diff options
Diffstat (limited to '24827.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | 24827.txt | 4476 |
1 files changed, 4476 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/24827.txt b/24827.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..35f9162 --- /dev/null +++ b/24827.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4476 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Rita, by Laura E. Richards + +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: Rita + +Author: Laura E. Richards + +Illustrator: Etheldred B. Barry + +Release Date: March 14, 2008 [EBook #24827] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RITA *** + + + + +Produced by Suzanne Shell, Emmy and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + + +RITA + + + + + BOOKS FOR GIRLS + By Laura E. Richards + + _The_ MARGARET SERIES + + Three Margarets + Margaret Montfort + Peggy + Rita + Fernley House + + + _The_ HILDEGARDE SERIES + + Queen Hildegarde + Hildegarde's Holiday + Hildegarde's Home + Hildegarde's Neighbors + Hildegarde's Harvest + + + DANA ESTES & COMPANY + Publishers + Estes Press, Summer St., Boston + + +[Illustration: "RITA MONTFORT DREW HER DAGGER AND WAITED."] + + + + +RITA + +BY + +LAURA E. RICHARDS + +AUTHOR OF + + "PEGGY," "MARGARET MONTFORT," "THREE + MARGARETS," ETC. + + Illustrated by + ETHELDRED B. BARRY + +[Illustration] + + BOSTON + DANA ESTES & COMPANY + PUBLISHERS + + + + + _Copyright, 1900_ + BY DANA ESTES& COMPANY + + + Colonial Press + Electrotyped and Printed by C. H. Simonds & Co. + Boston, Mass., U.S.A. + + + + + TO + + FIVE GIRLS I KNOW + + IN THE TOWN OF SAINT JO + + If this story should seem extravagant to any of + my readers, I can only refer them to some one + of the many published accounts of the + Spanish-American War. They will find that many + delicate and tenderly nurtured girls were + forced to endure dangers and privations + compared to which Rita's adventures seem like + child's play. + + L. E. R. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + CHAPTER PAGE + I. THREATENING WEATHER 11 + II. THE STORM BURSTS 23 + III. ON THE WAY 33 + IV. THE CAMP AMONG THE HILLS 54 + V. TO MARGARET 77 + VI. IN THE NIGHT 93 + VII. CAMP SCENE 110 + VIII. THE PACIFICOS 130 + IX. IN HIDING 142 + X. MANUELA'S OPPORTUNITY 163 + XI. CAPTAIN JACK 176 + XII. FOR LIFE 190 + XIII. MEETINGS AND GREETINGS 200 + XIV. ANOTHER CAMP 216 + XV. A FOREGONE CONCLUSION 233 + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. + + + PAGE + + "RITA MONTFORT DREW HER DAGGER AND WAITED" _Frontispiece_ + + IN THE GARDEN 21 + + "THE FAMISHED CHILD LOOKED FROM THE BISCUIT TO + THE GLOWING FACE" 43 + + "'HUSH!' SAID THE YOUNG GIRL. 'SIT STILL'" 104 + + "'WAS SUCH A HAT EVER SEEN IN PARIS?'" 147 + + "'I THROW OPEN THE DOOR AND STEP BACK, MY HEART + IN MY MOUTH'" 172 + + "NOW AGAIN IT WAS A RIDE FOR LIFE" 205 + + "THE PATIENTS IDOLISE HER" 237 + + + + +RITA. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +THREATENING WEATHER. + + +TO SENOR, + + _Senor the illustrious Don John Montfort._ + +_Honoured Senor and Brother:_--There are several months that I wrote to +inform you of the deeply deplored death of my lamented husband, Senor +Don Richard Montfort. Your letter of condolation and advice was balm +poured upon my bleeding wounds, received before yesterday at the hands +of my banker, Don Miguel Pietoso. You are the brother of my adored +husband, your words are as if spoken from his casket. You tell me, stay +at home, remain in quietness, till these alarms of war are over. Alas! +respectable senor, to accomplish this? Havana is since the shocking +affair of the _Maine_ in uproar; on each side are threats, are cries, +"Death to the Americanos!" My bewept angel, Don Richard, was in his +heart Spanish, by birth American; I see brows black upon me--me, a +Castilian!--when I go from my house. Already they speak of to burn the +houses of wealthy Americans, to drive forth those dwelling in. + +Again, senor, my daughter, your niece Margarita--what to do, I ask you, +of this young person? She is Cuban, she is fanatic, she is impossible. I +apply myself to instruct her as her station and fortune demand, as +befits a Spanish lady of rank; she insubordinates me, she makes mockery +of my position as head of her house. She teach her parrot to cry "Viva +Cuba Libre!" She play at open windows her guitar, songs of Cuban rebels, +forbidden by the authorities. I exert my power, I exhort, I +command,--she laughs me at the nose, and sings more loud. I attend that +in few days we are all the two in prison. What to do? you already know +that her betrothed, Senor Santillo de Santayana, is dead a year ago of a +calenture. Her grief was excessive; she intended to die, and made +preparation costing large sums of money for her obsequies. She forget +all now, she says, for her country. In this alarming time, the freedom +her father permitted her (his extreme philanthropy overcoming his +judgmatism) becomes impossible. I implore you, highly honoured senor and +brother, to write your commands to this unhappy child, that she submit +herself to me, her guardian in nature, until you can assert your legal +potencies. I intend shortly to make retreat in the holy convent of the +White Sisters, few miles from here. Rita accompanionates me, and I trust +there to change the spirit of rebellion so shocking in a young person +unmarried, into the soul docile and sheep-like as becomes a highly +native Spanish maiden. The Sisters are of justice celebrated for their +pious austerities and the firmness of their rule. Rita will remain with +them until peace is assured, or until your emissaries apport distinct +advice. + +For me, your kind and gracious inquiries would have watered my heart +were it not already blasted. Desolation must attend my remaining years; +but through them all I shall be, dear senor and brother, your most +grateful and in affliction devoted sister and servant, + + MARIA CONCEPCION DE NARAGUA MONTFORT. + _Havana, April 30, 1898._ + + +DEAREST, DEAREST UNCLE:--My stepmother says she has written to you +concerning me. I implore you, as you loved your brother, my sainted +father, to believe no single word she says. This woman is of a +duplicity, a falseness, impossible for your lofty soul to comprehend. +It needs a Cuban, my uncle, to understand a Spaniard. She wants to take +me to the convent, to those terrible White Sisters, who will shave my +head and lacerate my flesh with heated scourges,--Manuela has told me +about them; scourges of iron chains knotted and made hot,--me, a +Protestant, daughter of a free American. Uncle John, it is my corpse +alone that she will carry there, understand that! Never will I go alive. +I have daggers; here on my wall are many of them, beautifully arranged; +I polish them daily, it is my one mournful pleasure; they are sharp as +lightning, and their lustre dazzles the eye. I have poison also; a drop, +and the daughter of your brother is white and cold at the feet of her +murderess. Enough! she will be avenged. Carlos Montfort lives; and you, +too, I know it, I feel it, would spring, would leap across the sea to +avenge your Rita, who fondly loves you. Hear me swear, my uncle, on my +knees; never, never will I go alive to that place of death, the convent. +(I pray you to pardon this blot; I spilt the ink, kneeling in passion; +what would you have?) + + Your unhappy + RITA. + + +BELOVED MARGUERITE:--I have written to our dear and honoured uncle of +the perils which surround me. My life, my reason, are at stake. It may +be that I have but a few weeks more to live. Every day, therefore, +dearest, let me pour out my soul to you, now my one comfort on earth, +since my heart was laid in the grave of my Santayana. + +It is night; all the house is wrapped in slumber; I alone wake and weep. +I seldom sleep now, save by fitful snatches. I sit as at this moment, by +my little table, my taper illuminated, in my peignoir (you would be +pleased with my peignoir, my poor Marguerite! it is white _mousseline +d'Inde_, flowing very full from the shoulders, falling in veritable +clouds about me, with deep ruffles of Valenciennes and bands of +insertion; the ribbons white, of course; maidens should mourn in white, +is it not so, Marguerite? no colour has approached me since my +bereavement; fortunately black and white are both becoming to me, while +that other, Concepcion, looks like a sick orange in either. Even the +flowers in my room are solely white.) + +It seems a thousand years since I heard from you, my cool snow-pearl of +cousins. Write more often to your Rita, she implores you. I pine for +news of you, of Uncle John, of all at dear, dear Fernley. Alas! how +young I was there! a simple child, sporting among the Northern daisies. +Now, in the whirlwind of my passionate existence, I look back to that +peaceful summer. For you, Marguerite, the green oasis, the palm-trees, +the crystal spring; for me, the sand storm and the fiery death. No +matter! I live and die a daughter of Cuba, the gold star on my brow, +the three colours painted on my heart. Good night, beloved! I kiss the +happy paper that goes to you. Till to-morrow, and while I live, + + Your + RITA. + + + HAVANA, May 1, 1898. + +Not until afternoon goes the mail steamer, Marguerite, only pearl of my +heart. I wrote you a few burning words last night; then I flung myself +on my bed, hoping to lose my sorrows for a few minutes in sleep. I +slept, a thing hardly known to me at present; it was the sleep of +exhaustion, Marguerite. When I woke, Manuela was putting back the +curtains to let in the light of dawn. It is still early morning, fresh +and dewy, and I am here in the garden. At no time of the day is the +garden more beautiful than now, in the purity of the day's birth. I have +described it to you at night, with the _cocuyos_ gleaming like lamps in +the green dusk of the orange-trees, or the moonlight striking the world +to silver. I wish you could see it now--this garden of my soul, so soon, +it may be, to be destroyed by ruthless hands of savage Spaniards. The +palms stand like stately pillars; till the green plumes wave in the +morning breeze, one fancies a temple or cathedral, with aisles of +crowned verdure. Behind these stand the banana-trees, rows and rows, +with clusters hanging thick, crimson and gold. Would Peggy be happy +here, do you think? Poor little Peggy! How often I long to cut down a +tree, to send her whole bunches of the fruit she delights in. The +mangoes, too! I used to think I could not live without mangoes. When I +went to you, it appeared that I must die without my fruits; now their +rich pulp dries untasted by my lips: what have I to do with food, save +the bare necessary to support what life remains? I am waiting now for my +coffee; at this moment Manuela brings it, with the grape-fruit and +rolls, and places it here on the table of green marble, close by the +fountain where I sit. The fountain soothes my suffering heart, as it +tinkles in the broad basin of green marble. Nature, Marguerite, speaks +to the heart of despair. You have not known despair, my best one; may it +be long, long before you do. Among her other vices, this woman, +Concepcion, would like to starve me, in my own house. She counts the +rolls, she knows how many lumps of sugar I put in my coffee; an hour +will dawn--I say no more! I am patient, Marguerite, I am forbearing, a +statue, marble in the midst of fire; but beyond a certain point I will +not endure persecution, and I say to you, let Concepcion Montfort, the +widow of my sainted father, beware! + +[Illustration: IN THE GARDEN.] + +Adios, my Magnolia Flower! I must feed my birds. Already they are awake +and calling the mistress they love. They hang--I have told you--in large +airy cages, all round under the eaves of the summer-house beside the +fountain. They are beautiful, Margaret, the Java sparrows, the little +love-birds, the splendid macaw, the paroquets, and mocking-birds; but +king among them all is Chiquito, our parrot, Marguerite, yours and mine, +the one link here that binds me to my Northern home; for I may call +Fernley my home, Uncle John has said it; the lonely orphan can think of +one spot where tender hearts beat for her, not passionately, but with +steadfast pulses. Chico is in superb health; he is--I tell you every +time--a revelation in the animal kingdom. More than this, he is a bird +of heart; he feels for me, feels intensely, in this dark time. Only +yesterday he bit old Julio severely; I am persuaded it was his love for +me that prompted the act. Julio is a Spaniard of the Spaniards, the +slave of Concepcion. He attempted to cajole my Chico, he offered him +sugar. To-day he goes with his arm in a sling, and curses the Cuban +bird, with threats against his life. Never mind, Marguerite! a time will +soon come--I can say no more. I am dumb; the grave is less silent; but +do you think your Rita will submit eternally to tyranny and despotism? +No, you know she will not, it is not her nature. You look, my best one, +for some outbreak of my passionate nature, you attend that the volcano +spring some sudden hour into flame, overwhelming all in its path. You +are right, heart of my heart. You shall not be disappointed. Rita will +prove herself worthy of your love. How? hush! ask not, dream not! trust +me and be silent. + + MARGARITA DE SAN REAL MONTFORT. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +THE STORM BURSTS. + + +GREATLY HONOURED SIR:--I permit myself the privilege of addressing your +Excellency, my name being known to you as man of business of late your +admired brother, Senor Don Ricardo Montfort. I find myself, senor, in a +position of great hardness between the two admirable ladies, Senora +Montfort, widow of Don Ricardo, and his beautiful daughter, the Senorita +Margarita. These ladies, admirable, as I have said, in beauty, +character, and abilities, find it, nevertheless, impossible to live in +harmony. As man of affairs, I am present at painful scenes, which wring +the heart. Each cries to me to save her from the other. The senora +desires to make retreat at the convent of the White Sisters, thrice +holy and beatified persons, but of a strictness repugnant to the lively +and ardent spirit of the senorita. Last evening took place a terrible +enactment, at which I most unluckily assisted. Senora Montfort permitted +her lofty spirit to assert itself more strongly than her delicate +corporosity was able to endure, and fell into violent hystericality. Her +shrieks wanted little of arousing the neighbourhood; the servants became +appalled and lost their reason. Senorita Margarita maintained her +calmness, and even refused to consider the senora's condition as +serious. On the assurance of the young lady and the senora's maid, I was +obliged to accept the belief that the senora would shortly recover if +left to herself, and came away in deep grief, leaving that illustrious +matron--I speak with respect--in fits upon the floor. One would have +said, a child of six deprived of its toy. Greatly honoured Senor +Montfort, I am a man no longer young. Having myself no conjugal +ameliorations, I make no pretence to comprehend the more delicate and +complex nature of females. I am cut to the heart; the senora scrupled +not to address me as "Old Fool." Heaven is my witness that I have +endeavoured of my best lights to smoothen the path for her well-born and +at present bereaved feet. But what can I do? Neither lady will listen to +me. The senorita, let me hasten to say, shows me always a tender, I +might without too great a presumption say a filial, kindness. I held her +in my arms from the day of her birth, senor; she is the flower of the +world to me. When she takes me by the hands and says, "Dear old Donito +Miguelito, let me do as I desire and all will be well!" I have no +strength to resist her. Had I a house of my own, I would take this +charming child home with me, to be my daughter while she would; but--a +bachelor living in two rooms--what would you, senor? it is not +possible. Deign, I beseech you, to consider this my respectful report, +and if circumstances are proprietary come to my assistance, or send me +instructions how to act. + +Accept, senor, the assurance of my perfect consideration, and believe me + + Your obedient, humble servant, + MIGUEL PIETOSO. + + +TO THE HONOURABLE SENOR DON JOHN MONTFORT. + +_Honoured and dear Brother:_--Since I wrote you last week, things the +most frightful have happened. Rita's conduct grew more and more violent +and unruled; in despair, I sent for Don Miguel. This old man, though of +irreproached character, is of a weakness pitiable to see in one wearing +the form of mankind. I called upon him to uphold me, and command Rita to +obey the wife of her father. He had only smooth words for each of us, +and endeavoured to charm this wretched child, when terror should have +been his weapon. I leave you to imagine if she was influenced by his +gentle admonitions. To my face she caressed him, and he responded to her +caresses. Don Miguel is an old man, eighty years of age, but +nevertheless my anger, my just anger, rose to a height beyond my power +of control. I fainted from excess of emotion; I lay as one dead, and no +heart stirred of my sufferings. Since then I have been in my bed, with +no power more than has a babe of the cradle. This morning Margarita came +to me and expressed regret for her conduct, saying that she was willing +from now to submit herself to my righteous authority. I forgave her,--I +am a Christian, dear brother, and cannot forget the principles of my +holy religion,--and we embraced with tears. This evening we go to the +convent, where I hope to find ease for my soul-wounds and to subdue the +frightful disposition of my stepdaughter. I feel it my duty to relate +these occurrences to you, dear and honoured brother, for I feel that I +may succumb under the weight of my afflictions. We start this evening, +and Don Miguel will inform you of our departure and safe arrival at the +holy convent, whither he accompanies us. + +Permit me to express, dear brother, the sentiments of exalted +consideration with which I must ever regard you as next in blood to my +adored consort, and believe me + + Your devoted, + MARIA CONCEPCION DE NARAGUA MONTFORT. + + +GREATLY HONOURED AND ILLUSTRIOUS SIR:--Let me entreat you to prepare +yourself for news of alarming nature. Yesterday evening I was honoured +by the commands of the Senora Montfort, that I convey her and Senorita +Margarita to the holy convent of the White Sisters. My age, senor, is +such that a scene of emotion is infinitely distressing to me, but I +could not disobey the commands of this illustrious lady, the widow of my +kindest patron and friend. I went, prepared for tears, for outcries, +perhaps for violent resistance, for the ardent and high-strung nature of +my beloved Senorita Margarita is well known to me. Figure to yourself, +honoured senor, my surprise at finding this charming damsel calm, +composed, even smiling. She greeted me with her accustomed tenderness; a +more enchanting personality does not, I am assured, adorn the earth than +that of this lovely child. She bade me have no alarms for her, that all +was well, she was reconciled to her lot; indeed, she added that she +could not now wish things otherwise. Amazed, but also enchanted with her +docility and sweetness, I gave her an old man's blessing, and my prayers +that the rigour of the holy Sisters might be softened toward her tender +and high-spirited youth. She replied that she had no fear of the +Sisters; that in truth she thought they would give her no trouble of +any kind. I was ravished with this assurance, having, I may confess it +to you, senor, dreaded the contact between the senorita and the holy +Mother, a woman of incredible force and piety. But I must hasten my +narrative. At seven o'clock last evening two volantes were in readiness +at the door of the Montfort mansion. The first was driven by the +senora's own man, the second by Pasquale, a negro devoted since +childhood to the senorita. The senora would have placed her daughter in +the first of these vehicles; but no! the senorita sprang lightly into +the second volante, followed by her maid, a young person, also tenderly +attached to her. Interposing myself to produce calm, I persuade the +admirable senora to take the position that etiquette commanded, in the +first carriage. It is done; I seat myself by her side; procession is +made. The way to the convent of the White Sisters, senor, is a steep +and rugged one; on either hand are savage passes, are mountains of +precipitation. To conceive what happened, how is it possible? When we +reached the convent gate, the second volante was empty. Assassinated +with terror, I make demand of Pasquale; he admits that he may have slept +during the long traject up the hill. He swears that he heard no sound, +that no word was addressed to him. He calls the saints to witness that +he is innocent; the saints make no reply, but that is not uncommon. I +search; I rend the air with my cries; alone silence responds to me. The +senora is carried fainting into the convent, and I return to Havana, a +man distracted. I should say that in the carriage was found the long +mantle in which the senorita had been gracefully attired; to its fold a +note pinned, addressed me in affectionate terms, begging her dear Donito +Miguelito not to have fear, that she was going to Don Carlos, her +brother, and all would be well. Since then is two days, senor, that I +have not closed the eye. I attend a fit of illness, from grief and +anxiousness. In duty I intelligence you of this dolorous event, praying +you not to think me guilty of sin without pardon. I have deputed a +messenger of trust to scrub thoroughly the country in search of Don +Carlos, death to await him if he return without news of my beloved +senorita. He is gone now twelve hours. If it arrive me at any moment the +tidings, I make instantly to convey them to your Excellency, whether of +joy or affliction. + +Receive, highly honoured senor, the assurance of my consideration the +most elevated. + + MIGUEL PIETOSO. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +ON THE WAY. + + +"Ah, senorita! what will become of us? I can go no farther. Will this +wilderness never end?" + +"Courage, Manuela! Courage, daughter of Cuba! See, it is growing light +already. Look at those streaks of gold in the east. A few moments, and +the sky will be bright; then we shall see where we are going, and all +will be well. In the meantime, we are free, and on Cuban soil. What can +harm us?" + +Rita looked around her with kindling eyes. She was standing on a rock +that jutted from the hillside; it was a friendly rock, and they had been +sleeping under it, wrapped in their warm cloaks, for the night was +cool. A group of palms nodded their green plumes over the rock; on +every side stretched a tangle of shrubs and tall grasses, broken here +and there by palms, or by rocks like this. Standing thus in the early +morning light, Rita was a picturesque figure indeed. She was dressed in +a blouse and short skirt of black serge, with a white kerchief knotted +around her throat, and another twisted carelessly around her +broad-brimmed straw hat. Her beautiful face was alight with eager +inquiry and determination; her eyes roved over the landscape, as if +seeking some familiar figure; but all was strange so far. Manuela, +crouching at the foot of the rock, had lost, for the moment, all the +fire of her patriotism. She was cold, poor Manuela; also, she had had a +heavy bag to carry, and her arms ached, and she was hungry, and, if the +truth must be told, rather cross. It was absurd to bring all these +things into the desert. What use for the white silk blouse, or the lace +fichu? but indeed they had no weight, whereas this monster of a-- + +"How is Chico?" asked Rita, coming down from the rock. "Poor bird! what +does he think of our wandering? he must be in need of food, Manuela. You +brought the box of seed?" + +"I did, senorita; as to the need of birdseed in a wilderness of hideous +forest, I have nothing to say. My fingers are so cramped from carrying +this detestable cage, I shall never recover the full use of them. But +the senorita must be obeyed." + +"Assuredly she must be obeyed!" said Rita; and a flash of her eyes added +force to the words. "Could I have come away, I ask you, and left this +faithful, this patriot bird, to starve, or be murdered outright? Old +Julio would have wrung his neck, you know it well, Manuela, the first +time he spoke out from his heart, spoke the words of freedom and +patriotism that his mistress has taught him. Poor Chiquito! thou lovest +me? thou art glad that I brought thee away from that place of tyranny +and bloodshed? speak to thy mistress, Chico!" + +But Chico's spirits had been ruffled, as well as Manuela's, by being +carried about in his cage, at unseemly hours, when he should have been +hanging quietly in the verandah, where he belonged. He looked sulky, and +only said, "_Caramba! no mi gusta!_" + +"He is hungry! he starves!" cried Rita; "give me the seed!" Sitting down +on the rock, she proceeded to feed the parrot, as composedly as if they +were indeed on the wide shaded verandah, instead of on a wild hillside, +far from sight or sound of anything human. + +"And the senorita's own breakfast?" said Manuela at last, when Chiquito +had had enough, and had deigned to relax a little, and even to mutter, +"_Mi gustan todas!_" "Is the senorita not also dying of hunger? for +myself, I perish, but that is of little consequence, save that my death +will leave the senorita alone--with the parrot." + +Rita burst into merry laughter. "My poor Manuela!" she said. "Thou shalt +not perish. Breakfast? we will have it this moment. Where is the bag?" + +The bag being produced,--it really was a heavy one, and it was hardly to +be wondered at that Manuela should be a little peevish about it,--Rita +drew from it a substantial box of chocolate, and a tin of biscuits. "My +child, we breakfast!" she announced. "If kings desire to breakfast more +royally, I make them my compliment. For free Cubans, bread and chocolate +is a feast. Feast, then, Manuela mine. Eat, and be happy!" + +Bread--or rather, delicate biscuits, and chocolate, were indeed a feast +to the two hungry girls. They nibbled and crunched, and Manuela's +spirits rose with every bite. Rita's had no need to rise. She was +having a real adventure; her dreams were coming true; she was a +bona-fide heroine, in a bona-fide "situation." "What have we in the bag, +best of Manuelas?" she asked. "I told you in a general way; I even added +some trifles, for Carlos's comfort; poor dear Carlos! But tell me what +you put in, my best one!" + +Manuela cast a rueful glance at the plump valise. + +"The white silk blouse," she said; "the white peignoir with swansdown." + +"In case of sickness!" cried Rita, interrupting. "You would not have me +ill, far from my home, and bereft of every slightest comfort, Manuela? +surely you would not; I know your kind heart too well. Besides, the +peignoir weighs nothing; a feather, a puff of vapour. Go on! what else?" + +"Changes of linen, of course," said Manuela. "The gold-mounted +toilet-set; two bottles of eau de Cologne; cigarettes for the Senorito +Don Carlos; bonbons; the ivory writing-case; the feather fan; three +pairs of shoes--" + +"Enough! enough!" cried Rita. "We shall do well, Manuela. You have been +an angel of thoughtfulness. You did not bring any jewels? no? I thought +perhaps the Etruscan gold set, so simple, yet so rich, might suit my +altered life well enough; but no matter. After all, what have I to do +with jewels now? The next question is, how are we to find Carlos?" + +"To find Don Carlos?" echoed Manuela. "You know where he is, senorita?" + +"But, assuredly!" said Rita, and she looked about her confidently. "He +is--here!" + +"Here!" repeated Manuela. + +"In the mountains!" said Rita, waving her hand vaguely in the direction +of the horizon. "It is a search; we must look for him, without doubt; +but he is--here--somewhere. Come, Manuela, do not look so despairing. I +tell you, we shall meet friends, it may be at any turn. The mountains +are full of the soldiers of Cuba; the first ones we meet will take us to +Carlos." + +"Yes," said Manuela. "But what if we met the others, senorita? what if +we met the Spanish soldiers first? Hark! what was that?" + +A sound was heard close behind them; a rustling, sliding sound, as if +something or somebody were making his way swiftly through the tall +grass. Manuela clutched her mistress's arm, trembling; Rita, rather +pale, but composed, looking steadily in the direction of the noise. It +came nearer--the grass rustled and shook close beside them; and out from +the tufted tangle came--three large land-crabs, scuttling along on their +ungainly claws, and evidently in a hurry. Manuela uttered a shriek, but +Rita laughed aloud. + +"Good luck!" she said. "They are good Cubans, the land-crabs. Many a +good meal has Carlos made on them, poor fellow. If we followed them, +Manuela? They may be going--somewhere. Let us see!" + +The crabs were soon out of sight, but the two girls, taking up their +burdens, followed in the direction they had taken, along the hillside, +going they knew not whither. + +There seemed to be some faint suggestion of a path. The grasses were +bent aside, and broken here and there; something had trodden here, +whether feet of men or of animals one could not tell. But glad to have +any guide, however insufficient, the girls amused themselves by trying +to discover fresh marks on tree or shrub or grass-clump. It was a wild +tangle, palms and mangoes, coarse grass and savage-looking aloes, with +wild vines running riot everywhere. So far, they had seen no sign of +human life, and the sun was now well up, his rays beating down bright +and hot. Suddenly, coming to a turn on the hillside, they heard voices; +a moment later, and they were standing by a human dwelling. + +[Illustration: "THE FAMISHED CHILD LOOKED FROM THE BISCUIT TO THE +GLOWING FACE."] + +At first sight it looked more like the burrow of some wild animal. It +was little more than a hole dug in the side of the clay bank. Some +boughs and palm-leaves were wattled together to form a rustic porch, and +under this porch three people were sitting, on the bare ground,--two +women, one young, the other old, and a little child, evidently belonging +to the young woman. They were clothed in a few rags; their cheeks were +hollow with famine, their eyes burning with fever. The old woman was +stirring a handful of meal into a pot of water; the others looked on +with painful eagerness. Rita recoiled with a low cry of terror. She had +heard of this; these were some of the unhappy peasants who had been +driven from their farms. She had never seen anything like it before. +This--this was not the play she had come to see. + +The women looked up, and saw the two girls standing near. Instantly they +began to cry out, in wailing voices. "Go! go away! there is nothing for +you; nothing! we have not more than a mouthful for ourselves. Take +yourselves away, and leave us in peace." + +Rita came forward, the tears running down her cheeks. "Oh, poor things!" +she cried. "Poor souls, I want nothing. I am not hungry! See!--I have +brought food for you. Quick, Manuela, the bag--the biscuits, child! Give +them to me! Here, thou little one, take this, and eat; there is plenty +more!" + +The famished child looked from the biscuit to the glowing face that bent +over it. It made a feeble movement; then drew back in fear. The old +woman still clamoured to the girls to go away; but the younger snatched +the biscuit, and began feeding the child hastily, yet carefully. +"Mother, be still!" she said, imperiously. "Hush that noise! do you not +see this is no poor wretch like ourselves? This is a noble lady come +from heaven to bring us help. Thanks, senorita!" With a quick, graceful +movement, she lifted the hem of Rita's dress and pressed it to her lips. +"We were dying!" she said, simply. "It was the last morsel; we meant to +give it to the little one, and some one might find it when we were dead, +and keep the life in it." + +"But, eat; eat!" cried Rita, filling the hands of both women with +chocolate and biscuits. "It is dreadful, terrible! oh, I have heard of +it, I have read of it, but I had not seen, I had not known. Oh, if my +cousin Margaret were here, she would know what to do! Eat, my poor +starving ones. You shall never be hungry again if I can help it." + +The child pulled its mother's ragged gown. + +"Is it an angel?" it asked, its mouth full of chocolate. + +"Hear the innocent!" said the mother. "No, lamb, not yet an angel, only +a noble lady on the road to heaven. See, senorita! he was pretty, while +his cheeks were round and full. Still, his eyes are pretty, are they +not?" + +"They are lovely! he is a darling!" cried Rita; and she took the child +in her arms, and bent over him to hide the tears. Was this truly Rita +Montfort? Yes, the same Rita, only awake now, for the first time now in +her pretty idle life. She felt of the little limbs. They were mere skin +and bone; no sign of baby chubbiness, no curve or dimple. Indeed, she +had come but just in time. "Listen!" she said, presently. "Where do you +come from? where is your home?" + +The old woman made a gesture as wide and vague as Rita's own of a few +minutes before. "Our home, noble lady? the wilderness is our home +to-day. Our little farm, our cottage, our patch of cane, all gone, all +destroyed. Only the graves of our dead left." + +"We come from Velaya," said the young woman. "It is miles from here; we +were driven out by the Spaniards. My father was killed before our eyes; +she is not herself since, poor soul; do we wonder at it? we have +wandered ever since. My husband--do I know if he is alive or dead? He +was with our men, he knows nothing of what has happened. If he returns, +he will think us all dead. Poor Pedro! These are the conditions of war, +senorita." + +She spoke very quietly; but her simple words pierced deeper than the +plaints of the poor old woman. + +"Listen, again!" said Rita. "I am going to my brother; he also is with +our army; he is with the General. Do you know, can you tell me, in what +direction to look for them? When I find them, I will see; I will have +provision made for you. You must stay here now, for a few hours; but +have courage, help will come soon. My brother Carlos and the good +General will care for you. Only tell me where to find them, and all will +be well." + +She spoke so confidently that hope and courage seemed to go from her, +and creep into the hearts of the forlorn creatures. The baby smiled, and +stretched out its little fleshless hands for more of the precious food; +even the old grandmother crept a little nearer, to kiss the hand of +their benefactress, and call on all the saints to bless her and bring +her to Paradise. The younger woman said there had been firing yesterday +in that direction, and she pointed westward over the brow of a hill. +They had seen no Cuban soldiers since they had been here, but a boy had +passed by this morning, on his way to join the General, and he took the +same westerly direction, and said the nearest pickets were not far +distant. + +"And why did you not follow him?" asked Rita. "Why did you not go with +him, and throw yourself at the feet of our good General, as I will do +for you now? Yes, yes, I know; you were too weak, poor souls; you had no +strength to travel farther. But I am young and strong, and so is +Manuela; and we will go together, and soon we will come again, or send +help for you. Manuela, will you come with me? or will it be better for +you to stay and care for these poor ones while I seek Don Carlos?" + +But Manuela was, very properly, scandalised at the thought of her young +lady's going off alone on any such quest. It appeared, she said, as if +the senorita had left her excellent intelligence behind in Havana. These +people would do very well now; they had food; they had, indeed, all +there was, practically, and the senorita might herself starve, if they +did not find Don Carlos soon. That was enough, surely; let them remain +as they were. + +"You are right, Manuela!" said Rita, nodding sagely. "We must go +together. Your heart does not appear to be stirred as mine is; but never +mind--the hungry are fed, and that is the thing of importance. Farewell, +then, friends! How do they call you, that I may know how to tell those +whom I shall send?" + +The younger woman was named Dolores, she said. Her husband was Pedro +Valdez, and this old one was his mother. If the senorita should see +Pedro--if by Heaven's mercy he should be with the General at this +moment, all would indeed be well. In any case, their prayers and +blessings would go with the senorita and her valued attendant. + +Often and often, the soft Spanish speech of compliment and ceremony +sounded hollow and artificial in Rita's ears, even though she had been +used to it all her life; but there was no doubting the sincerity of +these earnest and heartfelt thanks. Her own heart felt very warm, as she +turned, with a final wave of the hands, to take a last look at the +little group by the earth-hovel. + +"We have made a good beginning, Manuela," she said. "We have saved three +lives, I truly believe. Now we shall go on with new courage. I feel, +Manuela, that I can do anything--meet any foe. Ah! what is that? a +snake! a horrible green snake! I faint, Manuela! I die--no, I don't. +See, I am the sister of a soldier, and I am not going to die any more, +when I see these fearful creatures. Manuela, do you observe? +I--am--firm; marble, Manuela, is soft in comparison with me. Ah, he is +gone away. This is a world of peril, my poor child. Let us hasten on; +Carlos waits for us, though he does not know it." + +Talking thus, with much more of the same kind, Rita pushed on, and +Manuela followed as best she might. Rita had left the parrot's cage +under charge of Dolores, and carried the bird on her shoulder, with only +a cord fastened to his leg. Chico was well used to this, and made no +effort to fly away; indeed, he had reached an age when it was more +comfortable to sit on a soft shoulder and be fed and petted, than to +flutter among strange trees and find his living for himself; so he sat +still, crooning to himself from time to time, and cocking his bright +yellow eye at his mistress, to see what she thought of it all. + +It was hard work, pushing through the jungle. The girls' hands were +scratched and torn with brambles; Rita's delicate shoes were in a sad +condition; her dress began to show more than one jagged rent. Still she +made her way forward, with undaunted zeal, cheering the weary Manuela +with jest and story. Indeed, the girl seemed thoroughly transformed, and +her Northern cousins, who had known and loved her even in her wilful +indolence, would hardly have recognised their Rita in this valiant +maiden, who made nothing of heat, dust, or even scorpions, and pressed +on and on in her quest of her brother. + +After an hour of weary walking, the girls came to a road, or something +that passed for a road. There was no sign of life on it, but there was +something that made them start, then stop and look at each other. Beside +the rough path, in a tangle of vines and thorny cactus, stood the ruin +of a tiny chapel. A group of noble palms towered above it; from the +stony bank behind it bubbled a little fountain. The door of the chapel +was gone; it was long since there had been glass in the windows, and the +empty spaces showed only emptiness within; yet the bell still hung in +the mouldering belfry; the bell-rope trailed above the sunken porch, its +whole length twined with flowering creepers. It was a strange sight. + +"Manuela!" cried Rita; "do you see?" + +"I see the holy chapel," said Manuela, who was a good Catholic. "Some +saintly man lived here in old times. Pity, that the altar is gone. It +must have been a pretty chapel, senorita." + +"The bell!" cried Rita. "Do you see the bell, Manuela? what if we rang +it, to let Carlos know that we are near? It is a good idea, a superb +idea!" + +"Senorita, I implore you not to touch it! For heaven's sake, senorita! +Alas, what have you done?" + +Manuela clasped her hands, and fairly wailed in terror, for Rita had +grasped the bell-rope, and was pulling it with right good will. Ding! +ding! the notes rang out loud and clear. The rock behind caught up the +echo, and sent it flying across to the hill beyond. Ding! ding! The +parrot screamed, and Rita herself, after sounding two or three peals, +dropped the rope, and stood with parted lips and anxious eyes, waiting +to see what would come of it. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +THE CAMP AMONG THE HILLS. + + +A sound of voices! eager voices of men, calling to one another. The +tread of hasty feet, the noise of breaking bushes, of men sliding, +jumping, running, hurrying, coming every instant nearer and nearer. What +had Rita done, indeed? Manuela crouched on the mouldering floor at her +mistress's feet, too terrified even to cry out now; Rita Montfort drew +her dagger, and waited. + +Next instant the narrow doorway was thronged with men; swarthy +black-browed men, ragged, hatless, shoeless, but all armed, all with +rifle cocked, all pressing forward with eager, wondering looks. + +"Who rang the bell? what has happened?" + +A babel of voices arose; Rita could not have made herself heard if she +would; and, indeed, for the moment no words came to her lips. But there +was one to speak for her. Chiquito, the old gray parrot, raised his head +from her shoulder, where he had been quietly dozing, and flapped his +wings, and cried aloud: + +"_Viva Cuba Libre! viva Garcia! viva Gomez! a muerto Espana!_" There was +a moment's silence; then the voices broke out again in wild cries and +cheers. + +"Ah, the Cuban bird! the parrot of freedom! Welcome, senorita! You bring +us good luck! Welcome to the Cuban ladies and their glorious bird! _Viva +Cuba Libre! viva Garcia! viva el papageno!_ long life to the illustrious +lady!" + +Rita, herself again, stepped from the chapel, erect and joyous, holding +the parrot aloft. + +"I thank you, brothers!" she said. "I come to seek freedom among you; I +am a daughter of Cuba. Does any among you know Don Carlos Montfort?" + +The babel rose again. Know Don Carlos? but surely! was he not their +captain? Even now he was at the General's quarters, consulting him about +the movements of the next day. What joy! what honour for the poor sons +of Cuba to form the escort of the peerless sister of Don Carlos to +headquarters! But the distance was nothing. They would carry the +senorita and her attendant; they would make a throne, and transport them +as lightly as if swans drew them. Ah, the fortunate day! the lucky omen +of the blessed parrot! + +They babbled like children, crowding round Chiquito, extolling his +beauty, his wisdom, the miracle of his timely utterance. Chiquito seemed +to think, for his part, that he had done enough. He paid no attention to +the blandishments of his ragged admirers, but turned himself upside +down, always a sign of contempt with him, said "Caramba!" and would say +nothing more. + +A little procession was formed, the least ragged of the patriots leading +the way, Rita and Manuela following. The others crowded together behind, +exclaiming, wondering, pleased as children with this wonderful +happening. Thus they crossed a ragged hill, threaded a grove of palms, +and finally came upon an open space, roughly cleared, in the middle of +which stood a tent, with several rude huts around it. The soldiers +explained with eager gestures. Behold the tent of the illustrious +General. Behold the dwelling of Don Rodrigo, of Don Uberto, of Don +Carlos; behold, finally, Don Carlos himself, emerging from the General's +tent. The gallant ragamuffins drew back, and became on the instant +spectators at a play. A slender young man came out of the tent, +evidently to inquire the meaning of the commotion. At what he saw he +turned apparently to stone, and stood, cigarette in hand, staring at the +vision before him. But for Rita there was no hesitation now. Running to +her brother, she threw her arms around his neck with unaffected joy. + +"Carlos!" she cried. "I have come to you. I had no one else to go to. +They were taking me to the convent, and I would have died sooner. I have +come to you, to live or die with you, for our country." + +Manuela wept; the soldiers were moved to tears, and brushed their ragged +sleeves across their eyes. But Carlos Montfort did not weep. + +"Rita!" he said, in English, returning his sister's caress +affectionately, but with little demonstration of joy. "What is the +meaning of this? what induced you--how could you do such a thing as +this? where do you come from? how did you find your way?" And he added +to himself, "And what the mischief am I to do with you now you are +here?" + +Rita explained hastily; gave a dramatic sketch of her adventures, not +forgetting the unfortunate peasants, who must, she said, be rescued that +instant from their wretched plight; and wound up with a vivid +description of the bell-ringing, the gathering of the patriot forces, +and the magnificent behaviour of her beloved Chiquito. + +"Good gracious! you have brought the parrot, too!" cried poor Carlos. +"Rita! Rita! this is too much." + +At this moment a new person appeared on the scene. A tall old man, +stooping his head, came out from the tent, and greeted the wandering +damsel with grave courtesy. + +Perhaps the General had seen too much of life and of war to be surprised +at anything; perhaps he was sorry for the embarrassment of his young +lieutenant, and wished to make things easier for him; however it was, he +apparently found it the most natural thing in the world for a young +lady and her maid to be wandering in the wilderness in search of the +Cuban army. The first thing, he said, was to make the senorita +comfortable, as comfortable as their limited powers would allow. She +would take his tent, of course; it was her own from that instant; but +equally of course neither Rita nor Carlos would hear of this. A friendly +dispute ensued; and it was finally decided that Rita and Manuela were to +make themselves as comfortable as might be in Carlos's own tent, while +he shared that of his commander. The General yielded only under protest +to this arrangement; yet he did yield, seeing that resistance would +distress both brother and sister. Since the senorita would not take his +tent, he said, the next best thing was that she should accept his +hospitality, such as he could offer her, within it; or rather, before +it, since the evening was warm. His men were even now preparing the +evening meal; when the senorita was refreshed and rested, he hoped she +and Don Carlos would share it with him. + +Rita withdrew into the little hut, in a glow of patriotism and +enthusiasm. "Manuela," she cried, "did you ever see such nobleness, such +lofty yet gracious courtesy? Ah! I knew he was a man to die for. How +happy we are, to be here at last, after dreaming of it so long! I +thrill; I burn with sacred fire--what is the matter, Manuela? you look +the spirit of gloom. What has happened?" + +Manuela was crouching on the bare earthen floor, her shoulders shrugged +up to her ears, her dark eyes glancing around the tiny room with every +expression of marked disapproval. It was certainly not a luxurious +apartment. The low walls were of rough logs, the roof was a ragged piece +of very dingy canvas, held in place by stones here and there. In one +corner was a pile of dried grass and leaves, with a blanket thrown over +it,--evidently Don Carlos's bed. There was a camp-stool, a rude box set +on end, that seemed to do duty both for dressing and writing table, +since it was littered with papers, shaving materials, cigarette-cases, +and a variety of other articles. + +Manuela spread out her arms with a despairing gesture. Was this, she +asked, the place where the senorita was going to live? Where was she to +hang the dresses? where was she to lay out the dressing things? As to +making up the bed,--it would be better to die at once, in Manuela's +opinion, than to live--Here Manuela stopped suddenly, for she had seen +something. Rita, whose back was turned to the doorway of the hut, was +rating her severely. Was this Manuela's patriotism, she wished to know? +had she not said, over and over again, that she was prepared to shed the +last drop of blood for their country, as she herself, Rita, was longing +to do? and now, when it was simply a question of a little discomfort, +of a few privations shared with their brave defenders, here was Manuela +complaining and fretting, like a peevish child. Well! and what was the +matter now? + +Manuela had risen from her despairing position, and was now bustling +about the hut, brushing, smoothing, tidying up, with an air of smiling +alacrity. But indeed, yes! she said; the senorita put her to shame. If +the senorita could endure these trials, it was not for her poor Manuela +to complain. No, indeed, sooner would she die. And after all, the hut +was small, but that made things more handy, perhaps. The beautiful table +that this would become, if she might remove the Senor Don Carlos's +cigar-ashes? There! a scarf thrown over it--ah! What fortune, that she +had brought the crimson satin scarf! Behold, an exhibition of beauty! As +for the bed, she had heard from--from those who were soldiers +themselves, that no couch was so soft, so wooing to sleep, as one of +forest boughs. It stood to reason; there was poetry in the thought, as +the senorita justly remarked. Now, with a few nails or pegs to hang +things on, their little apartment would be complete. Let the senorita of +her goodness forget the foolishness of her poor Manuela; she should hear +no more of it; that was a promise. + +Rita looked in amazement at her follower; the girl's eyes were +sparkling, her cheeks flushed, and she could not keep back the smiles +that came dimpling and rippling over her pretty face. + +"But what has happened to you, Manuela?" cried Rita. "I insist upon +knowing. What have you seen?" + +What had Manuela seen, to produce such a sudden and amazing change? +Nothing, surely; or next to nothing. A ragged soldier had strolled past +the door of the hut; a black-browed fellow, with a red handkerchief tied +over his head, and a black cigar nearly a foot long; but what should +that matter to Manuela? + +Rita looked at her curiously, but could get no explanation, save that +Manuela had come to her senses, owing to the noble and glorious example +set her by her beloved senorita. + +"Well!" said Rita, turning away half-petulantly. "Of course I know you +are as changeable as a weathercock, Manuela. But as you were saying, if +we had a few nails, we should do well enough here. I will go ask the +Senor Don Carlos--" + +"Pardon, dearest senorita!" cried Manuela, hastily. "But what a pity +that would be, to disturb the senor during his arduous labours. Without +doubt the illustrious Senor Don Generalissimo (Manuela loved a title, +and always made the most of one) requires him every instant, in the +affairs of the nation. I--I can find some one who will get nails for us, +and drive them also." + +"You can find some one?" repeated Rita. "And whom, then, can you find, +pray?" + +"Only Pepe!" said Manuela, in a small voice. + +Was the name a conjuring-spell? It had hardly been spoken when Pepe +himself stood in the doorway, ducking respectfully at the senorita, but +looking out of the corners of his black eyes at Manuela. Rita smiled in +spite of herself. Was this ragamuffin, barefoot, tattered, his hair in +elf-locks,--was this the once elegant Pepe, the admired of himself and +all the waiting-maids of Havana? He had once been Carlos's servant, when +the young Cuban had time and taste for such idle luxuries; now he was +his fellow soldier and faithful follower. + +"Well, Pepe," said Rita; "you also are here to welcome us, it appears. +That is well. If you could find us a few nails, my good Pepe? the Senor +Don Carlos is occupied with the General at present, and you can help +us, if you will." + +Where had Rita learned this new and gracious courtesy? A few months ago, +she would have said, "Pepe! drive nails!" and thought no more about it. +Indeed, she could have given no explanation, save that "things were +different." Perhaps our Rita is growing up, inside as well as outside? +Certainly the pretty airs and graces have given way to a womanly and +thoughtful look not at all unbecoming to any face, however beautiful. + +The thoughtful look deepened into anxiety, as a sudden recollection +flashed into her mind. "Oh!" she cried. "And here I sit in peace, and +have done nothing about those poor creatures in the hut! I must go to +the General! But stay! Pepe, do you know--is there a man in the camp +called Pedro Valdez?" + +But, yes! Pepe said. Assuredly there was such a man. Did the senorita +require him? + +"Oh, please bring him!" said Rita. "Tell him that I have something of +importance to tell him. Quick, my good Pepe!" + +Pepe vanished, and soon returned, dragging by the collar a lean +scarecrow even more dilapidated than himself. Apparently the poor fellow +had been asleep, and had been roughly clutched and hauled across the +camp, for his hair was full of leaves and grass, and he was rubbing his +eyes and swearing softly under his breath, vowing vengeance on his +captor. + +"Silence, animal!" said Pepe, admonishing him by a kick of the presence +of ladies; "Behold the illustrious senorita, who does you the honour to +look at you. Attention, Swine of the Antilles!" + +Thus adjured, poor Pedro straightened himself, made the best bow he +could, and stood sheepishly before Rita, trying furtively to brush a few +of the sticks and straws off his ragged clothing. + +"You are Pedro Valdez?" asked Rita. + +At the service of the illustrious senorita. Yes, he was Pedro Valdez; in +no condition to appear in such company, but nevertheless her slave and +her beast of burden. + +"Oh, listen!" cried Rita, her eyes softening with compassion and +anxiety. "You have a wife, Pedro Valdez,--a wife and a dear little +child, is it not so? and your mother--she is old and weak. When have you +seen them all, Valdez? Where did you leave them?" + +The man looked bewildered. "Leave them, senorita? I left them at home, +in our village. They were well, all was well, when I came away. Has +anything befallen them?" + +"They are safe! All is well with them now, or will be well, when you go +to them. They are near here, Valdez. The Spaniards broke up the village, +do you see? Dolores and your mother fled with the little one. The +village was burned, and many souls perished; but Dolores was so strong, +so brave, that she got the old mother away alive and safe, and the child +as well. They have suffered terribly, my poor man; you must look to find +them pale and thin, but they are alive, and all will be well when once +they have found you." + +Seeing Valdez overcome for the moment, Rita hastened to the General's +tent and told her story, begging that the husband and father might be +allowed to go at once to the relief of his suffering family. + +"And he shall bring them here, shall he not?" she cried, eagerly. "They +cannot be separated again, can they, dear Senor General? you will make +room for Dolores--that is the wife; oh, such a brave woman! and the old +mother, and the dear little child!" + +The General looked puzzled; a look half quizzical, half sad, stole over +his fine face; while he hesitated, Carlos broke out hastily: "Rita! you +are too unreasonable! Do you think we are in a city here? do you think +the General has everything at his command, to maintain an establishment +of women and children? It is not to be thought of. We have no room, no +supplies, no conveniences of any kind; they must go elsewhere." + +"They can have my house!" cried Rita, "Your house, brother Carlos, which +you have given to me. I will sleep in a hammock, under a tree. What +matter? I will live on bread and water; I will--" + +"My dear young lady!" said the General, interrupting her eager speech +with a lifted hand. "My dear child, if an old man may call you so, if +only we had bread for all, there would be no further question. We would +gladly take these poor people, and hundreds of other suffering ones who +fill the hills and valleys of our unhappy country. But--Carlos is right, +alas! that I must say it. Here in the mountain camp, it is impossible +for us to harbour refugees, unless for a night or so, while other +provision is making. Let Valdez bring his family here for the night--we +can make shift to feed and shelter them so long. After that--" + +He shook his head sadly. Rita clasped her hands in distress. To be +brought face to face with the impossible was a new experience to the +spoiled child. There was a moment's silence. Then: + +"Senor General," she cried, "I know! I see! all may yet be managed. They +shall go to our house." + +"To--" + +"To our house, Carlos's and mine, in Havana. There are servants, troops +of them; there is food, drink, everything, in abundance, in wicked, +shameful abundance. Julio shall take care of them; Julio shall treat +them as his mother and his sister. I will write commands to him; this +instant I will write." + +Snatching a sheet of paper from the table, she wrote furiously for a +moment, then handed the paper to the General with a look of +satisfaction. The General--oh, how slow he was!--adjusted his glasses, +and read the paper carefully; looked at Rita; looked at Carlos, and read +the paper again. Rita clenched her little hands, but was calm as marble, +as she assured herself. "Have I the senorita's permission to read this +aloud?" asked the old man at last. "It may be that Don Carlos's +advice--a thousand thanks, senorita." He read: + + "JULIO:--The bearer of this is the wife of + Pedro Valdez. You are to take her and her + family in, and give them the best the house + contains; the best, do you hear? put them in + the marble guest-chamber, and place the house + at their disposal. Send for Doctor Blanco to + attend them; let Teresa wait upon them, and let + her furnish them with clothes from my wardrobe. + If you do not do all this, Julio, I will have + you killed; so fail not as you value your life. + + "MARGARITA DE SAN REAL MONTFORT. + + "P.S. The Senor Don Carlos is here with me, and + echoes what I say. We are with the brave + General Sevillo, and if you dare to disobey, + terrible revenge will be taken." + +"The ardent patriotism of the senorita," said the General, cautiously, +"is beautiful and inspiring; nevertheless, is it not possible that a +more conciliatory tone might--I would not presume to dictate, but--" + +"Oh, Rita!" cried Carlos. "Child, when will you learn that we are no +longer acting plays at home? This is absurd!" + +With an impatient movement that might have been Rita's own, he snatched +the paper and tore it in two. "The General cannot be troubled with such +folly!" he said, shortly. "Go to your room, my sister, and repose +yourself after your fatigues." + +"By no means!" cried the kindly General, seeing Rita's eyes fill with +tears of anger and mortification. "The senorita has promised to make my +tea for me this evening. Give orders, I pray you, Don Carlos, that +Valdez bring his family to us for the night; the rest can well wait for +to-morrow's light. The senorita is exhausted, I fear, with her manifold +fatigues, and she must have no more anxieties to-day. Behold the tea at +this moment! Senorita Rita, this will be the pleasantest meal I have had +since I left my home, two years ago." + +No anger could stand against the General's smile. In a moment Rita was +smiling herself, though the tears still stood in her dark eyes, and one +great drop even rolled down her cheek, to the General's great distress. +Carlos, seeing with contrition his sister's effort at self-control, bent +to kiss her cheek and murmur a few affectionate words. Soon they were +all seated around the little table, Rita and the General on +camp-stools, Carlos on a box. The tea was smoking hot; what did it +matter that the nose of the teapot was broken? Rita had never tasted +anything so delicious as that cup of hot tea, without milk, and with a +morsel of sugar-cane for sweetening. The camp fare, biscuits soaked in +water and fried in bacon fat, was better, she declared, than any food +she had ever tasted in her life. To her delight, a small box of +chocolate still remained in her long-suffering bag; this she presented +to the General with her prettiest courtesy, and he vowed he was not +worthy to taste such delicacies from such a hand. So, with interchange +of compliments, and with a real friendliness that was far better, the +little feast went on gaily; and when, late in the evening, Rita withdrew +to her tent, she told Manuela that she had never enjoyed anything so +much in her life; never! + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +TO MARGARET. + + + CAMP OF THE SONS OF CUBA, + May the --, Midnight. + +MY MARGUERITE:--What will you say when your eyes, those calm gray eyes, +rest upon the above heading? Will they open wider, I ask myself? Will +the breath come quicker between those cool rose-leaves of your lips? "It +is true!" you will murmur to yourself. "She has done as she said, as she +swore she would. My Rita, my wild pomegranate flower, has kept her vow; +she is in the mountains with Carlos; she has taken her place beside the +defenders of her country." + +Ah! you thought it was play, Marguerite, confess it! You thought the +wild Cuban girl was uttering empty breath of nothingness; you have had +no real anxiety, you never dreamed that I should really find +myself--where now I am. Where is it? Listen, Marguerite! My house--once +Carlos's house, now mine by his brotherly gift--stands in a little glen +of the hills. An open space, once dry grass, now bare earth, baked by +the sun, trodden by many feet; a cluster of palms, a mountain spring +gushing from a rock hard by; on every side hills, the brown, rugged +hills of Cuba, fairer to me than cloudy Alps of Italy, or those other +great mountains of which never can I remember the barbarous names. To +teach me geography, Marguerite, you never could succeed, you will +remember; more than our poor Peggy history. Poor little Peggy! I could +wish she were here with me; it would be the greatest pleasure of her +life. For you, Marguerite, the scene is too wild, too stern; but Peggy +has a martial spirit under her somewhat clumsy exterior. But I wander, +and Peggy is without doubt sleeping at this moment under the stern eye +of her schoolmistress. I began to tell you about my house, Marguerite. +So small a house you saw never. Standing, I reach up my hand and touch +the roof, of brown canvas, less fresh than once it was. Sitting, I +stretch out my arms--here is one wall; there--almost, but a few feet +between--is the other. In a corner my bed--ah, Marguerite! on your white +couch there, with snowy draperies falling softly about you, consider my +bed! a pile of dried grasses and leaves, shaken and tossed anew every +morning, covered with a camp blanket. I tell you, the gods might sleep +on it, and ask no better. In another corner sleeps Manuela, my faithful +maid, my humble friend, the companion of my wanderings. Some day you +shall see Manuela; she is an excellent creature. Cultivated, no; +intellinctual--what is that for a word, Marguerite? Ah! when will you +learn Spanish, that I may pour my soul with freedom?--no; but a heart +of gold, a spirit of fire and crystal. She keeps my hut neat, she +arranges my toilet,--singular toilets, my dear, yet not wholly +unbecoming, I almost fancy,--she helps me in a thousand ways. She has a +little love-affair, that is a keen interest to me; Pepe, formerly the +servant of Carlos, adores her, and she casts tender eyes upon the young +soldier. For me, as you know, Marguerite, these things are for ever +past, buried in the grave of my hero, in the stately tomb that hides the +ashes of the Santillos. I take a sorrowful pleasure in watching the +budding happiness of these young creatures. More of this another time. + +I sit, Marguerite, in the doorway of my little house. It is the middle +hour of the night, when tomb-yards gape, as your Shakespeare says. Am I +sleepy? No! The camp slumbers, but I--I am awake, and I watch. I had a +very long siesta, too. The moon is full, and the little glade is bathed +in silver light. Here in Cuba, Marguerite, the moon is other than with +you in the north. You call her pale moon, gentle moon, I know not what. +Here she shines fiercely, with passion, with palpitations of fiery +silver. The palms, the aloes, the tangled woods about the camp, are +black as night; all else is a flood of airy silver. I float, I swim in +this flood, entranced, enraptured. I ask myself, have I lived till now? +is not this the first real thrill of life I have ever experienced? I +alone wake, as I said; the others slumber profoundly. The General in his +tent; ah, that you could know him, Marguerite! that you and my uncle +could embrace this noble, this godlike figure! He is no longer young, +the snows of seventy winters have blanched his clustering locks; it is +the only sign of age. For the rest, erect, vigorous, a knight, a +paladin, a--in effect, a son of Cuba. The younger officers regard him as +a divinity; they live or die at his command. They are three, these +officers; Carlos is one; the others, Don Alonzo Ximenes, Don Uberto +Cortez. Don Alonzo is not interesting; he is fat, and rather stupid, but +most good-natured. Don Uberto is Carlos's friend, a noble young captain, +much admired formerly in Havana. I have danced with him, my cousin, in +halls of rose-wreathed marble; we meet here in the wilderness, I with my +shattered affections, he with his country's name written on his soul. It +is affecting; it is heart-stirring, Marguerite; yet think nothing of it; +romance is dead for Margarita Montfort. Carlos is my kind brother, as +ever. He was vexed at first at my coming here. Heavens! what was I to +do? My stepmother was dragging me to a convent; my days would have been +spent there, and in a short time my life would have gone out like a +flame. "Out, short candle!" You see I remember your Shakespeare +readings, my dearest. Can I forget anything that recalls you to me, half +of my heart? If there had been time, indeed, I might have written to my +uncle; I might even have come to you; but the hour descended like a +thunderbolt; I fled, Manuela with me. The manner of my flight? you will +ask. Marguerite, it was managed--I do not boast, I am the soul of +humility, you know it!--the manner of it was perfect. Listen, and you +shall hear all. You remember that in my last letter--written, alas! in +my beloved garden, which I may never see more--I spoke with a certain +restraint, even an approach to mystery. It was thus. At first, when that +woman proposed to take me to the convent, I was a creature distracted. +The fire of madness burned in my veins, and I could think of nothing +save death or revenge. But with time came reflection; came wisdom, +Marguerite, and inflexible resolve. To those she loves, Margarita +Montfort is wax, silk, down, anything the most soft and yielding that +can be figured. To her enemies, steel and adamant are her composition. +I had two friends in that house of Spaniards; one was Pasquale, good, +faithful Pasquale, an under gardener and helper; the other, Manuela, my +maid. I have described her to you--enough! I realised that action must +be of swiftness, the lightning flash, the volcano fire that I predicted. +Do not say that I did not warn you, Marguerite; knowing me, you must +have expected from my last letter what must come. I called Manuela to my +room, I made pretence that she should arrange my hair. My hair has grown +three inches, Marguerite, since I left you; it now veritably touches the +floor as I sit. Our holy religion tells us that it is a woman's crown, +yet how heavy a one at times! I closed the door, I locked it; I caused +to draw down the heavy Persians. Then, tiger-like, I sprang upon my +attendant, and laid my hand on her mouth. "Hush!" I tell her. "Not a +word, not a sound! dare but breathe, and you may be my death. My life, +I tell you, hangs by a thread. Hush! be silent, and tell me all. Tell me +who assists Geronimo in the stables since Pablo is ill." Manuela +struggles, she releases herself to reply-- + +"Pasquale!" + +It is the answer from heaven. Pasquale, I have said, is my one friend +beside Manuela. I say to her, "Do thus, and thus! give these orders to +Pasquale; tell him that it imports of your life and mine, saying nothing +of his own; that if I am not obeyed, the evil eye will be the least of +his punishments, and death without the sacraments the end for him." + +Manuela hears; she trembles; she flies to execute my commands. Then, +Marguerite--then, what does the daughter of Cuba do? She goes to the +wall, to the trophy I have described to you so often. She selects her +weapons. Ah, if you could see them! First, a long slender dagger, the +steel exquisitely inlaid with gold, in a sheath of green enamel; a +dagger for a prince, Marguerite, for your Lancelot or Tristram! +Another, short and keen, the blade plain but deadly, cased in wrought +leather of Cordova. Last, my machete, my pearl of destructiveness. It +was his, my Santayana's; he procured it from Toledo, from the master +sword-maker of the universe. The blade is so fine, the eye refuses to +tell where it melts into the air; a touch, and the hardest substance is +divided exactly in two pieces. The handle, gold, set with an ancestral +emerald, which for centuries has brought victory in the field to the arm +of the hero who wore it; the sheath--I forget myself; this weapon has no +sheath. When a Santillo de Santayana rides into battle, he has no +thought to sheathe his sword. These, Marguerite, are my armament; these, +and a tiny gold-mounted revolver, a gem, a toy, but a toy of deadly +purpose. Enough! I lay them apart, ready for the night. I go to my +stepmother, I smile, I make submission. I will do all she wishes; I am +a child; her age impresses me with the truth that I should not set my +will against hers. Concepcion is thirty on her next birthday; she tells +the world that she is twenty, but I know! it grinds her bones when I +remind her of her years, as they were revealed to me by a member of her +family. So! She is pleased, we embrace, the volantes are commanded, all +goes smoothly. I demand permission to take my parrot to the convent; it +is, to my surprise, accorded; I know she thought those savage sisters +would kill him the first time he uttered his noble and inspiring words. + +The night comes, the hour of the departure. To accompany us goes my good +Don Miguel, the dear old man of whom I have told you, whom I revere as +my grandfather. My heart yearns to tell him all, to cast myself on his +venerable bosom and cry, "Come with me; take me yourself to my brother; +share with us the perils and glories of the tented field!" But no! he +is old, this dear friend; his hair is the snow, his step is feeble. +Hardships such as Rita must now endure would end his feeble life. I +speak no word; a marble smile is all I wear, though my heart is rent +with anguish. The carriages are at the door. Concepcion would have me +ride in the first, that she may have her eyes on me at each instant. She +suspects nothing, no; it is merely the base and suspicious nature which +reveals itself at every occasion. I refuse, I prodigate expressions of +my humility, of my determination to take the second place, leaving the +first to her; briefly, I take the second volante, Manuela springing to +my side. After some discontent, appeased by dear Don Miguel, who is +veritably an angel, and wants but death to transport him among the +saints, Concepcion mounts in the first volante. I have seen that +Pasquale is on the box of mine; I possess my soul, I lean back and count +the beats of my fevered pulse, as we ascend the steep road, winding +among hills and forests. The convent is at the top of a long, long hill, +very steep and rugged; the horses pant and strain; humanity demands that +they slacken their pace, that the carriages are slowly, slowly, drawn up +the rugged track. The night descends, I have told you, swiftly in our +southern climate; already it is dark. On either side of the road are +tall shrouded forms, which Manuela takes for sentinels, for Spanish +soldiers drawn up to watch, perhaps to arrest us. I laugh; I see they +are the aloes only, planted here in rows along the road. Presently, at a +turn of the road, a light! a fire burning by the roadside, and soldiers +running, real ones this time, to the horses' heads. "_Alerta! quien +va?_" It is the Spanish challenge, Marguerite; it is a piquette of the +Gringos, of the hated Spaniards. They peer into the carriages, faces of +savages, of brutes, devils; I feel their glances like poisoned arrows. +They demand, Don Miguel makes answer, shows his papers. Of the instant +these slaves are cringing, are bowing to the earth. "Pass, most +honourable and illustrious Senor Don Miguel Pietoso, with the heavenly +ladies under your charge!" It is over. The volantes roll on. I clasp +Manuela in my arms and whisper, "We are free!" We mingle our tears of +rapture, but for a moment only. We approach the steepest pitch of the +long hill (it is veritably a mountain), a place beyond conception rugged +and difficult. The horses strain and tug; they are at point of +exhaustion. I look at Pasquale; Pasquale has served me since my cradle. +Does his head move, a very little, the least imaginable motion? It is +too dark to see; the moon is not yet risen. But I feel the horses +checked, I feel the carriage pause, an instant, a breath only. I step +noiselessly to the ground; the volante is low, permitting this without +danger. Manuela follows. There is not a sound, not a creak, not the +rustle of a fold. Again it is over. The volante rolls on. Manuela and I +are alone, are free in the mountains of Cuba Libre. + +I have but one thought: my country, my brother! Behold me here, in the +society of one, prepared to shed my blood for the other. You would never +guess who else is with us; Chiquito, our poor old friend the parrot, the +sacred legacy of that white saint, our departed aunt. Could I leave him +behind, to unfriendly, perhaps murderous, hands? Old Julio is a Spaniard +at heart; Chiquito is a Cuban bird; his very soul--do you doubt that a +bird has a soul, when I tell you that I have seen it in his eyes, +Marguerite?--his very soul speaks for his country. If you could hear him +cry, "_Viva Cuba Libre!_" The camp is on fire when they hear him. Ah, +they are such brave fellows, our soldiers! poor, in rags, half-fed--it +matters not! each one is a hero, and all are my brothers. Marguerite, +sleep hangs at last upon me. Good-night, beloved; good-night, cool white +soul of ivory and silver. I love thee always devotedly. Have no fear for +me. It is true that the Spaniards are all about us in these mountains, +that at any moment we may be attacked. What of that? If the daughter of +Cuba dies by her brother's side, in her country's cause, my Marguerite +will know that it is well with her. You will shed a tear over the lonely +grave among the Cuban hills; but you will plant a wreath for Rita, a +wreath of mingled laurel and immortelle, and it will bloom eternally. + +Ever, and with a thousand greetings to my honoured and admired uncle, +your + + MARGARITA DE SAN REAL MONTFORT. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +IN THE NIGHT. + + +Rita drew a long breath as she folded her letter. She was in a fine glow +of mingled affection and patriotic fervour; it had been a great relief +to pour it all out in Margaret's sympathetic ear, though that ear were a +thousand miles away. Now she really must go to bed. It was one o'clock, +her watch told her. It seemed wicked, profane, to sleep under such +moonlight as this; but still, the body must be preserved. + +"But first," she said to herself, "I must have a drop of water; writing +so long has made me thirsty." + +She took up the earthen water-jar, but found it empty. Pepe had for once +been faithless; indeed, neither he nor Manuela had escaped the witchery +of the full moon, and she had had little good of them that whole +evening. She glanced at the corner where Manuela lay; the light, regular +breathing told that the girl was sound asleep. It would be a pity to +wake her from her first sweet sleep, poor Manuela. A year, perhaps a +month ago, Rita would not have hesitated an instant; but now she +murmured, "Sleep, little one! I myself will fetch the water." + +She stepped out into the moonlight, with the jar in her hand. All was +still as sleep itself. No sound or motion from huts or tent. Under the +palms lay a number of brown bundles, motionless. Dry leaves, piled +together for burning? no! soldiers of Cuba, wrapped in such covering as +they could find, taking their rest. Alone, beside a little heap of twigs +that still smouldered, the sentry sat; his back was turned to her. +Should she speak to him, and ask him to go to the spring for her? No; +how much more interesting to go herself! Everything looked so different +in this magic light; it was a whole new world, the moon's fairyland; who +knew what wonderful sights might meet her eyes? Besides, her old nurse +used to say that water drawn from a pure spring under the full moon +produced a matchless purity of the complexion. Her complexion was well +enough, perhaps, but still--and anyhow, it would be an adventure, +however small a one. + +The girl's feet, in their soft leather slippers, made no sound on the +bare earth. The sentry did not turn his head. Silent as a cloud, she +stole across the little glade, and passed under the trees at the farther +end. Here the ground broke off suddenly in a rocky pitch, down which one +scrambled to another valley or glen lying some hundred feet lower; the +cliff (for it was steep enough to merit that name) was mostly bare rock, +but here and there a little earth had caught and lodged, and a few +seeds had dropped, and a tuft of grass or a little tree had sprung up, +defying the gulf below. A few feet only from the upper level, just below +a group of palms that nodded over the brink, the stream gushed out from +the face of the rock, clear and cold. The soldiers had hollowed a little +trough to receive the trickling stream, and one had only to hold one's +pitcher under this spout for a few minutes, to have it filled with +delicious water. Rita had often come hither in the daytime, during the +week that had now passed since her arrival at the mountain camp. It was +a wild and picturesque scene at any time, but now the effect of the +intense white light, falling on splintered rock, hanging tree, and +glancing stream was magical indeed. Rita lay down on her face at the +edge of the precipice, as she had seen the soldiers do, and lowered her +jar carefully. As the water gurgled placidly into the jar, her eyes +roved here and there, taking in every detail of the marvellous scene +before her. Never, she thought, had she seen anything so beautiful, so +unearthly in its loveliness. Peace! silver peace, and silence, the +silence of--hark! what was that? + +A crack, as of a twig breaking; a rustling, far below in the gorge; a +shuffling sound, as of soft shod feet pressing the soft earth. Rita +crouched flat to the ground, and, leaning over as far as she dared, +peered over the precipice. The bottom of the gorge was filled with a +mass of tall grasses and feathery blossoming shrubs, with here and there +a tree rising tall and straight. The leaves were black as jet in the +strong light. Gazing intently, she saw the branches tremble, wave, +separate; and against the dark leaves shone a gleam of metal, that +moved, and came nearer. Another and yet another; and now she could see +the dark faces, and the moon shone on the barrels of the carbines, and +made them glitter like silver. + +Swiftly and noiselessly the girl drew back from the brink, crouching in +the grass till she reached the shadow of the grove. Then she rose to her +feet, still holding her jar of water carefully,--for there was no need +of wasting that,--and ran for her life. + +A whispered word to the sentry, who sprang quickly enough from his +reverie beside the fire; then to the General's tent, then to Carlos, +with the same whispered message. "The Gringos are here! Wake, for the +love of Heaven!" + +In another moment the little glade was alive with dusky figures, +springing from their beds of moss and leaves, snatching their arms, +fumbling for cartridges. The General was already among them. Carlos and +the other officers came running, buckling their sword-belts, rubbing +their eyes. + +"Where are they?" all were asking in excited whispers. "Who saw them? Is +it another nightmare of Pepe's?" + +"No! no!" murmured Rita. "I saw them, I tell you! I saw their faces in +the moonlight. I went to get some water. They are climbing up the cliff. +I did not stop to count, but there must be many of them, from the sound +of their feet. Oh, make haste, make haste!" + +The General gave his orders in a low, emphatic tone. Twenty men, with +Carlos at their head, glided like shadows across the glade, and +disappeared among the trees. Rita's breath came quick, and she prepared +to follow; but the old General laid a kind hand on her arm. "No, my +child!" he said. "You have done your country a great service this night. +Do not imperil your life needlessly. Go rather to your room, and pray +for your brother and for us all." + +But prayer was far from Rita's thoughts at that moment. "Dear General," +she implored, with clasped hands, the tears starting to her eyes, "Let +me go! let me go! I implore you! I will pray afterward, I truly will. I +will pray while I am fighting, if you will only let me go. See! I have +come all this way to fight for my country; and must I stay away from the +first battle? Look, dear Senor General! Look at my machete! Isn't it +beautiful? it is the sword of a hero; I must use it for him. Let me go!" +The beautiful face, upturned in the moonlight, the dark eyes shining +through their tears, might have softened a harder heart than that of +General Sevillo. He opened his lips to reply, his fatherly hand still on +her arm, when suddenly a sharp report was heard. A single shot, then a +volley, the shots rattling out, struck back and forth from cliff to +cliff, multiplying in hideous echoes. Then broke out cries and groans; +the crash of heavy bodies falling back among the trees below, and shouts +of "_Viva Cuba_;" and still the shots rang out, and still the echoes +cracked and snapped. Rita turned pale as death, and clasped her hands +on her bosom. "_Ah!_ _Dios!_" she cried. "I had forgotten; there will be +blood!" and rushing into her hut, she flung herself face downward on her +leafy bed. + +The perplexed General looked after her for a moment, pulling his +grizzled moustache. "_Caramba!_" he muttered. "To understand these +feminines? Decidedly, this charming child must be sent into safety +to-morrow." And shaking his head and shrugging his shoulders, he strode +in the direction of the firing. + +Ten minutes' sharp fighting, and the skirmish was over. The Spanish +"guerilla" was scattered, many of the guerilleros lying dead or wounded +at the foot of the precipice, the others scrambling and tumbling down as +best they might. Carlos and his men had so greatly the advantage in +position, if not in numbers, that not a single Cuban was killed, though +two or three were more or less seriously wounded. Among these was the +unfortunate Pedro Valdez, who had only that evening returned to camp, +having left his child and his old mother in a place of safety. His wife +had been allowed to remain for a short time in camp, at the request of +the surgeon, as she had had some experience in nursing. Now he was shot +in the arm, and his comrades lifted him gently, and carried him back. +His wife was waiting for him. She seemed to have expected something of +the kind, for she made no outcry; she followed quietly to the clump of +trees distant a little way from the rest of the camp, where good Doctor +Ferrando had the solitary rancho, the case of surgical instruments and +the few rolls of bandages that constituted his field hospital. A rough +table had been knocked together for operations; otherwise the sick and +wounded fared much as the rest did, sleeping on beds of leaves and dry +grass, and fighting the mosquitoes as best they might. Here the bearers +laid Pedro down, and Dolores took her place quietly at his side, +fanning away the insects that hovered in clouds about the wounded man, +holding the poor arm while the doctor dressed it, and behaving as if her +life had been spent in a hospital. + +Doctor Ferrando spoke a few words of approval, but the woman heeded them +little; it was a matter of course that where there was suffering, she +should be at work. So, when Pedro presently dropped off to sleep, she +moved softly about among the wounded men, smoothing a blanket here, +changing a ligature there, doing all with light, swift fingers whose +touch healed instead of hurting. + +She was sitting beside a lad, the last to be brought in from the scene +of the skirmish, when the screen of bushes by the rancho was parted, and +Rita appeared. Slowly and timidly she drew near; her face was like +marble; her eyes looked unnaturally large and dark. Dolores made a +motion to rise, but a gesture bade her keep her place. + +"Hush!" said the young girl. "Sit still, Dolores! I have come--to--to +learn!" + +"To learn, senorita?" repeated the woman, humbly. The senorita was in +her grateful eyes a heaven-descended being, whose every look and word +must be law; this new bearing amazed and puzzled her. + +"What can this poor soul teach the noble and high-born lady?" she asked, +sadly. "I know nothing, not even to read; I am a poor woman merely. The +senor doctor is this moment gone to take his distinguished siesta; do I +call him for the senorita?" + +Rita shook her head, and crept nearer, gazing with wide eyes of fear at +the prostrate form beside which Dolores was sitting. + +[Illustration: "'HUSH!' SAID THE YOUNG GIRL. 'SIT STILL.'"] + +"See, Dolores!" she said; and her tone was as humble as the woman's own. +"I must learn--to take care of him--of them!" She nodded at the +sufferer. "All my life, you see, I could never bear the sight of blood. +To cut my finger, I fainted at the instant. Always they said, 'Poor +child! it is her delicacy, her sensibility;' they praised me; I thought +it a fine thing, to faint, to turn pale at the word even. Now--oh, +Dolores, do you see? I desire to help my country, my brother, all the +heroes who are risking their life, are shedding their--their blood--for +Cuba. I think I can fight; I forget; I see only the bright shining +blades, the victorious banners; I forget that these heroes must bleed, +that this horrible blood must flow in streams, in torrents, that oceans +of it must overwhelm us, the defenders of my country. _Ay de mi!_ I +begged the General even now to let me fight, to let me stand beside my +Carlos, and wield my beautiful machete. Suddenly, Dolores--I heard the +shots; I heard--terrible sounds! screams--oh, Dios!--screams of men, +perhaps of my own brother, in anguish. All at once it came over me--I +cannot tell you--I saw it all, the blood, the wounds, the horror to +death. I awoke from my dreams; I was a child, do you see, Dolores? I +was a child, playing at war, and thinking--thinking the thoughts of a +silly, silly child. Now I am awake; now I know--what--what war means. +So--I am foolish, but I can learn; I think I can learn. You are a brave +woman; I have been watching you through the leaves for half an hour. I +saw you--I saw you change those cloths; those terrible bloody cloths on +that poor man's head. At first my eyes turned round, I saw black only; +but I opened them again, I fixed them on what you held, I watched. Now I +can bear quite well to look at it. Help me, Dolores! teach me--to help +as you help; teach me to care for these brothers, as you do." + +Dolores looked earnestly in the beautiful young face. In spite of the +deadly pallor, she saw that the girl was fully herself, was calm and +determined. With a simple, noble gesture she lifted Rita's slender hand +to her lips, saying merely: "This hand shall bring blessing to many! +come, my senorita, and see! it is so easy, when once one knows the way +of it." + +Very gently the poor peasant's wife showed the rich man's daughter the A +B C of woman's work among the sick and suffering. At first Rita could do +little more than control her own nerves, and fight down the faintness +that came creeping over her at sight of the bandaged faces, ghastly +under the brown, of the torn flesh and nerveless limbs. Gradually, +however, she began to gain strength. The rough brown hand moved so +easily, so lightly; it laid hold of those terrible bandages as if they +were mere ordinary bits of linen. Surely now, she, Rita, could do that +too. As Dolores took a cloth from her husband's head, the girl's hand +was outstretched, took it quietly, and handed a fresh one to the nurse. +The cloth she took was covered with red stains. For a moment Rita's head +swam, and the world seemed to turn dark before her eyes; but she held +the thing firmly, till her sight cleared again; then dropped it in the +tub of water that stood ready, and taking up the fan of green palm-leaf, +swept it steadily to and fro, driving the clouds of flies and mosquitoes +away from the sufferer. + +Coming back from his siesta half an hour later, good Doctor Ferrando +paused a moment at the entrance of the hospital grove. There were two +nurses now; the good man gazed in astonishment at the slender figure +kneeling beside one of the rough cots, fanning the wounded man, and +singing in a low, sweet voice, a song of Cuba. Several of the men were +awake, and gazing at her with delight. Dolores, with a look of quiet +happiness on her face, sat beside the bed where her husband was sleeping +peacefully. "Come!" said the doctor, "war, after all, has its beauty as +well as its terror. Observe this heavenly sight, you benevolent saints!" +he waved his cigar upward, inviting the attention of all attendant +spirits. "Consider this lovely child, awakened to the holiness of +womanhood! and the General will destroy all this to-morrow, from respect +for worldly conventions! He is without doubt right; yet, what a pity!" + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +CAMP SCENE. + + +"If I must, dear Senor General--I will be good, I will, indeed; but my +heart will break to leave Carlos, and the camp, and you, Senor General." + +"My dear child,--my dear young lady, what pleasure for me to keep you +here! the first sunshine of the war, it came with you, Senorita +Margarita. Nevertheless, duty is duty; I should be wanting in mine, most +wofully and wickedly wanting, if I allowed you to remain here, in hourly +danger, when a few hours could place you in comparative safety. Perfect +safety, I do not promise. Where shall we find it, even for our nearest +and dearest, in this poor distracted country? But with Don Annunzio and +his family you will be safe at least for a time; whereas here--" The +General looked around, and shrugged his shoulders, spreading his hands +out with a dramatic gesture. "The Gringos have learned the way to our +mountain camp; they will not forget it. Another attack may come any +night; our camp is an outpost, placed of purpose to guard this position, +which must of necessity be one of danger. To have women with us--it is +not only exposing them to the terrible possibilities of war, but--" + +He paused. "I see!" cried Rita. "I see! you are too kind to say it, but +we are a burden upon you. We make harder the work; we are an +encumbrance. Dear Senor General, I go! I fly! Give me half, a quarter of +an hour, and I am gone. Never, never, will I be in the way of my +country's defenders; never! Too long we have stayed already; Manuela +shall make on the instant our packets, and in a little hour you shall +forget that we were here at all." + +The good General cried out, "No! no! my dear child, my dear senorita; +cease these words, I implore you. You cut me to the heart. Consider the +help that you have brought to us; consider the nursing, the tender care +that you and the wife of Valdez have given to our sufferers, in the +rancho there. Never will this be forgotten, rest assured of that. +But--it is true that you must go; yet not too soon. This evening, when +the coolness falls, Don Carlos, with a chosen escort, will conduct you +to the residence of Don Annunzio. There, I rejoice to think that you +will find, not luxury, but at least some few of the comforts of ordinary +life. Here you have suffered; your lofty spirit will not confess it, but +you have--you must have suffered, delicate and fragile as you are, in +the rough life of a Cuban camp. Enough! The day is before you, dearest +senorita. I pray you, while it lasts, make use of me, of all that the +camp contains, in whatever way you can imagine. I would make the day a +pleasant one, if I might. Command me, dear senorita, in anything and +everything. The camp is yours, with all it contains." + +He bowed with courtly grace, and Rita courtsied and then turned quickly +away, to hide the tears that would come in spite of her. It was a keen +disappointment. When Carlos told her that morning that she must leave +the camp, she had refused pointblank. A stormy scene followed, in which +the old Rita was only too much in evidence. She raged, she wept, she +stamped her little foot. She was a Cuban, as much as he was; she was a +nurse, a daughter of the army; no human power should drive her from the +ground where she was prepared to shed her last drop of blood for the +defenders of her country. Now--a few kind, grave words from a +gray-haired man, and all was changed. She was not a necessity, she was a +hindrance; she saw that this must be so; the pain was sharp, but she +would not show it; she would never again lose her self-control, never. +Carlos should see that she was no longer a child. He had called her a +child, not half an hour ago, a naughty child, who was making trouble for +everybody. Well--Rita stood still; the thought came over her +suddenly,--it was true! she had been childish, had been naughty. Suppose +Margaret or Peggy should behave so, stamping and storming; how would it +seem? Oh, well, that was different. Their blood was cool, almost cold. +It flowed sluggishly in their veins. She was a child of the South; it +was not to be expected that she should be like Margaret. Yes! but--the +thought would come, troubling all her mind; suppose Margaret were here, +with her calm sense, her cheerful face, and tranquil voice; would not +she be of more use, of more help, than a girl who could not help +screaming when she was in a passion? + +These thoughts were new to Rita Montfort. Full of them, she walked +slowly to her hut, with bent head, and eyes full of unshed tears. +Meanwhile, the good General went back to his tent, where Carlos awaited +him with some anxiety. + +"Well?" he asked, as the gray head bent under the tent-flaps. + +"Well," responded his commander. "It is very well, my son. The +senorita--she is adorable, do you know it? Never have I seen a more +lovely young person! The senorita is most reasonable. She comprehends; +she understands the desolation that it is to me to send away so +delightful a visitor; nevertheless--she accepts all, with her own +exquisite grace." + +Carlos shrugged his shoulders; that same exquisite grace had flashed a +dagger in his eyes not ten minutes before, vowing that it should be +sheathed in the owner's heart before she left the camp; but it was not +necessary to say this to the General. Carlos was an affectionate +brother, and was honestly relieved and glad to find that Rita had come +to her senses. He thanked General Sevillo warmly for his good offices, +and, being off duty, went in search of his sister, determining that he +would make her last day in camp a pleasant one, so far as lay in his +power. He found Rita sitting sadly in the door of her hut, watching +Manuela, who was packing up their belongings, unwillingly enough. +Manuela had enjoyed her stay in camp greatly, and thought life would be +very dull, in comparison, at Don Annunzio's cottage; but there was no +escape, and the white silk blouse and the swansdown wrapper went into +the bag with all the other fineries. + +"Come, Rita," said Carlos, taking his sister's hand affectionately; +"come with me, and let me show you some things that you have not yet +seen. You must not forget the camp. Who knows? Some day you may come +back to pay us a visit." + +Rita shook her head, and the tears came to her eyes again; but she drove +them back bravely, and smiled, and laid her hand in her brother's; and +they passed out together among the palm-trees. + +Manuela looked after them, and laid her hand on her heart; it was a +gesture that she had often seen her mistress use, and it seemed to her +infinitely touching and beautiful. "_Ohime_," sighed Manuela. "War is +terrible, indeed! To think that we must go away, just when we are so +comfortable. But where, then, is this idiot? Pepe! When I call you, will +you come, animal? Pepe!" + +The thicket near the rancho rustled and shook, and Pepe appeared. This +young man presented a different figure from the forlorn one that had +greeted the two girls on their first arrival at the camp. His curly hair +was now carefully brushed and oiled. The scarlet handkerchief was still +tied about his head, but it was tied now with a grace that might have +done credit to the most dandified matador in the Havana ring. His jacket +was neatly mended; altogether, Pepe was once more a self-respecting, +even a self-admiring youth. Also, he admired Manuela immensely, and lost +no opportunity of telling that she was the light of his eyes and the +flower of his soul. He was now beginning some remarks of this +description, but Manuela interrupted him, laying her pretty brown hand +unceremoniously on his lips. + +"For once, Pepe, endeavour to possess a small portion of sense," she +said. "Listen to me! We must leave the camp." + +"How then, marrow of my bones! Leave the camp? You and I?" + +"I am speaking to a monkey, then, instead of a man? The use, I ask you, +of addressing intelligent remarks to such a corporosity? My mistress and +I, simpleton. This General of yours drives us from his quarters; he +begrudges the morsel we eat, the rude hut that shelters us. Enough! we +go; even now I make preparation. Pull this strap for me, Pepe; at least +you have strength. Ah! If I were but a great stupid man, it would be +well with me this day!" + +"But well for no one else, my idol," said Pepe, tugging away at the +strap. "Desolation and despair for the rest of mankind, Rose of the +Antilles. Accidental death to this bag! why have you filled it so full? +There! it is strapped. Manuela, is it possible that I live without you? +No! I shall fall an easy victim to the first fever that comes; already I +feel it scorching my--" + +"Oh, a paralysis upon you! Can I exercise my thoughts, with the chatter +of a parrot in my ears? Attend, then, Pepe,--you will miss me a little, +will you? Just a very little?" + +Pepe opened his mouth for new and fiery protestations, but was bidden +peremptorily to shut it again. + +"I desire now to hear myself speak," said Manuela. "I weary, Pepe, for +the sound of my own poor little voice. Listen, then! These days I have +been here, and you have never asked me what I brought with me for you; +brought all that cruel way from the city. I knew I should find you +somewhere, my good Pepe; or, if not you, some other friend, some other +good son of Cuba. I thought of you, I remembered you, even in the rush +of our departure. See! It is yours. May it bring you fortune!" + +She handed him a little packet, neatly folded in white paper, and tied +with a crimson ribbon. Receiving it with dramatic eagerness, Pepe opened +it and looked with delight at its contents. + +"A _detente_!" he cried. "Manuela! and the most beautiful that has been +seen upon the earth. This is not for me! No! Impossible! The General +alone is worthy to wear this object of an elegance so resplendent." + +Reassured on this point, he proceeded to pin the emblem on his jacket, +and contemplated it with delighted pride. It was a simple thing enough; +a square of white flannel the size of an ordinary needlebook, neatly +scalloped around the edge with white silk. In the centre was embroidered +a crimson heart, and under it the words, "_Detente! pienso en ti!_" ("Be +of good cheer! I think of thee!") + +"And did you really think of me, Manuela?" cried the delighted Pepe. +"Did you, bright and gay, in the splendid city, think of the lonely +soldier?" + +"Yes, I did," said Manuela, "when I had nothing else to do. And now you +may go away, Pepe, I am busy; I cannot attend to you any longer." + +"But," said Pepe, bewildered, "you called me, Manuela." + +"Yes; to strap my bag. It is done; I thank you. It is finished." + +"And--you have given me the _detente_, moon of my soul!" + +"Then you cannot complain that I never gave you anything. And now I give +you one thing more,--leave to depart. _Adios,_ Don Pepe!" and she +actually shut the door of the hut in the face of her astonished adorer, +who departed muttering strange things concerning the changeableness of +all women, and of Manuela in particular. + +Meanwhile, Rita and Carlos were wandering about the camp, and Rita was +seeing, as her brother promised, some things that were new to her, even +after a stay of nearly a week. She saw the kitchen, or what passed for a +kitchen,--a pleasant spot under a palm-tree, where the cook was even +then toasting long strips of meat over the _parilla_, a kind of +gridiron, made by simply driving four stakes, and laying bits of wood +across and across them, then lighting a fire beneath. + +"But why does it not burn up, your _parilla_?" asked Rita of the long, +lean, coffee-coloured soldier, picturesque and ragged, who was turning +the strips with a forked stick. + +"Pardon, gracious senorita, it does burn up; not the first time, nor +perhaps the second, but without doubt the third." + +"And then?" + +"And then,--it is but to build another. An affair of a moment, +senorita." + +"But does not the meat often fall into the fire when it breaks?" + +"Sufficiently often, most noble. What of that? It imparts a flavour of +its own; one brushes off the ashes--soldiers do not dine at the Hotel +Royal, one must observe. May I offer the senorita a bit of this +excellent beef? This has not fallen down at all, or at most but once, +one little time." + +Rita thanked him, but was not hungry. At least she would have a cup of +_guarapo_, the hospitable cook begged; and he hastened to bring her a +cup of polished cocoanut shell, filled with the favourite drink, which +was simply hot water with sugar dissolved in it. Rita took the cup +graciously, and drank to the health of the camp, and to the freedom of +Cuba; the cook responded with many bows and profuse thanks for the +honour she had done him, and the brother and sister passed on. + +"There are some good bananas near here," said Carlos; "little red ones, +the kind you like, Rita. I'll fill a basket for you to take with you; +Don Annunzio's may not be so good." + +They were making their way through a tangle of tall grass and young +palm-trees, when suddenly Rita stopped, and laid her hand on her +brother's arm. + +"Look!" she said. "Look yonder, Carlos! The grass moves." + +"A snake, perhaps," said Carlos; "or a land-crab. Stand here a moment, +and I will go forward and see." + +He advanced, looking keenly at the clump of yellowish grass that Rita +had pointed out. Certainly, the grass did move. It quivered, waved from +side to side, then seemed to settle down, as if an invisible hand were +pulling it from below. Carlos drew his machete, and bent forward; +whereupon a loud yell was heard, and the clump of grass shot up into the +air, revealing a black face, and a pair of rolling eyes. + +"What is it?" cried Rita, in terror. "Carlos, come back to me! It is a +devil!" + +"Only a scout!" said her brother, laughing. "One of our own men on +outpost duty. Have peace, Pablo! your hour is not yet come." + +"_Caramba!_ I thought it was, my captain!" said the negro scout, +grinning. "Better be a crab than a Cuban in these days." + +He was a singular figure indeed. From head to waist he was literally +clothed in grass, bunches of it being tied over his head and round his +neck and shoulders, falling to his thighs. A pair of ragged trousers of +no particular colour completed his costume. A more perfect disguise +could not be imagined; indeed, except when he lifted his head, he was +not to be distinguished from the clumps and tufts of dry grass all about +him. + +"Pablo is a good scout!" said Carlos, approvingly. "No Gringo could +possibly see you till he stepped on you, Pablo; and then--" + +"And then!" said Pablo, grinning from ear to ear; and he drew his +machete and went through an expressive pantomime which, if carried out, +would certainly have left very little of Gringo or any one else. + +"Is your post near here? show it! The senorita would like to see how a +Cuban scout lives." + +Pablo, a man of few words, gave a pleased nod, and scuttled away through +the bush, beckoning them to follow. Rita, stepping carefully along, +holding her brother's hand, kept her eyes on the scout for a few +moments; then he seemed to melt into the rest of the grass, and was +gone. A few steps more, and they almost fell over him, as his black face +popped up again, shaking back its grassy fringes. + +"Behold the domicile of Pablo!" he said, with a magnificent gesture. +"The property, with all it contains, of the senorita and the Senor +Captain Don Carlos." + +Brother and sister tried to look becomingly impressed as they surveyed +the domain. Close under a waving palm-tree a rag of brown canvas was +stretched on two sticks laid across upright branches stuck in the +ground. Under this awning was space for a man to sit, or even to lie +down, if he did not mind his feet being in the sun. A small iron pot, +hung on three sticks over some blackened stones, showed where the +householder did his cooking; a heap of leaves and grass answered for bed +and pillows; this was the domicile of Pablo. + +Breaking a twig from a neighbouring shrub, the scout bent over the pot, +and speared a plantain, which he offered to Rita with grave courtesy. +She took it with equal dignity, thanking him with her most gracious +smile, and ate it daintily, praising its flavour and the perfection of +its cooking till the good negro's face shone with pleasure. + +"And you stay here alone, Pablo?" she asked. "How long? you are not +afraid? No, of course not that; you are a soldier. But lonely! is it not +very lonely here, at night above all?" + +Pablo spread out his hands. "Senorita, possibly--if it were not for the +crabs. These good souls--they have the disposition of a Christian!--sit +with me, in the intervals of their occupations, and are excellent +company. They cannot talk, but that suits me very well. Then, there is +always the chance of some one coming by--as to-day, when the Blessed +Virgin sends the senorita and the Senor Don Carlos. Also at any moment +the devil may send me a Gringo; their scouts are as plenty as scorpions. +No, senorita, I am not lonely. It is a fine life! In a prison, you see, +it would be quite otherwise." + +"But there are other ways of living, Pablo, beside scouting and going to +prison," said Rita, much amused. + +"Without doubt! Without doubt!" said Pablo, cheerfully. "And assuredly +neither would befit the senorita. May she live as happy as she is +beautiful, the sun being black beside her. _Adios_, senorita; _adios_, +Senor Captain Don Carlos!" + +"_Adios_, good Pablo! good luck to you and your crabs!" and laughing and +waving a salute, they left the scout nodding his grass-crowned head like +a transformed mandarin, and went back to the camp. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +THE PACIFICOS. + + +A long, low adobe house, brilliantly white with plaster; a verandah with +swinging hammocks; the inevitable green blinds; the inevitable cane and +banana patch; this was Don Annunzio's. Don Annunzio Carreno himself (to +give him his full name for once, though he seldom heard or used it) sat +in a large rocking-chair on the verandah, smoking. He was enormously +stout and supremely placid, and he looked the picture of peace and +prosperity, in his spotless white suit and broad-brimmed hat. + +To Rita, weary after her ten miles' ride from the camp, the whole place +seemed a page out of a picture-book. Her mind was filled with rugged and +startling images: the rude hospital, with its ghastly sights and homely +though devoted tendance; the ragged soldiers, with head or arm bound in +bloody bandages; the camp fire and kitchen, the scout in his grassy +panoply. Her eyes had grown accustomed to sights like these, and the +bright whiteness of house and householder, the trim array of flower-beds +and kitchen-garden, struck her as strange and artificial. She felt as if +Don Annunzio ought to be wound up from behind, and was whimsically +surprised to see him rise and come forward to meet them. + +Carlos made his explanation, and presented General Sevillo's letter. Don +Annunzio's hat was already in his hand and he was bowing to Rita with +all the grace his size allowed; but now he implored them to enter the +house, which he declared he occupied henceforward only at their +pleasure. + +"If the senorita will graciously descend!" said the good man. "On the +instant I call my wife. Prudencia! Where are you, then? Visitors, +Prudencia; visitors of distinction. Hasten quickly!" + +A woman appeared in the doorway; tall and lean, clad in brown calico, +with a sun-bonnet to match, but with apron and kerchief as snowy as Don +Annunzio's "ducks." + +"For the land's sake!" said Senora Carreno. + +Rita looked up quickly. + +"Visitors, my love!" Don Annunzio explained rapidly, in good enough +English. "The Senor Captain and the Senorita Montfort, bringing a note +from his Excellency General Sevillo. The senorita will remain with us +for some days; I have placed all at her disposal; I--" + +"There, Noonsey!" said the lady, not unkindly. "You set down, and let me +see what's goin' on." + +She laid a powerful hand on her husband's shoulder, and pushed him into +his chair again; then advanced to the verandah steps, regarding the +newcomers with frank but cheerful scrutiny. + +"What's all this?" she said. "Good mornin'! Yes, it's a fine day. Won't +you step in?" + +Carlos told his story, and asked permission for his sister and her maid +to spend some days at the house until some permanent place could be +found for her. + +The senora considered with frowning brows, not of anger but of +consideration. + +"Well," she said, "I did say I wouldn't take no more boarders. I had +trouble with the last ones, and said I'd got through accommodatin' +folks. Still--I dunno but we could manage--does she understand when +she's spoke to--English, I mean?" + +"Yes, indeed, I do!" cried Rita, coming forward. "I am only half Cuban; +it is good to hear you speak. If you will let me stay, I will try to +give little trouble. May I stay, please?" + +"Well, I guess you may!" cried the New England woman. "You walk right in +and lay off your things, and make yourself to home. The idea! Why didn't +you say--why, it's as good as a meal o' victuals to hear you speak. Been +to the States, have you? Well, now, if that don't beat all! Noonsey, you +go and tell Jose we shall want them chickens for supper. Set down, young +man! This your hired gal, dear? Does she speak English? Well no, I +s'pose not." + +She said a few words to Manuela in Spanish which, if not melodious, was +intelligible, and then led Rita into the house, talking all the way. + +"Here's the settin'-room; and here's the spare-room off'n it. There! lay +your things on the bed, dear. I keep on talkin', when all the time I +want to hear you talk. It is good to hear your native speech, say what +they will. Husband, he does his best, to please me; but it's like as +though he was speakin' molasses, some way. Been in the States to +school, did you say?" + +Rita told her story: of her American father, who had always spoken +English with her and her brother; of the summer spent in the North with +her uncle and cousins. "Oh," she said, "you are right. I used to think +that I was two-thirds Cuban; I thought I cared little, little, for the +American part of me. Now--but it is music to hear you speak, Senora +Carreno." + +"S'pose you call me Marm Prudence!" said the good woman, half-shyly. "I +don't see as 'twould be any harm, and I should like dretful well to hear +the name again. I was a widow when I married Don Noonzio. Yes'm. My +first husband was captain of a fruit schooner. I voyaged with him +considerable. He died in Santiago, and I never went back home: I +couldn't seem to. I washed and sewed for families I knew, and then +bumbye I married Don Noonzio. He gave me a good home, and he's a good +provider. There's times, though, that I'm terrible homesick. There! I +don't know what I should do if 'twa'n't for my settin'-room. Did you +notice it, comin' through? I just go there and set sometimes, and look +round, and cry. It does me a sight o' good." + +Rita had indeed glanced around the sitting-room as she passed through +it, but it said nothing to her. The six haircloth chairs, the +marble-topped centre-table with its wool and bead mat, its glass lamp +with the red wick, its photograph-album and gilt family Bible, did not +speak her language. Neither did the mantelpiece, with its two china +poodles and its bunches of dried grasses in vases of red and white +Bohemian glass. The Cuban girl could not know how eloquent were all +these things to the exiled Vermont woman; but she looked sympathetic, +and felt so, her heart warming to the homely soul, with her rugged +speech and awkward gestures. + +Marm Prudence now insisted that her guest must be tired, and brought out +a superb quilt, powdered with red and blue stars, to tuck her up under; +but word came that Captain Montfort was going, and Rita hurried out to +the verandah to bid him farewell. Carlos took her in his arms, +affectionately. "How is it, then, little sister?" he asked. "Are you +reconciled at all? Can you stay here in peace a little, with these good +people?" + +Rita returned his caress heartily. "You were right, Carlos!" she said. +"You and the dear General were both right. It was wonderful to be there +in camp; I shall never forget it; I hope I shall be better all my life +for it; but I could not have stayed long, I see that now. Here I shall +be taken care of; here I shall rest, as under a grandmother's care. This +good Marm Prudence,--that is what I am to call her, Carlos,--already I +love her, already she tends me as a bird tends her young. Ah, Carlos, +you will not neglect Chico? I leave him as a sacred legacy. The men +implored me so. They said the bird had brought them good fortune once, +and would be their salvation again; I had not the heart to take him from +them. You will see that they do not feed him too much? Already he has +had a fit of illness from too much kindness on the part of our faithful +soldiers. Thank you! and have no thought of me, my brother; all will be +well with me. Return to your glorious duty, son of Cuba. It may be that +even here, in this peaceful spot, it may be given to your Rita to serve +the mother we both adore. _Adios_, Carlos! Heaven be with thee!" + +Carlos, who was of a practical turn of mind, was always uncomfortable +when Rita spread her rhetorical wings. He did not see why she could not +speak plain English. But he kissed her affectionately, heartily glad +that he could leave her content with her surroundings; and with a +cordial farewell to the good people of the house, he rode away, +followed by his clanking orderlies, leading the horse Rita had ridden. + +While all this had been going on, Manuela had been arranging her +mistress's things; shaking out the crumpled dresses, brushing off the +bits of grass and broken straw that clung to hem and ruffle, mementoes +of the days in camp. Manuela sighed over these relics, and shook her +head mournfully. + +"Poor Pepe!" she said. "If only he does not fall into a fever from +grief! Ah, love is a terrible thing! _Dios_! what a rent in the +senorita's serge skirt! A paralysis on the brambles in that place! yet +it was a good place. At least there was life. One heard voices, neighing +of horses, jingling of stirrups. Here we shall grow into two young +cabbages beside that old one, my senorita and her poor Manuela. Ah, life +is very sad!" + +Here Manuela chanced to look out of the window, and saw a handsome +Creole boy leading a horse to water in the courtyard. Instantly her +face lighted up. She flew to the looking-glass, and was arranging her +hair with passionate eagerness, when the door opened, and Rita entered, +followed by their kind hostess. Manuela started, then turned to drop a +demure courtsey. "I was examining the glass," she explained, "to see if +it was fit for the senorita to use. These common mirrors, you +understand, they draw the countenance this way, that way,--" she +expressed her meaning in vivid pantomime,--"one thinks one's visage of +caoutchouc. But this is passable; I assure you, senorita, passable." + +"Well, I declare!" said Marm Prudence. "My best looking-glass, that I +brought from Chelsea, Massachusetts, when I was first married! If it +ain't good enough for you, young woman, you're free to do without it, +and so I tell you." + +She spoke with some severity, but softened instantly as she turned to +Rita. "Now you'll lie down and rest you a spell, won't you, dear?" she +said. "I must go and see about supper, and I sha'n't be satisfied till I +see you tucked up under my 'Old Glory spread.' That's what I call it; it +has the colours, you see. There! comfortable? Now you shut your pretty +eyes, and have a good sleep. And you," she added, turning to Manuela, +"can come and help me a spell, if you've nothing better to do. I'm +short-handed; help is turrible skurce in war-time, and I can keep you +out of Satan's hands, if nothing else." + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +IN HIDING. + + +"You busy, Miss Margaritty?" + +It was Marm Prudence's voice, and at the sound Rita opened her door +quickly. She and Manuela had been holding a mournful consultation over +the state of her wardrobe, which had had rough usage during the past two +weeks, and she was glad of an interruption. + +"I thought mebbe you'd like to come and set with me a spell while I +worked." + +"Oh, yes!" cried Rita, eagerly. "And may I not work, too? Isn't there +something I can do to help?" + +"Why, I should be pleased!" said the good woman. "I'm braidin' hats for +the soldiers. I promised a dozen to-morrow night. It's pretty work; +mebbe you'd like to try." + +"For the soldiers? For our soldiers? Oh, what joy, Marm Prudencia! No, +Prudence, you like better that. Show me, please! I burn to begin." + +"Why, you're real eager, ain't you?" said Marm Prudence. "Now I'm glad I +spoke; I thought mebbe 'twould suit you. Young folks like to be at +something." + +In a few minutes the two were seated on the cool inner verandah, looking +out on the garden, with a great basket between them, heaped with +delicate strips of palmetto leaf, white and smooth. + +"Husband, he whittles 'em for me," Marm Prudence explained. "It's +occupation for him. Fleshy as he is, he can't get about none too much, +and this keeps his hands busy. It's hard to be a man and lose the +activity of your limbs. But there! there's compensations, I always say. +If Noonsey was as he was ten years ago, he'd be off with the rest, and +then where'd I be?" + +"Then"--Rita's eyes flashed, and she bent nearer her hostess, and spoke +low. "Then you are not at heart _pacificos_, Marm Prudence. On the +surface, I understand, I comprehend, it is necessary; but _au fond_, in +your secret hearts, you are with us; you are Cubans. Is it not so? It +must be so!" + +"Oh, land, yes!" said Marm Prudence, composedly. "I'm an American, you +see; and husband, he's a Cuban five generations back. We don't have no +dealin's with the Gringos, more than we're obleeged to. Livin' right +close t' the road as we do, we can't let out the way we feel, but I +guess there's mighty few Mambis about here but knows where to come when +they want things. There ain't many so bold as your brother, to come in +open daylight, but come night, they're often as thick as bats about the +garden here. There! I have to shoo' em off sometimes; yet I like to +have 'em, too." + +Rita's face glowed with excitement. "Oh, Marm Prudence," she cried; "how +glorious! Oh, what fortune, what joy, to be here with you! We will work +together; we will toil; our blood shall flow in fountains, if it is +needed. Embrace me, mother of Cuba!" + +Marm Prudence put on her spectacles, and surveyed the excited girl with +some anxiety. + +"Let me feel your pult, dear!" she said, soothingly. "You got a touch o' +sun, like as not, riding in that heat this morning. Now there's no call +to get worked up, or talk about blood-sheddin'. Blood-sheddin' ain't in +our line, yours nor mine, nor husband's neither. Fur as doin' goes, +we're all _pacificos_ here, Miss Margaritty, and you mustn't forget +that. Just wait a minute, and I'll go and git you a cup of my balm-tea; +'tis real steadyin' to the nerves, and I expect yours is strung up some +with all you've be'n through." + +Rita protested that she was perfectly well, and not at all excited; but +she submitted, and drank the balm-tea meekly, as it was cold and +refreshing. + +"It is my ardent nature!" she explained. "It is the fire of my +patriotism which consumes me. Do you not feel it, Marm Prudence, +oftentimes, like a flame in your bosom?" + +No, Marm Prudence was not aware that she did. Things took folks +different, she said, placidly. She had an aunt when she was a little +gal, that used to have spasms reg'lar every time she heard the baker's +cart. Some thought she had had hopes of the baker before he married a +widow woman, but you couldn't always account for these things. What a +pretty braid Rita was getting! + +[Illustration: "'WAS SUCH A HAT EVER SEEN IN PARIS?'"] + +Indeed, the work suited Rita's nimble fingers to perfection, and yard +after yard of snowy braid rolled over her lap and grew into a pile at +her feet. She was eager to make her first hat. After an hour or two +of braiding, she discovered that it suited Manuela's genius better than +her own. The basket of splints was turned over to the willing +handmaiden, and good-natured Marm Prudence showed Rita how to sew the +braids together smooth and flat, and initiated her into the mysteries of +crown and brim. In a creditably short space of time, Rita, with infinite +pride, held her first hat aloft, and twirled it round and round on her +finger. + +"But, it is perfect!" she cried. "The shape, the colour, the air of it. +Manuela, quick! a mirror! hold it for me--so! look!" She took the ribbon +from her belt, and began to twist it in one coquettish knot after +another about the hat, which she had set on her dark hair. + +"Is that _chic_? Is it adorable, I ask you? Was such a hat ever seen in +Paris? Never! I wear no other from this day on; hear me swear it! It +will become the rage; I will make it so. Or--no! I will keep to myself +the secret, and others will die of envy. I name it, Manuela. The +Prudencia, for thee, my kind hostess. Why do you laugh?" + +Marm Prudence was twinkling in her quiet way. "I was only thinkin' +there'd have to be one soldier boy go without his hat to-morrow!" she +said, good-humouredly. "It does look nice on you, though, Miss +Margaritty, that's certin." + +Blushing scarlet, Rita tore the hat from her head. + +"Ah!" she cried, casting it on the floor. "Wretch, ingrate, _serpent_ +that I am! Take away the glass, girl! take it away; break it into a +thousand pieces, to shame my vanity, and never speak to me of hats +again. Henceforward I tie a shawl over my head, for the remainder of my +life; I have said it." + +Much depressed, she worked away in silence, as if her life depended upon +it. Manuela, shrugging her shoulders, carried off the glass, but did +not think it necessary to obey the injunction to break it. She was used +to her senorita's outbreaks, and returned placidly to her braiding as if +nothing had happened. + +The good hostess regarded her pretty visitor with some alarm, mingled +with amusement and admiration. She might have her hands full, she +thought, if she attempted to keep this young lady occupied, and out of +mischief. The time when she was asleep was likely to be the most +peaceful time in Casa Annunzio. Yet how pretty she was! and what a +pleasure it was to hear her speak, something between a bird and a flute. +On the whole, Marm Prudence thought her coming a thing to be thankful +for. + +Talking with Don Annunzio himself that evening, Rita found him far less +guarded than his wife in his expression of patriotic zeal. He echoed her +saying, that every Mambi in the country knew where to come when he +wanted anything; and he went on to draw lurid pictures of what he would +do to the Gringos if he but had the power. + +"See, senorita!" he said, in his wheezy, asthmatic voice. "I am +powerless, am I not? Already of a certain age, I am afflicted with an +accession of flesh; moreover, I am short of breath, owing to this +apoplexy of an asthma. Worse than this, my legs, if the senorita can +pardon the allusion, refuse now these two years to do their office. With +two sticks, I can hobble about the house and garden; without them, +behold me a fixture. How, then? When the war breaks out, I go to my +General, to General Sevillo, under whom I served in the ten years' war. +I say to him, 'Things are thus and thus with me, but still I would serve +my country. Give me a horse, and let me ride with you as an orderly.' +Alas! it may not be. 'Annunzio,' he says, 'your day of service in the +field is over. Stay at home, and help our men when they call upon you. +Thus you can do more good ten-fold than you could do in the saddle.' + +"_Ohime_! my heart is broken; it is reduced to powder, but what will +you? reason, joined to authority,--I am but a simple man, and I obey. +Since then, I sit and whittle splints for my admirable wife. A woman, +senorita, to rule a nation! The Gringos pass by, and see me working at +my trade. I greet them civilly, I supply requisitions when backed by +authority; again, what will you? I suffer in silence till their back is +turned, and my maledictions accompany them along the road. Ah! if none +of them had longer life than I wish him, the road would be encumbered +with corpses. Then,--draw your chair nearer, senorita, if you will have +the infinite graciousness,--then, at night--it may be this very +night--the others come. Hush! yes--the Mambis; the sons of Cuba. +Quietly, by ones, by twos, they appear, dropping from the sky, rising +from the earth. Then--ha! then, you shall see. Not a word more, +Senorita Margarita! Donna Prudencia is a pearl, an empress among women, +but rightly named; she complains that I talk too much on these subjects. +But when one's heart is in the field, and one's legs refuse to +follow,--again, what would you? No matter! silence is golden! Wait but a +little, and you shall see. Who knows? It may be this very night." + +Thus Don Annunzio, with many nods and winks, and gestures of dramatic +caution. His words fanned the flame of Rita's zeal, and she longed for +one of the promised nocturnal visits. That night and the next she was +constantly waking, listening for a whisper, the clank of a chain, the +jingle of a spur; but none came, and the nights passed as peacefully as +the days. The dozen, and more, were completed; and then, in spite of her +vow, Rita found time to make one for herself, certainly as pretty a hat +as heart could desire. So pretty, Rita thought it a thousand pities +that there was no one beside Don Annunzio and Marm Prudence to see her +in it. She sighed, and thought of the camp among the hills, of Carlos +and the General, and Don Uberto. + +One day, soon after noon, Marm Prudence asked Rita if she would like to +take a walk with her. Rita assented eagerly, and put on her pretty hat. +She looked on with surprise as Marm Prudence proceeded to take from a +cupboard an ample covered basket, from which protruded the neck of a +bottle and some plump red bananas. + +"Are we going on a picnic, then?" she asked. + +The good woman nodded. "You'll see, time enough!" she said. "It's a +picnic for somebody, if not for us, Miss Margaritty. Look, dear! is Don +Noonsey out in the ro'd there?" + +Don Annunzio was out in the road, having made what was quite a journey +for him, down the verandah steps, along the garden walk, and across the +sunny road. He now stood shading his eyes with his hand, looking this +way and that with anxious glances. + +At length, "All is quiet!" he said. "The road is clear, and no sign +anywhere. Make haste then, _mi alma_, and cross while yet all is safe." + +Beckoning to Rita, Marm Prudence slipped out and across the road +swiftly, not pausing till she had gained the screen of a thick clump of +cacti. Rita kept close to her side, drinking the mystery like wine. They +stood for a few moments behind the aloes; then Don Annunzio spoke again. + +"All is still perfect, and you may go without fear. Carry my best +greetings whither you are going. At the proper hour I will await you +here, and signal when return is safe." + +Without wasting words, his wife waved her hand, and turning, plunged +into the forest, followed by the delighted Rita. + +The tangle of underbrush was higher than their heads, but they made +their way quickly, and Rita soon saw that a narrow path wound along +through the bush, and that the ground under her feet had been trodden +many times. The trees towered high above the dense undergrowth, some +leafy and branching, others, the palms, tossing their single plume +aloft. Open near the wood, the wood grew thicker and thicker, till it +stood like a wall on either side of the narrow footpath; the twigs and +leaves, broken and crushed here and there, showed, like the path, the +traces of frequent passage. + +Rita was burning with curiosity, yet she would not for worlds have asked +a question. They were nearing every moment the heart of the mystery; she +would not spoil the dramatic effect by prying into it too soon. + +Suddenly, a gleam of sunlight struck through the trees. They were near +the end of the wood, then. A few steps more, and she caught her breath, +with a low cry of amazement. + +A round hollow, dipping deep like a cup, with here and there a great +tree standing. On one side, a clear spring flowing from a rocky cleft. +Under one tree, a hammock slung, and in a hammock a man asleep. Thus +much Rita saw at the first glance. The next instant the man was on his +feet, and the long barrel of his carbine gleamed level at sight. + +"_Alto! quien va?_" the challenge rang clear and sharp. + +"_Cuba!_" replied Senora Carreno. "For the land's sake, Mr. Delmonty, +don't start a person like that. You'd oughter know my sunbunnit by this +time." + +The young man had already lowered his weapon, and showed a laughing face +of apology as he lifted his broad-brimmed hat. + +"I beg your pardon, Donna Prudencia," he said. "I was asleep, and +dreaming; not of angels!" he added, as he made another low bow, which +included Rita in its sweep of respectful courtesy. + +He spoke English like an Anglo-Saxon, without trace of accent or +hesitation. His hair and complexion were brown, but a pair of bright +blue eyes lightened his face in an extraordinary manner. + +Who might this be? + +"Mr. Delmonty, let me make ye acquainted with Miss Margaritty Montfort!" +said Senora Carreno, with some ceremony. "Miss Montfort is stoppin' with +us for a spell. Both of you bein' half Yankee, I judged you might be +pleased to meet up with each other." + +Rita bowed with her most queenly air; then relaxed, as she met the merry +glance of the blue eyes. + +"Are you?" she said. "I am very glad--but your name is Spanish." + +"My father was a Cuban," said the young man; "my mother is American. She +was a Russell of Claxton." He paused a moment, as if inviting comment; +but Rita, brought up in Cuba, knew nothing of the Russells of Claxton, a +famous family. + +"I've been in the North most of the time since I was a little shaver," +he went on, "at school and college; came down here last year, when +things seemed to be brewing. Have you been much in Boston, Miss +Montfort? We might have some acquaintances in common." + +Rita shook her head, and told him of her one summer in the North. "I +hope to go again," she said, "when our country is free. When Cuba has no +longer need of her daughters, as well as her sons, I shall gladly return +to that fair northern country." + +Again she caught a quizzical glance of the blue eyes, and was reminded, +she hardly knew why, of her Uncle John. But Uncle John's eyes were +brown. + +"You are--alone here, Senor Delmonte?" she asked, glancing around the +solitary dell. + +"Yes," said the young man, composedly. "I'm in hiding." + +Rita's eyes flashed. Hiding! a son of Cuba! skulking about in the woods, +while his brother soldiers were at the front, or, like Carlos, guarding +the hill passes! This was indeed being only half a Cuban. She would have +nothing to do with recreant soldiers; and she turned away with a face of +cold displeasure. + +"How's your foot?" asked Senora Carreno, abruptly. "That last dressing +fetch it, do you think?" + +"All right!" said the young man. "Look! I have my shoe on." And he held +up one foot with an air of triumph. "I shall be ready for the road +to-night, and take my troublesome self off your hands, Senora Carreno." + +"No trouble at all!" said the good woman, earnestly. "Not a mite of +trouble but what was pleasure, Captain Jack." + +Captain Jack! where had Rita heard that name? Before she could try to +think, her hostess went on. + +"Well, I kinder hate to have you go, but of course you're eager, same as +all young folks are. But look here! You'd better pass the night with us, +and let me see to your foot once more, and give you a good night's sleep +in a Christian bed; and then I can mend up your things a bit, and you +lay by till night again, and start off easy and comfortable." + +"It sounds very delightful," said the young man, with a glance at the +charming girl who would stand with her head turned away. "But how about +the Gringos, Donna Prudencia? Supposing some of them should come along +to-morrow!" + +"They won't come to-morrow!" said Marm Prudence, significantly. + +"No? you have assurance of that? and why may they not come to-morrow?" + +"Because they've come to-day, most likely!" + +Rita started, and turned back toward the speakers. + +"The Gringos? to-day?" she cried. + +Marm Prudence nodded. "That was why I brought you here, dear," she said; +"most of the reason, that is. We got word they was most likely comin', +quite a passel of 'em; and we judged it was well, Don Noonsey and me, +that they shouldn't see you. I thought mebbe," she added, with a sly +glance at the basket, "that if I brought a little something extry, we +might get an invitation to take a bite of luncheon, but we don't seem +to." + +"Oh! but who could have supposed that I was to have _all_ the good +things in the world?" cried Delmonte, merrily. "This is really too good +to be true. Help me, Donna Prudencia, while I set out the feast! Why, +this is the great day of the whole campaign." + +The two unpacked the basket, with many jests and much laughter; they +were evidently old friends. Meantime Rita stood by, uncertain of her own +mood. To miss an experience, possibly terrible, certainly thrilling; to +have lost an opportunity of declaring herself a daughter of Cuba, +possibly of shooting a Spaniard for herself, and to have been deceived, +tricked like a child; this brought her slender brows together, +ominously, and made her eyes glitter in a way that Manuela would have +known well. On the other hand--here was a romantic spot, a young +soldier, apparently craven, but certainly wounded, and very +good-looking; and here was luncheon, and she was desperately hungry. On +the whole-- + +The tragedy queen disappeared, and it was a cheerful though very +dignified young person who responded gracefully to Delmonte's petition +that she would do him the favour to be seated at his humble board. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +MANUELA'S OPPORTUNITY. + + +That was a pleasant little meal, under the great plane-tree in the +cup-shaped dell. Marm Prudence had kept, through all her years of +foreign residence, her New England touch in cookery, and Senor Delmonte +declared that it was worth a whole campaign twice over to taste her +doughnuts. They drank "_Cuba Libre_" in raspberry vinegar that had come +all the way from Vermont, and Rita was obliged to confess that Senor +Delmonte was a charming host, and that she was enjoying herself +extremely. + +It was late in the afternoon when she and Marm Prudence took their way +back through the forest. At first Rita was silent; but as distance +increased between them and the dell, she could not restrain her +curiosity. + +How was it, she asked, that this young man was there alone, separated +from his companions? He said he was in hiding. Hiding! a detestable, an +unworthy word! Why should a son of Cuba be in hiding, she wished to +know! She had worked herself into a fine glow of indignation again, and +was ready to believe anything and everything bad about the agreeable +youth with the blue eyes. + +"I must know!" she repeated, dropping her voice to a contralto note that +she was fond of. "Tell me, Marm Prudence; tell me all! have I broken the +bread of a recreant?" + +"I thought it was my bread," said Marm Prudence, dryly. "I'll tell you, +if you'll give me a chance, Miss Margaritty. I supposed, though, that +you'd have heard of Jack Delmonty; Captain Jack, as they call him. Since +his last raid the Gringos have offered a big reward for him, alive or +dead. He was wounded in the foot, and thought he might hender his troop +some if he tried to go with them in that state. So he camped here, and +we've seen to him as best we could." + +Rita was dumb, half with amazement, half with mortification. How was it +possible that she had been so stupid? Heard of Captain Jack? where were +her wits? the daring guerrilla leader, the pride of the Cuban bands, the +terror of all Spaniards in that part of the island. Why, he was one of +her pet heroes; only--only she had fancied him so utterly different. The +Captain Jack of her fancy was a gigantic person, with blue-black curls, +with eyes like wells of black light (she had been fond of this bit of +description, and often repeated it to herself), a superb moustache, and +a nose absolutely Grecian, like the Santillo nose of tender memory. This +half-Yankee stripling, blue-eyed, with a nose that--yes, that actually +turned up a little, and the merest feather of brown laid on his upper +lip--how could she or any one suppose this to be the famous cavalry +leader? + +Rita blushed scarlet with distress, as she remembered her bearing, which +she had tried to make as scornful as was compatible with good manners. +She had meant, had done her best, to show him that she thought lightly +of a Cuban soldier who, for what reason soever, proclaimed himself +without apology to be "in hiding." To be sure, he had not seemed to feel +the rebuke as she had expected he would. Once or twice she had caught +that look of Uncle John in his eyes; the laughing, critical, yet kindly +scrutiny that always made her feel like a little girl, and a silly girl +at that. Was that what she had seemed to Captain Delmonte? Of course it +was. She had had the great, the crowning opportunity of her life, of +doing homage to a real hero (she forgot good General Sevillo, who had +been a hero in a quiet and business-like way for sixty years), and she +had lost the opportunity. + +It was a very subdued Rita who returned to the house that evening. At +the edge of the wood they were met by Don Annunzio, who stood as before, +smoking his long black cigar, and scrutinising the road and the +surrounding country. A wave of his hand told them that all was well, and +they stepped quickly across the road, and in another minute were on the +verandah. + +Don Annunzio followed them with an elaborate air of indifference; but +once seated in his great chair, he began to speak eagerly, gesticulating +with his cigar. + +"_Dios!_ Prudencia, you had an inspiration from heaven this day. What I +have been through! the sole comfort is that I have lost twenty pounds at +least, from sheer anxiety. Imagine that you had not been gone an hour, +when up they ride, the _guerrilla_ that was reported to us yesterday. At +their head, that pestiferous Col. Diego Moreno. He dismounts, demands +coffee, bananas, what there is. I go to get them; and, the saints +aiding me, I meet in the face the pretty Manuela. Another instant, and +she would have been on the verandah, would have been seen by these +swine, female curiosity having led her to imagine a necessary errand in +that direction. I seize this charming child by the shoulders, I push her +into her room. I tell her, 'Thou hast a dangerous fever. Go to thy bed +on the instant, it is a matter of thy life.' + +"My countenance is such that she obeys without a word. She is an +admirable creature! Beauty, in the female sex--" + +"Do go on, Noonsey," said his wife, good-naturedly, "and never mind +about beauty now. Land knows we have got other things to think about." + +"It is true, it is true, my own!" replied the amiable fat man. "I return +to the verandah. This man is striding up and down, cutting at my poor +vines with his apoplexy of a whip. He calls me; I stand before him +thus, civil but erect. + +"'Have you any strangers here, Don Annunzio?' + +"'No, Senor Colonel.' + +"It is true, senorita. To make a stranger of you, so friendly, so +gracious--the thought is intolerable. + +"He approaches, he regards me fixedly. + +"'A young lady, Senorita Montfort, and her maid, escaped from the +carriage of her stepmother, the honourable Senora Montfort, while on the +way to the convent of the White Sisters, ten days ago. A man of my +command was taken by these hill-cats of Mambis, and carried to a camp in +this neighbourhood. He escaped, and reported to me that a young lady and +her attendant were in the camp. I raided the place yesterday.' + +"'With success, who can doubt?' I said. Civility may be used even to the +devil, whom this officer strongly resembled. + +"He stamped his feet, he ground his teeth, fire flashed from his eyes. +'They were gone!' he said. 'They had been gone but a few hours, for the +fires were still burning, but no trace of them was to be found. I found, +however, in a deserted _rancho_,--this!' and he held up a delicate comb +of tortoise-shell." + +"My side-comb!" cried Rita. "I wondered where I had lost it. Go on, +pray, Don Annunzio." + +"He questioned me again, this colonel, on whom may the saints send a +lingering disease. I can swear that there is no young lady in the house? +but assuredly, I can, and do swear it, with all earnestness. He +whistles, and swears also--in a different manner. He says, 'I must +search the house. This is an important matter. A large reward is offered +by the Senora Montfort for the discovery of this young lady.' + +"'Search every rat-hole, my colonel,' I reply; 'but first take your +coffee, which is ready at this moment.' + +"In effect, Antonia arrives at the instant with the tray. While she is +serving him, I find time to slip with the agility of the serpent into +the passage, and turn the handle of the bedroom door. 'Spotted fever!' I +cry through the crack; and am back at my post before the colonel could +see round Antonia's broad back. Good! he drinks his coffee. He devours +your cakes, my Prudencia, keeping his eye on me all the time, and plying +me with questions. I tell him all is well with us, except the sickness. + +"'How then? what sickness?' + +"'A servant is ill with fever,' I say. 'We hope that it will not spread +through the house; it is a bad time for fever.' I see he does not like +that, he frowns, he mutters maledictions. I profess myself ready to +conduct him through my poor premises; I lead him through the parlour, +which he had not sense to admire, to the kitchen, to our own apartment, +my cherished one. All the time my heart flutters like a wounded dove. I +cry in my soul, 'All depends on the wit of that child. If she had but +gone with Prudencia to the forest!' + +"Finally there is no escape, we must pass the door. I stop before it. +'Open!' says the colonel. + +"'Your Excellency will observe,' I say, 'that there is a dangerous case +of spotted fever in this room.' + +"He turns white, then black. He pulls his moustache, which resembles a +mattress. + +"At last 'How do I know?' he cries; 'You may be lying! all Cubans are +liars. The girl may be in this room!' + +[Illustration: "'I THROW OPEN THE DOOR AND STEP BACK, MY HEART IN MY +MOUTH.'"] + +"I throw open the door and step back, my heart in my mouth, my eyes +flinging themselves into the apartment. Heavens! what do we see? a +hideous face projects itself from the bed. Red--black--a face from the +pit! A horrible smell is in our nostrils--we hear groans--enough! The +colonel staggers back, cursing. I close the door and follow him out to +the verandah. My own nerves are shaken, I admit it; it was a thing to +shatter the soul. Still cursing, he mounts his horse, and rides away +with his troop. I see them go. They carry away the best of what the +house holds, but what of that? they are gone! + +"I hasten, as well as my infirmity allows, to the chamber. I cry +'Manuela, is it thou?' + +"I am bidden to enter. I open the door, and find that admirable child at +the toilet-table, washing her face and laughing till the tears flow. +Already half of her pretty face is clean, but half still hideous to +behold. + +"'How did you do it?' I ask her. She laughs more merrily than before; if +you have noticed, she has a laughter of silver bells, this maiden. 'The +red lip-salve,' she says, 'and a little ink. Have no fear, Don +Annunzio; it was you who discovered the fever, you know.' + +"'But the smell, my child? there must be something bad here, something +unhealthy; a vile smell!' + +"She laughs again, this child. 'I burned a piece of tortoise-shell,' she +says. 'Saint Ursula forgive me, it was one of the senorita's side-combs, +but there was nothing else at hand.' + +"Thus then, senorita, thus, my Prudencia, has Manuela virtually saved +our house and ourselves. Hasten to embrace her! I have already permitted +myself the salute of a father upon her charming cheek, as simple +gratitude enjoined it." + +As if by magic--could she have been listening in the passage?--Manuela +appeared, blushing and radiant. Donna Prudencia did not think it +necessary to kiss her, but she shook her warmly by the hand, telling her +that she was a good girl, and fit to be a Yankee, a compliment which +Manuela hardly appreciated. As for Rita, she kissed the girl on both +cheeks, and stood holding her hands, gazing at her with wistful eyes. + +"Ah, Manuela," she cried; "I must not begrudge it to you. You are a +heroine; you have had the opportunity, and you knew how to take it. +Daughter of Cuba, your sister blesses you." + +Before Manuela could reply, Donna Prudencia broke in. "There! there!" +she said. "Come down off your high horse, Miss Margaritty, there's a +dear; and help me to see to things. Here's Captain Delmonty coming +to-night, and them chicken-thieves of Gringos have carried off every +living thing there was to eat in the house." + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +CAPTAIN JACK. + + +When Jack Delmonte appeared, late in the evening, he was puzzled at the +change which had come over the pretty Grand Duchess, as he had mentally +nicknamed Rita. In the afternoon she had appeared, he could not imagine +why, to regard him as a portion of the scum of the earth. He thought her +extremely pretty, and full of charm, yet he could not help feeling +provoked, in spite of his amusement, at the disdainful curl at the +corners of her mouth when she addressed him. Now, he was equally at a +loss to understand why or how the Grand Duchess was replaced by a gentle +and tender-voiced maiden, who looked up at him from under her long +curved lashes with timid and deprecatory glances. She insisted on +mixing his _granita_ herself, and brought it in the one valuable cup +Marm Prudence possessed, a beautiful old bit of Lowestoft. She begged to +hear from his own lips about his last raid--about all his raids. She had +heard about some of them; the one where he had swum the river under fire +to rescue the little lame boy; the other, when he had chased five +Spaniards for half a mile, with no other weapon than a banana pointed at +full cock. She even knew of some exploits that he had never heard of; +and the honest captain found himself blushing under his tan, and finally +changed the subject by main force. It was very pleasant, of course, to +have this lovely creature hanging on his words, and supplementing them +with others of her own, only too extravagantly laudatory; but a fellow +must tell the truth; and--and after all, what was the meaning of it? She +wouldn't look at him, three hours ago. + +Had they had a gay winter in Havana? he asked. He hadn't been to a dance +for forty years. Was she fond of dancing? of course she was. What a pity +they couldn't--here he happened to glance at Rita's black dress, and +stopped short. + +"Miss Montfort, I beg your pardon! It was very stupid of me. I ran on +without thinking. You are in mourning. What a brute I am!" + +The tears had gathered in Rita's eyes, but now she smiled through them. +"It is six months since my father died," she said. "He was the kindest +of fathers, though, alas! Spanish in his sympathies." + +"Your mother?" hazarded Jack, full of sympathy. + +"My mother died three years ago. My stepmother--" then followed the tale +of her persecution, her escape, and subsequent adventures. Captain Jack +was delighted with the story. + +"Hurrah!" he exclaimed. "That was tremendously plucky, you know, going +off in that way. That was fine! and you got to your brother all right? I +wonder--is he--are you any relation of Carlos Montfort? Not his sister? +You don't mean it. Why, I was at school with Carlos, the first school I +ever went to. An old priest kept it, in Plaza Nero. Carlos was a good +fellow, and gave me the biggest licking once--I'm very glad we met, Miss +Montfort. And--I don't mean to be impertinent, I'm sure you know that; +but--what are you going to do now?" + +Alas! Rita did not know. "I thought I was safe here," she said. "I was +to stay here with these good people till word came from my uncle in the +States, or till there was a good escort that might take me to some port +whence I could sail to New York. Now--I do not know; I begin to tremble, +Senor Delmonte. To-day, while Donna Prudencia and I were in the forest, +a Spanish _guerrilla_ came here, looking for me. Don Diego Moreno was in +command. He is a friend of my stepmother's. I know him, a cold, hateful +man. If he had found me--" she shuddered. + +"I know Diego Moreno, too," said Delmonte; and his brow darkened. "He is +not fit to look at you, much less to speak to you. Never mind, Miss +Montfort! don't be afraid; we'll manage somehow. If no better way turns +up, I'll take you to Puerto Blanco myself. Trouble is, these fellows are +rather down on me just now; but we'll manage somehow, never fear! Hark! +what's that?" + +He leaned forward, listening intently. A faint sound was heard, hardly +more than a breathing. Some night-bird, was it? It came from the fringe +of forest across the road. Again it sounded, two notes, a long and a +short one, soft and plaintive. A bird, certainly, thought Rita. She +started as Captain Delmonte imitated the call, repeating it twice. + +"Juan," he said, briefly. "Reporting for orders. Here he comes!" + +A burly figure crossed the road in three strides. Three more brought him +to the verandah, where he saluted and stood at attention. + +"Well, Juan, where are the rest of you?" + +"In the usual place, Senor Captain, four miles from here," said the +orderly. "I have brought Aquila; he is here in the thicket, my own horse +also. Will you ride to-night?" + +"To-morrow, at daybreak, Juan. I have promised Senora Carreno to sleep +one night under her roof, and convince her that my foot is entirely +well. Bring Aquila into the courtyard. All is quiet in the +neighbourhood?" + +"All quiet, Senor Captain. Good; I bring Aquila and return to the troop. +You will be with us, then, before sunrise?" + +"Before sunrise without fail," said Captain Jack. "_Buenos noches, +Juanito!_" + +The trooper saluted again, and slipped back across the road; next moment +he reappeared leading a long, lean, brown horse, who walked as if he +were treading on eggshells. They passed into the courtyard and were seen +no more, Juan making his way back to the thicket by some unseen path. + +"You do not stay with us through the day then, Mr. Delmonte? I am +sorry!" said Rita. + +"I wish I could, indeed I do; but I must get to my fellows as soon as +possible. I shall come back, though, in a day or two, and put myself and +my troop at your orders, Miss Montfort. How would you like to lead a +troop, like Madame Hernandez?" He laughed, but Rita's eyes flashed. + +"But I would die to do it!" she cried. "Ah! Senor Delmonte, once to +fight for my country, and then to die--that is my ambition." + +"And you'd do it well, I am sure!" said Delmonte, warmly; "the fighting +part, I mean. But nobody would let you die, Miss Montfort, it would +spoil the prospect." + +He spoke lightly, for heroics embarrassed him, as they did Carlos. + +Soon after, Donna Prudencia appeared, with bedroom candles, and stood +looking benevolently at the two young people. + +"I expect you've been having a good visit," she said. "Well, there's an +end to all, and it's past ten o'clock, Miss Margaritty." + +Rita rose with some reluctance; nor did Captain Delmonte seem +enthusiastic on the subject of going to bed. + +"Such a beautiful night!" he said. "Must you go, Miss Montfort? I +mustn't keep you up, of course. Good-bye, then, for a few days! I shall +be gone before daybreak. I'm very glad we have met." + +They shook hands heartily. Rita somehow did not find words so readily as +usual. "I too am glad," she said. "It is something--I have always +wished to meet the 'Star of Horsemen!'" + +"Oh, _please_ don't!" cried Jack, in distress. "That was just a joke of +those idiots of mine. Good gracious! if you go to calling names, Miss +Montfort, I shall not dare to come back again. Good night!" + +It was long before Rita could sleep. She lay with wide-open eyes, +conjuring up one scene after another, in all of which Captain Delmonte +played the hero's part, and she the heroine's. He was rescuing her +single-handed from a regiment of Spaniards; they were galloping together +at the head of a troop, driving the Gringos like sheep before them. Or, +he was wounded on the field of battle, and she was kneeling beside him, +holding water to his lips, and blessing the good Cuban surgeon who had +taught her bandaging in the camp among the hills. At length, hero and +heroine, Cuban and Spaniard, faded away, and she slept peacefully. + +"What is it? what is the matter?" Rita sprang up in her bed and +listened. The sound that had awakened her was repeated: a knock at the +door; a voice, low but imperative; the voice of Jack Delmonte. + +"Miss Montfort! are you awake?" + +"Yes; what has happened?" + +"The Gringos! Dress yourself quickly, and come out. You can dress in the +dark?" + +"Yes; oh, yes! I will come. Manuela! wake! wake! don't speak, but dress +yourself; the Spaniards are here." + +Hastily, with trembling hands, the two girls put on their clothes. No +thought now of how or what; anything to cover them, and that quickly. +They hurried out into the passage; Delmonte stood there, carbine in +hand. He spoke almost in a whisper, yet every word fell clearly on their +strained ears. + +"It's not Moreno; it's Velaya's _guerrilla_: we must get away before +they fire the house. Give me your hand, Miss Montfort; you will be +quiet, I know. Your maid?" + +"Manuela, you will not speak!" + +"No, senorita!" said poor Manuela, with a stifled sob. + +"My horse is ready saddled," Delmonte went on. "If I can get you away +before they see us--" + +"Me! but what will become of the others?" cried Rita, under her breath. +"I cannot desert Manuela and Marm Prudence--Donna Prudencia." + +"I am going to save you," said Jack Delmonte, quietly. "If for no other +reason, I have just given my word to Donna Prudencia. The rest--I'll get +back as soon as I can, that's all I can say. Follow me! hark!" + +A shot rang out; another, and another. A hubbub of voices rose within +and without the house; and at the same instant a bright light sprang up, +and they saw each other's faces. + +Delmonte ground his teeth. "Wait!" he said; and going a little way along +the passage, he peered from a window. The verandah swarmed with armed +men. The door was locked and barred, but they were smashing the +window-shutters with the butts of their carbines. He glanced along the +passage. Inside the door stood Don Annunzio, in his vast white pajamas, +firing composedly through a wicket; beside him his wife, as quietly +loading and handing him the weapons. Behind them huddled the few house +and farm servants, negroes for the most part, but among them was one +intelligent-looking young Creole. Singling him out, Delmonte led him +apart, and pointed to Manuela. "Your sister!" he said. "Your life for +hers." + +The youth nodded, and beckoned the frightened girl to stand beside him. +Rita saw no more, for Delmonte, grasping her hand firmly, led her +through the winding passage and into the inner courtyard. Pausing a +moment on the verandah, they looked through the archway at one side, +through which streamed a red glare. The cane patch was on fire, and +blazing fiercely. The flames tossed and leaped, and in front of them men +were running with torches, setting fire to sheds and out-houses. Their +shouts, the crackling and hissing of the flames, the shots and cries +from the front of the house, turned the quiet night wild with horror. A +crash behind them told that the front door had yielded. + +"It's run for it, now!" said Delmonte, quietly. "Now, then, +child,--quick!" + +A few steps, and they were beside the brown horse, standing saddled and +bridled, and already quivering and straining to be off. Delmonte lifted +Rita in his arms,--no time now for courtly mounting,--then sprang to the +saddle before her. He spoke to the horse, who stood trembling, but made +no motion to advance. + +"Aquila, softly past the gate--then for life! good boy! Miss Montfort, +put your arms around me, and hold fast. Don't let go unless I drop; then +try to catch the reins, and give him his head. He knows the way." + +Softly, slowly, Aquila crept to the archway. He might have been shod +with velvet for any sound he made. Could they get away unseen? The men +with the torches were busy at their horrid work; they could not be seen +yet from the front of the house. The horse crept forward, silent as a +phantom. They were clear of the archway. "Now!" whispered Delmonte. "For +life, Aquila!" and Aquila went, for life. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +FOR LIFE. + + +"If we can put the fire between us and them," said Captain Jack, "we +shall get off." + +For a moment it seemed as if they might do it. Already they saw the road +before them, the sand glowing red in the firelight. A few more +strides--Just then, a Spanish soldier came running round the corner of +the burning cane-patch, whirling his blazing torch. He saw them, and +raised a shout. "_Alerta! alerta!_ fugitives! after them! shoot down the +Mambi dogs!" + +There was a rush to the corner where a score of horses stood tethered to +the fence. A dozen men leaped into the saddle and came thundering in +pursuit. Aquila gave one glance back; then stretched his long lean +neck, and settled into a gallop. + +Before them the road lay straight for some distance, red here in the +crimson light, further on white under a late moon. On one side the woods +rose black and still, on the other lay open fields crossed here and +there by barbed wire fences. No living creature was to be seen on the +road. No sound was heard save the muffled beat of the horse's hoofs on +the sand, and behind, the shouts and cries of their pursuers. Were they +growing louder, those shouts? Were they gaining, or was the distance +between them widening? Rita turned her head once to look back. "I +wouldn't do that!" said Delmonte, quietly. "Do you mind, Miss Montfort, +if I swing you round in front of me? Don't be alarmed, Aquila is all +right." + +Before Rita could speak, he had dropped the reins on the horse's neck, +and lifted her bodily round to the peak of the saddle before him. "I'm +sorry!" he said, apologetically. "I fear it is very uncomfortable; +but--I can--a--manage better, don't you see?" But to himself he was +saying, "Lucky I got that done before the beggars began to shoot. Now +they may fire all they like. Stupid duffer I was, not to start right." + +He had felt the girl's light figure quiver as he lifted her. + +"Don't be frightened, Miss Montfort," he said again. "There isn't a +horse in the country that can touch Aquila when he is roused." + +"I am not frightened," said Rita. "I am--excited, I suppose. It is like +riding on wind, isn't it?" + +It was true that she felt no fear; neither did she realise the peril of +their position. It was one of the dreams come true, that was all. She +was riding with Delmonte, with the Star of Horsemen. He was saving her +life. They had ridden so before, often and often; only now-- + +_Pah!_ a short, sharp report was heard, and a little dust whiffed up on +the road beside them. _Pah! pah!_ another puff of dust, and splinters +flew from a tree just beyond them. Aquila twitched his ears and +stretched his long neck, and they felt the stride quicken under them. +The road rushed by; they were half-way to the turn. + +"Would you like to hold the reins for a bit?" asked Delmonte. "It isn't +really necessary, but--thanks! that's very nice." + +What was he doing? He had turned half round in the saddle; something +touched her hair--the butt of his carbine. "I _beg_ your pardon!" said +Captain Jack. "I am very clumsy, I fear." + +_Crack!_ went the carbine. Rita's ears rang with the noise; she held the +reins mechanically, only half-conscious of herself. _Pah! pah!_ and +again _crack!_ The blue rifle-smoke was in her eyes and nostrils, the +Mauser bullets pattered like hail on the road; and still Aquila galloped +on, never turning his head, never slackening his mighty stride, and +still the road rushed by, and the turn by the hill grew nearer--nearer-- + +_Pah!_ Rita felt her companion wince. His left arm relaxed its hold and +dropped at his side. With his right hand he carefully replaced his +carbine in its sling. + +"For life, Aquila!" he said softly, in Spanish; and once more Aquila +gathered his great limbs under him, and once more the terrible pace +quickened. + +A stone? a hole in the road? who knows? In a moment they were all down, +horse and riders flung in a heap together. The horse struggled to his +knees, then fell again. He screamed, an agonising sound, that in Rita's +excited mind seemed to mingle with the smoke and the dust in a cloud of +horror. Every moment she expected to feel the iron hoofs crashing into +her, as the frenzied creature struggled to regain his footing. + +Delmonte had sprung clear, and in an instant he was at Rita's side, +raising her. "You are hurt? no? good! keep behind me, please." + +He went to the horse, and tried to lift him, bent to examine him, and +then shook his head. Aquila would not rise again; his leg was shattered. +Delmonte straightened himself and looked about him. If this had happened +a hundred, fifty yards back! but now the woods were gone, and on either +hand stretched a bare savannah, broken only by the hateful barbed wire +fences. He drew his revolver quietly. The healthy brown of his face had +gone gray; his eyes were like blue steel. He looked at Rita, and met her +eyes fixed on him in a mute anguish of entreaty. + +"Have no fear!" he said. "It shall be as it would with my own sister. I +know these men; they shall not touch you alive." + +He bent once more over the struggling beast, and even in his agony +Aquila knew his master, and turned his eyes lovingly toward him, +expecting help; and help came. + +"Good-bye, lad!" The pistol cracked, and the tortured limbs sank into +quiet. + +"Lie down behind him!" Delmonte commanded. "So! now, still." + +He knelt behind the dead horse, facing the advancing Spaniards. The +revolver cracked again, and the foremost horseman dropped, shot through +the head. The troop was now close upon them; Rita could see the fierce +faces, and the gleam of their wolfish teeth. Delmonte fired again, and +another man dropped, but still the rest came on. There was no help, +then? + +Delmonte looked at Rita; she closed her eyes, expecting death. The air +was full of cries and curses. But--what other sound was that? Not from +before, but behind them--round the turn of the road--some one was +singing! In all the hurry of her flying thoughts Rita steadied herself +to listen. + + "For it's whoop-la! whoop! + Git along, my little dogies; + For Wyoming shall be your new home!-- + +"What in the Rockies is going on here, anyhow?" + +Rita turned her head. A horseman had come around the bend, and checked +his horse, looking at the scene before him. A giant rider on a giant +horse. The moon shone on his brown uniform, his slouched felt hat, and +the carbine laid across his saddle-bow. Under the slouched hat looked +out a bronzed face, grim and bearded, lighted by eyes blue as Delmonte's +own. + +Rita gave one glance. "Help!" she cried, "America, help!" + +"America's the place!" said the horseman. He waved his hand to some one +behind him, then put his horse to the gallop. Next instant he was beside +them. + +Delmonte started to his feet, revolver in hand. "U. S. A.?" he said. +"You're just in time, uncle. I'm glad to see you." + +"Always like to be on time at a party," said the rough rider, levelling +his carbine. "My fellows are--in short, here they are!" + +There was a scurry of hoofs, a shout, and thirty horsemen swept around +the curve and came racing up. + +"What's up, Cap'n Jim?" cried one. "Have we lost the fun? Gringos, eh? +hooray!" + +The Spaniards had checked their horses. Four of them lay dead in the +road, and several others were wounded. At sight of the mounted troop, +they stopped and held a hurried consultation, then turned their horses +and rode away. + +The giant looked at Delmonte. "Want to follow?" he asked. "This is your +hand, comrade." + +"I want a horse!" said Captain Jack. "Miss Montfort,"--he turned to +Rita, who had risen to her feet, and stood pale but quiet,--"these are +our own good country-men. If I leave you with them but a few moments--" + +"Hold on!" said the big man. "What did you call the young lady?" + +Delmonte stared. "This is Miss Montfort," he said, rather formally. + +"Not Rita!" cried the giant. "Pike's Peak and Glory Gulch! Don't tell me +it's Rita!" + +"Oh, yes! yes!" cried Rita, running forward with outstretched hands. "It +is--I am! and you--oh, I know, I know. You are Peggy's big brother. You +are Cousin Jim!" + +"That's what they said when they christened me!" said Cousin Jim. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +MEETINGS AND GREETINGS. + + +It was no time for explanations. Jim Montfort put out a hand like a pine +knot, and gave Rita's fingers a huge shake. + +"Glad to find you, cousin," he said. "I've been looking for you. Now, +what's up over there?" He nodded in the direction of the fire. + +"A _candela_," said Delmonte, briefly. "I must get back; there are women +there. If one of your men will catch me that horse--" + +"But you are wounded!" cried Rita. "Cousin, he is shot in the arm. Do +not let him go!" + +Delmonte laughed. "It's nothing, Miss Montfort," he said; "but nothing +at all, I assure you. When we get to camp you shall put some carbolic +acid on it, and tie it up for me; that's field practice in Cuba. I shall +be proud to be your first field patient." He spoke in his usual laughing +way; but suddenly his face changed, and he leaned toward her swiftly, +his hand on the horse's mane. "I shall never forget this time--our ride +together," he said. "I hope you will not forget either--please? And now, +Miss Montfort, I have no further right over you. I would have done my +best, I think you know that; but--I must give you into your cousin's +protection. You will remain here?" + +"Of course she will!" said Cousin Jim, who had heard only the last +words. "I'll go with you, comrade. Raynham, Morton, you will mount guard +by the lady." + +The troopers saluted, and raised their hats civilly to Rita, inwardly +cursing their luck. Because they owned the next ranch to Jim Montfort, +was that any reason why they should lose all the fun? and why could not +girls stay at home where they belonged? + +But Rita herself cried out and clasped her hands, and ran to her cousin. +"Oh, Cousin Jim--Senor Delmonte--let me go with you! Please, please let +me go back. My poor Manuela--Marm Prudence--they may be hurt, wounded. +There can be no danger with all these brave men. Cousin, I have been in +a camp hospital, I know how to dress wounds. I can be quiet--Senor +Delmonte, tell him I can be quiet!" + +She looked eagerly at Delmonte. + +"I can tell him that you are the bravest girl I ever saw," he said. +"But, you have been through a great deal. I don't like to have you go +back among those rascals." + +James Montfort stroked his brown beard thoughtfully. + +"Guess it's safe enough," he said at last. "Guess there's enough of us +to handle 'em. Don't know but on the whole she'll be better off with +us. My sister Peggy wouldn't like to miss any circus there was going, +would she, little girl? Catch another of those beasts for the lady, +Bill!" + +Rita, with one of her quick gestures, caught his great hand in both +hers. "Oh, you good cousin!" she cried. "You dear cousin! You are the +very best and the very biggest person in the world, and I love you." + +"Well, well, well!" said Cousin Jim, somewhat embarrassed. "There, +there! so you shall, my dear; so you shall. But as for being big, you +should see Lanky 'Liph of Bone Gulch. Now there--but here is your horse, +missy." + +The horses of the dead Spaniards had been circling about them, more or +less shyly. Two of them were quickly caught by the rough riders, and +Rita and Delmonte mounted. As they did so, both glanced toward the spot +where lay the brave horse that had borne them so well. + +"It was for life indeed, Aquila!" said Captain Jack, softly. His eyes +met Rita's, and she saw the brightness of tears in them. Next moment +they were galloping back to the _residencia_. + +They came only just in time. Not ten minutes had passed since they left +the courtyard, but in that time the savage Spaniards had done their work +well. The house itself was in flames, and burning fiercely. Good Don +Annunzio lay dead, carbine in hand, on the steps of his ruined home. +Beside him lay the Creole youth in whose charge Delmonte had left +Manuela. The lad was still alive, for as Delmonte bent from the saddle +above him he raised his head. + +"I did my best, my captain!" he said. "They were too many." + +"Where are they?" asked Delmonte and Montfort in one breath. + +The boy pointed down the road; raised his hand to salute, and fell back, +dead. + +[Illustration: "NOW AGAIN IT WAS A RIDE FOR LIFE."] + +Now again it was a ride for life--not their own life this time. Rita had +clean forgotten herself. The thought of her faithful friend and servant +in the hands of the merciless Spaniards turned her quick blood to fire. +She galloped steadily, her eyes fixed on the cloud of dust only a few +hundred yards ahead of them, which told where the enemy was galloping, +too. + +Jim Montfort glanced at her, and nodded to himself. "She'll do!" he said +in his beard. "Montfort grit's good grit, and she's got it. This would +be nuts to little Peggy." + +Jack Delmonte, too, looked more than once at the slender figure riding +so lightly between him and the big rough rider. How beautiful she was! +He had not realised half how beautiful till now. What nerve! what +steadiness! It might be the _Reina de Cuba_, Donna Hernandez herself, +riding to victory. + +He felt an unreasonable jealousy of "Cousin Jim." Half--nay! a quarter +of an hour ago, she was riding with him; there were only they two in +the world, they and Aquila, poor Aquila,--who had given his life for +theirs. She was his comrade then, his charge, his--and now she was Miss +Montfort, a young lady of fortune and position, under charge of her +cousin, a Yankee captain of rough riders; and he, Jack Delmonte, +was--nothing in particular. + +As he was thinking these thoughts, Rita chanced to turn her head, and +met his gaze fixed earnestly upon her. She blushed suddenly and deeply, +the lovely colour rising in a wave over cheeks and forehead; then turned +her head sharply away. + +"Now I have offended her!" said Jack. "Idiot!" and perhaps he was not +very wise. + +But there was little time for thinking or blushing. The Spaniards, +seeing Delmonte, whom they regarded as the devil in person, descending +upon them in company with a giant and an army (for so they described +the band of rough riders at headquarters next day), abandoned their +prisoners. The Americans chased them for a mile or so, killed three or +four, and, as they reported, "scared the rest into Kingdom Come," +leaving them only on coming to a thick wood, into which the Gringos, +leaping from their horses, vanished, and were seen no more. The victors +then returned to the forlorn little group of women and negroes, huddled +together by the roadside. Rita had already dismounted, and had Manuela +in her arms. She felt her all over, hurrying question upon question. + +"My child, you are not hurt? not wounded? these ruffians--did they dare +to touch you? did they have the audacity to speak to you, Manuela? Oh, +why did I leave you? I could not help it; you saw I could not help it. +You are _sure_ you have no hurt?" + +"But, positively, senorita," said Manuela. "See! not a scratch is on me. +They--one fellow--offered to tie my hands; I scratched him so well that +he ran away. I am safe, safe--praise be to all saints, to our Holy Lady, +and the Senor Delmonte. But--poor Cerito, senorita? what of him? he was +with us; he fought like a lion. I saw him fall--" + +"Poor Cerito!" said Rita, gravely. "He was a brave, brave lad. A +thousand sons to Cuba like him!" + +Donna Prudencia was sitting apart on a stone by the roadside. Rita went +up to her, took her hand, and kissed her cheek. The Yankee woman looked +kindly at her and nodded comprehension, but did not speak. Rita stood +silent for a few minutes, timidly stroking the brown cheek and white +hair. Her cousin Margaret came into her mind. What would Margaret say, +if she were here? She would know the right word, she always did. + +"Marm Prudence," she said, presently, "to have the memory of a hero, of +one who dies for his country,--that is something, is it not? some +little comfort?" + +Marm Prudence did not answer at once. + +"Mebbe so," she said, presently. "Mebbe so, Miss Margaritty. Noonzio was +a good man. Yes'm, I've lost a good husband and a good home! A good +husband and a good home!" she repeated. "That's all there is to it, I +expect." Her rugged face was disturbed for a moment, and she hid it in +her hands; when she looked up, she was her own composed self. + +"And what's the next thing?" she asked. "Thank you, Cap'n Delmonty, I'm +feeling first-rate. Don't you fret about me. You done all you could. +I'll never forget what you done. Poor husband's last words before he was +shot was thanking the Lord Miss Margaritty was off safe. We knew we +could trust her with you." + +"Indeed," said honest Delmonte, "it is not me you must thank, Donna +Prudencia. I did what I could, but it was Captain Montfort and his men +who saved both her life and mine." + +He told the story briefly, and Marm Prudence listened with interest. +"Well," she said, "that was pretty close, wasn't it? Anyway, you done +all you could, Cap'n Jack, and nobody can't do no more. And he's Miss +Margaritty's cousin, you say? I want to know! He's big enough for three, +ain't he?" + +Rita laughed, in spite of herself. She beckoned to Cousin Jim, who came +up and shook hands with the widow with grave sympathy. But he seemed +preoccupied, and, while they were preparing to return to the ruined +farm, he was pulling his big beard and meditating with a puzzled air. + +"Look here!" he broke out at last, addressing his men. "I've been +wondering what was wrong. I couldn't seem to round up, somehow, and now +I've got it. Where's that poor old Johnny? I left him with you when I +rode forward to reconnoitre." + +The rough riders looked at one another, and hung their heads. + +"Guess he must have dropped behind," said Raynham. "We didn't wait long +after you signalled to us to come on. We--came." + +"That's so!" clamoured the rough riders, in sheepish chorus. "We came, +Cap'n Jim. That's a fact!" + +"Well--that's all right!" said Jim. "You might have brought the old +Johnny along, though, seems to me. Two of you ride back and get him; +you, Bill, and Juckins. If he seems used up, Juckins can carry him, pony +and all." + +Juckins, a huge Californian, second only to Montfort in stature, +chuckled, and rode off with Raynham at a hand gallop. + +Montfort turned to Rita. + +"I haven't had time to tell you about it before," he said. "Cousin Rita, +I've been hunting for you for three days. We met an old Johnny--an old +gentleman, I should say--riding about on a pony, for all the world like +Yankee Doodle. He'd got lost, poor old duffer, among these inferior +crossroads, and didn't know whether he was in China or Oklahoma. We +picked him up, and, riding along, it came out that he was searching for +his ward, a young lady who had run away from a convent. Ever heard of +such a person, missy? He had started out alone, to ride about Cuba till +he found her. Kind of pocket Don Quixote, about five foot high, white +hair, silk clothes; highly respectable Johnny." + +"Don Miguel!" cried Rita. "Poor, dear, good Don Miguel! I have never +written to him, wicked that I am. Oh, where is he, Cousin Jim?" + +"Come to ask him," Jim continued, "it appeared that the young lady's +name was Montfort. Now, I had just had a letter from Uncle John, +wanting me to raise the island to get hold of you and ship you North at +once. He had had no letters; was alarmed, you understand. Laid up with a +bad knee, or would have come himself. I was just going to start back to +the city in search of you, when up comes Don Quixote. When he heard I +was your cousin, he fell into my arms, pony and all. Give you my word he +did! Almost lost him in my waistcoat pocket. I cheered him up a bit, and +we've been poking about together these three days, looking for General +Sevillo's camp. Thought you might be there. We were camping by the +roadside when we heard your firing. Ah! here he comes now!" + +The rough riders came back, their horses trotting now, instead of +galloping. Between them, ambling gently along, was a piebald pony of +amiable appearance, and on the pony sat a little old gentleman with +snow-white hair and a face as mild and gentle as the pony's own. At +sight of Rita running to meet him, he uttered a cry of joy, and checked +his horse. Next moment he had dismounted, and had her in his arms, +sobbing like a child. + +"Dear Donito Miguelito!" cried Rita. "Forgive me! please do forgive me, +for frightening you. I could not go to the convent, indeed I could not. +I am a wretch to have treated you so, but I could not go to that place." + +"Of course you could not, my child," said the good old man. "_Nunc +dimittis_, Domine! Now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace. Of +course you could not." + +"I could not live with Concepcion; don't you know I could not, Donito +Miguelito?" + +"The thought is impossible, my Pearl. Speaking with all possible +respect, the Senora Montfort, though high-born and accomplished, is a +hysterical wildcat. You did well, my child; you did extremely well. So +long as I have found you, nothing matters; but, nothing at all. As my +great, my gigantic friend, my colossal preserver, el Capitan Gimmo, +says, 'Ourrah for oz!'" + +"Hurrah!" shouted the rough riders. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +ANOTHER CAMP. + + +They made but a brief halt at the ruined farm. The house was completely +gutted; the widow of Don Annunzio had the clothes she stood in, and +nothing beside. She stood quietly by while her husband's body was laid +in the grave beside that of young Cerito; a shallow grave, hastily dug +in what had lately been the garden. She listened with the same quiet +face while good old Don Miguel, with faltering voice, recited a Latin +prayer. She was a Methodist, he a fervent Catholic; but it mattered +little at that moment. + +By this time it was daylight. A small patch of bananas was found, that +had escaped the destroying torch, and on these the party made a hasty +meal; then they rode away, all save the negroes, who preferred to stay +in the neighbourhood where their lives had been spent. + +They rode slowly, in deference to Don Miguel's age and that of his pony. +Rita, riding beside the good old man, listened to the recital of his +terrors and anxieties from the time her flight was discovered to the +present moment. These caused her real grief, and she begged again and +again for the forgiveness which he assured her was wholly unnecessary. +But when he described the hysterical rage of her stepmother, her eyes +brightened, and the colour came back to her pale cheek. She had no doubt +that Concepcion Montfort was sorry to lose her; the larger part of her +father's fortune had been settled upon her, Rita, before his second +marriage. + +"The senora also has made diligent search for you, my child!" said Don +Miguel. "She has offered ample rewards--" + +"I know it!" said Rita. "Only yesterday--can it be that it was only +yesterday?--Don Diego Moreno was here--there, I should say, at that +peaceful home that is now a heap of ashes. These Spaniards!" + +Had she seen Don Diego? the old man asked; and he seemed relieved when +she answered in the negative. + +"It is well; it is well!" he said. "He is a relative of the senora's, I +am aware; but it would have been unsuitable, most unsuitable." + +"What would have been unsuitable, Donito Miguelito?" + +Don Miguel looked confused. "A--nothing, my child. The Senora Montfort +had an idea--Don Diego made certain advances--in short, he would have +asked for your hand, my senorita--well, my Margarita, if you will have +it so. But I took it upon myself to refuse these overtures without +consulting you." + +Rita heard a low exclamation, and turning, saw Delmonte's face like +dark fire beside her. + +"I beg your pardon!" he said. "I could not help hearing. Don Miguel, if +Diego Moreno makes any more such proposals, kindly let me know, and I'll +shoot him at sight." + +"I--thank you! thank you, my son!" said Don Miguel, somewhat fluttered. +"I hope no violence will be necessary. I used strong language, very +strong language, to Don Diego Moreno. I--I told him that I considered +him a person entirely objectionable, unfit to sweep the road before the +Senorita Montfort's feet. He went away very angry. I thought we should +hear no more of him; but it seems that he still retains his presumptuous +idea. Without doubt, it will be best, my dear child, for you to seek the +northern home of your family without delay." + +Why, at this obviously sensible remark, should Rita feel a sinking at +the heart, and a sudden anger against her dear old friend? And again, +why, on stealing a glance at Delmonte, and seeing the trouble reflected +in his face, should her heart as suddenly spring up again, and dance +within her? What had happened? + +They had ridden some miles, when Jim Montfort, on his big gray horse, +ranged alongside of Delmonte. + +"It appears to me," he said, "that something is going on in these woods +here. I've seen two or three bits of brown that weren't bark, and if I +didn't catch the shine of a gun-barrel just now, you may call me a +Dutchman. I think I'll fire, and see what happens." + +"No, don't do that!" said Delmonte, quietly. "It's only my fellows. +They've been keeping alongside for the last half-mile, waiting for a +signal. They might as well come out now." + +He gave a low call in two notes; the call Rita had heard--was it only +the night before? it seemed as if a week had passed since then. + +The call was answered from the wood; and as if by magic, from every +tree, from every clump of bushes, came stealing lean brown figures, +leading equally lean horses, all armed and on the alert. They saluted, +and, at a word from the burly Juan, fell into order with the precision +of a troop on drill. + +"What's all this, Juan?" asked Delmonte. "No order was given." + +Juan replied with submission that a negro boy had brought news an hour +ago that Don Annunzio's house had been burned, he and his whole +household murdered, and their captain taken prisoner; and that the +latter was being brought in irons along the road to Santiago. They, Juan +and the rest, had planned a rescue, and disposed themselves to that end +in the most advantageous manner. That they were about to fire, when they +recognised their captain's escort as Americans; and that they then +resolved to accompany the party as quietly as might be till they came +near the camp, and then make their presence known to all, as they had at +once made it known to Delmonte himself by a low call which only he had +noticed. + +"Not wishing to intrude," Juan concluded, with a superb salute. + +Delmonte turned to his companions. "Miss Montfort," he said, "Captain +Montfort--you'll all come up to my place, of course, and rest, for +to-day, at least. It isn't much of a place to ask you to, but--it's +quiet, at least, and--you can rest; and you must be half-starved. I know +I am." + +His face was eager as a boy's. Rita's was not less so, as she gazed at +the big cousin, who stroked his beard as usual, and reflected. + +"I did mean to push straight on to Santiago," he said, "but--it's a good +bit of a way, to be sure; what do you say, little cousin? tired? hey?" + +Rita blushed. "A--a little tired, Cousin Jim; and _very_ hungry!" + +This settled it. Captain Montfort bid Delmonte "fire away." The latter +said a few rapid words to Juan, and the scout shot off like an arrow +across the fields, riding as if for his life. + +An hour later, the whole party was seated around a fire, in as +comfortable a nook of the hills as guerilla leader could desire, sipping +coffee, and eating broiled chicken and fried bananas, fresh from the +_parilla_. The fire was built against a great rock that rose abruptly +from the dell, forming one side of it, and towering so high that the +smoke disappeared before it reached the top. Thick woods framed the +other sides of the natural fastness, and here the Cuban riders could lie +hidden for days and weeks, unsuspected, unseen, save by the wandering +birds that now and then circled above their heads. No tents or huts +here; the horses were tethered to trees; the commander's hammock was +swung in a shady thicket near the great rock; as for his men, a ragged +blanket and the "soft side of a stone" were all they asked. + +Rita had dressed Captain Delmonte's wound, and bandaged the arm in +approved style, Cousin Jim looking on with grunts of approval. He and +Delmonte himself both assured her that, if they were handling it, they +should simply squirt carbolic acid into it, and tie it up with anything +that came handy; but Rita shook her head gravely, and three of her +delicate handkerchiefs, brought from the long-suffering bag which +Manuela had somehow managed to save from the ruins, torn into strips, +made a very sufficient bandage. The wound was, in truth, slight. +Delmonte looked almost as if he wished it more severe, for the whole +matter of bathing and dressing could not be stretched beyond ten +minutes; but Rita's pride in her neat bandage was pretty to see, and he +watched her with delighted eyes through every stage. + +"Snug quarters!" said Jim Montfort, approvingly, as, the breakfast over, +he stretched his huge length along the grass and looked about him; and +all the party echoed his opinion. The two captains fell into talk of the +war and its ways, while the women, wearied out, rested after their long +night of distress and fatigue. Marm Prudence chose the dry grass, with a +cloak for a pillow, but Rita curled herself thankfully in Captain Jack's +hammock, after trying in vain to persuade him that he was an invalid, +and ought to take it himself. After some rummaging in a hole in the rock +which served him for cupboard and wardrobe, Delmonte brought her a small +pillow in a somewhat weather-beaten cover. "I wish I had a better one," +he said. "This has been out in the rain a good deal, and I'm afraid it +smells of smoke, but it's a great pillow for sleeping on." + +"Oh, thank you!" said Rita. "It is very comfortable indeed. How good you +are to me, Captain Delmonte. And whatever you may say, it is a great +shame for me to take your own hammock. If there were only another--" + +"Oh, please don't!" said Jack. "It's really--you must not talk so, Miss +Montfort. As if there was anything I wouldn't do--why, this hammock will +never be the same again. I--I mean--oh, you know what I mean, and I +never could make pretty speeches. But--it is a pleasure, and--an honour, +to have you here; and you can't think how much it means to me. Good +night! I mean--sleep well." + +He added a few words of a German song relative to the desirability of a +certain lovely angel's slumbering sweetly. Rita did not understand +German, but the tone of Delmonte's voice was in no particular language, +and, tired as she was, it was some time before she went to sleep. + +It was late afternoon when they took the road again. Before starting +they held a council, seated together beneath the great tree, under whose +shade Rita had slept peacefully for several hours. Jim Montfort was the +first speaker. + +"I take it," he said, "we'd better, each one of us, say what we mean to +do. Then the sky will be clear, and we can fit in or shake apart, as +seems best in each case. We all ride together to Pine del Rio, as +Captain Delmonte is so friendly as to ride with us. After that--I'll +begin with you, ma'am." He addressed, the widow respectfully. "How can I +best serve you? I am going to see my cousin safe off, and you must call +upon me for any service I can possibly render you." + +"She will stay with me!" cried Rita. "Dear Marm Prudence, you will stay +with me, will you not?" + +Marm Prudence shook her head, though with a look of infinite kindliness. +"Thank you, dear," she said; "it's like you to say it, but I'm going +home to Greenvale, Vermont. I've a sister living there yet. I'll go back +to my own folks at last, and lay my bones alongside o' mother's. I'll +never forgit you, though, Miss Margaritty," she added, "nor you, Cap'n +Jack. There! I can't say much yet." + +She turned away, and all were silent for a moment, as she wiped the +tears from her rugged face. + +"You go straight home, I suppose, sir?" said Jim, addressing Don Miguel. + +"Yes, yes!" cried the little gentleman. "I go to Pine del Rio with my +dear ward here. To see her safe on board a good vessel, bound for the +North; to say farewell to the joy of my old days, and put out the light +of my eyes--that is my one sad desire, Senor Montfort. After that--I am +old, I have but a short time left, and my prayers will require that." + +"Well, then, it seems as if the first thing on all hands was to find a +steamer sailing for home," said Jim. "If Mrs. Annunzio will take charge +of you, Cousin Rita, I think that will be the best thing. Uncle John +will send some one to meet you in New York and take you to Fernley. How +does that suit you?" + +Rita was silent. She had grown very pale. Delmonte looked at her +eagerly, but did not speak. + +"What do you say, little cousin?" repeated Montfort. "You have a mind of +your own, and a pretty decided one, if I'm not mistaken. Let's hear it!" + +Rita spoke slowly and with difficulty, her ready flow of speech lacking +for once. + +"Cousin Jim--dear Don Miguel--you are both so kind, so good. You too, +Marm Prudence. I love the North. I love my dear uncle and cousin--ah, +how dearly!--but--I do not want to go to Fernley." + +"Not want to go!" repeated the others. + +"No! indeed, indeed, I cannot go. I have been thinking, Cousin Jim, a +great deal, while all these things have been happening; these wonderful, +terrible things. I--I ought to have learned a great deal; I hope I have +learned a little. I have talked enough about helping my country; too +much I have talked; now I want to do something. I am going to work in +one of the hospitals. Nurses are needed, I know, every day more of them. +I do not know enough--yet--to be a nurse, but I can be a helper. I am +very humble; I will do the meanest work, but--but that is what I mean to +do." + +She ceased, and all the others, looking in her face, saw it bright and +lovely with earnest resolve. But Don Miguel cried out in expostulation. +It was impossible, he said. It could not be. She was too young, too +delicate, too--the proposition was monstrous. He appealed to Captain +Montfort to support him, to exercise his authority, to persuade this +dear child that the noble idea which filled her young and ardent heart +was wholly impracticable. + +Jim Montfort was silent for a time, looking at Rita from under his heavy +eyebrows. Presently--"You mean it?" he said. + +"I mean it with all my heart!" said Rita. + +"Well," said Jim, "my opinion is--considering my sister Peggy and her +views, to say nothing of Jean and Flora--my opinion is, Rita--hurrah for +you!" + +A month ago, Rita would have gone into violent heroics at such a moment +as this. As it was, she smiled, though her eyes filled with tears, and +said, quietly, "Thank you, cousin! It is what I expected from Peggy's +brother." + +"May I speak?" said another voice. They turned, and saw Jack Delmonte, +his blue eyes alight with eager gladness. + +"If--if Miss Montfort has this noble desire to help in the good cause," +he said, "it is easy for her to do it. My mother has turned her +_residencia_, just outside the city, into a hospital. I am going there +to-day. She needs more help, I know. You--you would like my mother, Miss +Montfort; everybody likes my mother. She would do all she could to make +it easy for you, and she would be so glad--oh, I can't tell you how glad +she would be. And I think you are quite certain to like her." + +"Ah!" said Rita. "Have I not heard of the Saint of Las Rosas? There is +no need to tell me how good and how noble the Senora Delmonte is. +But--but will she like me, Captain--Captain Jack?" + +"Will she?" said Jack. "Will the sun shine?" + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +A FOREGONE CONCLUSION. + + + LAS ROSAS, June --, 1898. + +DEAR UNCLE JOHN:--Since I last wrote you, telling of our finding Rita, +and of her safe delivery to Senora Delmonte, things have been happening. +In the first place, I got a shot in my leg, in a skirmish, and, as the +bone was broken, and it didn't seem to come round as it ought, I came +here to be coddled, and am having a great time of it. Senora Delmonte is +a fine woman, sir. You don't see many such women in a lifetime. She has +a little hospital here, as complete as if she had New York City in her +back dooryard; all her own place, you understand. Kind of Florence +Nightingale woman. What's more, little Rita promises to become her +right hand; if she's given a chance, that is--I'll come to that by and +by, though. The way that little girl takes hold, sir, is a caution. +She's quick, and she's quiet, and she's cheerful; and she has brains in +her head, which is a mighty good thing in a woman when you do find it. +She and Senora Delmonte are like mother and daughter already; and this +brings me to something else I want to say. It's pretty clear that Jack +Delmonte has lost his heart to this little girl of ours. It began, I +suspect, the night he carried her off from the Spaniards; you have heard +all about that; and it's been going on here, while a little flesh wound +he had was healing. Yes, sir, he's in it deep, and no mistake; and, for +that matter, I guess she is, too, though those things aren't in my line. +Anyhow, what I want to say is this: Jack Delmonte is as fine a fellow as +there is this side of the Rockies; and I don't know that I'll stop +there, barring my brother Hugh. This war isn't going to last much +longer. By some kind of miracle, this place--sugar plantation, and well +paying in good times--hasn't been meddled with; and Jack ought to be +able to support a wife, if he puts good work into the business, as he +will. He's a first-rate all-round fellow, and has brains in his +head--said that before, didn't I? well, it's a good thing in a man, too. +I'm not much of a hand at writing, as I guess you'll see. All I mean to +say is, if he and little Rita want to hitch up a double team, my opinion +is it would be a mighty good thing, and I hope you'll give them your +blessing and all that sort of thing, when the time comes. + +Much obliged for your letter, but sorry your knee still bothers you. +Father has been laid up, too, so he writes; rheumatism. I'm getting on +first-rate, and shall be out of this soon. I think a month or so more +will see the whole blooming business over, and peace declared. Time, +too! this is no kind of a country to stay in. + + Your affectionate nephew, + JAMES MONTFORT. + +P.S. Tell Cousin Margaret that J. D. is _all right_. + + LAS ROSAS, June --, 1898. + +MY DEAR MR. MONTFORT:--I wonder if you remember Mary Russell, with whom +you used to dance now and then when you came to Claxton in the old days, +we will not say how many years ago. I certainly have not forgotten the +pleasant partner who waltzed so well, and I am glad to have the +opportunity of claiming acquaintance with you. I meant to write as soon +as your niece arrived at my house, but the battle in this neighbourhood +the day after brought us such an influx of wounded that my hands were +very full, and the hasty dictated line was all I could manage. We are +now in a little eddy of the storm (which, we hope, is nearly over), and +have only a dozen men in the house, and most of these convalescent; +so I must not delay longer in assuring you of the very great pleasure +and help it has been to me to have Margarita with me. Indeed, I hardly +know what I should have done without her the first week, as two of my +nurses were ill just at the time when we were fullest. She shows a +remarkable aptitude for nursing, which is rather singular, as she tells +me that until lately she has been extremely timid about such matters, +fainting at the sight of blood, etc. You never would think it now, to +see her going about her work in the wards. The patients idolise her, and +what is more (and less common), so do the nurses, who declare that she +will miss her vocation if she does not go into a training-school as soon +as she leaves Las Rosas; but I fancy you would not choose so arduous a +life for her. + +[Illustration: "THE PATIENTS IDOLISE HER."] + +This brings me, my dear Mr. Montfort, to what is really the chief object +in my writing to you to-day. Without beating about the bush, I am going +to say, at once and frankly, that my dear son, Jack, has become deeply +attached to this charming niece of yours. Who could be surprised at it? +she must always have been charming; but the sweetness and thoughtfulness +that I have seen growing day by day while she has been under my charge +are, I somehow fancy, a new phase of her development. Indeed, Rita +herself has told me, in her vivid way, of some of the wild pranks of her +"unguided youth," as she calls it,--the child will be nineteen, I +believe, on her next birthday!--and we have laughed and shaken our heads +together over them. She is far more severe upon herself than I can be, +for I see the quick, impulsive nature, and see, too, how it is being +subdued and brought more and more under control by a strong will and a +good heart. A very noble woman our Rita will make, if she has the right +surroundings. + +Can we give her these? that is the question; a question for you to +answer, dear Mr. Montfort. Jack saw readily, when I pointed it out to +him, that it would not be suitable for him to speak of love to an orphan +girl--an heiress, too, I believe--without her guardian's express +consent. He chafes at the delay, for he is very ardent, being half +Cuban; but you may have entire confidence that he will say nothing to +Rita until I hear from you. + +You can easily find out about Jack; there is nothing in his life that he +need conceal. Colonel G. and Mrs. B----, in New York, Professor Searcher +and Doctor Lynx, of Blank College, will tell you of his school and +college days; and Captain Montfort will, I think, say a good word for +his record as a soldier and a patriot. Of course, in my eyes, he is a +little bit of a hero; but maternal prejudice laid aside (if such a thing +may be!), I can truly say that he is a clean, honest, high-minded man, +with a sound constitution and an excellent disposition. Add to this a +moderate income (not, I am happy to say, enough to allow him to dispense +with work, were he inclined to do so, which he is not), and a very +earnest and devoted attachment, and you have the whole case before you. +May I hope to have your answer as soon as you shall have satisfied +yourself on the various points on which you will naturally seek +information? I assure you that, with the best intentions in the world, +Jack does find it hard to restrain himself. Let me add that, if your +answer is favourable, it will make me as well as my son very happy. Rita +is all that I could wish for in a daughter; and I shall try my best to +fill a mother's place toward her. + +In any case, believe me, dear Mr. Montfort, + + Cordially yours, + MARY RUSSELL DELMONTE. + +P.S. You may ask, does Rita return Jack's affection? _I think she +does!_ + + + SANTIAGO, June --, 1898. + +HONOURED SENOR:--Your valued letter, containing inquiries on the subject +of Senor Captain John Delmonte is at hand and contents notified. I +hasten to reply with all the ardour of which I am capacious. This young +man is a nobleman; few princes have equalled him in virtuous worth. +Brave, honourable, pious (though Protestant; but this belief is probably +your own, and is held by many of those most valuable to me, your +honoured brother among them), a faithful and obedient son, a leader +beloved to rapture by his soldiers. If more could be to say, I would +hasten to cry it aloud. You tell me, with noble frankness, he is a +pretender for the hand of my beloved Margarita; already it has been my +happiness to be aware of it. Senor Montfort, to see these two admirable +young persons united in the holy bondages of weddinglock is the last and +chief wish of my life. I earnestly beg your sanction of their unition. +In Jack I find a son for my solitary age; in Margarita a daughter, the +most tender as she is the most beautiful that the world contains. To +close my aged eyes on seeing them unified, is, I repeat it, the one wish +of, + + Honoured Senor, + Your most obedient and humble servitor, + MIGUEL PIETOSO. + + + LAS ROSAS, June --, 1898. + +MY DEAR MR. MONFORT:--I have just read your letter to my mother, and I +want to thank you before I do anything else. There isn't much to say, +except that I will do my best to be in some degree worthy of this +treasure, if I win it. I will try to make her happy, sir, I will indeed. +No one could be good enough for her, so I will not pretend to that. + +She is awake now, so I must go. + + Gratefully yours, + JOHN DELMONTE. + + + LAS ROSAS, Evening. + +DEAREST, DEAREST MARGARET:--Why are you not here? I want you--oh, I want +you so much! I am so happy, so wonderfully, almost _terribly_ happy, how +can I put it on paper? The paper will light itself, will burn up for +joy, I think; but I will try. Listen! an hour ago--it is an evening of +heaven, the moon was shining for me, for me and--oh, but wait! I was in +the garden, resting after the day's work; I had been asleep, and now +would take the remainder of my free time in waking rest. The air was +balm, the roses all in blossom. Such roses were never seen, Marguerite; +the place is named for them, Las Rosas. They are in bowers, in garlands, +in heaps and mounds--I smell them now. The rose is my flower, remember +that, my life long. I used to tell you it was the jessamine; the +jessamine is a simpleton, I tell you. I was picking white roses, the +kind that blushes a little warm at its heart--when I heard some one +coming. I knew who it was; can I tell how? It was Captain Jack. I +trembled. He came to me, he spoke, he took my hand. Oh, my dear, my +dear, I cannot tell you what he said; but he loves me; he is my Jack, I +am his Rita. Marguerite, will you tell me how it can be true? Your wild, +silly, foolish Rita, playing at emotions all her childish life: she +wakes up, she begins to try to be a little like you, my best one; and +all of a sudden she finds herself in Paradise, with a warrior +angel--Marguerite, I did not think of it till this moment; my Jack is +the express image of St. Michael. His nose tips up the least bit in the +world--I don't mind it; it gives life, dash, to his wonderful face; +otherwise there is _no_ difference. My St. Michael! my soldier, my Star +of Horsemen! Marguerite, no girl was ever so happy since the world was +made. Oh, don't think me fickle; let me tell you! In the South here, are +we different? It must be so. I _was_ fond of Santayana; but that was in +another life. I was a sentimental, passionate child; he was handsome as +a picture; it was a dream of seventeen. Now--can you believe that I am a +little grown up? I really think I am. Perhaps I think it most because +now, for the first time, I _really_ want to be like you, Marguerite. I +used to be so pleased with being myself--I was the vainest creature that +ever lived. Now, I want to be like you instead; I want to be a good +woman, a good wife. Ah! what a wife you will make if you marry! But how +can you marry, my poor darling? There is only one man in the world good +enough for you, and he is mine. I cannot give him up, even to you, my +saint. I have two saints now; I ought to be a Catholic. The second one +is his mother, the Saint of Las Rosas, as she is called all through this +part of the island. Marguerite, I must strive to grow like her, too, if +such a thing were possible. I have work enough for my life, but what +blessed work! to try to make myself worthy of Jack Delmonte, my Jack, my +own! + +He took me to his mother; I have just come from her. I am her daughter +from that moment, she says; oh, Marguerite, I will try to be a good one. +Hear me--no! I am not going to make vows any more, or talk like girls in +novels; I am just going to try. I loved her from the first moment I saw +her grave, beautiful face. She took me in her arms, my dear; she said +things--I have come up here to weep alone, tears of happiness. Dearest, +you alone knew thoroughly the old Rita, the foolish creature, who dies, +in a way, to-night. Say good-bye to her; give her a kiss, Marguerite, +for she too loved you; but not half as dearly as does the new, happy, +blessed + + MARGARITA DE SAN REAL MONTFORT. + + +THE END. + + * * * * * + +Transcriber's Notes: + +Page 12, "authoritaties" changed to "authorities" (by the authorities) + +Page 25, word "by" inserted into text (takes me by) + +Page 74, "senorita" changed to "senorita" (patriotism of the senorita) + +Page 129, "senorita" changed to "senorita" (would befit the senorita) + +Page 148, word "be" inserted into text (there'd have to be) + +Page 213, "gentlemen" changed to "gentleman" (little old gentleman) + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Rita, by Laura E. Richards + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RITA *** + +***** This file should be named 24827.txt or 24827.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/4/8/2/24827/ + +Produced by Suzanne Shell, Emmy and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +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 + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +https://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. |