Keene faintly, with a presentiment of
+worse complications.
+
+"There is! A body from the Excelsior has been washed on shore."
+
+The two women turned pale.
+
+"In the pocket of the murdered man is an accusation against one Senor
+Hurlstone, who was concealed on the ship; who came not ashore openly
+with the other passengers, but who escaped in secret, and is now hiding
+somewhere in Todos Santos."
+
+"And you suspect him of this infamous act?" said Eleanor, forgetting
+all prudence in her indignation. "You are deceiving yourself. He is as
+innocent as I am!"
+
+The Commander and the secretary smiled sapiently, but gently.
+
+"The Senor Comandante believes you, Dona Leonora: the Senor Hurlstone
+is innocent of the piracy. He is, of a surety, the leader of the
+Opposition."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+IN SANCTUARY.
+
+
+When James Hurlstone reached the shelter of the shrubbery he leaned
+exhaustedly against the adobe wall, and looked back upon the garden
+he had just traversed. At its lower extremity a tall hedge of cactus
+reinforced the crumbling wall with a cheval de frise of bristling
+thorns; it was through a gap in this green barrier that he had found his
+way a few hours before, as his torn clothes still testified. At one side
+ran the low wall of the Alcalde's casa, a mere line of dark shadow in
+that strange diaphanous mist that seemed to suffuse all objects. The
+gnarled and twisted branches of pear-trees, gouty with old age, bent
+so low as to impede any progress under their formal avenues; out of a
+tangled labyrinth of figtrees, here and there a single plume of feathery
+palm swam in a drowsy upper radiance. The shrubbery around him, of some
+unknown variety, exhaled a faint perfume; he put out his hand to grasp
+what appeared to be a young catalpa, and found it the trunk of an
+enormous passion vine, that, creeping softly upward, had at last invaded
+the very belfry of the dim tower above him; and touching it, his soul
+seemed to be lifted with it out of the shadow.
+
+The great hush and quiet that had fallen like a benediction on every
+sleeping thing around him; the deep and passionless repose that seemed
+to drop from the bending boughs of the venerable trees; the cool,
+restful, earthy breath of the shadowed mold beneath him, touched only by
+a faint jessamine-like perfume as of a dead passion, lulled the hurried
+beatings of his heart and calmed the feverish tremor of his limbs. He
+allowed himself to sink back against the wall, his hands tightly clasped
+before him. Gradually, the set, abstracted look of his eyes faded and
+became suffused, as if moistened by that celestial mist. Then he rose
+quickly, drew his sleeve hurriedly across his lashes, and began slowly
+to creep along the wall again.
+
+Either the obscurity of the shrubbery became greater or he was growing
+preoccupied; but in steadying himself by the wall he had, without
+perceiving it, put his hand upon a rude door that, yielding to his
+pressure, opened noiselessly into a dark passage. Without apparent
+reflection he entered, followed the passage a few steps until it turned
+abruptly; turning with it, he found himself in the body of the Mission
+Church of Todos Santos. A swinging-lamp, that burned perpetually before
+an effigy of the Virgin Mother, threw a faint light on the single
+rose-window behind the high altar; another, suspended in a low archway,
+apparently lit the open door of the passage towards the refectory. By
+the stronger light of the latter Hurlstone could see the barbaric red
+and tarnished gold of the rafters that formed the straight roof. The
+walls were striped with equally bizarre coloring, half Moorish and half
+Indian. A few hangings of dyed and painted cloths with heavy fringes
+were disposed on either side of the chancel, like the flaps of a wigwam;
+and the aboriginal suggestion was further repeated in a quantity of
+colored beads and sea-shells that decked the communion-rails. The
+Stations of the Cross, along the walls, were commemorated by paintings,
+evidently by a native artist--to suit the same barbaric taste; while a
+larger picture of San Francisco d'Assisis, under the choir, seemed
+to belong to an older and more artistic civilization. But the sombre
+half-light of the two lamps mellowed and softened the harsh contrast of
+these details until the whole body of the church appeared filled with a
+vague harmonious shadow. The air, heavy with the odors of past incense,
+seemed to be a part of that expression, as if the solemn and sympathetic
+twilight became palpable in each deep, long-drawn inspiration.
+
+Again overcome by the feeling of repose and peacefulness, Hurlstone sank
+upon a rude settle, and bent his head and folded arms over a low railing
+before him. How long he sat there, allowing the subtle influence to
+transfuse and possess his entire being, he did not know. The faint
+twitter of birds suddenly awoke him. Looking up, he perceived that it
+came from the vacant square of the tower above him, open to the night
+and suffused with its mysterious radiance. In another moment the roof of
+the church was swiftly crossed and recrossed with tiny and adventurous
+wings. The mysterious light had taken an opaline color. Morning was
+breaking.
+
+The slow rustling of a garment, accompanied by a soft but heavy tread,
+sounded from the passage. He started to his feet as the priest, whom
+he had seen on the deck of the Excelsior, entered the church from the
+refectory. The Padre was alone. At the apparition of a stranger, torn
+and disheveled, he stopped involuntarily and cast a hasty look towards
+the heavy silver ornaments on the altar. Hurlstone noticed it, and
+smiled bitterly.
+
+"Don't alarm yourself. I only sought this place for shelter."
+
+He spoke in French--the language he had heard Padre Esteban address to
+Mrs. Brimmer. But the priest's quick eye had already detected his own
+mistake. He lifted his hand with a sublime gesture towards the altar,
+and said,--
+
+"You are right! Where should you seek shelter but here?"
+
+The reply was so unexpected that Hurlstone was silent. His lips quivered
+slightly.
+
+"And if it were SANCTUARY I was seeking?" he said.
+
+"You would first tell me why you sought it," said Padre Esteban gently.
+
+Hurlstone looked at him irresolutely for a moment and then said, with
+the hopeless desperation of a man anxious to anticipate his fate,--
+
+"I am a passenger on the ship you boarded yesterday. I came ashore with
+the intention of concealing myself somewhere here until she had sailed.
+When I tell you that I am not a fugitive from justice, that I have
+committed no offense against the ship or her passengers, nor have I
+any intention of doing so, but that I only wish concealment from their
+knowledge for twenty-four hours, you will know enough to understand that
+you run no risk in giving me assistance. I can tell you no more."
+
+"I did not see you with the other passengers, either on the ship or
+ashore," said the priest. "How did you come here?"
+
+"I swam ashore before they left. I did not know they had any idea of
+landing here; I expected to be the only one, and there would have been
+no need for concealment then. But I am not lucky," he added, with a
+bitter laugh.
+
+The priest glanced at his garments, which bore the traces of the sea,
+but remained silent.
+
+"Do you think I am lying?"
+
+The old priest lifted his head with a gesture.
+
+"Not to me--but to God!"
+
+The young man followed the gesture, and glanced around the barbaric
+church with a slight look of scorn. But the profound isolation, the
+mystic seclusion, and, above all, the complete obliteration of that
+world and civilization he shrank from and despised, again subdued and
+overcame his rebellious spirit. He lifted his eyes to the priest.
+
+"Nor to God," he said gravely.
+
+"Then why withhold anything from Him here?" said the priest gently.
+
+"I am not a Catholic--I do not believe in confession," said Hurlstone
+doggedly, turning aside.
+
+But Padre Esteban laid his large brown hand on the young man's shoulder.
+Touched by some occult suggestion in its soft contact, he sank again
+into his seat.
+
+"Yet you ask for the sanctuary of His house--a sanctuary bought by that
+contrition whose first expression is the bared and open soul! To the
+first worldly shelter you sought--the peon's hut or the Alcalde's
+casa--you would have thought it necessary to bring a story. You would
+not conceal from the physician whom you asked for balsam either the
+wound, the symptoms, or the cause? Enough," he said kindly, as Hurlstone
+was about to reply. "You shall have your request. You shall stay here. I
+will be your physician, and will salve your wounds; if any poison I know
+not of rankle there, you will not blame me, son, but perhaps you will
+assist me to find it. I will give you a secluded cell in the dormitory
+until the ship has sailed. And then"--
+
+He dropped quietly on the settle, took the young man's hand paternally
+in his own, and gazed into his eyes as if he read his soul.
+
+And then . . . Ah, yes . . . What then? Hurlstone glanced once more
+around him. He thought of the quiet night; of the great peace that had
+fallen upon him since he had entered the garden, and the promise of
+a greater peace that seemed to breathe with the incense from those
+venerable walls. He thought of that crumbling barrier, that even in its
+ruin seemed to shut out, more completely than anything he had conceived,
+his bitter past, and the bitter world that recalled it. He thought of
+the long days to come, when, forgetting and forgotten, he might find a
+new life among these simple aliens, themselves forgotten by the world.
+He had thought of this once before in the garden; it occurred to him
+again in this Lethe-like oblivion of the little church, in the kindly
+pressure of the priest's hand. The ornaments no longer looked
+uncouth and barbaric--rather they seemed full of some new spiritual
+significance. He suddenly lifted his eyes to Padre Esteban, and, half
+rising to his feet, said,--
+
+"Are we alone?"
+
+"We are; it is a half-hour yet before mass," said the priest.
+
+"My story will not last so long," said the young man hurriedly, as if
+fearing to change his mind. "Hear me, then--it is no crime nor offense
+to any one; more than that, it concerns no one but myself--it is of"--
+
+"A woman," said the priest softly. "So! we will sit down, my son."
+
+He lifted his hand with a soothing gesture--the movement of a physician
+who has just arrived at an easy diagnosis of certain uneasy symptoms.
+There was also a slight suggestion of an habitual toleration, as if
+even the seclusion of Todos Santos had not been entirely free from the
+invasion of the primal passion.
+
+Hurlstone waited for an instant, but then went on rapidly.
+
+"It is of a woman, who has cursed my life, blasted my prospects, and
+ruined my youth; a woman who gained my early affection only to blight
+and wither it; a woman who should be nearer to me and dearer than all
+else, and yet who is further than the uttermost depths of hell from me
+in sympathy or feeling; a woman that I should cleave to, but from whom
+I have been flying, ready to face shame, disgrace, oblivion, even that
+death which alone can part us: for that woman is--my wife."
+
+He stopped, out of breath, with fixed eyes and a rigid mouth. Father
+Esteban drew a snuff-box from his pocket, and a large handkerchief.
+After blowing his nose violently, he took a pinch of snuff, wiped his
+lip, and replaced the box.
+
+"A bad habit, my son," he said apologetically, "but an old man's
+weakness. Go on."
+
+"I met her first five years ago--the wife of another man. Don't misjudge
+me, it was no lawless passion; it was a friendship, I believed, due to
+her intellectual qualities as much as to her womanly fascinations; for I
+was a young student, lodging in the same house with her, in an academic
+town. Before I ever spoke to her of love, she had confided to me her own
+unhappiness--the uncongeniality of her married life, the harshness, and
+even brutality, of her husband. Even a man less in love than I was could
+have seen the truth of this--the contrast of the coarse, sensual, and
+vulgar man with an apparently refined and intelligent woman; but any one
+else except myself would have suspected that such a union was not
+merely a sacrifice of the woman. I believed her. It was not until long
+afterwards that I learned that her marriage had been a condonation of
+her youthful errors by a complaisant bridegroom; that her character
+had been saved by a union that was a mutual concession. But I loved her
+madly; and when she finally got a divorce from her uncongenial husband,
+I believed it less an expression of her love for me than an act of
+justice. I did not know at the time that they had arranged the divorce
+together, as they had arranged their marriage, by equal concessions.
+
+"I was the only son of a widowed mother, whose instincts were from
+the first opposed to my friendship with this woman, and what she
+prophetically felt would be its result. Unfortunately, both she and my
+friends were foolish enough to avow their belief that the divorce was
+obtained solely with a view of securing me as a successor; and it
+was this argument more than any other that convinced me of my duty to
+protect her. Enough, I married, not only in spite of all opposition--but
+BECAUSE of it.
+
+"My mother would have reconciled herself to the marriage, but my wife
+never forgave the opposition, and, by some hellish instinct divining
+that her power over me might be weakened by maternal influence,
+precipitated a quarrel which forever separated us. With the little
+capital left by my father, divided between my mother and myself, I took
+my wife to a western city. Our small income speedily dwindled under
+the debts of her former husband, which she had assumed to purchase
+her freedom. I endeavored to utilize a good education and some
+accomplishments in music and the languages by giving lessons and
+by contributing to the press. In this my wife first made a show of
+assisting me, but I was not long in discovering that her intelligence
+was superficial and shallow, and that the audacity of expression,
+which I had believed to be originality of conviction, was simply
+shamelessness, and a desire for notoriety. She had a facility in writing
+sentimental poetry, which had been efficacious in her matrimonial
+confidences, but which editors of magazines and newspapers found to be
+shallow and insincere. To my astonishment, she remained unaffected
+by this, as she was equally impervious to the slights and sneers that
+continually met us in society. At last the inability to pay one of her
+former husband's claims brought to me a threat and an anonymous letter.
+I laid them before her, when a scene ensued which revealed the
+blindness of my folly in all its hideous hopelessness: she accused me of
+complicity in her divorce, and deception in regard to my own fortune. In
+a speech, whose language was a horrible revelation of her early habits,
+she offered to arrange a divorce from me as she had from her former
+husband. She gave as a reason her preference for another, and her belief
+that the scandal of a suit would lend her a certain advertisement and
+prestige. It was a combination of Messalina and Mrs. Jarley"--
+
+"Pardon! I remember not a Madame Jarley," said the priest.
+
+"Of viciousness and commercial calculation," continued Hurlstone
+hurriedly. "I don't remember what happened; she swore that I struck
+her! Perhaps--God knows! But she failed, even before a western jury, to
+convict me of cruelty. The judge that thought me half insane would not
+believe me brutal, and her application for divorce was lost.
+
+"I need not tell you that the same friends who had opposed my marriage
+now came forward to implore me to allow her to break our chains. I
+refused. I swear to you it was from no lingering love for her, for her
+presence drove me mad; it was from no instinct of revenge or jealousy,
+for I should have welcomed the man who would have taken her out of
+my life and memory. But I could not bear the idea of taking her first
+husband's place in her hideous comedy; I could not purchase my freedom
+at that price--at any price. I was told that I could get a divorce
+against HER, and stand forth before the world untrammeled and unstained.
+But I could not stand before MYSELF in such an attitude. I knew that
+the shackles I had deliberately forged could not be loosened except by
+death. I knew that the stains of her would cling to me and become a part
+of my own sin, even as the sea I plunged into yesterday to escape her,
+though it has dried upon me, has left its bitter salt behind.
+
+"When she knew my resolve, she took her revenge by dragging my name
+through the successive levels to which she descended. Under the plea
+that the hardly-earned sum I gave to her maintenance apart from me was
+not sufficient, she utilized her undoubted beauty and more doubtful
+talent in amateur entertainments--and, finally, on the stage. She was
+openly accompanied by her lover, who acted as her agent, in the hope
+of goading me to a divorce. Suddenly she disappeared. I thought she had
+forgotten me. I obtained an honorable position in New York. One night
+I entered a theater devoted to burlesque opera and the exhibition of
+a popular actress, known as the Western Thalia, whose beautiful and
+audaciously draped figure was the talk of the town. I recognized my wife
+in this star of nudity; more than that, she recognized me. The next day,
+in addition to the usual notice, the real name of the actress was given
+in the morning papers, with a sympathizing account of her romantic and
+unfortunate marriage. I renounced my position, and, taking advantage of
+an offer from an old friend in California, resolved to join him secretly
+there. My mother had died broken-hearted; I was alone in the world. But
+my wife discovered my intention; and when I reached Callao, I heard that
+she had followed me, by way of the Isthmus of Panama, and that probably
+she would anticipate me in Mazatlan, where we were to stop. The thought
+of suicide haunted me during the rest of that horrible voyage; only my
+belief that she would make it appear as a tacit confession of my guilt
+saved me from that last act of weakness."
+
+He stopped and shuddered. Padre Esteban again laid his hand softly upon
+him.
+
+"It was God who spared you that sacrifice of soul and body," he said
+gently.
+
+"I thought it was God that suggested to me to take the SIMULATION of
+that act the means of separating myself from her forever. When we neared
+Mazatlan, I conceived the idea of hiding myself in the hold of the
+Excelsior until she had left that port, in the hope that it would be
+believed that I had fallen overboard. I succeeded in secreting myself,
+but was discovered at the same time that the unexpected change in the
+ship's destination rendered concealment unnecessary. As we did not put
+in at Mazatlan, nobody suspected my discovery in the hold to be anything
+but the accident that I gave it out to be. I felt myself saved the
+confrontation of the woman at Mazatlan; but I knew she would pursue me
+to San Francisco.
+
+"The strange dispensation of Providence that brought us into this
+unknown port gave me another hope of escape and oblivion. While you
+and the Commander were boarding the Excelsior, I slipped from the
+cabin-window into the water; I was a good swimmer, and reached the shore
+in safety. I concealed myself in the ditch of the Presidio until I
+saw the passengers' boats returning with them, when I sought the safer
+shelter of this Mission. I made my way through a gap in the hedge and
+lay under your olive-trees, hearing the voices of my companions, beyond
+the walls, till past midnight. I then groped my way along the avenue
+of pear-trees till I came to another wall, and a door that opened to my
+accidental touch. I entered, and found myself here. You know the rest."
+
+He had spoken with the rapid and unpent fluency of a man who cared more
+to relieve himself of an oppressive burden than to impress his auditor;
+yet the restriction of a foreign tongue had checked repetition or
+verbosity. Without imagination he had been eloquent; without hopefulness
+he had been convincing. Father Esteban rose, holding both his hands.
+
+"My son, in the sanctuary which you have claimed there is no divorce.
+The woman who has ruined your life could not be your wife. As long as
+her first husband lives, she is forever his wife, bound by a tie which
+no human law can sever!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+AN OPEN-AIR PRISON.
+
+
+An hour after mass Father Esteban had quietly installed Hurlstone in a
+small cell-like apartment off the refectory. The household of the
+priest consisted of an old Indian woman of fabulous age and miraculous
+propriety, two Indian boys who served at mass, a gardener, and a
+muleteer. The first three, who were immediately in attendance upon the
+priest, were cognizant of a stranger's presence, but, under instructions
+from the reverend Padre, were loyally and superstitiously silent; the
+vocations of the gardener and muleteer made any intrusion from them
+impossible. A breakfast of fruit, tortillas, chocolate, and red wine,
+of which Hurlstone partook sparingly and only to please his entertainer,
+nevertheless seemed to restore his strength, as it did the Padre's
+equanimity. For the old man had been somewhat agitated during mass,
+and, except that his early morning congregation was mainly composed of
+Indians, muleteers, and small venders, his abstraction would have been
+noticed. With ready tact he had not attempted, by further questioning,
+to break the taciturnity into which Hurlstone had relapsed after his
+emotional confession and the priest's abrupt half-absolution. Was it
+possible he regretted his confidence, or was it possible that his
+first free and untrammeled expression of his wrongs had left him with a
+haunting doubt of their real magnitude?
+
+"Lie down here, my son," said the old ecclesiastic, pointing to a small
+pallet in the corner, "and try to restore in the morning what you have
+taken from the night. Manuela will bring your clothes when they are
+dried and mended; meantime, shift for yourself in Pepito's serape and
+calzas. I will betake me to the Comandante and the Alcalde, to learn the
+dispositions of your party, when the ship will sail, and if your absence
+is suspected. Peace be with you, son! Manuela, attend to the caballero,
+and see you chatter not."
+
+Without doubting the substantial truth of his guest's story, the good
+Padre Esteban was not unwilling to have it corroborated by such details
+as he thought he could collect among the Excelsior's passengers. His own
+experience in the confessional had taught him the unreliability of
+human evidence, and the vagaries of both conscientious and unconscious
+suppression. That a young, good-looking, and accomplished caballero
+should have been the victim of not one, but even many, erotic episodes,
+did not strike the holy father as being peculiar; but that he should
+have been brought by a solitary unfortunate attachment to despair
+and renunciation of the world appeared to him marvelous. He was not
+unfamiliar with the remorse of certain gallants for peccadillos with
+other men's wives; but this Americano's self-abasement for the sins
+of his own wife--as he foolishly claimed her to be--whom he hated and
+despised, struck Father Esteban as a miracle open to suspicion. Was
+there anything else in these somewhat commonplace details of vulgar and
+low intrigue than what he had told the priest? Were all these Americano
+husbands as sensitive and as gloomily self-sacrificing and expiating?
+It did not appear so from the manners and customs of the others,--from
+those easy matrons whose complacent husbands had abandoned them to the
+long companionship of youthful cavaliers on adventurous voyages; from
+those audacious virgins, who had the freedom of married women. Surely,
+this was not a pious and sensitive race, passionately devoted to their
+domestic affections! The young stranger must be either deceiving him--or
+an exception to his countrymen!
+
+And if he was that exception--what then? An idea which had sprung up in
+Father Esteban's fancy that morning now took possession of it with the
+tenacity of a growth on fertile virgin soil. The good Father had been
+devoted to the conversion of the heathen with the fervor of a one-ideaed
+man. But his successes had been among the Indians--a guileless, harmless
+race, who too often confounded the practical benefits of civilization
+with the abstract benefits of the Church, and their instruction had
+been simple and coercive. There had been no necessity for argument
+or controversy; the worthy priest's skill in polemical warfare and
+disputation had never been brought into play; the Comandante and Alcalde
+were as punctiliously orthodox as himself, and the small traders and
+artisans were hopelessly docile and submissive. The march of science,
+which had been stopped by the local fogs of Todos Santos some fifty
+years, had not disturbed the simple Aesculapius of the province with
+heterodox theories: he still purged and bled like Sangrado, and met the
+priest at the deathbed of his victims with a pious satisfaction that had
+no trace of skeptical contention. In fact, the gentle Mission of Todos
+Santos had hitherto presented no field for the good Father's exalted
+ambition, nor the display of his powers as a zealot. And here was a
+splendid opportunity.
+
+The conversion of this dark, impulsive, hysterical stranger would be a
+gain to the fold, and a triumph worthy of his steel. More than that, if
+he had judged correctly of this young man's mind and temperament, they
+seemed to contain those elements of courage and sacrificial devotion
+that indicated the missionary priesthood. With such a subaltern, what
+might not he, Father Esteban, accomplish! Looking further into the
+future, what a glorious successor might be left to his unfinished work
+on Todos Santos!
+
+Buried in these reflections, Padre Esteban sauntered leisurely up
+the garden, that gradually ascended the slight elevation on which the
+greater part of the pueblo was built. Through a low gateway in the wall
+he passed on to the crest of the one straggling street of Todos Santos.
+On either side of him were ranged the low one-storied, deep-windowed
+adobe fondas and artisans' dwellings, with low-pitched roofs of dull red
+pipe-like tiles. Absorbed in his fanciful dreams, he did not at first
+notice that those dwellings appeared deserted, and that even the
+Posada opposite him, whose courtyard was usually filled with lounging
+muleteers, was empty and abandoned. Looking down the street towards
+the plaza, he became presently aware of some undefined stirring in the
+peaceful hamlet. There was an unusual throng in the square, and afar on
+that placid surface of the bay from which the fog had lifted, the two
+or three fishing-boats of Todos Santos were vaguely pulling. But the
+strange ship was gone.
+
+A feeling of intense relief and satisfaction followed. Father Esteban
+pulled out his snuff-box and took a long and complacent pinch. But
+his relief was quickly changed to consternation as an armed cavalcade
+rapidly wheeled out of the plaza and cantered towards him, with the
+unmistakable spectacle of the male passengers of the Excelsior riding
+two and two, and guarded by double files of dragoons on each side.
+
+At a sign from the priest the subaltern reined in his mustang, halted
+the convoy, and saluted respectfully, to the astonishment of the
+prisoners. The clerical authority of Todos Santos evidently dominated
+the military. Renewed hope sprang up in the hearts of the Excelsior
+party.
+
+"What have we here?" asked Padre Esteban.
+
+"A revolution, your Reverence, among the Americanos, with robbery of the
+Presidio saluting-gun; a grave affair. Your Reverence has been sent for
+by the Comandante. I am taking these men to San Antonio to await the
+decision of the Council."
+
+"And the ship?"
+
+"Gone, your Reverence. One of the parties has captured it."
+
+"And these?"
+
+"Are the Legitimists, your Reverence: at least they have confessed to
+have warred with Mexico, and invaded California--the brigands."
+
+The priest remained lost for a moment in blank and bitter amazement.
+Banks took advantage of the pause to edge his way to the front.
+
+"Ask him, some of you," he said, turning to Brace and Crosby, "when this
+d----d farce will be over, and where we can find the head man--the boss
+idiot of this foolery."
+
+"Let him put it milder," whispered Winslow. "You got us into trouble
+enough with your tongue already."
+
+Crosby hesitated a moment.
+
+"Quand finira ce drole representation?--et--et--qui est ce qui est
+l'entrepreneur?" he said dubiously.
+
+The priest stared. These Americans were surely cooler and less excitable
+than his strange guest. A thought struck him.
+
+"How many are still in the ship?" he asked gently.
+
+"Nobody but Perkins and that piratical crew of niggers."
+
+"And that infernal Hurlstone," added Winslow.
+
+The priest pricked up his ears.
+
+"Hurlstone?" he repeated.
+
+"Yes--a passenger like ourselves, as we supposed. But we are satisfied
+now he was in the conspiracy from the beginning," translated Crosby
+painfully.
+
+"Look at his strange disappearance--a regular put-up job," broke in
+Brace, in English, without reference to the Padre's not comprehending
+him; "so that he and Perkins could shut themselves up together without
+suspicion."
+
+"Never mind Hurlstone now; he's GONE, and we're HERE," said Banks
+angrily. "Ask the parson, as a gentleman and a Christian, what sort of a
+hole we've got into, anyhow. How far is the next settlement?"
+
+Crosby put the question. The subaltern lit a cigarette.
+
+"There is no next settlement. The pueblo ends at San Antonio."
+
+"And what's beyond that?"
+
+"The ocean."
+
+"And what's south?"
+
+"The desert--one cannot pass it."
+
+"And north?"
+
+"The desert."
+
+"And east?"
+
+"The desert too."
+
+"Then how do you get away from here?"
+
+"We do not get away."
+
+"And how do you communicate with Mexico--with your Government?"
+
+"When a ship comes."
+
+"And when does a ship come?"
+
+"Quien sabe?"
+
+The officer threw away his cigarette.
+
+"I say, you'll tell the Commander that all this is illegal; and that I'm
+going to complain to our Government," continued Banks hurriedly.
+
+"I go to speak to the Comandante," responded the priest gravely.
+
+"And tell him that if he touches a hair of the ladies' heads we'll have
+his own scalp," interrupted Brace impetuously.
+
+Even Crosby's diplomatic modification of this speech did not appear
+entirely successful.
+
+"The Mexican soldier wars not with women," said the priest coldly.
+"Adieu, messieurs!"
+
+The cavalcade moved on. The Excelsior passengers at once resumed their
+chorus of complaint, tirade, and aggressive suggestion, heedless of the
+soldiers who rode stolidly on each side.
+
+"To think we haven't got a single revolver among us," said Brace
+despairingly.
+
+"We might each grab a carbine from these nigger fellows," said Crosby,
+eying them contemplatively.
+
+"And if they didn't burst, and we weren't shot by the next patrol, and
+if we'd calculated to be mean enough to run away from the women--where
+would we escape to?" asked Banks curtly. "Hold on at least until we
+get an ultimatum from that commodious ass at the Presidio! Then we'll
+anticipate the fool-killer, if you like. My opinion is, they aren't in
+any great hurry to try ANYTHING on us just yet."
+
+"And I say, lie low and keep dark until they show their hand," added
+Winslow, who had no relish for an indiscriminate scrimmage, and had his
+own ideas of placating their captors.
+
+Nevertheless, by degrees they fell into a silence, partly the effect
+of the strangely enervating air. The fog had completely risen from the
+landscape, and hung high in mid-air, through which an intense sun, shorn
+of its fierceness, diffused a lambent warmth, and a yellowish, unctuous
+light, as if it had passed through amber. The bay gleamed clearly and
+distinctly; not a shadow flecked its surface to the gray impenetrable
+rampart of fog that stretched like a granite wall before its entrance.
+On one side of the narrow road billows of monstrous grain undulated to
+the crest of the low hills, that looked like larger undulations of the
+soil, furrowed by bosky canadas or shining arroyos. Banks was startled
+into a burst of professional admiration.
+
+"There's enough grain there to feed a thousand Todos Santos; and raised,
+too, with tools like that," he continued, pointing to a primitive plow
+that lay on the wayside, formed by a single forked root. A passing
+ox-cart, whose creaking wheels were made of a solid circle of wood,
+apparently sawn from an ordinary log, again plunged him into cogitation.
+Here and there little areas of the rudest cultivation broke into a
+luxuriousness of orange, lime, and fig trees. The joyous earth at the
+slightest provocation seemed to smile and dimple with fruit and flowers.
+Everywhere the rare beatitudes of Todos Santos revealed and repeated
+its simple story. The fructifying influence of earth and sky; the
+intervention of a vaporous veil between a fiery sun and fiery soil; the
+combination of heat and moisture, purified of feverish exhalations, and
+made sweet and wholesome by the saline breath of the mighty sea,
+had been the beneficent legacy of their isolation, the munificent
+compensation of their oblivion.
+
+A gradual and gentle ascent at the end of two hours brought the
+cavalcade to a halt upon a rugged upland with semi-tropical shrubbery,
+and here and there larger trees from the tierra templada in the
+evergreens or madrono. A few low huts and corrals, and a rambling
+hacienda, were scattered along the crest, and in the midst arose a
+little votive chapel, flanked by pear-trees. Near the roadside were the
+crumbling edges of some long-forgotten excavation. Crosby gazed at it
+curiously. Touching the arm of the officer, he pointed to it.
+
+"Una mina de plata," said the officer sententiously.
+
+"A mine of some kind--silver, I bet!" said Crosby, turning to the
+others. "Is it good--bueno--you know?" he continued to the officer, with
+vague gesticulations.
+
+"En tiempos pasados," returned the officer gravely.
+
+"I wonder what that means?" said Winslow.
+
+But before Crosby could question further, the subaltern signaled to them
+to dismount. They did so, and their horses were led away to a little
+declivity, whence came the sound of running water. Left to themselves,
+the Americans looked around them. The cavalcade seemed to have halted
+near the edge of a precipitous ridge, the evident termination of
+the road. But the view that here met their eyes was unexpected and
+startling.
+
+The plateau on which they stood seemed to drop suddenly away, leaving
+them on the rocky shore of a monotonous and far-stretching sea of waste
+and glittering sand. Not a vestige nor trace of vegetation could be
+seen, except an occasional ridge of straggling pallid bushes, raised
+in hideous simulation of the broken crest of a ghostly wave. On
+either side, as far as the eye could reach, the hollow empty vision
+extended--the interminable desert stretched and panted before them.
+
+"It's the jumping-off place, I reckon," said Crosby, "and they've
+brought us here to show us how small is our chance of getting away.
+But," he added, turning towards the plateau again, "what are they doing
+now? 'Pon my soul! I believe they're going off--and leaving us."
+
+The others turned as he spoke. It was true. The dragoons were coolly
+galloping off the way they came, taking with them the horses the
+Americans had just ridden.
+
+"I call that cool," said Crosby. "It looks deuced like as if we were to
+be left here to graze, like cattle."
+
+"Perhaps that's their idea of a prison in this country," said Banks.
+"There's certainly no chance of our breaking jail in that direction,"
+he added, pointing to the desert; "and we can't follow them without
+horses."
+
+"And I dare say they've guarded the pass in the road lower down," said
+Winslow.
+
+"We ought to be able to hold our own here until night," said Brace, "and
+then make a dash into Todos Santos, get hold of some arms, and join the
+ladies."
+
+"The women are all right," said Crosby impatiently, "and are better
+treated than if we were with them. Suppose, instead of maundering over
+them, we reconnoitre and see what WE can do here. I'm getting devilishly
+hungry; they can't mean to starve us, and if they do, I don't intend to
+be starved as long as there is anything to be had by buying or stealing.
+Come along. There's sure to be fruit near that old chapel, and I saw
+some chickens in the bush near those huts. First, let's see if there's
+any one about. I don't see a soul."
+
+The little plateau, indeed, seemed deserted. In vain they shouted; their
+voices were lost in the echoless air. They examined one by one the few
+thatched huts: they were open, contained one or two rude articles of
+furniture--a bed, a bench, and table--were scrupulously clean--and
+empty. They next inspected the chapel; it was tawdry and barbaric in
+ornament, but the candlesticks and crucifix and the basin for holy water
+were of heavily beaten silver. The same thought crossed their minds--the
+abandoned mine at the roadside!
+
+Bananas, oranges, and prickly-pears growing within the cactus-hedge of
+the chapel partly mollified their thirst and hunger, and they turned
+their steps towards the long, rambling, barrack-looking building, with
+its low windows and red-tiled roof, which they had first noticed. Here,
+too, the tenement was deserted and abandoned; but there was evidence of
+some previous and more ambitious preparation: in a long dormitory off
+the corridor a number of scrupulously clean beds were ranged against
+the whitewashed walls, with spotless benches and tables. To the complete
+astonishment and bewilderment of the party another room, fitted up as a
+kitchen, with the simpler appliances of housekeeping, revealed a
+larder filled with provisions and meal. A shout from Winslow, who had
+penetrated the inner courtyard, however, drew them to a more remarkable
+spectacle. Their luggage and effects from the cabins of the Excelsior
+were there, carefully piled in the antique ox-cart that had evidently
+that morning brought them from Todos Santos!
+
+"There's no mistake," said Brace, with a relieved look, after a hurried
+survey of the trunks. "They have only brought our baggage. The ladies
+have evidently had the opportunity of selecting their own things."
+
+"Crosby told you they'd be all right," said Banks; "and as for
+ourselves, I don't see why we can't be pretty comfortable here, and all
+the better for our being alone. I shall take an opportunity of looking
+around a bit. It strikes me that there are some resources in this
+country that might pay to develop."
+
+"And I shall have a look at that played-out mine," said Crosby; "if it's
+been worked as they work the land, they've left about as much in it as
+they've taken out."
+
+"That's all well enough," said Brace, drawing a dull vermilion-colored
+stone from his pocket; "but here's something I picked up just now that
+ain't 'played out,' nor even the value of it suspected by those fellows.
+That's cinnabar--quicksilver ore--and a big per cent. of it too; and if
+there's as much of it here as the indications show, you could buy up all
+your SILVER mines in the country with it."
+
+"If I were you, I'd put up a notice on a post somewhere, as they do
+in California, and claim discovery," said Banks seriously. "There's no
+knowing how this thing may end. We may not get away from here for some
+time yet, and if the Government will sell the place cheap, it wouldn't
+be a bad spec' to buy it. Form a kind of 'Excelsior Company' among
+ourselves, you know, and go shares."
+
+The four men looked earnestly at each other. Already the lost Excelsior
+and her mutinous crew were forgotten; even the incidents of the
+morning--their arrest, the uncertainty of their fate, and the fact that
+they were in the hands of a hostile community--appeared but as trivial
+preliminaries to the new life that opened before them! They suddenly
+became graver than they had ever been--even in the moment of peril.
+
+"I don't see why we shouldn't," said Brace quickly. "We started out to
+do that sort of thing in California, and I reckon if we'd found such a
+spot as this on the Sacramento or American River we'd have been content.
+We can take turns at housekeeping, prospect a little, and enter into
+negotiations with the Government. I'm for offering them a fair sum for
+this ridge and all it contains at once."
+
+"The only thing against that," said Crosby slowly, "is the probability
+that it is already devoted to some other use by the Government. Ever
+since we've been here I've been thinking--I don't know why--that we've
+been put in a sort of quarantine. The desertion of the place, the half
+hospital arrangements of this building, and the means they have taken
+to isolate us from themselves, must mean something. I've read somewhere
+that in these out-of-the-way spots in the tropics they have a place
+where they put the fellows with malarious or contagious diseases. I
+don't want to frighten you boys: but I've an idea that we're in a sort
+of lazaretto, and the people outside won't trouble us often."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+TODOS SANTOS SOLVES THE MYSTERY.
+
+
+Notwithstanding his promise, and the summons of the Council, Father
+Esteban, on parting with the Excelsior prisoners in the San Antonio
+Road, did not proceed immediately to the presence of the Comandante.
+Partly anxious to inform himself more thoroughly regarding Hurlstone's
+antecedents before entering upon legislative functions that might
+concern him, partly uneasy at Brace's allusion to any possible
+ungentleness in the treatment of the fair Americanas, and partly
+apprehensive that Mrs. Brimmer might seek him at the Mission in
+the present emergency, the good Father turned his steps towards the
+Alcalde's house.
+
+Mrs. Brimmer, in a becoming morning wrapper, half reclining in an
+Indian hammock in the corridor, supported by Miss Chubb, started at his
+approach. So did the young Alcalde, sympathetically seated at her side.
+Padre Esteban for an instant was himself embarrassed; Mrs. Brimmer
+quickly recovered her usual bewildering naivete.
+
+"I knew you would come; but if you hadn't, I should have mustered
+courage enough to go with Miss Chubb to find you at the Mission," she
+said, half coquettishly. "Not but that Don Ramon has been all kindness
+and consideration, but you know one always clings to one's spiritual
+adviser in such an emergency; and although there are differences of
+opinion between us, I think I may speak to you as freely as I would
+speak to my dear friend Dr. Potts, of Trinity Chapel. Of course you
+don't know HIM; but you couldn't have helped liking him, he's so gentle,
+so tactful, so refined! But do tell me the fullest particulars of this
+terrible calamity that has happened so awkwardly. Tell me all! I fear
+that Don Ramon, out of kindness, has not told me everything. I have been
+perfectly frank, I told him everything--who I am, who Mr. Brimmer is,
+and given him even the connections of my friend Miss Chubb. I can do
+no more; but you will surely have no difficulty in finding some one in
+Todos Santos who has heard of the Quincys and Brimmers. I've no doubt
+that there are books in your library that mention them. Of course I can
+say nothing of the other passengers, except that Mr. Brimmer would not
+have probably permitted me to associate with any notorious persons. I
+confess now--I think I told you once before, Clarissa--that I greatly
+doubted Captain Bunker's ability"--
+
+"Ah," murmured Don Ramon.
+
+"--To make a social selection," continued Mrs. Brimmer. "He may have
+been a good sailor, and boxed his compass, but he lacked a knowledge
+of the world. Of the other passengers I can truly say I know nothing;
+I cannot think that Mr. Crosby's sense of humor led him into bad
+associations, or that he ever went beyond verbal impropriety. Certainly
+nothing in Miss Keene's character has led me to believe she could so far
+forget what was due to herself and to us as to address a lawless mob in
+the streets as she did just now; although her friend Mrs. Markham, as
+I just told Don Ramon, is an advocate of Women's Rights and Female
+Suffrage, and I believe she contemplates addressing the public from the
+lecturer's platform."
+
+"It isn't possible!" interrupted Don Ramon excitedly, in mingled
+horror of the masculinely rampant Mrs. Markham and admiration of the
+fascinatingly feminine Mrs. Brimmer; "a lady cannot be an orator--a
+haranguer of men!"
+
+"Not in society," responded Mrs. Brimmer, with a sigh, "and I do not
+remember to have met the lady before. The fact is, she does not move in
+our circle--in the upper classes."
+
+The Alcalde exchanged a glance with the Padre.
+
+"Ah! you have classes? and she is of a distinct class, perhaps?"
+
+"Decidedly," said Mrs. Brimmer promptly.
+
+"Pardon me," said Padre Esteban, with gentle persuasiveness, "but you
+are speaking of your fellow-passengers. Know you not, then, of one
+Hurlstone, who is believed to be still in the ship Excelsior, and
+perhaps of the party who seized it?"
+
+"Mr. Hurlstone?--it is possible; but I know really nothing of him," said
+Mrs. Brimmer carelessly. "I don't think Clarissa did, either--did you,
+dear? Even in our enforced companionship we had to use some reserve,
+and we may have drawn the line at him! He was a friend of Miss Keene's;
+indeed, she was the only one who seemed to know him."
+
+"And she is now here?" asked the Padre eagerly.
+
+"No. She is with her friend the Senora Markham, at the Presidio. The
+Comandante has given her the disposition of his house," said Don Ramon,
+with a glance of grave archness at Mrs. Brimmer; "it is not known which
+is the most favored, the eloquent orator or the beautiful and daring
+leader!"
+
+"Mrs. Markham is a married woman," said Mrs. Brimmer severely, "and,
+of course, she can do as she pleases; but it is far different with Miss
+Keene. I should scarcely consider it proper to expose Miss Chubb to
+the hospitality of a single man, without other women, and I cannot
+understand how she could leave the companionship and protection of your
+lovely sisters."
+
+The priest here rose, and, with formal politeness, excused himself,
+urging the peremptory summons of the Council.
+
+"I scarcely expected, indeed, to have had the pleasure of seeing my
+colleague here," he added with quiet suavity, turning to the Alcalde.
+
+"I have already expressed my views to the Comandante," said the
+official, with some embarrassment, "and my attendance will hardly be
+required."
+
+The occasional misleading phosphorescence of Mrs. Brimmer's quiet eyes,
+early alluded to in these pages, did not escape Father Esteban's quick
+perception at that moment; however, he preferred to leave his companion
+to follow its aberrations rather than to permit that fair ignis fatuus
+to light him on his way by it.
+
+"But my visit to you, Father Esteban," she began sweetly, "is only
+postponed."
+
+"Until I have the pleasure of anticipating it here," said the priest,
+with paternal politeness bending before the two ladies; "but for the
+present, au revoir!"
+
+"It would be an easy victory to win this discreetly emotional Americana
+to the Church," said Father Esteban to himself, as he crossed the plaza;
+"but, if I mistake not, she would not cease to be a disturbing element
+even there. However, she is not such as would give this Hurlstone any
+trouble. It seems I must look elsewhere for the brains of this party,
+and to find a solution of this young man's mystery; and, if I judge
+correctly, it is with this beautiful young agitator of revolutions and
+her oratorical duenna I must deal."
+
+He entered the low gateway of the Presidio unchallenged, and even
+traversed the courtyard without meeting a soul. The guard and sentries
+had evidently withdrawn to their habitual peaceful vocations, and the
+former mediaeval repose of the venerable building had returned. There
+was no one in the guard-room; but as the priest turned back to the
+corridor, his quick ear was suddenly startled by the unhallowed
+and inconsistent sounds of a guitar. A monotonous voice also--the
+Comandante's evidently--was raised in a thin, high recitative.
+
+The Padre passed hastily through the guard-room, and opened the door
+of the passage leading to the garden slope. Here an extraordinary group
+presented itself to his astonished eyes. In the shadow of a palm-tree,
+Mrs. Markham, seated on her Saratoga trunk as on a throne, was gazing
+blandly down upon the earnest features of the Commander, who, at her
+feet, guitar in hand, was evidently repeating some musical composition.
+His subaltern sat near him, divided in admiration of his chief and the
+guest. Miss Keene, at a little distance, aided by the secretary,
+was holding an animated conversation with a short, stout, Sancho
+Panza-looking man, whom the Padre recognized as the doctor of Todos
+Santos.
+
+At the apparition of the reverend Father, the Commander started,
+the subaltern stared, and even the secretary and the doctor looked
+discomposed.
+
+"I am decidedly de trop this morning," soliloquized the ecclesiastic;
+but Miss Keene cut short his reflection by running to him frankly, with
+outstretched hand.
+
+"I am so glad that you have come," she said, with a youthful,
+unrestrained earnestness that was as convincing as it was fascinating,
+"for you will help me to persuade this gentleman that poor Captain
+Bunker is suffering more from excitement of mind than body, and that
+bleeding him is more than folly."
+
+"The man's veins are in a burning fever and delirium from aguardiente,"
+said the little doctor excitedly, "and the fire must first be put out by
+the lancet."
+
+"He is only crazy with remorse for having lost his ship through his own
+carelessness and the treachery of others," said Miss Keene doughtily.
+
+"He is a maniac and will kill himself, unless his fever is subdued,"
+persisted the doctor.
+
+"And you would surely kill him by your way of subduing it," said the
+young girl boldly. "Better for him, a disgraced man of honor, to die
+by his own hand, than to be bled like a calf into a feeble and helpless
+dissolution. I would, if I were in his place--if I had to do it by
+tearing off the bandages."
+
+She made a swift, half unconscious gesture of her little hand, and
+stopped, her beautiful eyes sparkling, her thin pink nostrils dilated,
+her red lips parted, her round throat lifted in the air, and one small
+foot advanced before her. The men glanced hurriedly at each other, and
+then fixed their eyes upon her with a rapt yet frightened admiration. To
+their simple minds it was Anarchy and Revolution personified, beautiful,
+and victorious.
+
+"Ah!" said the secretary to Padre Esteban, in Spanish, "it is true! she
+knows not fear! She was in the room alone with the madman; he would let
+none approach but her! She took a knife from him--else the medico had
+suffered!"
+
+"He recognized her, you see! Ah! they know her power," said the
+Comandante, joining the group.
+
+"You will help me, Father Esteban?" said the young girl, letting the
+fire of her dark eyes soften to a look of almost childish appeal--"you
+will help me to intercede for him? It is the restraint only that is
+killing him--that is goading him to madness! Think of him, Father--think
+of him: ruined and disgraced, dying to retrieve himself by any reckless
+action, any desperate chance of recovery, and yet locked up where he can
+do nothing--attempt nothing--not even lift a hand to pursue the man who
+has helped to bring him to this!"
+
+"But he CAN do nothing! The ship is gone!" remonstrated the Comandante.
+
+"Yes, the ship is gone; but the ocean is still there," said Miss Keene.
+
+"But he has no boat."
+
+"He will find or make one."
+
+"And the fog conceals the channel."
+
+"He can go where THEY have gone, or meet their fate. You do not know my
+countrymen, Senor Comandante," she said proudly.
+
+"Ah, yes--pardon! They are at San Antonio--the baker, the buffoon, the
+two young men who dig. They are already baking and digging and joking.
+We have it from my officer, who has just returned."
+
+Miss Keene bit her pretty lips.
+
+"They think it is a mistake; they cannot believe that any intentional
+indignity is offered them," she said quietly. "Perhaps it is well they
+do not."
+
+"They desired me to express their condolences to the Senora," said the
+Padre, with exasperating gentleness, "and were relieved to be assured by
+me of your perfect security in the hands of these gentlemen."
+
+Miss Keene raised her clear eyes to the ecclesiastic. That accomplished
+diplomat of Todos Santos absolutely felt confused under the cool
+scrutiny of this girl's unbiased and unsophisticated intelligence.
+
+"Then you HAVE seen them," she said, "and you know their innocence, and
+the utter absurdity of this surveillance?"
+
+"I have not seen them ALL," said the priest softly. "There is still
+another--a Senor Hurlstone--who is missing? Is he not?"
+
+It was not in the possibility of Eleanor Keene's truthful blood to do
+other than respond with a slight color to this question. She had already
+concealed from every one the fact of having seen the missing man in the
+Mission garden the evening before. It did not, however, prevent her the
+next moment from calmly meeting the glance of the priest as she answered
+gravely,--
+
+"I believe so. But I cannot see what that has to do with the detention
+of the others."
+
+"Much, perhaps. It has been said that you alone, my child, were in the
+confidence of this man."
+
+"Who dared say that?" exclaimed Miss Keene in English, forgetting
+herself in her indignation.
+
+"If it's anything mean--it's Mrs. Brimmer, I'll bet a cooky," said
+Mrs. Markham, whose linguistic deficiencies had debarred her from the
+previous conversation.
+
+"You have only," continued the priest, without noticing the
+interruption, "to tell us what you know of this Hurlstone's plans,--of
+his complicity with Senor Perkins, or," he added significantly, "his
+opposition to them--to insure that perfect justice shall be done to
+all."
+
+Relieved that the question involved no disclosure of her only secret
+regarding Hurlstone, Miss Keene was about to repeat the truth that
+she had no confidential knowledge of him, or of his absurd alleged
+connection with Senor Perkins, when, with an instinct of tact, she
+hesitated. Might she not serve them all--even Hurlstone himself--by
+saying nothing, and leaving the burden of proof to their idiotic
+accusers? Was she altogether sure that Hurlstone was entirely ignorant
+of Senor Perkins' plans, or might he not have refused, at the last
+moment, to join in the conspiracy, and so left the ship?
+
+"I will not press you for your answer now," said the priest gently. "But
+you will not, I know, keep back anything that may throw a light on this
+sad affair, and perhaps help to reinstate your friend Mr. Hurlstone in
+his REAL position."
+
+"If you ask me if I believe that Mr. Hurlstone had anything to do with
+this conspiracy, I should say, unhesitatingly, that I do NOT. And more,
+I believe that he would have jumped overboard rather than assent to so
+infamous an act," said the young girl boldly.
+
+"Then you think he had no other motive for leaving the ship?" said the
+priest slowly.
+
+"Decidedly not." She stopped; a curious anxious look in the Padre's
+persistent eyes both annoyed and frightened her. "What other motive
+could he have?" she said coldly.
+
+Father Esteban's face lightened.
+
+"I only ask because I think you would have known it. Thank you for the
+assurance all the same, and in return I promise you I will use my best
+endeavors with the Comandante for your friend the Captain Bunker. Adieu,
+my daughter. Adieu, Madame Markham," he said, as, taking the arm of Don
+Miguel, he turned with him and the doctor towards the guard-room. The
+secretary lingered behind for a moment.
+
+"Fear nothing," he said, in whispered English to Miss Keene. "I, Ruy
+Sanchez, shall make you free of Capitano Bunker's cell," and passed on.
+
+"Well," said Mrs. Markham, when the two women were alone again. "I don't
+pretend to fathom the befogged brains of Todos Santos; but as far as I
+can understand their grown-up child's play, they are making believe this
+unfortunate Mr. Hurlstone, who may be dead for all we know, is in
+revolt against the United States Government, which is supposed to be
+represented by Senor Perkins and the Excelsior--think of that!"
+
+"But Perkins signed himself of the Quinquinambo navy!" said Miss Keene
+wonderingly.
+
+"That is firmly believed by those idiots to be one of OUR States.
+Remember they know nothing of what has happened anywhere in the last
+fifty years. I dare say they never heard of filibusters like Perkins,
+and they couldn't comprehend him if they had. I've given up trying to
+enlighten them, and I think they're grateful for it. It makes their poor
+dear heads ache."
+
+"And it is turning mine! But, for Heaven's sake, tell me what part I am
+supposed to act in this farce!" said Miss Keene.
+
+"You are the friend and colleague of Hurlstone, don't you see?" said
+Mrs. Markham. "You are two beautiful young patriots--don't blush, my
+dear!--endeared to each other and a common cause, and ready to die for
+your country in opposition to Perkins, and the faint-heartedness of such
+neutrals as Mrs. Brimmer, Miss Chubb, the poor Captain, and all the men
+whom they have packed off to San Antonio."
+
+"Impossible!" said Miss Keene, yet with an uneasy feeling that it not
+only was possible, but that she herself had contributed something to the
+delusion. "But how do they account for my friendship with YOU--you, who
+are supposed to be a correspondent--an accomplice of Perkins?"
+
+"No, no," returned Mrs. Markham, with a half serious smile, "I am not
+allowed that honor. I am presumed to be only the disconsolate Dulcinea
+of Perkins, abandoned by HIM, pitied by you, and converted to the true
+faith--at least, that is what I make out from the broken English of that
+little secretary of the Commander."
+
+Miss Keene winced.
+
+"That's all my fault, dear," she said, suddenly entwining her arms round
+Mrs. Markham, and hiding her half embarrassed smile on the shoulder of
+her strong-minded friend; "they suggested it to me, and I half assented,
+to save you. Please forgive me."
+
+"Don't think I am blaming you, my dear Eleanor," said Mrs. Markham. "For
+Heaven's sake assent to the wildest and most extravagant hypothesis they
+can offer, if it will leave us free to arrange our own plans for getting
+away. I begin to think we were not a very harmonious party on the
+Excelsior, and most of our troubles here are owing to that. We forget
+we have fallen among a lot of original saints, as guileless and as
+unsophisticated as our first parents, who know nothing of our customs
+and antecedents. They have accepted us on what they believe to be our
+own showing. From first to last we've underrated them, forgetting they
+are in the majority. We can't expect to correct the ignorance of fifty
+years in twenty-four hours, and I, for one, sha'n't attempt it. I'd much
+rather trust to the character those people would conceive of me from
+their own consciousness than to one Mrs. Brimmer or Mr. Winslow would
+give of me. From this moment I've taken a firm resolve to leave my
+reputation and the reputation of my friends entirely in their hands.
+If you are wise you will do the same. They are inclined to worship
+you--don't hinder them. My belief is, if we only take things quietly,
+we might find worse places to be stranded on than Todos Santos. If Mrs.
+Brimmer and those men of ours, who, I dare say, have acted as silly as
+the Mexicans themselves, will only be quiet, we can have our own way
+here yet."
+
+"And poor Captain Bunker?" said Miss Keene.
+
+"It seems hard to say it, but, in my opinion, he is better under lock
+and key, for everybody's good, at present. He'd be a firebrand in the
+town if he got away. Meantime, let us go to our room. It is about the
+time when everybody is taking a siesta, and for two hours, thank Heaven!
+we're certain nothing more can happen."
+
+"I'll join you in a moment," said Miss Keene.
+
+Her quick ear had caught the sound of voices approaching. As Mrs.
+Markham disappeared in the passage, the Commander and his party
+reappeared from the guard-room, taking leave of Padre Esteban. The
+secretary, as he passed Miss Keene, managed to add to his formal
+salutation the whispered words,--"When the Angelus rings I will await
+you before the grating of his prison."
+
+Padre Esteban was too preoccupied to observe this incident. As soon as
+he quitted the Presidio, he hastened to the Mission with a disquieting
+fear that his strange guest might have vanished. But, crossing the
+silent refectory, and opening the door of the little apartment, he was
+relieved to find him stretched on the pallet in a profound slumber.
+The peacefulness of the venerable walls had laid a gentle finger on his
+weary eyelids.
+
+The Padre glanced round the little cell, and back again at the handsome
+suffering face that seemed to have found surcease and rest in the narrow
+walls, with a stirring of regret. But the next moment he awakened the
+sleeper, and in the briefest, almost frigid, sentences, related the
+events of the morning.
+
+The young man rose to his feet with a bitter laugh.
+
+"You see," he said, "God is against me! And yet a few hours ago I dared
+to think that He had guided me to a haven of rest and forgetfulness!
+
+"Have you told the truth to him and to me?" said the priest sternly,
+"or have you--a mere political refugee--taken advantage of an old man's
+weakness to forge a foolish lie of sentimental passion?"
+
+"What do you mean?" said Hurlstone, turning upon him almost fiercely.
+
+The priest rose, and drawing a folded paper from his bosom, opened it
+before the eyes of his indignant guest.
+
+"Remember what you told me last night in the sacred confidences of
+yonder holy church, and hear what you really are from the lips of the
+Council of Todos Santos."
+
+Smoothing out the paper, he read slowly as follows:--
+
+
+"Whereas, it being presented to an Emergency Council, held at the
+Presidio of Todos Santos, that the foreign barque Excelsior had
+mutinied, discharged her captain and passengers, and escaped from the
+waters of the bay, it was, on examination, found and decreed that the
+said barque was a vessel primarily owned by a foreign Power, then and
+there confessed and admitted to be at war with Mexico and equipped to
+invade one of her northern provinces. But that the God of Liberty and
+Justice awakening in the breasts of certain patriots--to wit, the heroic
+Senor Diego Hurlstone and the invincible Dona Leonor--the courage and
+discretion to resist the tyranny and injustice of their oppressors,
+caused them to mutiny and abandon the vessel rather than become
+accomplices, in the company of certain neutral and non-combatant traders
+and artisans, severally known as Brace, Banks, Winslow, and Crosby;
+and certain aristocrats, known as Senoras Brimmer and Chubb. In
+consideration thereof, it is decreed by the Council of Todos Santos that
+asylum, refuge, hospitality, protection, amity, and alliance be offered
+and extended to the patriots, Senor Diego Hurlstone, Dona Leonor, and
+a certain Duenna Susana Markham, particularly attached to Dona Leonor's
+person; and that war, reprisal, banishment, and death be declared
+against Senor Perkins, his unknown aiders and abettors. And that for
+the purposes of probation, and in the interests of clemency, provisional
+parole shall be extended to the alleged neutrals--Brace, Banks, Crosby,
+and Winslow--within the limits and boundaries of the lazaretto of San
+Antonio, until their neutrality shall be established, and pending the
+further pleasure of the Council. And it is further decreed and declared
+that one Capitano Bunker, formerly of the Excelsior, but now a maniac
+and lunatic--being irresponsible and visited of God, shall be exempted
+from the ordinances of this decree until his reason shall be restored;
+and during that interval subjected to the ordinary remedial and
+beneficent restraint of civilization and humanity. By order of the
+Council,--
+
+"The signatures and rubrics of--
+
+"DON MIGUEL BRIONES,
+
+Comandante.
+
+"PADRE ESTEBAN,
+
+of the Order of San Francisco d'Assisis.
+
+"DON RAMON RAMIREZ,
+
+Alcalde of the Pueblo of Todos Santos."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+THE CAPTAIN FOLLOWS HIS SHIP.
+
+
+When Padre Esteban had finished reading the document he laid it down and
+fixed his eyes on the young man. Hurlstone met his look with a glance of
+impatient disdain.
+
+"What have you to say to this?" asked the ecclesiastic, a little
+impressed by his manner.
+
+"That as far as it concerns myself it is a farrago of absurdity. If I
+were the person described there, why should I have sought you with
+what you call a lie of 'sentimental passion,' when I could have claimed
+protection openly with my SISTER PATRIOT," he added, with a bitter
+laugh.
+
+"Because you did not know THEN the sympathy of the people nor the
+decision of the Council," said the priest.
+
+"But I know it NOW, and I refuse to accept it."
+
+"You refuse--to--to accept it?" echoed the priest.
+
+"I do." He walked towards the door. "Before I go, let me thank you for
+the few hours' rest and security that you have given to one who may be a
+cursed man, yet is no impostor. But I do not blame you for doubting one
+who talks like a desperate man, yet lacks the courage of desperation.
+Good-by!"
+
+"Where are you going?"
+
+"What matters? There is a safer protection and security to be found than
+even that offered by the Council of Todos Santos."
+
+His eyes were averted, but not before the priest had seen them glaze
+again with the same gloomy absorption that had horrified him in the
+church the evening before. Father Esteban stepped forward and placed his
+soft hand on Hurlstone's shoulder.
+
+"Look at me. Don't turn your face aside, but hear me; for I believe your
+story."
+
+Without raising his eyes, the young man lifted Father Esteban's hand
+from his shoulder, pressed it lightly, and put it quietly aside.
+
+"I thank you," he said, "for keeping at least that unstained memory of
+me. But it matters little now. Good-by!"
+
+He had his hand upon the door, but the priest again withheld him.
+
+"When I tell you I believe your story, it is only to tell you more. I
+believe that God has directed your wayward, wandering feet here to
+His house, that you may lay down the burden of your weak and suffering
+manhood before His altar, and become once more a child of His. I stand
+here to offer you, not a refuge of a day or a night, but for all
+time; not a hiding-place from man or woman, but from yourself, my
+son--yourself, your weak and mortal self, more fatal to you than all.
+I stand here to open for you not only the door of this humble cell, but
+that of His yonder blessed mansion. You shall share my life with me; you
+shall be one of my disciples; you shall help me strive for other souls
+as I have striven for yours; the protection of the Church, which is
+all-powerful, shall be around you if you wish to be known; you shall
+hide yourself in its mysteries if you wish to be forgotten. You shall be
+my child, my companion, my friend; all that my age can give you shall
+be yours while I live, and it shall be your place one day to take up my
+unfinished work when it falls from these palsied hands forever."
+
+"You are mistaken," said the young man coldly. "I came to you for
+human aid, and thank you for what you have granted me: I have not been
+presumptuous enough to ask more, nor to believe myself a fitting subject
+for conversion. I am weak, but not weak enough to take advantage of the
+mistaken kindness of either the temporal Council of Todos Santos or its
+spiritual head." He opened the door leading into the garden. "Forget and
+forgive me, Father Esteban, and let me say farewell."
+
+"Stop!" said the ecclesiastic, raising himself to his full height and
+stepping before Hurlstone. "Then if you will not hear me in the name of
+your Father who lives, in the name of your father who is dead I command
+you to stay! I stand here to-day in the place of that man I never
+knew--to hold back his son from madness and crime. Think of me as of him
+whom you loved, and grant to an old man who might have had a son as old
+as you the right of throwing a father's protecting arm around you."
+
+There was a moment's silence.
+
+"What do you want me to do?" said Hurlstone, suddenly lifting his now
+moist and glistening eyes upon the old man.
+
+"Give me your word of honor that for twenty-four hours you will remain
+as you are--pledging yourself to nothing--only promising to commit no
+act, take no step, without consulting me. You will not be sought here,
+nor yet need you keep yourself a prisoner in these gloomy walls--except
+that, by exposing yourself to the people now, you might be compromised
+to some course that you are not ready to take."
+
+"I promise," said Hurlstone.
+
+He turned and held out both his hands; but Father Esteban anticipated
+him with a paternal gesture of uplifted and opened arms, and for an
+instant the young man's forehead was bowed on the priest's shoulder.
+
+Father Esteban gently raised the young man's head.
+
+"You will take a pasear in the garden until the Angelus rings, my son,
+while the air is sweet and wholesome, and think this over. Remember that
+you may accept the hospitality of the Council without sin of deception.
+You were not in sympathy with either the captors of the Excelsior or
+their defeated party; for you would have flown from both. You, of all
+your party now in Todos Santos, are most in sympathy with us. You have
+no cause to love your own people; you have abandoned them for us. Go, my
+son; and meditate upon my words. I will fetch you from yonder slope in
+time for the evening refection."
+
+Hurlstone bowed his head and turned his irresolute feet towards the
+upper extremity of the garden, indicated by the priest, which seemed to
+offer more seclusion and security than the avenue of pear-trees. He was
+dazed and benumbed. The old dogged impulses of self-destruction--revived
+by the priest's reproaches, but checked by the vision of his dead and
+forgotten father, which the priest's words had called up--gave way, in
+turn, to his former despair. With it came a craving for peace and rest
+so insidious that in some vague fear of yielding to it he quickened his
+pace, as if to increase his distance from the church and its apostle. He
+was almost out of breath when he reached the summit, and turned to look
+back upon the Mission buildings and the straggling street of the pueblo,
+which now for the first time he saw skirted the wall of the garden in
+its descent towards the sea. He had not known the full extent of Todos
+Santos before; when he swam ashore he had landed under a crumbling
+outwork of the fort; he gazed now with curious interest over the hamlet
+that might have been his home. He looked over the red-tiled roofs, and
+further on to the shining bay, shut in by the impenetrable rampart of
+fog. He might have found rest and oblivion here but for the intrusion of
+those fellow-passengers to share his exile and make it intolerable.
+How he hated and loathed them all! Yet the next moment he found himself
+scrutinizing the street and plaza below him for a glimpse of his
+countrywomen, whom he knew were still in the town or vainly endeavoring
+to locate their habitation among the red-tiled roofs. And that frank,
+clear-eyed girl--Miss Keene!--she who had seemed to vaguely pity
+him--she was somewhere here too--selected by the irony of fate to be his
+confederate! He could not help thinking of her beauty and kindness now,
+with a vague curiosity that was half an uneasiness. It had not struck
+him before, but if he were to accept the ridiculous attitude forced upon
+him by Todos Santos, its absurdity, as well as its responsibility, would
+become less odious by sharing it with another. Perhaps it might be
+to HER advantage--and if so, would he be justified in exposing its
+absurdity? He would have to see her first--and if he did, how would he
+explain his real position? A returning wave of bitterness threw him back
+into his old despair.
+
+The twilight had slowly gathered over the view as he gazed--or, rather
+a luminous concentration above the pueblo and bay had left the outer
+circle of fog denser and darker. Emboldened by the apparent desertion of
+the Embarcadero, he began to retrace his steps down the slope, keeping
+close to the wall so as to avoid passing before the church again, or a
+closer contact with the gardener among the vines. In this way he reached
+the path he had skirted the night before, and stopped almost under
+the shadow of the Alcalde's house. It was here he had rested and
+hidden,--here he had tasted the first sweets of isolation and oblivion
+in the dreamy garden,--here he had looked forward to peace with the
+passing of the ship,--and now? The sound of voices and laughter
+suddenly grated upon his ear. He had heard those voices before. Their
+distinctness startled him until he became aware that he was standing
+before a broken, half-rotting door that permitted a glimpse of the
+courtyard of the neighboring house. He glided quickly past it without
+pausing, but in that glimpse beheld Mrs. Brimmer and Miss Chubb half
+reclining in the corridor--in the attitude he had often seen them on the
+deck of the ship--talking and laughing with a group of Mexican gallants.
+A feeling of inconceivable loathing and aversion took possession of
+him. Was it to THIS he was returning after his despairing search for
+oblivion? Their empty, idle laughter seemed to ring mockingly in his
+ears as he hurried on, scarce knowing whither, until he paused before
+the broken cactus hedge and crumbling wall that faced the Embarcadero.
+A glance over the hedge showed him that the strip of beach was deserted.
+He looked up the narrow street; it was empty. A few rapid strides across
+it gained him the shadow of the sea-wall of the Presidio, unchecked and
+unhindered. The ebbing tide had left a foot or two of narrow shingle
+between the sea and the wall. He crept along this until, a hundred yards
+distant, the sea-wall reentered inland around a bastion at the entrance
+of a moat half filled at high tide by the waters of the bay, but now a
+ditch of shallow pools, sand, and debris. He leaned against the bastion,
+and looked over the softly darkening water.
+
+How quiet it looked, and, under that vaporous veil, how profound and
+inscrutable! How easy to slip into its all-embracing arms, and sink into
+its yielding bosom, leaving behind no stain, trace, or record! A
+surer oblivion than the Church, which could not absolve memory, grant
+forgetfulness, nor even hide the ghastly footprints of its occupants.
+Here was obliteration. But was he sure of that? He thought of the body
+of the murdered Peruvian, laid out at the feet of the Council by this
+same fickle and uncertain sea; he thought of his own distorted face
+subjected to the cold curiosity of these aliens or the contemptuous pity
+of his countrymen. But that could be avoided. It was easy for him--a
+good swimmer--to reach a point far enough out in the channel for the
+ebbing tides to carry him past that barrier of fog into the open and
+obliterating ocean. And then, at least, it might seem as if he had
+attempted to ESCAPE--indeed, if he cared, he might be able to keep
+afloat until he was picked up by some passing vessel, bound to a distant
+land! The self-delusion pleased him, and seemed to add the clinching
+argument to his resolution. It was not suicide; it was escape--certainly
+no more than escape--he intended! And this miserable sophism of
+self-apology, the last flashes of expiring conscience, helped to light
+up his pale, determined face with satisfaction. He began coolly to
+divest himself of his coat.
+
+What was that?--the sound of some dislodged stones splashing in one
+of the pools further up! He glanced hurriedly round the wall of the
+bastion. A figure crouching against the side of the ditch, as if
+concealing itself from observation on the glacis above, was slowly
+approaching the sea. Suddenly, when within a hundred yards of Hurlstone,
+it turned, crossed the ditch, rapidly mounted its crumbling sides,
+and disappeared over the crest. But in that hurried glimpse he had
+recognized Captain Bunker!
+
+The sudden and mysterious apparition of this man produced on Hurlstone
+an effect that the most violent opposition could not have created.
+Without a thought of the terrible purpose it had interrupted, and
+obeying some stronger instinct that had seized him, he dashed down into
+the ditch and up to the crest again after Captain Bunker. But he had
+completely disappeared. A little lagoon, making in from the bay, on
+which a small fishing-boat was riding, and a solitary fisherman mending
+his nets on the muddy shore a few feet from it, were all that was to be
+seen.
+
+He was turning back, when he saw the object of his search creeping from
+some reeds, on all fours, with a stealthy, panther-like movement towards
+the unconscious fisherman. Before Hurlstone could utter a cry, Bunker
+had sprung upon the unfortunate man, thrown him to the earth, rapidly
+rolled him over and over, enwrapping him hand and foot in his own
+net, and involving him hopelessly in its meshes. Tossing the helpless
+victim--who was apparently too stupefied to call out--to one side,
+he was rushing towards the boat when, with a single bound, Hurlstone
+reached his side and laid his hand upon his shoulder.
+
+"Captain Bunker, for God's sake! what are you doing?"
+
+Captain Bunker turned slowly and without apparent concern towards his
+captor. Hurlstone fell back before the vacant, lack-lustre eyes that
+were fixed upon him.
+
+"Captain Bunker's my name," said the madman, in a whisper. "Lemuel
+Bunker, of Nantucket! Hush! don't waken him," pointing to the prostrate
+fisherman; "I've put him to sleep. I'm Captain Bunker--old drunken
+Bunker--who stole one ship from her owners, and disgraced himself, and
+now is going to steal another--ha, ha! Let me go."
+
+"Captain Bunker," said Hurlstone, recovering himself in time to prevent
+the maniac from dashing into the water. "Look at me. Don't you know me?"
+
+"Yes, yes; you're one of old Bunker's dogs kicked overboard by Perkins.
+I'm one of Perkins' dogs gone mad, and locked up by Perkins! Ha, ha! But
+I got out! Hush! SHE let me out. SHE thought I was going to see the boys
+at San Antonio. But I'm going off to see the old barque out there in the
+fog. I'm going to chuck Perkins overboard and the two mates. Let me go."
+
+He struggled violently. Hurlstone, fearful of quitting his hold to
+release the fisherman, whom Captain Bunker no longer noticed, and not
+daring to increase the Captain's fury by openly calling to him, beckoned
+the pinioned man to make an effort. But, paralyzed by fear, the wretched
+captive remained immovable, staring at the struggling men. With the
+strength of desperation Hurlstone at last forced the Captain down upon
+his knees.
+
+"Listen, Captain! We'll go together--you understand. I'll help you--but
+we must get a larger boat first--you know."
+
+"But they won't give it," said Captain Bunker mysteriously. "Didn't you
+hear the Council--the owners--the underwriters say: 'He lost his ship,
+he's ruined and disgraced, for rum, all for rum!' And we want rum, you
+know, and it's all over there, in the Excelsior's locker!"
+
+"Yes, yes," said Hurlstone soothingly; "but there's more in the bigger
+boat. Come with me. We'll let the man loose, and we'll make him show us
+his bigger boat."
+
+It was an unfortunate suggestion; for the Captain, who had listened with
+an insane chuckle, and allowed himself to be taken lightly by the
+hand, again caught sight of the prostrate fisherman. A yell broke from
+him--his former frenzy returned. With a cry of "Treachery! all hands on
+deck!" he threw off Hurlstone and rushed into the water.
+
+"Help!" cried the young man, springing after him, "It is madness. He
+will kill himself!"
+
+The water was shallow, they were both wading, they both reached the boat
+at the same time; but the Captain had scrambled into the stern-sheets,
+and cast loose the painter, as Hurlstone once more threw his arms about
+him.
+
+"Hear me, Captain. I'll go with you. Listen! I know the way through the
+fog. You understand: I'll pilot you!" He was desperate, but no longer
+from despair of himself, but of another; he was reckless, but only to
+save a madman from the fate that but a moment before he had chosen for
+himself.
+
+Captain Bunker seemed to soften. "Get in for'ard," he said, in a lower
+voice. Hurlstone released his grasp, but still clinging to the boat,
+which had now drifted into deeper water, made his way to the bow. He was
+climbing over the thwarts when a horrified cry from the fisherman ashore
+and a jarring laugh in his ear caused him to look up. But not in time to
+save himself! The treacherous maniac had suddenly launched a blow from
+an oar at the unsuspecting man as he was rising to his knees. It
+missed his head, but fell upon his arm and shoulder, precipitating him
+violently into the sea.
+
+Stunned by the shock, he sank at first like lead to the bottom. When he
+rose again, with his returning consciousness, he could see that Captain
+Bunker had already hoisted sail, and, with the assistance of his oars,
+was rapidly increasing his distance from the shore. With his returning
+desperation he turned to strike out after him, but groaned as his one
+arm sank powerless to his side. A few strokes showed him the madness
+of the attempt; a few more convinced him that he himself could barely
+return to the shore. A sudden torpor had taken possession of him--he was
+sinking!
+
+With this thought, a struggle for life began; and this man who had just
+now sought death so eagerly--with no feeling of inconsistency, with
+no physical fear of dissolution, with only a vague, blind, dogged
+determination to live for some unknown purpose--a determination as vague
+and dogged as his former ideas of self-destruction--summoned all his
+energies to reach the shore. He struck out wildly, desperately; once or
+twice he thought he felt his feet touch the bottom, only to find himself
+powerlessly dragged back towards the sea. With a final superhuman effort
+he gained at last a foothold on the muddy strand, and, half scrambling,
+half crawling, sank exhaustedly beside the fisherman's net. But the
+fisherman was gone! He attempted again to rise to his feet, but a
+strange dizziness attacked him. The darkening landscape, with its
+contracting wall of fog; the gloomy flat; the still, pale sea, as yet
+unruffled by the faint land breeze that was slowly wafting the escaping
+boat into the shadowy offing--all swam round him! Through the roaring
+in his ears he thought he heard drumbeats, and the fanfare of a trumpet,
+and voices. The next moment he had lost all consciousness.
+
+When he came to, he was lying in the guard-room of the Presidio. Among
+the group of people who surrounded him he recognized the gaunt features
+of the Commander, the sympathetic eyes of Father Esteban, and the
+fisherman who had disappeared. When he rose on his elbow, and attempted
+to lift himself feebly, the fisherman, with a cry of gratitude, threw
+himself on his knees, and kissed his helpless hand.
+
+"He lives, he lives! your Excellencies! Saints be praised, he lives! The
+hero--the brave Americano--the noble caballero who delivered me from the
+madman."
+
+"Who are you? and whence come you?" demanded the Commander of Hurlstone,
+with grave austerity.
+
+Hurlstone hesitated; the priest leaned forward with a half anxious, half
+warning gesture. There was a sudden rustle in the passage; the crowd
+gave way as Miss Keene, followed by Mrs. Markham, entered. The young
+girl's eyes caught those of the prostrate man. With an impulsive cry she
+ran towards him.
+
+"Mr. Hurlstone!"
+
+"Hurlstone," echoed the group, pressing nearer the astonished man.
+
+The Comandante lifted his hand gravely with a gesture of silence, and
+then slowly removed his plumed hat. Every head was instantly uncovered.
+
+"Long live our brave and noble ally, Don Diego! Long live the beautiful
+Dona Leonor!"
+
+A faint shade of sadness passed over the priest's face. He glanced from
+Hurlstone to Miss Keene.
+
+"Then you have consented?" he whispered.
+
+Hurlstone cast a rapid glance at Eleanor Keene.
+
+"I consent!"
+
+
+
+
+PART II. FREED.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+THE MOURNERS AT SAN FRANCISCO.
+
+
+The telegraph operator at the Golden Gate of San Francisco had long
+since given up hope of the Excelsior. During the months of September
+and October, 1854, stimulated by the promised reward, and often by
+the actual presence of her owners, he had shown zeal and hope in his
+scrutiny of the incoming ships. The gaunt arms of the semaphore at
+Fort Point, turned against the sunset sky, had regularly recorded the
+smallest vessel of the white-winged fleet which sought the portal of the
+bay during that eventful year of immigration; but the Excelsior was not
+amongst them. At the close of the year 1854 she was a tradition; by the
+end of January, 1855, she was forgotten. Had she been engulfed in her
+own element she could not have been more completely swallowed up than in
+the changes of that shore she never reached. Whatever interest or hope
+was still kept alive in solitary breasts the world never knew. By the
+significant irony of Fate, even the old-time semaphore that should have
+signaled her was abandoned and forgotten.
+
+The mention of her name--albeit in a quiet, unconcerned voice--in the
+dress-circle of a San Francisco theatre, during the performance of a
+popular female star, was therefore so peculiar that it could only have
+come from the lips of some one personally interested in the lost vessel.
+Yet the speaker was a youngish, feminine-looking man of about thirty,
+notable for his beardlessness, in the crowded circle of bearded and
+moustachioed Californians, and had been one of the most absorbed of
+the enthusiastic audience. A weak smile of vacillating satisfaction
+and uneasiness played on his face during the plaudits of his
+fellow-admirers, as if he were alternately gratified and annoyed. It
+might have passed for a discriminating and truthful criticism of the
+performance, which was a classical burlesque, wherein the star displayed
+an unconventional frankness of shapely limbs and unrestrained gestures
+and glances; but he applauded the more dubious parts equally with the
+audience. He was evidently familiar with the performance, for a look of
+eager expectation greeted most of the "business." Either he had not come
+for the entire evening, or he did not wish to appear as if he had, as he
+sat on one of the back benches near the passage, and frequently changed
+his place. He was well, even foppishly, dressed for the period, and
+appeared to be familiarly known to the loungers in the passage as a man
+of some social popularity.
+
+He had just been recognized by a man of apparently equal importance and
+distinction, who had quietly and unconsciously taken a seat by his
+side, and the recognition appeared equally unexpected and awkward.
+The new-comer was the older and more decorous-looking, with an added
+formality of manner and self-assertion that did not, however, conceal
+a certain habitual shrewdness of eye and lip. He wore a full beard,
+but the absence of a moustache left the upper half of his handsome and
+rather satirical mouth uncovered. His dress was less pronounced than his
+companion's, but of a type of older and more established gentility.
+
+"I was a little late coming from the office to-night," said the younger
+man, with an embarrassed laugh, "and I thought I'd drop in here on my
+way home. Pretty rough outside, ain't it?"
+
+"Yes, it's raining and blowing; so I thought I wouldn't go up to the
+plaza for a cab, but wait here for the first one that dropped a fare at
+the door, and take it on to the hotel."
+
+"Hold on, and I'll go with you," said the young man carelessly. "I say,
+Brimmer," he added, after a pause, with a sudden assumption of larger
+gayety, "there's nothing mean about Belle Montgomery, eh? She's a
+whole team and the little dog under the wagon, ain't she? Deuced pretty
+woman!--no make-up there, eh?"
+
+"She certainly is a fine woman," said Brimmer gravely, borrowing his
+companion's lorgnette. "By the way, Markham, do you usually keep an
+opera-glass in your office in case of an emergency like this?"
+
+"I reckon it was forgotten in my overcoat pocket," said Markham, with an
+embarrassed smile.
+
+"Left over from the last time," said Brimmer, rising from his seat.
+"Well, I'm going now--I suppose I'll have to try the plaza."
+
+"Hold on a moment. She's coming on now--there she is!" He stopped, his
+anxious eyes fixed upon the stage. Brimmer turned at the same moment in
+no less interested absorption. A quick hush ran through the theatre;
+the men bent eagerly forward as the Queen of Olympus swept down to the
+footlights, and, with a ravishing smile, seemed to envelop the whole
+theatre in a gracious caress.
+
+"You know, 'pon my word, Brimmer, she's a very superior woman," gasped
+Markham excitedly, when the goddess had temporarily withdrawn. "These
+fellows here," he said, indicating the audience contemptuously, "don't
+know her,--think she's all that sort of thing, you know,--and come here
+just to LOOK at her. But she's very accomplished--in fact, a kind of
+literary woman. Writes devilish good poetry--only took up the stage
+on account of domestic trouble: drunken husband that beat her--regular
+affecting story, you know. These sap-headed fools don't, of course,
+know THAT. No, sir; she's a remarkable woman! I say, Brimmer, look here!
+I"--he hesitated, and then went on more boldly, as if he had formed a
+sudden resolution. "What have you got to do to-night?"
+
+Brimmer, who had been lost in abstraction, started slightly, and said,--
+
+"I--oh! I've got an appointment with Keene. You know he's off by the
+steamer--day after to-morrow?"
+
+"What! He's not going off on that wild-goose chase, after all? Why, the
+man's got Excelsior on the brain!" He stopped as he looked at Brimmer's
+cold face, and suddenly colored. "I mean his plan--his idea's all
+nonsense--you know that!"
+
+"I certainly don't agree with him," began Brimmer gravely; "but"--
+
+"The idea," interrupted Markham, encouraged by Brimmer's beginning, "of
+his knocking around the Gulf of California, and getting up an expedition
+to go inland, just because a mail-steamer saw a barque like the
+Excelsior off Mazatlan last August. As if the Excelsior wouldn't have
+gone into Mazatlan if it had been her! I tell you what it is, Brimmer:
+it's mighty rough on you and me, and it ain't the square thing at
+all--after all we've done, and the money we've spent, and the nights
+we've sat up over the Excelsior--to have this young fellow Keene always
+putting up the bluff of his lost sister on us! His lost sister, indeed!
+as if WE hadn't any feelings."
+
+The two men looked at each other, and each felt it incumbent to look
+down and sigh deeply--not hypocritically, but perfunctorily, as over
+a past grief, although anger had been the dominant expression of the
+speaker.
+
+"I was about to remark," said Brimmer practically, "that the insurance
+on the Excelsior having been paid, her loss is a matter of commercial
+record; and that, in a business point of view, this plan of Keene's
+ain't worth looking at. As a private matter of our own feelings--purely
+domestic--there's no question but that we must sympathize with him,
+although he refuses to let us join in the expenses."
+
+"Oh, as to that," said Markham hurriedly, "I told him to draw on me for
+a thousand dollars last time I saw him. No, sir; it ain't that. What
+gets me is this darned nagging and simpering around, and opening old
+sores, and putting on sentimental style, and doing the bereaved
+business generally. I reckon he'd be even horrified to see you and me
+here--though it was just a chance with both of us."
+
+"I think not," said Brimmer dryly. "He knows Miss Montgomery already.
+They're going by the same steamer."
+
+Markham looked up quickly.
+
+"Impossible! She's going by the other line to Panama; that is"--he
+hesitated--"I heard it from the agent."
+
+"She's changed her mind, so Keene says," returned Brimmer. "She's going
+by way of Nicaragua. He stops at San Juan to reconnoitre the coast up to
+Mazatlan. Good-night. It's no use waiting here for a cab any longer, I'm
+off."
+
+"Hold on!" said Markham, struggling out of a sudden uneasy reflection.
+"I say, Brimmer," he resumed, with an enforced smile, which he tried to
+make playful, "your engagement with Keene won't keep you long. What do
+you say to having a little supper with Miss Montgomery, eh?--perfectly
+proper, you know--at our hotel? Just a few friends, eh?"
+
+Brimmer's eyes and lips slightly contracted.
+
+"I believe I am already invited," he said quietly. "Keene asked me. In
+fact, that's the appointment. Strange he didn't speak of you," he added
+dryly.
+
+"I suppose it's some later arrangement," Markham replied, with feigned
+carelessness. "Do you know her?"
+
+"Slightly."
+
+"You didn't say so!"
+
+"You didn't ask me," said Brimmer. "She came to consult me about South
+American affairs. It seems that filibuster General Leonidas, alias
+Perkins, whose little game we stopped by that Peruvian contract,
+actually landed in Quinquinambo and established a government. It seems
+she knows him, has a great admiration for him as a Liberator, as she
+calls him. I think they correspond!"
+
+"She's a wonderful woman, by jingo, Brimmer! I'd like to hear whom she
+don't know," said Markham, beaming with a patronizing vanity. "There's
+you, and there's that filibuster, and old Governor Pico, that she's just
+snatched bald-headed--I mean, you know, that he recognizes her worth,
+don't you see? Not like this cattle you see here."
+
+"Are you coming with me?" said Brimmer, gravely buttoning up his coat,
+as if encasing himself in a panoply of impervious respectability.
+
+"I'll join you at the hotel," said Markham hurriedly. "There's a man
+over there in the parquet that I want to say a word to; don't wait for
+me."
+
+With a slight inclination of the head Mr. Brimmer passed out into
+the lobby, erect, self-possessed, and impeccable. One or two of his
+commercial colleagues of maturer age, who were loitering leisurely by
+the wall, unwilling to compromise themselves by actually sitting down,
+took heart of grace at this correct apparition. Brimmer nodded to them
+coolly, as if on 'Change, and made his way out of the theatre. He had
+scarcely taken a few steps before a furious onset of wind and rain drove
+him into a doorway for shelter. At the same moment a slouching figure,
+with a turned-up coat-collar, slipped past him and disappeared in a
+passage at his right. Partly hidden by his lowered umbrella, Mr. Brimmer
+himself escaped notice, but he instantly recognized his late companion,
+Markham. As he resumed his way up the street he glanced into the
+passage. Halfway down, a light flashed upon the legend "Stage Entrance."
+Quincy Brimmer, with a faint smile, passed on to his hotel.
+
+It was striking half-past eleven when Mr. Brimmer again issued from his
+room in the Oriental and passed down a long corridor. Pausing a moment
+before a side hall that opened from it, he cast a rapid look up and down
+the corridor, and then knocked hastily at a door. It was opened sharply
+by a lady's maid, who fell back respectfully before Mr. Brimmer's
+all-correct presence.
+
+Half reclining on a sofa in the parlor of an elaborate suite of
+apartments was the woman whom Mr. Brimmer had a few hours before beheld
+on the stage of the theatre. Lifting her eyes languidly from a book that
+lay ostentatiously on her lap, she beckoned her visitor to approach.
+She was a woman still young, whose statuesque beauty had but slightly
+suffered from cosmetics, late hours, and the habitual indulgence of
+certain hysterical emotions that were not only inconsistent with the
+classical suggestions of her figure, but had left traces not unlike the
+grosser excitement of alcoholic stimulation. She looked like a tinted
+statue whose slight mutations through stress of time and weather had
+been unwisely repaired by freshness of color.
+
+"I am such a creature of nerves," she said, raising a superb neck and
+extending a goddess-like arm, "that I am always perfectly exhausted
+after the performance. I fly, as you see, to my first love--poetry--as
+soon as Rosina has changed my dress. It is not generally known--but
+I don't mind telling YOU--that I often nerve myself for the effort of
+acting by reading some well-remembered passage from my favorite poets,
+as I stand by the wings. I quaff, as one might say, a single draught of
+the Pierian spring before I go on."
+
+The exact relations between the humorous "walk round," in which Miss
+Montgomery usually made her first entrance, and the volume of Byron she
+held in her hand, did not trouble Mr. Brimmer so much as the beautiful
+arm with which she emphasized it. Neither did it strike him that the
+distinguishing indications of a poetic exaltation were at all unlike the
+effects of a grosser stimulant known as "Champagne cocktail" on the less
+sensitive organization of her colleagues. Touched by her melancholy but
+fascinating smile, he said gallantly that he had observed no sign of
+exhaustion, or want of power in her performance that evening.
+
+"Then you were there!" she said, fixing her eyes upon him with an
+expression of mournful gratitude. "You actually left your business and
+the calls of public duty to see the poor mountebank perform her nightly
+task."
+
+"I was there with a friend of yours," answered Brimmer soberly, "who
+actually asked me to the supper to which Mr. Keene had already invited
+me, and which YOU had been kind enough to suggest to me a week ago."
+
+"True, I had forgotten," said Miss Montgomery, with a large goddess-like
+indifference that was more effective with the man before her than the
+most elaborate explanation. "You don't mind them--do you?--for we are
+all friends together. My position, you know," she added sadly, "prevents
+my always following my own inclinations or preferences. Poor Markham, I
+fear the world does not do justice to his gentle, impressible nature.
+I sympathize with him deeply; we have both had our afflictions, we have
+both--lost. Good heavens!" she exclaimed, with a sudden exaggerated
+start of horror, "what have I done? Forgive my want of tact, dear
+friend; I had forgotten, wretched being that I am, that YOU, too"--
+
+She caught his hand in both hers, and bowed her head over it as if
+unable to finish her sentence.
+
+Brimmer, who had been utterly mystified and amazed at this picture of
+Markham's disconsolate attitude to the world, and particularly to the
+woman before him, was completely finished by this later tribute to his
+own affliction. His usually composed features, however, easily took upon
+themselves a graver cast as he kept, and pressed, the warm hands in his
+own.
+
+"Fool that I was," continued Miss Montgomery; "in thinking of poor
+Markham's childlike, open grief, I forgot the deeper sorrow that the
+more manly heart experiences under an exterior that seems cold and
+impassible. Yes," she said, raising her languid eyes to Brimmer, "I
+ought to have felt the throb of that volcano under its mask of snow. You
+have taught me a lesson."
+
+Withdrawing her hands hastily, as if the volcano had shown some signs of
+activity, she leaned back on the sofa again.
+
+"You are not yet reconciled to Mr. Keene's expedition, then?" she asked
+languidly.
+
+"I believe that everything has been already done," said Brimmer,
+somewhat stiffly; "all sources of sensible inquiry have been exhausted
+by me. But I envy Keene the eminently practical advantages his
+impractical journey gives him," he added, arresting himself, gallantly;
+"he goes with you."
+
+"Truly!" said Miss Montgomery, with the melancholy abstraction of
+a stage soliloquy. "Beyond obeying the dictates of his brotherly
+affection, he gains no real advantage in learning whether his sister is
+alive or dead. The surety of her death would not make him freer than he
+is now--freer to absolutely follow the dictates of a new affection; free
+to make his own life again. It is a sister, not a wife, he seeks."
+
+Mr. Brimmer's forehead slightly contracted. He leaned back a little more
+rigidly in his chair, and fixed a critical, half supercilious look upon
+her. She did not seem to notice his almost impertinent scrutiny, but sat
+silent, with her eyes bent on the carpet, in gloomy abstraction.
+
+"Can you keep a secret?" she said, as if with a sudden resolution.
+
+"Yes," said Brimmer briefly, without changing his look.
+
+"You know I am a married woman. You have heard the story of my wrongs?"
+
+"I have heard them," said Brimmer dryly.
+
+"Well, the husband who abused and deserted me was, I have reason to
+believe, a passenger on the Excelsior."
+
+"M'Corkle!--impossible. There was no such name on the passenger list."
+
+"M'Corkle!" repeated Miss Montgomery, with a dissonant tone in her voice
+and a slight flash in her eyes. "What are you thinking of? There never
+was a Mr. M'Corkle; it was one of my noms de plume. And where did YOU
+hear it?"
+
+"I beg your pardon, I must have got it from the press notices of your
+book of poetry. I knew that Montgomery was only a stage name, and as
+it was necessary that I should have another in making the business
+investments you were good enough to charge me with, I used what
+I thought was your real name. It can be changed, or you can sign
+M'Corkle."
+
+"Let it go," said Miss Montgomery, resuming her former manner. "What
+matters? I wish there was no such thing as business. Well," she resumed,
+after a pause, "my husband's name is Hurlstone."
+
+"But there was no Hurlstone on the passenger list either," said Brimmer.
+"I knew them all, and their friends."
+
+"Not in the list from the States; but if he came on board at Callao, you
+wouldn't have known it. I knew that he arrived there on the Osprey a few
+days before the Excelsior sailed."
+
+Mr. Brimmer's eyes changed their expression.
+
+"And you want to find him?"
+
+"No," she said, with an actress's gesture. "I want to know the truth. I
+want to know if I am still tied to this man, or if I am free to
+follow the dictates of my own conscience,--to make my life anew,--to
+become--you see I am not ashamed to say it--to become the honest wife of
+some honest man."
+
+"A divorce would suit your purpose equally," said Brimmer coldly. "It
+can be easily obtained."
+
+"A divorce! Do you know what that means to a woman in my profession? It
+is a badge of shame,--a certificate of disgrace,--an advertisement to
+every miserable wretch who follows me with his advances that I have no
+longer the sanctity of girlhood, nor the protection of a wife."
+
+There was tragic emotion in her voice, there were tears in her eyes. Mr.
+Brimmer, gazing at her with what he firmly thought to be absolute and
+incisive penetration, did not believe either. But like most practical
+analysts of the half-motived sex, he was only half right. The emotion
+and the tears were as real as anything else in the woman under
+criticism, notwithstanding that they were not as real as they would have
+been in the man who criticised. He, however, did her full justice on
+a point where most men and all women misjudged her: he believed that,
+through instinct and calculation, she had been materially faithful
+to her husband; that this large goddess-like physique had all the
+impeccability of a goddess; that the hysterical dissipation in which
+she indulged herself was purely mental, and usurped and preoccupied all
+other emotions. In this public exposition of her beauty there was no
+sense of shame, for there was no sense of the passion it evoked. And
+he was right. But there he should have stopped. Unfortunately, his
+masculine logic forced him to supply a reason for her coldness in the
+existence of some more absorbing passion. He believed her ambitious and
+calculating: she was neither. He believed she might have made him an
+admirable copartner and practical helpmeet: he was wrong.
+
+"You know my secret now," she continued. "You know why I am anxious to
+know my fate. You understand now why I sympathize with"--she stopped,
+and made a half contemptuous gesture--"with these men Markham and
+Keene. THEY do not know it; perhaps they prefer to listen to their own
+vanity--that's the way of most men; but you do know it, and you have no
+excuse for misjudging me, or undeceiving them." She stopped and looked
+at the clock. "They will be here in five minutes; do you wish them to
+find you already here?"
+
+"It is as YOU wish," stammered Brimmer, completely losing his
+self-possession.
+
+"I have no wish," she said, with a sublime gesture of indifference. "If
+you wait you can entertain them here, while Rosina is dressing me in the
+next room. We sup in the larger room across the hall."
+
+As she disappeared, Quincy Brimmer rose irresolutely from his seat and
+checked a half uttered exclamation. Then he turned nervously to the
+parlor-door. What a senseless idiot he had become! He had never for an
+instant conceived the idea of making this preliminary confidential visit
+known to the others; he had no wish to suggest the appearance of an
+assignation with the woman, who, rightly or wrongly, was notorious;
+he had nothing to gain by this voluntary assumption of a compromising
+attitude; yet here he was, he--Mr. Brimmer--with the appearance of being
+installed in her parlor, receiving her visitors, and dispensing her
+courtesies. Only a man recklessly in love would be guilty of such
+an indiscretion--even Markham's feebleness had never reached this
+absurdity. In the midst of his uneasiness there was a knock at the door;
+he opened it himself nervously and sharply. Markham's self-satisfied
+face drew back in alarm and embarrassment at the unexpected apparition.
+The sight restored Brimmer's coolness and satirical self-possession.
+
+"I--I--didn't know you were here," stammered Markham. "I left Keene in
+your room."
+
+"Then why didn't you bring him along with you?" said Brimmer
+maliciously. "Go and fetch him."
+
+"Yes; but he said you were to meet him there," continued Markham,
+glancing around the empty room with a slight expression of relief.
+
+"My watch was twenty minutes fast, and I had given him up," said
+Brimmer, with mendacious effrontery. "Miss Montgomery is dressing. You
+can bring him here before she returns."
+
+Markham flew uneasily down the corridor and quickly returned with a
+handsome young fellow of five-and-twenty, whose frank face was beaming
+with excitement and youthful energy. The two elder men could not help
+regarding him with a mingled feeling of envy and compassion.
+
+"Did you tell Brimmer yet?" said Keene, with animation.
+
+"I haven't had time," hesitated Markham. "The fact is, Brimmer, I think
+of going with Keene on this expedition."
+
+"Indeed!" said Brimmer superciliously.
+
+"Yes," said Markham, coloring slightly. "You see, we've got news. Tell
+him, Dick."
+
+"The Storm Cloud got in yesterday from Valparaiso and Central American
+ports," said Keene, with glowing cheeks. "I boarded her, as usual, last
+night, for information. The mate says there is a story of a man picked
+up crazy, in an open fishing-boat, somewhere off the peninsula, and
+brought into hospital at San Juan last August. He recovered enough
+lately to tell his story and claim to be Captain Bunker of the
+Excelsior, whose crew mutinied and ran her ashore in a fog. But the
+boat in which he was picked up was a Mexican fishing-boat, and there
+was something revolutionary and political about the story, so that
+the authorities detained him. The consul has just been informed of the
+circumstances, and has taken the matter in hand."
+
+"It's a queer story," said Brimmer, gazing from the one to the other,
+"and I will look into it also to-morrow. If it is true," he added
+slowly, "I will go with you."
+
+Richard Keene extended his hand impulsively to his two elders.
+
+"You'll excuse me for saying it, Brimmer--and you, too, Markham--but
+this is just what I've been looking forward to. Not but what I'd have
+found Nell without your assistance; but you see, boys, it DID look
+mighty mean in me to make more fuss about a sister than you would for
+your wives! But now that it's all settled"--
+
+"We'll go to supper," said Miss Montgomery theatrically, appearing at
+the door. "Dick will give me his arm."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+THE MOURNERS AT TODOS SANTOS.
+
+
+There was a breath of spring in the soft morning air of Todos Santos--a
+breath so subtle and odorous that it penetrated the veil of fog beyond
+the bay, and for a moment lingered on the deck of a passing steamer like
+an arresting memory. But only for an instant; the Ometepe, bound from
+San Francisco to San Juan del Norte, with its four seekers of the
+Excelsior, rolled and plunged on its way unconsciously.
+
+Within the bay and over the restful pueblo still dwelt the golden haze
+of its perpetual summer; the two towers of the old Mission church seemed
+to dissolve softly into the mellow upper twilight, and the undulating
+valleys rolled their green waves up to the wooded heights of San
+Antonio, that still smiled down upon the arid, pallid desert. But
+although Nature had not changed in the months that had passed since the
+advent of the Excelsior, there appeared some strange mutations in
+the town and its inhabitants. On the beach below the Presidio was the
+unfinished skeleton of a small sea-going vessel on rude stocks; on the
+plaza rose the framed walls and roofless rafters of a wooden building;
+near the Embarcadero was the tall adobe chimney of some inchoate
+manufactory whose walls had half risen from their foundations; but all
+of these objects had evidently succumbed to the drowsy influence of
+the climate, and already had taken the appearances of later and less
+picturesque ruins of the past. There were singular innovations in the
+costumes: one or two umbrellas, used as sunshades, were seen upon
+the square; a few small chip hats had taken the place of the stiff
+sombreros, with an occasional tall white beaver; while linen coat and
+nankeen trousers had, at times, usurped the short velvet jacket and
+loose calzas of the national costume.
+
+At San Antonio the change was still more perceptible. Beside the yawning
+pit of the abandoned silver mine a straggling building arose, filled
+with rude machinery, bearing the legend, painted in glowing letters,
+"Excelsior Silver Mining Co., J. Crosby, Superintendent;" and in the
+midst of certain excavations assailing the integrity of the cliff itself
+was another small building, scarcely larger than a sentry-box, with the
+inscription, "Office: Eleanor Quicksilver Smelting Works."
+
+Basking in that yellow morning sunlight, with his back against his
+office, Mr. Brace was seated on the ground, rolling a cigarette. A few
+feet from him Crosby, extended on his back on the ground, was lazily
+puffing rings of smoke into the still air. Both of these young gentlemen
+were dressed in exaggerated Mexican costumes; the silver buttons
+fringing the edge of Crosby's calza, open from the knee down to show a
+glimpse of the snowy under-trouser, were richer and heavier than those
+usually worn; while Brace, in addition to the crimson silk sash round
+his waist, wore a crimson handkerchief around his head, under his
+sombrero.
+
+"Pepe's falling off in his tobacco," said Brace. "I think I'll have to
+try some other Fonda."
+
+"How's Banks getting on with his crop?" asked Crosby. "You know he was
+going to revolutionize the business, and cut out Cuba on that hillside."
+
+"Oh, the usual luck! He couldn't get proper cultivators, and the
+Injins wouldn't work regular. I must try and get hold of some of the
+Comandante's stock; but I'm out of favor with the old man since Winslow
+and I wrecked that fishing-boat on the rocks off yonder. He always
+believed we were trying to run off, like Captain Bunker. That's why he
+stopped our shipbuilding, I really believe."
+
+"All the same, we might have had it built and ready now but for our
+laziness. We might have worked on it nights without their knowing it,
+and slipped off some morning in the fog."
+
+"And we wouldn't have got one of the women to go with us! If we are
+getting shiftless here--and I don't say we're not--these women have just
+planted themselves and have taken root. But that ain't all: there's
+the influence of that infernal sneak Hurlstone! He's set the Comandante
+against us, you know; he, and the priest, the Comandante, and Nelly
+Keene make up the real Council of Todos Santos. Between them they've
+shoved out the poor little Alcalde, who's ready to give up everything to
+dance attendance on Mrs. Brimmer. They run the whole concern, and they
+give out that it's owing to them that we're given parole of the town,
+and the privilege of spending our money and working these mines. Who'd
+have thought that sneak Hurlstone would have played his cards so well?
+It makes me regularly sick to hear him called 'Don Diego.'"
+
+"Yet you're mightily tickled when that black-eyed sister of the Alcalde
+calls you 'Don Carlos,'" said Crosby, yawning.
+
+"Dona Isabel," said Brace, with some empressement, "is a lady of
+position, and these are only her national courtesies."
+
+"She just worships Miss Keene, and I reckon she knows by this time
+all about your old attentions to her friend," said Crosby, with lazy
+mischief.
+
+"My attentions to Miss Keene were simply those of an ordinary
+acquaintance, and were never as strongly marked as yours to Mrs.
+Brimmer."
+
+"Who has deserted ME as Miss Keene did YOU," rejoined Crosby.
+
+Brace's quick color had risen again, and he would have made some sharp
+retort, but the jingling of spurs caught his ear. They both turned
+quickly, and saw Banks approaching. He was dressed as a vaquero, but
+with his companions' like exaggeration of detail; yet, while his spurs
+were enormous, and his sombrero unusually expansive, he still clung to
+his high shirt-collars and accurately tied check cravat.
+
+"Well?" he said, approaching them.
+
+"Well?" said Crosby.
+
+"Well?" repeated Brace.
+
+After this national salutation, the three Americans regarded each other
+silently.
+
+"Knocked off cultivating to-day?" queried Crosby, lighting a fresh
+cigarette.
+
+"The peons have," said Banks; "it's another saint's day. That's the
+fourth in two weeks. Leaves about two clear working days in each week,
+counting for the days off, when they're getting over the effects of the
+others. I tell you what, sir, the Catholic religion is not suited to a
+working civilization, or else the calendar ought to be overhauled and
+a lot of these saints put on the retired list. It's hard enough to have
+all the Apostles on your pay-roll, so to speak, but to have a lot of
+fellows run in on you as saints, and some of them not even men or women,
+but IDEAS, is piling up the agony! I don't wonder they call the place
+'All Saints.' The only thing to do," continued Banks severely, "is
+to open communication with the desert, and run in some of the heathen
+tribes outside. I've made a proposition to the Council offering to take
+five hundred of them in the raw, unregenerate state, and turn 'em
+over after a year to the Church. If I could get Hurlstone to do some
+log-rolling with that Padre, his friend, I might get the bill through.
+But I'm always put off till to-morrow. Everything here is 'Hasta manana;
+hasta manana,' always. I believe when the last trump is sounded, they'll
+say, 'Hasta manana.' What are YOU doing?" he said, after a pause.
+
+"Waiting for your ship," answered Crosby sarcastically.
+
+"Well, you can laugh, gentlemen--but you won't have to wait long.
+According to my calculations that Mexican ship is about due now. And I
+ain't basing my figures on anything the Mexican Government is going
+to do, or any commercial speculation. I'm reckoning on the Catholic
+Church."
+
+The two men languidly looked towards him. Banks continued gravely,--
+
+"I made the proper inquiries, and I find that the stock of rosaries,
+scapularies, blessed candles, and other ecclesiastical goods, is running
+low. I find that just at the nick of time a fresh supply always comes
+from the Bishop of Guadalajara, with instructions from the Church. Now,
+gentlemen, my opinion is that the Church, and the Church only, knows the
+secret of the passage through the foggy channel, and keeps it to itself.
+I look at this commercially, as a question of demand and supply. Well,
+sir; the only real trader here at Todos Santos is the Church."
+
+"Then you don't take in account the interests of Brimmer, Markham, and
+Keene," said Brace. "Do you suppose they're doing nothing?"
+
+"I don't say they're not; but you're confounding interests with
+INSTINCTS. They haven't got the instinct to find this place, and all
+that they've done and are doing is blind calculation. Just look at the
+facts. As the filibuster who captured the Excelsior of course changed
+her name, her rig-out, and her flag, and even got up a false register
+for her, she's as good as lost, as far as the world knows, until she
+lands at Quinquinambo. Then supposing she's found out, and the whole
+story is known--although everything's against such a proposition--the
+news has got to go back to San Francisco before the real search will be
+begun. As to any clue that might come from Captain Bunker, that's still
+more remote. Allowing he crossed the bar and got out of the channel,
+he wasn't at the right time for meeting a passing steamer; and the only
+coasters are Mexican. If he didn't die of delirium tremens or exposure,
+and was really picked up in his senses by some other means, he would
+have been back with succor before this, if only to get our evidence to
+prove the loss of the vessel. No, sir sooner or later, of course, the
+San Francisco crowd are bound to find us here. And if it wasn't for my
+crops and our mine, I wouldn't be in a hurry for them; but our FIRST
+hold is the Church."
+
+He stopped. Crosby was asleep. Brace arose lazily, lounged into his
+office, and closed his desk.
+
+"Going to shut for the day?" said Banks, yawning.
+
+"I reckon," said Brace dubiously; "I don't know but I'd take a little
+pasear into the town if I had my horse ready."
+
+"Take mine, and I'll trapse over on foot to the Ranche with
+Crosby--after a spell. You'll find him under that big madrono, if he has
+not already wound himself up with his lariat by walking round it. Those
+Mexican horses can't go straight even when they graze--they must feed in
+a circle. He's a little fresh, so look out for him!"
+
+"All the better. I'd like to get into town just after the siesta."
+
+"Siesta!" echoed Banks, lying comfortably down in the shade just vacated
+by Brace; "that's another of their shiftless practices. Two hours out of
+every day--that's a day out of the week--spent in a hammock; and during
+business hours too! It's disgraceful, sir, simply disgraceful."
+
+He turned over and closed his eyes, as if to reflect on its enormity.
+
+Brace had no difficulty in finding the mare, although some trouble
+in mounting her. But, like his companions, having quickly adopted
+the habits of the country, he had become a skillful and experienced
+horseman, and the mustang, after a few springless jumps, which failed
+to unseat him, submitted to his rider. The young man galloped rapidly
+towards Todos Santos; but when within a few miles of the pueblo he
+slackened his pace. From the smiles and greetings of wayfarers--among
+whom were some pretty Indian girls and mestizas--it was evident that
+the handsome young foreigner, who had paid them the compliment of
+extravagantly adopting their national costume, was neither an unfamiliar
+nor an unpleasing spectacle. When he reached the posada at the top of
+the hilly street, he even carried his simulation of the local customs to
+the point of charging the veranda at full speed, and pulling up suddenly
+at the threshold, after the usual fashion of vaqueros. The impetuous
+apparition brought a short stout man to the door, who, welcoming him
+with effusive politeness, conducted him to an inner room that gave
+upon a green grass courtyard. Seated before a rude table, sipping
+aguardiente, was his countryman Winslow and two traders of the pueblo.
+They were evidently of the number already indicated who had adopted
+the American fashions. Senor Ruiz wore a linen "duster" in place of
+his embroidered jacket, and Senor Martinez had an American beard, or
+"goatee," in imitation of Mr. Banks. The air was yellow with the fumes
+of tobacco, through which the shrewd eyes of Winslow gleamed murkily.
+
+"This," he said to his countryman, in fluent if not elegant Spanish,
+indicating the gentleman who had imitated Banks, "is a man of ideas, and
+a power in Todos Santos. He would control all the votes in his district
+if there were anything like popular suffrage here, and he understands
+the American policy."
+
+Senor Martinez here hastened to inform Mr. Brace that he had long
+cherished a secret and enthusiastic admiration for that grand and
+magnanimous nation of which his friend was such a noble representative;
+that, indeed, he might say it was an inherited taste, for had not his
+grandfather once talked with the American whaling Capitano Coffino and
+partaken of a subtle spirit known as "er-r-rum" on his ship at Acapulco?
+
+"There's nothing mean about Martinez," said Winslow to Brace
+confidentially, in English. "He's up to anything, and ready from the
+word 'Go.' Don't you think he's a little like Banks, you know--a sort of
+Mexican edition. And there is Ruiz, he's a cattle dealer; he'd be a good
+friend of Banks if Banks wasn't so infernally self-opinionated. But Ruiz
+ain't a fool, either. He's picked up a little English--good American, I
+mean--from me already."
+
+Senor Ruiz here smiled affably, to show his comprehension; and added
+slowly, with great gravity,--
+
+"It is of twenty-four year I have first time the Amencano of your
+beautiful country known. He have buy the hides and horns of the
+cattle--for his ship--here."
+
+"Here?" echoed Brace. "I thought no American ship--no ship at all--had
+been in here for fifty years."
+
+Ruiz shrugged his shoulders, and cast a glance at his friend Martinez,
+lowered his voice and lifted his eyelashes at the same moment, and,
+jerking his yellow, tobacco-stained thumb over his arm, said,--
+
+"Ah--of a verity--on the beach--two leagues away."
+
+"Do you hear that?" said Winslow, turning complacently to Brace and
+rising to his feet. "Don't you see now what hogwash the Commander,
+Alcalde, and the priest have been cramming down our throats about this
+place being sealed up for fifty years. What he says is all Gospel truth.
+That's what I wanted you fellows to hear, and you might have heard
+before, only you were afraid of compromising yourselves by talking with
+the people. You get it into your heads--and the Comandante helped you to
+get it there--that Todos Santos was a sort of Sleepy Hollow, and that
+no one knew anything of the political changes for the last fifty years.
+Well, what's the fact? Ask Ruiz there, and Martinez, and they'll both
+tell you they know that Mexico got her independence in 1826, and that
+the Council keep it dark that they may perpetuate themselves. They
+know," he continued, lowering his voice, "that the Commander's
+commission from the old Viceroy isn't worth the paper it is stamped
+upon."
+
+"But what about the Church?" asked Brace hesitatingly, remembering
+Banks' theory.
+
+"The Church--caramba! the priests were ever with the Escossas, the
+aristocrats, and against the Yorkenos, the men of the Republic--the
+people," interrupted Martinez vehemently; "they will not accept, they
+will not proclaim the Republic to the people. They shut their eyes,
+so--. They fold their hands, so--. They say, 'Sicut era principio et
+nunc et semper in secula seculorum!' Look you, Senor, I am not of the
+Church--no, caramba! I snap my fingers at the priests. Ah! what
+they give one is food for the bull's horns, believe me--I have read
+'Tompano,' the American 'Tompano.'"
+
+"Who's he?" asked Brace.
+
+"He means Tom Paine! 'The Age of Reason'--you know," said Winslow,
+gazing with a mixture of delight and patronizing pride at the Radicals
+of Todos Santos. "Oh! he's no fool--is Martinez, nor Ruiz either! And
+while you've been flirting with Dona Isabel, and Banks has been trying
+to log-roll the Padre, and Crosby going in for siestas, I'VE found them
+out. And there are a few more--aren't there, Ruiz?"
+
+Ruiz darted a mysterious glance at Brace, and apparently not trusting
+himself to speak, checked off his ten fingers dramatically in the air
+thrice.
+
+"As many of a surety! God and liberty!"
+
+"But, if this is so, why haven't they DONE something?"
+
+Senor Martinez glanced at Senor Ruiz.
+
+"Hasta manana!" he said slowly.
+
+"Oh, this is a case of 'Hasta manana!'" said Brace, somewhat relieved.
+
+"They can wait," returned Winslow hurriedly. "It's too big a thing to
+rush into without looking round. You know what it means? Either Todos
+Santos is in rebellion against the present Government of Mexico, or
+she is independent of any. Her present Government, in any event,
+don't represent either the Republic of Mexico or the people of Todos
+Santos--don't you see? And in that case WE'VE got as good a right here
+as any one."
+
+"He speaks the truth," said Ruiz, grasping a hand of Brace and Winslow
+each; "in this we are--as brothers."
+
+"God and liberty!" ejaculated Martinez, in turn seizing the other
+disengaged hands of the Americans, and completing the mystic circle.
+
+"God and liberty!" echoed a thin chorus from their host and a few
+loungers who had entered unperceived.
+
+Brace felt uneasy. He was not wanting in the courage or daring of youth,
+but it struck him that his attitude was by no means consistent with his
+attentions to Dona Isabel. He managed to get Winslow aside.
+
+"This is all very well as a 'free lunch' conspiracy; but you're
+forgetting your parole," he said, in a low voice.
+
+"We gave our parole to the present Government. When it no longer exists,
+there will be no parole--don't you see?"
+
+"Then these fellows prefer waiting"--
+
+"Until we can get OUTSIDE help, you understand. The first American ship
+that comes in here--eh?"
+
+Brace felt relieved. After all, his position in regard to the Alcalde's
+sister would not be compromised; he might even be able to extend some
+protection over her; and it would be a magnanimous revenge if he could
+even offer it to Miss Keene.
+
+"I see you don't swear anybody to secrecy," he said, with a laugh;
+"shall I speak to Crosby, or will you?"
+
+"Not yet; he'll only see something to laugh at. And Banks and Martinez
+would quarrel at once, and go back on each other. No; my idea is to let
+some outsider do for Todos Santos what Perkins did for Quinquinambo. Do
+you take?"
+
+His long, thin, dyspeptic face lit up with a certain small political
+cunning and shrewdness that struck Brace with a half-respect.
+
+"I say, Winslow; you'd have made a first-class caucus leader in San
+Francisco."
+
+Winslow smiled complacently. "There's something better to play on here
+than ward politics," he replied. "There's a material here that--like
+the mine and the soil--ain't half developed. I reckon I can show Banks
+something that beats lobbying and log-rolling for contracts. I've let
+you into this thing to show you a sample of my prospecting. Keep it to
+yourself if you want it to pay. Dat's me, George! Good-by! I'll be out
+to the office to-morrow!"
+
+He turned back towards his brother politicians with an expression
+of satisfied conceit that Brace for a moment envied. The latter even
+lingered on the veranda, as if he would have asked Winslow another
+question; but, looking at his watch, he suddenly recollected himself,
+and, mounting his horse, cantered down towards the plaza.
+
+The hour of siesta was not yet over, and the streets were still
+deserted--probably the reason why the politicians of Todos Santos had
+chosen that hour for their half secret meeting. At the corner of the
+plaza he dismounted and led his horse to the public hitching-post--gnawn
+and nibbled by the teeth of generations of mustangs--and turned into the
+narrow lane flanked by the walls of the Alcalde's garden. Halfway
+down he stopped before a slight breach in the upper part of the adobe
+barrier, and looked cautiously around. The long, shadowed vista of the
+lane was unobstructed by any moving figure as far as the yellow light of
+the empty square beyond. With a quick leap he gained the top of the wall
+and disappeared on the other aide.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+INTERNATIONAL COURTESIES.
+
+
+The garden over whose wall Brace had mysteriously vanished was
+apparently as deserted as the lane and plaza without. But its
+solitude was one of graceful shadow and restful loveliness. A tropical
+luxuriance, that had perpetuated itself year after year, until it was
+half suffocated in its own overgrowth and strangled with its own beauty,
+spread over a variegated expanse of starry flowers, shimmering leaves,
+and slender inextricable branches, pierced here and there by towering
+rigid cactus spikes or the curved plumes of palms. The repose of ages
+lay in its hushed groves, its drooping vines, its lifeless creepers;
+the dry dust of its decaying leaves and branches mingled with the living
+perfumes like the spiced embalmings of a forgotten past.
+
+Nevertheless, this tranquillity, after a few moments, was singularly
+disturbed. There was no breeze stirring, and yet the long fronds of a
+large fan palm, that stood near the breach in the wall, began to move
+gently from right to left, like the arms of some graceful semaphore,
+and then as suddenly stopped. Almost at the same moment a white curtain,
+listlessly hanging from a canopied balcony of the Alcalde's house, began
+to exhibit a like rhythmical and regular agitation. Then everything was
+motionless again; an interval of perfect peace settled upon the garden.
+It was broken by the apparition of Brace under the balcony, and the
+black-veiled and flowered head of Dona Isabel from the curtain above.
+
+"Crazy boy!"
+
+"Senorita!"
+
+"Hush! I am coming down!"
+
+"You? But Dona Ursula!"
+
+"There is no more Dona Ursula!"
+
+"Well--your duenna, whoever she is!"
+
+"There is no duenna!"
+
+"What?"
+
+"Hush up your tongue, idiot boy!" (this in English.)
+
+The little black head and the rose on top of it disappeared. Brace drew
+himself up against the wall and waited. The time seemed interminable.
+Impatiently looking up and down, he at last saw Dona Isabel at a
+distance, quietly and unconcernedly moving among the roses, and
+occasionally stooping as if to pick them. In an instant he was at her
+side.
+
+"Let me help you," he said.
+
+She opened her little brownish palm,--
+
+"Look!" In her hand were a few leaves of some herb. "It is for you."
+
+Brace seized and kissed the hand.
+
+"Is it some love-test?"
+
+"It is for what you call a julep-cocktail," she replied gravely. "He
+will remain in a glass with aguardiente; you shall drink him with a
+straw. My sister has said that ever where the Americans go they expect
+him to arrive."
+
+"I prefer to take him straight," said Brace, laughing, as he nibbled a
+limp leaf bruised by the hand of the young girl. "He's pleasanter, and,
+on the whole, more wildly intoxicating this way! But what about your
+duenna? and how comes this blessed privilege of seeing you alone?"
+
+Dona Isabel lifted her black eyes suddenly to Brace.
+
+"You do not comprehend, then? Is it not, then, the custom of the
+Americans? Is it not, then, that there is no duenna in your country?"
+
+"There are certainly no duennas in my country. But who has changed the
+custom here?"
+
+"Is it not true that in your country any married woman shall duenna
+the young senorita?" continued Dona Isabel, without replying; "that any
+caballero and senorita shall see each other in the patio, and not under
+a balcony?--that they may speak with the lips, and not the fan?"
+
+"Well--yes," said Brace.
+
+"Then my brother has arranged it as so. He have much hear the Dona
+Barbara Brimmer when she make talk of these things frequently, and he
+is informed and impressed much. He will truly have that you will come
+of the corridor, and not the garden, for me, and that I shall have no
+duenna but the Dona Barbara. This does not make you happy, you American
+idiot boy!"
+
+It did not. The thought of carrying on a flirtation under the
+fastidious Boston eye of Mrs. Brimmer, instead of under the discreet
+and mercenarily averted orbs of Dona Ursula, did not commend itself
+pleasantly to Brace.
+
+"Oh, yes," he returned quickly. "We will go into the corridor, in the
+fashion of my country"--
+
+"Yes," said Dona Isabel dubiously.
+
+"AFTER we have walked in the garden in the fashion of YOURS. That's only
+fair, isn't it?"
+
+"Yes," said Dona Isabel gravely; "that's what the Comandante will call
+'internation-al courtesy.'"
+
+The young man slipped his arm around the young diplomatist's waist, and
+they walked on in decorous silence under the orange-trees.
+
+"It seems to me," said Brace presently, "that Mrs. Brimmer has a good
+deal to say up your way?"
+
+"Ah, yes; but what will you? It is my brother who has love for her."
+
+"But," said Brace, stopping suddenly, "doesn't he know that she has a
+husband living?"
+
+Dona Isabel lifted her lashes in childlike wonder.
+
+"Always! you idiot American boy. That is why. Ah, Mother of God! my
+brother is discreet. He is not a maniac, like you, to come after a silly
+muchacha like me."
+
+The response which Brace saw fit to make to this statement elicited a
+sharp tap upon the knuckles from Dona Isabel.
+
+"Tell to me," she said suddenly, "is not that a custom of your country?"
+
+"What? THAT?"
+
+"No, insensate. To attend a married senora?"
+
+"Not openly."
+
+"Ah, that is wrong," said Dona Isabel meditatively, moving the point of
+her tiny slipper on the gravel. "Then it is the young girl that shall
+come in the corridor and the married lady on the balcony?"
+
+"Well, yes."
+
+"Good-by, ape!"
+
+She ran swiftly down the avenue of palms to a small door at the back of
+the house, turned, blew a kiss over the edge of her fan to Brace, and
+disappeared. He hesitated a moment or two, then quickly rescaling the
+wall, dropped into the lane outside, followed it to the gateway of the
+casa, and entered the patio as Dona Isabel decorously advanced from
+a darkened passage to the corridor. Although the hour of siesta had
+passed, her sister, Miss Chubb, the Alcalde, and Mrs. Brimmer were still
+lounging here on sofas and hammocks.
+
+It would have been difficult for a stranger at a first glance to
+discover the nationality of the ladies. Mrs. Brimmer and her friend Miss
+Chubb had entirely succumbed to the extreme dishabille of the Spanish
+toilet--not without a certain languid grace on the part of Mrs. Brimmer,
+whose easy contour lent itself to the stayless bodice; or a certain
+bashful, youthful naivete on the part of Miss Chubb, the rounded
+dazzling whiteness of whose neck and shoulders half pleased and half
+frightened her in her low, white, plain camisa--under the lace mantilla.
+
+"It is SUCH a pleasure to see you again, Mr. Brace," said Mrs. Brimmer,
+languidly observing the young man through the sticks of her fan; "I was
+telling Don Ramon that I feared Dona Ursula had frightened you away. I
+told him that your experience of American society might have caused you
+to misinterpret the habitual reserve of the Castilian," she continued
+with the air of being already an alien of her own country, "and I should
+be only too happy to undertake the chaperoning of both these young
+ladies in their social relations with our friends. And how is dear Mr.
+Banks? and Mr. Crosby? whom I so seldom see now. I suppose, however,
+business has its superior attractions."
+
+But Don Ramon, with impulsive gallantry, would not--nay, COULD not--for
+a moment tolerate a heresy so alarming. It was simply wildly impossible.
+For why? In the presence of Dona Barbara--it exists not in the heart of
+man!
+
+"YOU cannot, of course, conceive it, Don Ramon," said Mrs. Brimmer, with
+an air of gentle suffering; "but I fear it is sadly true of the American
+gentlemen. They become too absorbed in their business. They forget their
+duty to our sex in their selfish devotion to affairs in which we are
+debarred from joining them, and yet they wonder that we prefer the
+society of men who are removed by birth, tradition, and position from
+this degrading kind of selfishness."
+
+"But that was scarcely true of your own husband. HE was not only
+a successful man in business, but we can see that he was equally
+successful in his relations to at least one of the fastidious sex," said
+Brace, maliciously glancing at Don Ramon.
+
+Mrs. Brimmer received the innuendo with invulnerable simplicity.
+
+"Mr. Brimmer is, I am happy to say, NOT a business man. He entered into
+certain contracts having more or less of a political complexion, and
+carrying with them the genius but not the material results of trade.
+That he is not a business man--and a successful one--my position here at
+the present time is a sufficient proof," she said triumphantly. "And I
+must also protest," she added, with a faint sigh, "against Mr. Brimmer
+being spoken of in the past tense by anybody. It is painfully premature
+and ominous!"
+
+She drew her mantilla across her shoulders with an expression of
+shocked sensitiveness which completed the humiliation of Brace and the
+subjugation of Don Ramon. But, unlike most of her sex, she was wise
+in the moment of victory. She cast a glance over her fan at Brace, and
+turned languidly to Dona Isabel.
+
+"Mr. Brace must surely want some refreshment after his long ride. Why
+don't you seize this opportunity to show him the garden and let him
+select for himself the herbs he requires for that dreadful American
+drink; Miss Chubb and your sister will remain with me to receive the
+Comandante's secretary and the Doctor when they come."
+
+"She's more than my match," whispered Brace to Dona Isabel, as they left
+the corridor together. "I give in. I don't understand her: she frightens
+me."
+
+"That is of your conscience! It is that you would understand the Dona
+Leonor--your dear Miss Keene--better! Ah! silence, imbecile! this Dona
+Barbara is even as thou art--a talking parrot. She will have that the
+Comandante's secretary, Manuel, shall marry Mees Chubb, and that the
+Doctor shall marry my sister. But she knows not that Manuel--listen so
+that you shall get sick at your heart and swallow your moustachio!--that
+Manuel loves the beautiful Leonor, and that Leonor loves not him, but
+Don Diego; and that my sister loathes the little Doctor. And this Dona
+Barbara, that makes your liver white, would be a feeder of chickens with
+such barley as this! Ah! come along!"
+
+The arrival of the Doctor and the Comandante's secretary created another
+diversion, and the pairing off of the two couples indicated by Dona
+Isabel for a stroll in the garden, which was now beginning to recover
+from the still heat of mid-day. This left Don Ramon and Mrs. Brimmer
+alone in the corridor; Mrs. Brimmer's indefinite languor, generally
+accepted as some vague aristocratic condition of mind and body, not
+permitting her to join them.
+
+There was a moment of dangerous silence; the voices of the young people
+were growing fainter in the distance. Mrs. Brimmer's eyes, in the shadow
+of her fan, were becoming faintly phosphorescent. Don Ramon's melancholy
+face, which had grown graver in the last few moments, approached nearer
+to her own.
+
+"You are unhappy, Dona Barbara. The coming of this young cavalier, your
+countryman, revives your anxiety for your home. You are thinking of this
+husband who comes not. Is it not so?"
+
+"I am thinking," said Mrs. Brimmer, with a sudden revulsion of solid
+Boston middle-class propriety, shown as much in the dry New England
+asperity of voice that stung even through her drawling of the Castilian
+speech, as in anything she said,--"I am thinking that, unless Mr.
+Brimmer comes soon, I and Miss Chubb shall have to abandon the
+hospitality of your house, Don Ramon. Without looking upon myself as a
+widow, or as indefinitely separated from Mr. Brimmer, the few words let
+fall by Mr. Brace show me what might be the feelings of my countrymen
+on the subject. However charming and considerate your hospitality has
+been--and I do not deny that it has been MOST grateful to ME--I feel
+I cannot continue to accept it in those equivocal circumstances. I
+am speaking to a gentleman who, with the instincts and chivalrous
+obligations of his order, must sympathize with my own delicacy in coming
+to this conclusion, and who will not take advantage of my confession
+that I do it with pain."
+
+She spoke with a dry alacrity and precision so unlike her usual languor
+and the suggestions of the costume, and even the fan she still kept
+shading her faintly glowing eyes, that the man before her was more
+troubled by her manner than her words, which he had but imperfectly
+understood.
+
+"You will leave here--this house?" he stammered.
+
+"It is necessary," she returned.
+
+"But you shall listen to me first!" he said hurriedly. "Hear me, Dona
+Barbara--I have a secret--I will to you confess"--
+
+"You must confess nothing," said Mrs. Brimmer, dropping her feet from
+the hammock, and sitting up primly, "I mean--nothing I may not hear."
+
+The Alcalde cast a look upon her at once blank and imploring.
+
+"Ah, but you will hear," he said, after a pause. "There is a ship
+coming here. In two weeks she will arrive. None know it but myself, the
+Comandante, and the Padre. It is a secret of the Government. She will
+come at night; she will depart in the morning, and no one else shall
+know. It has ever been that she brings no one to Todos Santos, that she
+takes no one from Todos Santos. That is the law. But I swear to you
+that she shall take you, your children, and your friend to Acapulco in
+secret, where you will be free. You will join your husband; you will be
+happy. I will remain, and I will die."
+
+It would have been impossible for any woman but Mrs. Brimmer to have
+regarded the childlike earnestness and melancholy simplicity of this
+grown-up man without a pang. Even this superior woman experienced a
+sensible awkwardness as she slipped from the hammock and regained an
+upright position.
+
+"Of course," she, began, "your offer is exceedingly generous; and
+although I should not, perhaps, take a step of this kind without the
+sanction of Mr. Brimmer, and am not sure that he would not regard it as
+rash and premature, I will talk it over with Miss Chubb, for whom I am
+partially responsible. Nothing," she continued, with a sudden access of
+feeling, "would induce me, for any selfish consideration, to take any
+step that would imperil the future of that child, towards whom I feel as
+a sister." A slight suffusion glistened under her pretty brown lashes.
+"If anything should happen to her, I would never forgive myself; if I
+should be the unfortunate means of severing any ties that SHE may have
+formed, I could never look her in the face again. Of course, I can well
+understand that our presence here must be onerous to you, and that you
+naturally look forward to any sacrifice--even that of the interests
+of your country, and the defiance of its laws--to relieve you from a
+position so embarrassing as yours has become. I only trust, however,
+that the ill effects you allude to as likely to occur to yourself after
+our departure may be exaggerated by your sensitive nature. It would be
+an obligation added to the many that we owe you, which Mr. Brimmer would
+naturally find he could not return--and that, I can safely say, he would
+not hear of for a single moment."
+
+While speaking, she had unconsciously laid aside her fan, lifted her
+mantilla from her head with both hands, and, drawing it around her
+shoulders and under her lifted chin, had crossed it over her bosom
+with a certain prim, automatic gesture, as if it had been the starched
+kerchief of some remote Puritan ancestress. With her arms still
+unconsciously crossed, she stooped rigidly, picked up her fan with three
+fingers, as if it had been a prayer-book, and, with a slight inclination
+of her bared head, with its accurately parted brown hair, passed slowly
+out of the corridor.
+
+Astounded, bewildered, yet conscious of some vague wound, Don Ramon
+remained motionless, staring after her straight, retreating figure.
+Unable to follow closely either the meaning of her words or the logic
+of her reasoning, he nevertheless comprehended the sudden change in
+her manner, her voice, and the frigid resurrection of a nature he had
+neither known nor suspected. He looked blankly at the collapsed hammock,
+as if he expected to find in its depths those sinuous graces, languid
+fascinations, and the soft, half sensuous contour cast off by this
+vanishing figure of propriety.
+
+In the eight months of their enforced intimacy and platonic seclusion
+he had learned to love this naive, insinuating woman, whose frank
+simplicity seemed equal to his own, without thought of reserve, secrecy,
+or deceit. He had gradually been led to think of the absent husband
+with what he believed to be her own feelings--as of some impalpable,
+fleshless ancestor from whose remote presence she derived power,
+wealth, and importance, but to whom she owed only respect and certain
+obligations of honor equal to his own. He had never heard her speak of
+her husband with love, with sympathy, with fellowship, with regret. She
+had barely spoken of him at all, and then rather as an attractive factor
+in her own fascinations than a bar to a free indulgence in them. He was
+as little in her way as--his children. With what grace she had adapted
+herself to his--Don Ramon's--life--she who frankly confessed she had no
+sympathy with her husband's! With what languid enthusiasm she had taken
+up the customs of HIS country, while deploring the habits of her own!
+With what goddess-like indifference she had borne this interval
+of waiting! And yet this woman--who had seemed the embodiment of
+romance--had received the announcement of his sacrifice--the only
+revelation he allowed himself to make of his hopeless passion--with the
+frigidity of a duenna! Had he wounded her in some other unknown way?
+Was she mortified that he had not first declared his passion--he who had
+never dared to speak to her of love before? Perhaps she even doubted
+it! In his ignorance of the world he had, perhaps, committed some grave
+offense! He should not have let her go! He should have questioned,
+implored her--thrown himself at her feet! Was it too late yet?
+
+He passed hurriedly into the formal little drawing-room, whose bizarre
+coloring was still darkened by the closed blinds and dropped awnings
+that had shut out the heat of day. She was not there. He passed the open
+door of her room; it was empty. At the end of the passage a faint light
+stole from a door opening into the garden that was still ajar. She must
+have passed out that way. He opened it, and stepped out into the garden.
+
+The sound of voices beside a ruined fountain a hundred yards away
+indicated the vicinity of the party; but a single glance showed him that
+she was not among them. So much the better--he would find her alone.
+Cautiously slipping beside the wall of the house, under the shadow of a
+creeper, he gained the long avenue without attracting attention. She was
+not there. Had she effectively evaded contact with the others by leaving
+the garden through the little gate in the wall that entered the Mission
+enclosure? It was partly open, as if some one had just passed through.
+He followed, took a few steps, and stopped abruptly. In the shadow of
+one of the old pear-trees a man and woman were standing. An impulse of
+wild jealousy seized him; he was about to leap forward, but the next
+moment the measured voice of the Comandante, addressing Mrs. Markham,
+fell upon his ear. He drew back with a sudden flush upon his face. The
+Comandante of Todos Santos, in grave, earnest accents, was actually
+offering to Mrs. Markham the same proposal that he, Don Ramon, had made
+to Mrs. Brimmer but a moment ago!
+
+"No one," said the Comandante sententiously, "will know it but myself.
+You will leave the ship at Acapulco; you will rejoin your husband in
+good time; you will be happy, my child; you will forget the old man
+who drags out the few years of loneliness still left to him in Todos
+Santos."
+
+Forgetting himself, Don Ramon leaned breathlessly forward to hear Mrs.
+Markham's reply. Would she answer the Comandante as Dona Barbara had
+answered HIM? Her words rose distinctly in the evening air.
+
+"You're a gentleman, Don Miguel Briones; and the least respect I can
+show a man of your kind is not to pretend that I don't understand the
+sacrifice you're making. I shall always remember it as about the biggest
+compliment I ever received, and the biggest risk that any man--except
+one--ever ran for me. But as the man who ran that bigger risk isn't here
+to speak for himself, and generally trusts his wife, Susan Markham, to
+speak for him--it's all the same as if HE thanked you. There's my hand,
+Don Miguel: shake it. Well--if you prefer it--kiss it then. There--don't
+be a fool--but let's go back to Miss Keene."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+A GLEAM OF SUNSHINE.
+
+
+While these various passions had been kindled by her compatriots in
+the peaceful ashes of Todos Santos, Eleanor Keene had moved among them
+indifferently and, at times, unconsciously. The stranding of her young
+life on that unknown shore had not drawn her towards her fellow-exiles,
+and the circumstances which afterwards separated her from daily contact
+with them completed the social estrangement. She found herself more in
+sympathy with the natives, to whom she had shown no familiarity,
+than with her own people, who had mixed with them more or less
+contemptuously. She found the naivete of Dona Isabel more amusing than
+the doubtful simplicity of that married ingenue Mrs. Brimmer, although
+she still met the young girl's advances with a certain reserve. She
+found herself often pained by the practical brusqueness with which Mrs.
+Markham put aside the Comandante's delicate attentions, and she was
+moved with a strange pity for his childlike trustfulness, which she knew
+was hopeless. As the months passed, on the few occasions that she still
+met the Excelsior's passengers she was surprised to find how they
+had faded from her memory, and to discover in them the existence of
+qualities that made her wonder how she could have ever been familiar
+with them. She reproached herself with this fickleness; she wondered
+if she would have felt thus if they had completed their voyage to San
+Francisco together; and she recalled, with a sad smile, the enthusiastic
+plans they had formed during the passage to perpetuate their fellowship
+by anniversaries and festivals. But she, at last, succumbed, and finally
+accepted their open alienation as preferable to the growing awkwardness
+of their chance encounters.
+
+For a few weeks following the flight of Captain Bunker and her
+acceptance of the hospitality and protection of the Council, she became
+despondent. The courage that had sustained her, and the energy she had
+shown in the first days of their abandonment, suddenly gave way, for no
+apparent reason. She bitterly regretted the brother whom she scarcely
+remembered; she imagined his suspense and anguish on her account, and
+suffered for both; she felt the dumb pain of homesickness for a home
+she had never known. Her loneliness became intolerable. Her condition
+at last affected Mrs. Markham, whose own idleness had been beguiled by
+writing to her husband an exhaustive account of her captivity, which had
+finally swelled to a volume on Todos Santos, its resources, inhabitants,
+and customs. "Good heavens!" she said, "you must do something, child,
+to occupy your mind--if it is only a flirtation with that conceited
+Secretary." But this terrible alternative was happily not required. The
+Comandante had still retained as part of the old patriarchal government
+of the Mission the Presidio school, for the primary instruction of
+the children of the soldiers,--dependants of the garrison. Miss Keene,
+fascinated by several little pairs of beady black eyes that had looked
+up trustingly to hers from the playground on the glacis, offered to
+teach English to the Comandante's flock. The offer was submitted to
+the spiritual head of Todos Santos, and full permission given by Padre
+Esteban to the fair heretic. Singing was added to the Instruction, and
+in a few months the fame of the gracious Dona Leonor's pupils stirred to
+emulation even the boy choristers of the Mission.
+
+Her relations with James Hurlstone during this interval were at first
+marked by a strange and unreasoning reserve. Whether she resented
+the singular coalition forced upon them by the Council and felt the
+awkwardness of their unintentional imposture when they met, she did not
+know, but she generally avoided his society. This was not difficult, as
+he himself had shown no desire to intrude his confidences upon her; and
+even in her shyness she could not help thinking that if he had treated
+the situation lightly or humorously--as she felt sure Mr. Brace or Mr.
+Crosby would have done--it would have been less awkward and unpleasant.
+But his gloomy reserve seemed to the high-spirited girl to color their
+innocent partnership with the darkness of conspiracy.
+
+"If your conscience troubles you, Mr. Hurlstone, in regard to the
+wretched infatuation of those people," she had once said, "undeceive
+them, if you can, and I will assist you. And don't let that affair
+of Captain Bunker worry you either. I have already confessed to the
+Comandante that he escaped through my carelessness."
+
+"You could not have done otherwise without sacrificing the poor
+Secretary, who must have helped you," Hurlstone returned quietly.
+
+Miss Keene bit her lip and dropped the subject. At their next meeting
+Hurlstone himself resumed it.
+
+"I hope you don't allow that absurd decree of the Council to disturb
+you; I imagine they're quite convinced of their folly. I know that
+the Padre is; and I know that he thinks you've earned a right to the
+gratitude of the Council in your gracious task at the Presidio school
+that is far beyond any fancied political service."
+
+"I really haven't thought about it at all," said Miss Keene coolly. "I
+thought it was YOU who were annoyed."
+
+"I? not at all," returned Hurlstone quickly. "I have been able to assist
+the Padre in arranging the ecclesiastical archives of the church, and
+in suggesting some improvement in codifying the ordinances of the last
+forty years. No; I believe I'm earning my living here, and I fancy they
+think so."
+
+"Then it isn't THAT that troubles you?" said Miss Keene carelessly, but
+glancing at him under the shade of her lashes.
+
+"No," he said coldly, turning away.
+
+Yet unsatisfactory as these brief interviews were, they revived in Miss
+Keene the sympathizing curiosity and interest she had always felt for
+this singular man, and which had been only held in abeyance at the
+beginning of their exile; in fact, she found herself thinking of him
+more during the interval when they seldom saw each other, and apparently
+had few interests in common, than when they were together on the
+Excelsior. Gradually she slipped into three successive phases of feeling
+towards him, each of them marked with an equal degree of peril to her
+peace of mind. She began with a profound interest in the mystery of
+his secluded habits, his strange abstraction, and a recognition of
+the evident superiority of a nature capable of such deep
+feeling--uninfluenced by those baser distractions which occupied Brace,
+Crosby, and Winslow. This phase passed into a settled conviction that
+some woman was at the root of his trouble, and responsible for it. With
+an instinctive distrust of her own sex, she was satisfied that it must
+be either a misplaced or unworthy attachment, and that the unknown woman
+was to blame. This second phase--which hovered between compassion and
+resentment--suddenly changed to the latter--the third phase of her
+feelings. Miss Keene became convinced that Mr. Hurlstone had a settled
+aversion to HERSELF. Why and wherefore, she did not attempt to reason,
+yet she was satisfied that from the first he disliked her. His studious
+reserve on the Excelsior, compared with the attentions of the others,
+ought then to have convinced her of the fact; and there was no doubt
+now that his present discontent could be traced to the unfortunate
+circumstances that brought them together. Having given herself up to
+that idea, she vacillated between a strong impulse to inform him that
+she knew his real feelings and an equally strong instinct to avoid him
+hereafter entirely. The result was a feeble compromise. On the ground
+that Mr. Hurlstone could "scarcely be expected to admire her inferior
+performances," she declined to invite him with Father Esteban to listen
+to her pupils. Father Esteban took a huge pinch of snuff, examined
+Miss Keene attentively, and smiled a sad smile. The next day he
+begged Hurlstone to take a volume of old music to Miss Keene with his
+compliments. Hurlstone did so, and for some reason exerted himself to be
+agreeable. As he made no allusion to her rudeness, she presumed he did
+not know of it, and speedily forgot it herself. When he suggested a
+return visit to the boy choir, with whom he occasionally practiced, she
+blushed and feared she had scarcely the time. But she came with Mrs.
+Markham, some consciousness, and a visible color!
+
+And then, almost without her knowing how or why, and entirely unexpected
+and unheralded, came a day so strangely and unconsciously happy, so
+innocently sweet and joyous, that it seemed as if all the other days
+of her exile had only gone before to create it, and as if it--and it
+alone--were a sufficient reason for her being there. A day full of
+gentle intimations, laughing suggestions, childlike surprises and
+awakenings; a day delicious for the very incompleteness of its vague
+happiness. And this remarkable day was simply marked in Mrs. Markham's
+diary as follows:--"Went with E. to Indian village; met Padre and J. H.
+J. H. actually left shell and crawled on beach with E. E. chatty."
+
+The day itself had been singularly quiet and gracious, even for that
+rare climate of balmy days and recuperating nights. At times the slight
+breath of the sea which usually stirred the morning air of Todos Santos
+was suspended, and a hush of expectation seemed to arrest land and
+water. When Miss Keene and Mrs. Markham left the Presidio, the tide was
+low, and their way lay along the beach past the Mission walls. A walk
+of two or three miles brought them to the Indian village--properly a
+suburban quarter of Todos Santos--a collection of adobe huts and rudely
+cultivated fields. Padre Esteban and Mr. Hurlstone were awaiting them in
+the palm-thatched veranda of a more pretentious cabin, that served as a
+school-room. "This is Don Diego's design," said the Padre, beaming with
+a certain paternal pride on Hurlstone, "built by himself and helped by
+the heathen; but look you: my gentleman is not satisfied with it, and
+wishes now to bring his flock to the Mission school, and have them
+mingle with the pure-blooded races on an equality. That is the
+revolutionary idea of this sans culotte reformer," continued the good
+Father, shaking his yellow finger with gentle archness at the young man.
+"Ah, we shall yet have a revolution in Todos Santos unless you ladies
+take him in hand. He has already brought the half-breeds over to his
+side, and those heathens follow him like dumb cattle anywhere. There,
+take him away and scold him, Dona Leonor, while I speak to the Senora
+Markham of the work that her good heart and skillful fingers may do for
+my poor muchachos."
+
+Eleanor Keene lifted her beautiful eyes to Hurlstone with an artless
+tribute in their depths that brought the blood faintly into his cheek.
+She was not thinking of the priest's admonishing words; she was thinking
+of the quiet, unselfish work that this gloomy misanthrope had been
+doing while his companions had been engaged in lower aims and listless
+pleasures, and while she herself had been aimlessly fretting and
+diverting herself. What were her few hours of applauded instruction with
+the pretty Murillo-like children of the Fort compared to his silent and
+unrecognized labor! Yet even at this moment an uneasy doubt crossed her
+mind.
+
+"I suppose Mrs. Brimmer and Miss Chubb interest themselves greatly in
+your--in the Padre's charities?"
+
+The first playful smile she had seen on Hurlstone's face lightened in
+his eyes and lips, and was becoming.
+
+"I am afraid my barbarians are too low and too near home for Mrs.
+Brimmer's missionary zeal. She and Miss Chubb patronize the Mexican
+school with cast-off dresses, old bonnets retrimmed, flannel petticoats,
+some old novels and books of poetry--of which the Padre makes an
+auto-da-fe--and their own patronizing presence on fete days. Providence
+has given them the vague impression that leprosy and contagious
+skin-disease are a peculiarity of the southern aborigine, and they have
+left me severely alone."
+
+"I wish you would prevail upon the Padre to let ME help you," said Miss
+Keene, looking down.
+
+"But you already have the Commander's chickens--which you are bringing
+up as swans, by the way," said Hurlstone mischievously. "You wouldn't
+surely abandon the nest again?"
+
+"You are laughing at me," said Miss Keene, putting on a slight pout to
+hide the vague pleasure that Hurlstone's gayer manner was giving
+her. "But, really, I've been thinking that the Presidio children are
+altogether too pretty and picturesque for me, and that I enjoy them too
+much to do them any good. It's like playing with them, you know!"
+
+Hurlstone laughed, but suddenly looking down upon her face he was struck
+with its youthfulness. She had always impressed him before--through her
+reserve and independence--as older, and more matured in character. He
+did not know how lately she was finding her lost youth as he asked her,
+quite abruptly, if she ever had any little brothers and sisters.
+
+The answer to this question involved the simple story of Miss Keene's
+life, which she gave with naive detail. She told him of her early
+childhood, and the brother who was only an indistinct memory; of her
+school days, and her friendships up to the moment of her first step into
+the great world that was so strangely arrested at Todos Santos. He
+was touched with the almost pathetic blankness of this virgin page.
+Encouraged by his attention, and perhaps feeling a sympathy she had
+lately been longing for, she confessed to him the thousand little things
+which she had reserved from even Mrs. Markham during her first apathetic
+weeks at Todos Santos.
+
+"I'm sure I should have been much happier if I had had any one to
+talk to," she added, looking up into his face with a naivete of faint
+reproach; "it's very different for men, you know. They can always
+distract themselves with something. Although," she continued
+hesitatingly, "I've sometimes thought YOU would have been happier if you
+had had somebody to tell your troubles to--I don't mean the Padre;
+for, good as he is, he is a foreigner, you know, and wouldn't look upon
+things as WE do--but some one in sympathy with you."
+
+She stopped, alarmed at the change of expression in his face. A quick
+flush had crossed his cheek; for an instant he had looked suspiciously
+into her questioning eyes. But the next moment the idea of his quietly
+selecting this simple, unsophisticated girl as the confidant of his
+miserable marriage, and the desperation that had brought him there,
+struck him as being irresistibly ludicrous and he smiled. It was the
+first time that the habitual morbid intensity of his thoughts on that
+one subject had ever been disturbed by reaction; it was the first
+time that a clear ray of reason had pierced the gloom in which he had
+enwrapped it. Seeing him smile, the young girl smiled too. Then they
+smiled together vaguely and sympathetically, as over some unspoken
+confidence. But, unknown and unsuspected by himself, that smile had
+completed his emancipation and triumph. The next moment, when he sought
+with a conscientious sigh to reenter his old mood, he was half shocked
+to find it gone. Whatever gradual influence--the outcome of these few
+months of rest and repose--may have already been at work to dissipate
+his clouded fancy, he was only vaguely conscious that the laughing
+breath of the young girl had blown it away forever.
+
+The perilous point passed, unconsciously to both of them, they fell into
+freer conversation, tacitly avoiding the subject of Mr. Hurlstone's past
+reserve only as being less interesting. Hurlstone did not return Miss
+Keene's confidences--not because he wished to deceive her, but that he
+preferred to entertain her; while she did not care to know his secret
+now that it no longer affected their sympathy in other things. It was a
+pleasant, innocent selfishness, that, however, led them along, step by
+step, to more uncertain and difficult ground.
+
+In their idle, happy walk they had strayed towards the beach, and had
+come upon a large stone cross with its base half hidden in sand, and
+covered with small tenacious, sweet-scented creepers, bearing a pale
+lilac blossom that exhaled a mingled odor of sea and shore. Hurlstone
+pointed out the cross as one of the earliest outposts of the Church on
+the edge of the unclaimed heathen wilderness. It was hung with strings
+of gaudy shells and feathers, which Hurlstone explained were votive
+offerings in which their pagan superstitions still mingled with their
+new faith.
+
+"I don't like to worry that good old Padre," he continued, with a light
+smile, "but I'm afraid that they prefer this cross to the chapel for
+certain heathenish reasons of their own. I am quite sure that they still
+hold some obscure rites here under the good Father's very nose, and
+that, in the guise of this emblem of our universal faith, they worship
+some deity we have no knowledge of."
+
+"It's a shame," said Miss Keene quickly.
+
+To her surprise, Hurlstone did not appear so shocked as she, in her
+belief of his religious sympathy with the Padre, had imagined.
+
+"They're a harmless race," he said carelessly. "The place is much
+frequented by the children--especially the young girls; a good many of
+these offerings came from them."
+
+The better to examine these quaint tributes, Miss Keene had thrown
+herself, with an impulsive, girlish abandonment, on the mound by the
+cross, and Hurlstone sat down beside her. Their eyes met in an innocent
+pleasure of each other's company. She thought him very handsome in the
+dark, half official Mexican dress that necessity alone had obliged him
+to assume, and much more distinguished-looking than his companions
+in their extravagant foppery; he thought her beauty more youthful and
+artless than he had imagined it to be, and with his older and graver
+experiences felt a certain protecting superiority that was pleasant and
+reassuring.
+
+Nevertheless, seated so near each other, they were very quiet. Hurlstone
+could not tell whether it was the sea or the flowers, but the dress of
+the young girl seemed to exhale some subtle perfume of her own freshness
+that half took away his breath. She had scraped up a handful of sand,
+and was allowing it to escape through her slim fingers in a slender rain
+on the ground. He was watching the operation with what he began to fear
+was fatuous imbecility.
+
+"Miss Keene?--I beg your pardon"--
+
+"Mr. Hurlstone?--Excuse me, you were saying"--
+
+They had both spoken at the same moment, and smiled forgivingly at
+each other. Hurlstone gallantly insisted upon the precedence of her
+thought--the scamp had doubted the coherency of his own.
+
+"I used to think," she began--"you won't be angry, will you?"
+
+"Decidedly not."
+
+"I used to think you had an idea of becoming a priest."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Because--you are sure you won't be angry--because I thought you hated
+women!"
+
+"Father Esteban is a priest," said Hurlstone, with a faint smile, "and
+you know he thinks kindly of your sex."
+
+"Yes; but perhaps HIS life was never spoiled by some wicked woman
+like--like yours."
+
+For an instant he gazed intently into her eyes.
+
+"Who told you that?"
+
+"No one."
+
+She was evidently speaking the absolute truth. There was no deceit or
+suppression in her clear gaze; if anything, only the faintest look of
+wonder at his astonishment. And he--this jealously guarded secret, the
+curse of his whole wretched life, had been guessed by this simple girl,
+without comment, without reserve, without horror! And there had been no
+scene, no convulsion of Nature, no tragedy; he had not thrown himself
+into yonder sea; she had not fled from him shrinking, but was sitting
+there opposite to him in gentle smiling expectation, the golden light
+of Todos Santos around them, a bit of bright ribbon shining in her dark
+hair, and he, miserable, outcast, and recluse, had not even changed his
+position, but was looking up without tremulousness or excitement, and
+smiling, too.
+
+He raised himself suddenly on his knee.
+
+"And what if it were all true?" he demanded.
+
+"I should be very sorry for you, and glad it were all over now," she
+said softly.
+
+A faint pink flush covered her cheek the next moment, as if she had
+suddenly become aware of another meaning in her speech, and she turned
+her head hastily towards the village. To her relief she discerned that a
+number of Indian children had approached them from behind and had halted
+a few paces from the cross. Their hands were full of flowers and shells
+as they stood hesitatingly watching the couple.
+
+"They are some of the school-children," said Hurlstone, in answer to her
+inquiring look; "but I can't understand why they come here so openly."
+
+"Oh, don't scold them!" said Eleanor, forgetting her previous orthodox
+protest; "let us go away, and pretend we don't notice them."
+
+But as she was about to rise to her feet the hesitation of the little
+creatures ended in a sudden advance of the whole body, and before she
+comprehended what they were doing they had pressed the whole of their
+floral tributes in her lap. The color rose again quickly to her laughing
+face as she looked at Hurlstone.
+
+"Do you usually get up this pretty surprise for visitors?" she said
+hesitatingly.
+
+"I assure you I have nothing to do with it," he answered, with frank
+amazement; "it's quite spontaneous. And look--they are even decorating
+ME."
+
+It was true; they had thrown a half dozen strings of shells on
+Hurlstone's unresisting shoulders, and, unheeding the few words he
+laughingly addressed them in their own dialect, they ran off a few
+paces, and remained standing, as if gravely contemplating their work.
+Suddenly, with a little outcry of terror, they turned, fled wildly past
+them, and disappeared in the bushes.
+
+Miss Keene and Hurlstone rose at the same moment, but the young girl,
+taking a step forward, suddenly staggered, and was obliged to clasp one
+of the arms of the cross to keep herself from falling. Hurlstone sprang
+to her side.
+
+"Are you ill?" he asked hurriedly. "You are quite white. What is the
+matter?"
+
+A smile crossed her colorless face.
+
+"I am certainly very giddy; everything seems to tremble."
+
+"Perhaps it is the flowers," he said anxiously. "Their heavy perfume in
+this close air affects you. Throw them away, for Heaven's sake!"
+
+But she clutched them tighter to her heart as she leaned for a moment,
+pale yet smiling, against the cross.
+
+"No, no!" she said earnestly; "it was not that. But the children were
+frightened, and their alarm terrified me. There, it is over now."
+
+She let him help her to her seat again as he glanced hurriedly around
+him. It must have been sympathy with her, for he was conscious of a
+slight vertigo himself. The air was very close and still. Even the
+pleasant murmur of the waves had ceased.
+
+"How very low the tide is!" said Eleanor Keene, resting her elbow on
+her knees and her round chin upon her hand. "I wonder if that could have
+frightened those dear little midgets?" The tide, in fact, had left the
+shore quite bare and muddy for nearly a quarter of a mile to seaward.
+
+Hurlstone arose, with grave eyes, but a voice that was unchanged.
+
+"Suppose we inquire? Lean on my arm, and we'll go up the hill towards
+the Mission garden. Bring your flowers with you."
+
+The color had quite returned to her cheek as she leant on his proffered
+arm. Yet perhaps she was really weaker than she knew, for he felt the
+soft pressure of her hand and the gentle abandonment of her figure
+against his own as they moved on. But for some preoccupying thought,
+he might have yielded more completely to the pleasure of that innocent
+contact and have drawn her closer towards him; yet they moved steadily
+on, he contenting himself from time to time with a hurried glance at
+the downcast fringes of the eyes beside him. Presently he stopped,
+his attention disturbed by what appeared to be the fluttering of a
+black-winged, red-crested bird, in the bushes before him. The next
+moment he discovered it to be the rose-covered head of Dona Isabel, who
+was running towards them. Eleanor withdrew her arm from Hurlstone's.
+
+"Ah, imbecile!" said Dona Isabel, pouncing upon Eleanor Keene like an
+affectionate panther. "They have said you were on the seashore, and I
+fly for you as a bird. Tell to me quick," she whispered, hastily putting
+her own little brown ear against Miss Keene's mouth, "immediatamente,
+are you much happy?"
+
+"Where is Mr. Brace?" said Miss Keene, trying to effect a diversion, as
+she laughed and struggled to get free from her tormentor.
+
+"He, the idiot boy! Naturally, when he is for use, he comes not. But
+as a maniac--ever! I would that I have him no more. You will to me
+presently give your--brother! I have since to-day a presentimiento that
+him I shall love! Ah!"
+
+She pressed her little brown fist, still tightly clutching her fan,
+against her low bodice, as if already transfixed with a secret and
+absorbing passion.
+
+"Well, you shall have Dick then," said Miss Keene, laughing; "but was it
+for THAT you were seeking me?"
+
+"Mother of God! you know not then what has happened? You are a blind--a
+deaf--to but one thing all the time? Ah!" she said quickly, unfolding
+her fan and modestly diving her little head behind it, "I have ashamed
+for you, Miss Keene."
+
+"But WHAT has happened?" said Hurlstone, interposing to relieve his
+companion. "We fancied something"--
+
+"Something! he says something!--ah, that something was a temblor! An
+earthquake! The earth has shaken himself. Look!"
+
+She pointed with her fan to the shore, where the sea had suddenly
+returned in a turbulence of foam and billows that was breaking over the
+base of the cross they had just quitted.
+
+Miss Keene drew a quick sigh. Dona Isabel had ducked again modestly
+behind her fan, but this time dragging with her other arm Miss Keene's
+head down to share its discreet shadow as she whispered,--
+
+"And--infatuated one!--you two never noticed it!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+CLOUDS AND CHANGE.
+
+
+The earthquake shock, although the first experienced by the Americans,
+had been a yearly phenomenon to the people of Todos Santos, and was so
+slight as to leave little impression upon either the low adobe walls of
+the pueblo or the indolent population. "If it's a provision of Nature
+for shaking up these Rip Van Winkle Latin races now and then, it's a
+dead failure, as far as Todos Santos is concerned," Crosby had said,
+with a yawn. "Brace, who's got geology on the brain ever since he
+struck cinnabar ore, says he isn't sure the Injins ain't right when they
+believe that the Pacific Ocean used to roll straight up to the Presidio,
+and there wasn't any channel--and that reef of rocks was upheaved in
+their time. But what's the use of it? it never really waked them up."
+"Perhaps they're waiting for another kind of earthquake," Winslow had
+responded sententiously.
+
+In six weeks it had been forgotten, except by three people--Miss Keene,
+James Hurlstone, and Padre Esteban. Since Hurlstone had parted with
+Miss Keene on that memorable afternoon he had apparently lapsed into his
+former reserve. Without seeming to avoid her timid advances, he met
+her seldom, and then only in the presence of the Padre or Mrs. Markham.
+Although uneasy at the deprivation of his society, his present shyness
+did not affect her as it had done at first: she knew it was no longer
+indifference; she even fancied she understood it from what had been her
+own feelings. If he no longer raised his eyes to hers as frankly as he
+had that day, she felt a more delicate pleasure in the consciousness of
+his lowered eyelids when they met, and the instinct that told her
+when his melancholy glance followed her unobserved. The sex of these
+lovers--if we may call them so who had never exchanged a word of
+love--seemed to be changed. It was Miss Keene who now sought him with a
+respectful and frank admiration; it was Hurlstone who now tried to
+avoid it with a feminine dread of reciprocal display. Once she had even
+adverted to the episode of the cross. They were standing under the arch
+of the refectory door, waiting for Padre Esteban, and looking towards
+the sea.
+
+"Do you think we were ever in any real danger, down there, on the
+shore--that day?" she said timidly.
+
+"No; not from the sea," he replied, looking at her with a half defiant
+resolution.
+
+"From what then?" she asked, with a naivete that was yet a little
+conscious.
+
+"Do you remember the children giving you their offerings that day?" he
+asked abruptly.
+
+"I do," she replied, with smiling eyes.
+
+"Well, it appears that it is the custom for the betrothed couples to
+come to the cross to exchange their vows. They mistook us for lovers."
+
+All the instinctive delicacy of Miss Keene's womanhood resented the rude
+infelicity of this speech and the flippant manner of its utterance. She
+did not blush, but lifted her clear eyes calmly to his.
+
+"It was an unfortunate mistake," she said coldly, "the more so as they
+were your pupils. Ah! here is Father Esteban," she added, with a marked
+tone of relief, as she crossed over to the priest's side.
+
+When Father Esteban returned to the refectory that evening, Hurlstone
+was absent. When it grew later, becoming uneasy, the good Father sought
+him in the garden. At the end of the avenue of pear-trees there was a
+break in the sea-wall, and here, with his face to the sea, Hurlstone was
+leaning gloomily. Father Esteban's tread was noiseless, and he had laid
+his soft hand on the young man's shoulder before Hurlstone was aware
+of his presence. He started slightly, his gloomy eyes fell before the
+priest's.
+
+"My son," said the old man gravely, "this must go on no longer."
+
+"I don't understand you," Hurlstone replied coldly.
+
+"Do not try to deceive yourself, nor me. Above all, do not try to
+deceive HER. Either you are or are not in love with this countrywoman
+of yours. If you are not, my respect for her and my friendship for you
+prompts me to save you both from a foolish intimacy that may ripen into
+a misplaced affection; if you are already in love with her"--
+
+"I have never spoken a word of love to her!" interrupted Hurlstone
+quickly. "I have even tried to avoid her since"--
+
+"Since you found that you loved her! Ah, foolish boy! and you think that
+because the lips speak not, the passions of the heart are stilled! Do
+you think your silence in her presence is not a protestation that she,
+even she, child as she is, can read, with the cunning of her sex?"
+
+"Well--if I am in love with her, what then?" said Hurlstone doggedly.
+"It is no crime to love a pure and simple girl. Am I not free? You
+yourself, in yonder church, told me"--
+
+"Silence, Diego," said the priest sternly. "Silence, before you utter
+the thought that shall disgrace you to speak and me to hear!"
+
+"Forgive me, Father Esteban," said the young man hurriedly, grasping
+both hands of the priest. "Forgive me--I am mad--distracted--but I swear
+to you I only meant"--
+
+"Hush!" interrupted the priest more gently. "So; that will do." He
+stopped, drew out his snuff-box, rapped the lid, and took a pinch of
+snuff slowly. "We will not recur to that point. Then you have told her
+the story of your life?"
+
+"No; but I will, She shall know all--everything--before I utter a word
+of love to her."
+
+"Ah! bueno! muy bueno!" said the Padre, wiping his nose ostentatiously.
+"Ah! let me see! Then, when we have shown her that we cannot possibly
+marry her, we will begin to make love to her! Eh, eh! that is the
+American fashion. Ah, pardon!" he continued, in response to a gesture
+of protestation from Hurlstone; "I am wrong. It is when we have told her
+that we cannot marry her as a Protestant, that we will make love as a
+Catholic. Is that it?"
+
+"Hear me," said Hurlstone passionately. "You have saved me from madness
+and, perhaps, death. Your care--your kindness--your teachings have given
+me life again. Don't blame me, Father Esteban, if, in casting off my old
+self, you have given me hopes of a new and fresher life--of"--
+
+"A newer and fresher love, you would say," said the Padre, with a sad
+smile. "Be it so. You will at least do justice to the old priest, when
+you remember that he never pressed you to take vows that would have
+prevented this forever."
+
+"I know it," said Hurlstone, taking the old man's hand. "And you will
+remember, too, that I was happy and contented before this came upon me.
+Tell me what I shall do. Be my guide--my friend, Father Esteban. Put me
+where I was a few months ago--before I learned to love her."
+
+"Do you mean it, Diego?" said the old man, grasping his hand tightly,
+and fixing his eyes upon him.
+
+"I do."
+
+"Then listen to me, for it is my turn to speak. When, eight months ago,
+you sought the shelter of that blessed roof, it was for refuge from a
+woman that had cursed your life. It was given you. You would leave it
+now to commit an act that would bring another woman, as mad as yourself,
+clamoring at its doors for protection from YOU. For what you are
+proposing to this innocent girl is what you accepted from the older and
+wickeder woman. You have been cursed because a woman divided for you
+what was before God an indivisible right; and you, Diego, would now
+redivide that with another, whom you dare to say you LOVE! You would use
+the opportunity of her helplessness and loneliness here to convince
+her; you would tempt her with sympathy, for she is unhappy; with
+companionship, for she has no longer the world to choose from--with
+everything that should make her sacred from your pursuit."
+
+"Enough," said Hurlstone hoarsely; "say no more. Only I implore you tell
+me what to do now to save her. I will--if you tell me to do it--leave
+her forever."
+
+"Why should YOU go?" said the priest quietly. "HER absence will be
+sufficient."
+
+"HER absence?" echoed Hurlstone.
+
+"Hers alone. The conditions that brought YOU here are unchanged. You
+are still in need of an asylum from the world and the wife you have
+repudiated. Why should you abandon it? For the girl, there is no cause
+why she should remain--beyond yourself. She has a brother whom she
+loves--who wants her--who has the right to claim her at any time. She
+will go to him."
+
+"But how?"
+
+"That has been my secret, and will be my sacrifice to you, Diego, my
+son. I have foreseen all this; I have expected it from the day that
+girl sent you her woman's message, that was half a challenge, from
+her school--I have known it from the day you walked together on the
+sea-shore. I was blind before that--for I am weak in my way, too, and
+I had dreamed of other things. God has willed it otherwise." He paused,
+and returning the pressure of Hurlstone's hand, went on. "My secret and
+my sacrifice for you is this. For the last two hundred years the Church
+has had a secret and trusty messenger from the See at Guadalajara--in
+a ship that touches here for a few hours only every three years. Her
+arrival and departure is known only to myself and my brothers of the
+Council. By this wisdom and the provision of God, the integrity of
+the Holy Church and the conversion of the heathen have been maintained
+without interruption and interference. You know now, my son, why your
+comrades were placed under surveillance; why it was necessary that the
+people should believe in a political conspiracy among yourselves,
+rather than the facts as they existed, which might have bred a dangerous
+curiosity among them. I have given you our secret, Diego--that is but a
+part of my sacrifice. When that ship arrives, and she is expected
+daily, I will secretly place Miss Keene and her friend on board, with
+explanatory letters to the Archbishop, and she will be assisted to
+rejoin her brother. It will be against the wishes of the Council; but my
+will," continued the old man, with a gesture of imperiousness, "is the
+will of the Church, and the law that overrides all."
+
+He had stopped, with a strange fire in his eyes. It still continued to
+burn as he went on rapidly,--
+
+"You will understand the sacrifice I am making in telling you this, when
+you know that I could have done all that I propose without your leave or
+hindrance. Yes, Diego; I had but to stretch out my hand thus, and that
+foolish fire-brand of a heretic muchacha would have vanished from Todos
+Santos forever. I could have left you in your fool's paradise, and one
+morning you would have found her gone. I should have condoled with you,
+and consoled you, and you would have forgotten her as you did the other.
+I should not have hesitated; it is the right of the Church through all
+time to break through those carnal ties without heed of the suffering
+flesh, and I ought to have done so. This, and this alone, would have
+been worthy of Las Casas and Junipero Serra! But I am weak and old--I
+am no longer fit for His work. Far better that the ship which takes her
+away should bring back my successor and one more worthy Todos Santos
+than I."
+
+He stopped, his eyes dimmed, he buried his face in his hands.
+
+"You have done right, Father Esteban," said Hurlstone, gently putting
+his arm round the priest's shoulders, "and I swear to you your secret is
+as safe as if you had never revealed it to me. Perhaps," he added, with
+a sigh, "I should have been happier if I had not known it--if she had
+passed out of my life as mysteriously as she had entered it; but you
+will try to accept my sacrifice as some return for yours. I shall see
+her no more."
+
+"But will you swear it?" said the priest eagerly. "Will you swear that
+you will not even seek her to say farewell; for in that moment the
+wretched girl may shake your resolution?"
+
+"I shall not see her," repeated the young man slowly.
+
+"But if she asks an interview," persisted the priest, "on the pretense
+of having your advice?"
+
+"She will not," returned Hurlstone, with a half bitter recollection of
+their last parting. "You do not know her pride."
+
+"Perhaps," said the priest musingly. "But I have YOUR word, Diego. And
+now let us return to the Mission, for there is much to prepare, and you
+shall assist me."
+
+Meantime, Hurlstone was only half right in his estimate of Miss Keene's
+feelings, although the result was the same. The first shock to her
+delicacy in his abrupt speech had been succeeded by a renewal of her
+uneasiness concerning his past life or history. While she would, in her
+unselfish attachment for him, have undoubtingly accepted any explanation
+he might have chosen to give her, his continued reserve and avoidance of
+her left full scope to her imaginings. Rejecting any hypothesis of his
+history except that of some unfortunate love episode, she began to think
+that perhaps he still loved this nameless woman. Had anything occurred
+to renew his affection? It was impossible, in their isolated condition,
+that he would hear from her. But perhaps the priest might have been a
+confidant of his past, and had recalled the old affection in rivalry of
+her? Or had she herself been unfortunate through any idle word to reopen
+the wound? Had there been any suggestion?--she checked herself suddenly
+at a thought that benumbed and chilled her!--perhaps that happy hour at
+the cross might have reminded him of some episode with another? That was
+the real significance of his rude speech. With this first taste of the
+poison of jealousy upon her virgin lips, she seized the cup and drank it
+eagerly. Ah, well--he should keep his blissful recollections of the
+past undisturbed by her. Perhaps he might even see--though SHE had no
+past--that her present life might be as disturbing to him! She recalled,
+with a foolish pleasure, his solitary faint sneer at the devotion of
+the Commander's Secretary. Why shouldn't she, hereafter, encourage
+that devotion as well as that sneer from this complacently beloved Mr.
+Hurlstone? Why should he be so assured of her past? The fair and
+gentle reader who may be shocked at this revelation of Eleanor Keene's
+character will remember that she has not been recorded as an angel in
+these pages--but as a very human, honest, inexperienced girl, for the
+first time struggling with the most diplomatic, Machiavellian, and
+hypocritical of all the passions.
+
+In pursuance of this new resolution, she determined to accept an
+invitation from Mrs. Markham to accompany her and the Commander to
+a reception at the Alcalde's house--the happy Secretary being of the
+party. Mrs. Markham, who was under promise to the Comandante not to
+reveal his plan for the escape of herself and Miss Keene until the
+arrival of the expected transport, had paid little attention to the late
+vagaries of her friend, and had contented herself by once saying, with
+a marked emphasis, that the more free they kept themselves from any
+entanglements with other people, the more prepared they would be for A
+CHANGE.
+
+"Perhaps it's just as well not to be too free, even with those Jesuits
+over at the Mission. Your brother, you know, might not like it."
+
+"THOSE JESUITS!" repeated Miss Keene indignantly. "Father Esteban, to
+begin with, is a Franciscan, and Mr. Hurlstone is as orthodox as you or
+I."
+
+"Don't be too sure of that, my dear," returned Mrs. Markham
+sententiously. "Heaven only knows what disguises they assume. Why,
+Hurlstone and the priest are already as thick as two peas; and you can't
+make me believe they didn't know of each other before we came here. He
+was the first one ashore, you remember, before the mutiny; and where
+did he turn up?--at the Mission, of course! And have you forgotten that
+sleepwalking affair--all Jesuitical! Why, poor dear Markham used to say
+we were surrounded by ramifications of that society--everywhere. The
+very waiter at your hotel table might belong to the Order."
+
+The hour of the siesta was just past, and the corridor and gardens of
+the Alcalde's house were grouped with friends and acquaintances as
+the party from the Presidio entered. Mrs. Brimmer, who had apparently
+effected a temporary compromise with her late instincts of propriety,
+was still doing the honors of the Alcalde's house, and had once more
+assumed the Mexican dishabille, even to the slight exposure of her
+small feet, stockingless, in white satin slippers. The presence of the
+Comandante and his Secretary guaranteed the two ladies of their party a
+reception at least faultless in form and respect, whatever may have been
+the secret feelings of the hostess and her friends. The Alcalde received
+Mrs. Markham and Miss Keene with unruffled courtesy, and conducted them
+to the place of honor beside him.
+
+As Eleanor Keene, slightly flushed and beautiful in her unwonted nervous
+excitement, took her seat, a flutter went around the corridor, and, with
+the single exception of Dona Isabel, an almost imperceptible drawing
+together of the other ladies, in offensive alliance. Miss Keene had
+never abandoned her own style of dress; and that afternoon her delicate
+and closely-fitting white muslin, gathered in at the waist with a broad
+blue belt of ribbon, seemed to accentuate somewhat unflatteringly the
+tropical neglige of Mrs. Brimmer and Miss Chubb. Brace, who was in
+attendance, with Crosby, on the two Ramirez girls, could not help being
+uneasily conscious of this, in addition to the awkwardness of meeting
+Miss Keene after the transfer of his affections elsewhere. Nor was his
+embarrassment relieved by Crosby's confidences to him, in a half audible
+whisper,--
+
+"I say, old man, after all, the regular straight-out American style lays
+over all their foreign flops and fandoodles. I wonder what old Brimmer
+would say to his wife's full-dress nightgown--eh?"
+
+But at this moment the long-drawn, slightly stridulous utterances of
+Mrs. Brimmer rose through the other greetings like a lazy east wind.
+
+"I shall never forgive the Commander for making the Presidio so
+attractive to you, dear Miss Keene, that you cannot really find time to
+see your own countrymen. Though, of course, you're not to blame for not
+coming to see two frights as we must look--not having been educated to
+be able to do up our dresses in that faultless style--and perhaps not
+having the entire control over an establishment like you; yet, I suppose
+that, even if the Alcalde did give us carte blanche of the laundry HERE,
+we couldn't do it, unaided even by Mrs. Markham. Yes, dear; you must let
+me compliment you on your skill, and the way you make things last. As
+for me and Miss Chubb, we've only found our things fit to be given away
+to the poor of the Mission. But I suppose even that charity would look
+as shabby to you as our clothes, in comparison with the really good
+missionary work you and Mr. Hurlstone--or is it Mr. Brace?--I always
+confound your admirers, my dear--are doing now. At least, so says that
+good Father Esteban."
+
+But with the exception of the Alcalde and Miss Chubb, Mrs. Brimmer's
+words fell on unheeding ears, and Miss Keene did not prejudice the
+triumph of her own superior attractions by seeming to notice Mrs.
+Brimmer's innuendo. She answered briefly, and entered into lively
+conversation with Crosby and the Secretary, holding the hand of Dona
+Isabel in her own, as if to assure her that she was guiltless of any
+design against her former admirer. This was quite unnecessary, as the
+gentle Isabel, after bidding Brace, with a rap on the knuckles, to "go
+and play," contented herself with curling up like a kitten beside Miss
+Keene, and left that gentleman to wander somewhat aimlessly in the
+patio.
+
+Nevertheless, Miss Keene, whose eyes and ears were nervously alert, and
+who had indulged a faint hope of meeting Padre Esteban and hearing news
+of Hurlstone, glanced from time to time towards the entrance of the
+patio. A singular presentiment that some outcome of this present visit
+would determine her relations with Hurlstone had already possessed her.
+Consequently she was conscious, before it had attracted the attention
+of the others, of some vague stirring in the plaza beyond. Suddenly
+the clatter of hoofs was heard before the gateway. There was a moment's
+pause of dismounting, a gruff order given in Spanish, and the next
+moment three strangers entered the patio.
+
+They were dressed in red shirts, their white trousers tucked in high
+boots, and wore slouched hats. They were so travel-stained, dusty, and
+unshaven, that their features were barely distinguishable. One, who
+appeared to be the spokesman of the party, cast a perfunctory glance
+around the corridor, and, in fluent Spanish, began with the mechanical
+air of a man repeating some formula,--
+
+"We are the bearers of a despatch to the Comandante of Todos Santos from
+the Governor of Mazatlan. The officer and the escort who came with us
+are outside the gate. We have been told that the Comandante is in this
+house. The case is urgent, or we would not intrude"--
+
+He was stopped by the voice of Mrs. Markham from the corridor. "Well,
+I don't understand Spanish much--I may be a fool, or crazy, or perhaps
+both--but if that isn't James Markham's VOICE, I'll bet a cooky!"
+
+The three strangers turned quickly toward the corridor. The next moment
+the youngest of their party advanced eagerly towards Miss Keene, who had
+arisen with a half frightened joy, and with the cry of "Why, it's Nell!"
+ran towards her. The third man came slowly forward as Mrs. Brimmer
+slipped hastily from the hammock and stood erect.
+
+"In the name of goodness, Barbara," said Mr. Brimmer, closing upon her,
+in a slow, portentous whisper, "where ARE your stockings?"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+A MORE IMPORTANT ARRIVAL.
+
+
+The Commander was the first to recover his presence of mind. Taking
+the despatch from the hands of the unlooked-for husband of the woman he
+loved, he opened it with an immovable face and habitual precision. Then,
+turning with a military salute to the strangers, he bade them join him
+in half an hour at the Presidio; and, bowing gravely to the assembled
+company, stepped from the corridor. But Mrs. Markham was before him,
+stopped him with a gesture, and turned to her husband.
+
+"James Markham--where's your hand?"
+
+Markham, embarrassed but subjugated, disengaged it timidly from his
+wife's waist.
+
+"Give it to that gentleman--for a gentleman he is, from the crown of
+his head to the soles of his boots! There! Shake his hand! You don't get
+such a chance every day. You can thank him again, later."
+
+As the two men's hands parted, after this perfunctory grasp, and the
+Commander passed on, she turned again to her husband.
+
+"Now, James, I am ready to hear all about it. Perhaps you'll tell me
+where you HAVE been?"
+
+There was a moment of embarrassing silence. The Doctor and Secretary
+had discreetly withdrawn; the Alcalde, after a brief introduction to Mr.
+Brimmer, and an incomprehensible glance from the wife, had retired with
+a colorless face. Dona Isabel had lingered last to blow a kiss across
+her fan to Eleanor Keene that half mischievously included her brother.
+The Americans were alone.
+
+Thus appealed to, Mr. Markham hastily began his story. But, as he
+progressed, a slight incoherency was noticeable: he occasionally
+contradicted himself, and was obliged to be sustained, supplemented,
+and, at times, corrected, by Keene and Brimmer. Substantially, it
+appeared that they had come from San Francisco to Mazatlan, and, through
+the influence of Mr. Brimmer on the Mexican authorities, their party,
+with an escort of dragoons, had been transported across the gulf and
+landed on the opposite shore, where they had made a forced march across
+the desert to Todos Santos. Literally interpreted, however, by the
+nervous Markham, it would seem that they had conceived this expedition
+long ago, and yet had difficulties because they only thought of it the
+day before the steamer sailed; that they had embarked for the isthmus of
+Nicaragua, and yet had stopped at Mazatlan; that their information
+was complete in San Francisco, and only picked up at Mazatlan; that
+"friends"--sometimes contradictorily known as "he" and "she"--had
+overpowering influence with the Mexican Government, and alone had helped
+them, and yet that they were utterly dependent upon the efforts of Senor
+Perkins, who had compromised matters with the Mexican Government and
+everybody.
+
+"Do you mean to say, James Markham, that you've seen Perkins, and it was
+he who told you we were here?"
+
+"No--not HIM exactly."
+
+"Let me explain," said Mr. Brimmer hastily. "It appears," he corrected
+his haste with practical businesslike precision, "that the filibuster
+Perkins, after debarking you here, and taking the Excelsior to
+Quinquinambo, actually established the Quinquinambo Government, and
+got Mexico and the other confederacies to recognize its independence.
+Quinquinambo behaved very handsomely, and not only allowed the Mexican
+Government indemnity for breaking the neutrality of Todos Santos by the
+seizure, but even compromised with our own Government their claim to
+confiscate the Excelsior for treaty violation, and paid half the value
+of the vessel, besides giving information to Mexico and Washington of
+your whereabouts. We consequently represent a joint commission from both
+countries to settle the matter and arrange for your return."
+
+"But what I want to know is this: Is it to Senor Perkins that we
+ought to be thankful for seeing you here at all?" asked Mrs. Markham
+impatiently.
+
+"No, no--not that, exactly," stammered Markham. "Oh, come now,
+Susannah"--
+
+"No," said Richard Keene earnestly; "by Jove! some thanks ought to go to
+Belle Montgomery"--He checked himself in sudden consternation.
+
+There was a chilly silence. Even Miss Keene looked anxiously at her
+brother, as the voice of Mrs. Brimmer for the first time broke the
+silence.
+
+"May we be permitted to know who is this person to whom we owe so great
+an obligation?"
+
+"Certainly," said Brimmer, "She was--as I have already intimated--a
+friend; possibly, you know," he added, turning lightly to his
+companions, as if to corroborate an impression that had just struck him,
+"perhaps a--a--a sweetheart of the Senor Perkins."
+
+"And how was she so interested in us, pray?" said Mrs. Markham.
+
+"Well, you see, she had an idea that a former husband was on board of
+the Excelsior."
+
+He stopped suddenly, remembering from the astonished faces of Keene and
+Markham that the secret was not known to them, while they, impressed
+with the belief that the story was a sudden invention of Brimmer's, with
+difficulty preserved their composure. But the women were quick to notice
+their confusion, and promptly disbelieved Brimmer's explanation.
+
+"Well, as there's no Mister Montgomery here, she's probably mistaken,"
+said Mrs. Markham, with decision, "though it strikes ME that she's very
+likely had the same delusion on board of some other ship. Come along,
+James; perhaps after you've had a bath and some clean clothes, you may
+come out a little more like the man I once knew. I don't know how Mrs.
+Brimmer feels, but I feel more as if I required to be introduced to
+you--than your friend's friend, Mrs. Montgomery. At any rate, try and
+look and behave a little more decent when you go over to the Presidio."
+
+With these words she dragged him away. Mr. Brimmer, after a futile
+attempt to appear at his ease, promptly effected the usual marital
+diversion of carrying the war into the enemy's camp.
+
+"For heaven's sake, Barbara," he said, with ostentatious indignation,
+"go and dress yourself properly. Had you neither money nor credit to
+purchase clothes? I declare I didn't know you at first; and when I did,
+I was shocked; before Mrs. Markham, too!"
+
+"Mrs. Markham, I fear, has quite enough to occupy her now," said Mrs.
+Brimmer shortly, as she turned away, with hysterically moist eyes,
+leaving her husband to follow her.
+
+Oblivious of this comedy, Richard Keene and Eleanor had already wandered
+back, hand in hand, to their days of childhood. But even in the joy that
+filled the young girl's heart in the presence of her only kinsman, there
+was a strange reservation. The meeting that she had looked forward to
+with eager longing had brought all she expected; more than that, it
+seemed to have been providentially anticipated at the moment of her
+greatest need, and yet it was incomplete. She was ashamed that after the
+first recognition, a wild desire to run to Hurlstone and tell HIM her
+happiness was her only thought. She was shocked that the bright joyous
+face of this handsome lovable boy could not shut out the melancholy
+austere features of Hurlstone, which seemed to rise reproachfully
+between them. When, for the third and fourth time, they had recounted
+their past history, exchanged their confidences and feelings, Dick,
+passing his arm around his sister's waist, looked down smilingly in her
+eyes.
+
+"And so, after all, little Nell, everybody has been good to you, and you
+have been happy!"
+
+"Everybody has been kind to me, Dick, far kinder than I deserved. Even
+if I had really been the great lady that little Dona Isabel thought I
+was, or the important person the Commander believed me to be, I couldn't
+have been treated more kindly. I have met with nothing but respect and
+attention. I have been very happy, Dick, very happy."
+
+And with a little cry she threw herself on her brother's neck and burst
+into a childlike flood of inconsistent tears.
+
+Meantime the news of the arrival of the relief-party had penetrated
+even the peaceful cloisters of the Mission, and Father Esteban had been
+summoned in haste to the Council. He returned with an eager face to
+Hurlstone, who had been anxiously awaiting him. When the Padre had
+imparted the full particulars of the event to his companion, he added
+gravely,--
+
+"You see, my son, how Providence, which has protected you since you
+first claimed the Church's sanctuary, has again interfered to spare
+me the sacrifice of using the power of the Church in purely mundane
+passions. I weekly accept the rebuke of His better-ordained ways, and
+you, Diego, may comfort yourself that this girl is restored directly
+to her brother's care, without any deviousness of plan or human
+responsibility. You do not speak, my son!" continued the priest
+anxiously; "can it be possible that, in the face of this gracious
+approval of Providence to your resolution, you are regretting it?"
+
+The young man replied, with a half reproachful gesture:
+
+"Do you, then, think me still so weak? No, Father Esteban; I have
+steeled myself against my selfishness for her sake. I could have
+resigned her to the escape you had planned, believing her happier
+for it, and ignorant of the real condition of the man she had learnt
+to--to--pity. But," he added, turning suddenly and almost rudely upon
+the priest, "do you know the meaning of this irruption of the outer
+world to ME? Do you reflect that these men probably know my miserable
+story?--that, as one of the passengers of the Excelsior, they will be
+obliged to seek me and to restore me," he added, with a bitter laugh,
+"to MY home, MY kindred--to the world I loathe?"
+
+"But you need not follow them. Remain here."
+
+"Here!--with the door thrown open to any talebearer OR PERHAPS TO MY
+WIFE HERSELF? Never! Hear me, Father," he went on hurriedly: "these men
+have come from San Francisco--have been to Mazatlan. Can you believe
+that it is possible that they have never heard of this woman's search
+for me? No! The quest of hate is as strong as the quest of love, and
+more merciless to the hunted."
+
+"But if that were so, foolish boy, she would have accompanied them."
+
+"You are wrong! It would have been enough for her to have sent my
+exposure by them--to have driven me from this refuge."
+
+"This is but futile fancy, Diego," said Father Esteban, with a simulated
+assurance he was far from feeling. "Nothing has yet been said--nothing
+may be said. Wait, my child."
+
+"Wait!" he echoed bitterly. "Ay, wait until the poor girl shall
+hear--perhaps from her brother's lips--the story of my marriage as
+bandied about by others; wait for her to know that the man who would
+have made her love him was another's, and unworthy of her respect? No!
+it is I who must leave this place, and at once."
+
+"YOU?" echoed the Padre. "How?"
+
+"By the same means you would have used for her departure. I must take
+her place in that ship you are expecting. You will give ME letters
+to your friends. Perhaps, when this is over, I may return--if I still
+live."
+
+Padre Esteban became thoughtful.
+
+"You will not refuse me?" said the young man, taking the Padre's hand.
+"It is for the best, believe me. I will remain secret here until then.
+You will invent some excuse--illness, or what you like--to keep them
+from penetrating here. Above all, to spare me from the misery of ever
+reading my secret in her face."
+
+Father Esteban remained still absorbed in thought.
+
+"You will take a letter from me to the Archbishop, and put yourself
+under his care?" he asked at last, after a long pause. "You will promise
+me that?"
+
+"I do!"
+
+"Then we shall see what can be done. They talk, those Americanos,"
+continued the priest, "of making their way up the coast to Punta St.
+Jago, where the ship they have already sent for to take them away can
+approach the shore; and the Comandante has orders to furnish them
+escort and transport to that point. It is a foolish indiscretion of the
+Government, and I warrant without the sanction of the Church. Already
+there is curiosity, discontent, and wild talk among the people. Ah! thou
+sayest truly, my son," said the old man, gloomily; "the doors of Todos
+Santos are open. The Comandante will speed these heretics quickly on
+their way; but the doors by which they came and whence they go will
+never close again. But God's will be done! And if the open doors bring
+thee back, my son, I shall not question His will!"
+
+It would seem, however, as if Hurlstone's fears had been groundless. For
+in the excitement of the succeeding days, and the mingling of the party
+from San Antonio with the new-comers, the recluse had been forgotten. So
+habitual, had been his isolation from the others, that, except for the
+words of praise and gratitude hesitatingly dropped by Miss Keene to her
+brother, his name was not mentioned, and it might have been possible for
+the relieving party to have left him behind--unnoticed. Mr. Brimmer,
+for domestic reasons, was quite willing to allow the episode of Miss
+Montgomery's connection with their expedition to drop for the present.
+Her name was only recalled once by Miss Keene. When Dick had professed
+a sudden and violent admiration for the coquettish Dona Isabel, Eleanor
+had looked up in her brother's face with a half troubled air.
+
+"Who was this queer Montgomery woman, Dick?" she said.
+
+Dick laughed--a frank, reassuring, heart-free laugh.
+
+"Perfectly stunning, Nell. Such a figure in tights! You ought to have
+seen her dance--my!"
+
+"Hush! I dare say she was horrid!"
+
+"Not at all! She wasn't such a bad fellow, if you left out her poetry
+and gush, which I didn't go in for much,--though the other fellows"--he
+stopped, from a sudden sense of loyalty to Brimmer and Markham. "No;
+you see, Nell, she was regularly ridiculously struck after that man
+Perkins,--whom she'd never seen,--a kind of schoolgirl worship for a
+pirate. You know how you women go in for those fellows with a mystery
+about 'em."
+
+"No, I don't!" said Miss Keene sharply, with a slight rise of color;
+"and I don't see what that's got to do with you and her."
+
+"Everything! She was in correspondence with Perkins, and knows about the
+Excelsior affair, and wants to help him get out of it with clean hands,
+don't you see! That's why she made up to us. There, Nell; she ain't your
+style, of course; but you owe a heap to her for giving us points as to
+where you were. But that's all over now; she left us at Mazatlan, and
+went on to Nicaragua to meet Perkins somewhere there--for the fellow has
+always got some Central American revolution on hand, it appears. Until
+they garrote or shoot him some day, he'll go on in the liberating
+business forever."
+
+"Then there wasn't any Mr. Montgomery, of course?" said Eleanor.
+
+"Oh, Mr. Montgomery," said Dick, hesitating. "Well, you see, Nell, I
+think that, knowing how correct and all that sort of thing Brimmer is,
+she sort of invented the husband to make her interest look more proper."
+
+"It's shameful!" said Miss Keene indignantly.
+
+"Come, Nell; one would think you had a personal dislike to her. Let her
+go; she won't trouble you--nor, I reckon, ANYBODY, much longer."
+
+"What do you mean, Dick?"
+
+"I mean she has regularly exhausted and burnt herself out with her
+hysterics and excitements, and the drugs she's taken to subdue them--to
+say nothing of the Panama fever she got last spring. If she don't go
+regularly crazy at last she'll have another attack of fever, hanging
+round the isthmus waiting for Perkins."
+
+Meanwhile, undisturbed by excitement or intrusion of the outer world,
+the days had passed quietly at the Mission. But one evening, at
+twilight, a swift-footed, lightly-clad Indian glided into the sacristy
+as if he had slipped from the outlying fog, and almost immediately
+as quietly glided away again and disappeared. The next moment Father
+Esteban's gaunt and agitated face appeared at Hurlstone's door.
+
+"My son, God has been merciful, and cut short your probation. The signal
+of the ship has just been made. Her boat will be waiting on the beach
+two leagues from here an hour hence. Are you ready? and are you still
+resolved?"
+
+"I am," said Hurlstone, rising. "I have been prepared since you first
+assented."
+
+The old man's lips quivered slightly, and the great brown hand laid upon
+the table trembled for an instant; with a strong effort he recovered
+himself, and said hurriedly,--
+
+"Concho's mule is saddled and ready for you at the foot of the garden.
+You will follow the beach a league beyond the Indians' cross. In the
+boat will await you the trusty messenger of the Church. You will say to
+him, 'Guadalajara,' and give him these letters. One is to the captain.
+You will require no other introduction." He laid the papers on the
+table, and, turning to Hurlstone, lifted his tremulous hands in the air.
+"And now, my son, may the grace of God"--
+
+He faltered and stopped, his uplifted arms falling helplessly on
+Hurlstone's shoulders. For an instant the young man supported him in his
+arms, then placed him gently in the chair he had just quitted, and for
+the first time in their intimacy dropped upon his knee before him. The
+old man, with a faint smile, placed his hand upon his companion's head.
+A breathless pause followed; Father Esteban's lips moved silently.
+Suddenly the young man rose, pressed his lips hurriedly to the Father's
+hand, and passed out into the night.
+
+The moon was already suffusing the dropping veil of fog above him with
+that nebulous, mysterious radiance he had noticed the first night he
+had approached the Mission. When he reached the cross he dismounted,
+and gathering a few of the sweet-scented blossoms that crept around its
+base, placed them in his breast. Then, remounting, he continued his way
+until he came to the spot designated by Concho as a fitting place to
+leave his tethered mule. This done, he proceeded on foot about a mile
+further along the hard, wet sand, his eyes fixed on the narrow strip of
+water and shore before him that was yet uninvaded by the fog on either
+side.
+
+The misty, nebulous light, the strange silence, broken only by the
+occasional low hurried whisper of some spent wave that sent its film of
+spume across his path, or filled his footprints behind him, possessed
+him with vague presentiments and imaginings. At times he fancied he
+heard voices at his side; at times indistinct figures loomed through
+the mist before him. At last what seemed to be his own shadow faintly
+impinged upon the mist at one side impressed him so strongly that he
+stopped; the apparition stopped too. Continuing a few hundred paces
+further, he stopped again; but this time the ghostly figure passed on,
+and convinced him that it was no shadow, but some one actually following
+him. With an angry challenge he advanced towards it. It quickly
+retreated inland, and was lost. Irritated and suspicious he turned back
+towards the water, and was amazed to see before him, not twenty yards
+away, the object of his quest--a boat, with two men in it, kept in
+position by the occasional lazy dip of an oar. In the pursuit of his
+mysterious shadow he had evidently overlooked it. As his own figure
+emerged from the fog, the boat pulled towards him. The priest's password
+was upon his lips, when he perceived that the TWO men were common
+foreign sailors; the messenger of the Church was evidently not there.
+Could it have been he who had haunted him? He paused irresolutely. "Is
+there none other coming?" he asked. The two men looked at each other.
+One said, "Quien sabe!" and shrugged his shoulders. Hurlstone without
+further hesitation leaped aboard.
+
+The same dull wall of vapor--at times thickening to an almost
+impenetrable barrier, and again half suffocating him in its soft
+embrace--which he had breasted on the night he swam ashore, carried back
+his thoughts to that time, now so remote and unreal. And when, after a
+few moments' silent rowing, the boat approached a black hulk that
+seemed to have started forward out of the gloom to meet them, his vague
+recollection began to take a more definite form. As he climbed up the
+companion-ladder and boarded the vessel, an inexplicable memory came
+over him. A petty officer on the gangway advanced silently and ushered
+him, half dazed and bewildered, into the cabin. He glanced hurriedly
+around: the door of a state-room opened, and disclosed the indomitable
+and affable Senor Perkins! A slight expression of surprise, however,
+crossed the features of the Liberator of Quinquinambo as he advanced
+with outstretched hand.
+
+"This is really a surprise, my dear fellow! I had no idea that YOU
+were in this affair. But I am delighted to welcome you once more to the
+Excelsior!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+THE RETURN OF THE EXCELSIOR.
+
+
+Amazed and disconcerted, Hurlstone, nevertheless, retained his presence
+of mind.
+
+"There must be some mistake," he said coolly; "I am certainly not the
+person you seem to be expecting."
+
+"Were you not sent here by Winslow?" demanded Perkins.
+
+"No. The person you are looking for is probably one I saw on the shore.
+He no doubt became alarmed at my approach, and has allowed me quite
+unwittingly to take his place in the boat."
+
+Perkins examined Hurlstone keenly for a moment, stepped to the door,
+gave a brief order, and returned.
+
+"Then, if you did not intend the honor of this visit for me," he
+resumed, with a smile, "may I ask, my dear fellow, whom you expected
+to meet, and on what ship? There are not so many at Todos Santos, if my
+memory serves me right, as to create confusion."
+
+"I must decline to answer that question," said Hurlstone curtly.
+
+The Senor smiled, with an accession of his old gentleness.
+
+"My dear young friend," he said, "have you forgotten that on a far more
+important occasion to YOU, I showed no desire to pry into your secret?"
+Hurlstone made a movement of deprecation. "Nor have I any such desire
+now. But for the sake of our coming to an understanding as friends,
+let me answer the question for you. You are here, my dear fellow, as
+a messenger from the Mission of Todos Santos to the Ecclesiastical
+Commission from Guadalajara, whose ship touches here every three years.
+It is now due. You have mistaken this vessel for theirs."
+
+Hurlstone remained silent.
+
+"It is no secret," continued Senor Perkins blandly; "nor shall I pretend
+to conceal MY purpose here, which is on the invitation of certain
+distressed patriots of Todos Santos, to assist them in their deliverance
+from the effete tyranny of the Church and its Government. I have been
+fortunate enough to anticipate the arrival of your vessel, as you were
+fortunate enough to anticipate the arrival of my messenger. I am doubly
+fortunate, as it gives me the pleasure of your company this evening,
+and necessitates no further trouble than the return of the boat for the
+other gentleman--which has already gone. Doubtless you may know him."
+
+"I must warn you again, Senor Perkins," said Hurlstone sternly, "that
+I have no connection with any political party; nor have I any sympathy
+with your purpose against the constituted authorities."
+
+"I am willing to believe that you have no political affinities at all,
+my dear Mr. Hurlstone," returned Perkins, with unruffled composure,
+"and, consequently, we will not argue as to what is the constituted
+authority of Todos Santos. Perhaps to-morrow it may be on board THIS
+SHIP, and I may still have the pleasure of making you at home here!"
+
+"Until then," said Hurlstone dryly, "at least you will allow me to
+repair my error by returning to the shore."
+
+"For the moment I hardly think it would be wise," replied Perkins
+gently. "Allowing that you escaped the vigilance of my friends on the
+shore, whose suspicions you have aroused, and who might do you some
+injury, you would feel it your duty to inform those who sent you of the
+presence of my ship, and thus precipitate a collision between my
+friends and yours, which would be promotive of ill-feeling, and perhaps
+bloodshed. You know my peaceful disposition, Mr. Hurlstone; you can
+hardly expect me to countenance an act of folly that would be in
+violation of it."
+
+"In other words, having decoyed me here on board your ship, you intend
+to detain me," said Hurlstone insultingly.
+
+"'Decoy,'" said Perkins, in gentle deprecation, "'decoy' is hardly the
+word I expected from a gentleman who has been so unfortunate as to take,
+unsolicited and of his own free will, another person's place in a boat.
+But," he continued, assuming an easy argumentative attitude, "let us
+look at it from your view-point. Let us imagine that YOUR ship had
+anticipated mine, and that MY messenger had unwittingly gone on board of
+HER. What do you think they would have done to him?"
+
+"They would have hung him at the yard-arm, as he deserved," said
+Hurlstone unflinchingly.
+
+"You are wrong," said Perkins gently. "They would have given him the
+alternative of betraying his trust, and confessing everything--which he
+would probably have accepted. Pardon me!--this is no insinuation against
+you," he interrupted,--"but I regret to say that my experience with the
+effete Latin races of this continent has not inspired me with confidence
+in their loyalty to trust. Let me give you an instance," he continued,
+smiling: "the ship you are expecting is supposed to be an inviolable
+secret of the Church, but it is known to me--to my friends ashore--and
+even to you, my poor friend, a heretic! More than that, I am told that
+the Comandante, the Padre, and Alcalde are actually arranging to deport
+some of the American women by this vessel, which has been hitherto
+sacred to the emissaries of the Church alone. But you probably know
+this--it is doubtless part of your errand. I only mention it to convince
+you that I have certainly no need either to know your secrets, to hang
+you from the yard-arm if you refused to give them up, or to hold you
+as hostage for my messenger, who, as I have shown you, can take care of
+himself. I shall not ask you for that secret despatch you undoubtedly
+carry next your heart, because I don't want it. You are at liberty to
+keep it until you can deliver it, or drop it out of that port-hole
+into the sea--as you choose. But I hear the boat returning," continued
+Perkins, rising gently from his seat as the sound of oars came faintly
+alongside, "and no doubt with Winslow's messenger. I am sorry you won't
+let me bring you together. I dare say he knows all about you, and it
+really need not alter your opinions."
+
+"One moment," said Hurlstone, stunned, yet incredulous of Perkins's
+revelations. "You said that both the Comandante and Alcalde had arranged
+to send away certain ladies--are you not mistaken?"
+
+"I think not," said Perkins quietly, looking over a pile of papers on
+the table before him. "Yes, here it is," he continued, reading from
+a memorandum: "'Don Ramon Ramirez arranged with Pepe for the secret
+carrying off of Dona Barbara Brimmer.' Why, that was six weeks ago, and
+here we have the Comandante suborning one Marcia, a dragoon, to abduct
+Mrs. Markham--by Jove, my old friend!--and Dona Leonor--our beauty, was
+she not? Yes, here it is: in black and white. Read it, if you like,--and
+pardon me for one moment, while I receive this unlucky messenger."
+
+Left to himself, Hurlstone barely glanced at the memorandum, which
+seemed to be the rough minutes of some society. He believed Perkins; but
+was it possible that the Padre could be ignorant of the designs of his
+fellow-councilors? And if he were not--if he had long before been in
+complicity with them for the removal of Eleanor, might he not also have
+duped him, Hurlstone, and sent him on this mission as a mere blind;
+and--more infamously--perhaps even thus decoyed him on board the wrong
+ship? No--it was impossible! His honest blood quickly flew to his cheek
+at that momentary disloyal suspicion.
+
+Nevertheless, the Senor's bland revelations filled him with vague
+uneasiness. SHE was safe with her brother now; but what if he and
+the other Americans were engaged in this ridiculous conspiracy, this
+pot-house rebellion that Father Esteban had spoken of, and which he had
+always treated with such contempt? It seemed strange that Perkins had
+said nothing of the arrival of the relieving party from the Gulf, and
+its probable effect on the malcontents. Did he know it? or was the news
+now being brought by this messenger whom he, Hurlstone, had supplanted?
+If so, when and how had Perkins received the intelligence that brought
+him to Todos Santos? The young man could scarcely repress a bitter smile
+as he remembered the accepted idea of Todos Santos' inviolability--that
+inaccessible port that had within six weeks secretly summoned Perkins
+to its assistance! And it was there he believed himself secure!
+What security had he at all? Might not this strange, unimpassioned,
+omniscient man already know HIS secret as he had known the others'?
+
+The interview of Perkins with the messenger in the next cabin was a long
+one, and apparently a stormy one on the part of the newcomer. Hurlstone
+could hear his excited foreign voice, shrill with the small vehemence of
+a shallow character; but there was no change in the slow, measured tones
+of the Senor. He listlessly began to turn over the papers on the table.
+Presently he paused. He had taken up a sheet of paper on which Senor
+Perkins had evidently been essaying some composition in verse. It seemed
+to have been of a lugubrious character. The titular line at the top
+of the page, "Dirge," had been crossed out for the substituted "In
+Memoriam." He read carelessly:
+
+     "O Muse unmet--but not unwept--
+       I seek thy sacred haunt in vain.
+     Too late, alas! the tryst is kept--
+       We may not meet again!
+
+     "I sought thee 'midst the orange bloom,
+       To find that thou hadst grasped the palm
+     Of martyr, and the silent tomb
+       Had hid thee in its calm.
+
+     "By fever racked, thou languishest
+       On Nicaragua's"--
+
+Hurlstone threw the paper aside. Although he had not forgotten the
+Senor's reputation for sentimental extravagance, and on another occasion
+might have laughed at it, there was something so monstrous in
+this hysterical, morbid composition of the man who was even then
+contemplating bloodshed and crime, that he was disgusted. Like most
+sentimental egotists, Hurlstone was exceedingly intolerant of that
+quality in others, and he turned for relief to his own thoughts of
+Eleanor Keene and his own unfortunate passion. HE could not have written
+poetry at such a moment!
+
+But the cabin-door opened, and Senor Perkins appeared. Whatever might
+have been the excited condition of his unknown visitor, the Senor's
+round, clean-shaven face was smiling and undisturbed by emotion. As
+his eye fell on the page of manuscript Hurlstone had just cast down, a
+slight shadow crossed his beneficent expanse of forehead, and deepened
+in his soft dark eyes; but the next moment it was chased away by his
+quick recurring smile. Even thus transient and superficial was his
+feeling, thought Hurlstone.
+
+"I have some news for you," said Perkins affably, "which may alter your
+decision about returning. My friends ashore," he continued, "judging
+from the ingenuous specimen which has just visited me, are more
+remarkable for their temporary zeal and spasmodic devotion than for
+prudent reserve or lasting discretion. They have submitted a list to me
+of those whom they consider dangerous to Mexican liberty, and whom they
+are desirous of hanging. I regret to say that the list is illogical, and
+the request inopportune. Our friend Mr. Banks is put down as an ally
+of the Government and an objectionable business rival of that eminent
+patriot and well-known drover, Senor Martinez, who just called upon me.
+Mr. Crosby's humor is considered subversive of a proper respect for all
+patriotism; but I cannot understand why they have added YOUR name as
+especially 'dangerous.'"
+
+Hurlstone made a gesture of contempt.
+
+"I suppose they pay me the respect of considering me a friend of the
+old priest. So be it! I hope they will let the responsibility fall on me
+alone."
+
+"The Padre is already proscribed as one of the Council," said Senor
+Perkins quietly.
+
+"Do you mean to say," said Hurlstone impetuously, "that you will permit
+a hair of that innocent old man's head to be harmed by those wretches?"
+
+"You are generous but hasty, my friend," said Senor Perkins, in gentle
+deprecation. "Allow me to put your question in another way. Ask me if
+I intend to perpetuate the Catholic Church in Todos Santos by adding
+another martyr to its roll, and I will tell you--No! I need not say
+that I am equally opposed to any proceedings against Banks, Crosby, and
+yourself, for diplomatic reasons, apart from the kindly memories of our
+old associations on this ship. I have therefore been obliged to return
+to the excellent Martinez his little list, with the remark that I should
+hold HIM personally responsible if any of you are molested. There
+is, however, no danger. Messrs. Banks and Crosby are with the other
+Americans, whom we have guaranteed to protect, at the Mission, in the
+care of your friend the Padre. You are surprised! Equally so was the
+Padre. Had you delayed your departure an hour you would have met them,
+and I should have been debarred the pleasure of your company.
+
+"By to-morrow," continued Perkins, placing the tips of his fingers
+together reflectively, "the Government of Todos Santos will have changed
+hands, and without bloodshed. You look incredulous! My dear young
+friend, it has been a part of my professional pride to show the world
+that these revolutions can be accomplished as peacefully as our own
+changes of administration. But for a few infelicitous accidents, this
+would have been the case of the late liberation of Quinquinambo. The
+only risk run is to myself--the leader, and that is as it should be. But
+all this personal explanation is, doubtless, uninteresting to you, my
+young friend. I meant only to say that, if you prefer not to remain
+here, you can accompany me when I leave the ship at nine o'clock with a
+small reconnoitring party, and I will give you safe escort back to your
+friends at the Mission."
+
+This amicable proposition produced a sudden revulsion of feeling in
+Hurlstone. To return to those people from whom he was fleeing, in what
+was scarcely yet a serious emergency, was not to be thought of! Yet,
+where could he go? How could he be near enough to assist HER without
+again openly casting his lot among them? And would they not consider
+his return an act of cowardice? He could not restrain a gesture of
+irritation as he rose impatiently to his feet.
+
+"You are agitated, my dear fellow. It is not unworthy of your youth;
+but, believe me, it is unnecessary," said Perkins, in his most soothing
+manner. "Sit down. You have an hour yet to make your decision. If you
+prefer to remain, you will accompany the ship to Todos Santos and join
+me."
+
+"I don't comprehend you," interrupted Hurlstone suspiciously.
+
+"I forgot," said Perkins, with a bland smile, "that you are unaware of
+our plan of campaign. After communicating with the insurgents, I land
+here with a small force to assist them. I do this to anticipate any
+action and prevent the interference of the Mexican coaster, now due,
+which always touches here through ignorance of the channel leading to
+the Bay of Todos Santos and the Presidio. I then send the Excelsior,
+that does know the channel, to Todos Santos, to appear before the
+Presidio, take the enemy in flank, and cooperate with us. The arrival
+of the Excelsior there is the last move of this little game, if I may so
+call it: it is 'checkmate to the King,' the clerical Government of Todos
+Santos."
+
+A little impressed, in spite of himself, with the calm forethought and
+masterful security of the Senor, Hurlstone thanked him with a greater
+show of respect than he had hitherto evinced. The Senor looked
+gratified, but unfortunately placed that respect the next moment in
+peril.
+
+"You were possibly glancing over these verses," he said, with a
+hesitating and almost awkward diffidence, indicating the manuscript
+Hurlstone had just thrown aside. "It is merely the first rough draft
+of a little tribute I had begun to a charming friend. I sometimes," he
+interpolated, with an apologetic smile, "trifle with the Muse. Perhaps I
+ought not to use the word 'trifle' in connection with a composition of
+a threnodial and dirge-like character," he continued deprecatingly.
+"Certainly not in the presence of a gentleman as accomplished and
+educated as yourself, to whom recreation of this kind is undoubtedly
+familiar. My occupations have been, unfortunately, of a nature not
+favorable to the indulgence of verse. As a college man yourself, my dear
+sir, you will probably forgive the lucubrations of an old graduate of
+William and Mary's, who has forgotten his 'ars poetica.' The verses you
+have possibly glanced at are crude, I am aware, and perhaps show the
+difficulty of expressing at once the dictates of the heart and the
+brain. They refer to a dear friend now at peace. You have perhaps,
+in happier and more careless hours, heard me speak of Mrs. Euphemia
+M'Corkle, of Illinois?"
+
+Hurlstone remembered indistinctly to have heard, even in his reserved
+exclusiveness on the Excelsior, the current badinage of the passengers
+concerning Senor Perkins' extravagant adulation of this unknown poetess.
+As a part of the staple monotonous humor of the voyage, it had only
+disgusted him. With a feeling that he was unconsciously sharing the
+burlesque relief of the passengers, he said, with a polite attempt at
+interest,
+
+"Then the lady is--no more?"
+
+"If that term can be applied to one whose work is immortal," corrected
+Senor Perkins gently. "All that was finite of this gifted woman was
+lately forwarded by Adams's Express Company from San Juan, to receive
+sepulture among her kindred at Keokuk, Iowa."
+
+"Did she say she was from that place?" asked Hurlstone, with half
+automatic interest.
+
+"The Consul says she gave that request to the priest."
+
+"Then you were not with her when she died?" said Hurlstone absently.
+
+"I was NEVER with her, neither then nor before," returned Senor Perkins
+gravely. Seeing Hurlstone's momentary surprise, he went on, "The late
+Mrs. M'Corkle and I never met--we were personally unknown to each other.
+You may have observed the epithet 'unmet' in the first line of the first
+stanza; you will then understand that the privation of actual contact
+with this magnetic soul would naturally impart more difficulty into
+elegiac expression."
+
+"Then you never really saw the lady you admire?" said Hurlstone
+vacantly.
+
+"Never. The story is a romantic one," said Perkins, with a smile that
+was half complacent and yet half embarrassed. "May I tell it to you?
+Thanks. Some three years ago I contributed some verses to the columns
+of a Western paper edited by a friend of mine. The subject chosen was my
+favorite one, 'The Liberation of Mankind,' in which I may possibly have
+expressed myself with some poetic fervor on a theme so dear to my heart.
+I may remark without vanity, that it received high encomiums--perhaps at
+some more opportune moment you may be induced to cast your eyes over a
+copy I still retain--but no praise touched me as deeply as a tribute
+in verse in another journal from a gifted unknown, who signed herself
+'Euphemia.' The subject of the poem, which was dedicated to myself,
+was on the liberation of women--from--er--I may say certain domestic
+shackles; treated perhaps vaguely, but with grace and vigor. I replied
+a week later in a larger poem, recording more fully my theories and
+aspirations regarding a struggling Central American confederacy,
+addressed to 'Euphemia.' She rejoined with equal elaboration and
+detail, referring to a more definite form of tyranny in the relations of
+marriage, and alluding with some feeling to uncongenial experiences of
+her own. An instinct of natural delicacy, veiled under the hyperbole
+of 'want of space,' prevented my editorial friend from encouraging the
+repetition of this charming interchange of thought and feeling. But I
+procured the fair stranger's address; we began a correspondence, at once
+imaginative and sympathetic in expression, if not always poetical
+in form. I was called to South America by the Macedonian cry of
+'Quinquinambo!' I still corresponded with her. When I returned to
+Quinquinambo I received letters from her, dated from San Francisco. I
+feel that my words could only fail, my dear Hurlstone, to convey to you
+the strength and support I derived from those impassioned breathings
+of aid and sympathy at that time. Enough for me to confess that it was
+mainly due to the deep womanly interest that SHE took in the fortunes
+of the passengers of the Excelsior that I gave the Mexican authorities
+early notice of their whereabouts. But, pardon me,"--he stopped
+hesitatingly, with a slight flush, as he noticed the utterly inattentive
+face and attitude of Hurlstone,--"I am boring you. I am forgetting
+that this is only important to myself," he added, with a sigh. "I only
+intended to ask your advice in regard to the disposition of certain
+manuscripts and effects of hers, which are unconnected with our
+acquaintance. I thought, perhaps, I might entrust them to your delicacy
+and consideration. They are here, if you choose to look them over; and
+here is also what I believe to be a daguerreotype of the lady herself,
+but in which I fail to recognize her soul and genius."
+
+He laid a bundle of letters and a morocco case on the table with a
+carelessness that was intended to hide a slight shade of disappointment
+in his face--and rose.
+
+"I beg your pardon," said Hurlstone, in confused and remorseful apology;
+"but I frankly confess that my thoughts WERE preoccupied. Pray forgive
+me. If you will leave these papers with me, I promise to devote myself
+to them another time."
+
+"As you please," said the Senor, with a slight return of his old
+affability. "But don't bore yourself now. Let us go on deck."
+
+He passed out of the cabin as Hurlstone glanced, half mechanically, at
+the package before him. Suddenly his cheek reddened; he stopped, looked
+hurriedly at the retreating form of Perkins, and picked up a manuscript
+from the packet. It was in his wife's handwriting. A sudden idea flashed
+across his mind, and seemed to illuminate the obscure monotony of the
+story he had just heard. He turned hurriedly to the morocco case, and
+opened it with trembling fingers. It was a daguerreotype, faded and
+silvered; but the features were those of his wife!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+HOSTAGE.
+
+
+The revolution of Todos Santos had to all appearances been effected as
+peacefully as the gentle Liberator of Quinquinambo could have wished.
+Two pronunciamientos, rudely printed and posted in the Plaza, and
+saluted by the fickle garrison of one hundred men, who had, however,
+immediately reappointed their old commander as Generalissimo under the
+new regime, seemed to leave nothing to be desired. A surging mob of
+vacant and wondering peons, bearing a singular resemblance to the wild
+cattle and horses which intermingled with them in blind and unceasing
+movement across the Plaza and up the hilly street, and seemingly as
+incapable of self-government, were alternately dispersed and stampeded
+or allowed to gather again as occasion required. Some of these
+heterogeneous bands were afterwards found--the revolution
+accomplished--gazing stupidly on the sea, or ruminating in bovine
+wantonness on the glacis before the Presidio.
+
+Eleanor Keene, who with her countrywomen had been hurried to the refuge
+of the Mission, was more disturbed and excited at the prospect of
+meeting Hurlstone again than by any terror of the insurrection. But
+Hurlstone was not there, and Father Esteban received her with a coldness
+she could not attribute entirely to her countrymen's supposed sympathy
+with the insurgents. When Richard Keene, who would not leave his sister
+until he had seen her safe under the Mission walls, ventured at her
+suggestion to ask after the American recluse, Father Esteban replied
+dryly that, being a Christian gentleman, Hurlstone was the only one who
+had the boldness to seek out the American filibuster Perkins, on his
+own ship, and remonstrate with him for his unholy crusade. For the old
+priest had already become aware of Hurlstone's blunder, and he hated
+Eleanor as the primary cause of the trouble. But for her, Diego would be
+still with him in this emergency.
+
+"Never mind, Nell," said Dick, noticing the disappointed eyes of his
+sister as they parted, "you'll all be safe here until we return. Between
+you and me, Banks, Brimmer, and I think that Brace and Winslow have gone
+too far in this matter, and we're going to stop it, unless the whole
+thing is over now, as they say."
+
+"Don't believe that," said Crosby. "It's like their infernal
+earthquakes; there's always a second shock, and a tidal wave to follow.
+I pity Brace, Winslow, and Perkins if they get caught in it."
+
+There seemed to be some reason for his skepticism, for later the calm of
+the Mission Garden was broken upon by the monotonous tread of banded men
+on the shell-strewn walks, and the door of the refectory opened to
+the figure of Senor Perkins. A green silk sash across his breast, a
+gold-laced belt, supporting a light dress-sword and a pair of pistols,
+buckled around the jaunty waist of his ordinary black frock-coat, were
+his scant martial suggestions. But his hat, albeit exchanged for a soft
+felt one, still reposed on the back of his benevolent head, and seemed
+to accent more than ever the contrast between his peaceful shoulders
+and the military smartness of his lower figure. He bowed with easy
+politeness to the assembled fugitives; but before he could address them,
+Father Esteban had risen to his feet,--
+
+"I thought that this house, at least, was free from the desecrating
+footsteps of lawlessness and impiety," said the priest sternly. "How
+dare YOU enter here?"
+
+"Nothing but the desire to lend my assistance to the claims of beauty,
+innocence, helplessness, and--if you will allow me to add," with a low
+bow to the priest--"sanctity, caused this intrusion. For I regret to say
+that, through the ill-advised counsels of some of my fellow-patriots,
+the Indian tribes attached to this Mission are in revolt, and threaten
+even this sacred building."
+
+"It is false!" said Father Esteban indignantly. "Even under the accursed
+manipulation of your emissaries, the miserable heathen would not dare to
+raise a parricidal hand against the Church that fostered him!"
+
+Senor Perkins smiled gently, but sadly.
+
+"Your belief, reverend sir, does you infinite credit. But, to save
+time, let me give way to a gentleman who, I believe, possesses your
+confidence. He will confirm my statement."
+
+He drew aside, and allowed Hurlstone, who had been standing unperceived
+behind, to step forward. The Padre uttered an exclamation of pleasure.
+Miss Keene colored quickly. Hurlstone cast a long and lingering glance
+at her, which seemed to the embarrassed girl full of a new, strange
+meaning, and then advanced quickly with outstretched hands towards
+Father Esteban.
+
+"He speaks truly," he said, hurriedly, "and in the interests of humanity
+alone. The Indians have been tampered with treacherously, against his
+knowledge and consent. He only seeks now to prevent the consequences of
+this folly by placing you and these ladies out of reach of harm aboard
+of the Excelsior."
+
+"A very proper and excellent idea," broke in Mrs. Brimmer, with genteel
+precision. "You see these people evidently recognize the fact of Mr.
+Brimmer's previous ownership of the Excelsior, and the respect that is
+due to him. I, for one, shall accept the offer, and insist upon Miss
+Chubb accompanying me."
+
+"I shall be charmed to extend the hospitality of the Excelsior to you on
+any pretext," said the Senor gallantly, "and, indeed, should insist upon
+personally accompanying you and my dear friends Mrs. Markham and Miss
+Keene; but, alas! I am required elsewhere. I leave," he continued,
+turning towards Hurlstone, who was already absorbed in a whispered
+consultation with Padre Esteban--"I leave a sufficient escort with you
+to protect your party to the boats which have brought us here. You will
+take them to the Excelsior, and join me with the ship off Todos Santos
+in the morning. Adieu, my friends! Good-night, and farewell!"
+
+The priest made a vehement movement of protestation, but he was checked
+by Hurlstone, as, with a low bow, Senor Perkins passed out into the
+darkness. The next moment his voice was heard raised in command, and
+the measured tramp of his men gradually receded and was lost in the
+distance.
+
+"Does he think," said the priest indignantly, "that I, Padre Esteban,
+would desert my sacred trust, and leave His Holy Temple a prey to
+sacrilegious trespass? Never, while I live, Diego! Call him back and
+tell him so!"
+
+"Rather listen to me, Father Esteban," said the young man earnestly.
+"I have a plan by which this may be avoided. From my knowledge of these
+Indians, I am convinced that they have been basely tricked and cajoled
+by some one. I believe that they are still amenable to reason and
+argument, and I am so certain that I am ready to go down among them and
+make the attempt. The old Chief and part of his band are still encamped
+on the shore; we could hear them as we passed in the boats. I will go
+and meet them. If I succeed in bringing them to reason I will return; if
+I find them intractable, I will at least divert their attention from the
+Mission long enough for you to embark these ladies with their escort,
+which you will do at the end of two hours if I do not return."
+
+"In two hours?" broke in Mrs. Brimmer, in sharp protest. "I positively
+object. I certainly understood that Senor Perkins' invitation, which,
+under the circumstances, I shall consider equal to a command from Mr.
+Brimmer, was to be accepted at once and without delay; and I certainly
+shall not leave Miss Chubb exposed to imminent danger for two hours to
+meet the caprice of an entire stranger to Mr. Brimmer."
+
+"I am willing to stay with Father Esteban, if he will let me," said
+Eleanor Keene quietly, "for I have faith in Mr. Hurlstone's influence
+and courage, and believe he will be successful."
+
+The young man thanked her with another demonstrative look that brought
+the warm blood to her cheek.
+
+"Well," said Mrs. Markham promptly; "I suppose if Nell stays I must
+see the thing through and stay with her--even if I haven't orders from
+Jimmy."
+
+"There is no necessity that either Mr. or Mrs. Brimmer should be
+disobeyed in their wishes," said Hurlstone grimly. "Luckily there are
+two boats; Mrs. Brimmer and Miss Chubb can take one of them with half
+the escort, and proceed at once to the Excelsior. I will ride with them
+as far as the boat. And now," he continued, turning to the old priest,
+with sparkling eyes, "I have only to ask your blessing, and the good
+wishes of these ladies, to go forth on my mission of peace. If I am
+successful," he added, with a light laugh, "confess that a layman and
+a heretic may do some service for the Church." As the old man laid his
+half detaining, half benedictory hands upon his shoulders, the young man
+seized the opportunity to whisper in his ear, "Remember your promise to
+tell her ALL I have told you," and, with an other glance at Miss Keene,
+he marshalled Mrs. Brimmer and Miss Chubb before him, and hurried them
+to the boat.
+
+Miss Keene looked after him with a vague felicity in the change that
+seemed to have come on him, a change that she could as little account
+for as her own happiness. Was it the excitement of danger that had
+overcome his reserve, and set free his compressed will and energy? She
+longed for her brother to see him thus--alert, strong, and chivalrous.
+In her girlish faith, she had no fear for his safety; he would conquer,
+he would succeed; he would come back to them victorious! Looking up from
+her happy abstraction, at the side of Mrs. Markham, who had calmly gone
+to sleep in an arm-chair, she saw Father Esteban's eyes fixed upon her.
+With a warning gesture of the hand towards Mrs. Markham, he rose, and,
+going to the door of the sacristy, beckoned to her. The young girl
+noiselessly crossed the room and followed him into the sanctuary.
+
+Half an hour later, and while Mrs. Markham was still asleep, Father
+Esteban appeared at the door of the sacristy ostentatiously taking
+snuff, and using a large red handkerchief to wipe his more than usually
+humid eyes. Eleanor Keene, with her chin resting on her hand, remained
+sitting as he had left her, with her abstracted eyes fixed vacantly on
+the lamp before the statue of the Virgin and the half-lit gloom of the
+nave.
+
+Padre Esteban had told her ALL! She now knew Hurlstone's history even
+as he had hesitatingly imparted it to the old priest in this very
+church--perhaps upon the very seat where she sat. She knew the peace
+that he had sought for and found within these walls, broken only by his
+passion for her! She knew his struggles against the hopelessness of this
+new-born love, even the desperate remedy that had been adopted against
+herself, and the later voluntary exile of her lover. She knew
+the providential culmination of his trouble in the news brought
+unconsciously by Perkins, which, but a few hours ago, he had verified
+by the letters, records, and even the certificate of death that had thus
+strangely been placed in his hands! She knew all this so clearly now,
+that, with the instinct of a sympathetic nature, she even fancied she
+had heard it before. She knew that all the obstacles to an exchange
+of their affection had been removed; that her lover only waited his
+opportunity to hear from her own lips the answer that was even now
+struggling at her heart. And yet she hesitated and drew back, half
+frightened in the presence of her great happiness. How she longed,
+and yet dreaded, to meet him! What if anything should have happened to
+him?--what if he should be the victim of some treachery?--what if he did
+not come?--what if?--"Good heavens! what was that?"
+
+She was near the door of the sacristy, gazing into the dim and shadowy
+church. Either she was going mad, or else the grotesque Indian hangings
+of the walls were certainly moving towards her. She rose in speechless
+terror, as what she had taken for an uncouthly swathed and draped
+barbaric pillar suddenly glided to the window. Crouching against the
+wall, she crept breathlessly towards the entrance to the garden. Casting
+a hurried glance above her, she saw the open belfry that was illuminated
+by the misty radiance of the moon, darkly shadowed by hideously
+gibbering faces that peered at her through the broken tracery. With a
+cry of horror she threw open the garden-door; but the next moment was
+swallowed up in the tumultuous tide of wild and half naked Indians who
+surged against the walls of the church, and felt herself lifted from her
+feet, with inarticulate cries, and borne along the garden. Even in her
+mortal terror, she could recognize that the cries were not those of
+rage, but of vacant satisfaction; that although she was lifted on lithe
+shoulders, the grasp of her limbs was gentle, and the few dark faces she
+could see around her were glistening in childlike curiosity. Presently
+she felt herself placed upon the back of a mule, that seemed to be
+swayed hither and thither in the shifting mass, and the next moment
+the misty, tossing cortege moved forward with a new and more definite
+purpose. She called aloud for Father Esteban and Mrs. Markham; her voice
+appeared to flow back upon her from the luminous wall of fog that
+closed around her. Then the inarticulate, irregular outcries took upon
+themselves a measured rhythm, the movement of the mass formed itself
+upon the monotonous chant, the intervals grew shorter, the mule broke
+into a trot, and then the whole vast multitude fell into a weird,
+rhythmical, jogging quick step at her side.
+
+Whatever was the intent of this invasion of the Mission and her own
+strange abduction, she was relieved by noticing that they were going in
+the same direction as that taken by Hurlstone an hour before. Either he
+was cognizant of their movements, and, being powerless to prevent their
+attack on the church, had stipulated they were to bring her to him in
+safety, or else he was calculating to intercept them on the way. The fog
+prevented her from forming any estimation of the numbers that surrounded
+her, or if the Padre and Mrs. Markham were possibly preceding her as
+captives in the vanguard. She felt the breath of the sea, and knew they
+were traveling along the shore; the monotonous chant and jogging motion
+gradually dulled her active terror to an apathetic resignation, in which
+occasionally her senses seemed to swoon and swim in the dreamy radiance
+through which they passed; at times it seemed a dream or nightmare with
+which she was hopelessly struggling; at times she was taking part in an
+unhallowed pageant, or some heathen sacrificial procession of which she
+was the destined victim.
+
+She had no consciousness of how long the hideous journey lasted. Her
+benumbed senses were suddenly awakened by a shock; the chant had ceased,
+the moving mass in which she was imbedded rolled forward once more as
+if by its own elasticity, and then receded again with a jar that almost
+unseated her. Then the inarticulate murmur was overborne by a voice. It
+was HIS! She turned blindly towards it; but before she could utter the
+cry that rose to her lips, she was again lifted from the saddle, carried
+forward, and gently placed upon what seemed to be a moss-grown bank.
+Opening her half swimming eyes she recognized the Indian cross. The
+crowd seemed to recede before her. Her eyes closed again as a strong arm
+passed around her waist.
+
+"Speak to me, Miss Keene--Eleanor--my darling!" said Hurlstone's voice.
+"O my God! they have killed her!"
+
+With an effort she moved her head and tried to smile. Their eyes, and
+then their lips met; she fainted.
+
+When she struggled to her senses again, she was lying in the
+stern-sheets of the Excelsior's boat, supported on Mrs. Markham's
+shoulder. For an instant the floating veil of fog around her, and the
+rhythmical movement of the boat, seemed a part of her mysterious ride,
+and she raised her head with a faint cry for Hurlstone.
+
+"It's all right, my dear," said Mrs. Markham, soothingly; "he's ashore
+with the Padre, and everything else is all right too. But it's rather
+ridiculous to think that those idiotic Indians believed the only way
+they could show Mr. Hurlstone that they meant us no harm was to drag
+us all up to THEIR Mission, as they call that half heathen cross of
+theirs--for safety against--who do you think, dear?--the dreadful
+AMERICANS! And imagine all the while the Padre and I were just behind
+you, bringing up the rear of the procession--only they wouldn't let us
+join you because they wanted to show you special honor as"--she sank her
+voice to a whisper in Eleanor's ear--"as the future Mrs. Hurlstone! It
+appears they must have noticed something about you two, the last time
+you were there, my dear. And--to think--YOU never told me anything about
+it!"
+
+When they reached the Excelsior, they found that Mrs. Brimmer, having
+already settled herself in the best cabin, was inclined to extend the
+hospitalities of the ship with the air of a hostess. But the arrival of
+Hurlstone at midnight with some delegated authority from Senor Perkins,
+and the unexpected getting under way of the ship, disturbed her
+complacency.
+
+"We are going through the channel into the bay of Todos Santos," was the
+brief reply vouchsafed her by Hurlstone.
+
+"But why can't we remain here and wait for Mr. Brimmer?" she asked
+indignantly.
+
+"Because," responded Hurlstone grimly, "the Excelsior is expected off
+the Presidio to-morrow morning to aid the insurgents."
+
+"You don't mean to say that Miss Chubb and myself are to be put in the
+attitude of arraying ourselves against the constituted authorities--and,
+perhaps, Mr. Brimmer himself?" asked Mrs. Brimmer, in genuine alarm.
+
+"It looks so," said Hurlstone, a little maliciously; "but, no doubt,
+your husband and the Senor will arrange it amicably."
+
+To Mrs. Markham and Miss Keene he explained more satisfactorily that
+the unexpected disaffection of the Indians had obliged Perkins to so far
+change his plans as to disembark his entire force from the Excelsior,
+and leave her with only the complement of men necessary to navigate her
+through the channel of Todos Santos, where she would peacefully await
+his orders, or receive his men in case of defeat.
+
+Nevertheless, as the night was nearly spent, Mrs. Markham and Eleanor
+preferred to await the coming day on deck, and watch the progress of the
+Excelsior through the mysterious channel. In a few moments the barque
+began to feel the combined influence of the tide and the slight morning
+breeze, and, after rounding an invisible point, she presently rose and
+fell on the larger ocean swell. The pilot, whom Hurlstone recognized
+as the former third mate of the Excelsior, appeared to understand the
+passage perfectly; and even Hurlstone and the ladies, who had through
+eight months' experience become accustomed to the luminous obscurity
+of Todos Santos, could detect the faint looming of the headland at the
+entrance. The same soothing silence, even the same lulling of the unseen
+surf, which broke in gentle undulations over the bar, and seemed to lift
+the barque in rocking buoyancy over the slight obstruction, came back to
+them as on the day of their fateful advent. The low orders of the pilot,
+the cry of the leadsman in the chains, were but a part of the restful
+past.
+
+Under the combined influence of the hour and the climate, the
+conversation fell into monosyllables, and Mrs. Markham dozed. The lovers
+sat silently together, but the memory of a kiss was between them. It
+spanned the gulf of the past with an airy bridge, over which their
+secret thoughts and fancies passed and repassed with a delicious
+security; henceforth they could not flee from that memory, even if they
+wished; they read it in each other's lightest glance; they felt it
+in the passing touch of each other's hands; it lingered, with vague
+tenderness, on the most trivial interchange of thought. Yet they spoke a
+little of the future. Eleanor believed that her brother would not object
+to their union; he had spoken of entering into business at Todos Santos,
+and perhaps when peace and security were restored they might live
+together. Hurlstone did not tell her that a brief examination of his
+wife's papers had shown him that the property he had set aside for
+her maintenance, and from which she had regularly drawn an income, had
+increased in value, and left him a rich man. He only pressed her hand,
+and whispered that her wishes should be his. They had become tenderly
+silent again, as the Excelsior, now fairly in the bay, appeared to be
+slowly drifting, with listless sails and idle helm, in languid search of
+an anchorage. Suddenly they were startled by a cry from the lookout.
+
+"Sail ho!"
+
+There was an incredulous start on the deck. The mate sprang into the
+fore-rigging with an oath of protestation. But at the same moment the
+tall masts and spars of a vessel suddenly rose like a phantom out of the
+fog at their side. The half disciplined foreign crew uttered a cry
+of rage and trepidation, and huddled like sheep in the waist, with
+distracted gestures; even the two men at the wheel forsook their post to
+run in dazed terror to the taffrail. Before the mate could restore order
+to this chaos, the Excelsior had drifted, with a scarcely perceptible
+concussion, against the counter of the strange vessel. In an instant a
+dozen figures appeared on its bulwarks, and dropped unimpeded upon the
+Excelsior's deck. As the foremost one approached the mate, the latter
+shrank back in consternation.
+
+"Captain Bunker!"
+
+"Yes," said the figure, advancing with a mocking laugh; "Captain Bunker
+it is. Captain Bunker, formerly of this American barque Excelsior, and
+now of the Mexican ship La Trinidad. Captain Bunker ez larnt every
+foot of that passage in an open boat last August, and didn't forget it
+yesterday in a big ship! Captain Bunker ez has just landed a company
+of dragoons to relieve the Presidio. What d'ye say to that, Mr.
+M'Carthy--eh?"
+
+"I say," answered M'Carthy, raising his voice with a desperate effort to
+recover his calmness, "I say that Perkins landed with double that number
+of men yesterday around that point, and that he'll be aboard here in
+half an hour to make you answer for this insult to his ship and his
+Government."
+
+"His Government!" echoed Bunker, with a hoarser laugh; "hear him!--HIS
+Government! His Government died at four o'clock this morning, when
+his own ringleaders gave him up to the authorities. Ha! Why, this yer
+revolution is played out, old man; and Generalissimo Leonidas Perkins is
+locked up in the Presidio."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+LIBERATED.
+
+
+The revolution was, indeed, ended. The unexpected arrival of a relieving
+garrison in the bay of Todos Santos had completed what the dissensions
+in the insurgents' councils had begun; the discontents, led by Brace and
+Winslow, had united with the Government against Perkins and his aliens;
+but a compromise had been effected by the treacherous giving up of the
+Liberator himself in return for an amnesty granted to his followers.
+The part that Bunker had played in bringing about this moral catastrophe
+was, however, purely adventitious. When he had recovered his health, and
+subsequent events had corroborated the truth of his story, the Mexican
+Government, who had compromised with Quinquinambo, was obliged to
+recognize his claims by offering him command of the missionary ship, and
+permission to rediscover the channel, the secret of which had been lost
+for half a century to the Government. He had arrived at the crucial
+moment when Perkins' command were scattered along the seashore, and the
+dragoons had invested Todos Santos without opposition.
+
+Such was the story substantially told to Hurlstone and confirmed on his
+debarkation with the ladies at Todos Santos, the Excelsior being now in
+the hands of the authorities. Hurlstone did not hesitate to express to
+Padre Esteban his disgust at the treachery which had made a scapegoat of
+Senor Perkins. But to his surprise the cautious priest only shrugged his
+shoulders as he took a complacent pinch of snuff.
+
+"Have a care, Diego! You are of necessity grateful to this man for
+the news he has brought--nay, more, for possibly being the instrument
+elected by Providence to precipitate the denouement of that miserable
+woman's life--but let it not close your eyes to his infamous political
+career. I admit that he was opposed to the revolt of the heathen against
+us, but it was his emissaries and his doctrines that poisoned with
+heresy the fountains from which they drank. Enough! Be grateful! but do
+not expect ME to intercede for Baal and Ashtaroth!"
+
+"Intercede!" echoed Hurlstone, alarmed at the sudden sacerdotal hardness
+that had overspread the old priest's face. "Surely the Council will
+not be severe with the man who was betrayed into their power by others
+equally guilty?"
+
+Padre Esteban avoided Hurlstone's eyes as he answered with affected
+coolness,--"Quien sabe? There will be expulsados, no doubt. The
+Excelsior, which is confiscated, will be sent to Mexico with them."
+
+"I must see Senor Perkins," said Hurlstone suddenly.
+
+The priest hesitated.
+
+"When?" he asked cautiously.
+
+"At once."
+
+"Good." He wrote a hurried line on a piece of paper, folded it, sealed
+it, and gave it to Hurlstone. "You will hand that to the Comandante. He
+will give you access to the prisoner."
+
+In less than half an hour Hurlstone presented himself before the
+Commander. The events of the last twenty-four hours had evidently
+affected Don Miguel, for although he received Hurlstone courteously,
+there was a singular reflection of the priest's harshness in his face as
+he glanced over the missive. He took out his watch.
+
+"I give you ten minutes with the prisoner, Don Diego. More, I cannot."
+
+A little awed by the manner of the Commander, Hurlstone bowed and
+followed him across the courtyard. It was filled with soldiers, and
+near the gateway a double file of dragoons, with loaded carbines, were
+standing at ease. Two sentries were ranged on each side of an open door
+which gave upon the courtyard. The Commander paused before it, and with
+a gesture invited him to enter. It was a large square apartment, lighted
+only by the open door and a grated enclosure above it. Seated in his
+shirtsleeves, before a rude table, Senor Perkins was quietly writing.
+The shadow of Hurlstone's figure falling across his paper caused him to
+look up.
+
+Whatever anxiety Hurlstone had begun to feel, it was quickly dissipated
+by the hearty, affable, and even happy greeting of the prisoner.
+
+"Ah! what! my young friend Hurlstone! Again an unexpected pleasure," he
+said, extending his white hands. "And again you find me wooing the Muse,
+in, I fear, hesitating numbers." He pointed to the sheet of paper before
+him, which showed some attempts at versification. "But I confess to a
+singular fascination in the exercise of poetic composition, in instants
+of leisure like this--a fascination which, as a man of imagination
+yourself, you can appreciate."
+
+"And I am sorry to find you here, Senor Perkins," began Hurlstone
+frankly; "but I believe it will not be for long."
+
+"My opinion," said the Senor, with a glance of gentle contemplation at
+the distant Comandante, "as far as I may express it, coincides with your
+own."
+
+"I have come," continued Hurlstone earnestly, "to offer you my services.
+I am ready," he raised his voice, with a view of being overheard, "to
+bear testimony that you had no complicity in the baser part of the late
+conspiracy,--the revolt of the savages, and that you did your best to
+counteract the evil, although in doing so you have sacrificed yourself.
+I shall claim the right to speak from my own knowledge of the Indians
+and from their admission to me that they were led away by the vague
+representations of Martinez, Brace, and Winslow."
+
+"Pardon--pardon me," said Senor Perkins deprecatingly, "you are
+mistaken. My general instructions, no doubt, justified these young
+gentlemen in taking, I shall not say extreme, but injudicious measures."
+He glanced meaningly in the direction of the Commander, as if to
+warn Hurlstone from continuing, and said gently, "But let us talk
+of something else. I thank you for your gracious intentions, but
+you remember that we agreed only yesterday that you knew nothing of
+politics, and did not concern yourself with them. I do not know but you
+are wise. Politics and the science of self-government, although dealing
+with general principles, are apt to be defined by the individual
+limitations of the enthusiast. What is good for HIMSELF he too
+often deems is applicable to the general public, instead of wisely
+understanding that what is good for THEM must be good for himself. But,"
+said the Senor lightly, "we are again transgressing. We were to choose
+another topic. Let it be yourself, Mr. Hurlstone. You are looking
+well, sir; indeed, I may say I never saw you looking so well! Let me
+congratulate you. Health is the right of youth. May you keep both!"
+
+He shook Hurlstone's hand again with singular fervor.
+
+There was a slight bustle and commotion at the door of the guard-room,
+and the Commander's attention was called in that direction. Hurlstone
+profited by the opportunity to say in a hurried whisper:
+
+"Tell me what I can do for you;" and he hesitated to voice his renewed
+uneasiness--"tell me if--if--if your case is--urgent!"
+
+Senor Perkins lifted his shoulders and smiled with grateful benevolence.
+
+"You have already promised me to deliver those papers and manuscripts
+of my deceased friend, and to endeavor to find her relations. I do not
+think it is urgent, however."
+
+"I do not mean that," said Hurlstone eagerly. "I"--but Perkins stopped
+him with a sign that the Commander was returning.
+
+Don Miguel approached them with disturbed and anxious looks.
+
+"I have yielded to the persuasions of two ladies, Dona Leonor and the
+Senora Markham, to ask you to see them for a moment," he said to Senor
+Perkins. "Shall it be so? I have told them the hour is nearly spent."
+
+"You have told them--NOTHING MORE?" asked the Senor, in a whisper
+unheard by Hurlstone.
+
+"No."
+
+"Let them come, then."
+
+The Commander made a gesture to the sentries at the guard-room, who drew
+back to allow Mrs. Markham and Eleanor to pass. A little child, one of
+Eleanor's old Presidio pupils, who, recognizing her, had followed her
+into the guard-room, now emerged with her, and momentarily disconcerted
+at the presence of the Commander, ran, with the unerring instinct of
+childhood, to the Senor for protection. The filibuster smiled, and
+lifting the child with a paternal gesture to his shoulder by one hand,
+he extended the other to the ladies.
+
+"The Commander," said Mrs. Markham briskly, "says it's against the
+rules; that visiting time is up; and you've already got a friend with
+you, and all that sort of thing; but I told him that I was bound to see
+you, if only to say that if there's any meanness going on, Susannah and
+James Markham ain't in it! No! But we're going to see you put right and
+square in the matter; and if we can't do it here, we'll do it, if we
+have to follow you to Mexico!--that's all!"
+
+"And I," said Eleanor, grasping the Senor's hand, and half blushing as
+she glanced at Hurlstone, "see that I have already a friend here who
+will help me to put in action all the sympathy I feel."
+
+Senor Perkins drew himself up, and cast a faint look of pride towards
+the Commander.
+
+"To HEAR such assurances from beautiful and eloquent lips like those
+before me," he said, with his old oratorical wave of the hand, but a
+passing shadow across his mild eyes, "is more than sufficient. In my
+experience of life I have been favored, at various emergencies, by the
+sympathy and outspoken counsel of your noble sex; the last time by Mrs.
+Euphemia M'Corkle, of Peoria, Illinois, a lady of whom you have heard me
+speak--alas! now lately deceased. A few lines at present lying on yonder
+table--a tribute to her genius--will be forwarded to you, dear Mrs.
+Markham. But let us change the theme. You are looking well--and you,
+too, Miss Keene. From the roses that bloom on your cheeks--nourished
+by the humid air of Todos Santos--I am gratified in thinking you have
+forgiven me your enforced detention here."
+
+At a gesture from the Commander he ceased, stepped back, bowed gravely,
+and the ladies recognized that their brief audience had terminated. As
+they passed through the gateway, looking back they saw Perkins still
+standing with the child on his shoulder and smiling affably upon them.
+Then the two massive doors of the gateway swung to with a crash, the
+bolts were shot, and the courtyard was impenetrable.
+
+* * * * *
+
+A few moments later, the three friends had passed the outermost angle of
+the fortifications, and were descending towards the beach. By the time
+they had reached the sands they had fallen into a vague silence.
+
+A noise like the cracking and fall of some slight scaffolding behind
+them arrested their attention. Hurlstone turned quickly. A light smoke,
+drifting from the courtyard, was mingling with the fog. A faint cry of
+"Dios y Libertad!" rose with it.
+
+With a hurried excuse to his companions, Hurlstone ran rapidly back, and
+reached the gate as it slowly rolled upon its hinges to a file of men
+that issued from the courtyard. The first object that met his eyes
+was the hat of Senor Perkins lying on the ground near the wall, with a
+terrible suggestion in its helpless and pathetic vacuity. A few paces
+further lay its late owner, with twenty Mexican bullets in his breast,
+his benevolent forehead bared meekly to the sky, as if even then mutely
+appealing to the higher judgment. He was dead! The soul of the Liberator
+of Quinquinambo, and of various other peoples more or less distressed
+and more or less ungrateful, was itself liberated!
+
+* * * * *
+
+With the death of Senor Perkins ended the Crusade of the Excelsior.
+Under charge of Captain Bunker the vessel was sent to Mazatlan by the
+authorities, bearing the banished and proscribed Americans, Banks,
+Brace, Winslow, and Crosby; and, by permission of the Council, also
+their friends, Markham and Brimmer, and the ladies, Mrs. Brimmer, Chubb,
+and Markham. Hurlstone and Miss Keene alone were invited to remain, but,
+on later representations, the Council graciously included Richard Keene
+in the invitation, with the concession of the right to work the mines
+and control the ranches he and Hurlstone had purchased from their
+proscribed countrymen. The complacency of the Council of Todos Santos
+may be accounted for when it is understood that on the day the firm
+of Hurlstone & Keene was really begun under the title of Mr. and Mrs.
+Hurlstone, Richard had prevailed upon the Alcalde to allow him to add
+the piquant Dona Isabel also to the firm under the title of Mrs. Keene.
+Although the port of Todos Santos was henceforth open to all commerce,
+the firm of Hurlstone & Keene long retained the monopoly of trade, and
+was a recognized power of intelligent civilization and honest progress
+on the Pacific coast. And none contributed more to that result than the
+clever and beautiful hostess of Excelsior Lodge, the charming country
+home of James Hurlstone, Esq., senior partner of the firm. Under the
+truly catholic shelter of its veranda Padre Esteban and the heretic
+stranger mingled harmoniously, and the dissensions of local and central
+Government were forgotten.
+
+"I said that you were a dama de grandeza, you remember," said the
+youthful Mrs. Keene to Mrs. Hurlstone, "and, you see, you are!"
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Crusade of the Excelsior, by Bret Harte
+
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