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diff --git a/33091.txt b/33091.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9180039 --- /dev/null +++ b/33091.txt @@ -0,0 +1,12781 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Volunteer with Pike, by Robert Ames Bennet + +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: A Volunteer with Pike + The True Narrative of One Dr. John Robinson and of His + Love for the Fair Senorita Vallois + +Author: Robert Ames Bennet + +Illustrator: Charlotte Weber-Ditzler + +Release Date: July 5, 2010 [EBook #33091] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A VOLUNTEER WITH PIKE *** + + + + +Produced by Darleen Dove, Roger Frank, Mary Meehan and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + A VOLUNTEER WITH PIKE + + _The True Narrative of One Dr. John Robinson and + of His Love for the Fair Senorita Vallois_ + + BY ROBERT AMES BENNET + + AUTHOR OF "FOR THE WHITE CHRIST," "INTO THE PRIMITIVE," ETC. + + _With four Illustrations in color by_ + + CHARLOTTE WEBER-DITZLER + + +CHICAGO +A. C. McCLURG & CO. +1909 + +COPYRIGHT +BY A. C. MCCLURG & CO. +1909 + +Published October 2, 1909 + +Entered at Stationers' Hall, London + +_All rights reserved_ + +THE UNIVERSITY PRESS, CAMBRIDGE, U. S. A. + + + TO ONE + WHO FOLLOWED AFTER PIKE TO + THE GRAND PEAK + HALF A CENTURY LATER + MY FATHER + + +[Illustration: "'We go in now, senorita,' I said, offering her my arm"] + + + + +_Contents_ + + + I. THE ROSE IN THE MIRE + + II. PLAIN THOMAS JEFFERSON + + III. AT THE PRESIDENT'S HOUSE + + IV. SENORITA ALISANDA + + V. GULF AND BARRIER + + VI. THE WEB OF THE PLOTTER + + VII. SHIP AND CREW + + VIII. THE HOSPITABLE BLENNERHASSETTS + + IX. MY INDIAN TALE + + X. THE FATHER OF WATERS + + XI. GENERAL WILKINSON + + XII. AU REVOIR + + XIII. AGAINST THE CURRENT + + XIV. THE LURE + + XV. THE PAWNEE PERIL + + XVI. THE BARRIER OF ROCK + + XVII. THE GRAND PEAK + + XVIII. FAMINE AND FROST + + XIX. BEYOND THE BARRIER + + XX. A MESSAGE TO MY LADY + + XXI. HO FOR CHIHUAHUA! + + XXII. GLIMPSES OF FATE + + XXIII. THE HOUSE OF VALLOIS + + XXIV. THE SERENADE + + XXV. A VICTORY + + XXVI. A DEFEAT + + XXVII. HEART TO HEART + + XXVIII. A SPANISH BALL + + XXIX. THE INSULT + + XXX. THE DUEL + + XXXI. MY CROSS + + XXXII. THE MESSAGE + + XXXIII. IMPRESSED + + XXXIV. SHAME + + XXXV. UNDER THE LASH + + XXXVI. ACROSS THE GULF + + + + +_Illustrations_ + + +"'We go in now, senorita,' I said, offering her my arm" + +"We swung out into the current and drifted swiftly away" + +"'The Grand Peak!' I shouted. 'We'll name it for you'" + +"He fell like a steer: my sword blade broke clean off, a span beyond the +hilt" + + + + +_A Volunteer with Pike_ + +_The True Narrative of One Dr. John Robinson and of His Love for the +Fair Senorita Vallois_ + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE ROSE IN THE MIRE + + +The first time I was blessed with a sight of the senorita was on the day +of my arrival in the Federal City,--in fact, it was upon my arrival. An +inquiry in the neighborhood of the President's House for my sole +acquaintance in the city, Senator Adair of Kentucky, had resulted in my +being directed to Conrad's boarding house on the Capitol Hill. + +In the Fall of 1805 Indian Summer had lingered on through the month of +November. As a consequence, so I had been informed, Pennsylvania Avenue +was in a state of unprecedented passableness for the season. Yet as, +weary and travel-begrimed, I urged my jaded nag along the broad way of +yellow mud toward the majestic Capitol on its lofty hill, I observed +more than one coach and chariot in trouble from the chuck-holes of +semi-liquid clay. + +It was midway of the avenue that I came upon _her_ coach, fast as a +grounded flatboat, both of the forewheels being mired to the hub. The +driver, a blear-eyed fellow, sat tugging at the reins and alternately +plying the whip and swearing villanously. I have ever been a lover of +horseflesh, and it cut me to see the sleek-coated, spirited pair plunge +and strain at the harness, in their brave efforts to perform a task +utterly beyond them. + +I drew rein alongside. The driver stopped his cursing to stare at me, +purple-faced. + +"Are you blind drunk?" I demanded. "They'll never make it without a lift +to the wheels." + +"Lift!" he spluttered--"lift! Git along, ye greasy cooncap!" + +He raised his whip as if to strike me. I reined my horse within +arm's-length. + +"Put down that whip, or I'll put you down under the wheel," I said +cheerfully. He looked me in the eye for a moment; then he dropped his +gaze, and thrust the whipstock into its socket. "Good! You are well +advised. Now keep your mouth shut, and get off your coat." + +Again I smiled, and again he obeyed. We Western men have a reputation on +the seaboard. It may have been this, or it may have been the fact that +my buckskin shirt draped a pair of lean shoulders quite a bit broader +than the average. At the least, the fellow kept his mouth closed and +started to strip off his coat. + +I rode over to the nearest fence and borrowed two of the top rails. +Returning, I found the fellow in his shirt-sleeves. Yet he seemed not +over-willing to jump down into the mud. One more smile fetched him. He +took his rail and descended on the far side, muttering, while I swung +off at the head of his lathered team and stroked them. Once they had +been soothed and quieted, I dropped back, took the reins in hand, and +thrust my rail beneath the hub of the wheel. I heard the driver do the +same on his side. + +"Ready?" I called. + +"Ready, sir!" he answered. + +A voice came from over my shoulder "_Por Dios!_ It is not possible, +senor, to lift. First I will descend." + +The knowledge that I had put my shoulder to the wheel for a Spaniard +caused my tightening muscles to relax in disgust. But the don had spoken +courteously, his one thought being to relieve us of his weight, at the +risk of ruining his aristocratic boots. + +"Sit still. _Quien sabe?_" I replied, without looking about, and bore up +on the rail. "Heave away!" + +The rails bowed under the strain, but the clay held tenaciously to the +embedded wheels. I drew the reins well in and called to the willing +team. They put their weight against the breast bands steadily and +gallantly. The wheels rose a little, the coach gave forward. + +"Heave!" I called. The wheels drew up and forward. "Steady! steady, +boys! Pull away!" + +Out came the forewheels; in went the rear. We caught them on the turn. +One last gallant tug, and all was clear. The driver plodded around by +the rear, a hand at his forelock. + +"Return the rails," I said. "I'll hold them." + +He took my rail with his own and toiled over to the roadside. I called +up my horse and swung into the saddle, little the worse for my descent +into the midst of the redoubtable avenue, for my legs had already been +smeared and spattered to the thigh before I entered the bounds of the +city. + +Again I heard the voice at the coach window: "_Muchas gracias_, senor! A +thousand thanks--and this." + +He proved to be what I had surmised,--a long-faced Spanish don. What I +had not expected to see was the hand extended with the piece of silver. +There was more than mere politeness in his smile. It was evident he +meant well. None the less, I was of the West, where, in common opinion, +Spaniards are rated with the "varmints." I took the coin and dropped it +into the mire. He stared at me, astonished. + +"Your pardon, senor," I said, "I am not a _Spanish_ gentleman." + +The shot hit, as I could see by the quick change in the nature of his +smile. + +"It is I who should ask pardon," he replied with the haughtiness of your +true Spanish hidalgo. "Yet the senor will admit that his appearance--to +a foreigner--" + +"Few riders wear frills on the long road from Pittsburgh," I replied. + +He bowed grandly and withdrew his head into the coach's dark interior. I +was about to turn around, when I heard a liquid murmuring of Spanish in +a lady's voice, followed by a protest from the don: "_Nada_, Alisanda! +There is no need. He is but an Anglo-American." + +The voice riveted my gaze to the coach window in eager anticipation. Nor +was I disappointed. In a moment the cherry-wood of the opening framed a +face which caused me to snatch the coonskin cap from my wigless yellow +curls. + +After four years of social life among the Spanish and French of St. +Louis and New Orleans, I had thought myself well versed in all the +possibilities of Latin beauty. The Senorita Alisanda was to all those +creole belles as a queen to kitchen maids. Eyes of velvety black, full +of pride and fire and languor; silky hair, not of the hard, glossy hue +of the raven's wing, but soft and warming to chestnut where the sun +shone through a straying lock; face oval and of that clear, warm pallor +unknown to women of Northern blood; a straight nose with well-opened, +sensitive nostrils; a scarlet-lipped mouth, whose kiss would have +thrilled a dying man. But he is a fool who seeks to set down beauty in a +catalogue. It was not at her eyes or hair or face that I gazed; it was +at her, at the radiant spirit which shone out through that lovely mask +of flesh. + +She met my gaze with a directness which showed English training, as did +also the slightness of her accent. Her manner was most gracious, without +a trace of condescension, yet with an underlying note of haughtiness, +forgotten in the liquid melody of her voice. + +"Senor, I trust that you will pardon the error of my kinsman,--my +uncle,--and that you will accept our thanks for the service." + +"I am repaid,--a thousand times,--senorita!" I stammered, the while my +dazzled eyes drank in her radiant beauty. + +She bowed composedly and withdrew into the gloom of the coach. That was +all. But it left me half dazed. Not until the driver trudged back and +reached for the reins did it come upon me that I was staring blankly in +through the empty window at the outline of the don's shoulder. The best +I can say is that I did not find my mouth agape. + +A touch of my heel and a hint at the bit sent my nag jogging on toward +the Capitol, leaving the rescued coach to flounder along its opposite +way as best it could, through the avenue already famous for its two +miles of length, its hundred yards of width, and its two feet of depth. + +Wearied as I was by the last of many days' hard riding from the Ohio, I +was the lighter for carrying with me a scarlet-lipped vision with eyes +like sloes. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +PLAIN THOMAS JEFFERSON + + +It was the third day after my arrival in Washington. The clear sky, +which in the forenoon had lured me down from the Capitol Hill along the +forest-clad banks of the little Tiber, had brought at the noon hour a +warmth of sunshine that made by no means ungrateful the shade of a giant +tulip poplar. + +I was lolling at my ease on the bank of the beautiful stream when a +rider broke cover from a thicket of azaleas and cantered toward me down +along the bank. The first glance at his horse brought me to my feet, +eager-eyed. It was one of the most mettlesome and shapely mounts I had +ever had the pleasure to view. + +The rider, attracted perhaps by my ill-concealed admiration, drew up +before me with the easy control of a perfect horseman, and touched his +cocked hat. + +"A pleasant day, sir, for a lover of wild Nature," he said. + +His tone, though easy almost to familiarity, was underlaid with a quiet +dignity and reserve that brought my hand in turn to my high, stiff +beaver and my eyes to his face. + +"A day, sir, to tempt even a botanist to forget his classifying," I +ventured at sight of the rooted plant of goldenrod in his hand. + +He shook his long gray locks with a whimsical manner. "On the contrary, +I am of the opinion that the enjoyment of Nature should add zest to the +pursuits of Science." + +"Since you put it so aptly, sir, I cannot but agree," I made answer, +smiling at his shrewdness. "In truth," I added, "this unusual +opportunity of enjoying _solidago odora_ so late in the season loses +nothing by the knowledge that the infusion of those selfsame fragrant +leaves is of service medicinally." + +He met the careless glance accompanying my words with deepened interest +in his thoughtful eyes. Having had the greater part of my attention thus +far fixed upon the noble horse, I had not gone beyond my first +impression that the man was an overseer from some near-by plantation on +the Potomac. Now, roused to closer observation by his gaze, I perceived +that behind his homely features lay the brain of a man of much thought +and learning. With this I gave heed to the fact that his clothes, for +all their carelessness of cut and condition, were of the finest +materials. + +I swept him the best of the bows I had acquired from the French creoles +of New Orleans. + +"Can it be, sir, that chance has favored me with the acquaintance of a +fellow physician in what Mr. Gouverneur Morris has so aptly termed the +spoiled wilderness of Washington?" I asked. "If so, permit me to +introduce myself as a young but aspiring practitioner of the healing +art. My name, sir, is one often in the mouths of men,--Robinson,--Dr. +John H. Robinson." + +Smiling at my attempt at wit, the gentleman swung to the ground before +me, and twitched the reins over the head of his spirited mount. + +"You were walking toward the Capitol?" he inquired. I nodded assent. +"Then, by your leave, I will accompany you part of the way,--not that I +can claim the honor of membership in your most useful profession. I am +no more than a browser in the lush fields of philosophy. My name, sir, +is Thomas Jefferson." + +For a moment I stood like a dolt. My hand went up to jerk off my +coonskin cap, and knocked smartly against the stiff brim of my beaver. +The touch recalled me to my dignity, and I flattered myself that my bow +and words would alike prove acceptable: "Your Excellency will pardon me! +Had I been aware--" + +"You would have known that there are few things I hold in greater +detestation than such high-flown, aristocratic terms of address and such +undemocratic bendings," he cut in upon me, with a touch of asperity in +his quiet voice. + +"I stand corrected, sir," I replied, straightening to my full six feet, +and seeking to cover my confusion with a smile. "It is not necessarily +proof of sycophancy that one has acquired his manners in New Orleans." + +"True--true, and that is full explanation of what I must confess puzzled +me. You are from the far West, if I do not mistake, and our +frontiersmen, as a rule, are as deficient in courtly graces as the +European aristocrats are sycophantic. By your leave, we will be moving." + +We swung about and sauntered up the stream bank, the horse following at +his master's heels, docile as a well-trained hound. For a time the +attention of my distinguished companion seemed fixed upon the romantic +arbors of wild grapes which overran the neighboring thickets. But as I +was about to remark on the beauty of the autumnal foliage, he turned to +me with a direct question: "Have you close acquaintance, sir, among the +people of St. Louis and New Orleans?" + +"I have practised in both towns, sir, since the cession of Louisiana +Territory." + +"And you found the former subjects of Spain and France well disposed +toward the Republic?" + +"I regret to have to say, sir, that Governor Claiborne is not popular +even among our American residents of New Orleans." + +The President looked at me doubtfully. "Claiborne is a man of undisputed +integrity." + +"The creoles, Your Excellency, could better appreciate a degree of tact. +Governor Claiborne is too much the Western man in his attitude toward +people of another race." + +"I cannot but trust that our release of them from subjection to +despotism--" He paused to study my face with a mild yet penetrating +gaze. We walked on for several paces before he again spoke. "I esteem +you to be a man of some little discernment, Dr. Robinson." + +"You compliment me, sir. Having gone to the Mississippi fresh from my +medical studies in New York, it may be that I observed some features of +the Louisiana situation unnoted by the local factions. Though a +Westerner myself, I trust that four years in college on the seaboard has +enabled me to look upon events with a little less of our natural +trans-Alleghany prejudice." + +"Ah! You are also acquainted in St. Louis--with General Wilkinson? +Perhaps you are intimate?" + +"No!" I said. Before my mental vision rose the whiskey-flushed face and +portly figure of the pompous, fussy old General. + +"You speak emphatically." + +"Sir, I give you common opinion when I say there are few men of standing +in the Upper Territory, or in the Lower, for that matter, who would +trust the General out of sight either with their reputations or with +their purses." + +My companion frowned as severely as it seemed his philosophic +temperament would permit. "You forget, sir, that you are speaking of +the Commander-in-Chief of the Army of the Republic." + +"A commander whose appointment, it is said, was urged on the grounds +that it would keep him out of mischief,--a man who is charged with +having been implicated in all the separatist plots of the nineties." + +"And if so, what then? With the removal of the misguided Federalists +from the control of public affairs, and the purchase of Louisiana +Territory, insuring for our Western river commerce the freedom of port +at New Orleans, all basis for the just complaints of the West have been +removed. I trust implicitly in the loyalty of the people of that great +region." + +"What of the ovations given to Mr. Aaron Burr during his trip this past +season?" + +"Greatly as I deplored, and still deplore, the death of Mr. Hamilton, it +is a fact that the duel terminated the political career of his +slayer,--the man whom we alike distrusted." + +"Yet Colonel Burr was received with enthusiasm by nearly every man of +prominence west of Pittsburg. I might mention Senator Adair, young +General Jackson of the Tennessee militia, General Wilkinson, and our +richest New Orleans merchant, Mr. Daniel Clark." + +"Very true; and easily accounted for by the reaction of sentiment +against the Federalist and partisan animus which procured Colonel Burr's +disfranchisement in the State of New York and his indictment for murder +in New Jersey. No; once for all, Colonel Burr has been removed as a +disturbing element in the politics of the Republic." + +Having delivered this confident opinion, Mr. Jefferson stooped to pick +up an odd pebble, and after gazing at it a moment, abruptly changed the +subject. "The West takes some little interest, I trust, in the +expedition which I had some share in planning." + +"You refer, sir, to the Northwest Expedition under the command of +Captain Lewis and the brother of Clark of Vincennes fame." + +"The furtherance of unremunerative scientific research is one of the few +functions properly within the scope of an ideal government. I am hopeful +of valuable results from this expedition as regards the advancement +alike of geography, botany, zooelogy, and mineralogy." + +"I trust, sir, that you will be equally gratified by the results of the +exploration of the Mississippi by my friend Lieutenant Pike." + +"Pike?--Pike?--Ah, the son of Major Zebulon Pike of the Revolution. +General Wilkinson duly informed the Secretary of War that he had sent +young Pike up the river with a small party. But it is a purely military +expedition, equipped by the General on his own initiative; although I +may add that his action in the matter has since received the approval of +the Government." + +"That last statement, sir, is of no little satisfaction to myself as a +friend of Lieutenant Pike. I am sure that he will quit himself of his +service with no small credit. Allow me to speak of him as one of the +Republic's most able and patriotic young soldiers." + +"So I have been informed. On the other hand, the young man lacks the +scientific attainments most desirable in the leader of such an +expedition." + +My heart gave a bound that sent the blood tingling to my finger-tips. + +"Mr. President," I exclaimed, "the Government is doubtless aware that +General Wilkinson has in view another expedition,--one to proceed +westward to treat with the tribes of the great plains and to explore the +western boundaries between Louisiana Territory and New Spain. I am, sir, +only too well aware of my lack of standing alike with the General and +with the Government, yet I believe I can say, with all due modesty, that +I possess somewhat the scientific attainments you mention as +desirable--" + +I stopped short upon meeting the growing reserve in my companion's mild +gaze. He smiled not unkindly. + +"I did not state, Dr. Robinson, that such attainments were the sole +requisites. Moreover, this expedition, if in truth such a one is +contemplated, rests wholly upon the discretion of General Wilkinson, and +will no doubt be of a military character." + +"Yet, if I may venture, could not Your Excellency--" + +The President stopped and regarded me with severity. "I have already +remarked, sir, that such adulatory titles--" + +"Pardon me, Mr. Jefferson!" I cried. + +His look did not relax. "Nor 'Mister' Jefferson, if you please, sir. I +am Thomas Jefferson, the servant of the people and a plain citizen of +the Republic,--no more, no less." + +Knowing the greatness of the man behind this small foible, I bowed +acquiescence to the statement, and he, smiling gravely in response, +added with cordiality: "As I have intimated, the Executive will not +interfere with any proper plans which General Wilkinson may deem +expedient. Yet I will say that, in the event he carries out the +contemplated expedition to our Western boundaries, I should be pleased +to hear of such a well-qualified assistant as yourself being included in +the party as a volunteer." + +I covered my disappointment with the best smile I could muster: "In that +event, sir, I fear that I must repress my adventurous longings." + +I bowed and stepped aside for him to pass on. He mounted with easy +agility, but checked his over-willing horse for a parting remark: "Sir, +I am pleased to have met you. I shall be more pleased to meet you at my +table this evening." + +Before I could recover from my astonishment he had touched his hat +civilly, and was cantering away across country. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +AT THE PRESIDENT'S HOUSE + + +It will not be thought strange that my invitation to dine with the +President put me in high conceit with myself, and this notwithstanding +such information as I had already acquired as to the looseness and +informality of the White House etiquette since the retirement of +President Adams. Although Mr. Jefferson's custom was to invite many +kinds of persons to his elegant little dinners, the guests were +generally selected for their compatibility. + +On the other hand, my elation was tempered by the fact that another +result of my chance meeting with His Excellency in the woods had been a +sharp dashing of the hopes which had brought me to Washington. I refer +to the matter of General Wilkinson's contemplated expedition to the +West. Having reasons of my own for not wishing to apply to the +Commander-in-Chief for the leadership of the expedition, I had come on +to the Federal City in the fond hope of receiving the appointment from +the Secretary of War. Fate had given me the opportunity of making my +modest request direct to the source of all Federal patronage, with the +results which have been stated. + +It was therefore without undue elation that, dressed in my small-clothes +and new coat, my best shirt-frill, and highest pudding cravat, I jogged +north along the redoubtable avenue which, only three days before, had +seen me ride south in my buckskins. My horse, feeling his oats after his +days in stall, fretted at the sober pace I set him. A word or even a +touch would have put him into full gallop, for all the depth of the +mire. Yet, even had I not been in so grave a frame of mind, I had my +silk stockings and fine buckled shoes to consider. + +In due time we came to the grassy common about the Presidential mansion, +and entered the iron gate in the high rock wall built by Mr. Jefferson +to enclose the noble building. On dismounting, my first surprise of the +evening was that I should be ushered in by a white attendant. I had +expected that Mr. Jefferson would be served by slaves from his great +plantation at Monticello. Later I learned that he preferred to hire his +entire corps of servants, some thirty or more, all of whom were white. + +Upon giving my name as one of the dinner guests, I was shown into a +pleasant, spacious room, which, from a remark dropped by the attendant, +I understood to be the President's cabinet. My first glance took in a +view of walls lined with well-filled bookcases, globes, charts, and +maps; my second, a brighter picture of window recesses filled with roses +and geraniums, in the midst of which was embowered a cage with a +mocking-bird; my third glance followed down the long table in the +centre of the room to where the tall, slender figure of my illustrious +host was rising in courteous greeting. + +My second surprise of the evening lay in my recognition of the handsome, +dashing little man who sat regarding me, alert and keen-eyed, from the +far corner of the table. I had seen that sanguine, high-spirited face +before, many a weary mile west of Washington. + +The President met my advance with a benignant smile: "You are in very +good season, Dr. Robinson. I am pleased that you did not forget my hasty +invitation." + +"One does not easily forget such an honor from Thomas Jefferson," I +responded. + +"Tut, tut!" he reproved, and turning to his companion, who rose with +graceful ease and quickness, said, "Colonel Burr, I wish to introduce +Dr. Robinson--Dr. John H. Robinson of New Orleans--" + +"Now of St. Louis," I corrected. + +"Of St. Louis." + +Had I been the President himself, Colonel Burr's bow could not have been +more considerate or his smile more winning. + +"If I missed the pleasure of an introduction to Dr. Robinson in New +Orleans, it was not due to lack of desire on my part," he said. +"Governor Claiborne and Mr. Daniel Clark alike spoke highly of your +merits, sir." + +"That Colonel Burr should remember such chance remarks concerning an +unknown young doctor is indeed a compliment," I replied. "You were +pointed out to me, sir, at the dinner given you by Governor Claiborne. +An urgent professional call compelled me to leave before I could obtain +an introduction. But my misfortune in missing the honor of meeting you, +alike in New Orleans and upon your subsequent visit to St. Louis, will +now, I trust, be offset by the pleasure of your company as a fellow +guest." + +"I had in mind that you would count yourself among the Western +well-wishers of Colonel Burr," remarked Mr. Jefferson, eying me as I +thought with a certain sharpness. "My idea for this dinner was a party +whose members would share a common interest in Louisiana affairs." + +As he finished speaking, the President stepped past me toward the door +by which I had entered. Colonel Burr promptly took his place, still +smiling suavely, but keen-eyed as a hawk. + +"Sir," he asked, in a low and eager voice, "may I indeed count you among +my Western friends?" + +It may have been the magnetism of the man, or possibly only the +suddenness of the question, but I found myself answering without +thought, "We are all your well-wishers, sir." + +He smiled and gave me a significant glance which I did not half +understand and liked still less. The words were on my tongue's tip to +correct his evident misconception of my hasty answer, when he, in turn, +stepped past me, bowing and smiling. I turned about, and received my +third surprise. The President and Mr. Burr were exchanging bows with my +Spanish don of the mired carriage! + +Great as was my astonishment, I intercepted and unconsciously made +mental note of the look of understanding which as I turned was passing +between the don and Colonel Burr. + +The former flashed a glance of inquiry from myself to the President, who +met it with his ungraceful but ready courtesy--"Don Pedro Vallois, Dr. +John H. Robinson." + +"And my good friend, senor!" added Mr. Burr, with a warmth of tone that +astonished me. + +Senor Vallois responded to my bow with one as punctiliously polite as it +was haughty. There was no sign of recognition in his cold eyes. The +opportunity was too tempting to forgo. + +"I trust, senor, that you were not again stalled, and have not been +required to inhabit the centre of the avenue these past three days," I +remarked. + +At this he gazed at me with more interest. No doubt my voice jogged his +memory, for in a moment his eye kindled, and he grasped my hand with the +heartiness of an Englishman. + +"_Por Dios!_ It is our _caballero_ of the mire!" + +"The same, senor. It is good fortune which brings us together as guests +of His Excellency the President," I replied, thinking to divert the +conversation. It was in vain. + +"How?--What is this, senor? You know Dr. Robinson?" questioned Colonel +Burr, his eyes sparkling not altogether pleasantly, and his lips +tightening beneath their smile. + +Senor Vallois waved his hand for attention and proceeded, with much +detail and elaboration, to recount my simple feat with the fence rails. +In the midst entered the Honorable Henry Dearborn, the Secretary of War, +to whom I had been introduced on the day of my arrival by Senator Adair. +His curt nod of recognition forestalled an introduction by Mr. +Jefferson, and the senor's account proceeded to the end without +interruption. + +Mr. Jefferson and Colonel Burr were alike pleased to give the senor +close attention. The former was first to make his comment,--"A friendly +deed, and one seldom met with nowadays." + +Colonel Burr was not content so to spare my modesty. + +"Friendly!" he exclaimed, "friendly! Gallant is the word, sir! We read +of Raleigh spreading his cloak for a queen. Here is an American +gentleman who plunges into the mire to pry out a lady's coach, an act by +far the more gallant!" He faced about to give me a knowing smile. "You +saw the lady beckoning from the carriage window, and, of course, beauty +in distress--" + +"_Santisima Virgen!_ My niece beckon to a stranger in the highway!" +protested Senor Vallois, in a tone that would have compelled a far +duller man than Colonel Burr to realize his mistake. + +"Your pardon, senor!" he hastened to explain. "A mere figure of speech. +I infer that the lady looked out, and Dr. Robinson, chancing to see +her--" + +"No, no, Colonel!" I broke in. "I cannot lay claim to the gallantry with +which you would credit me. It was the needless lashing of the horses +which prompted me to the action." + +"The more credit to your kindliness, sir," remarked Mr. Jefferson, with +a heartiness which added to my embarrassment. The nod of assent and warm +glance of General Dearborn in part consoled me for the stress of the +situation. + +Whether the grave look of Senor Vallois indicated approval or +disapproval of my disclaimer of gallantry I could not tell. But Colonel +Burr was open in his protest. + +"What! what!" he cried. "Is this the manner of the coming generation? +Have romance and gallantry fled with the peruke?" + +He looked from my loose, unpowdered curls to the Spaniard's costly wig. + +"Youth will have its day," said General Dearborn, offering him his +snuff-box. Mr. Burr took a pinch with the affected elegance of a beau. +The dose was of such strength that the sneeze which followed flapped the +Colonel's queue and lifted a cloud of powder from his hair. The +President, Senor Vallois, and myself having in turn declined the box, +General Dearborn complemented the Colonel with a sneeze that stirred his +own thin queue and powder. + +Mr. Jefferson made some remark commending the growing simplicity of +fashion with regard to the dressing of the hair. He was interrupted by +the entrance of a small, stoutish gentleman in black broadcloth, who +bowed familiarly to the President and General Dearborn, and formally to +Colonel Burr. I learned without delay that the newcomer was no less a +personage than the Secretary of State, for Mr. Jefferson at once +presented to him first the senor and then myself. + +The introduction brought me to a full realization of the honor which had +been conferred upon me. That such notable men as my fellow guests should +be dining with the President was a matter of course, but that I should +be present as a member of so distinguished a party was, I flattered +myself, a most signal honor for an unknown young doctor. + +The situation was in part explained by the President, who, as Mr. +Madison met my bow with a penetrating glance of his mild blue eyes, +remarked, in his easy, informal manner: "My secretary had a fall while +riding to the hounds, and Dr. Robinson has been so good as to take his +place with us this evening. Dr. Robinson is conversant with matters +pertaining to Louisiana Territory." + +A servant appeared at the door of the drawing-room, and Mr. Jefferson +moved forward beside Senor Vallois, with a word of explanation: "We will +join the ladies, gentlemen." + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +SENORITA ALISANDA + + +My wits would have been those of a dolt had I not foreseen the +possibility of the presence of Senorita Alisanda in the drawing-room. +The chance of so favorable a meeting set my nerves to tingling between +delighted anticipation and dread of disappointment. + +Thanks to my ruddy coloring and a natural erectness of bearing, I +followed the others to the door with a fair show of confidence, +notwithstanding that I had to endure the contrast of so polished a +gentleman as Mr. Burr. As we advanced, he had promptly placed himself at +my side, in the rear of the others, his yielding of precedence being, as +I was not too dull to perceive, a most subtle attempt to flatter me. + +That I was flattered was not strange, as may be testified to by those +who have come in personal contact with the man. Yet for all his winning +manner I gave little heed to his words, my thoughts being fixed on the +delicious possibility of an immediate meeting with my glorious lady of +the avenue. + +Imagine the bitterness of my disappointment, upon entering the +drawing-room, to see no one in the remotest degree resembling the +senorita among the ladies who awaited our presence. While Senor Vallois +was being introduced I had a moment to glance about the room, with the +disheartening result that I nowhere saw the graceful figure which I had +hoped to discover screened by the shabby crimson damask of the +furniture. + +The voice of Mr. Jefferson recalled me to the ladies, and I found myself +making a melancholy bow to Mrs. Randolph, his surviving daughter. She in +turn presented me to the other ladies,--of whose persons and appearance, +out of the medley of muslins and fans, bright eyes, bared busts, and +thinly veiled forms, I retain only the remembrance that one was Mrs. +Dearborn, another a Mrs. Smith, daughter of the renowned Senator Bayard +of Delaware, and a third Mrs. Madison. Of the fourth lady, whose name I +did not catch, I recall that she was an elderly dame of sedate manners, +but far other than sedate in her compliance with the extreme mode. Her +gray curls were all but dripping with pomade, and the gore in the left +side of her narrow skirt extended up above mid-thigh. Her jewelled +garter was the handsomest one visible, for which reason, I presume, it +was more openly displayed than those of the other ladies. + +Mrs. Madison, petite and charming, notwithstanding her plainness of +feature and the fact that she was nearer forty than thirty, promptly +rallied me upon my look of depression. The Colonel and Mrs. Smith joined +forces with "Dolly," as the latter addressed her, so that I was +compelled to smile, if only to save myself from a general onslaught. + +"That is better!" exclaimed Mrs. Madison. "He, a doctor! to think of +dining with so gloomy a countenance!" + +"Above all, to think of any other than a smiling face in _your_ +presence!" chimed in Mr. Burr. "I had not thought it possible of one who +has proved that he can be gallant even to horses." + +At this there was a chorus of curious questions. I turned, seeking a way +of escape, and discovered that I was all but touching elbows with my +lady of the mire! + +Presently I found myself bowing. Though still half bewildered, I +realized that I was being introduced to her as Miss Vallois, the niece +of Senor Vallois. + +Colonel Burr, who had been introduced with the other gentlemen while I +stood in my daze, now sought to engage her attention. His eye for +feminine charm and beauty is as well known as is his success with the +ladies. With such a rival, my utter loss of composure doubtless would +have resulted quickly in the more serious loss of the lady's attention, +had she not at the last moment recognized me as the buckskin +_caballero_. + +With a glance of frank pleasure which came near to finishing me on the +spot, she signed gracefully to her uncle: "_Santa Maria!_ It is he--the +_caballero_ who so kindly came to our assistance!" + +"I have already expressed to the senor the full measure of our gratitude +for his service," replied Don Pedro, in a tone which recalled the girl +to her first manner of polite hauteur. + +"Permit me to join my thanks to those of my kinsman," she said to me. + +Nettled by the condescension of her tone and bearing, I shook off my +daze, and rejoined with more wit than courtesy, "Believe me, senorita, +no thanks are due me other than from your coach horses." + +Another chorus of questions demanded the explanation, and Colonel Burr +responded by telling over Don Pedro's account in the form of a wittily +brilliant anecdote. I listened unheeding, for my gaze was fixed upon +Senorita Alisanda. + +At my rude reply her eyes had flashed with a look before which my own +dropped,--though not to the floor. As she drew back a step in her +displeasure, my gaze dwelt adoringly upon the graces of her lissome +form. She was tall, yet not unduly slender, and the queenly dignity and +beauty of her presence were enhanced by the flowing lines of her dress. + +Of the dress itself I can only say that it was of scarlet sarsenet, +covered in part by an overdrape of silver spangles on white _crepe_, +and, in compliance with the Empire mode, cut low enough in the waist to +expose her dazzling shoulders and bosom. Her arms, rounding up from the +small hands and slender wrists as if carved from new ivory, were bare to +the bows of black ribbon on her shoulders. Close about her perfect +throat, in place of the usual ruffs, was a double string of black +pearls. Notwithstanding the universal acceptance of the new fashions, I +had great pleasure in the fact that she had not sacrificed her beautiful +hair for a wig. + +But, needless to say, I gave slight heed to her dress. My fascinated +eyes dropped their gaze to the little arched foot which peeped from +beneath the raised front of her dress, snugly cased in its +diamond-buckled slipper of scarlet satin. The foot drew back out of +view, and I looked up in time to catch a faint tinge of pink beneath the +clear ivory of my lady's cheeks. Her look was, if possible, more haughty +than before. Yet, emboldened by that faint blush and the intoxication of +her beauty, I met her gaze with such a glow in my steel-gray eyes that +this time it was hers that lowered. + +A change in the light chatter of the company forced me to spare them a +glance. Senor Vallois and Mrs. Randolph were leading the way to the +dining-room, and the others were pairing off to follow, in a most +informal manner. I saw Colonel Burr turning toward us, which spurred me +to instant action. + +"We go in now, senorita," I said, offering her my arm. + +Mr. Burr flashed me a whimsical glance, between disappointment and +commendation, and turned to the nearest lady. At the same time the +senorita looked up. Seeing the others all in couples, she hesitated +only a moment before accepting my arm. + +Of the dining-room I can state no more than that it was a very long +apartment, that the furniture was exceedingly plain, and that we sat at +an oval table, whose shape was supposed to bring all present face to +face. + +Thanks to the close imitation of Parisian society at New Orleans, to +which I had enjoyed the _entree_, I managed to conduct my unwilling +partner to the table with a _haut ton_ that brought an uplift in the +brows of more than one of my fellow guests. My elation over this success +was short-lived. Colonel Burr adroitly placed himself on her other hand, +and for a time I saw no more of her scarlet lips and dusky eyes. Both +were given freely to the Colonel, whose reputation was only too well +known. + +I might have sought to console myself with the rareness of the wines and +the epicurean delicacy of the food. The service was simple, yet refined, +the cooking such that I at once recognized the art of a Frenchman. Yet +even the Madeira failed to cheer me. I could only sit silent over my +plate and steal lackadaisical glances at the rounded shoulder which my +partner so cruelly turned upon me, and at the silky maze of sable hair +which crowned her shapely head. + +Until now my feeling toward Colonel Burr had been uncertain, vaguely +doubtful, yet by no means hostile. It now hardened of a sudden into +deep-seated aversion. So little has reason to do with the affairs of +men--and women! + +To show the depth of resentment into which my passion flung me, I need +only say that I conned over in my memory the fatal meeting between Mr. +Burr and Mr. Hamilton, and exulted that I might be able to avenge the +great Federalist and myself at the same time by challenging the Colonel +to a like encounter. For all his sinister reputation as a duellist, at +that moment I would gladly have met him with any weapons he might +choose. + +Either because of my look, or, what was the more probable, because of +his well-known aversion to a divided conversation at table, Mr. +Jefferson broke in upon the Colonel's _tete-a-tete_ with so shrewd a +question regarding the Louisiana situation that Mr. Burr was required to +answer at some length. + +This fresh turn of the conversation the President, with seeming +ingenuousness, deflected to me, so that, from being the one silent +member of the party, I found myself most unexpectedly the main speaker +and the centre of attention. By keeping well within the bounds of my +certain information, I was able to hold my own in the general discussion +which followed, and to reply to all questions with a fair degree of +fluency, although subjected by each of the gentlemen in turn to a +cross-examination as keen and pointed as it was lightly uttered. + +"And your opinion of the Spanish boundaries?" asked Mr. Madison at last. +It was a question which I had expected from the first,--the question of +all questions among my fellow-denizens of Louisiana Territory. + +"We have him there!" said Colonel Burr, as I paused over my reply. + +Even the ladies bent forward to catch my words, and I was not surprised +to see that Senor Vallois betrayed still more interest than the other +gentlemen. For the first time my partner turned and fixed her eyes upon +me. I stated my opinion without further hesitancy. + +"As to the West Florida boundary," I said, "there can be no doubt. Spain +is in the right." + +"Your proof?" demanded Colonel Burr. + +I cited such clauses bearing upon the point in the Spanish and French +treaties as were known, and other facts which I had heard mentioned by +Mr. Daniel Clark. + +"A plausible statement," remarked General Dearborn. "But with regard to +the other Spanish line--the Texas boundary?" + +"As to that, would not the opinions of Senor Vallois and Colonel Burr be +more authoritative?" I countered. "Colonel Burr at least should be +well-grounded as to the points in controversy, in view of his high +standing as a lawyer and the commonly accredited report in the West that +he is negotiating for permission to found a colony within the Spanish +territory." + +"It is the first I have heard of the undertaking," remarked the +President, with evident surprise. "You did not mention it to me, +Colonel, at our meeting the other day." + +"Had Your Excellency then considered it expedient to give me the +ministry for which I asked, I should have had no need to enter upon +speculative projects," returned Mr. Burr, exposing his humiliating +rebuff by Mr. Jefferson with a cynical frankness which it was plainly to +be seen disconcerted not only the President but his eminent secretaries +as well. Mr. Burr paused a moment to enjoy the confusion of his great +adversary, then continued: "The project of a colony is as yet indefinite +in my mind. I have considered the possibility of retrieving my fortunes +by the purchase of four or five hundred thousand acres in the midst of +the most fertile tract of Texas,--on the Washita River." + +"Ah, Texas!" exclaimed Mrs. Madison, turning to Senor Vallois. "Is it +not the question of the Texas line which most threatens to terminate our +fair relations with your Government?" + +"Such is the fact, senora," replied the don, with marked reserve. + +Mrs. Randolph addressed my partner: "Your uncle takes you to Chihuahua +by way of Texas, I believe you said, Miss Vallois." + +"No, madam. I fear I was not clear in my explanations. Senor Vallois had +intended to return that way before it was decided that I should +accompany him from England." + +"We go by way of Vera Cruz," explained Senor Vallois. + +"So long a voyage!" exclaimed Mrs. Smith. "I should have imagined the +passage from England would have wearied you of the water for a +lifetime." + +"We came in one of your American packet ships, and were only +twenty-seven days in crossing," replied the senorita. + +"Only twenty-seven days on the ocean!" I exclaimed--"twenty-seven days!" + +"It is not an extraordinarily quick passage, with favorable weather and +our American-built ships," remarked Mr. Madison. + +"Believe me, sir, it was not the shortness but the length of the voyage +which compelled my exclamation," I explained. "Miss Vallois will pardon +me if I express my admiration of her heroism. I once made a trip from +New York to Boston by schooner. I came back on a horse." + +This statement was met with a gust of mirth, no doubt due more to the +wine which had gone before it than to its wit. Yet it served to throw +the conversation into a lighter vein, that ended in a run of repartee as +sparkling as the champagne with which it was accompanied. In this +contest of wit and airy nothings I soon found myself as far +out-distanced as the others were outstripped by Colonel Burr. + +Again my partner gave me her shoulder, and my sole consolation for the +slight was that she joined but little in the contest, and met the +Colonel's gallantry with a reserve unmistakably evident in the poise of +her head and the coldness of her perfect profile. She could be haughty +with others no less than with myself. + +Although she did not favor me with a single glance, the half-averted +view of her adorably curved cheek and an occasional glimpse of her +profile were far preferable to nothing. All too early, Mrs. Randolph +gave the signal for the ladies to withdraw. + +In rising, whether by accident or design, the senorita turned toward me. +Her eyes were nearer on a level with my own than those of any other +young lady I had ever faced, and the erectness of her carriage, so +different from the drooping French pose, added to the effect of proud +height. She met me with a full open gaze, as devoid of allurement as it +was of repellence and hauteur. I seemed to be looking down into the +depths of fathomless wells, within which was nothing but velvety +darkness. + +It was but a moment, and she had turned away with the others, leaving me +mystified. Nor could I puzzle out the meaning of the look during the two +hours I sat with the other gentlemen, matching them glass after glass, +and with them growing steadily more mirthful over the witticisms of +Colonel Burr, which were more notable for point than for decorum. + +The fine and costly wines of our illustrious host stirred me to this +false mirth, behind which, as behind a mask, I found my inner self +constantly reverting to the thought of my lady's strange glance. But try +as I might, I could not so much as guess at its meaning. As I have said, +it had held nothing either of attraction or of repulsion; it had not +expressed even the barest curiosity--only that fathomless depth of +mystery. + +All the more was I eager for the signal to rejoin the ladies in the +drawing-room. Another look, I thought, would give me the key to the +puzzle, a trace to point me along the way of her meaning. + +At last Mr. Jefferson saw fit to lead us in to the ladies, a servant +following with the coffee. I pressed in close after Senor Vallois, and, +like him, looked about in vain for his niece. Mrs. Randolph hastened to +explain to him that Miss Vallois had only just withdrawn, on the plea of +a slight indisposition. The senor immediately excused himself, saluting +us all with punctilious bows and a sonorous "_Adios!_" and withdrew. + +After his departure the ladies were pleased to bestow on me some little +attention, and in their seemingly artless manner drew from me much +regarding my family, my education, and my fortune,--or, as I should say, +my ambitions; for my fortune as yet lay mostly in the future. Presently, +to my surprise, I found myself invited to call at as many homes as there +were ladies present. This was an honor entirely unexpected by me, in +view of the fact that I could claim neither political prestige nor +distinguished birth. The disregard for the latter may have been due to +Mr. Jefferson's well-known Jacobin principles, the reflection of which +is clearly perceptible in the attitude of the greater number of his +intimates. + +The gentlemen were almost equally cordial when the time came for me to +withdraw, General Dearborn alone maintaining a certain reserve, due, as +I surmised, to anticipations of a formal application for Government +favors. + +At the last moment Colonel Burr remarked that he intended to stop over +another day before going on to Philadelphia, and gave me his address, +followed by a cordial invitation to call. I replied with an expression +of thanks for the honor and withdrew before he could pin me down to an +outright acceptance. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +GULF AND BARRIER + + +There may be more disagreeable tasks than waiting on the uncertain favor +of public officials. If so, I have never chanced upon them. Backed by +letters of introduction from prominent men in New Orleans and St. Louis +and by my father's old-time friend Senator Adair of Kentucky, I had +thought to obtain the coveted leadership of the westward expedition for +the asking. + +To my surprise, even the letter of so great a merchant as Daniel Clark +met with scant consideration from the Eastern office-holders, and +Senator Adair soon confessed to his lack of influence with the +Government with regard to my interest. At the same time he intimated to +me that should I be able to gain the good word of Colonel Burr, it was +not unlikely I might receive my appointment direct from General +Wilkinson. + +"But, sir," I protested, "what has Colonel Burr to do with a military +expedition planned by the Commander-in-Chief of the Army?" + +The Senator gave me a sharp glance, and considered for some moments +before replying: "Young man, one of the greatest aids to success in life +is the ability to recognize helpful friends. I have received a letter +from Colonel Burr in the last Philadelphia post. You met him at the +President's House, and I gather from his remarks regarding the occasion +that he was greatly taken with yourself." + +"Unfortunately the favorable impression was not mutual," I said. + +"It is indeed unfortunate--for you, John," reproved the Senator. "Such +men as Colonel Burr can pick and choose from thousands." + +"I am willing to be passed over." + +"Tut! a boyish whim! Do not say no to me. You will cultivate the +friendship of the Colonel." I made an impatient gesture. "At the least, +you will not rebuff him." + +"Sir, I have not sought his advances. But since it is you who ask, I +will not take positive stand against him." + +"That is better. It might be more--yet enough for the time. Let me tell +you, John, Colonel Burr is still a man of mark in this Republic, and I +shall be vastly surprised if he does not add laurels to those he has +already gathered." + +"It is I who am surprised," I replied. "A once successful politician, +now discredited from Maine to Virginia,--a man who seven years ago tied +with Mr. Jefferson in the vote for the Presidency, and last election was +all but unanimously rejected, alike by the people and by the electoral +college,--for you to speak of such a man winning other laurels!" + +"You forget the West." + +"The West?" + +"Consider his reception west of the Alleghanies this past year,--his +triumphant progress from Pittsburg to New Orleans and return." + +"The West will elect no Presidents in many years to come." + +The Senator gave me an odd look. "Perhaps not--perhaps not. These people +of the original States would not consider it a possibility even of the +remotest future," he murmured. Again he considered. At last, "Has it +occurred to you, John, that this expedition may have other object than +the exploration of our Western boundaries?" + +"There will be treaties to make with the powerful tribes of plains +Indians,--the Pawnees and perhaps the Ietans, or Comanches, as some call +them." + +"Ah, yes; with the Pawnees--and others. Did you never hear it said that, +could an overland trade with Santa Fe be established, it would be of no +small profit to those fortunate enough to obtain the concession from the +Spanish authorities? Santa Fe is the nearest gateway to the mines of +Mexico,--to El Dorado." + +"I know a certain Senor Liza of St. Louis who would not forego a chance +to join in such a venture," I replied. + +"True--true. But he is a Spanish Creole, and, I fear, not too well +disposed toward us. My point is, would it be too great an improbability +that a certain projected expedition should chance to come in friendly +touch with the authorities of northern New Spain?" + +Having given me food for thought to last me many a day, the Senator +dropped the subject. During all my subsequent months of waiting I could +not induce him to discuss it again. + +The time of this conversation was the third week of my stay in +Washington. Being well supplied with funds and on agreeable terms both +socially and professionally with Dr. Frederick May, I had settled down +in my comfortable boarding-house, prepared, if need were, to besiege the +Government throughout the Winter. Should I fail to attain my desired +end, I had only to return West to find a fair practice awaiting me +either at St. Louis or New Orleans. At the worst there would be ample +recompense for my expenditures in the experience of a Winter in the +Federal City. + +Even had I been certain of the rejection of the formal application +which, a few days after the dinner at the White House, I had placed on +file in the War Office, I should have prolonged my stay for some time. +Within the week I had taken advantage of the invitations to call +tendered me by the ladies of the President's party. Within another week +I found myself fairly launched in the social swim. + +It is not remarkable that a man well under thirty, who has spent many of +his years riding the wilderness traces, should plunge into social +affairs with a zest unknown to the city dweller. To this zest there was +added in my case the keen desire to meet again my haughty Senorita +Alisanda. Yet devote myself as I might to attendance at balls, _fetes_, +dinners, routs, and calls innumerable, it was only to meet with repeated +disappointments. Although, thanks to the kindness of Dr. May and my lady +patronesses, there were few social gatherings, small or great, to which +I was not invited, I failed to gain another meeting with the lady of my +heart. She was not present even at the grand New Year's _fete_ at the +White House, when Mr. Jefferson, as was his custom, received and +entertained all Washington. + +That I was desperately in love with the senorita I had soon found myself +compelled to admit. For nothing less than the depth and passion of my +feeling could have prevented me from laughing myself out of it for the +sheer absurdity of such a thing. + +Reared among a people whose daughters marry at sixteen and their sons at +nineteen and twenty, I had safely survived my calf-love, had even run +the seductive gantlet of the creole belles of New Orleans,--only to fall +victim in my mature twenties to the first glance of this haughty Spanish +senorita. What could I hope from one who doubtless regarded me as our +Western girls regard the red Indian? I do not mean with the like horror, +but with a like contempt. + +Not alone was she a Spanish Catholic, to whom marriage with a heretic +would mean little less than sacrilege,--she was the daughter of a +Castilian family whose name implied kinship with one of the royal houses +of France. I was a man without a grandfather, and, what gave me real +concern, a citizen of a Republic which, in return for the carrying trade +of the world, was grovelling at the feet of England and France, +submissive to their contemptuous kicks. + +True, Spain also bowed beneath the iron hand of Napoleon, but it was +because of the might of that hand, and not, as with us, because of a +willingness to endure shame rather than part with the commerce of which +our humiliation was the price. Far better war and death than such barter +of principles for gold! + +As I thought of my abject countrymen I did not wonder that my lady had +looked upon me with hauteur; and yet I could not but reflect on the +graciousness of her thanks from the carriage window and that inscrutable +glance at our last parting. Hope interpreted the glance to mean that she +was heart-free and to be won by him who could stir her heart. Despair +said that she had gone forever beyond my reach, to the far distant home +of her uncle in New Spain. One answer to this last was the wild fancy +that, could I but attain the leadership of the Western expedition, I +might penetrate the wilderness and seek her out in the midst of her +people. + +At the height of my fantastic scheming, gossip at last enlightened me to +the fact that my lady was yet in the city, stopping with a humble family +of Catholics, and precluded from attendance at social functions by the +absence of her uncle on a trip to Philadelphia. + +Rumor added that the senor had gone to the old Capitol in company with +Colonel Burr, who, having spent much time at the British Legation with +Mr. Merry, the English Minister, had hurried North to confer with the +Marquis de Casa Yrujo. But Rumor and Colonel Burr were old bedmates, and +I gave little heed to the report at the time. + +My interest was centred on the joyous news that the senorita was still +in Washington, not upon the curious information that her uncle and +Colonel Burr were supposed to have business with the Spanish Minister, +who, though he had severed diplomatic relations with our Government some +months since, yet lingered at Philadelphia. + +Significant as should have been this report to one with my interests and +information, I must confess that not even the mention of Senor Vallois +drew second thought from me. For the time being my whole intent was to +find myself once more in the presence of the senorita. The question was +how and where? She was not to be seen in society, and I was not quite so +mad as to thrust myself in upon her at her retreat. + +Hope flamed up again when all seemed darkest. As is well known to all +people of information, the Sunday assemblage in the Hall of +Representatives at the Capitol is frequently varied by the preaching of +distinguished clergymen of various sects and denominations. Being rather +given to Free Thought, though not to Atheism, I had thus far refrained +from attending these quasi-official services, much as I had heard about +them as the social levees of the city. + +Chance, however, brought to Washington a noted Catholic bishop, and the +announcement that he would preach the following Sabbath in place of the +chaplain stirred me with the hope of a pleasant possibility. That Sunday +I went early to the assemblage hall, dressed in my best attire, my chin +swathed high enough by my pudding cravat to shame a London beau, my +trousers cut to the most modish, baggy shape and flapping loosely about +my shins. + +Early as I arrived, I found no small part of the crowd ahead of me, and +I had to thrust and elbow my way here and there among the beaux, across +the hall, before I could satisfy myself that the senorita was not +present. Dashed, but by no means disheartened, I chose a post of vantage +on the elevated edge of a niche, from which I could watch the entrance. + +Already I had had occasion to make my bows to the fashionably costumed +dames and misses whose gay talk and manners lent to the Hall more the +aspect of a ballroom than that of a house of worship or a legislative +chamber. As the company thronged in the gallant Representatives yielded +their seats to the ladies and stood beside them if acquainted, or, if +the fair ones came attended, left the aisles to the escorts and +withdrew into the lobbies or warmed themselves at the fireplaces. + +Seeing the rapidity with which the seats were being filled by the +ladies, it occurred to me to pay one of the House attendants to bring me +a chair. By the time the man fetched it the aisles were so crowded with +extra seats and the throng of standing men that the only available space +left for a chair was in the statueless niche behind me. Though the width +of the Hall lay between it and the platform behind the Speaker's chair, +I could do no better, and the elevation of the position would, as I had +found, enable one to see, if not hear, over the heads of the noisy +assembly. The nearness to the entrance was in another way a decided +advantage, since it would enable me to address the senorita without +abandoning my seat to capture by the nearest beau of the many chairless +ladies. + +From the moment the chair was handed me I was subjected to the wordless +attack of numerous fair ones, whose glances ranged all the way from soft +appeal to scornful reproach. And still the senorita failed to appear! + +Mr. Jefferson, as negligently dressed as usual, had come in and taken +his seat beside his secretary; and the Marine Band, a resplendent +cluster of scarlet uniforms and polished brass instruments in the +gallery, had played the opening bars of "Hail Columbia," when a stir at +the entrance caused me to redouble my despairing vigil. + +Greatly to my disappointment, I saw only the stately form of the +Catholic bishop. Ushered by an attendant, the priest made his way with +serene dignity through the laughing, chattering crowds whom he was to +address. + +My heart sank into my boots. The service had begun, the hall was packed +almost to suffocation, the bishop had arrived, and still the senorita +failed to appear. To have kept waiting longer the nearest of the ladies +who had signalled to me for my chair would have been most ungracious. I +turned to speak to the lady's friend, hesitated, and turned back for a +last look at the entrance. + +A rawboned Irishwoman was thrusting her way in through a group of men, +who seemed none too willing to give passage to her. The plainness of her +dress was enough of explanation for that, even had not the crowd been so +close. As she paused for breath, her big face red from exertion and the +quick anger of her race, it flashed upon me what a just mockery of the +beaux' gallantry it would be to give the woman my cherished seat. No +sooner had the thought entered my head than I caught her eye and +beckoned her to the chair. + +The woman stared. I nodded and repeated my gesture. Promptly she pushed +a little to one side and turned half about. The movement brought to my +view the figure of another woman who had followed her in. My heart +sprang into my throat. Though the face of the second woman was downbent +and her dress all of black, it was enough for my enlightenment that the +covering of her graceful head was a Spanish mantilla. + +At a word from the Irish woman she looked up and toward me, and I +thrilled at the level gaze of her glorious eyes. I bowed and pointed to +my chair. Without a sign of recognition she turned to look across the +hall. Unmasked to the men about her by the changed position of her +attendant, they were already making room for her beauty where the rude +strength of the woman had met with counter elbowing. Nine in ten of +those who surrounded her would gladly have given her their seats had +they been in possession of chair or bench. But mine was the only vacant +seat in the hall. The Irishwoman, who stood half a span taller even than +the senorita, had already perceived the fact. I saw her bend to whisper. + +This time the senorita met my salute with a slight bow of recognition, +and advanced toward me, followed closely by her duenna. Had there been +no other ladies in the throng her passage would have been along an open +lane of admiring gallants. But not until she was within arm's-length did +I dare step down from my post of defence to meet her. We alike had the +other ladies to face and avoid. Half a dozen beaux were already before +me to proffer their assistance. I thrust aside the nearest and offered +my hand. + +She placed her gloved fingers in my big palm and stepped up, without so +much as a word or a glance. For all that I found myself in an exultant +glow. Had I not had the forethought to procure the chair for her? and, +what was far more, had I not exercised sufficient courage to retain it +for her, despite the other ladies? The big Irishwoman gave me a glance +as kindly as it was shrewd, and took up her position beside me, her +coal-scuttle bonnet on a level with my curls. + +Having done the senorita a service, it seemed to me fitting that I +should wait for her to speak before pressing her with further +attentions. Accordingly I stood with unturned head, gazing across toward +the Speaker's stand, and drinking in with appreciative ears the sonorous +bars of "Columbia." + +With the last note of the national anthem ringing in my ears I became +aware of a far more musical sound,--the low-pitched voice of the +senorita: "There is space for one to stand beside the chair. Dr. +Robinson has my permission to step up and discover for me if Mrs. Merry +is present." + +"Dr. Robinson accepts the invitation of Senorita Vallois with pleasure," +I replied, hoping to bring a smile to the scarlet lips. They did not +bend, and I could see nothing but hauteur in her pale face and the +drooping lashes of her eyes. I stepped up into the narrow space beside +the chair, but it was not to stare about in search of Mrs. Merry. + +"You do not look," she said with a trace of impatience. + +"There is no need," I replied, my gaze downbent upon her cheek. + +"No need?" + +"The wife of the British Minister is not here." + +"You have heard that she is ill?" + +"No, senorita." + +"Then how should you know that she is not here?" + +"Because I have looked into the face of every lady present." + +She smiled with a touch of scorn. "I had not thought the American +gentlemen so gallant!" + +"I looked into the faces of all, senorita, searching for one." + +To this she made no reply; and I, fearing that I had gone too far, stood +silent, under pretence of listening to the service. It was indeed a +pretence, for had I been in sober earnest I could have heard little +other than the band above the whispering and giggling all about the +room, the occasional loud talk in the lobbies, and the open laughter and +conversation of the young ladies and their lovers warming themselves at +the fireplaces. Throughout the service these gay young couples came and +went from their seats whenever the ladies felt chilled or took the whim, +the freedom of their movements seemingly limited only by the closeness +of the aisles. + +When the time came for the bishop to preach there was a lull, owing to +his stately appearance and forceful oratory. The lull was brief. Once +more the young couples fell to whispering and tittering. A group of +Representatives and a Senator near us began a muttered disputation about +the question of naval appropriations. The senorita bent forward, +straining her ears to catch the words of the bishop. It was hopeless. In +the most favorable circumstances the Hall of Representatives has a bad +name for its wretched acoustic properties. + +In the midst, at the stroke of noon, the attendant who had brought my +chair, came in with a great sack and, escorted by an officer of the +House, passed across the hall through the thick of the throng to the +letter-box on the far side. Having emptied the box, he returned with his +official escort in the same fashion, the bag on his shoulder bulging +with letters. The spectacle did not tend to lessen the lively spirits of +the assembly. + +For the first time since I had taken my place beside her the senorita +looked up at me. Her face was still cold, but in the sombre depths of +her eyes glowed a fire of anger. + +"Is it so you republican heretics meet the words of a most venerable +prelate?" she demanded. + +"From what I hear, senorita, preachers of other churches receive, if +anything, still less consideration than this." + +"It is a mockery of worship!" + +"With the thoughtless, perhaps. I see many who listen. Another time it +would be advisable to come early and find a seat nearer the speaker." + +"There will be no other time." + +"Senorita!" I murmured, "you leave?" + +"Within the week." + +"So soon! You go by water. Would that I were a sailor in the West Indian +trade!" + +She gave me a curious glance. "Why in the West Indian trade?" + +"Ships carry passengers. Aboard even the greatest of ships the sailors +have glimpses of the passengers." + +"Sometimes passengers stay below, in the cabin," she said coldly. + +"That may well be in times of storm," I replied. "Then the sailor is +above, striving to save those who are in his care from shipwreck. But in +the warm waters of the Gulf the passengers show themselves on deck, +pleased to leave the narrow bounds of their staterooms." + +"There are some who would rather stifle in their staterooms than be +stared at by the common herd." + +"There are others, born in state, who would rather stand beneath the +open sky, side by side with a true man, than share the tinsel display of +kings," I persisted. + +"Rousseau is somewhat out of style." + +"No less is royalty." + +"The French murdered their king, and God sent them a tyrant." + +"A tyrant not for France alone. All Europe trembles at the word of the +Corsican." + +"And your country, the glorious free Republic." + +The bitter words forced past my lips: "My country writhes and bends +beneath the insults of the fighting bullies, and clutches eagerly at the +price of shame,--the carrying trades of the world." + +She raised her eyes to mine, grave but no longer scornful. "At last I +have found an American!" + +"There are others beyond the Alleghanies. We of the West are not sold to +the shipping trade." + +"No; you do not take by commerce. You have ever been given to taking by +force." + +"We have conquered the Indian with our rifles, and the wilderness with +our axes." + +"Yet you turned to your East for it to buy you Louisiana, through a +conspiracy with that arch-liar the Corsican!" + +"No conspiracy, senorita! It is well known that Napoleon bought +Louisiana from Spain for the sole purpose of extending his empire to the +New World. It was the fear of losing New Orleans to England that induced +him to sell the Territory to us--that alone." + +"Yet he had given his pledge to my country not to sell!" + +"Let your people look to it that he does not sell Spain itself." + +"Ah, my poor country!" she murmured, and her head sank forward. + +"I had gathered that your uncle was among those who seek to free Mexico +from Spanish rule," I said. + +"Those whose misrule rests so heavily upon my people in New Spain have +little more regard for the welfare of my people in the mother country." + +Again there was silence between us, this time until the close of the +bishop's sermon. As the prelate left the stand, the Irishwoman turned +about with an expectant look. + +"Enough of this mockery!" said the senorita. + +I stepped down at the word, and had the pleasure of receiving her hand +the second time. She made no objection to my escorting her from the hall +and to the outer door. In the portico she stopped for the Irishwoman to +come up on her other hand. + +"You have my thanks, senor," she said. + +I was not prepared to receive my dismissal so soon. + +"With your kind permission, senorita, I will see you to your door," I +ventured, astonished at my own audacity. + +Whatever her own feeling, she turned without so much as a lift of her +black eyebrows, and signed the woman to drop behind again. We descended +the marble steps together, and passed down a side street. She walked as +she spoke, flowingly, her step the perfect poetry of motion as her voice +was the poetry of sound. Her mere presence at my side should have been +enough to content me. But my thoughts returned to the dismal news of her +intended departure. + +"You go within the week?" I questioned. + +"Without regret," she replied. + +I passed over the thrust. "You have been nowhere. It must have been +dull." + +"Less so than may be thought. I have spent much of my time in the +company of Mrs. Merry." + +"Lord have mercy upon us!" I mocked. "If you have been imbibing the +opinions of the Lady of the British Legation--!" + +"I have heard some sharp truths regarding the ridiculousness of your +republican regime." + +"And could tell of as many, from your own observation, regarding the +Court of St. James." + +It was a chance shot, but it hit the mark. + +"I had not thought you so quick," she said, with a note of sincerity +under the mockery. + +"I am not quick, senorita," I replied. "It is no more than the +reflection of your own wit." + +"That does not ring true." + +"It is true that you raise me above my dull self." + +"Have I said that I have found you dull?" + +"I have never succeeded in acquiring the modish smartness of the +gallants and the wits." + +"That, senor, is beyond the power of a man to acquire." I looked for +mockery in her eyes, and saw only gravity. The scarlet lips were curved +in scorn, but not of myself. "It is only those born as brainless magpies +who can chatter. You were right when you said that I could tell of +truths from my own observation. I left England with as little regret as +I shall--" + +"Do not say it, senorita!" I protested. + +"You Americans! You have the persistence of the British, with no small +share of French alertness!" + +"We are a mixed people--" I began. + +"Mongrel!" she thrust at me, with a flash of hauteur. + +"Not so ill a name for a race," I replied. "History tells of a people +called Iberians. The Ph[oe]nicians and Carthagenians landed on their +shores. Then came the Romans; later, the barbaric hordes from the +North,--Goths, Vandals, Suevi; later still, the Moors." + +The last was too much for her restraint. "Moors!--Moors! Mohammedan +slaves!" she exclaimed. "We drove them out--man, woman, and +child--before your land was so much as discovered." + +"Yet not before they had done what little could be done toward +civilizing barbaric Europe, and not before their blood had mingled--" + +"_Santisima Virgen!_" she cried, in a passion which was all the more +striking for the restraint that held it in leash--"I, a daughter of such +blood!--you say it?" + +"I do not say it, senorita," I replied, with such steadiness as I could +command under the flashing anger of her glance. + +"Then what?" she demanded. + +"I spoke of your race in general, senorita. There are self-evident +facts. Even were the fact which you so abhor true as to yourself, would +your eyes be any the less wondrously glorious? Your dusky hair--" + +She burst into a rippling laugh, more musical than the notes of any +instrument. "_Santa Maria!_" she murmured. "You miss few +opportunities--for an Anglo-American!" + +"A man asks only for reasonable opportunities, senorita,--a fair field +and no favors." + +"The last is easy to grant." + +"You mean--?" + +"No favors." + +She had me hard. I rallied as best I could. "But a fair field--?" + +"Can there be such?" she countered. "You are Anglo-American; I am +Spanish." + +"Vallois has a French sound." + +Her chin rose a trifle higher. "It is a name that crowns the most +glorious pages in the history of France." + +I thought of St. Bartholomew, and smiled grimly. "I, too, can trace back +to one ancestor of French blood. He died by command of Charles de +Valois. He was a shoemaker and a Huguenot." + +She looked at me with a level gaze. "It is evident you are one who does +not fear to face the truth. You have yourself named the barrier and the +gulf between us." + +"Barriers have been leaped; gulfs spanned." + +"None such as these!" + +"Senorita, we each had four grandparents, they each had four. That is +sixteen in the fourth generation back. How many in ten generations? Who +can say he is of this blood or that?" + +"I do not pretend to the skill to refute specious logic, and--here is +the gate. My thanks to you." + +"Senorita!" I protested. + +"_Adios_, senor! Open your eyes to the barrier and the gulf." + +"I see them, and they shall not stop me from crossing!" Again I +encountered the inscrutable glance that opened to me the darkness in the +fathomless depths of her eyes. "I swear it!" I vowed. + +Still gazing full at me, she replied: "It may be that in the Spring we +shall pass through New Orleans." + +I would have protested--asked for a word more to add to this meagre +information. But she turned in at the gate, and the Irishwoman was at my +elbow. + +"Till then, if not before, _au revoir_, senorita!" I called in parting. + +She did not glance about or speak. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE WEB OF THE PLOTTER + + +Three days of waiting was the utmost I could force myself to endure. On +the afternoon of the fourth I called at the house on the side street. +The door was opened by the Irishwoman, who met me with a broad grin. + +"Oi looked for ye sooner, sor!" was her greeting. + +"Senorita Vallois--?" + +"Flown, sor,--more's th' pity! Ye're a loikely lad, sor, if ye'll oxcuse +th' liberty." + +"Gone?" I muttered. "Her uncle--?" + +"Came an' packed her off, bag an' baggage, two days gone." + +"Two days!--Where?" + +"'Tis yersilf, sor, is to foind out th' same," she chuckled. + +I held out a piece of silver. "Will that jog your memory, mistress?" + +"Divil take ye!" she cried, and she struck the quarter dollar from my +hand. "Am Oi a black traitor to sell a fellay Christian to a heretic?" + +After that there was nothing to do but turn on my heel and leave the +virago. By one false move I had lost her friendship beyond recall. + +For weeks I sought to trace the senorita and her uncle. All I could +discover was that the don had come from Philadelphia in his private +coach, called at the British Legation, and carried away his niece by a +route unknown. + +Left with no more than that doubtful mention of New Orleans, I plunged +back into the social swim of the Federal City; not to forget her,--that +I could not have done had I wished,--but to wear away the months of +waiting and to perfect myself in the social graces so far as lay within +my capacity. + +At the same time I did not forget to press my application with Secretary +Dearborn and other members of the Government, who, I found, were all too +ready to forget me. It was a hopeless quest, and I was well assured of +the fact before midwinter. Yet it served its part as a time-killer; and +the season being too far advanced for the descent of the Ohio by boat, +it was far more agreeable as well as advantageous for me to while away +my enforced holiday in Washington than needlessly to punish myself by +the long and wearisome horseback journey to the Mississippi. + +So I lingered on, dancing attendance on officials who frowned, and +dancing the minuet with ladies who smiled. Each served its purpose in +carrying me over what would otherwise have been a most tedious winter. + +March came and dragged along more than the due number of weeks of foul +weather. Yet with the approach of the vernal equinox I began to overhaul +my buckskins. Being well able to imagine the state of the roads, I had +started a chest with the bulk of my wardrobe by wagon to Pittsburg ten +days in advance, and all my preparations had been made to follow after, +when the post from Philadelphia brought me a letter which caused me to +change my plans in a twinkling. I should rather have termed the missive +a note. It was without date, and ran thus: + + "If Dr. Robinson is interested in learning of a project + contemplated by two parties whom he met at dinner,--to wit, a + certain foreign gentleman and the writer,--he will, on his + return West, come by way of Philadelphia, and call upon the + writer. + + "A. B." + +Much as this language smacked of intrigue, I had no hesitancy in +changing my route to comply with the note. It was not that I felt any +interest in the projects of Colonel Burr or his associates. The point +was that to my mind "foreign gentleman" spelled "senor," and I had met +but one senor at dinner in the company of Aaron Burr. If senor, why not +senorita? The rest follows as a matter of course. + +My faithful nag had not gone unridden through the winter. A man does not +always give over the habit of a daily outing because of balls and routs +and tea-sippings. Yet the roads north might have been better--which is +not saying much,--and there are limits to the endurance of a beast, +though not to the miriness of a seaboard road in the spring rains. I did +not make the trip to Philadelphia in record time. + +Upon my arrival I found that even the beast's master would be the +better for a night's rest. Directed to the Plow Tavern, I demanded food +and drink for man and horse, and having washed and supped, soon found +myself pressing the clean linen of my Quaker host. + +Business justifies calls at early hours, and I did not breakfast late. +It was as well, perhaps, that I missed my way in the square-laid but +narrow Quaker streets, and did not find myself upon the doorstep of +Colonel Burr until midmorning. Even as it was, I had a wait of several +minutes in the drawing-room before the Colonel entered, wigless, +unshaven, and loosely attired in nightgown and slippers. + +While waiting, a casual survey of the room had surprised me with its +evidences of a lavish establishment. Gossip had reported that the +Colonel was not meeting all his extensive indebtednesses when due. + +He greeted me with bland cordiality, notwithstanding the inapt hour of +my call. + +"Welcome, doctor, welcome!" he exclaimed. "Better late than never, eh?" + +"You are kind," I replied. "I fancied that I had come too early." + +He glanced at his dress with a shrug. "Wine and late hours carry through +many a successful conference. You will join me in a cup of coffee and a +roll?" + +Though I had no wish for food, I assented, for I saw that he had not yet +breakfasted. We were soon seated in a snug little den of a room, sipping +as good coffee as I had ever tasted at any other than a creole table. + +Few men whom I have met have greater command of their features than has +Colonel Burr. On the other hand, few are as over-sanguine. He must have +inferred that my speedy response to his note meant outright eagerness to +share in the projects at which he had hinted. Scarcely pausing for a few +civil inquiries as to mutual acquaintances in the Federal City, he +interrupted my answers in the midst. + +"Let that wait, let it wait, doctor!" he exclaimed, with an ingratiating +smile. "There is something of greater moment to us both. I take it from +this personal response to my note that you are not uninterested in the +plans of Senor Vallois and myself." + +The mention of the senor's name drew from me a sharp nod of assent. The +plans of Senor Vallois could not but concern his niece, and consequently +myself. The Colonel nodded back, and his smile deepened. + +"You are aware," he began, "that I have contemplated the purchase of a +large tract of land beyond the Mississippi, within the Spanish boundary, +on a tributary of the Red River." + +"The project was mentioned by you at the President's house," I replied. + +"But the ulterior purpose of the scheme--" + +"It is reported that you have planned for a colony." + +"As a move necessary to the advancement of the real project," he +explained. + +My look of interest was not assumed. For months past many hundreds of +persons, enemies no less than well-wishers of the astute Colonel, had +been guessing at the real object behind his rumored schemes. + +He nodded shrewdly, and went on, almost in the words of Senator Adair: +"Have you considered, doctor, the fortune in store for whoever opens an +overland trade with Santa Fe?" + +"Granted, sir. No less have I considered the improbability of obtaining +such trade concessions from the Spanish authorities. It is only too well +known that their policy is set upon jealous exclusion. Their desire for +contact with our Western borderers is as slight as their racial and +religious aversions are deep-seated and abiding." + +"Say rather, their political aversion. Better still, say the political +aversion of the authorities alone. I have reason to believe that the +people of Mexico would welcome closer relations with us." + +"It is not possible!" I protested. + +"Have you never thought that the Spanish colonies may be as desirous of +achieving independence from foreign oppression as were our own?" + +"There is the contemplated expedition of Miranda to Caracas to speak for +that," I assented. + +"We have the outcry of our insolent friend the Marquis of Casa Yrujo to +testify as to the Spanish view of Miranda. The point is, if an +expedition to South America, why not one to Mexico?" + +"A conquest?" I inquired--"an extension of the vast westward boundaries +of Louisiana Territory? It is true that war with Spain now seems +inevitable. There is no doubt that the Government would proceed to +hostilities, were it not that the French Minister intimates that the +Emperor will not permit the war." + +He gave me a cunning look. "Ay! With a Napoleon behind him, General +Torreau has no difficulty in intimidating our meek philosopher of the +White House. Yet the Emperor is powerless. England's fleets guard the +high seas. The time is ripe to strike at Spain. We shall precipitate the +war, and to us shall fall the prize! Let our object remain unnamed. +Enough that Senor Vallois speaks for certain fellow haciendados of +wealth and influence living in the northern part of New Spain, that +portion of the country above the territory of the viceroyalty and under +the government of General Salcedo." + +"Whom they term the Governor-General of the Internal Provinces?" + +The Colonel nodded. "These friends of Senor Vallois are far from content +with present conditions. They would gladly throw off the yoke of Spain +if the occasion presented itself. My plan is to present the occasion by +means of an army of invasion, to be allied with the revolutionary party. +There are thousands of adventurous riflemen west of the Alleghanies not +unready to follow an able leader to the land of the Montezumas." + +"I have lived on the frontier too long, sir, to doubt that the tide of +our westward emigration will roll on until it breaks on the vast desert +of the Western plains." + +"I care not for the tide, sir! We shall set in motion a wave that will +roll across the desert into the golden paradise of El Dorado!" + +"And you would tell me a man of Senor Vallois's intelligence invites the +entrance of that wave?" + +Again the Colonel gave me a knowing smile. "It will be for the Mexicans +to care for their own interests when the time comes. Men do not traverse +deserts and destroy governments without thought of reward. My fiery +friend General Jackson of Tennessee is champing with eagerness to share +in the conquest of the Spaniard. Would he be so eager were it explained +to him that the object of the invasion went no further than the freeing +of the people of that remote land? But there will be glory and +recompense for all, and to spare. I have pledged Senor Vallois that he +and his friends shall gain a free government, and with it security for +their estates. It is his own concern if he and they misconstrue the +statement too much in their own favor. On the other hand, Jackson is a +man far hungrier for glory than for gold. He will lead our victorious +army south into the viceroyalty, to capture the city of Mexico, while we +are shaping the new Government for the whole." + +The magnitude of the scheme struck me dumb. The Colonel noted the fact +with satisfaction. He tapped the table significantly. "That Government, +doctor, is already in process of formation. As originator and leader of +the project, I claim the supreme office. Certain other of the higher +offices are allotted. But you, sir, are a man of scientific attainments +and proven courage, and, what is no less important in a royal court, you +are a gentleman." + +"Royal court?" I muttered, wondering what more might follow. + +"The Spanish-American is not qualified to enjoy a republican form of +government. Upon this Senor Vallois and myself are clearly agreed. The +plan is a constitutional monarchy or empire, with a restricted +franchise, the voters to be confined to the ranks of the wealthy and the +intellectual." + +"In neither of which classes will be found the bulk of your invading +army. I foresee a revolution to cap your conquest," was my comment. + +"Men can be managed," he replied. "There will not be lacking the spoils +of office and the plunder of the enemy to lull their discontent. With +all their leaders bound to us by self-interest, it will not be difficult +to hold the mass in check. Senor Vallois guarantees a stout auxiliary +force of native militia." + +"With whom our rough frontiersmen will make short work, in sport, if not +in deadly earnest." + +"Perhaps,--if brought in contact while not under the fire of the common +enemy. Pray do not imagine me so dull, sir. The point has been foreseen, +and has been discussed with men of military training. The army of +invasion will remain the army of invasion. West of Nuevo Mexico is the +remote Pacific province of the Californias; south of the city of +Mexico--" + +"You think to conquer an empire!" I cried, overwhelmed. + +"Why not?" he returned, with an assurance which for the time swept me +off my feet in the current of his flashing dreams. + +But this giddiness was not alone due to his bare statement. Behind the +daring words I had seen what to me was the lure of lures. I had been +offered in substance, if not in words, an office of dignity in the court +of this future royal personage, among whose lieutenants was numbered the +kinsman of Senorita Vallois. + +What wonder if for the moment I forgot the worth of republican +citizenship in the glittering dream of titled office? What wonder if in +the intoxication of the moment I saw the barrier flung down between +myself and her, and thought to barter my birthright as an American for a +vassal estate which should bring me within reach of her? + +"An empire!" I repeated. "The spoils to the victor--and to his +followers. At what, sir, do you appraise my worth?" + +His answer was ready to glibness: "The title of marquis, an estate to +support the dignity, and a seat in my privy council, or such other +office as your merits may indicate during the consummation of our +projects." + +"You have made sure of Senor Vallois?" I demanded. + +"He is with us hand and glove. I have planned to cross the Alleghanies +about midsummer. Senor Vallois has gone before, to negotiate with +certain persons at St. Louis and New Orleans, whom otherwise I might +find difficult of approach." + +"He has gone west?" I repeated, unable to credit my ears. + +"At my request. It was required that he should go by way of New Orleans, +in any event, and the coastwise voyage is far from pleasant at this +season. Hatteras has an evil name in equinoctial weather. Also there is +danger of Spanish pirates off Cuba and in the Gulf. It is hard to find +passage in other than an American ship, and a cannon-ball or musket shot +fired by a Spanish pirate at a Yankee hull would not turn aside to avoid +the Spanish don who chanced to be aboard that selfsame Yankee." + +Masking my eagerness with a smile at the conceit he pictured, I remarked +in as casual a tone as I could command: "The don, then, is well on his +way to St. Louis?" + +"Not he!" snapped the Colonel. "It is now only seven--no, eight days +since he started. Knowing the condition of the roads, I advised that he +should take to the saddle, and leave his charming niece to continue her +visit with my daughter Theodosia, who, as doubtless you have heard, is +the wife of Senator Allston of South Carolina. I may mention in +confidence that my son-in-law is one of the foremost of all those +interested in our grand project. When I begin my second Western tour, +both he and my beloved Theodosia and my little grandson will accompany +me." + +"From all that I have heard, sir, Mrs. Allston has only to make an +acquaintance to find a friend," I said. + +His fond ear was quick to catch the sincerity of my tone, and a look of +the most profound and unselfish love ennobled his crafty face. But my +own love cried out for an ending of the bitter-sweet suspense. + +"So Senor Vallois was so ill advised as to take with him his niece?--or +was she not his daughter?" I commented. + +"His niece. Did you not meet her at the table of our Jacobin +philosopher? To be sure you did! I have not so soon forgotten that +gallant exploit with the fence rails!... Thanks to the obstinacy of her +uncle, she will be muddying that dainty arched foot in the wayside bog +for days to come. There will be few Dr. Robinsons between here and +Pittsburg to pry out the carriage of the bemired Dulcinea." + +"Ah, well," I observed, "doubtless the senor will arrive in time enough +to take advantage of the spring fresh. What he loses on the road he will +regain by the added swiftness of the Ohio's current." + +"True--true." + +"I had myself thought to take advantage of the early floods. My +interests impel me to return to Louisiana as speedily as possible." + +The Colonel gave me another of his shrewd looks. "You will not take it +amiss, doctor," he said, "if I repeat current gossip that the object of +your Winter in the Federal City was not attained." I nodded, without +show of offence, and he added quickly, "As well, as well, my dear sir! +It has brought you better fortune, and your wish atop! You shall have a +letter from me to General Wilkinson." + +The suddenness of this took me unawares, but he had turned at the words +to summon the servant, and did not observe my confusion. Calling for +pen, ink, and paper, he turned again to me with outstretched hand. + +"Your hand to it, doctor!" he cried. "You are with us?--you cast in your +fortune with the future Empire of the West?" + +"A word, sir," I protested. "The heritage left me by my father was scant +as to property, but I have found it rich in wisdom. It included this old +adage, 'Look before you leap.'" + +"Good! good, sir! Most excellent advice! Yet have I not shown you the +prospect?" + +"You have, sir, and not without avail. It is an alluring prospect. I +confess myself tempted. Yet--I have seen what the French term the +mirage. I should prefer to hold my decision until I have dipped my cup +in the lake and found it filled." + +"Eh! eh!" he chuckled. "I'll wager there's Scotch blood in your +veins--Scotch blood!" + +"At the least, I would look closer at the water," I insisted. + +"You shall, sir--my word for it!" he responded, with an assurance which +shook my last doubt. "You shall have the letter to Wilkinson. When it +has brought you your wish, then, and not until then, need you consider +your pledge binding." + +"Sir," I said, tempted beyond my strength, "I accept the terms." + +"Your hand to it!" he cried, and his soft white fingers closed about +mine with a strength of grip that astonished me. "To you, sir, shall be +entrusted the double mission of opening communication across the Western +boundaries with our Mexican allies, and of negotiating with the present +Spanish authorities for the Santa Fe trade. I need hardly mention to a +man of your intelligence that such projects as we contemplate are not +carried to completion without funds. To me falls the task of collecting +the sinews of war." + +"To me the leadership of the scouts!" I cried. "I am doubly hot to take +the road. Dawn shall see me in the saddle!" + +"The fire of youth!" he exclaimed, again clasping my hand. "Go, make +your preparations. You will ride none the less swiftly that you carry a +packet of letters for me." + +"Willingly!" + +"You think to go south to New Orleans?" I bowed. "Then a letter as well +to Daniel Clark." + +"I am known to him." + +"True; but I have word to send him--no less to Wilkinson--regarding the +death of Pitt." + +"It is months since that event," I remarked. "The Prime Minister died in +January." + +"The post to Louisiana is uncertain. Wilkinson at least may not have +heard, and I have comments to make. You will deliver the letters for +me?" + +"I should be pleased to do so, sir. It is a small enough favor to +undertake, even for a chance acquaintance." + +"But a favor that shall be remembered, doctor. Your lodging?" + +"The Plow Inn." + +"The packet shall be in your hands by evening," he replied. + +I rose at the words, and he showed me to the door, with repeated +assurances of confidence and esteem. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +SHIP AND CREW + + +The promised packet of letters was delivered to me at the Plow shortly +after dark, by the man who had served coffee at the Colonel's. It was +accompanied by a note in which Mr. Burr pleaded pressing business as an +excuse for not delivering the packet in person. To this he had added a +postscript empowering me to break the seal of the packet upon my arrival +at St. Louis. + +It struck me as most odd that the packet should have been sealed at all. +But upon reflection, I concluded that this was a very proper precaution +against a chance inspection of the contents by prying busy-bodies who +should happen to handle the packet. The letters might well contain +statements open to misconstruction by the Colonel's numerous and +powerful enemies, or details of plans, publicity of which, owing to the +necessity of secrecy, might disconcert the progress of the great +project. The instruction to me to open the packet upon my arrival +prevented any questioning of the Colonel's confidence in myself. + +Thanks to a large hostler-fee, my horse came from the stable after his +day of rest as fresh as when we left Washington, and hardened by the +trip. He had need for all the endurance within his nature. Before dawn +his hoofs were clattering across the great new bridge over the +Schuylkill. + +In the dense night of the bridge's enclosed roof and sides, it was like +riding through a hall of vast length, with no guidance other than the +faint starlight at the far end. The thought struck me that this was apt +symbol of my love-quest. The darkness was as the night of my lady's +fathomless eyes, through which in the uncertain distance I could no more +than fancy a dim starlight of hope. + +Musing on the conceit, I continued the allegory as we left the bridge +and splattered away on the old colonial road to the Monongahela, with +the fancy that in spirit, as in body, I had passed from the shut-in +blackness out into the openness of space, and that before me was promise +of fair dawn. + +The day's dawn came as promised, bringing me still greater elevation of +spirit. And within the mile a mischievous farmer's brat by the wayside +tumbled me from heaven to muddy earth by howling in a voice of lively +concern that my horse had lost his tail. So near does the ridiculous +skirt the sublime! I had begun my journey on the Day of All Fools. + +Perish superstition! Who but the ignorant believes in signs and omens? +And if mine was in truth a wild-goose chase, the sooner I reached the +end of my running the better. I neither would nor could have checked +myself had the thought come to me to turn back. + +A journey tedious enough in the best of seasons is not improved by April +rains and boggy roads. On the other hand, I had that drawing me Westward +which would have spurred the tortoise into striving for the hare's leap. +It is sufficient evidence of my haste to state that, for all the +condition of the roads, I made in fifteen days the trip which is +considered well covered if ridden in nineteen. + +Let me hasten to add that this was not done on one nag. Even had not my +love of man's second friend served to prevent so brutal an attempt, +failure would have been inevitable. With the best of roads, not a horse +in the Republic could have carried through a man of my weight in the +time. The attempt was not necessary. Thanks to a kindly acquaintance +here and there along my route and to a sufficiency of silver in my +saddlebags, I managed to obtain a fresh mount on an average of twice in +every three days. With such relays, I was able to ride post-haste, yet +leave behind me each horse, in turn, none the worse for his part in the +race. + +Up hill and down dale, pound, splatter, and chug, I pushed my mounts to +their best pace, along the old Philadelphia road. In other circumstances +and under clearer skies I might have paused now and again to enjoy the +pleasant aspect of the Alleghany scenery,--its winding rivers and +brooks, its romantic heights and budding woods. But from the first my +thoughts were ever flying ahead to the Monongahela, and the sole +interest I turned to my surroundings was centred upon such urgent +matters as food, lodging, and fresh mounts. + +At the end of the journey I found myself in clear memory of but three +incidents,--a tavern brawl with a dozen or more carousing young farmers, +who chose to consider themselves insulted by my refusal to take more +than one glass of their raw whiskey; the swimming of the Susquehanna +River, because of a disablement of the ferry; and a brush with a trio of +highwaymen at nightfall in the thick of a dense wood. The rascals did +not catch me with damp priming. When they sprang out at me, I knocked +over the foremost, as he reached for the bridle, with a thrust of my +rifle muzzle, and swung the barrel around in time to shatter the +shoulder of the second fellow with a shot fired from the hip. The third +would have done for me had not his priming flashed in the pan. He turned +and leaped back into the thicket, while I was quite content to clap +spurs to my horse and gallop on up the road. + +But even this last adventure failed to hold a place in my thoughts when +at last, near mid-afternoon of the fifteenth day, I came in view of +Elizabethtown on the Monongahela. Here it was I had reason to hope that +I might overtake Senor Vallois and his party. With roads so difficult, +it was more to be expected that he would take boat from this lively +little shipping point than rag on through the mire to Pittsburg. + +Cheered by the thought, I urged my horse into a jog trot, which, +however, soon fell back into a walk as the weary beast floundered +through the deeper mire of the town's main street. I rode as directly as +possible toward the leading tavern. Senor Vallois was not the man to lie +at any other than the best of inns when choice offered. + +With quick-beating heart I made out the sign of the tavern I sought, and +again attempted to urge my horse into a jog. He was slow to respond +either to word or spur, and I suddenly gave over the effort at sight of +a tall and dignified figure which stepped from the inn door and swung +easily upon the horse which a half-grown lad had been holding in wait. + +The first glance had told me what I most wished to know. My chase had +not been fruitless. The Spanish cloak and hat and high riding boots of +the don were unmistakable, even had I not recognized the Spanish dignity +of his bearing. Certain of his identity, I would have preferred to +postpone a meeting until I had found opportunity to bathe and to change +to the one shift of linen and clothes which I carried behind the cantle +of my saddle. Yet I made no attempt to avoid him when he wheeled his +horse about and rode directly toward me. + +Had it not been for our first meeting in the yellow clay of Washington's +famous avenue, I doubt if the don were unmistakable, even had I not +recognized buckskins. With that memory in mind, it is not unlikely that +my mud-smirched condition only served to add to the quickness of his +perception. We were almost passing, when he raised his eyes, which had +been staring down into the miry road in frowning abstraction. His glance +swept over me and rested on my face. A moment later he had drawn rein +and was bowing to me. + +"_Por Dios!_ It is our gallant _caballero_ of the mire!--_Buenos dias_, +Dr. Robinson!" + +"To you the same, Senor Vallois!" I returned. + +"It is a strange chance which brings us to a meeting in this wilderness +bog," he remarked, with what I thought was a shade of suspicion in his +proud black eyes. + +There was every reason for me to seek at once to place myself on the +footing with him that I desired. Meeting his glance with a careless nod, +I answered readily: "It is a pleasant chance which brings us together +here, but not a strange one. Little travel comes from Philadelphia to +the Ohio other than on the road we both have such cause to remember." + +"From Philadelphia?" he questioned. + +"I carry despatches from Colonel Burr." + +"You!" he cried, thrown out of his aristocratic reserve. But in the same +breath he was bowing his apologies. "Your pardon, senor! I was not aware +that you and Colonel Burr--" + +"Nor he, senor, until a few days ago," I hastened to explain. "Senator +Adair of Kentucky was formerly my father's friend and camp-mate. He +advised me to see Colonel Burr. When I started upon my return West, I +came by way of Philadelphia. It did not take me long to come to an +agreement with--" I lowered my voice and leaned nearer the don--"the +man who professes an intention to strike off the fetters of a land dear +to Senor Vallois." + +"_Poder de Dios!_" cried the don, reaching his hand to me with a fiery +impetuosity of which I had believed him incapable--"_Santisima Virgen!_ +You are one of us! You have cast in your lot with the new league of +freedom!" + +It angered me that I must qualify. "Hold, senor! I did not say that. I +have not gone so far--as yet." + +"As yet?" he demanded. + +"Your pardon, senor, but many such projects are schemed, and in the end +prove to be--'castles in Spain.'" + +He smiled gravely and without offence. "Senor, I give you my word that I +and my friends are prepared to build the Western wall of the castle." + +"Your word, senor, is sufficient. But there remains the Eastern wall, +and I am doubtful of the builders. I did not ask for Colonel Burr's +word. I preferred something more substantial. He has promised that I +shall receive such proof upon my arrival at St. Louis." + +"Then you, too, go to the--to St. Louis?" + +"To the General," I responded, surmising that it was General Wilkinson +whom he had hesitated to name. + +"You spoke of despatches." + +"Letters from the Colonel to parties we both seek, in St. Louis and New +Orleans." + +"Colonel Burr entrusted me with numerous despatches." + +"He mentioned the day of my visit with him in Philadelphia as the eighth +after your departure. That week may have seen developments or changes +which required fresh despatches." + +"_Poder de Dios!_" he exclaimed. "You left Philadelphia eight days +later--and are here!" + +"At your service, senor." + +"_Santisima Virgen!_ And I had four horses to my carriage!" + +"I had nine horses beneath my saddle, in succession." + +"_Virgen!_ What a _caballero_!" + +"When a man is in haste to see his journey's end, senor, he does not +loll about taverns on the way. You came in yesterday?" He bowed. "Then +you may be able to tell me what are the chances of obtaining quick +passage down the river." + +He looked across toward the shipyards with a frown. + +"I am now on my way to inquire, senor," he answered. "Against the better +counsel of Colonel Burr, I was so ill advised as to bring a seaman from +the seaboard to have charge of the water journey." + +"A salt-water sailor on an Ohio flat!" I exclaimed. + +"The senor forgets that I am a stranger to his forest wilderness." + +"Your pardon, Senor Vallois!--Permit me to ride with you. It may be I +can assist you." + +"_Na-da-a!_" he protested. "I cannot permit it. You have ridden for +fifteen days at more than post speed. You must first refresh yourself." + +"The senor forgets that I am no less eager than himself to arrange for +the river passage. Rest assured I am good for another day in the saddle, +if need be, at your service, senor." + +As I wheeled around, and we started for the riverside, he looked me up +and down with a wondering glance. + +"_Por Dios!_" he muttered. "I had thought none could ride as ride our +_vaqueros_. You are a man of iron." + +"I am the son of my father," I replied. "How other than hard could be +the sons of the men who wrested this Western land from the savages,--who +have driven the Cherokees, Creeks, and Choctaws south of Tennessee, and +pressed back the Northwest Indians to their present fastnesses about the +Great Lakes?" + +"It is true," he said. "I have been told no little of that most cruel +and ferocious warfare waged by your savage enemies. I myself know the +fearsomeness of the raids of our equally ferocious Apaches and Yaquis. +Therefore I do not wonder that the men and the sons of the men who met +their painted enemies in this gloomy wilderness should have become not +only hard, but rude and harsh in their manners." + +"Given that and the prevailing craze for raw whiskey, and we have--what +we have. Yet they are the men whose fathers met the Indian on his own +ground; who themselves have met the ravaging war parties, and who will +doubtless again meet them,--though I trust not again on the banks of the +Ohio." + +"May the Virgin grant that your trust is well founded!" returned the +senor, with deep earnestness. "Yet the British soldiers still hold your +lake forts, and it is rumored that the British agents are ever at work +conspiring with the Northern tribes against the interests of your +people. Let me predict that unless Britain is humbled by the great +Emperor, she will make excuse of your many differences to crush your +Republic and regain these lost colonies." + +"Let her try!" I cried. "Let her turn loose her savage allies upon us, +and we will hurl them back into the lakes! We will cross over and drive +redcoats and redskins alike down the St. Lawrence into the sea! Even the +abject people of the seaboard, who now lick the foot that spurns them, +will remember their fathers of the Revolution, and strike the enemy as +Paul Jones and his fellows struck them,--on the sea." + +The senor met my enthused glance with unmoved gravity. "I have heard +mention of what is called President Jefferson's mosquito fleet." + +Our arrival at the shipyards gave me welcome excuse to change the +subject. I pointed to the scores of river craft, afloat in the stream or +in course of construction. "Had you in mind, senor, to take a bateau or +a flat?" + +"Bateau?--flat?" he repeated. "Your pardon, doctor, but the terms--?" + +"A bateau is a boat of flat bottom but with keel. A flat is a great scow +without keel, and often provided with deal cabins." + +"I had been told how to proceed, but left all to that rascal of a +seaman. Immediately upon our arrival, he told me, with many foul oaths, +that he intended to make no ventures on fresh water, and to show his +contempt for the saltless fluid, has sat ever since in the taproom of +the inn, guzzling whiskey." + +"You are better off without the fellow," I said. "There are scores of +men to be hired here who are well used to river travel. Is it your +intention to hire passage, or to purchase your own boat?" + +"Privacy is desirable. I have disposed of my coach and horses with less +loss than I had feared. If boats are not too high in price--" + +"Rest easy as to that, senor. Boats are one of the cheapest products of +the shipping towns. The question first to decide is whether you prefer a +keelboat or a flat." + +"Senor, I must rely upon your good advice," he replied. + +I pointed at the swollen, turbid current of the Monongahela, swirling +high along its banks. "As you see, the river is in full flood. It is +what the rivermen term the Spring fresh. The Ohio now runs no less +swiftly, at times fully eight miles an hour. I should advise you to +choose a flat, because it will travel little less speedily than a +bateau, and with its house, will prove a far more comfortable craft for +so long a voyage." + +"Comfort is an important consideration, doctor. With me travels my +niece, whom you may remember." + +I kept such command of my features as I could. "I have a clear memory of +Senorita Vallois. It is unfortunate." + +"Unfortunate!" he exclaimed, with a lift of his black brows. + +"That you have no servant skilled in handling a river boat." + +"Ah--that!" + +"A single man could manage your flat, provided you were willing to lend +a hand on occasion at steer-oar or pole--a few minutes, it might be, +once or twice a day. There are, as I have said, numbers of skilled +rivermen to be hired. But--" I paused as if to consider--"No. I could +bring you more than one for whose faithfulness I could vouch, but none +who is not foul-mouthed and--to a foreigner--insolent." + +Shifting my gaze to the nearest flat, I waited in eager suspense. He +answered with a question: "Do I understand you to say that with my help +one man could guide so clumsy a craft?" I nodded, with assumed +carelessness. "And you are yourself skilled as a riverman, senor?" Again +I nodded. I could not trust myself to speak. He continued with polite +hesitancy: "Would you, then, think it odd, Dr. Robinson, if I requested +you to make the river journey with me?" + +"Senor!" I cried, "it would give me great pleasure!" + +"_Carambo!_" he muttered, at sight of my glowing face. + +A moment's hesitancy would have lost me all the vantage I had gained. I +held my left hand level before me, and swept off the upturned palm with +my right. There are few of the Indian signs which do not pass current +from the lakes of the North and the swamps of the South to the most +remote of the tribes in the Far West. I was right in my surmise that +they were known even across the Spanish borders. + +The senor bowed in quick apology: "A thousand pardons, Senor Robinson!" + +"A man does not ride post-haste without expense," I said, with a +seriousness which was not all feigned. + +"A thousand pardons!" he repeated. "My purse is at your disposal, Senor +Robinson. I do not speak in empty compliment. Such funds as you may +require--" + +"_Muchas gracias!_" I broke in. "I have enough silver left to jingle in +my pocket. My thought was that it would be more agreeable to work my +passage with an acquaintance than with strangers. At this season it is +unusual for persons of culture to undertake the river trip. The voyage +is becoming quite the fashion among young gentlemen of means and +enterprise, but they seldom venture over the mountains before settled +weather, and the rivermen, as I have remarked, are not always the best +of company." + +"Senor, no more! We share this voyage as fellow-travellers--my boat and +your skill. Is it not so?" + +"Senor, my thanks!" I replied. "Yet first, there is the question of +Senorita Vallois's pleasure. It is a long voyage. I would not thrust +myself upon your intimacy against the lady's inclinations." + +"My niece will be no less pleased than myself to travel in company with +a gentleman of your acquaintance. I will answer for that. My niece has +lived for three years in England. While we travel in Anglo-America, we +are agreed to comply with such customs of the country as do not differ +too widely from our own." + +I bowed low to hide my extreme satisfaction. It was the rarest of good +fortune to have penetrated the reserve with which a Spanish gentleman +surrounds the ladies of his family. But it was not my part to dwell upon +the fact. I hastened to point out a flatboat which had caught my eye +when we first rode down to the bank. + +"What is your opinion of that craft?" I asked. + +"So large a boat--for two men? _Santa Maria!_" + +"Hardly forty feet over all," I replied. "Let us go aboard." + +He swung to the ground as quickly as myself, and we hitched our horses +to the nearest stump. As the flat was moored alongside the rough wharf, +we had only to step aboard. The height of the water brought the craft +almost on a level with the wharf. + +A glance or two showed me that the boat was already fitted out with +steer-oar, sweeps and poles, a kedge with ample line, and a light skiff, +snugly stowed in the ten-foot space of open prow. Having next made sure +that she was well calked and dry, I led the senor through the house. It +was divided into three apartments or rooms, of which the one nearest the +stern was some five feet the longest. + +"Here," I said, pointing to the rude but well-built fireplace, "is the +kitchen, salon, and dining-room of our floating inn." + +We passed on through the middle and forward rooms. Like the kitchen, +both were limited to a width of seven feet by the need of a runway +without, along each side of the boat. But Senor Vallois looked about +approvingly. + +"We could share this cabin," he said, glancing about the forward room. + +"My thanks, senor, but I can make shift to sleep on deck," I replied. + +"There will be rain--there is always rain in this northern country of +yours. No. You will do me the favor of sharing this cabin with me. There +are two berths, as you see." + +I looked gravely at the rude bunks built, one above the other, on the +left wall, and bowed my acceptance of the offer. + +"It is well," he continued. "My niece and her woman will share the +middle room. There remains only the question of purchase." + +"Leave the bargaining to me," I said quickly, at sight of the +shrewd-faced Yankee who came down the wharf as we stepped out into the +open prow. + +"The affair is entirely in your hands, doctor," assented the senor. + +The Yankee stepped aboard with an air of brisk business. + +"I cal'clate ye want a boat," he began. "Let ye have this 'un dirt +cheap." + +"How much?" I demanded. + +"One seventy-five." + +"Lumber cordelled by keelboat from New Orleans?" I rallied him in +smiling irony. + +He looked me up and down with a speculative eye. + +"We-ell, stranger, I might knock off ten dollars." + +"You mean fifty." + +Again he surveyed me; then appraised the rich broadcloth of my +companion. + +"Be ye buyin' fer him?" he queried. + +"We make the trip together. I can go as high as a hundred and +twenty-five. We could do better at Pittsburg, but are willing to give +you the bargain, to save our boots." + +He looked again from my mud-smeared buckskins to the senor's fine +apparel, and smiled sourly. "Ye'll git no such boat at the price, here +or at Pittsburg, if ye wait till the next freeze. One fifty is my best +offer. Take it or leave it." + +"Skiff, kedge, sweeps, poles, and steer-oar included," I stipulated. + +He assented, with well-feigned reluctance: "As she stands--lock, stock, +and barrel." + +I handed him a five-bit piece. "Taken! Yet I'd have had you down fifteen +more if we were not in haste." + +"I'd ha' eased your high-nosed don of a round two hundred, my lad, had +he done his own dickering," muttered he, as, at a word from me, the +senor drew out a bulging purse and counted into my palm the hundred and +fifty dollars in American gold. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE HOSPITABLE BLENNERHASSETS + + +While our sour-faced boat-dealer made out his bill of sale, I wrote down +a list of provisions and furnishings for the boat. Upon reading this to +the senor, he suggested the addition of some articles which I would have +regarded as needless luxuries. Leaving these to his own selection, I +jogged to the store of a gruff old German ship-chandler, one of the +Hessians against whom my father had fought at Monmouth and Trenton, and +whose wife, on my last trip, I had been so fortunate as to cure of a +quinsy. + +The good Frau came in as I was giving my list into the charge of her +husband, and would not take a refusal to her offer of hospitality. +Horse, list, and all were taken from me before I could defend myself, +and I am not sure but what the Frau would herself have put me into the +tub she made ready in the bedroom had I not begged for a dish of her +sauerkraut and corned beef. + +Cleansed and filled, I was given no peace until she had me safe between +clean, dry sheets in their canopied fourposter. Having then been given +sufficient respite to write a note of explanation to the senor, I rolled +over and sank into that profound slumber of which I had so great need. + +I awoke to find the sun up a good two hours and the hospitable couple +beaming upon me as brightly as the sunrays which shone in through the +diamond panes of the latticed window. The Frau held up my buckskins, all +cleansed and dried and softened; the man showed my list, with every item +checked and double checked, and a receipt from the party to whom I had +agreed to deliver my last mount. + +Between them I soon learned that the flatboat was well stocked for the +voyage, and that the senor had sent word he was about to go aboard with +his party. This last would have forced me to rise and accept the good +wife's intended assistance with my dressing, had she not feared that I +should rush off before she could serve my breakfast. I gulped my coffee +while she tied on my moccasins. There was no question of other garments +than my buckskins, since saddle and all had been stored aboard the flat. +When I at last made my escape, it was with a hot sausage in either hand. +These German delicacies followed the rye bread and coffee which had gone +before, while I was riding to the wharf in my host's rattling ox-cart. + +Greatly to my relief, despite the plodding pace of our beasts, we were +first to reach the boat. I had time to overhaul the craft and say +farewell to my good German friend. As he drove off, gruff-voiced but +beaming, the well-remembered cherry-wood carriage came churning through +the mire. The senor had retained the right to use it for this last +service. + +I was at the door, with my hand on the knob, as the driver swung +around. The senor stepped out, with a sonorous, "_Buenos dias_, doctor!" +For a fraction of a moment he seemed about to turn. Then he stepped +aside, and left my way clear. + +My lady drew out an arm from the depths of her great ermine muff. Her +plump, bare little hand lay in my brown fingers like a snowy jasmine +bloom. There was mockery in the depths of her eyes, but the scarlet lips +arched in a not unkindly smile. + +"_Buenos dias_, senor!" she greeted me. + +"It is truly a good day which brings me sight again of Senorita +Vallois," I replied. "May this clear sky prove true augury of the voyage +we are to share!" + +"May it prove true augury of clear sunshine to follow! These weeping +skies of England and your Republic! I long for a week of dry weather." +She shivered in her single-sleeved French cloak, whose white floss net +and tassels added little to the warmth of her gauzy muslins. As for her +head, even her light mantilla would have been more suitable to the +weather than the jaunty cap of velvet and tigerskin. + +"You are cold!" I said. "There is a fire aboard our craft." + +I drew her hand beneath my arm and started to lead her down the wharf as +a swarthy, hard-featured woman stepped from the carriage. The senorita +spoke a few words in Spanish, and the woman turned to help the driver +lift down the chests and boxes from behind, under the direction of Senor +Vallois. + +Handing the senorita down into the boat's stern, I led her into the +living-room, or kitchen, and laid more fagots upon the fire which I had +kindled. In another moment I had her seated before the blaze, with a +blanket about her graceful shoulders. As I knelt to place a stool for +her little feet, she gazed down with the velvety eyes which had looked +out upon me from the coach window in Washington. + +"_Maria purisima!_" she murmured. "There are tales of gallant knights--" + +"Who served and adored their ladies!" I added. + +She glanced about at her uncle, who was entering through the middle +room. + +"_Madre de los Dolores!_" she called. "These physicians! Pray, reassure +him, my uncle. He is convinced I shall suffer a chill." + +"Not after the precautions I have taken," I rejoined with professional +gravity as I rose. "The wonder is that Senorita Vallois has so long +survived the sudden changes of our seaboard climate. I know little of +temperatures abroad, but on this side of the Atlantic these thin Empire +gowns are sheer murder." + +"Granted," replied the senor. "Yet as a physician you have doubtless +long since learned the futility of arguing the cut or material of a gown +with a woman." + +"Only too well, senor! Fortunately every day will now carry us both +nearer a milder climate and nearer the Summer. Your chests are all +aboard?" + +"All. And yours, senor?" + +"Mine will be waiting on the wharf at Pittsburg. We will put in for it +as we drift past." + +"It is well," he replied. I moved toward the outer door. "A moment, if +you please, doctor. We voyage together many leagues. Among my friends I +am addressed as Don Pedro." + +"And I as Alisanda," added the senorita gayly. Her uncle raised his +brows, but said nothing. She called toward the inner door, +"Chita!--Chita!" + +The woman appeared, and at a sign from her mistress, crossed toward me. + +"Dr. Robinson, you have not before met my faithful Chita, because she +was ill and had to be left in Philadelphia when we went to Washington. +Chita, this is he of whom I spoke." + +The woman courtesied with a grace which belied her stout figure, her +beady eyes riveted upon my face. When she straightened I ventured to +surmise from the half smile which hovered about her hard mouth that if +she was not already well-disposed toward me, she was at least not an +enemy. + +"It is well," said Don Pedro. + +"All well--and ready to cast off," I added. "If the senorita--" + +"Alisanda!" she corrected, with a flashing glance. + +"If--Alisanda is quite warm, she may wish to witness the event." + +"I will join you immediately," she responded. + +With that I led Don Pedro out to the steer-oar and showed him how to +hold it to aid in bringing us about. As our craft lay in a slow eddy, I +had no difficulty in casting off. The townfolk and shipyard workers were +far too busy with the rush of the Spring shipping to give heed to so +common an event as the departure of a flat. But it was enough to call +out all my skill and strength that I thrust off under the eyes of +Alisanda. + +A side shove from the prow, and a rear thrust from the inner corner of +the stern as the prow swung out, cleared us from the wharf and sent us +gliding out aslant the eddy. The river was in such full flood that the +bottom, even alongside the wharf, was beyond poling depth. But I called +Don Pedro to aid me with the sweeps, and a few long strokes carried us +out into the swirling current of midstream. + +Our voyage had begun. We were afloat in the grasp of the river, and for +the time need only to fold our arms and gaze at the changing vistas of +forest-clad hills on either bank, past which the current swept us along +at more than post speed. + +Before the noon meal we had passed in turn the important shipping town +of McKeesport, at the mouth of the Youghiogheny, and the hillside ravine +near Turtle Creek, where, within a gunshot of the river bank, the +British General Braddock met with his disastrous defeat at the hands of +the French and Indians, and where he whose life was to prove so precious +to his countrymen came so near to losing it beneath the edge of the +tomahawk. + +In the midst of our meal we came so close under the heights of +Pittsburg that I had need to leave the table to take advantage of a +slant in the current which would bring us shoreward. Before the others +joined me, I had the boat fast alongside the warehouse wharf where I +hoped to find the chest of clothes I had sent on from Washington. My +expectations were not of the firmest, for I knew the Cumberland Pike to +be quite as miry as the Philadelphia road. It had been, indeed, a close +shave, for on inquiring of the warehouse keeper, I learned that my box +had come down from Redstone by skiff only the previous evening. + +We had no letters to deliver in Pittsburg, and no desire either to wade +the unpaved streets or to linger beneath a sky whose shower of soot bore +out only too well the boast of the townsfolk that good coal could be +bought in their streets at five cents a bushel. For my part, I would +prefer to pay more for wood fires, and escape the smearing of house and +garments with lampblack. However, the residents may consider this +inconvenience offset by their numerous social and cultural advantages, +which are unequalled among all our trans-Alleghany towns, unless it may +be at Lexington or Cincinnati. + +As we put off again into the stream, I pointed out the site of Fort +Pitt, built by the British to replace the French Fort Duquesne. But a +storm cloud drove down over the Pittsburg hills, and Alisanda hastened +to withdraw with her uncle into the cabin to escape the April rain which +soon poured upon us in torrents. It was not, as I had hoped, a mere +squall. With the passing of the first roaring wind gusts that rocked +our heavy craft, the rain settled into a steady drizzle, which obscured +river and banks for the rest of the afternoon, and sheeted us in like a +black pall throughout the night. + +With the nightfall, trusting to the height of the flood to carry us over +all shoals and rocks, I made no attempt to effect a landing or to tie up +to the half-submerged willows along the bank. We had wood enough aboard +to last for three days or more, and our fireplace, with its pots and +ranger, saved the necessity of a shore camp to prepare food. + +As there was no call for Don Pedro to suffer a needless wetting, I +argued that I could not trust him on watch so dark a night,--which was +no more than the truth of the matter. My supper was brought to me in the +prow by Chita, and her peppery stew was doubly welcome after my +afternoon's drenching. She carried back with her instructions to obtain +one of my dry suits from Don Pedro and take it through to the kitchen. +About midnight, the boat chancing to swing about stern foremost in the +current, I left my watch long enough to shift into dry garments before a +crackling fire. + +With the first gray glimmer of dawn through the breaking rain clouds, +Don Pedro came to take my post, and Chita slipped out in her nightshift +to set on her coffee pot. By the time I had breakfasted, the sun had +dispelled the mists, and I saw that we were already in the Long Reach, +having passed during the night by Steubenville and Wheeling. It was a +run possible only at the height of the Spring fresh. + +Upon my inquiry, Don Pedro informed me that he did not wish to stop at +Marietta, that prim New England village planted by Rufus Putnam and his +fellow Yankees on the site of Old Wyandot Town. He had, however, a +letter to deliver to Mr. Harmon Blennerhasset, owner of an island some +fourteen or fifteen miles below Marietta. So, having made a rough +calculation of the speed of the current, I went in to my bunk, after +explaining that they need not waken me before midday, unless the boat +tended to leave the current. + +Sharp upon the noon hour I was roused by the don, and informed that we +had already passed Marietta, some five miles back. His description of +the Muskingum River and the block houses and other buildings of the town +would have convinced me that it was indeed Marietta, had I not known +that it was the only settlement of the size between Wheeling and +Gallipolis. What was more, I recognized the greater width of the river +bottoms, which were now flooded to the higher levels, the many islands +which divided the current, and the lowness of the densely wooded hills. + +But having, as I felt sure, something over an hour to wait before +sighting Mr. Blennerhasset's well-known island, I made my toilet, and +leaving Don Pedro at the steer-oar, indulged myself in the great +pleasure of sitting down at table with the senorita. Either because of +her determination to live up to the customs of the country, or owing to +my watch in the rain,--which any riverman would have taken as a matter +of course,--she was most friendly and gracious in her manner, greeting +me with a smile and giving me her hand to salute. Not content with this, +she saw to it that Chita served me with particular attention, and +herself pressed food and drink upon me. + +Only one who has lived among the Spanish people can realize what a +privilege it was to be thus received into the intimate society of my +travelling companions. We conversed with cousinly gaiety and freedom on +all subjects which came to mind, from the ambition of the great Corsican +to the latest fashionable ditties, and Alisanda filled me with +delightful anticipations by stating that amongst her baggage was a +guitar, which she and Don Pedro were not unskilled in fingering. + +After the dessert of sweets, or _dulces_, to use the Spanish term, I +went out to relieve Don Pedro at the steer-oar and to inquire whether he +wished to stop over at the island. He replied that it might be necessary +to confer at some length with Mr. Blennerhasset. + +A half-hour later we were sheering our craft toward the Virginia bank, +to make the wharf which faced the Ohio shore, near the upper end of +Blennerhasset Island. As the channel which separated the island from +Virginia was scarcely a stone's-throw across, our course brought us well +to the left of the river's centre. With the ready aid of Don Pedro at +the steer-oar, I managed, between sculling and poling, to bring the +flat alongside the wharf. Before I could leap out, a negro ran down the +bank and made fast the line tossed him from the stern by Chita. + +Another slave who had sighted us from the crest of the bank turned and +ran with the news of our landing, so that before we could straighten our +garments and step ashore, Mr. Blennerhasset himself came hastening down +the bank to welcome us. Our visit had been unheralded, and, so far as he +knew at the moment, we were no more than chance strangers. But it was +enough for this cultured, unworldly Irish gentleman that persons of +quality had stopped at his gate. + +Senor Vallois introduced Alisanda and myself with all the stateliness of +a Spanish hidalgo, and followed by delivering over the letter from +Colonel Burr. With no more than a glance at the address, Mr. +Blennerhasset thrust the letter into his pocket, and pressed us to +accompany him at once to his house, where, he said, Mrs. Blennerhasset +would be anxiously awaiting her guests. + +Such warmth of hospitality would have melted even a reluctant visitor, +and we were far from unwilling to view the famed beauties of the place. +My one regret was that I could not claim the privilege of escorting the +senorita. Don Pedro and I ascended the bank behind the others, Chita +remaining aboard the boat. + +Entering through the handsome stone-columned gateway at the top of the +bank, we passed between the shrubbery and a meadow, along a gravelled +walk, for somewhat over a hundred paces, to the front of the mansion. +The facade was remarkable for the semi-circular shape of the pillared +porticos which curved forward from each front corner of the main body of +the house. Though built of wood, the handsome proportions and two +stories of the mansion lent to it an air of distinction rarely to be +found west of the mountains. + +Mr. Blennerhasset bowed us into a small front parlor, where we found his +comely and charming wife waiting to receive us, in the company of their +two little sons. After we had been welcomed by this pleasant lady no +less cordially than by her husband, Don Pedro stated that there might be +matters of mutual interest to discuss when our host had read his letter. + +At this Mrs. Blennerhasset suggested that the gentlemen should be left +to their privacy, and Don Pedro invited me to share in the conference. +But I explained that I did not consider myself at liberty to do so, in +view of the fact that I was not yet irrevocably committed to the +projects of Mr. Burr. Mrs. Blennerhasset at once invited me to join with +her and Alisanda in an inspection of the mansion. + +We entered first a dining-room of ample proportions, where our hostess +gave the little boys into the charge of their nurse. The apartment was +furnished with a richness and taste which compelled a look of surprise +even from the senorita. We were soon to learn that the mansion was +furnished throughout in the same lavish style. + +What most interested me at the time was Mr. Blennerhasset's scientific +workroom in the rear of a second parlor which led off behind from the +dining-room. Here it was our host conducted his experiments in chemistry +and physics, and here he had properly arranged a fair-sized apothecary's +stock. Upon my remarking that I wished to purchase a quantity of +Peruvian bark and calomel,--my stock of which, in my haste, I had +neglected to replenish before leaving Washington,--the lady immediately +requested me to measure out the quantity I desired, and absolutely +refused any compensation. + +We next visited the library at the end of one of the curved porticos. +Here, much against my desire, I was given permission to remain while the +ladies visited the kitchens in the other wing. + +Tactfully as I was dismissed, the shaft rankled none the less sorely. +Yet happening to open a choice volume of European travels, I so lost +myself in the printed pages that the appearance of my host some two +hours later came as a surprise. + +He explained that arrangements had been made for our party to join them +at dinner, and would not take a refusal from me. A servant had already +been sent aboard the boat, that Chita might attend on her mistress. The +man had orders to remain until morning, should I, following the example +of Senor Vallois and his niece, agree to lie the night in the house. +Unwilling to tax their hospitality so far, I excused myself from this +last, on the plea of my duties as boat captain, but before leaving I +gladly accepted his invitation to return and join them at dinner. + +In due time I returned, and I trust that my appearance did full credit +to my country. Enough said that nay hat, shoes, breeches and waistcoat +were of the latest mode, that my coatcuffs extended to my finger tips, +that my shirt-frill was like a snowy waterfall, and that my coatfront +was padded to the fulness of a swelling bullfrog. As for my luckless +throat, it was so swathed about with its bandages of cambric that my +chin had a most supercilious elevation, and to look about I must first +turn my body. The neck was all but immovable. + +This martyrdom was, however, small price to pay for my evening. Of all +costumes calculated to reveal and enhance the lovelinesses of women, the +Empire modes are by far the foremost. Indeed, such is the thinness of +gauzy materials and the scantness of breadth required, that,--if I may +venture my opinion not alone as a physician but as a gentleman,--the +flimsy, graceful costumes, though to be praised for the absence of +injurious stays, are too apt to over-expose the forms of the fair sex. + +Yet a modest woman, by stopping short of the utmost extremes of fashion, +and no less by comporting herself with dignity and decorum, can suggest +thoughts no less elevating than enravishing through the graces of this +mode. With this by way of guide to my meaning, I shall not be +misunderstood when I speak of my rapture over the swell of my lady's +firm white bosom and the exquisite curves of her lissome young body +beneath the clinging sarsenet of her low-cut waist and narrow skirt. I +looked and adored as the artist adores the perfect lines of a +masterpiece. Yet with my adoration there flamed a fire of passion of so +white a heat that it burned away all dross of base imaginings. + +I say nothing of our hostess,--not that she lacked in beauty or charm; +but who looks at the moon when the sun is in the sky? + +The dinner did not disappoint the expectations roused by the lavish +display of the household; though I cannot say that Mr. Blennerhasset's +wines compared well with those of President Jefferson, unless it might +be the Madeira. + +Upon the withdrawal of the ladies, Mrs. Blennerhasset urged me so +cordially to join them soon, and Alisanda seconded the invitation with +so sweet a smile, that I did not linger at table above half an hour. My +going was hastened by the conjecture that our host and Don Pedro might +wish to resume their conference. That I was not mistaken in this was +evidenced by the fact that they did not follow me for two hours or more. + +In the meantime I had been led up a spacious stairway to the +drawing-room, directly above where we had dined. The room was notable +for the stucco work of the rounded cornices and ceiling, and the +harmonious tones of the wall-hangings, of which those above the chair +rail were green, bordered with gold, and those below reddish gray. + +My entrance found the ladies seated together at a large forte piano, in +the execution of a duet which gave full display alike to their +accomplished skill and to the genius of the composer, the noted German +musician Beethoven. After the duet, our hostess favored us with a +ballad, and Alisanda no less readily followed with a Castilian song in +the Spanish. Her voice, even better trained than Mrs. Blennerhasset's +fine high soprano, was a liquid contralto that had in it the murmur of +sparkling waters, the sweetness of silver bells, and the sadness of +tears. I was affected almost beyond self-control, and it was as much +this as the disability from my high cravat which forced me to decline my +turn. + +At my request, the ladies returned to another round of duet and song, +and followed with the reverse,--playing solos and singing a duet. In the +end they persuaded me to join them in a trio, and afterwards were so +gracious as to compliment me on my baritone. + +On the whole, it was the most heavenly evening I had ever known, and +when, upon the appearance of the other gentlemen, I begged my leave of +our hostess, it was to dance my way down to the boat on winged feet. +Such a feast of divine music and diviner beauty seldom falls to the lot +of mere mortals. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +MY INDIAN TALE + + +Dawn found me clad in my buckskins, ready for the start. All my articles +of finery lay again in their snug retreat, and with those nightmares of +beaudom disposed of in a way to give me most comfort, I was once more at +my ease. Of all costumes suitable to action, there is none to equal our +old-time forest ranger's dress of fur cap, buckskin shirt, thigh +leggings, and good elk or buffalo moccasins. + +To my surprise, the Spanish woman came aboard while I was toasting my +bacon, with word that her mistress and Don Pedro would follow as soon as +they had risen from the breakfast table. Alisanda had sent her down to +prepare food for me. The announcement of this brought a glow to my face +which I saw did not pass unnoticed by the woman. But she masked all +expression under her hard stolidity, and when I declined her services, +set about arranging her mistress's evening attire and returning it to +its box. + +Shortly afterwards Mr. Blennerhasset and his wife made their appearance, +escorting my fellow travellers to the river bank and down to the boat +itself. I hastened to add my adieus to the others, and the tactful +couple, seeing that I was impatient to be under way, cut short what had +threatened to be a protracted parting. + +With repeated last calls of farewell and wavings of hat and +handkerchief, we swung out into the current and drifted swiftly away +from our over-hospitable host and hostess. A few minutes carried us +below the cultivated upper portion of the island, and I noticed Don +Pedro eying the wooded remainder with a peculiar intentness. Afterwards +I was told that certain of the huge cypresses shadowed a bayou, in which +at the time we passed there were already being collected boats and +munitions for the flotilla that was to form the nucleus of Colonel +Burr's ill-starred expedition. + +[Illustration: "We swung out into the current and drifted swiftly away"] + +Of this and the nefarious plans since charged to that great dreamer, I +then had not the remotest suspicion, and soon turned my attention from +the pondering senor. + +Scattered up and down the midchannel for three miles or more was a +string of barges, flats, and keelboats, laden with flour, lumber, and +other up-river products, for the market at New Orleans. Like ourselves, +they were coming down from the higher shipping-ports with the Spring +fresh. + +At my request, Alisanda kept within the house, until, by a vigorous bit +of sculling, I had sent our craft beyond earshot of the nearest of these +barges. The huge, clumsy craft, which must have been upwards of four +hundred tons burden, was manned by the usual crew of twenty-five or +thirty rowdy, drunken rivermen, whose ribaldry and rude jests were +unfitted for the ears of a gentlewoman. + +By adroit steering and an occasional return to my sculling, we were +fortunate enough to keep our distance from these other boats, and for +the greater part of the day I had the pleasure of pointing out to +Alisanda the beauties of the river scenery. Rightful in fact, and most +appropriate in truth, is the interpretation which tells us that "Ohio" +means "the beautiful river." + +A day of clear, warm sunshine, marred by only one shower, gave us our +first chance to share the ever-shifting views of headlands and rolling, +wooded hills. Though the forest was as yet only half in leaf, and the +height of the flood covered all other than the highest of the bottoms, +the nature of the scene was an unending wonder to my companions, who in +turn compared it with the sterile mountains of Old Spain and the deserts +of New Spain. They could not liken it to the tamed woodlands of England; +for, notwithstanding a generation of settlement, with the river long +since the main artery of a great commerce, these banks were as yet in +many places unbroken wilderness, the abode of elk and deer and wolf, of +tigerish panther and lumbering bear. + +High above us soared eagles and turkey buzzards, spying for carrion and +live prey, each according to his nature, as they had soared and spied in +the late sixties and early seventies, when Gist and Boone and the great +Washington first threaded the untraced wilderness and skimmed downstream +in their bark canoes to the dark and bloody hunting-grounds of the +hostile tribes. Since then what vast changes had come over the land! +What thousands of homesteads hewn out of the gloomy depths of beech and +oak, walnut and maple forest! What scores of settlements and towns, +ranging in size up to Cincinnati, with its three hundred and more +houses, many of brick and stone, its fifteen hundred whites and thousand +slaves, its genteel coaches and chariots, and its educational +institutions! + +Yet, aside from the slaughtered buffalo and the backward-driven savage, +how small the change in the forest life! Along the rocky banks the +deadly rattlesnake and copperhead still lay coiled in wait; the deer +came timidly down to the water along old game traces where the panther +still lurked; and flocks of screaming, chattering paroquets still flew +up river from the southwest, their emerald plumage contrasting with the +bright hues of the redbirds and woodpeckers, the orioles and +kingfishers. + +The following day, below the mouth of the Scioto River, we had view of +one of the strangest sights of the West,--a flight of passenger pigeons. +The flock passed upstream above the left shore in a dense column and +with a tremendous roaring sound of their millions of wings. Though we +were going in a contrary direction, hours passed before we saw the last +stragglers of their amazing multitude, and this despite the fact that +they are among the swiftest of birds. While making a southward bend of +the stream, we came beneath them, the lowermost flying so near overhead +that I was able to kill a number simply by flinging fagots among them. +As their flesh, though dark, is choice eating, we enjoyed a most savory +pie at the evening meal. + +During the night the boat caught me nodding and gave itself into the +grasp of an eddy, which held it fast for two hours or more. My regret +over the delay was short-lived, since at dawn I made the welcome +discovery that it had caused us to part company with the last of the +cargo flotilla. The rivermen were well supplied with skiffs, and as some +of them are not above theft and even outright piracy, I had spent most +of these two nights in vigilant watch, with my rifle and Don Pedro's +pistols charged and primed against a night attack. + +Less welcome than the absence of such consorts was the cold rain which +set in before dawn and lasted well along toward noon, with now and then +a slashing drive of sleet. I spent the dreary hours fast asleep in my +bunk, for Don Pedro insisted upon his right to share the hardships of +our voyage. + +When I turned out, the sun had burst through, and the leaden clouds were +rolling away to the eastward. My first act was to sweep the Ohio shore +with an anxious glance. The swiftly changing vistas of winding river and +pleasant hills that undulated beneath their cloak of budding green, told +me that we had entered upon the run of the Great Bend. By good fortune, +I was just in time to sight the well-remembered hills of my childhood +home. Another twist of the channel brought us in view of the Little +Miami. + +Cap in hand, I stepped to the side of the flat, and stood quiet and +apart, gazing at the rough, white stone that rose clear against the +sky-line on the first crest below the stream's mouth. What memories of +childhood rushed in upon me! what bitterness and grief! + +At last the envious river swept us around a masking hill. I turned +slowly about, with all my heaviness plainly written in my look. Less +than three paces behind me stood the senorita, her dark eyes fixed upon +me with a soft pity far different from their usual mockery. + +"You grieve!" she murmured. + +"It is the grave of my mother." + +Don Pedro dropped the handle of the steer-oar and turned to me with a +courtesy that went far deeper than outer form. "Your mother? May the +Virgin bless her!" + +Alisanda made the sign of the cross, and her lips moved in quick prayer: +"_Ave Maria purisima_--" + +After a little the don ventured a word of consolation: "It is a +beautiful place for a tomb,--serene and grand on its solitary hillcrest. +When my own time comes, may I rest as well!" + +Serene!--beautiful! The words roused me from my unmanly weakness. + +"You do not know!" I cried. "Her grave was dug among the ashes of our +home. She was murdered by the Shawnees." + +"You speak of the Indian savages?" murmured Alisanda. "Is it so long ago +as that?" + +"In my boyhood--in ninety-one--the Spring before St. Clair's terrible +defeat. The northern tribes raided the settlements from above Pittsburg +to the lower Kentucky, with a fury before unknown. The ferocious braves +crept by night through the very streets of Cincinnati and under the +walls of Fort Washington. Our home, outlying yonder on the Little Miami, +was one of the first struck. The memory of that morning is burned deep +into my brain. My father had gone into town to barter some skins for +flour, and my mother was part way down the hillside, ploughing for corn. +I had gone up to the cabin to fetch a jug of cider, and was half-way +back, when a score of Shawnees in their black war paint leaped from the +ravine and set upon my mother. + +"I ran to help her, but she, striking bravely at the treacherous savages +with the ox-goad, screamed to me to fly for the guns. I turned as she +fell under the stroke of a tomahawk. The murderers leaped after me, +yelling and firing. Rifle balls and arrows whistled about me, some +piercing my shirt. But I gained the cabin unhurt. On the pegs beside the +door lay my father's rifle and his old Queen Anne musket of the +Revolution, which I had that morning charged half to the muzzle with +swanshot in preparation for a bear which had been stealing our porkers. + +"Barring the door with one hand, I caught down the musket with the +other, and fired through the nearest loophole. My pursuers were coming +on fairly in a body, and the distance was such that the swanshot +scattered just enough to cover the foremost warriors. One fell dead and +three more were wounded. In a twinkling all others than the one killed +leaped to either side and checked their rush. + +"But their chief came bounding up from the rear through their midst, +flourishing his bloody tomahawk and yelling to them to come on. Young as +I was, if given a support for the heavy barrel, I could handle my +father's rifle as well as he himself. The chief fell within twenty paces +of the door, with the hole of the rifle ball between his glaring eyes. +At this, fearful that they had run upon a trap, the red warriors ran +dodging and side-leaping to the nearest brush, while I caught up a knife +and rushed out to scalp the chief--" + +"_Por Dios!_" cried Don Pedro. "You ran out!--you took the scalp of the +chief under the eyes of his followers?" + +"My mother's scalp hung at his belt. I was mad with fury. I would have +struck the murderer even had the others already turned." + +"They did turn?" asked Alisanda, her eyes widening with the horror of +the vision she pictured. + +"They turned as I burst from the cabin. I was surrounded--seized +fast--but not before I had torn off the scalp of their chief and shaken +it in their painted faces!" My eyes flamed at the memory of that fierce +vengeance. + +"_Madre de Dios!_" breathed the Spaniard--"You stung them to wildest +fury!" + +"I sought to make them strike me down. Better death under the tomahawk +than the slow agony of torture at the stake. What greater shame to them +than for a boy of twelve to kill two of their most famous warriors,--to +taunt them with the bloody scalp of their chief?" + +"Yet they spared you!" whispered Alisanda, her eyes fixed upon my +flushed face. + +"For the torture. When they took me north to the Shawnee towns, I was +made to run the gantlet. Being quick-footed and nimble, I avoided most +of the heavier blows and midway of the line dodged out sideways, +tripping up the old squaw who sought to stop me. Before the rabble could +overtake me, I had set myself in the midst of the chiefs and foremost +warriors of the village, whose dignity had prevented them from joining +in the lesser torture. + +"My craft in tripping the squaw and avoiding the greater number of my +tormentors won me the protection of the chiefs, and while they waved off +the boys and squaws, the young warrior Tecumseh, one of the brothers of +the chief I had killed, claimed me for adoption in place of his kinsman. +The other brother, Elskwatawa, promptly seconded Tecumseh. After much +dispute, their claim was allowed, and for three years I lived as a +member of the tribe, always watched against escape, yet treated with +utmost kindness. + +"That Fall the leading members of my tribe were present with the braves +of the Miamis, Delawares, Wyandots, Iroquois, and other tribes, who made +a second Braddock's Defeat of their battle with General St. Clair. They +brought back no captives, but such quantities of plunder and such tales +of slaughter that I could hardly credit either my eyes or my ears. + +"After this I was taken to the neighborhood of the British fort near the +Maumee Rapids, where the notorious renegade McKee proved that even the +worst of men have their better nature. He sought to ransom me from my +adopted brothers. This was refused, but I was permitted to come and go +freely to the fort. One day, chancing upon a book of physic in the scant +library of the post surgeon, I showed such interest that the portly old +doctor seized upon me as a _protege_. + +"Within a year I was forced to return to the Shawnee towns, but with me +I took a Latin grammar and my precious treatise on physic. Again I was +brought to the Maumee, and there placed for safekeeping in the fort +during General Wayne's cautious but steady advance north from Fort +Washington. This meant months more of study under the tuition of my +kindly surgeon; so that upon the day of Wayne's glorious victory at +Fallen Timbers, when he drove the routed warriors of the allied tribes +past the very walls of the fort, I was further advanced in my studies +than many an English schoolboy of seventeen or eighteen, and, I must +confess, fast acquiring British sympathies. + +"But the sight of Wayne's victorious cavalry, who rode up defiantly +within pistol-shot of the palisades, roused in me such a feverish desire +to escape that I should have flung myself upon the bayonets of the +sentinels rather than have remained. Fortunately the garrison was so +intent upon the burning of the dwellings and trading establishments +without the fort by our army, that I was able to slip over the stockade +with the aid of a rope, and make off safely in the darkness." + +Alisanda sighed her relief of the suspense that had held her tense. "So +you escaped!" she exclaimed. + +"To the American camp where I found both my father and my mother's +cousin, Captain Van Rensselaer. The captain had been shot from his +saddle during the battle, but was able to return with us to Cincinnati +when my father's term of service as a mounted volunteer expired. It was +Captain Rensselaer who, upon his return to New York, sent for me to +complete my medical and other studies in Columbia College." + +"_Por Dios!_ What a life!" cried Don Pedro. "We also have our Indian +battles. But to live among the ferocious savages--_Santa Maria_! Small +wonder you men of the forest wilderness are men of iron!" + +"Many settlers of soft fibre have come over the mountains since the days +of peace. But the men who first hewed their homes in the wilderness had +to be of iron. Such are those who now press on to the new frontiers of +the South, the Lakes, and the Mississippi." + +"Among whom is our friend Don Juan," replied Alisanda. + +I looked, thinking to see a mocking glance, and instead found myself +gazing down into the fathomless depths of her eyes. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE FATHER OF WATERS + + +So far I have written at some length of our voyage, for it was these +first days that set the stamp upon the relations of our little party. +From the hills of Cincinnati, which we sighted as I ended the story of +my boyhood, on down the long descent to Natchez, I was as one of Don +Pedro's own kinsmen. The name spoken by Alisanda, seemingly in jest, +became the name by which all addressed me, only that before we entered +the Mississippi both the senor and she had begun to drop the "Don" in +favor of the familiar "Juan." + +So "Juan" and "Alisanda" it became between my lady and me, and Don Pedro +looked on and smiled. Yet with and beneath it all, both held to a subtle +reserve which told me plainer than words that the barriers were down +only for a truce, and not for a treaty,--that our freedom of conduct as +fellow-travellers would at the journey's end be barred by a return to +customs not of the country. + +At times when alone on watch at night, I thought with misgiving of the +approaching days when my lady would resume her fine Castilian hauteur +and Don Pedro his punctilious politeness. But on the whole I was +content to make the most of my opportunities,--to drift with the current +of our companionship as the boat drifted with the stream. + +Milder days came to us as we floated down into the Southwest,--days of +grateful sunshine and lessening rains,--heavenly hours beneath the blue +sky, when, inspired by the blossoming springtime upon the verdant +shores, we sat together in the open stern and sang solos and duets and +trios to the accompaniment of the guitar. + +With the coming of nightfall I learned to look longingly for fog or wet, +for a clear moon meant a night on watch, that we might lose nothing of +the drift. But a dark sky gave me excuse to tie up to the bank for the +night and join in an evening of music and genteel talk about our +crackling beechwood fire. + +Then there were lessons for me in Spanish from the don, and in the +playing of the guitar by Alisanda. It was strange how clumsy were my +fingers and how repeatedly I had to ask my fair teacher to place them +correctly. + +And so we swept on down the beautiful river, the swirling depth of the +Spring fresh bearing us clear over the rocks of the Ohio Falls at +Louisville, as over the hundreds of miles of inundated flats and shoals +above and below. + +At Lusk's Ferry Don Pedro had planned to leave the river and cut across +country horseback, over the forty-league road to Kaskaskia, which would +have saved nearly half the keelboat journey up the Mississippi from the +mouth of the Ohio to St. Louis. For this we should have taken aboard our +horses at Louisville or at the little settlement of Shawnee Town below +the Wabash, since at Lusk's Ferry suitable mounts for our party were not +to be had at any price. In the outcome, however, the miscarriage of +plans proved truly fortunate. + +Having no other choice, we dropped on downstream past the Cumberland and +Tennessee Rivers, to Fort Massac, our lonesome American stockade, built +near the site of the old French post of the same name. We tied up to the +steep bank of clay and gravel, and I made a landing. Upon inquiry at the +post, Captain Bissell, the commandant, whom I had met the previous Fall +on my eastward journey, informed me at some length as to the movements +of General Wilkinson. Report having been received that General Herrera, +the Spanish commander in Texas, was gathering a force to march upon +Natchitoches, the Commander-in-Chief had descended the Mississippi for +the double purpose of strengthening the forts at New Orleans and of +assembling a force to repel the expected invasion. + +I intimated to the captain that Senor Vallois was not averse to a war +which might give his country opportunity to throw off the Spanish yoke. +At this he confided to me as his opinion that the long-impending +hostilities seemed now inevitable, and that he would welcome a change +which would not only relieve him of his _ennui_ in this solitary post, +but would tend to break up the general stagnation of the service. + +His urgent invitation brought Don Pedro and Alisanda ashore for a much +needed change. Neither had set foot on shore for days, and I persuaded +Don Pedro that the recreation was well worth the delay. But my pleasure +over the enjoyment of the exercise was not added to by the sight of the +gallant captain and his no less gallant lieutenant receiving the smiles +of Alisanda for their attentions. As a good excuse for avoiding the +painful spectacle, I secured some spare jars of sweetmeats from Chita, +and bartered them in the little settlement near the fort stockade for +chickens, eggs, and butter,--all of which would be still higher in price +and harder to obtain after we entered the Mississippi. + +Soon after the landing of my companions, so strong a head wind set in +that we were forced to lie moored over night. Toward morning it fell to +a pleasant breeze, and I put off at dawn, without waiting to rouse the +others. + +Midday found us afloat on the broad bosom of the Father of Waters, whose +noble flood, swollen above St. Louis by the silty downpourings of the +Missouri, and here by the Spring torrent of the Ohio, rolled on +gulfwards in full-banked majesty. It was a grand sight, but one to which +Don Pedro and Alisanda gave more thought than myself. Captain Bissell +had dropped me a word of warning as to possible trouble from canoe +parties of Chickasaw and other Indians, which, in view of Alisanda's +presence, gave me no little uneasiness. + +That night and the next I called upon Don Pedro to watch, turn about, +with myself. I even went so far as to land at New Madrid; but the +villagers knew nothing of the Indians. At last, late in the afternoon of +the third day, we sighted a canoe full of warriors putting out from the +left bank, with the evident intention of intercepting us. At my command +Alisanda and her woman sought shelter in their room, while I left the +steering to the don, and stood ready with my rifle and his pistols. + +When I signed the party to hold off at hailing distance, the foremost +warrior signed back that they were friends. But they were now near +enough for me to see their black war paint. Again I signed the leader to +keep off, and he in turn hailed me in Shawnee, demanding lead and +gunpowder. Before I realized what I was saying, I had answered him in +his own tongue, telling him to bring his party around under our stern. + +At this unexpected address, the chief raised the hand which I knew had +been grasping his rifle. I responded with three or four quick signs that +drew a guttural exclamation from the least stolid of the warriors. They +were not used to meeting white men who could claim fellowship in their +tribe. But as they paddled nearer, I stared back at their chief, hardly +less astonished. There could be no mistaking his noble, powerful +features. He was my adopted brother Tecumseh! + +The instant I recognized him with certainty, I laid down my rifle, and +called to him in Shawanese: "Tecumseh, many years have come and gone +since we parted at the British fort on the Maumee, yet do you not know +again your white brother Scalp Boy?" + +At the word he rose from his knees and stood grandly erect in the bow of +the canoe, staring at me from beneath his levelled palm. The craft was +now within twenty yards of us, and Don Pedro could not withhold a +muttered exclamation of apprehension and warning. Almost at the same +moment Tecumseh stooped, and catching up a corner of his blanket, wiped +the grim war paint from his face. The paddlers at once paused to follow +his example. + +"_Santisima!_" muttered Don Pedro. "Why do they rub their faces?" + +"They remove the war paint in proof of friendship. Their chief is one of +my Indian brothers, who saved me from torture." + +"But they come close! You will not permit them to enter the boat, with +Alisanda--" + +"Fear nothing," I hastened to assure him. "We are safer now than when we +were alone. My brother and his people can be trusted with our lives and +our property." + +"It is true, senor," remarked Tecumseh in clear though guttural English. +"Scalp Boy and his friends are sacred in the eyes of all Shawnees. He +is a member of our tribe and my brother." + +I reached out and grasped the hand of the chief as the canoe came +alongside. + +"Come aboard and feast with us," I said. + +He shook his head. "No, Scalp Boy; that may not be. It warms my heart to +again grasp your hand; but you are an American white man; you have long +ago forgotten your Shawnee kindred--" + +"No, no, Tecumseh! I have always remembered you and Elskwatawa, my +true-hearted brothers--" + +"Tecumseh does not blame his white brother for returning to his white +kindred. There is no enmity between us. But Elskwatawa our brother has +become a communer with the Great Spirit, and he has told the redman how +evil are the customs and food and firewater of the white man. It is evil +for the redman to mingle with the white people." + +"Have you then taken the warpath, my brother? Is that why you came out +against us in war paint?" I asked. + +"We came out to attack you because we had need of powder, and I would +not beg. But we are not on the warpath." + +"You are far from home," I remarked. + +He swept his hand around in a grand gesture. "Elskwatawa the Prophet and +I make a great journey to our red cousins. We visit all the tribes from +the Great Lakes to that greater water in the South which the white +people call the Gulf." + +"To form a great conspiracy against my people!" I exclaimed. + +"Your people!" he repeated. "No, we seek to convince the tribes of my +people that they are all brothers, and should join in one nation." + +"That they may seek to destroy the white people!" + +"That they may hold back the white man from stealing any more of their +land." + +He had me there. I could only look my regret; for I knew that, whatever +his intent, the result must be war. + +He returned to the object of his averted attack. "Give us powder and +lead, Scalp Boy. We cannot eat the white man's food. We need powder and +lead to shoot game." + +"Not to make war?" I asked. + +"I speak with a straight tongue," he said. + +At this I went into the cabin and fetched out a small keg of powder and +a quarter-hundredweight of lead. He motioned me to hand the gifts to the +warrior in the stern of the canoe, and when I turned again to him, he +held out a beautifully wrought belt of wampum. + +"It is little I can give to my brother," he said. + +"I take the gift because my brother offers it," I replied. "What I have +given is nothing. All that I could give would not repay what Tecumseh +did for me in my boyhood!" + +He looked me up and down with an approving glance. "Scalp Boy has grown +to be a great warrior. I will ask the Great Spirit that we may never +meet on the battlefield." + +Before I could respond, he signed his warriors to push off, and the +canoe shot away at arrowy speed. At once Alisanda slipped out of the +cabin, to peer after the darting craft and the grim savages, whose +naked, bronzed forebodies, fantastically streaked with the war paint, +swayed to the paddle strokes so vigorously as to bob their plumed war +locks about in a most comical manner. It was a sight she was not apt to +see again even on the Mississippi, if only because of the redman's +dislike to exert himself except when hunting or on the warpath. + +Though we had come so well through this adventure, the accident of our +escape from attack did not lessen my fear of visits from Indians +belonging to other tribes. To my vast relief, the following day brought +us safely in the approach of a great flotilla of flour-laden flats, +whose draught of water gave them better headway than our boat. The drift +of our craft, which sat so much higher in the water, was at times more +retarded by the head winds. The difference was so slight that we were +able to keep the others in sight until another flotilla overtook us. In +fact, so vast was the extent of the river traffic that from this point +until our landing at Natchez, we were never beyond view of one or more +descending vessels, while even keelboats, ascending under sail or poles, +were not uncommon. + +Though far from as swift as the flooded Ohio, the Mississippi bore us +rapidly on our way. Divided by island after island and contorted this +way and that by out-jutting points, its mighty current, swollen to vast +width, yet swept on in majestic grandeur past towering bluffs and +inundated lowlands and wildernesses as virgin as in the remote days of +De Soto the Spaniard, and La Salle the Frenchman, other than for an +occasional plantation and, at longer intervals, the log cabins of the +little settlements. + +I will not speak of our difficulties from snags and sawyers and delaying +eddies, or of the extreme difficulty of shooting the waterfowl, which, +though abundant, had long since been taught wariness by the guns aboard +the swarming river craft. I shot a swan and now and then a duck, but for +the most part was held too close to the navigation of our awkward flat +to hunt such shy game. + +On the other hand, our well-stocked larder supplied us with all else +than fresh meat and milk, and to obtain fish we had only to trail a line +over the stern. The season was favorable to the avoidance of fevers and +agues; the high water obviated in a measure the danger of shoals and +sawyers, and I had had the forethought to provide nettings, which saved +us when within the cabin the torments which at night we would otherwise +have suffered from mosquitoes and gnats, even out in midchannel. + +So, on the whole, our days would have passed pleasantly, even without +those joys of companionship of which I have written. Aside from an +occasional fierce thunder storm, our May days on the lower river were +ideal to southern-born persons like my companions, though the fervid +sunrays on the water darkened Don Pedro's aristocratic face to a coffee +brown, and burned my ruddy complexion until it presented one unvaried +expanse of brick red. + +When not at work, Chita was accustomed to doze, uncovered, in the full +blaze, mumbling in answer to my repeated warnings, that it would take a +lifetime of basking to draw the fog and wet of England and my country +from her bones. But she took great care that her mistress should never +venture out into the sun-glare unmasked. Though the senorita could +endure the heat as well as herself, there was always the senorita's +complexion to be considered. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +GENERAL WILKINSON + + +By tacit agreement, throughout our long voyage no mention had been made +of its purpose since the evening of our visit with the Blennerhassets. +Intimate as had been my relations with Alisanda and her uncle, it was +not the part of an honorable man to receive confidences bearing on Don +Pedro's plans, until I had seen General Wilkinson and learned whether +Colonel Burr's test of influence would stand. Unless committed to the +furtherance of the far-reaching projects which the Colonel had outlined +to me, I felt that I had no right to share the secrets of the scheme. + +In compliance with my wish, Don Pedro had refrained from all allusion to +the subject, going so far as seldom to mention his home and country. In +consequence, this being Alisanda's first voyage to New Spain, I learned +so little of their plans that when we landed at Natchez I knew only that +they expected to sail from New Orleans to Vera Cruz, and from there to +travel either by _diligencia_ or private coach to a town named +Chihuahua, in the desert interior, where the don was possessed of a +great estate. Even of the nature and customs of the country I had +gathered few facts to add to the vague information acquired in past +years from the Spanish Creoles. + +But with our approach to Natchez, that which had been least in my +thoughts became the uppermost. General Wilkinson was at Natchez, and the +nature of his response to my letters from Colonel Burr was a matter of +vital importance to me. A few days after our arrival would bring about +my inevitable parting from Alisanda. If that parting took place without +the knitting of new ties for the future, what hope had I of ever again +looking into the depths of her dark eyes? + +But should the Commander-in-Chief prove the feasibility of Colonel +Burr's plans by agreeing to precipitate war and support the invasion of +Mexico, and should he, in addition, give to me the leadership of the +Western expedition, how strong my cause for hope! At once I could enter +into the plans of Don Pedro, and while he journeyed back to Chihuahua, +to prepare his friends for the revolution, I could lead my expedition +across the great plains, my approach to Santa Fe to be the signal for +the uprising. With war raging on the Sabine River and in Texas, the +interior provinces would be drained of Spanish troops; so that the +revolution could be gotten well under way before the Viceroy could send +up an army from the City of Mexico. + +Though not a man of military training, I then believed, and am still +convinced, that this plan of campaign would have met with certain +success. Thousands of our hardy frontiersmen were ready at the word to +fling themselves across the Spanish borders, and with such men as the +fiery General Jackson to lead them, they would have soon crushed all the +forces which General Herrera could have brought against them. Their +march across Texas and to the City of Mexico would have been marked by +an unbroken succession of victories, while I, fighting side by side with +Don Pedro in the revolutionary army of Mexico, with Alisanda to win!-- + +But enough of idle dreams! Those who base their plans on the leadership +of wild schemers and double-dyed traitors should be grateful if the +outcome finds them unsmirched by the company they have kept. + +We moored to the wharf under the bluff at Natchez, and I, dressed +fittingly for the occasion, had the pleasure of escorting Alisanda up to +the little town on the hilly slope behind the bluff-crest,--my companion +finding much to interest her in the motley crowd of Spanish and French +Creoles, Americans, negro slaves, and Chickasaw Indians. + +The don had not expected to stop at this seat of the Government of +Mississippi Territory; else I have no doubt Colonel Burr would have +provided him with a letter to insure hospitality from the persons who +had so _feted_ that statesman the preceding Fall. As it was, I arranged +for the best accommodation to be had at Mickie's Hotel, and at once set +about the disposal of our floating home. + +It being understood that I might be required to hasten north to St. +Louis, Don Pedro had decided to sell the flat, since, without my +company, it would be more convenient to continue the voyage to New +Orleans in a passenger boat. A flat is worth so little at this end of +the river trade that I was glad to bargain the craft for twenty dollars +to a family of French creoles. At New Orleans I might have sought in +vain for a purchaser. Scores of flats are there abandoned by the +rivermen, many of whom return to the upper shipping towns afoot. + +After some hours of delay at the water front, I returned to Mickie's +Tavern with a cartload of impedimenta, including my own chest. Don Pedro +met me at the door, with the information that he had already seen +General Wilkinson, who, upon learning that I also bore despatches, had +sent him to summon me to the headquarters. The don's expression, so far +as one might read his proud features, told me that the interview had not +been over-satisfactory. + +"You are not pleased at General Wilkinson?" I asked. + +"_Nada_, John," he answered with a terseness which spoke volumes. + +I could well imagine what he would have said, had not his courtesy +prevented. + +"I will hasten," I said. "It may be he will meet you in a more favorable +mood after he has seen the letters I bear." + +"God knows! Who can tell?" he murmured in Spanish. + +"I hope to know within the hour," I replied. + +"_Sabe Dios--Quien sabe?_" he repeated, as I set off. + +I found the General's headquarters without difficulty, and upon +mentioning my name, was at once passed in by the sentinel on guard in +the piazza. When I entered the office, I found the General studying a +map of Lower Louisiana, in company with Colonel Cushing, his second in +command. For a moment he stared at me with stupid pomposity, as if he +had been overcome with the whiskey, a bottle of which stood on the table +before him. But even as I gave my name, he recognized me and beckoned me +to a seat at the table, with a fussy show of cordiality. + +"Of course, of course, Dr. Robinson! Take a seat! I'm pestered with all +kinds of visitors in these days of impending war. But a gentleman is +always welcome. Colonel Cushing, you have met Dr. Robinson?--No?--One of +our most promising young physicians,--already favorably known for his +skill, both in the Upper and Lower Territory. He has, I understand, a +private claim to present for my consideration. That is my understanding, +doctor." + +"You have been so kind, sir, as to give me opportunity to present a +matter of private business, if I am not mistaken." + +Colonel Cushing promptly rose, excused himself, and withdrew. The +General leaned toward me, his fat, red face flushing still deeper, his +breath hurried and labored. + +"You bring me letters?" he puffed. + +I took out my packet, broke the seal before his eyes, and handed over +the first two letters, which were addressed to him. He tore open both +with pudgy fingers that shook, either from excitement or excess of +drink. The more bulky one he stared at for a moment, with knitted brows, +only to fling it into a drawer. + +"Cypher again!" he muttered. + +"You spoke to me, sir?" I asked. + +He glared across at me, with what I could have sworn was panicky fear. +His voice shook: "You--you--Do you know what is in these letters?" + +"You saw me break the seal of the packet," I replied. "I do not know the +contents of Colonel Burr's messages; though, from what he told me, one +letter relates to myself, and the other bears upon the death of Pitt." + +"Pitt!--Pitt dead?" he gasped, losing thought of the one fear in +another. + +"Have you not heard?" I asked, astonished. "It is months since his +death--midwinter." + +"But--but--that puts another face on the plans! Without Pitt--without +the British ships--" + +"British ships!" I exclaimed. + +He started, and sought to gather together his scattered wits, hastily +pouring out and drinking half a glass of raw whiskey before again +speaking. I waved aside the bottle and a second glass which he thrust +toward me, and pointed to the other letter. "Your Excellency, may I ask +you to read what Colonel Burr has written with regard to myself?" + +He caught up the letter, and after a hasty glance about the room from +door to window, began to read. I could see by the quickness with which +his eyes followed the lines that, unlike the first, it was written in a +legible hand. At the end he went back and re-read the latter part. +Coming again to the end, he laid the letter down, and addressed me with +a most bombastic assumption of dignity: "Sir, Colonel Burr takes too +much upon himself--far too much! The granting of your request, sir, is +impossible--impossible!" + +Away puffed my aircastles at a word, and left me stunned and heartsick. +I had not looked for so sudden a blow. Yet I managed to protest: "Your +Excellency, I have ventured to imagine that I am not altogether lacking +in the qualities needed by the leader of such an expedition." + +He unbent a trifle. "Sir, I do not question your qualifications." + +"Then what prevents my appointment, Your Excellency? Is it that you wish +further recommendations? If only my friend Lieutenant Pike were here to +speak for me!" + +"That, sir, is the point. I cannot give you the place, because +Lieutenant Pike has already been assigned to it." + +"He!" I cried. "But he is at the sources of the Mississippi!" + +"He was, sir, and the Government shall hear of it, to his just credit. +He has explored the headwaters of the river; entered into treaties with +the powerful tribes of the Sioux and Chippewas; hauled down the British +flags at the fur-trading posts, and compelled an agreement of the +Northwest Company to pay us our import duties at Michilmackinac." + +"And he has returned!" I muttered. + +"In April. By now he is fitting out this present expedition." + +I rose and bowed. "Such being the case, Your Excellency, permit me to +wish you good-day." + +"One moment," he said, leaning toward me, with a leer which doubtless he +meant for an ingratiating glance. "Has your ambition so narrow a range, +doctor?" + +"My ambition?" I inquired. + +"Your ambition and your interest in the projects of one who shall at +present go unnamed. I must read and consider what the gentleman has +written to me. Whatever my decision as to--those matters, I cannot give +you what you have asked; but--you will understand--there may be +possibilities--vast possibilities!--a vast Empire, stretching westward +from the Alleghanies--" + +"Alleghanies!" I cried, astounded. + +At sight of my face, his own turned a mottled gray. He caught at the +whiskey bottle and poured himself out a second drink. Fortified by the +draught, he gasped something about an attack of bilious fever, and +added, with a crafty smile: "You, sir, as a physician, know how this +cursed malaria flies to the head. I have the word Arkansas on my tongue, +yet say Alleghany." + +The explanation at once allayed the terrible suspicion which had flashed +into my mind. It was common knowledge throughout the West that this man +had been involved with Innes and other conspirators of the separatist +plots in the nineties. But that he or Colonel Burr or any other man not +insane could dream of such treason to the Republic in these days was a +thought seemingly so preposterous that it needed only the pompous old +fellow's word of explanation to make me banish the suspicion. Yet I +realized that I had had quite enough of his company. + +"Sir," I said, "my interest in the affairs of Colonel Burr hinged +entirely upon this question of the expedition. Since the honor of its +leadership has fallen to my friend Lieutenant Pike, I have nothing to +ask of you." + +"You will remain in Natchez a day or two?" he inquired. + +"I cannot say." + +"It might prove to your interest to delay over. I may again send for +you, notwithstanding your reluctance to receive other favors than the +one I cannot grant." + +I bowed and withdrew, leaving him in the act of pouring a third drink of +whiskey. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +AU REVOIR + + +It was not with a light heart that I returned to Mickie's Hotel. I had +made my cast, and fortune was against me. In the afternoon I had left +Alisanda smiling down upon me from the balcony of her inn window; I was +returning at nightfall to meet--Senorita Vallois. Though to the last she +and Don Pedro might hold to the familiar "Juan," how little might even +her smiles lighten the shadow of a hopeless parting! + +As I entered the inn door, Mickie bustled forward to inform me, with an +air of vast importance, that at the request of the Spanish grandee, he +had arranged to serve the evening meal to the senor's party above +stairs. When he added that a plate was to be laid for myself, I hastened +to my own room for a change of linen. + +My heart was too heavy for me to linger over foppish details of dress. +It was not long before I found myself at the door of the room set apart +for the private dining-parlor. Chita, who was overlooking the spreading +of the cloth by the negro attendants of the inn, conducted me through to +the balcony, where I found the don indolently puffing at his _cigarro_. + +Before I could take the seat to which he waved me, Alisanda floated out +into the moonlight from the window behind him. She was a vision all +heavenly white but for her scarlet lips and sombre eyes and brows. Even +the soft tresses of her hair were hidden beneath the gauzy white drape +of tulle and lace which took the place of her black mantilla. + +"_Buenas noches_, Juan," she greeted me, in a tone of liquid silver. + +"God be with you, Alisanda!" I responded. + +"Be seated, _amigo_," urged Don Pedro. "You have a weary look." + +"I bring what to me is heavy news," I replied. + +"You had in mind to ask a favor of General Wilkinson," said Alisanda. +"You have asked the favor, and--he has refused it?" + +The note of sympathy in her voice soothed my despairing anger. I did not +stop to wonder at the intuition by which she had divined the object of +my visit to the General. It was enough for me that she had perceived my +heaviness, and held out to me her sympathy. + +"It is true," I said, and in a few words I told them of my shattered +plans,--how I had hoped to gain fame by leading an expedition of +exploration to the West, as Lewis and Clark were exploring the +Northwest, and as my friend Pike had explored the headwaters of the +Mississippi; and how the statements of Colonel Burr had led me to hope +for still greater fame as a sharer in the freeing of Mexico. + +Don Pedro leaned toward me, his eyes glowing with friendly fire. "_Por +Dios!_ Your one thought was to help us break the yoke! You would give +your life for the winning of liberty!" + +I looked across at Alisanda, and the soft loveliness of her beauty in +the moonlight filled me to overflowing with the bitterness of my blasted +hopes. + +"Do not think me so noble!" I replied. "I thought to fight for the +freedom of your country, but it was in hope of a reward a thousandfold +greater than my service!" + +Alisanda raised her fan and gazed at me above its fluted edge with +widened eyes,--I feared in resentful wonder at my audacity. But Don +Pedro was too intent upon his own thoughts to perceive the meaning of my +words. + +"_Por Dios!_" he protested. "Those who have risen against Spanish +oppression have ever met with short shrift. Shall not they who brave +death in our cause look for glorious reward in the hour of victory?" + +"That is true of those who may be blessed with the chance to join your +ranks. As for me, the opportunity which I had thought to be golden has +turned to ashes in my grasp." + +"_Sabe Dios!_" murmured Alisanda in so soft a tone that the words came +to me like a whisper of the evening breeze. Was it possible that after +all I still had cause for hope? + +Chita's voice, drawling the usual Spanish phrase, summoned us to the +table. We rose, and Alisanda accepted my arm with a queenly +graciousness of manner which in the same moment thrilled and +disheartened me. I read it to mean that she was in a kindly mood, but +that the kindliness was due to the condescension of Senorita Vallois, +and not to the frank companionship of my fellow-traveller Alisanda. This +surmise was borne out by her manner at table, where she rallied her +uncle and myself upon our gravity, and with subtle skill, confined the +talk to the lightest of topics. The Don was as abstemious as most of his +countrymen, and Mickie's wine was a libel on the name, yet he soon +mellowed to the gay chit-chat of his niece. + +It was beyond me to enter into this spirit of merriment. I forced myself +to smile outwardly and to meet their lively quips and sallies with such +nimbleness of wit as I possessed. But it went no deeper than show on my +part. The longer we sat, the heavier grew my heart. I had no joy of my +food. Even the peaches and the other fruits of the lower river tasted +bitter in my mouth. For with each fresh turn of the conversation I saw +my Alisanda slipping farther away from me, her kindly glance giving +place to the haughty gaze of the Spanish lady of blood, her familiar +address cooling to stately condescension. I was no longer "Juan," but +"doctor" and "senor," and, near the end, "Doctor Robinson." + +We had come to the sweetmeats, and I noted with despair that she was on +the point of withdrawing. She had even thrust back her chair to rise, +when, with scant ceremony, a young soldier in uniform entered and +stated that His Excellency, General Wilkinson, desired the immediate +presence of Senor Vallois. + +"_Carambo!_" exclaimed Don Pedro, looking regretfully at the sweetmeats. +"He might have chosen a fitter time! It is in my mind to wait." + +"Is not your business with him the affair of others no less than your +own?" murmured Alisanda. + +"_Santisima Virgen!_ You do well to remind me! Juan, with your +permission--" + +"_Adios!_ Good fortune to you!" I cried, as he rose. + +Another moment and he and the soldier had left the room. I was alone +with Alisanda. She rose, with a trace of inquietude beneath her calm +hauteur. I moved around the table to join her. + +"Spare yourself the trouble," she said, with repellent sharpness. "It is +unkind to take a man of English blood from his wine." + +"Senorita," I answered, "since we came in to table, you have told me all +too plainly that you no longer wish to conform to the customs of the +country. I do not wonder. Our voyage as fellow-travellers is at an end. +There is no longer need for such slight service as I was able to +render--" + +"Service?" she repeated, with a curl of her scarlet lip. + +Though cut to the quick, I could not give over. + +"Alisanda," I said, "has it been nothing to you, all these golden days +since we met on the Monongahela?" + +She raised her hand to arrange her scarf, letting fall a loose strand of +hair down her cheek. + +"_Santisima Virgen!_" she murmured, with fine-drawn irony. "It has ever +been a marvel to me--so chance a meeting." + +"Chance, indeed!" I replied. "Chance that the utmost of my effort could +not trace the road by which you left Washington; chance that Colonel +Burr gave me the clew for which I sought; chance that of the nine horses +I rode to a stand between Philadelphia and Elizabethtown, none failed me +in my need." + +She gave me a mocking glance over her fan. "_Madre de los Dolores!_ What +a pity! A little time, and the gulf will roll between." + +"I will cross that gulf!" + +"Not so; for it is the gulf of the Cross," she mocked. "I go the way of +Vera Cruz--the True Cross. No heretic may pass that way." + +The words struck down my last hope. It was the truth--a double truth. +The way of my body was barred by the city of the Cross; the way of my +spirit by that which to her the Cross symbolized. + +"So this is the end," I replied. "We have come to the parting of the +ways. Do not fear that I shall weary you with annoying persistence. I +shall go my way before sunrise to-morrow. Only--let me ask that this +last hour with you may hold its share of sweetness with the bitterness +of parting,--Alisanda!" + +"An hour?" she repeated. "The air in here is close." + +She laid her fingers lightly upon my arm, and we passed out into the +moonlit balcony. For a time we sat silent, she gazing out across the +broken slopes of the town, I gazing at her still white face and shadowy +eyes. Her loveliness was part with the night and the moonlight and the +scarlet bloom of the climber upon the balcony rail. + +At last I could no longer endure the thought that she was lost to me; I +could no longer deny utterance to my love and longing. + +"Alisanda! dearest one! Is there then no hope that I may win you? I have +no gallant speeches--my love is voiceless; no less is it a love that +shall endure always. Alisanda! _my_ dearest one! is my love of no worth +to you? Let your heart speak! Can it not give me one word of hope?" + +My voice failed me. Throughout my passionate appeal I failed to see the +slightest change in her calm face. I had failed to stir her even to +mockery. Truly all was now at an end! I bowed my head and groaned in +most unmanly fashion. + +The low murmur of her voice roused me to despairing eagerness. She spoke +in a tone of light inconsequence, yet I seized upon the words as the +drowning man clutches at straws. + +"Love?--love?" she repeated. "The word has become a jest. Men protest +that they know the meaning of love--that they suffer its bitterest +pangs. Yet speak to them of the days of chivalry, when gallant knights +bore the colors of their ladies through deadly battle, and the ogling +beaux turn an epigram on _les sauvages nous ancetres_!" + +"Show me the way to the battlefield--I ask no more!" I cried. + +"Words--words!" she mocked. "The Cid would have found his way to the +field of glory without asking. Were the way barred, El Campeador would +have hewn his way through, though the barrier were of solid rock! But +the men of to-day--!" + +"Wait!" I broke in. "Have you not yourself said that the way of the gulf +is impassable for me?" + +"True," she assented, "true! And not alone the gulf, but the +barrier--the gulf of water and of the Cross; the barrier of rock and of +blood." + +"Blue blood and red have been known to intermingle," I argued. + +"With love for solvent!" she murmured. The softness was only for the +instant. "Yet what of that other barrier?" she demanded. "Between your +land and the land to which I go lies the blood of Christ." + +"Is it then religion that is the insurmountable barrier--the impassable +gulf? You have not lived all your life in Spain. I had hoped that not +even your faith could close your heart against me, if only I might prove +to you the greatness of my love." + +She sat silent for what seemed an endless time, toying idly with her +fan. When at last she spoke, it was again in that light, inconsequential +tone: "To the eastward or northeastward of Santa Fe lies a vast +snow-clad sierra. My kinsman once saw it from a great distance. He says +it is called the _Sangre de Cristo_." + +"_Sangre de Cristo_--the Blood of Christ!" I said, lost in wonderment. +Then a great light flashed upon me. I knelt on one knee and caught to my +lips a white hand that did not seek to escape my grasp. "The +barrier--the barrier of rock!--Alisanda! you give me hope! If I come to +you there--if I cross that barrier? Dearest one!--dearest! can you doubt +it? Though I have to find my way alone among the fierce savages of the +vast prairies; though I find that snowy range a mountain of ice and +fire, I will come to you, Alisanda--my love!" + +I saw the quick rise of her bosom and the blush that suffused her cheeks +with glorious scarlet before she could raise her masking fan. + +"_Santisima Virgen!_" she murmured, and broke into a little quavering, +uncertain laugh. "They speak of the cold blood of your race!" + +"Alisanda!--Dearest one! Tell me I may come!" + +She rose quietly, already calm again, and cold as the moonlight which +shone full upon her face. I rose with her, still clasping her hand. + +"Tell me, Alisanda, may I come?" + +"Why ask me that?" she said, in an even voice. "Could I prevent if you +wished to try?" + +"If I cross the barrier, may I hope?" + +"There would yet be the gulf." + +"Gulf or barrier, I swear I will find my way to you, though it be +through fire and flood! I will seek you out and win you, though you hide +your beauty beneath a nun's veil!" + +Such was the force of my passion, I again saw her bosom rise to a +deep-drawn breath and the edges of her sensitive nostrils quiver. Yet +this time she did not blush, and her voice cut with its fine-drawn +irony: "Words--words!" + +"I offer love. I ask nothing in turn but a word or a token--nothing +but--my lady's colors." + +She turned and opened her eyes full to my gaze as she had opened them at +our parting in far-off Washington, and I looked down into their depths, +vainly seeking to penetrate the darkness. At last it seemed to me I saw +a gleam far down in the wells of mystery--a glow, faint yet warm, that +seemed to light my way to hope. + +Suddenly the glow burst into a flame of golden glory--She was swaying +toward me, a line of pearls showing between her curving lips. But even +as I sought to clasp her in my arms, she eluded me and glided away, +vanishing through the farther window. + +Half mad with delight, yet unable to believe my own eyes, I sought to +follow, the blood drumming in my ears from the wild intoxication of my +love. None too soon I heard behind me the sharp call of Don Pedro: +"_Hola, amigo!_ Have you gone deaf, that you do not answer?" + +This, then, was why she had eluded me! It was his return which had +robbed me of that moment of all moments. My look as I turned was as +bitter as his was keen. My voice sounded to me like that of another man: +"What! Back so soon, senor?" + +"Senor?" he repeated, taken aback by the formal address. "Yet it is as +well, Juan. All our plans are blasted. Hereafter it would seem we are to +be strangers. I have no faith in the promises of that man." + +"You do well to distrust him," I said. "I might have foreseen the +outcome of plans in which he was to play a part." + +"Whom can we trust in this self-seeking age! I find myself doubting even +the fair promises of your great statesman Burr." + +"Of our discredited politician Burr!" I cried. "Don Pedro, he has no +claim upon me, and you have many. Let me tell you, I begin to doubt him, +even as I doubt our pompous General. I have reason to believe that +Colonel Burr plans to take your country from Spain, not for the benefit +of you and your friends, but for his own aggrandizement. He thinks +himself a second Napoleon." + +"_Por Dios!_ I see it now. He plots to sell us to Spain, that Spain may +aid his plot to make himself king of your Western country,--king of all +that part which extends from the Alleghanies even here to New Orleans +and north and west to the Pacific. I know; for did he not enter into +negotiations with Marquis de Casa Yrujo?" + +"With the Spanish Minister?" I exclaimed. + +"With Casa Yrujo, after the death of Pitt deprived him of the hope of +British ships and money." + +"So--he is but a crack-brained trickster," I muttered. "We have chased +his rainbows and landed in the mire. This is the end, senor. I go now. +Tomorrow's sun will see me on my way up-river to St. Louis. May you find +brave men enough in your own land to win freedom, without the costly aid +of tricksters!" + +"There are others than tricksters that share my plans--true-hearted men +at New Orleans. The Mexican Association stands pledged,--three hundred +and more loyal workers in the cause of my country's freedom." + +"Creoles," I said. "You could count upon a hundred of my backwoods +countrymen to do more, should it come to the setting of triggers." + +"We shall see. But there are others than creoles in the association. +Already Senor Clark has made two voyages to Vera Cruz, to spy out the +defences. I go now to tell him more. You know something as to the power +of our religious orders. At New Orleans are two such. But what is all +this to you now?" + +"Much, Don Pedro! My heart is with the success of your plans!" + +"_Muchas gracias, amigo!_ Would that you might journey with me to my +people! But the gate at Vera Cruz is narrow for heretics. _Adios!_" + +"_Adios_, Don Pedro. May we meet under brighter skies!" + +"God grant it, Juan!" he cried, with unfeigned friendliness. + +I clasped his hand, and hastened away. My heart was too full for words. + +Early as I expected to start in the morning, I did not seek my bed. I +could not sleep. Having bargained for my upstream passage with a St. +Louis friend, in command of a keelboat, I wandered out and strolled +through the sloping streets of the town. But even the wild revelry of +the rivermen, for which Natchez is so evilly noted, failed to win from +me more than passing heed. My own thoughts were in wilder turmoil. In +beside the memory of the golden love-glory which had shone in her eyes, +and fit mate to the bitter disappointment of the loss that Don Pedro's +entrance had cost me, there had crept into my mind a maddening doubt +that I had seen clearly,--a fear that the glow in her eyes, the swaying +of her dear form nearer to me, had been only the fantasies of my +passion. + +Unable to endure the torment of such doubt, I hastened back, to linger +in the shadow beneath my lady's balcony. After a time, so great was my +longing, I found courage to murmur the refrain of a song we had sung +together on the river. I dared not raise my voice for fear Don Pedro +would hear and divine my purpose, and my low notes seemed lost in the +drunken ditties and outcries of the carousers in the tavern taproom. + +An hour dragged by its weary length, and no soft whisper floated down +to me from above, no graceful vision appeared at the vine-clad +balustrade. Despair settled heavily upon my heart. The cadenced Spanish +vowels died away upon my lips. I turned to go. A small white object +dropped lightly from above and fell at my feet. + +In a trice my despair had given place to hope and joy no less +extravagant. I snatched up the message, and rushed in to open it before +the waxen taper, in the privacy of my room. The wrapping was a +lace-edged handkerchief of finest linen, in the corner of which was an +embroidered "A. V."--my lady's initials. + +But when I opened it, thinking to find a written missive, there appeared +only a great, sweet-scented magnolia bloom. Yet was not this enough? Was +it not far more than I had expected--than had been my right to expect? + +I held it close before my eyes, my thoughts upon the sender, whose +cheeks were still more delicate in texture than these creamy petals. I +turned the blossom around to view its perfections. She had held it in +her hand! + +Upon one of the delicate petals faint lines had appeared. They darkened +into clear letters under my gaze, and those letters spelled "_Au +revoir_!" + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +AGAINST THE CURRENT + + +Had I been in funds, I should have preferred a horse for the up-river +trip. As it was, I was glad of the opportunity to make the passage by +boat with my friend the captain, and in so doing, to earn a pocketful of +wages. It is not, however, a proceeding I should advise to be undertaken +by one who lacks the strength and experience necessary for poling and +cordelling. + +At times, to be sure, we were able to relieve our labors by an +occasional resort to the sails, when the wind chanced to be fair. But in +the very nature of the case, this aid could never be more than +temporary, since the windings of the river were bound, sooner or later, +to make a headwind of what had been a fair breeze. + +So, for the most part, our voyage all the way from Natchez to St. Louis +meant one continuous round, from morning till night, of setting our +poles at the boat's prow, each in his turn, and tramping to the stern +along the side gangways, or walking-boards,--there to raise our poles +and return to the prow, to repeat the laborious proceeding. I can say +that keelboat poling is a splendid method of developing the muscles of +the back and lower limbs, provided the man who attempts it begins with a +sufficient stock of strength and endurance to carry him over the first +week. + +This does not mean that I enjoyed the trip. Softened by my Winter in +Washington, the first few days out of Natchez were as trying to me as to +the regular members of the crew after their carousals and excesses in +New Orleans and Natchez. Our boat, which had come down with a cargo of +lead from the mines about St. Louis, was returning with a consignment of +the cheap calicos and the coarse broadcloth called strouding, which form +the basis of the Indian barter in the fur trade; and cloth in bolts, +closely stowed, is not the lightest of cargoes. + +But, once we had worked ourselves into condition, we shoved our craft +upstream from daylight till nightfall at an average speed of over three +miles an hour. Whenever the bank and channel permitted, we eased our +labor at the poles by passing a towline ashore and cordelling the boat, +while our captain, one of the best on the river, was ever alert to hoist +sail with every favorable breeze. + +If I did not enjoy the voyage, I nevertheless had cause to feel thankful +for the hard work which held my melancholy thoughts in check and sent me +to my bunk at night so outspent that I slept as soundly as any man +aboard. A man treading the walking-boards, bowed over his pole, may +brood on his troubles for a week or two, but none could do so longer +unless his system were full of malaria. For the constant, vigorous +exercise in the open air is bound to send the good red blood coursing +through every vein of the body, until even the most clouded brain must +throw off its vapors. + +Once free from the melancholy which had oppressed me the first few days, +I gave most of my thought to the problem of how I should fulfil my vow +to cross the barrier that was so soon to lie between my lady and myself. +My main hope lay in the possibility of obtaining Lieutenant Pike's +permission to join his expedition as a volunteer. But he was so strict +in his adherence to the most rigid requirements of his position as an +officer, that there was grave reason to doubt whether he would accept my +services without an order from the General. + +There were other plans to be considered, one of which was that I should +throw in my fortunes with Senor Liza and his creole fellows. The idea +was distasteful, yet, reflecting on what little I had learned of the +plans of Colonel Burr and his friends, I was not so sure but that Liza's +party were quite as loyal. At the least, I could see no harm in aiding +Liza to carry a trading expedition into Santa Fe. So far as my own plans +were concerned, the venture would promise more at the other end than if +I joined Pike's party. If I reached that other end, I should be going +among the people of New Spain in company with persons of their own +blood. + +There remained the most desperate plan of all. I could set out alone, +and trust to my unaided craft and single rifle to carry me safe across +the hundreds of miles of desert and the snowy mountains of which +Alisanda had spoken. I had travelled the wilderness traces and the +trackless forests too often alone to have any fear of wild beasts. But +there was the uncertainty of being able to kill enough meat to keep from +starving in the Western wilds, and on the other hand the certainty of +encountering bands of the little-known Pawnees and Ietans. + +Rather than not go at all, I was resolved to attempt this desperate +venture. But my plan was to seek first to attach myself to my friend's +party, and, failing that, to open negotiations with Liza. + +After a brief stop at Kaskaskia, that century-old trading post of the +French, we undertook the last run to St. Louis with much spirit. The +greater part of the crew were eager to reach St. Louis in time for the +celebration of Independence Day. In this we were disappointed, being so +set back by headwinds that we did not tie up to the home wharf until the +evening of the sixth of July. + +My first inquiries relieved me of my fear that Lieutenant Pike had +already started. He was waiting with his party, fourteen or fifteen +miles upstream, at the Cantonment Belle Fontaine, established the +previous year by General Wilkinson. I had already learned at Kaskaskia +that the General had passed us in his barge far down the river, and had +arrived in St. Louis several days before us. To this was now added the +news that he had gone on up to Belle Fontaine. + +Such an opportunity to meet the General and my friend together was not +to be lost. I made my plans over-night in St. Louis, stored my chest, +provided myself with a new hunter's suit, and obtained letters of +recommendation to the General from two gentlemen of influence. + +Dawn found me at the convenient river front which gives St. Louis such +an advantage over the other up-river settlements of twice its size and +age. The rock bank not only prevents the incutting of the current, but, +owing to its lowness, gives easy access to and from the water, unlike +the high bluffs upon which most of the settlements have been located. + +Looking about for an up-river party, I was so fortunate as to fall in +with Mr. Daniel Boone, who with his son-in-law, Flanders Calloway, had +come down from La Charette with a bateau-load of furs. Seeing me in +hunting dress, the old gentleman showed the keenest interest in my +intentions, and upon learning that my immediate purpose was to reach +Belle Fontaine, invited me aboard their bateau. + +On the way upstream he made me sit beside him in the stern-sheets, and +his look betrayed such an eagerness over my plans that I could not +resist confiding them to him. It was sad to see the youthful fire flash +and sparkle in his bright old eyes, only to dull and fade to the +grayness of forced resignation. + +"My days are past, John," he said, in his quiet, almost gentle voice. +"You have heard me tell of the trip I took with your father through the +Choctaw nation; but I'm now past my threescore years and ten, lad. Take +off the ten, and I'd be with you on this traceless quest to the Spanish +country. It's hard to be tied down to a scant fifty miles or so of free +range. But my old bones stiffen and call for rest after their +wanderings. I reckon, though, I've done a man's share in my time. Not +that I make any boast of it; only I feel that I was an instrument in +God's providence to open the wilderness to our people. I feel it none +the less that there were all those others before me. Captain Morgan +founded New Madrid in sixty-six--" + +"But that was under Spanish rule," I exclaimed. "Yours was the first of +the advanced American settlements in Kentucky. If only I may have a +share in a like tracing of our great Western plains!" + +He gave me a shrewd glance. "You fear they won't let you go with the +expedition. Why not follow their trace, and join their party in the +Pawnee country? This young lieutenant is your friend, you say. He will +be sure to take you into camp." + +Simple as was this stratagem, it had not occurred to me in all my +scheming. Yet it was so practicable that I at once assured Mr. Boone I +would, if need were, carry out the suggestion. A few minutes later he +landed me at Belle Fontaine, and we parted with a warm handshake. Though +deprived by litigation of the bulk of his Spanish grant on the Femme +Osage, as he had been in the early nineties of his Kentucky lands, Mr. +Boone remains one of the most even-tempered and kindliest men I know. + +Upon reaching the cantonment, my first intention had been to seek out +General Wilkinson. But within a few paces I caught sight of a company of +the Second Infantry on parade, and one glance was enough to tell me that +the officer in command was my friend Lieutenant Pike. Though I could see +only his trim back, there was no mistaking the odd manner in which he +stood with his head so bent to the right that the tip of his chapeau +touched his shoulder. + +Before many minutes he dismissed the company, and turning about, saw me +waiting within a dozen paces. In another moment he was grasping my hand, +his blue eyes beaming and his fair cheeks flushing like a girl's beneath +their sunburn. + +"Good fortune, John!" he cried. "I feared you had gone on down to settle +in New Orleans. The General spoke of meeting you in Natchez." + +"Did he tell you the cause of that meeting--and the outcome?" + +"Surely you cannot blame him!" + +"No, no, Montgomery!--since it was you who had forestalled me!" + +"Yet you must have had your heart set upon leading the expedition." + +"It was to obtain the leadership that I went on to Washington." + +"No!" + +"A wild goose chase, as you see. But, worst of all, I am now more than +ever anxious to go." + +"Yet--even if the General should remove me--" + +"He would not give the place to me. Nor could I ask your removal. Yet I +_must_ go with you, Montgomery!" + +"You are not in the Service." + +"I will offer myself as a volunteer." + +"Nothing could give me greater pleasure! And we need a surgeon. Still--" + +"I am aware that the General does not regard me with favor. Yet if you +should second my application--" + +"By all means! Have you met the General's son, Lieutenant James +Wilkinson?" I shook my head. "Here he comes. I will introduce you. He is +my second in this expedition. Stop and talk with him, while I see the +General. I will have you on with us if it can be done." + +I turned and saw approaching a tall young lieutenant whose sallow but +pleasant face was altogether unlike that of his father. Owing to this +and to his cordial greeting when we were introduced, I was able to enter +into a lively conversation with him, while my friend hastened away. A +few remarks brought us to the subject of the expedition, and I found the +Lieutenant so agreeable when I intimated my desire to volunteer that I +ventured to ask his good services in the affair. To this he very readily +assented, and upon the return of my friend, held a conference with him, +the decision of which was that I should wait over a day, in view of the +fact that the General had received Pike's intervention in my behalf with +disfavor. + +It was an irksome wait, little as was the time given me to brood. Young +Wilkinson put me up in his own quarters, but Mrs. Pike insisted that I +should take all my meals with the family. I repaid this hospitality as +best I could by detailed descriptions of all that I had seen during my +visit in Washington, which proved no less interesting to the Lieutenant +than to Mrs. Pike. Also I was able to cure the children of a slight +seasonable indisposition. + +Of his own affairs my friend had little to say. His modesty and reserve +prevented him from giving any other than the most meagre information as +to his recent trip, while my first inquiry regarding the present +expedition was met by the prompt statement that he was under orders not +to discuss it. The most I learned was that, with few exceptions, his +party was made up of the men who had proved themselves so brave and +enduring on his Mississippi trip. + +On my part, I contrived to say nothing about my dealings with Colonel +Burr, and so little with regard to Alisanda that not even Mrs. Pike +divined my romance. This was not that I shrank from confiding in them. +My idea was to keep the information as a last resort, in the event that +I should be compelled to undertake the stratagem suggested by Mr. Boone. +The confession of my love-quest would then add strength to my appeal to +be taken into camp. + +Shortly after noon of the following day Pike brought me the welcome news +that young Wilkinson advised an immediate call upon his father. I +hastened over to headquarters, and, upon sending in my name, was shown +into the presence of the General. He was still seated at table, and with +the same gesture that dismissed his waiter, waved me to a seat across +from him. + +"So," he puffed, eying me curiously, "I understand that you have +reconsidered the position you took at Natchez." + +"I confess, Your Excellency, I have become so infatuated with the idea +of this adventurous expedition that I wish to join it, even though in a +subordinate position." + +"Your reasons?" he demanded, with unconcealed suspicion. + +"There is the love of adventure for its own sake, Your Excellency. I was +born on the frontier. For another thing, I should perhaps gain some +little standing by reporting on the mineralogical and other scientific +features encountered by the expedition." + +"You would be willing to give your services as surgeon?" + +"Certainly, sir!" + +He pushed across a glass and his whiskey bottle, and I thought it +discreet to accept the invitation. As I sipped my toddy, he drew a +sealed document from his pocket, and fixed me with what was meant for a +penetrating stare. + +"You are willing to do all within your power to further the success of +the expedition?" + +Though certain that this covered something more than my medical +services, I answered without hesitancy: "Anything within my power, sir!" + +"Good," he replied, and he nodded. "Here is a question to test +that--Supposing the expedition, in exploring our unknown boundaries, +should chance to find itself in the vicinity of the Spanish +settlements--" + +I started, and leaned toward him, eager-eyed. "Yes!" I cried. "You +mean--?" + +"By ----!" he muttered. "What do _you_ mean? You're like a hound +on a blood trace!" + +"Who is not eager to get at the secrets of El Dorado?" I parried. + +"So?" he said. "I fear that Colonel Burr has been plying you with his +harebrained schemes." + +"He spoke to me of the Mexican mines." + +"You are not the first of his dupes." + +"Dupe, sir! I thought that you were yourself one of his friends." + +"Friend?--to him!" The General swelled with what seemed to me over-acted +indignation. "But I forgive you your ignorance, sir. Let us return to +the point under discussion. The question is, would you, under the +supposition I have stated, be willing to risk yourself among the +Spaniards?" + +"You mean, sir, as a spy?" + +"It is a question of patriotism, sir, patriotism!" he puffed. "Though +war now seems averted for the time being, hostilities may occur even +before this expedition can return. In the event of war, I need hardly +mention to you that information bearing upon the situation of the +Spanish in their northern provinces would be of inestimable value to our +country." + +"Your Excellency," I said, "I bear the Spanish authorities no love, and +my country much. I will undertake what you have mentioned, so far as +lies within my power." + +"Lieutenant Pike has assured me as to your abilities. You speak French +and some Spanish?" + +"Some French, sir; very little Spanish." + +"Enough to serve." He took up the document, with its beribboned seal. +"Here is a paper for your consideration. It is a claim upon the Spanish +authorities, prepared according to the treaties between the United +States and Spain. Two years ago Mr. William Morrison of Kaskaskia +intrusted one Baptiste Le Lande with a large stock of trade goods for +barter among the Western tribes. According to reports which have lately +come to Mr. Morrison through the Indians, Le Lande has reached Santa Fe +and there settled, without intention of accounting for the property +intrusted to him." + +"I understand, Your Excellency," said I. "This claim is to serve as a +cloak for my spying." + +"No need to use so harsh a term," he mumbled. + +"It is the term the Spanish authorities will use if they detect me," I +answered. + +"We are at peace with Spain. I reached a good understanding with General +Herrera before coming up the river. There will be no hostilities for +some months, at the least. The Spaniards will not dare to resort to +extremes against you." + +"Their authorities bear us no love," I rejoined. "Those in so remote a +province as Nuevo Mexico may well argue that it will be quite safe to +hang a spy, war or no war." + +He took up the document, with a frown. "Then you do not care to venture +it?" + +"Your Excellency mistakes me. I wish merely to point out the risk. In my +opinion, the danger could be no greater if hostilities had already +begun." + +"And if I admit the risk?" he demanded. + +"It is, in a sense, a military service. Supposing it successful, is it +not Your Excellency's opinion that a recommendation to a commission +might be in order?" + +He studied me for some moments. Then: "A commission as a +subaltern--possibly." + +"Sir, I could obtain that by means of a little political begging. I had +in mind a captaincy." + +"Captaincy!" he repeated, taken aback by my audacity. "Captaincy! That +is beyond all reason." + +"Yet if I succeed beyond reason--?" + +"In such event--But let that wait until your return." + +"If ever I do return," I added. + +"True; but you can thank yourself that you are thrusting your head into +the noose, with your eyes open." + +"Then Your Excellency gives me leave to join as a volunteer?" + +"We shall see--we shall see." + +"But, Your Excellency, a man likes time for preparations." + +"That is your own affair, sir,--though I may say that, at present, I +feel disposed to grant you the favor. I shall let you know in good +time." + +With this I was forced to be content. The General rose to enter his +office, with a pompous gesture of dismissal. + +But upon my return to my friend's quarters, he and Mrs. Pike and +Lieutenant Wilkinson joined in assuring me that, since the General had +not refused me point blank, I had every reason to expect a favorable +decision. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE LURE + + +It was well in line with the General's character that he kept me on +tenterhooks until the very afternoon before the intended day of +marching. Then, as it were at the eleventh hour, he included in his +written orders to Lieutenant Pike, to march the following day, a brief +paragraph to the effect that I was to accompany the expedition as a +volunteer surgeon. + +Notwithstanding the orders of the General, we did not start in the +morning, but were forced to wait over until the fifteenth of July, owing +to the unreadiness of our savage charges, the Osage captives who had +been rescued from the Pottawattomies and who were to be returned to +their people under our escort. + +The first stage of our journey, up the devious Osage River, was one +tedious to all and exceedingly laborious to those whose duties confined +them to the navigation of the boats. In confirmation I need only add +that the Summer was fast nearing its close before we arrived at the +Osage towns. + +There, instead of the generosity which we had a right to expect from an +Indian tribe to whom we had restored so many members, we were delayed +many days by their ungrateful reluctance to supply us with horses, and +in the end obtained with greatest difficulty only a few of their least +desirable animals. + +Yet, relieved of the boats and our Indian charges and possessed of these +few pack-beasts and saddle horses, our march on toward the Pawnee +Republic, when at last we did get under way again, soon carried us into +the prairie which lies westward of the three-hundred-mile belt of +half-forested lands along the Mississippi. We had come to that vast +extent of desert plains which, though abounding in game, is all but +destitute of timber. In consequence of this fact, young Wilkinson and I +agreed with Pike that the arid waste is destined to serve forever as the +Western boundary of the Republic's settled population. + +About the middle of September I was sent on ahead of the party to the +Pawnee Republic, accompanied by a young Pawnee called Frank, one of the +half-dozen of his people attached to the expedition at St. Louis. We +were well mounted, and travelled rapidly in a northwesterly direction, +across the lower fork of the Kansas River and the three branches which +flow into the Republican Fork from the south and west. + +At first we kept a sharp outlook for hunting and war parties of the +Kans, who at the time were not on the best of terms with their cousins +the Osages. But throughout our trip we saw nothing more dangerous than +the numerous panthers which thrive on the superabundant game. Though +bold, these tawny beasts were too well fed to trouble us. The same was +true of the gray wolves, a small pack of which followed us day after day +to feast upon the carcasses of the buffaloes we killed. + +Evening of the fourth day brought us into the vicinity of the Pawnee +Republic. We were riding along over a broken, hilly country, and my +savage companion was telling me, in a mixture of bad French and worse +English, that we should soon come within sight of the Republican Fork +and his home village, when suddenly we rode into a broad track which +could only have been made by a large body of horsemen, over two hundred +at the very least. + +"Hold!" I cried, reining up and pointing at the signs. "Look. Many +people went south, on horses, two or three weeks ago. Your people? They +have gone to the Arkansas?" + +"_Non!_" grunted Frank, and leaping off, he caught up and handed to me a +tent pin. "Pawnee? _non!_ Stick no grow in Pawnee hunting-ground. White +man's knife cut him. _Voila!_" + +"White man!" I repeated in amazement. + +How was it possible that there could have been so large a party of white +men traversing this remote wilderness? As I sat staring at the wooden +pin, studying its grain and shape, Frank circled around through the +beaten grass in search of further signs. A guttural cry from him +compelled my attention. + +He was holding up a broken spur. + +"Espana!" he called. + +One glance was enough to convince me that he was not mistaken. The spur +was of Spanish make. + +More puzzled than ever, we clapped heels to our horses, and galloped up +the track, which Frank declared led direct from the village. Within a +few minutes we topped a line of high hills, and found ourselves looking +down into the valley of the Republican and upon the rounded roofs of the +big Pawnee lodges. + +One look was enough to relieve our fears regarding the safety of the +village. I had never seen a more peaceful-appearing Indian town. The +women were at work dressing buffalo robes near the lodges or harvesting +their corn and pumpkins in the little patches of field near-by. The +children were scattered far and wide, the girls playing with their +puppies or tagging their mothers, the boys practising with bows and +arrows or watching the hoop-and-pole games of the few men who were to be +seen. The young warriors, probably, were off on hunting or war parties, +and of the men who remained in the village, most were dozing in their +lodges or lolling in the shade outside. + +But I did not look long at the savages. My eye was almost immediately +caught by a red-and-yellow flag afloat above the front of the great +council-lodge. Even at that distance I could not fail to recognize it as +the flag of Spain. So astonished was I at the sight that I drew up +short, unable to credit my eyes. The flag solved the mystery of the +track, only to raise the puzzling question of the presence of so large +a body of Spaniards at so great a distance from their present +boundaries. + +A loud shouting and commotion in the village roused me from my +bewilderment. We had been sighted. The women and children were fleeing +to the lodges, and all the men capable of bearing arms were advancing +toward us, with threatening guns and bows and lances. However, Frank at +once made the wolf-ear sign which showed them that he was a Pawnee, +while I held up the wampum belt intrusted to me by Pike. A moment later +Frank was recognized, and the news shouted back to the village. + +At the same time the men, both mounted and afoot, charged down upon us, +whooping and piercing the air with their shrill war whistle and +flourishing their weapons as if about to tear us to pieces. A man unused +to Indians, no matter how brave, might well have trembled at finding +himself thus confronted by hundreds of yelling, half-naked savages. The +Pawnee warriors are particularly formidable-looking, being tall and well +shaped, and their height accentuated by the bristling roach of short +hair which runs back over their shaven heads to the feathered +scalp-lock. I was, however, too well versed in the Indian character +either to show or to feel any trepidation. + +As the wild band closed about us in mock attack, a stately warrior whom +Frank said was Characterish, or White Wolf, the grand chief of the +nation, forced his horse through the mob and greeted me with a guttural +"_Bon jour_!" Upon my return of the salute, he invited me to his lodge. +This was gratifying, for I could see by the Spanish grand medal he wore +suspended from his neck that he had been particularly favored by the +Spaniards, and so might very well have felt ill-disposed toward all +Americans. + +When we advanced, escorted by the warriors, we were met by all the rest +of the population, running and shouting and leaping with excitement at +the arrival of their fellow-tribesman and the white man. But at a word +from Characterish, not only the women and children but the warriors as +well quitted their clamor and gave us free passage into the village. + +Unlike the mat and slab lodges of the Osages, the Pawnee houses are +substantial structures. Their wattled walls and grassed roof, supported +by a double circle of posts, are covered with a thick layer of sods and +earth above and over all. This makes them cool in Summer and warm in +cold weather; yet, like the Osages, the Pawnees always move down into +the timbers for the Winter. + +Arriving at the lodge of White Wolf, I was shown in through the covered +portico which gave the lodge quite the aspect of a civilized home. +Within I found the chief's wives and men-servants busily cooking a meal +for us on the fire in the middle of the wide pit which occupied the +greater part of the lodge's interior. That there might be no doubt of +his hospitality, the chief at once assigned to me one of the snug little +curtained compartments built against the wall, around the edge of the +pit. My room was in the place of honor, beneath the sacred medicine +bundle, on the far side of the lodge. + +By the time I had my rifle and saddle stowed away, the chief's cook, a +maimed old warrior, called us to come and eat. I sat down with my host +and his two sons to a none too savory stew of dried buffalo meat, +thickened with pumpkin. To this was added a mess of corn cooked in +buffalo grease. But a prairie traveller is seldom troubled with a dainty +stomach, and I managed to compliment my host by making a hearty meal of +it. + +As soon as we had eaten, White Wolf sent out a crier to call in the +chiefs and a few of the foremost warriors of the village. They seated +themselves with us in a circle, and the head chief's calumet was passed +around without any man refusing to smoke. + +When the pipe came back around to White Wolf, he addressed me in Pawnee, +which was interpreted by Frank: "Let the white man speak; tell why he +come Pawnee terre." + +I held up the wampum belt, and answered briefly: "I come in friendship +from the war chief of the great white father at Washington." + +"Ugh! Washington!" grunted the least stolid of the warriors. Even these +remote prairie savages knew that illustrious name. + +"--From the war chief sent by the high chief of my people to bring gifts +and peace to the Pawnee people," I continued. "It is his wish that you +send out your young men to guide him to your town as a guest." + +As Frank interpreted this I thought I could detect a shade of change +beneath the stolid look of the grim warriors. What was still more +ominous, when the pipe was passed around the second time, no one smoked. +But when it came back to White Wolf, after some delay and hesitation, he +smoked, and thereupon announced laconically: "I go--heap grand comp'ny +meet white capitan." + +Again the pipe was started around. It was taken by one of the +sub-chiefs. When he had smoked, he rose majestically, and, drawing up +his buffalo robe about his naked body, pointed dramatically to the +westward. There could be no mistaking the menace in his terse, guttural +declamation. + +I looked to Frank, who explained, with evident trepidation: "He +Pitaleshar, grand war chief. He say: ''Merican white braves no go to +setting sun; no march over Pawnee hunting-grounds. Espana chief +grand--heap big; Pawnees grand--heap big; 'Merican soldiers _non_!' +_Voila! Comprenez-vous?_" + +"That's to be seen!" I muttered. "Tell them: What the white chief will +do is for him to say when he comes." + +Whatever impression this made, none present gave any sign, and the +emptying of the ashes of the sacred calumet by White Wolf's pipe-bearer +brought the council to an end. + +As it was now close upon sunset, and I was greatly wearied from my long +journey, I at once sought my fur-padded couch in the rear of the lodge, +and gave myself over to profound slumber. + +Upon wakening, I was astonished to find that the sun was well up the +sky, and that White Wolf and Iskatappe, the second chief of the town, +had already set out, with a large party, to meet the expedition. The old +warrior cook, who had been left to attend me, and who spoke a little +French, went on to explain that Frank, having like myself been found +asleep, had also been left undisturbed. At this I hurriedly bolted my +buffalo stew, and stepped outside the lodge, intending to look for +Frank. + +But as I paused before the entrance of the huge council-lodge to glance +about and drink in the pure, sunny air, the flapping of the Spanish flag +in the morning breeze compelled my attention. + +The first glimpse of those red and yellow folds was sufficient to catch +and hold my gaze. They spoke to me of my lady--of my Alisanda!--and of +the tyrannical power of that Government whose hatred of foreigners +interposed between us a barrier harder to pass than the snowy sierras of +which she had told me. Such at least was the dread that seized upon me +as I gazed up at that symbol of lust for gold and blood. + +Presently, as I yet stared at the mocking banner, my glance was caught +by a little tracing of white lines on the outer corner. Prompted by idle +curiosity,--or it may have been by an unconscious premonition,--I waited +until a lull in the breeze brought the flag drooping down within my +reach. I grasped it to look closer at the tracing. + +Whether I stood gaping at that little sign for a few brief seconds or +many minutes I cannot say. I was too overcome with wonder and delight to +sense the passage of time. All I can say is that, rousing at last to +action, I slashed off the corner of the flag with my knife and thrust it +into my bosom. + +The tracing was a duplicate of that upon the lace handkerchief which, +wrapped about a withered magnolia blossom, I carried in an inner pocket +of my hunting-shirt. It consisted of two letters embroidered in white +silk, and those two letters were--"A. V." + +What a volume of joyous news those few stitches of dainty needlework +conveyed to me! My lady had arrived at Chihuahua before the starting of +the Spanish expedition; she had known at least something of the plans of +the Spanish commander, and she had placed her initials upon the flag as +a message to me should I be attempting to cross the barrier and chance +to meet her countrymen. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +THE PAWNEE PERIL + + +The escort party led by White Wolf returned three or four days after +their start, but without the expedition. They had gone almost due east, +which had brought them north of our party. Great was their disgust when +Frank explained how, when leaving the Osage villages, our Osage guides, +in their dread of the Kans, had led our party far around to the south of +the direct course. + +At once Frank was sent out with two or three other runners on the right +track, and by forenoon of the next day one of the scouts came back with +word that the others were bringing in the Americans. Immediately the +chiefs rode out with all the warriors, to receive the visitors in state. +The ceremonies opened with a mock charge, during which the balls from +the old fusils and trade guns of the savages flew about far too +promiscuously for comfort. There followed a horse-smoke, in which some +of the Pawnees presented ponies to the few Osages with the party. + +After this White Wolf shook hands with Pike, and invited him and myself +to dine at his lodge. We did so, while Wilkinson marched the party on +across the river to a strong position on a hill. + +This welcome to the village could not have been more ceremonious and +friendly. But a few days later, when we met the chiefs and warriors in +grand council, the situation took on a much less favorable aspect. +Lieutenant Pike effected a burial of the hatchet between the Osages and +three or four Kans warriors who had come down from their village on the +Kansas River. He then distributed honorary presents and a quantity of +goods to the Pawnee chiefs, explaining that President Jefferson was now +their great father, instead of the Spanish Governor-General Salcedo, and +that he had been sent with these gifts to show the good-will of their +new father. + +The Pawnees accepted the presents readily enough, but I doubt if they +either understood or cared about the transfer of Louisiana Territory. To +them the prairies,--north, south, east, and west,--were their own land +so far as their guns and bows could hold back the other prairie tribes. +Judging from what little they knew of the two rival nations of white +men, they had better reasons to turn to the Spaniards than to us, for +the Mexican expedition had come among them with a force fifteen times +greater than our little band. + +Yet in the face of this disadvantage, Pike was determined to press home +his point to the great ring of chiefs and headmen which encircled us and +to the crowds of younger warriors without. Owing to the great number who +had wished to share in the council or to witness the proceedings, we had +met in the open space before the entrance of the council-lodge. +Standing thus in the midst of the hundreds of red warriors, with none +but Wilkinson, myself, and Baroney the interpreter to back him, Pike +turned and pointed to the Spanish flag. + +"Men of the Pawnee nation, how comes that flag here?" he demanded. "Is +that the flag of your father in Washington, from whose people you +receive in barter all your guns and powder and lead, your strouding and +beads? No! it is the flag of a far-off chief, who lives beyond your +deadly foes, the Ietans. This land is no longer under his hand; that +flag has no right to float over these prairies. Take it down and give it +to me." + +"It is a gift to us from those other white men," protested White Wolf. + +"It is the flag of a people who have no right in this land," rejoined +Pike, and he unrolled the glorious Stars and Stripes which he held in +his hand. "Chiefs and men of the Pawnee Republic, this is the flag of +your great father. I command you to hand over that flag of Spain to me +and raise instead the banner of my chief!" + +At this audacious demand, even the stolidity of the chiefs could not +hide their concern, and the warriors began to mutter and scowl. Yet Pike +stood stern and resolute, awaiting the answer. After a full minute, one +of the older warriors rose, took our flag, and going to the lodge, +raised it in the place of the Spanish banner, which he handed to Pike. +At this I am not ashamed to confess that inwardly we all breathed a +sigh of relief. I say inwardly, for it was no time to show other than a +bold front. + +The Pawnees were not so successful in the concealment of their feelings. +It was all too evident from their looks that they were in deadly fear +that this insult to the Spanish flag would bring upon them the vengeance +of the white men of the Southwest. For it seems the Spanish leader had +told them his people would return the following year in great numbers, +to build a large town. But Pike, having gained his point, relieved their +fears by at once returning the flag, under condition that it should not +again be raised during our stay. + +Throughout this exchange of colors, my apprehensions of a treacherous +outbreak had not prevented me from watching for some one to discover and +remark upon the tattered corner of the Spanish banner. But if it was +noticed at all, the mutilation was probably laid to the thieving hand of +some young brave who might have thought himself in need of a bit of +bright cloth. + +Pike now stated the wish of the great father at Washington that the +Pawnee chiefs should make him a visit, in company with a few of their +Kans brothers. To this White Wolf replied that the matter would be +considered. Next Pike explained that he wished to secure the services of +one of their Ietan, or Comanche, prisoners, to act as interpreter on our +westward trip; also that he wished to barter for several good horses. +Again White Wolf replied that the wishes of the white chief would be +considered. With that the council rose. + +There followed some days of anxious waiting, during which our savage +hosts suddenly took on a hostile attitude. In the end we were given to +understand that they would not comply with any of our requests, but on +the contrary would seek to prevent our marching on westward, according +to their agreement with the Spaniards. + +It was in the midst of the stress and anxiety caused by this delay and +the menacing actions of the Pawnees, that we received from two French +traders the joyful news how Lewis and Clark had brought their expedition +safely back from the far Pacific, and should by now have gone on down +the Missouri to St. Louis. + +A few days later, near the beginning of the second week in October, +having at last secured a few miserable horses out of the splendid herds +of the Pawnees, we struck our tents and packed for the march. It was a +ticklish moment, for there was not a man among us who did not fear that +noon might find our scalps dangling above the Pawnee lodges. Our little +party, barely over a score, all told, was about to defy the power of an +Indian town which numbered over five hundred warriors. + +For the first time since our start at Belle Fontaine I had occasion to +observe the mettle of our eighteen soldiers. Not one among them required +the admonitions of the lieutenants to ram full charges into their +muskets, to fix bayonets, and look to their priming. I was no less +ready, having provided myself with a sabre, in addition to my rifle and +tomahawk and brace of duelling pistols. I told Pike that I did not +consider myself bound by his orders to reserve fire, in the event of an +attack, until the enemy were within half a dozen paces. After a little +argument on the point, he consented that I should seek out their chiefs +with my rifle the moment the savages commenced hostilities. With +Indians, no less than with whites, it is good strategy to pick off those +in command at the beginning of an engagement. + +By way of explanation of what followed, it is as well to state that +during the night two of our horses had been stolen by our light-fingered +neighbors, and though one had at once been delivered up when we sent +over to the village, the other was still missing. As we fell in about +the pack horses, I saw Pike turn back to address a question to young +John Sparks, his waiter. The bright-eyed lad saluted and stepped out, +with evident eagerness, to mount one of the led horses. Pike signed him +to take position at the head of our little column, and himself rode +forward with Baroney. + +The moment they reached the van, he gave the order to march, and we +swung away down the hill toward the river. Across in the village we +could see that the savages had made preparations which bore out in most +menacing fashion their threats to oppose our march westward. Every +woman and child had been sent away during the night or else hidden in +the lodges. This of itself was a most ominous sign. But that was the +least of it. All about the lodges we could see swarms of warriors, armed +with guns, bows, and lances, while here and there one of the naked young +braves showed the hideous black and vermilion markings of the war paint. + +But if the savages thought to awe and turn us back by this warlike +display, they were never so mistaken. The Osages had slipped off at +dawn, with the explanation that they wished to hunt, and would join us +later in the day. None of our men wished to hunt. They swung along down +the slope as steadily as on parade, some of the younger ones a trifle +flushed, some of the older a shade paler beneath their tan and sunburn. +Sergeant Ballenger marched along as stiff as his ramrod. Sergeant Meek +rocked a little in his step from sheer exuberance of feeling over the +prospect of a fight. His grim, scarred face fairly glowed. + +We came down to the river bank a little above the town, and crossed over +without breaking column, those on foot holding their muskets and powder +horns well up above the water. When all were across, command was given +to halt and look to the primings. Again the order was given to close up +and march. We swung steadily up the bank, but obliquely, that we might +pass by the village. Already we could see every movement of the savages, +who swarmed over to the near side of the village, waving their +buffalo-hide shields and their weapons and shouting insults at us. Once +or twice we heard the shrill Pawnee war whistle. In the midst of this +wild uproar, when we were directly opposite the upper side of the +village, Pike wheeled and raised his hand. + +"Halt!" he shouted. "Stand ready to repel attack according to orders. +Baroney, Sparks, follow!" + +Wheeling again, he galloped straight at the yelling mob of savages, +followed closely by Baroney and Sparks. The Pawnees trained their guns +upon him and levelled their lances. Without checking the pace of his +horse, he held out his bare palm to them. They opened their ranks to let +pass the three mad white men, and closed quickly in their rear. But Pike +and his two followers galloped on without check until they came to the +lodge of White Wolf. + +We now perceived that the head chief was standing before the entrance of +the lodge, wrapped about in his buffalo robe; but whether or not he held +his weapons concealed beneath the cloak we could not tell. He waved back +with a grand gesture the warriors who would have crowded around, and +stood like a statue while Pike, sitting his horse no less calm and +impassive, addressed him with the aid of Baroney. + +The savages, yet more astonished than ourselves at this strange parley, +for the most part turned to stare at the mad white chief who had so +dauntlessly ridden into their very midst. We had looked to see them +instantly fling themselves upon our three lone comrades and massacre +them before our eyes. In anticipation of the murder, more than one +among us picked his man for reprisals, Wilkinson singling out +Pitaleshar, the war chief, while I drew a bead on White Wolf. Iskatappe +was not to be seen. + +The very air seemed to tingle with that feeling which thrills a man's +nerves and sends the blood leaping through his veins when lives hang by +a thread. More than one of the younger warriors, infuriated at the delay +in the attack, bent their bows. Had a single arrow been shot at us +another instant would have seen us in the midst of a bloody battle. All +hung upon the will of White Wolf. He had only to make a sign, and my +ball would pierce his brain, Pike and his companions would be stabbed +and mutilated, and we ourselves rushed by a furious mob of bloodthirsty +savages. + +Fortunately for all alike, White Wolf had arrived at years of wisdom. As +they watched his impassive face, the warriors gradually stilled their +ferocious yells and gestures. Within two minutes all was so quiet that +we could hear the quick, guttural syllables of Baroney's translations. + +"It is over!" said Wilkinson, as White Wolf suddenly made a gesture of +assent. We saw Pike turn to Sparks, who promptly dismounted and walked +into the chief's lodge. Baroney took the riderless horse in lead, and +rode back to us with Pike, through the now silent but still scowling +crowds of warriors. + +The moment they had joined us, our leader, as cool and steady as +throughout his daring venture, gave the word to march. The savages +continued to stand silent and motionless, watching us slip out of their +clutches without so much as a parting yell. Yet had it not been for the +unequalled courage and firmness and sheer cool audacity of our leader, +there can be no doubt we should have been in for a most desperate fight. + +In justice to the rank and file, I must add that the men had borne +themselves throughout the affair in a manner fully creditable to their +leader, who afterwards told us that he had counted upon our disposing of +at least a hundred of the enemy before being ourselves rendered _hors de +combat_. The men, I believe, half regretted that they had not had the +opportunity to test the accuracy of this estimate. This was certainly +true of Meek, than whom no man was ever more maligned by his name. + +Baroney was no less courageous than the enlisted men, as was shown by +the cool manner in which he returned the following day to look for +Sparks. Both the brave lads overtook us during the afternoon, safe and +sound, and Sparks riding the stolen horse! + +They arrived shortly before we came upon the first outgoing encampment +of the Spaniards, and relieved by their safe return, we swung away at +our best pace in the tracks of the invaders. Our immediate purpose was +to follow the trace made by these soldiers of His Most Catholic Majesty, +and so discover in what direction their expedition had turned after the +visit to the Pawnees. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +THE BARRIER OF ROCK + + +After several adventures and misadventures, during a march of several +days to the southward, over a broken, hilly country, in which we lost +the Spanish trace, we came to the broad, shallow channel of the Arkansas +River. Here Lieutenant Wilkinson and a party consisting of Sergeant +Ballenger, four privates, and the two or three Osages who had continued +with us thus far, were detached to descend the river for the purpose of +exploring the unknown reaches of its lower course to its junction with +the Mississippi. A canoe was hewn out for them from the trunk of a +cottonwood tree, and another made of skins on a frame of branches, and +they set off bravely downstream, though the river was at the time +covered with drifting ice. + +Having seen our companions embarked on their perilous voyage through the +almost unknown country to the southeast, we set off westward on our +ascent of the stream which they were descending. Despite a snowstorm and +the ice in the river, we crossed and recrossed the channel, until at +last we rediscovered the camps and trace of the Spaniards, which here +indicated a force of fully six hundred soldiers. + +After this we marched steadily upstream, along the trace, for over two +weeks, despite the hindrance and annoyance resulting from the weakness +of the greater number of our horses, three or four of which had finally +to be abandoned. Unfortunately we lacked both the skill and the means to +replace the beasts from the herds of spirited wild horses which we +frequently saw interspersed among the great droves of buffaloes. Yet +despite the depletion of our pack train and the grim prospect of being +weather-bound for the Winter out on these bleak plains, we felt assured +that where the Spaniards had led the way we could follow, and so pushed +on into the wilderness, ever farther and farther from home and +civilization. + +Since the second day after leaving the Pawnee Republic we had +encountered none of the savage habitants of the prairies. But now at +last we were again put on our guard by the discovery of occasional +Indian signs along the river banks. As a precaution against falling into +an ambuscade, Pike and I took to scouting some little distance in +advance of the party. + +On the fifteenth of November, a day ever memorable to us, we were riding +along in this manner, when, two hours or so after noon, as we topped one +of the numerous hills, the Lieutenant abruptly drew rein and pointed off +to the right. + +"Indians?" I demanded, looking to the priming of my rifle. + +"No," he replied. "Wait." + +At the sight of his levelled spyglass, I too stared off a little to +north of west, and at once made out what appeared to be a faint, +half-luminous point of cloud. Its color was a spectral silvery blue, +much like that of the moon when seen in the daytime. Before I could +utter the word that sprang to my lips, my friend forestalled me. + +"'Tis a mountain!--the Mexican mountains, John!" + +I caught the spyglass which he thrust out to me, and fixed it upon that +distant peak with burning eagerness. The Mexican mountains, the fabled +sierras of New Spain! Had we at last sighted the snowy crest of their +nearest peak? Was this one of that sierra of which Alisanda had spoken, +my Barrier of Rock, the Sangre de Cristo? + +We rode on, too overcome to speak, held in throbbing suspense between +delight over our discovery and dread lest it should prove to be some +illusion of cloud and light. But within another two miles there came an +end to all doubt. Before us, from one of the higher hill-tops there +stretched out along the western horizon an enormous barrier of snowy +mountains, extending to the north and south farther than eye or glass +could see. My heart gave a great leap at that wonderful sight. In my +mind there was no longer the slightest doubt. I knew that before me +upreared the barrier that I must cross to reach my lady. + +Not until the men came up with us and burst into cheers for the great +white mountains of Mexico did I rouse from my daydream of Alisanda. +Before me, as real as life, I had seen imaged her beautiful pale face, +with the scarlet lips parting from the pearly teeth, and the velvety +black eyes gazing at me full from beneath the edge of the veiling +mantilla. Such was the vision--whose reality I knew to be awaiting me +somewhere south and west, beyond that snowy sierra. I drew in a full +breath and joined in the loud cheering of my comrades. + +While the air yet rang with the last of our wild cheers, our commander +faced about, with upraised hand, and called in resolute tones: "Men! we +have toiled, we have undergone dangers. We know not what dangers lie +before us: Winter is at hand; our horses are fast failing; we are +outfitted only for Summer travel. Yet what of all that? We have outfaced +the Pawnees; we have traversed this vast desert; we have held to the +track of the Spanish invaders of our territories. Before our eyes uprear +the unknown mountains of the West,--mountains upon which our countrymen +have never before set eyes; of which no American has ever heard, unless +it be the vague and misleading reports of the Spaniards. Men! we will +not turn back with the goal of our toilsome marches in view!" + +"No! no! Lead us on, sir!" shouted Sergeant Meek, and every man caught +up the cry: "Lead us on, sir! lead us on! No turning back!" + +Our commander flushed, and his blue eyes sparkled. "Ah, my brave men! I +was certain of your mettle! We will ascend these mountains; we will +explore the utmost boundaries of Louisiana; and if the Spaniards seek to +check us--" + +"We'll raise a little dust, sir!" cried young Sparks, flourishing his +musket. + +"Perhaps!" returned the Lieutenant, looking about at us with a shrewd +smile. "If it comes to that, they will not find us backward. But do not +count too much on hostilities. We are here, not to fight, but to explore +the limits of the Territory." + +"But, sir, should we fall in with the Spaniards?" ventured Meek. + +"Should we meet a Spanish party, we may be invited to go in with them to +Santa Fe. It would serve our purpose no little to be the guests of the +Spanish authorities. Enough. Fall in! By to-morrow night we should be +encamped at the foot of that grand peak." + +He wheeled his horse about, and rode off again in front. I hastened to +join him, my thought intent upon a surmise drawn from his last speech. +When we had ridden ahead beyond earshot of the others, I put my thought +into words. + +"Montgomery," I said, "you have other orders from General Wilkinson than +those given out. It is not I alone whose instructions are to attempt +communications with the Spaniards." + +"And if your guess is right?" he asked. + +"God forbid!" I cried. + +"What! I see no cause for dismay in the simple fact that I am to further +your efforts to obtain information. I and the party will be in much less +danger from the Spanish authorities than yourself, John. + +"It is not that," I muttered. + +"What, then? I declare, John, there are times when I cannot bear the +thought of your venturing in among the Spaniards alone. It is now my +resolve to march into Santa Fe with you." + +"No, no!" I protested. "You must not--cannot!" + +"Cannot? Do you think I fear the danger?" + +"Of death, no; but of dishonor." + +"Dishonor! Should the Spanish dare--" + +"No, not the Spaniards--not that. But our own people." + +"Explain!" he demanded. + +I opened my mouth to accuse his General--and paused. After all, what +proof had I of Wilkinson's connivance in the plans of Colonel Burr? What +proof had I that even Burr's plans were treasonable? I should have been +an outright imbecile to have entertained the slightest doubt of the +zealous loyalty and patriotism of my friend,--and Wilkinson was his +General and his patron. Why poison his mind against one who had shown +him great favors and was in a position as Commander-in-Chief to show him +even greater favors? We could not now hope to return to the Mississippi +settlements for several months. Why fill my friend's mind with anxieties +over plots and projects which might never develop, or which, even if +_not_ stillborn, might well be counted upon to reach maturity long +before we should have a chance to oppose them? + +So, instead of Wilkinson's name, it was Burr's which passed my +hesitating lips; and in my account of the little I knew of the late +Vice-President's grand projects, I took care to omit the name of +Wilkinson. My companion listened with his usual seriousness, but at the +end smilingly shook his head, and declared that he believed the +Colonel's schemes were all based on pure speculation, and would end in +air. As I have stated, I could not tell him my reasons for suspecting +that his General had plotted with Burr. Yet this was the very crux of +the affair. It was evident, in my opinion, that at about the time of my +visit to him in Natchez Wilkinson had become frightened, and was rapidly +coming to the decision of withdrawing from Burr's projects. But +supposing he, the military chief of the army and the Governor of the +Upper Territory, should gain heart to cast in his fortunes with the +great plotter, would those projects then be so visionary? + +My friend went on with an argument which proved only how little he +suspected any connection between our expedition and Burr's plot. He +explained at great length--to his own satisfaction, though not to +mine--that our secret instructions to spy upon the Spaniards related +only to the far-from-probable event of war between their country and our +own. + +On his part, he then came at me with a shrewd inquiry as to my real +motive for volunteering with the expedition. I immediately confided to +him everything relating to my romance. There was now no reason why I +should hold back anything about Alisanda, and indeed I should have told +him all long before, had it not been that since our start from Belle +Fontaine we had never chanced to be alone together other than at times +when matters of great concern to ourselves or the expedition absorbed +our interest. + +My confession won me, as I had foreseen, a most ardent ally. He listened +with all the joyful sympathy of one who has been happy in the love of a +true-hearted, beautiful wife. + +"John! John! To think of it! All these months, and you never so much as +whispered a word! A senorita from Old Spain? Never fear!" He looked me +up and down with an air of severe appraisal. "She'll take you; she's +bound to take you!" + +He went on with a list of reasons as long as my arm. There is nothing +like a friend to lay it on with regard to your good qualities, when he +is in the mood. + +"Hold! hold!" I broke in on him. "Save that to tell to Senorita Vallois. +I'd rather you'd inform me as to how soon I'm to reach Santa Fe." + +"That's the question," he replied. "We've first to round the headwaters +of this stream, then those of the Red River. Afterwards it is not +unlikely we can manage so to lose ourselves as to contrive to wander +into the midst of the Spanish settlements." + +I stared glumly at the snowy peaks towering upon the western horizon. +"That may be months hence. We cannot travel fast among the mountains. +Why not strike first for Santa Fe?" + +"The Spanish settlements must all lie to the southward of yonder grand +peak. Santa Fe is rumored to have a mild climate; hence it must lie to +the south of our present position," he argued. "Therefore we must first +explore the sources of the Arkansas. When we go south among the +Spaniards, there is no telling what they will do with us, but it is fair +to presume that they will at least do their best to check our +explorations." + +"Very true," I assented. "Suppose, then, that I part company from you +here, and strike out to cross my barrier alone?" + +"No!" he exclaimed. + +"Why not?" + +"You surely would perish. I could not spare you a horse. We shall need +all for the packs before the week is out. Without a horse, and alone, +you surely would perish, either in this bleak desert or among those +mountain wilds." + +"Yet I am willing to chance it. I hoped to have crossed the barrier--to +have reached her side--before now." + +"If not for your own sake, John, then for ours! You are the best shot +among us. Since Wilkinson left, you have in effect taken his place as +second in command. You know how highly the men regard you. Should aught +happen to me, you are the only one of our number capable of taking my +place and carrying out the various objects of the expedition." + +"Meek is a fine soldier," I said. + +"A good sergeant and a brave man--so brave that we could count upon him +to 'raise a little dust' at the first opportunity. He's brave to +rashness, but quite incapable of keeping notes, either of our route or +of the many scientific features which we are certain to encounter." + +"Yet--to wait, it may be months longer!" + +"We need you, John." + +"Very well," I replied. I could not do other than give way to that +argument. + +Such was the quenching of my newly aroused hopes. I should cross the +barrier to Alisanda; I vowed I would cross it, or die. But the attempt +must now wait until we had penetrated to the headwaters of the Arkansas; +until we had rounded the sources of the Red River,--if in truth we were +ever to find the unknown upper reaches of that stream; until we had +spent weeks, and it might be months, wandering about the snowy +wildernesses of these vast Western mountains. + +It was a sickening prospect for my eager love to contemplate. Yet I +needed only the quiet words of my friend to realize what I already knew +in my heart. It was true what he said. I could be of service to my +comrades. There was my duty to them, if not my patriotism, to bind me to +their company. I could not have left them at the time, even though the +way to Santa Fe and on to Chihuahua had been an open highway before my +feet, and the season midspring. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THE GRAND PEAK + + +The Lieutenant's prediction that the following evening should see us +encamped at the foot of the Grand Peak was not borne out by the event. +Notwithstanding our many days on the prairies, we were yet far from +realizing the deception of distances in this high altitude and clear, +dry atmosphere. + +That next day we lost many hours on a large fork of the river, where the +turning of the Spanish trace led us to believe that the party had set +off southward. Finding that they had returned and continued their ascent +of the main stream, we did likewise. This gave us but little progress +for that day. + +But the next morning we set out, confident that we should reach the +Grand Peak within a few hours. Our astonishment was great when, after +marching nearly twenty-five miles, we found ourselves at evening +seemingly no nearer the mountains than at sunrise. Yet we had thought to +encamp at their base that night! + +The following two days we spent in hunting buffalo and jerking the meat. +The marrow bones gave us a feast fit for a king,--fit even for citizens +of the Republic. + +The second day of our march onward, still keeping to the Spanish trace, +we at last found ourselves appreciably nearing the mountains. What was +not so welcome, we came upon the fresh traces of two Indians who had +ascended the river very recently. Warned by this, we proceeded in the +morning more than ever wary of ambuscades. There was good reason for our +precautions. + +Scarcely had the Lieutenant, Baroney, and myself ridden out in advance +of the party, when of a sudden the interpreter sang out: "_Voila! Les +sauvages!_" + +A moment later we also caught sight of the Indians, a number of whom +were circling about us on the high ground, while others raced directly +upon us out of the dense groves of cottonwoods. All were afoot; which, +taken with the unmistakable cut of their hair and their red and black +paint, told us all too plainly that they were a war party of Pawnees +returning from an unsuccessful raid upon one of the Western tribes. + +Knowing well how apt are the warriors to be evil-tempered after the +humiliation of a failure to strike their enemy, I prepared to sell my +life as dearly as might be. All the probabilities pointed to the +supposition that the party was made up of Skidis, or Loups, and I, for +one, had no desire to become a captive in their hands. It was enough to +have escaped in my boyhood from the stake and fire of the Shawnees. I +had no intention of now letting myself be crucified and mangled and +burned as a sacrifice to the morning star by these prairie savages. + +But Pike, cool as ever, restrained Baroney and myself from firing, and +the Indians seemed to justify his moderation by flinging down their +weapons and running to us with outstretched arms. In a moment they were +all about us, in a jostling, jabbering crowd, patting and hugging us as +though we had been blood kinsmen. So urgent were they with their +friendly requests for us to dismount that we finally complied. On the +instant an Indian was upon each horse and riding off. + +Still the others held to their friendly gestures, and upon looking back, +we could see the rest of their party making no less friendly +demonstrations among our soldiers. We were partly reassured when we +learned that the warriors were not Loups, but a party from the Grand +Pawnee. But the confirmation of our surmise that they were returning +from an unsuccessful raid upon the Tetans, or Ietans,--whom the +Spaniards call Comanches,--caused us to fall back upon our main party +and work it around to a camp in a little grove as speedily as possible. + +During this man[oe]uvre more than one of our unwelcome visitors bent +their bows. But the firm insistence of our gallant leader won its way +with the savages. Soon all sixty were seated about us in a ring. The +Lieutenant then sat down opposite their chief, with the council pipe +laid out before him. + +At his orders, gifts of tobacco, knives, and flints were placed beside +the chief. The present was greeted with guttural cries of +dissatisfaction, and the chief demanded with great insolence that we +should give them a quantity of our most valuable equipage, from +ammunition to blankets and kettles. To this, despite the advice and even +urgent plea of Baroney, our commander firmly refused to accede. + +At last, after no little grumbling and threatening, they presented us +with a vessel of water, and drank and smoked with us, in token of amity. +Not satisfied with this, and warned by Baroney, I kept on my feet, +watching the treacherous warriors. Our wariness was justified by the +contemptuous manner in which many of their number threw away their +presents. When, immediately after this, we began to reload our pack +horses, the entire band pressed into our midst and began to pilfer right +and left. + +For a time all was in the most perilous confusion, Pike and I having to +mount our horses to save the very pistols in our holsters. On every side +the savages were snatching articles, which the soldiers were doing their +best to wrest from them. + +"The rogues!" cried Pike. "Baroney, command the chief to call off his +men. I'll not submit to open robbery!" + +Even while Baroney interpreted the order, the chief slipped a knife from +the belt of one of the privates who was turned the other way, and hid it +behind his shield. Almost in the same moment he faced the Lieutenant, +and flung out his hand in a gesture of injured innocence. + +Baroney hastily interpreted his ironic, hypocritical reply: "The great +white chief has an open hand, a good heart. It cannot be he grudges his +poor red friends a few small gifts. My braves are wretched; they are +needy; they hunger." + +"Hungry, are they?" shouted Pike. "Then we'll give them lead to eat! +Stand ready to fire, men!" He rose in his stirrups and pointed his +pistol at the chief. "By the Almighty! I'll shoot the next scoundrel who +touches our goods!" + +I looked for an instant acceptance of the challenge. Intermingled among +us as they were and so greatly superior in numbers, the savages had +every advantage. In hand to hand fighting their clubs and knives and +stone tomahawks would have been as efficient as our weapons, while our +firearms, once emptied, would have taken us more time to reload than an +Indian would require to shoot a quiverful of arrows. + +For a long moment our fate hung in the balance, while the enraged +pilferers gripped their weapons and glared at us with murderous hate. +The tense silence was broken only by the sharp clicking of our hammers. +Suddenly Sergeant Meek, far too well disciplined to fire without orders, +yet unable to restrain his pugnacity, seized a brawny young warrior by +the shoulder, and whirling him around like a child, sent him flying off +with a tremendous kick. + +"Begone, ye varmint!" he roared. + +It was the last straw to the savages. Overawed by our unquailing +boldness in the face of their superior numbers, they followed their +staggering fellow, sullen and scowling, muttering threats, yet afraid to +strike. + +We waited with finger on trigger, until the last of their long file had +glided beyond gunshot. Then the Lieutenant, half choking with rage, +ordered us to take stock of our losses. It did not soothe him to find +that the thieves had managed to make away with some thirty or forty +dollars' worth of our property. Not even the ferocious Sioux and +Chippewas had dared to rob him in this brazen fashion. But with only +sixteen guns, all told, it was wiser for us to submit to the outrage +than to imperil the expedition and perhaps lose our lives in an attempt +to follow and punish the rascals. + +That evening the Lieutenant and I went back and lay in wait beside our +trace, thinking that the thieves might return and attempt to steal our +horses. It would have been only too well in keeping with the habits of +these savages, for the Pawnees are the most noted horse-thieves of all +the prairie tribes. Fortunately our watch proved needless. + +By noon of the day after this encounter we came to the third large +southern branch of the river, immediately beyond which a fork on the +north bank ran off about northwest toward the Grand Peak which we had +first sighted so far out on the prairies. As the Peak now seemed only a +day's journey distant, the Lieutenant decided to attempt its ascent +with a small party. But first we joined in erecting a breastwork,--the +first American building in all this vast wilderness; the first structure +south of the Missouri and west of the Pawnee Republic to float the +glorious Stars and Stripes! + +Shortly after noon of the second day the Lieutenant marched for the peak +with Miller, Brown, and myself. + +Instead of reaching the foot of the peak by nightfall, as we had +expected, we were compelled to camp under a cedar tree, out on the bleak +prairie. Severe as was the cold, we felt still greater discomfort from +the lack of water. Again we marched for the great mountain, in the fond +expectation of encamping that night upon its summit. Instead, we hardly +reached the base of the lofty rise. Fortunately we there found a number +of springs, and succeeded in killing two buffaloes. + +Still untaught by experience, we foolishly left our blankets and all +other than a pocketful of provision at our bivouac, and set off up the +mountain at dawn, assured that we could reach the top by noon and +descend again by nightfall. Almost at the start I brought down a deer of +a species unknown to us, it being larger than the ordinary animal, and +its ears much like those of a mule. The carcass was flayed without +delay, and the skin hung well up in a pitch-pine, together with the +saddle. + +Made impatient by the delay, we began our climb with a will, determined +to reach the summit even earlier than we had planned. In this, however, +we were to be most sadly disappointed. After clambering up the steep +slopes and precipices all day without arriving at the crest, we were +forced to take refuge for the night in a cave. While preparing to creep +into this cheerless shelter, our discomfort over the utter lack of +blankets, food, and water was for the moment forgotten in the curious +sensation of standing under a clear sky and gazing at a snowstorm far +below us down the mountain. + +Morning found us half famished with thirst and hunger and bruised by our +rocky beds, but we needed no urging to resume our laborious ascent. The +view from our lofty mountain side was the grandest I had ever seen. +Above us arched the translucent sky in an illimitable dome of purest +sapphire, rimmed before our upturned eyes by gaunt, jagged rocks and +fields of dazzling snow. Behind and below us the vast desert of prairies +stretched away to east and north and south, far beyond the reach of +human eye, its tawny surface closely overhung by a sea of billowy white +clouds. Far to the south, at least a hundred miles distant, we noted in +particular a vast double, or twin, peak, which stood out from and +overtopped the heights of the front range even as our Grand Peak dwarfed +its neighbors. + +But we did not linger long to gaze at this sublime prospect. Though our +thermometer here registered well below zero, we struggled on upward +through the waist-deep snow to the first of the summits which rose +before us. An hour found us close upon what we took to be the goal of +our efforts. + +At last, panting from our exertions and the rarity of the air, we +floundered up the final rise to the crest. In this wild, scrambling rush +Brown dropped to the rear, while the Lieutenant, though physically the +least robust of the party, forged ahead even of myself, upborne by his +zealous spirit. He, the leader of the expedition, should be--must +be--the first to set foot upon the summit of the Grand Peak! + +With a final rally of his wiry strength, he uttered a shout and dashed +up over the thin, hard-crusted snow of the summit to the crest,--only to +stop short and stand staring off beyond, in bitter disappointment. + +"Look!" he cried. "The Grand Peak!" + +"The Grand Peak!" I shouted back, too excited to perceive the import of +his tone and bearing. "The Grand Peak! We'll name it for you,--for the +first American to sight it; the first to mount its crest; the first--" + +[Illustration: "'The Grand Peak!' I shouted. 'We'll name it for you'"] + +My exultant cry died away on my lips. I halted and stood gaping in +speechless amazement at the peak that loomed skyward over beyond the +lesser height we had mounted. What we had taken for the Grand Peak was +no more than a satellite that had masked the Titan from our view! As we +gazed from our hard-won crest, there uprose before us, grander than +ever, the vast bulk of the mighty mountain, its sublime summit +glittering with eternal snows. But the nearest ridge of its stupendous +pyramidal base was yet a full sixteen miles distant! + +I turned and shouted the discovery to Miller and Brown, who toiled up +beside us to stare at the awesome beauty of the Peak in dull wonderment. + +At last Pike regained his usual firm composure. + +"We will begin the return march," he ordered, without betraying a trace +of his keen disappointment either in look or voice. + +"Send them back," I replied, nodding toward Brown and Miller. "Let us go +on and make the attempt alone." + +"My thanks to you, John!" he exclaimed. "But it would be madness, sheer +madness. Through these snows we could not reach the base of the Peak +short of a day's march; and look at that ascent! I doubt if any man +could scale those heights." + +"Not at this season. Yet, if you give the word to make the attempt--" + +"No!" he rejoined. "Without food, and clad as we are in summer wear, no! +It is enough to have ascended this peak, without our being so mad as to +attempt the impossible." + +"Then the sooner we reach the plain, the better," I said, pointing to +the mountain side behind us. + +While we had stood viewing the indescribable grandeur and sublimity of +the Peak and the snow-clad sierras which stretched away in savage +majesty to north and south of their mighty chieftain, the clouds below +us were rolling upwards, were enveloping the entire mountain upon which +we stood. Fearful of being lost in a snowstorm upon these bleak heights, +we descended rapidly down a cleft, and regained our bivouac at the foot +of the mountain just as the snow began to fall. + +Here we found our blankets and other camp equipment as we had left them. +But the ravens had robbed us of all our food, other than an unstripped +fragment of the deer's ribs. Though one of the men had killed a +partridge during our descent, the bird and the lean deer bones together +formed a scant enough meal for four men who had not eaten in two days. + +About noon the next day we shot two buffaloes, upon whose flesh we +gorged ourselves like Indians, and I, for one, am convinced that we had +well earned the full meal. + +In the valley, all up and down the creek, we found many old Comanche +camps, but the Indians had undoubtedly gone south for the Winter. + +The next day brought us back to our little stockade on the Arkansas. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +FAMINE AND FROST + + +Many even of our Western-bred officers would have considered themselves +justified in lying about camp for at least a day after such a trip. Not +so Pike. Toward noon of the next day, which was the last of November, +our entire party marched on up the main stream, in the thick of a heavy +snowstorm. + +We had at last come to the real hardships of our voyage. Within the week +two or three of the men suffered frosted feet. The temperature fell to +nearly twenty degrees below zero, so that even I felt the cold keenly +through my hunting clothes, while the Lieutenant and the others, clad +only in their cotton wear, suffered still more from the stinging frost. + +Yet, despite all the troubles and hardships of ourselves and our +half-starved horses, we held to our explorations, day after day, killing +an occasional buffalo or deer, and gradually working our way into the +midst of the mighty mountains, northward and westward behind the Grand +Peak, along what we thought to be the Spanish trace. At last we came to +a large stream, which, to our astonishment, ran to the northeast. Though +against all our previous theories, we were forced to believe that this +must be the river La Platte. Ascending the stream in a northwesterly +direction, all alike suffering greatly from the cold of these high +valleys, we passed signs of an immense encampment of Indians. But we saw +no more of the Spanish trace, or rather of the Indian trace which we had +followed into the mountains, thinking it to be the Spanish. + +Turning back upon our own trace some little distance, we crossed over a +pass in the mountains to the southwest, and descending a small stream, +came upon what we thought to be the upper waters of the Red River. Here, +while our wretched, famished beasts were recruiting themselves upon a +favorable bit of pasture land, the Lieutenant marched with a small party +to explore upstream. At the same time Baroney and I marched down the +river, our mission being to kill game for the others, who were to follow +us in a day or two. + +It was not, however, until three days later, on Christmas Eve, that our +party found itself reunited in one camp. After two days of unsuccessful +hunting, Baroney and I had at last killed four buffaloes, and young +Sparks had shot four more. In view of the fact that we had all been for +two days without food, the meeting brought us great happiness. + +Yet I cannot say that Christmas Day, which we spent in camp, smoking and +drying our meat, was as merry as it might have been. The contrast with +all our previous experiences of that holiday was far too sombre. Some of +the men even drew unfavorable comparisons between this and the past +year, when they were at the head of the Mississippi. Though then in a +still colder climate and among the fierce Chippewas, they had at least +enjoyed far better food and shelter. As for our present food, though now +for the first time in weeks we had an abundant supply, it was limited to +the one item of meat, which we must eat without so much as a pinch of +salt. Our summery clothes were rent and tattered; many of our blankets +torn up for stockings; our outer footwear reduced to clumsy moccasins of +raw buffalo hide. + +To these physical privations was added the consciousness of the grim +fact that between us and the nearest of our far-distant frontier +settlements lay all the mountain wilderness we had traversed, and more +than seven hundred miles of desert plains. Yet, taken all in all, we +managed to spend the day in fairly good cheer, despite the snow which +came whirling down upon us. + +On the afternoon of the next day we marched down to where the mountains +closed in on the river valley. From here on, each succeeding day until +the fifth of January found our way rougher and more difficult. The +valley became ever deeper and narrower, so that we had to cross and +recross the river repeatedly, our horses frequently falling upon the +ice. Even harder upon them were their no less frequent slips among the +rocks of the banks. + +Much to my relief, I was not required to witness the sufferings of the +poor beasts coming down through the worst of that terrible canyon. On +New Year's Day Brown and I were sent ahead to hunt. Within the first few +hours we had the good fortune to bring down a huge-horned mountain ram. +Leaving this in our path for the others to skin and dress, we struggled +on down the ever-narrowing valley all that day and the next without +sighting any other game. + +On the third of January we found ourselves fighting our way along in the +gloomy depths of a cleft that wound and twisted through the very bowels +of the mountains. The bottom of this tremendous gorge was almost filled +with the foaming, roaring torrent of the river, while on either side the +cliffs towered skyward in sheer, precipitous precipices, thousands of +feet high. Never before had I seen or heard of such a terrific chasm, +and may I never again be caught in its like! + +Leaping and slipping over the icy rocks beside the furious rapids and +falls, and creeping along the narrow ledges of ice that here and there +rimmed the less torrential stretches of the stream, we at last gained a +spot where a little ravine ran up through the face of the precipice. We +saw that it was impossible for us to descend that gloomy gorge even a +few yards farther. The icy waters of the roaring cascades swept the bed +of the chasm from wall to wall. + +Yet to ascend the side cleft seemed no less beyond our power. The water, +running down from above earlier in the season, had coated the rocky +surface from top to bottom with an unbroken slide of ice. It seemed +outright madness to attempt that dizzy ascent. However, a man never +knows what he can do until he has tried. We set to, I with my tomahawk +and Brown with his axe, and by cutting footholds, turn about, in the ice +of the ravine's bottom, we slowly worked our way up the giddy rise. +Again and again we came near to slipping and so plunging headlong down +that glassy slide. After the first hundred feet, we dared no longer look +back below, for fear of being overcome with dizziness. Yet at last we +came to easier climbing, and, scaling the side of the ravine, found +ourselves safe on the mountain ridge, far above the river and its +cavernous gorge. + +Here we soon killed a deer, and leaving the greater part of the carcass +for our companions, pushed on another day across the mountains. We had +at last sighted the prairies from our lofty heights, when, pressed by +hunger, I was so ill advised as to eat some of the berries we found +hanging to the bushes. As a result I suffered such vertigo that I was +compelled to lie quiet in camp. But Brown put in the time very well by +killing no less than six deer. + +Early in the forenoon of the sixth, as we hastened down out of the +mountains, we again came within earshot of the torrential river of the +gorge. Drawn by the sound, we scrambled around the point of an +out-jutting ridge, and found ourselves on the river bank where it flowed +from the gorge. It was not the first time I had stood on that selfsame +spot. + +"Good God!" I groaned. "After all our toil, and only this!" + +"You may well say it, John," echoed a melancholy voice from beneath the +cliff upstream. + +"Montgomery!" I cried. "You here?" + +He appeared from around a big rock, sad and dejected; but at sight of my +companion, instantly assumed a look of unbending resolve. + +"We scattered," he explained, as I grasped his hand. "The others took +the horses up out of the gorge by the least difficult of the side +ravines. I followed your trace down into the midst of that awesome cleft +and up the icy ascent. But I lost the trace on the mountain top, and so +came on down here--" + +"To find that, after all our toil and privation, it is not the Red +River!" I cried. + +"Ah, well, it is something to have rounded the headwaters of the +Arkansas," he replied. He turned to Brown: "You will find two of your +fellows downstream at the old camp. Join them, and see what the three of +you can do toward killing meat against the coming of the others." + +"Aye, sir!" responded Brown, with ready salute. + +He was striding off when I interrupted: "Wait! Montgomery, he has six +deer already hung." + +"Good! The more the better! Fetch the other lads, Brown, and bring in +your game. If you see more deer, do what you can to bring them in too." + +Brown saluted the second time, and started off at a dogtrot. + +I looked inquiringly into the Lieutenant's darkening face and thought I +read his purpose. "If any of the horses come through alive, they will +nevertheless be too outworn for farther travel within many weeks. You +propose to go into winter quarters?" + +"No!" he answered almost angrily. + +"Yet the horses?" I argued. + +"Poor beasts!" he sighed. "Would that I might put them out of their +misery--such of their number as the men may bring alive out of that +rocky waste! Yet we cannot spare them, and the fewer the survivors, the +greater our need to cherish them. We will build a stockade, and leave +the beasts here in the charge of two or three of the men." + +"Leave them! And what of ourselves?" + +"We will go on in search of the Red River." + +"Afoot? In midwinter?" + +"Southward. There must be passes over the mountains to the +southwest,--passes leading over into the warmer valleys. All reports +agree that the Spanish settlements enjoy a mild climate." + +"The Spanish settlements!" I cried. "You would head for the Spanish +settlements! Give the word, Montgomery; the sooner the better. Ho, for +Nuevo Mexico and my lady!" + +He shook his head soberly. "It is well you are not in command, John, +else I fear you would have even less chance than now of winning your way +to your lady. It is a desperate move we are about to undertake." + +I smiled. "Can anything be more desperate than our present situation?" + +"We must leave the horses to recuperate," he replied. "With the horses +we must leave a guard. Two men will be as many as we can spare. They +must have a stockade for defence should they be attacked by Indians or +Spaniards." + +"Come!" I exclaimed. "Only show me the place, an axe, and a grove of +pines. I will have your stockade well under way by nightfall." + +He took me at my word, and at once led the way downstream to the site of +our last camp on the river before we struck off into the mountains +behind the Grand Peak. On the way we met Brown and his two companions, +going to fetch his deer. We borrowed from them two of their axes, and, +arriving at the camp, at once set about felling pines. + +Before nightfall we were rejoined by Brown's party and two others, the +latter bringing in four sadly disabled horses. The least wearied of the +men were at once sent back in search of the remaining parties, carrying +a plentiful supply of deer meat to supply those who might be famished. +To make a long story short, the ninth of January saw the last member of +the expedition in camp, safe and sound, with a loss all told of only +four horses. + +To hunt down a sufficient store of game and complete the blockhouse for +Baroney and Smith, the two men detailed to stay in charge of the bruised +and half-famished beasts, occupied the party a full five days. But +between times in helping and directing the others, Pike and I managed to +take several observations to determine the latitude and longitude of the +camp. I also spent much time copying the records of all our courses and +distances up to the time of our entry into the mountains, and in +elaborating my own notes on the mineralogy, etc., of the vast rocky +ranges traversed by us. + +When finally we started on our next desperate venture, it was with +hearts far lighter than backs. I was overjoyed at the thought that I was +at last to march toward the Spanish settlements--and Alisanda! The +others had their own good reasons to be pleased. Ignorant of what lay +before us, we were alike happy in the thought that our faces were now +turned southward, and gladly shouldered our heavy packs for the march. + +Each one of us carried a forty-five pound load, made up of Indian +presents, tools, ammunition, and scientific instruments. To this were +added our weapons and other necessary equipage and a small quantity of +half-dried meat, bringing our burdens up to an average weight of seventy +pounds. Some packed a few pounds more, some less, each according to his +strength. Our leader was among those who carried more. As for myself, +being the biggest man of the party, I found that I could make shift to +start off with a hundredweight. + +Thus, as we thought, well provided for our trip, we struck out boldly +over a ridge and southwardly up a valley which lay behind the front, or +easternmost range of mountains. We had taken to calling these the Blue +Mountains, for though at this season they were where barren hardly less +snow-clad than the stupendous sierra to the westward of them, the +pine-clad ridges of their slopes, no matter how far distant, appeared +colored a clear dark blue, without a trace of haze. + +At the beginning of our journey the White Sierra stood so far to the +westward, and our course lay up a winding stream through such hilly +country that we did not sight their towering peaks until the morning of +the fourth day. After this they remained always in view, for the range +trended to the east of south in such manner as gradually to approach the +front range, or Blue Mountains, which trended south and seemingly a +little to the west. + +Meantime on the second day, the Lieutenant, Sparks and myself had the +good fortune each to bring down a deer. Deceived by this seeming +abundance of game, we added little of the fresh meat to our already +over-heavy loads, and some of the men even threw away what remained of +the dried meat in their packs. Far better had we cast away our Indian +trinkets, and even the greater part of our tools! + +Within half a day the very last of our food was exhausted, and as no +more game was seen, we at once found ourselves face to face with famine. +To add to our distress, in crossing over the valley toward the White +Mountains two days later, to reach a belt of woods, we had to wade the +creek, and the cold coming on extreme, the feet of nine of the men were +severely frozen before we could get fuel and warm ourselves. We did what +we could to draw out the frost with snow-chafing, but in several +instances the injury had gone beyond that remedy. + +Our camp that night was in truth a most miserable one. Not an ounce of +food had we eaten in nearly two days, and though we had an abundance of +pitch-pine for fuel, this meant only that we were free to crouch before +the fires, in our thin tatters, and roast one side, while the other was +pierced by the terrible frost. Hungry, exhausted, and shivering, we +huddled about the fires, even those who were suffering the least being +hardly able to obtain a few hours of broken sleep. + +It was all too evident that we must soon find food, or perish of +starvation in this fearful mountain wilderness. At dawn Pike and I took +our rifles and set out, aware that the lives of all depended upon the +success of our hunt. + +Spurred on though we were by this dreadful necessity, our wide circuits +through the pine groves and around the hills brought us no sight of any +game throughout that dreary day. At last, near nightfall, we came upon a +gaunt old buffalo bull, and stalked him with extreme care. But though we +succeeded in creeping within range and wounding him three times, our aim +was so unsteady that none of our balls reached a vital spot. He made off +and escaped us. + +Bitterly disappointed, and weary from our long hunt, we sought shelter +in a group of rocks, and spent a sleepless night, without food or fire. +Neither of us had the heart to go into camp and tell our starving +companions of our failure. + +The long hours of midwinter frost and darkness at last drew to an end, +and, half dead from cold and hunger, we set off again, in the first gray +light of dawn. + +After hours of searching, we sighted a small drove of buffalo. +Immediately we circled about to get down the wind from them, and, by +creeping on all fours nearly a mile through the snow, stalked within +fair range of the nearest. By this time, however, we were both so faint +and quivering from starvation and over-exertion that neither of us could +hold his gun steady. Again and again we fired and reloaded, the stupid +beasts standing all unconcerned at the report of our guns, though we +repeatedly hit the nearer members of their band. With muskets we could +surely have soon brought down one or more, if only from their loss of +blood. But the tiny wound made by a rifle ball is of little effect +unless a vital part is pierced. + +In the end we must have succeeded by a chance shot. But while we were +yet blazing away as fast as we could load and fire, one of the herd +chanced to drift around to where a flaw in the wind bore our scent to +his sensitive nostrils. In an instant he had alarmed the herd, and all +raced off, snorting with fear, the wounded running no less swiftly than +their fellows. To follow such a stampede was useless. Once started, the +animals would run for hours. + +We staggered to our feet and gazed after the fleeing herd in utter +despair. + +"It is the end!" I groaned--"the end! We have lost our last chance!" + +"We are outspent!" murmured my companion. "We can do no more! My poor +lads! faithful ever to their rash leader! To think that I have led them +into this death-trap!" + +"They are men!" I cried in bitter anger. "What is death to men?--even +this hideous agony of hunger? We can bear that. But to die now--my +God!--that I should die before seeing her!--my Alisanda!" + +"No! not now!" He turned upon me with a flicker of feverish resolve in +his hollow, bloodshot eyes. "Not now, not here! We are not cowards to +give up the struggle while we can yet drag ourselves along." + +"As well here as a few paces farther on," I muttered. + +He dragged at my arm to rouse me from the black stupor of mind and body +into which I was fast sinking. "John! think of her!" he cried. "You'll +not give up! Keep fighting, for her sake, keep fighting, lad!" + +"For her sake," I whispered. I caught at his clutching hand and sought +to rally from that benumbing stupor. "For her sake!" + +"And I--for the sake of those--who await the return of husband and +father!" he panted. "Come! We'll fight--to the last!" + +Death alone might conquer that indomitable spirit! We staggered on +through the bleak wild, our eyes inflamed and half blinded by the snow, +peering about in vain search for game. We did not turn back. To return +to camp empty-handed would have been the bitterest of mockeries, +supposing we could have found strength to go so far.... We staggered on, +but we were upon the verge; we had all but reached the utmost limit of +human endurance. For four days we had marched over broken ground and +through the snowdrifts in this midwinter cold--four days without food! +Even Pike's iron resolve could not force his wasted muscles to perform +miracles. + +I found myself dulling even to the thought of Alisanda. The end was +close upon us. A darkness was gathering about me. We were upon the verge +of exhaustion. Several times Pike fell, half fainting, and presently I +also began to stumble and sink down at the slightest misstep. Certain +that we were about to perish, we bent every effort to reach the nearest +trees, reeling and staggering like drunken men, or crawling, between +times, when we found ourselves unable to stand. + +Half stunned by one of my falls, I lay outstretched, gasping and +quivering, when I heard Pike utter a stifled cry. I strained my head +about, and to my astonishment saw that he was on his feet and running +forward. Staring beyond, over a snowdrift, I caught sight of a little +herd of buffaloes advancing at an angle to our course. For a little my +strength came back as had my friend's. Staggering up, I tottered after +him. By the most fortunate of chances, the wind was in our favor, so +that the dull-sighted beasts came on without heeding us. + +Pike had already gained a clump of cedar trees. Resting the long barrel +of his rifle across one of the low branches, he took quick aim and +fired. The shot struck the young cow which was at the head of the herd. +She stopped short. The others, sighting us, wheeled and made off at +their lumbering gallop. But to our amazement and joy, the wounded animal +stood as if dazed. I rested my rifle across a limb, and managed to give +the beast a second wound. A moment later Pike flung out his ramrod and +fired his second shot. The cow wheeled half about, and moved slowly off +to the left. + +I had already poured a double charge of powder down my rifle barrel. +Upon this I drove home a ball without stopping to patch it, and dashing +the pan full of priming, took hasty aim behind the animal's shoulder. By +good chance the ball struck her to the heart. Yet even when she fell we +kept our places, hastily reloading our rifles. Not until she had lain +for some moments with outstretched head did we venture to advance, for +even a desperately wounded beast is apt to leap up and make off at sight +of the hunters. + +Our hunger and exhaustion were so great that, once beside our kill, we +could not even wait to devour the raw flesh, but slashed open a vein in +the neck and drank the warm blood. Nothing could have revived us more +quickly. Before many minutes we were strong enough to set about the +dressing of our game. As we worked, we devoured bits of meat, which +eased our famished stomachs and added yet more to our slowly returning +strength. By nightfall we had managed to butcher the carcass, and +loading ourselves with as much of the meat as we could carry, we +staggered off in search of the camp. + +When at last we sighted the welcome blaze of the fires and dragged +ourselves into camp, it was past midnight. Neither of us could have gone +another furlong. As we threw off our loads and sank down beside the +fire, Pike was seized with so severe a vertigo that it was some time +before he could sense the joyful greetings of our camp-mates. + +Even before they caught sight of the burdens we bore, the brave +sufferers had hailed our approach with heroic cheerfulness. Now, with +every mouthful of frozen meat, our leader recovered from his dizziness, +and generous strips of steak sizzling on the green-wood spits, the +spirits of all rose even to the pitch of merriment. Desperate as was +still our situation, it yet seemed like paradise after the anguish of +body and mind through which we had passed. + +No men, I venture to say, ever bore pain and privation and hardship with +more heroic fortitude than was shown by these poor fellows. All but +three had been compelled to endure the agony of their frozen feet, in +addition to the pangs of starvation, and the sad truth that these +injuries went beyond a mere frosting was all too evident in the morning, +when, upon examining the men, I found that two of them, at the best, +would have to give up their packs and hobble along with the aid of +crutches. As for Dougherty and Sparks, both were too disabled to march +at all. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +BEYOND THE BARRIER + + +But I will dwell no more in detail upon our sufferings in that terrible +valley of frost and famine. Enough said that, after bringing in the +remainder of the meat for Sparks and Dougherty, we left them and +struggled onward in search of a pass. To linger in camp with our +disabled comrades would have meant certain death to all. But many among +us wept at the parting, for few believed we should ever return. + +Indeed, having eaten in one scant meal all the meat we had found heart +to take from the injured men, we again suffered a famine, this time of +three days' duration. It was then, for the first and only time during +all our privations, that one of the men murmured openly. So evident was +it that his outcry had been wrung from him by anguish and despair that +the Lieutenant, instead of shooting him down in his tracks in accordance +with the usual rigor of military discipline, chose to pretend that he +had not heard the mutinous words. A few hours later we were the second +time saved from starvation by a fortunate kill of buffalo, and it was +then, after we had feasted to repletion around a roaring camp-fire, that +Pike called the mutineer before him and reproved the repentant man for +his conduct. + +At this camp we left the greater part of the meat of the four buffaloes +killed, in the charge of Hugh Menaugh, one of the two men who, aside +from Sparks and Dougherty, had suffered the worst from the frost. This +time, however, meat being so abundant, we did not fail to take with us +on our onward march enough of provisions to last us for several days. + +Though recuperated by two days of feasting,--for we had lingered that +length of time with Menaugh,--our first march out of his camp proved one +of the very hardest we had yet made. We were by now near the top of a +high plateau, where the travelling was even more difficult than in the +lower valley; yet we could discover no break in the white barrier, +which, despite our high altitude, still towered up many hundred feet +above us. + +It was almost nightfall, and Pike and I--as usual in the lead breaking a +way through the drifts for the others--were beginning to look about for +a favorable camp-site, when, topping a knoll, we found ourselves staring +down upon a little stream whose course ran to the westward. + +"Look!" I shouted. "A pass! That brook flows to the mountains--into the +mountains!" + +"It may twist about again to south and east. We have reached the top of +a divide," cautioned Pike. + +"No, no! it cannot be!" I cried, wild with delight. "I see a cleft in +the mountain side! The sun dazzles our eyes, but look beneath, in the +shadow." + +"Thank God!" he sighed. "It is a cleft! It must be that the stream flows +through the mountains. If only we can find a way down its bed!" + +"We can--we must!" I wheeled about to the weary men. "Hurrah, lads! +Stiffen your knees! We've found our pass! Another day will see us beyond +the mountains!" + +The brave fellows answered with a ringing cheer. Drooping heads +straightened; tottering steps gave place to firm, eager strides. Buoyed +up by renewed hope, we hurried down the hillside and along the stream +bank until in the gathering twilight we could see with certainty where +the stream wound its way into the mountain cleft. Assured of this +all-important fact, we made our bivouac in a grove of pines, and settled +down to the happiest night we had known in weeks. + +Bright and early in the morning we broke camp and trudged along through +the snow, down the bank of the creek. Soon we found ourselves within the +flanking shoulders of the mountains, descending a gorge that was walled +on either side with almost sheer cliffs. I should speak of these +precipices as stupendous had I not first seen the terrific chasm of the +far narrower and deeper gorge of the Arkansas. + +To our vast relief, the bed of the pass proved to be broad and open +throughout, being clear even of blocking snowdrifts. That it was +habitually open was evident from the number of trees we found painted +with Indian signs, clear proof that this was one of the accustomed paths +of the roaming savages of the Far West. What most astonished us was the +length of the gorge, which wound and twisted its way through the heart +of the White Mountains in seemingly endless extent. + +At last, after we had marched downward for twelve or fourteen miles, a +sudden turn unmasked to our gaze a view that brought us up short in our +tracks, with cries of astonishment and delight. Instead of the narrow +mountain valley that we had expected to open before us, there burst upon +our vision the panorama of a vast park-like country, dotted with +scattered woods and groves, through which meandered numerous branching +streams whose main trunk flowed to the southward. It was many miles +across to the mountain range which bounded the western side of this +beautiful valley. + +Pike was the first among us to find his voice. "Men," he said simply, +"we have won free. The worst is now behind us. This Western country is +far lower than the plateau on the east side. It must be less cold; see +the wide stretches of open ground. There must be game--" + +"Ay! look!" I said, pointing to a multitude of black dots drifting +across a snowy hillside. "Deer! a herd!" + +"An' more on 'em to yan side, sir!" sang out one of the men. + +"No more fear of famine!" exulted Pike. "We're safe at last!" + +"But how as to savages?" I rejoined. "I see no smoke; yet in a country +so abounding in game--" + +"Say rather, the Spaniards, John." + +"What! You surely do not think--Yet that main stream runs southward. All +the accounts tell how the Rio Grande del Norte flows from the north down +through the Province of Nuevo Mexico. Montgomery! can it be--" + +He checked me with a gesture. But the twinkle in his eyes belied the +soberness of his answer: "We have crossed the mountains in search of the +Red River. Who among us can swear that yonder stream is not the Red?" + +"Yet I, for one, am ready to wager it is the Rio Grande!" I cried. "The +Rio Grande! Only think what that means to us--to me! I have only to +descend its banks to the Spanish settlements--" + +"To land in a Spanish gaol!" he rejoined. "No, John; it is for the Red +River we have been seeking, and the Red River it shall be, at the least +until we have built a stockade and brought up all the members of our +party." + +"You would defy the Spaniards!" I exclaimed. + +"We will at least put ourselves into a position of defence before +seeking to communicate with them." + +"But a stockade on Spanish territory?" + +"A small party should be conceded the right to provide against the +attacks of savages. Besides, we have wandered far into a region unknown +to us. If this is the Red River, our side of the stream lies within the +boundaries of Louisiana Territory." + +I nodded my understanding of his position. "You are right. We have a +very fair argument, and can present it to Don Spaniard quite +favorably--from behind the walls of a stockade." + +"Or without any walls, sir!" put in Sergeant Meek. "Even with this +dwindled squad, sir, give us a bunch of trees or scrub, and we'd stand +off a troop of Spanish dragoons, or my name's not Meek." + +"Small doubt of that, you old fire-eater!" rejoined the Lieutenant. +"It's harder to keep you in hand than it will be to whip any enemy we +are like to find in this region." + +The men all chuckled appreciatively at the joke. + +"But just a little brush to liven us up, sir!" pleaded Meek. + +"That may come, all too soon! Yet it is not our game. We did not come +here to fight the Spaniards, any more than we ascended the Mississippi +to fight Sioux and Chippewas and British fur-traders. No. Bear in mind +that this is a peaceful expedition. So far am I from desiring a hostile +encounter with the Spaniards, it is by no means certain that I could +bring myself to refuse an invitation to visit their settlements, should +they tender us their hospitality." + +Again catching the twinkle in his blue eyes, I exclaimed impulsively: +"True! why not? Why not march on down the Rio Grande without delay?" + +He shook his head. "Hold hard, John. You forget that this is supposedly +the Red River. Also you forget your own observation as to how much more +convincing is an argument when made from behind a fortification, and," +his voice sobered, "you forget those whom we must first rescue." + +"God forgive me!" I cried. "That I should for a moment lose thought of +those poor lads! Give me a detail, if no more than a single man. I will +go back at once and fetch them." + +"No," he replied. "We are still weak; you could not bear them through +the drifts, and they cannot walk as yet. We must first build a stockade +yonder in the valley. They had food enough to last many days. In good +time I will send back a detachment to the Arkansas for the pack train. +The injured lads can be brought through on horseback." + +"I will go now!" + +"You will go with us," he commanded. "If, as is possible, we have come +within measurable distance of the Spanish settlements, we must establish +a fort without delay. It is imperative. I need every man of you." + +When the Lieutenant spoke in that tone, there was nothing to do but +obey. I turned on my heel and swung away down the pass, all the more +eager to advance, since I might not turn back. + +To advance! The word thrilled me throughout every fibre of my being. To +advance! Well enough was it for Pike to express doubts--to talk solemnly +of the Red River. He had to bear in mind the problem of diplomatic +explanations to the Spaniards. But as for myself, I rejoiced in the +conviction that the stream before us was in truth the Spanish River of +the North; that within the distance of a few days' journey southward lay +the upper Spanish settlements, beyond which, somewhere in the interior +of New Spain, lay Chihuahua, the seat of government for the northern +provinces, and the goal of my love-quest! I no longer doubted, I knew! +We had crossed the Sangre de Cristo! I had passed the Barrier! + +Small wonder was it that I chafed during the many days which yet +intervened before I was free to fare away on the road which led toward +my lady! First of all came our check at the west base of the mountains, +where a vast line of sand hills blocked our advance into the valley and +compelled us to skirt along some distance to the south before we could +march out toward the river. It took yet two more days for us to reach +the main stream and cross over, up one of its tributaries, to a +favorable site for our stockade. + +The first few days of February we spent in hunting and in hewing down +cottonwood trees for the stockade. Of buffalo we saw no sign in the +valley, but succeeded in killing a few deer, and sighted such vast +droves that the last thought of famine was dispelled. + +As soon as we had made some progress on the fort, I pressed the +Lieutenant to permit me to return for our comrades on the back track. +But he, knowing the keenness of my desire to be off southward, +positively forbade my returning, and instead detailed Corporal Jackson +and four men to bring in Sparks, Dougherty, and Menaugh, together with +the four packs we had been forced to leave behind. Baroney and Smith, we +thought, could wait on the Arkansas until later, when the horses should +have had more time to regain strength. + +It had been arranged that Jackson and his men should leave on the +afternoon of the seventh. But I did not linger to see them start. Making +hasty preparation, I marched in the opposite direction at sunrise of the +same day. The parting with my fellows in the midst of this remote and +unknown wilderness affected me deeply. Despite all our sharing of famine +and toil and bitter cold, I had not before realized the warmth of +attachment between us. The men crowded around to grasp my hand and wish +me Godspeed, and one and all swore that if I came to harm among the +Spaniards, they would follow their commander to the death in his effort +to avenge me. + +After this Pike walked out with me half a mile or so on my way, where we +could say our farewells in private, and none might see the tears which +would come despite our efforts at calmness. By now he was quite +convinced that I was going to my death. + +"Farewell, my friend, my companion!" he exclaimed, wringing my hand. +"God keep you from harm!" + +"Wish me more than that, Montgomery," I protested. + +"Ah, more--more, with all my heart!" he cried. "God grant you win your +way to your lady--that you win her sweet self!" + +"My thanks, dear friend!" I choked, gripping him by the shoulders. "We +talk of patriotism; but I know, and you know, it is for her sake alone I +am putting my neck into the noose." + +"No, no," he rejoined. "It is not alone love, it is duty as well that +calls you. And I fear the worst. Would that I might even now dissuade +you from the attempt!" + +"Dissuade me?--now? I should go, even though I felt as sure as you do +that the outcome will be the garrotte or a blank wall and a firing +squad. No; what grieves me most is the thought that we may never again +meet. I hope to win my way to Chihuahua; I must win my way to--her! But +can I then leave New Spain? Never one of Nolan's men has come home." + +"It may chance that you will wish to stay, John." + +"No, not even for her sake, unless--" I hesitated--"unless the Spanish +creoles rise and throw off the rule of Old Spain." + +"A revolution? That would be a grand opening for you!" His eyes flashed +with militant fire, only to darken again with grief. "But the people of +New Spain are too dispirited to revolt. If you linger in that tyrannical +land, it will be as a prisoner in one of their foul gaols--or worse!" + +"For her I'd risk the worst a thousand times over! Take cheer! They +will never suspect me as a spy. The Le Lande claim will carry me +through." + +"God grant it!" he cried. + +I gave his hand a last grip. "Farewell for a long time, my friend! That +you may not waste thought over the chance of my return, I confess that I +have resolved to go to my lady, whatever may befall." + +"Then you will not come back even if they rebuff you at the upper +settlements?" + +"I have crossed the Barrier. Now I go to Chihuahua." + +"Farewell; God keep you!" he repeated. + +A final glance at the little log fort, with its shallow moat, bristling, +staked abatis, and loopholed walls, above which floated our glorious +banner, then I tore myself from him, and started off on my solitary +journey. + +Having meat enough to last me some time, I did not stop to hunt, but +continued on at my best pace, southwest and then more nearly south. +Mid-morning of the second day I came upon a pair of the ugliest Indians +I had ever seen. Fortunately they were not so stupid as their swarthy, +flat faces made them appear. After no little sign talk, I at last +overcame their fear of me, and by an offer of a few trinkets, gained +their assent to take me into the Spanish settlements. + +For the night they took me to a camp in the woods where their women were +waiting. Being unacquainted with the customs of these savages,--who I +afterwards learned were Yutahs,--I passed the night without sleep, for +fear of treachery. But whether because of my rifle and pistols, or owing +to their treaty with the Spanish whites, my ugly guides made no attempt +to attack me. Next morning we set out upon our way to Agua Caliente, the +first of the Spanish towns, which we reached mid-afternoon of the same +day. + +It was with the keenest of emotions that I first made out what I took to +be the mud-wall stockade, or rampart, of this northernmost of the +Spanish settlements. At last I had arrived at the inhabited parts of New +Spain,--I was about to venture into the midst of our secretly, if not +openly, hostile Spanish neighbors. For all I knew, the long-threatened +war might have broken out months past; it might now be raging with +utmost fury. Yet even the thought of this far from improbable situation +did not cause me to waver for an instant. I needs must go on in search +of my lady, though a thousand Spaniards lined the road with guns loaded +and primed to shoot me down. + +As we drew near the town gate, one of the tame Indians of the place ran +in with the news of my coming. I stopped, and was in the midst of paying +over the agreed articles to my guides, when a bewhiskered Spanish +corporal and a squad of dragoons came charging out as if to ride me +down. Some held their long lances levelled at my breast; others, who had +rushed off without their lances, flourished the short rifles which they +call _escopettes_; while one man had only his big horse pistol. All, +however, carried their thick leather shields, which it seems the +soldiers in these parts bear as a protection against the arrows of the +savages. + +Greatly to my relief, I soon perceived that all this display of weapons +and horsemanship was intended rather as a greeting than a menace. As +they replaced their lances in the sockets and brought their curvetting +mounts to a stand, the corporal saluted me in a most hospitable manner. +At this, having good reasons for concealing what little knowledge of +Spanish I possessed, I demanded, in French, to be taken before the +commanding officer of the place. Whether or not the fellow understood my +words, he sprang off courteously beside me, and made a sign for me to +accompany him into the town. The others took his horse in lead, and +followed us at a few paces. + +As we passed the gate, I perceived that what I had taken for a great +stockade of unbaked mud brick was in fact no other than the rear walls +of a continuous row of houses, built in the form of a hollow square, and +with inward-facing doors. The town was thus of itself a most effectual +fortification against the savages of this region, the walls of the +houses extending up above the flat roofs so as to form a convenient +parapet for the defenders against the arrows and even the guns of their +assailants. Very few of these Southwest Indians, however, possess +firearms, and as they also lack scaling ladders, it does not detract +from the effectiveness of the defence that none of the houses is above a +story in height. This last was also true of the rows of like buildings +laid off in streets within the square. + +At the time, however, I had little opportunity to observe either this +Moorish architecture, which the Spaniards brought with them from Old +Spain, or the curious appearance of the tame Indians, who made up the +majority of the town's inhabitants. The corporal at once led me into the +presence of the commandant, who, finding that I claimed to be of French +blood, expressed himself in French as vastly astonished at the presence +of an American in this remote region, particularly in view of the +season. + +Before we had finished our interview, I was no less astonished to learn +that I was not the first American to arrive in the country. This does +not refer to the French creole Le Lande, who had settled between here +and Santa Fe and had done so well with his stolen goods that he was +already known as a _rico_. Something over a year before our coming, one +of our daring Western fur-hunters named Pursley, an American by blood as +well as allegiance, had traversed the prairies from the Missouri, and +falling in with a great party of Kyoways and Comanches near our Grand +Peak, had come down with them to the Spanish settlements. + +I received this account while dining with the commandant, he being so +hospitable as to invite me to his table, notwithstanding my tattered +and wretched appearance. But first, having learned my ostensible reason +for coming to New Mexico, he had sent off a soldier, post-haste, with +despatches to Governor Allencaster at Santa Fe. + +After weeks and months of dieting on the flesh of wild game, much of the +time without salt, and even longer without so much as corn to vary the +monotony, it was only with the greatest effort that I could restrain +myself from gluttonizing on my host's fiery _chili con carne_, his hot +corn-cakes and beans, his delicious chocolate and _dulces_. All the time +he was repeating polite apologies for the meagreness of his fare. To me +it was no less than a banquet, and I feasted until prudence forced me to +deny myself another mouthful. + +That night, for the first time in seven months, I slept upon a mattress, +which, according to the custom of New Spain, was laid upon the floor. +The nearest approach to a bedstead in this benighted land is a +bench-like bank of mud brick along the wall, in some of the houses. +Chairs and divans are none too plentiful, even in the homes of the +cultured rich, the people in general preferring to recline or to sit +Turk-fashion upon mats or mattresses laid along the floor. + +Early in the morning I was informed that an escort was in waiting to +guide me to Santa Fe. The kindness of the commandant in providing me +with numerous articles of civilized comfort induced me to accede +without protest to his politely worded hint that it would be better for +me to leave behind my weapons and ammunition, which he promised to send +on in a few days. + +Having given myself singly into the hands of the Spanish, I knew that +diplomacy was now my sole resource, the thought of a resort to force +being sheer madness. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +A MESSAGE TO MY LADY + + +During the journey to Santa Fe, while stopping over at the town of San +Juan, where I was treated with the utmost warmth of hospitality, I was +able to inform myself as to the prosperous condition of the trader Le +Lande, who had married and settled in the vicinity. But my apprehensions +as to my reception by the Governor of this remote province prevented me +from taking as deep an interest either in that rascal or in the strange +customs and appearance of these Mexican people as I should have felt in +easier circumstances. + +Unlike Agua Caliente and some of the other small settlements we had +passed, I found Santa Fe a town widely scattered in the outskirts. Many +of the low adobe buildings which made up the bulk of the place stood +each in its tiny patch of field, which, early as was the season, the +people were beginning to cultivate with their rude ploughs and mattocks. +Within these suburbs, however, the houses crowded closer and closer +together, until they were for the most part separated only by streets +that were no less narrow and crooked than dirty. A more striking +difference between this two-century-old settlement and the ones +up-country was the presence of the two huge adobe churches which towered +among the hovels, all the more imposing for the contrast. Their windows, +like those of the better houses, were glazed with sheets of thin, +transparent talc. + +I was at once taken past the rectangle of the soldiers' barracks to the +great open court, or plaza, in the midst of the town, where we came to +the house of the Governor. By this time I and my escort were surrounded +by a number of _mestizos_ and tame Indians, all of whom, however, drew +away when we entered the palace through an open, brick-paved portico, or +shed. After the plainness of the exterior, I was astonished by the +ornate furnishings of the rooms within, whose limed walls were hung with +bright-figured drapes and whose floors of beaten clay were spread with +skin rugs. + +Little time was given me to wonder at what to my unaccustomed eyes +seemed most magnificent decorations. I was quickly shown on into a large +apartment, at the upper end of which sat a sallow-faced, corpulent +Spanish don. I had no need to look at the secretary and the other +attendants grouped about his high chair to realize that I was in the +presence of Don Joachin Allencaster. The harshness of his glance as I +was led before him was enough of proof; for until now, all whom I had +met, even to the most ignorant and dogmatic of the priests, had treated +me with the deference of true hospitality. + +Not until this moment had I fully realized the wretchedness of my +appearance. Though the kindness of the commandant at Agua Caliente had +provided me with a bath and a cotton shirt, I still wore my tattered +buckskins; upon my head was my old coonskin cap, which had been half +singed by a fall in the fire; my limbs and feet were clad in moccasins +and leggings of fresh buffalo hide, the raw surface outward; while about +my shoulders my unkempt hair fell down in loose and shaggy locks, as +barbarous as the eight months' beard upon my lean, starved face. + +"_Por Dios!_" exclaimed His Excellency. Having doubtless been informed +in the despatches that I claimed to be a Frenchman, he addressed me in +that language: "_Sacre!_ You have come here, the second American in two +years, to spy upon my province!" + +"Your Excellency," I replied, "I had thought the Commandant of Agua +Caliente wrote you regarding the purpose of my visit to New Spain. As to +this Pursley, if it is to him you refer as my fellow spy, I had never +before so much as heard of the man until told at Agua Caliente. The +Commandant can tell you how astonished I was when he informed me of +Pursley's exploit in penetrating the wilderness. For my part, I should +surmise that he is no more than one of our venturesome fur-hunters. But +if you insist upon your suspicions, why not include Baptiste Le Lande +with us in a trio of spies?" + +Throughout this the Governor had continued to regard me with great +austerity. Quite unmoved by my attempt at lightness, he now signed to +his secretary, and spoke to me in a most peremptory tone: "Your papers, +fellow!" + +I drew out the documents relating to the Le Lande claim and handed them +over to the secretary. His Excellency demanded their purport, which I +gave as clearly and briefly as my French would permit. + +"We shall see," he commented, when I ended my account. "Your papers will +be examined, and I will send for Le Lande. Meantime you will consider +yourself under arrest. You will be given quarters in the rooms assigned +for officers in confinement, but you are at liberty within the bounds of +the town, if accompanied by your guard." + +With this, he appointed a corporal of the regular dragoons to attend +upon me both as guard and waiter, and I was promptly led out. During the +short delay which followed, I had no cause to complain of my treatment. +The corporal proved a most accommodating servant, and my meals were sent +to me from His Excellency's own table. In addition, the hospitality of +the leading people of Santa Fe was so cordial that I should have enjoyed +greatly the two days I had to wait, had it not been for my fears that +the Governor might detain me for an indefinite period, or send me +eastward out of the province, into the country of the Comanches. + +When, therefore, he again called me before him, and stated that he had +inquired and found that Le Lande was incapable of discharging the claim +presented by me, I declared boldly that I knew this to be a mistake, +and that it appeared to me His Excellency was seeking to shelter a +refugee debtor of my country, in violation of the treaties between Spain +and the United States. + +"Look to it, Your Excellency!" I concluded, with all the heat and +indignation I could affect. "Look to it! This is no light matter. The +man is an outright thief, and the treaty rights of Monsieur Morrison are +clear. I insist upon the payment of this claim. If I cannot obtain +justice of Your Excellency, I will appeal to the Governor-General." + +This last stirred him out of the daze of astonishment into which he had +been thrown by the audacity of my heated protest. Governors of Spanish +provinces are not accustomed to being bearded by their inferiors in +rank, much less by lone foreigners suspected of espionage. But at my +mention of his superior, he found his voice. + +"Ah!" he exclaimed, and I marked the change in his tone. "_Madre de +Dios!_ You would go to Chihuahua?" + +"No offence to Your Excellency," I hastened to protest, affecting to +believe him alarmed for himself. "It may well be that your authority is +so limited that you cannot satisfy my claim. My complaint against your +refusal will be purely formal. In truth, I prefer to have the decision +of the Governor-General, if only to obtain a precedent in the +adjudication of similar claims which may be presented in other provinces +under his rule." + +"_Por Dios!_ You wish to go to Chihuahua!" he repeated. I believe he +would have been less amazed had I urged him to let me go to the gallows. +"To Chihuahua! to Salcedo!" he murmured. + +"Why not, Your Excellency?" I inquired. + +His sallow cheeks darkened with a sudden return of his suspicions, and +he sought to transfix me with his glance. + +"_Caramba!_" he muttered. "Tell me clearly how you came across all that +vast desert. You came from the northward. Did you then cross the +mountains?" + +I described briefly that terrible march south and west from the Grand +Peak. He listened with growing wonderment. + +"_Poder de Dios!_ It is impossible!" he cried. "Malgares has told me of +that gigantic peak and the sierra you crossed. It is not possible! The +Sangre de Cristo, and in midwinter--afoot!" + +"Yet it is true, Your Excellency." + +Again his eye sought to pierce me with its suspicious stare. + +"Your party?" he demanded. "You have spoken of hunters. Who are +they?--and where?" + +Having now some of the details of Pursley's adventures to copy, I told a +connected tale of having accompanied some Osages from St. Louis to the +Pawnee country, in search of the recreant Le Lande, when, learning of +his flight to New Mexico, I had wandered westward with a small party of +hunters to the Grand Peak and then southwest over the mountains, until +we came to what was supposed to be the Red River, where my companions +had stopped to hunt. + +At the end of my recital, he sat for some moments studying me. Then, +with a most disconcerting suddenness: "Senor, you will honor me with +your presence at table." + +He rose at the words, and leaving all the others gaping, conducted me +down a corridor to his dining-room. It was now high noon, and we found +the table already spread for the midday meal, which is the principal +repast of the day among the Spaniards in Mexico. + +A plate was laid for myself opposite His Excellency's, and we sat down +in civilized fashion to a meal which would have graced the table of the +richest Spanish creole in all Louisiana. There were trout from the +neighboring streams, a variety of meats and fowl, good wheaten bread +altogether unlike the unappetizing corn _tortillas_ of the commonfolk, +chocolate and _dulces_, fine raisins from the Paso del Norte, and a +bottle or two of most excellent wine. + +Throughout our repast His Excellency addressed himself to me as one +gentleman to another, so that I found myself continually in a stress of +excitement between apprehension and hope. Our conversation was for the +most part directed to European topics, dwelling much, as must every +discussion of transatlantic affairs, upon the career of that most +marvellous of men, the Emperor of the French. + +But with the wine and the _cigarros_, His Excellency seemed to +recollect for the first time the small but none the less important +affairs of our own personal concern. + +"I begin to be convinced, senor physician, that you are indeed a man of +genteel breeding," he said. "If, however, you will pardon the remark, I +have grave doubt whether a Frenchman of your education would commit so +many errors in the use of his native language." + +I smiled. "_Mon Dieu!_ Your Excellency, we of St. Louis have not the +facilities for visiting _la belle_ France possessed by our fellow +creoles of New Orleans. It is a century or more since my ancestors came +to the New World." + +"And you have dwelt much among the Anglo-Americans," he insinuated. + +"It is true," I replied with candor. "I obtained my diploma as a +physician from the college of Columbia in the city of New York." + +He stiffened with a sudden return of austerity. "Senor, I no longer +doubt that you are a _caballero_--a gentleman. I will not press you to +confess your ulterior motive in coming into the domains of His Most +Catholic Majesty. Yet, if you carry secret documents (I am disinclined +to have you searched), I ask you to give me your word whether or not you +carry such despatches." + +"Your Excellency," I answered, "I give you my word that I do not. The +documents I handed over into Your Excellency's keeping were all I +brought with me." + +"_Satanas!_" he cried, his face flushing with sudden violent anger. +"Such duplicity! Such treachery!" + +"If you will be so kind as to explain, senor," I said with unaffected +astonishment. + +"You hold to it? _Carrajo!_ How then of the packet in your bosom?" + +"That?" I exclaimed, at once perceiving the cause of his continued +suspicion. Some one had spied upon me and seen the packet. I reached my +hand into my hunting-shirt, only to hesitate and draw it out again, +empty. It seemed a profanation to expose my treasures to his gaze. + +"You pause! You dare not produce the packet! In it lies your +condemnation!" he cried. + +The folly of my course flashed upon me. Why should I set a mere fanciful +sentiment against the lulling of his suspicions? If I did not myself +hand over the packet, he would have it taken from me by force. + +He started to rise, but I caught the little bundle from my bosom and +reached it across the table. Instead of rising, he bent forward, and, +with forced deliberation, began to open the folds of the waxed parchment +cover. First exposed was the corner of the flag. + +"Aha!" he exclaimed, his eyes flashing across at me in fieriest anger. +"Explain that, if you can!--a malicious desecration of the flag of His +Most Catholic Majesty!" + +"Not so!" I flung back at him. "Look what is marked upon it. Those +letters were a message to me. I found it within the undisputed +boundaries of my country, at the town of the Pawnee Republicans. It was +a message to me, and I took it, for it was mine." + +"Ah! ah! a message! You confess, senor spy!" + +I pointed to the last unwrapped fold. He turned it open, his face keen +with exultant expectation. The now powdered leaves of the magnolia bloom +puzzled him for the moment. Not so the handkerchief. His eye was +instantly caught by the initials in the corner. Without a second glance, +he averted his gaze until he had drawn up the edge of the snowy damask +cloth over my stained and crumpled treasures. + +"_Perdone, hermano!_" he murmured, with a most apologetic bow. "Be +pleased to regain your property." + +With that he left the table and stood with his back to me until I had +folded up the packet and replaced it within my bosom. + +"Your Excellency," I said, "the world has heard much about the +chivalrous gallantry of your people. I am now convinced the half has not +been told of it!" + +"_Muchas gracias_, senor!" he returned. "You pardon my stupid error? +Yours is the act of a true _caballero!_ If the question does not trench +upon delicate ground, may I venture an inquiry as to the possible +relation of your daring journey--?" + +"I have reason to believe that the lady is at Chihuahua, Your +Excellency," I explained. + +"Ah! ah! now I perceive! Yet what an _amor_ to bring any man across the +vast desert!--above all, over the Sangre de Cristo in midwinter!" + +"It was the barrier which lay between myself and my lady, Your +Excellency." + +"_Por Dios!_ You _Americanos!_ You will yet be flying to the moon! +Malgares told me fully of the perils of the desert, and he had six +hundred men, and it was in the pleasant season. But one man or a mere +handful, however brave--_Santisima Virgen!_" + +"Malgares?" I repeated. + +"Lieutenant Malgares, who led the expedition to the savages of the East +and North. On your way to Chihuahua you will have opportunity to learn +that he is a true _caballero_." + +"Chihuahua?" I exclaimed. "Your Excellency will then permit me to go to +Chihuahua?" + +"_Quien sabe?_" he smiled. "God alone knows the future! But I will send +despatches, and it may well happen that they will not be in disfavor of +your going. But as for the decision, that is with His Excellency, Don +Nimesio Salcedo, the Commandant-General." + +A sudden thought aided me to rally from my disappointment. + +"Your Excellency," I asked, "if I should seal and address one article +contained in my packet before your eyes, might I not ask the favor that +it be delivered at Chihuahua to the lady addressed?" + +"_Santa Maria!_" he returned, "it is always a pleasure to aid a lover. +Come now! We will seal your message with my own seal. There are those +between us and your Dulcinea who might otherwise peer within the cover. +The address you shall write upon it in private with my own quill, and +none shall see the name of the senorita. She is not married?" (I signed +that she was not.) "None shall see her name except my messenger when he +opens the despatch-pouch for delivery at Chihuahua." + +"_Muchas gracias_, Your Excellency!" I murmured, overcome. + +"Ah! ah!" he murmured, leaning upon my bony shoulder as we started. "The +years pass, but I, too, once had my romance, senor!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +HO FOR CHIHUAHUA! + + +So it was that for the time being I found myself received into the +society of the most powerful official of the North Province with a favor +as cloudless and warm as the blue sky above his chief town. Yet, on the +other hand, having been requested by His Excellency to prescribe for the +dropsy with which he was afflicted, I laid myself open to trouble by +giving a treatment different from that previously prescribed by the monk +who was his regular physician. The result was soon evident in the +poisoning of His Excellency's mind against the heretic. + +But in the few hours of practical liberty which intervened, I had the +good fortune to meet my fellow-countryman, James Pursley. He proved to +be one of our typical gaunt, long-legged Kentuckians, with a bearded +face as resolute and formidable as that of our fighting sergeant Meek. +Still better proof of his daring character lay in the fact that he had +been wandering on the prairies for two years or more before he fell in +with the great company of Comanches and Kyoways whose encampment we had +found on the headwaters of the Platte, and with whom he had come south +to the vicinity of the Spanish settlements. Venturing into Santa Fe, he +had been fairly well received by the Spanish, and though forbidden to +leave certain bounds, was otherwise free, and doing quite well as a +carpenter. + +As my attendant corporal knew nothing else than Spanish, Pursley and I +were able to talk with the utmost freedom. When, in the midst of the +account of his truly remarkable adventures, he told how he had found +gold on the upper reaches of the Platte, westerly of the Grand Peak, and +how he had refused to divulge the place to the Spaniards because it +might lie within the bounds of Louisiana Territory, I became so +convinced of his stanch loyalty and patriotism that I confided in him +the circumstances of our party. + +He was immensely interested, but shook his head over my suggestion that +he should attempt to join the expedition. He did not see how this could +be of any benefit either to the party or to himself, especially, he +explained, as Allencaster had already sent out well-mounted spies to +find and report on the party of hunters with whom I claimed +companionship. He, Pursley, could not hope to overtake these expert +horsemen; while, on the other hand, if caught trying to escape, he would +surely be jailed in the terrible _calabozo_. + +In the midst of our argument of the question, I was summoned into the +presence of the Governor. He met me with a frown, and showed how closely +I had been watched by peremptorily ordering me to hold no further +communication with Pursley. My attempt at a French shrug flung him into +a passion, in which he decreed my exile to San Fernandez, a tiny village +four days south of Santa Fe, there to remain in the charge of Lieutenant +Malgares until word should come from Chihuahua. + +Finding His Excellency thus once more harshly disposed, I was not +altogether reluctant at being banished, more especially as my exile was +in the direction I wished to travel. Nor did I regret the change when I +came to San Fernandez and made the acquaintance of Lieutenant Don +Faciendo Malgares. + +He was, I soon learned, the son of one of the royal judges of the +Kingdom of New Spain, and immensely wealthy. But neither his birth nor +his wealth prevented him from being the most courteous gentleman I have +ever met. That he was a daring and dashing officer was evident from his +modest account of that remarkable excursion through the heart of the +Comanche country and north to the Pawnees. + +The question of his expedition chanced to come up within a week after my +arrival, and having already gauged his gallant character, I felt free to +rally him upon his invasion of our domain. + +"_Nom de Dieu!_" I mocked, as he concluded by telling how his party had +returned southward from the Arkansas, along the outer face of the front +range of mountains, and into Santa Fe through an easy pass eastward of +that town. "_Nom de Dieu!_ you invade territory indisputably ours with a +force little short of a regiment; yet when I would repay the +compliment,--one lone man, lost in the Western wilds, your righteous +Governor has a mind to garrotte me!" + +"Not he, senor," replied Malgares. "Rest assured he will leave that to +the decision of the Governor-General." + +"He will send me to Chihuahua!" I exclaimed. + +"I fear as much, senor. There can be little doubt that General Salcedo +will order you before him." + +"_Quien sabe?_" I muttered, affecting a doleful tone. My fear had been +that I might be sent the other way. A sudden thought brought my hand to +my bosom. "_Perdone_, senor lieutenant, if I seem impertinent, but is it +usual for Spanish officers to present savages with banners embroidered +by the ladies?" + +He stared at me blankly. "Embroidered banners?" + +"I chanced to visit that Pawnee town some three weeks after yourself. +Examining the flag you left, I observed upon its lower corner--" + +"Ah!" he interrupted, "I comprehend. The flag from Senorita Vallois. But +I assure you, Senor Robinson, it was the lady's own whim. She requested +me to fly her banner at the point where I should make nearest approach +to your settlements." + +"Ah!" I exclaimed, in turn, masking my delight with difficulty. "So your +Spanish senoritas still send out their knights errant bearing their +colors." + +"True," he replied. "Yet you mistake in part. It was not Senora Malgares +who gave me the banner in question, but her friend, Senorita Vallois." + +"Vallois?" I repeated;--"Vallois? That is a French name." + +"No less is it Spanish, senor; though it is in point that my friend Don +Pedro claims descent from French royalty. One can well believe the claim +in the presence of his niece." + +"My word to that!" I cried. "She's the most beautiful lady under +heaven!" + +"_Santisima Virgen!_" he exclaimed. "You know her?" + +"I had the honor of meeting her in my own country." + +By a flash of intuition he divined all on the instant. "_Dios!_" he +murmured, and he swept me a wide bow. "A love that could draw a man +across that vast desolation of desert and sierra! Most unjust the fate +that would not requite the deed!" + +"You have seen her. Do you wonder that I should have made the venture?" + +"Less than a year has passed since I won my own lady," he said. "The +Virgin grant that I may be the one to escort you to Chihuahua! I have +not seen my senora since I marched north, last year." + +When a Spaniard opens his heart to you, count on it you have found a +friend. I nodded understandingly. + +"Ah, my Dolores! my _nina_!" he sighed. + +"But she is yours; you have already won her; while I--!" + +He nodded, in turn. "My Dolores writes that every bachelor of Chihuahua, +from the greatest _haciendados_ to the youngest sub-lieutenants, are +suitors for the hand of Senorita Alisanda. Yet take heart. At the last +writing, not even Medina had won recognition from her." + +"Medina?" I inquired, full of jealous inquietude. + +"Salcedo's favorite aide-de-camp,--a braggadocio fellow." + +"Could you not take it upon yourself to hurry me south at once?" I +urged. + +"_Poder de Dios!_ I, a soldier, to march without orders? But be assured. +The order will come before many weeks. In the meantime we should +prepare." He looked me over smilingly. "It will never do for you to come +before your lady in this savage costume. Great is my regret that in this +remote village we cannot find you garments after the European mode, yet +there are worse attires than that of a Spanish country gentleman--a +_caballero rusticano_." + +Notwithstanding my protests against imposing upon his generosity, he +insisted upon at once conducting me to a man qualified to tailor the +Spanish modes. Within the next fortnight I was completely fitted out _a +la Espanola_ from top to toe. But although it was the first time I had +ever worn the costume, I cannot say that in the company of similarly +attired Spaniards I felt ill at ease in these garments. In part at least +they were well adapted to the needs of this hot, arid climate, +particularly the broad-brimmed shade-hat, or sombrero. Silk stockings +and Spanish breeches, buttoned down the outer seams and open below the +knees, took the place of my tattered pantaloons and buffalo leggings. +For belt I wore a sash of scarlet silk, with ends dangling like a lady's +drape. Above it was a waistcoat as large as the jacket was short, while +the circular cloak over all gave me quite the air of an hidalgo. My one +difficulty was with the stiff jack-boots upon which jangled my +barbarously gaffed spurs. After months of freedom in pliant moccasins, +my feet found this hard confinement barely endurable even when I was +mounted. + +In return for the numberless courtesies of Malgares, I was able to make +part payment by practising gratis among the people. It was, at the same +time, a most interesting experience to come into intimate contact with +the population, from the _gachupines_, or Spaniards of Old Spain, and +the native-born Spaniards, whom we call creoles, to the far more +numerous _mestizos_, or mixed-bloods, and their half-brothers, the +pueblo, or tame Indians. + +One day I had gone up to see a patient at Atrisco, a little village next +below Albuquerque. It was, as I remember, the seventh of March, exactly +a month after I had left my comrades at the stockade in the valley. The +Commandant, at whose house I was staying, had borrowed for me a Spanish +grammar from Father Ambrosio, and I was deep in the verbs, when my host +stepped into the room, with a bow and a sonorous introduction: +"_Perdone, hermano!_ Present _usted_ Senor el Capitan Mun-go-meri-paike, +your compatriot." + +I started up, and found myself confronting--Pike! + +He stared back at me, half in doubt that it could be I, so vast was the +change in my appearance and health. + +"John!" he exclaimed. "It cannot be!" + +"Yet it is," I replied, aglow with delight. + +There could be no mistaking him, if only that he still wore his scarlet +fur-lined cap and blanket cloak,--though much of his dress was new, and +his face presented far other than the ghastly, emaciated aspect it had +worn at our parting. + +But as I reached out to clasp his hand, he suddenly recalled our +agreement not to recognize one another, and drew back with feigned +hauteur. "Who are you, sir? I do not know you." + +"'T is of no use, Montgomery!" I cried. "I cannot hide my friendship. I +should call out to you though they had the garrotte at my neck. What is +more, the secret is out. I have already confessed my connection with the +expedition to Lieutenant Malgares, who, though a Spaniard, has proved +himself a true friend. I could no longer endure the thought of +concealment from him. It has not cost me his friendship; and I am +prepared to risk the worst his superiors can inflict upon me." + +"No, no, John!" he protested. "We shall all come through safely, and you +shall win your lady." + +"Ah! Alisanda! My thanks for the good wish. But you?" I demanded. "Are +you and the men also prisoners in the hands of that capricious +Governor?" + +"Prisoners!" he repeated, dropping his hand on his sword-hilt. "Does +this look like it? No! They lured us into Santa Fe with false promises. +But my men still carry their guns and ammunition. Let the tyrants so +much as raise a finger against us, and we will flee to their enemies the +Apaches, and lead the savages against their settlements!" + +"We could do it!" I cried. "Yet first--" + +"First you would go to Chihuahua; and so would I," he assented, his blue +eyes twinkling. "I made a loud protest when this over-wise Governor said +it was necessary for me to go south. But we are going as 'guests under +constraint'--not as prisoners, please note, John. The addle-pated don +did not know enough to send us packing the shortest way out of the +country, to the Red River,--which, it seems, lies far to the eastward, +in the Comanche nation. No! he must needs march us down through the +heart of the Northern Provinces. Could we ask more?" + +"Not if Salcedo sets you free." + +"Sets me free? No less yourself, John!" + +I shook my head dubiously. But at the moment there entered a Captain +D'Almansa, whom I had met at Santa Fe, and who, I now learned, was +conducting down the Lieutenant and his men to place them under the +escort of Malgares. When Pike explained to him that I had been a member +of the expedition, the old captain smiled knowingly. Few among the +Spaniards had doubted my connection with the mad _Americanos_ after the +party was brought in. + +We left D'Almansa in the house, seated over a bottle of ardent spirits +with my host, and went out to where the six privates who had come with +the Lieutenant from the stockade were in waiting. I was rejoiced to see +that, though still for the most part clad in their tatters, their +rounding cheeks showed the welcome effects of Spanish hospitality, and +that the ones worst frosted now hardly limped in their gait. Not one of +them had been required to walk a mile since leaving the fort, horses +having been provided them from the first. + +It was no less affecting than amusing to see the manner in which, +obedient to orders, they stared at me with an air of stolid indifference +even when I came up to them with their Lieutenant. But the moment he had +explained that all was discovered, they crowded about me with +exclamations of joy. It was truly a happy meeting for us all, despite +the uncertainty of what might befall us in the hands of the tyrannical +Spanish authorities. + +As soon as I had sketched my adventures, Pike, in turn, told theirs. + +"For several days after you left," he began, "I spent the time in +hunting, reading, and exploring the valley around the fort. But a +fortnight ago, while out with Brown, we fell in with a dragoon and an +Indian of the militia, who, after telling us of your arrival at Santa +Fe, insisted upon following us to the fort. In the morning, after we had +made them a few gifts, they started back to Santa Fe, from which place +they had been sent out to spy upon us." + +"True!" I broke in. "Allencaster must have suspected from the first that +my party of hunters was no less than the American expedition. I have +learned that Senor Lisa sent word from St. Louis of the expedition's +plans, to the Spanish authorities in Texas. All the Northern Provinces +have been on the lookout for us for months, and Malgares has told me +that the real purpose of his great expedition was either to capture us +or to turn us back." + +"That I have myself learned," replied Pike. "Well, they have us now. May +they have joy of their find! But to return. The same day that the spies +left, Jackson and his party came in with Menaugh. But poor Sparks and +Dougherty, alas! neither had been able to take a dozen steps, and the +others could not bear them through those deep drifts." + +"Good God!" I cried. "They left their comrades again, in that terrible +valley, famished, crippled, sick! Had I but gone--!" + +"No, John, they are not famished, nor are they sick. Jackson found them +well nourished. The gangrene had not spread. They will recover. You +yourself said they would recover if the disease did not spread in this +time. Jackson restocked them with meat, and within three days after his +return Meek and Miller volunteered for a second rescue-party. As their +orders were to go first for Baroney and Smith and the horses, there can +be no doubt that this time our poor lads will be brought in." + +"Then they are not at the fort?" I asked. + +"I cannot say. They had not yet come in when the Spanish dragoons came +to lure us away. But you know the obstinacy and combativeness of Meek. +_He_ will bring them in. Yes, by now they must be over the mountains and +on their way to Santa Fe, guided by the Spaniards left at the fort for +that purpose. Allencaster has promised to send them after us as soon as +they can march. By the way, he has complimented you with the return of +your rifle and pistols. As I positively refused to be disarmed, the +diplomatic supposition is that we need our weapons to provide against +attacks of the Apaches." + +"Your papers?" I inquired, "all those invaluable charts and journals?" + +He gave me a rueful look. "The enemy have them trapped in my little +paper trunk, most of them. When we first came into Santa Fe all the more +valuable ones were concealed in the clothes of these lads." He shook his +head sadly at the six privates. "But the over-hospitable ladies plied +them so freely with wine and ardent spirits that I feared some of the +papers might be lost during their tipsy antics. So I returned to the +trunk all except your copy of my courses. Immediately afterwards the +trunk was seized, and is now in the charge of our escort." + +"They may be returned," I argued. + +He shook his head. + +"You say they lured you into Santa Fe?" + +"Upon the report of his spies, Allencaster sent out a force of a hundred +men, under pretence that the Yutah Indians were about to attack us. +They were extremely courteous, and invited me to come into Santa Fe, +stating that the Governor wished to know our reasons for entering his +territories. When I had expressed our strategic supposition that we were +on the Red River, and they had explained that these were the waters of +the Rio del Norte, I at once hauled down our flag and agreed to +accompany them. + +"As with yourself, Allencaster was at first exceedingly haughty to me. +But after I had expressed my opinion of their invasion of our +territories, and stated that I had come in merely to be directed how to +find the Red River, that my party might follow it down to Natchitoches, +he mellowed exceedingly. I believe the old fox thought he was playing me +a sly trick in thus sending us south through the heart of his country." + +"He will be hoist by his own petard!" I cried. "Papers or no papers, +Salcedo is bound to free you at least, and you have a fine memory. My +fate will not affect the splendid advantages which will accrue to our +country from this blunder of the dons." + +"Your fate?" he demanded. + +"I am now a spy confessed. But enough of that when we reach Chihuahua! +Until then we shall have no cause for complaint. We go under the escort +of Malgares, than whom there is no truer gentleman under the sky." + +Pike shook his head doubtfully. + +But the next day I had the great pleasure of introducing him to +Malgares, who promptly talked himself into the Lieutenant's good +graces, and entertained us that evening by ordering a _fandango_ to be +danced in our honor by the prettiest girls of the vicinity. + +Of our southward journey, which we began on the ninth of March, I will +mention only that the first stage alone carried us some three hundred +and fifty miles down the valley of the Rio del Norte, to El Paso. The +most prominent features of this trip were a notorious arid desert called +the Jornada del Muerto, or Journey of the Dead Man, which we avoided by +a long detour, and two ranges of mountains to the eastward of the +river,--the glittering, snow-clad Sierra Blanca and the Sierra de los +Organos,--in whose fastnesses lurk the murderous Apaches, said by +Spaniards to be the most terrible of all Indians. + +The second day south of El Paso we had to toil across a region of +shifting sand hills similar to those at the west end of our pass through +the Sangre de Cristo. The stop that evening was made at the Presidio of +Carrazal, where, for the first time since our meetings with Governor +Allencaster, we were received without the effusive hospitality to which +we had become accustomed. When Malgares introduced us to the Commandant, +the latter bowed with utmost coolness, and muttered in Spanish an +ungracious statement to the effect that Malgares was welcome to his +quarters, but that _los hereticos_ could lodge themselves, together with +their privates of infantry, in the common hovel provided for +travellers. + +Malgares bowed his grandest. "_Perdone_, senor!" he replied. "I could +not bring myself to trouble your hospitality. What is good enough for my +friends is good enough for me." + +Such was Malgares's stateliness of manner that the Commandant, although +his superior officer, was bowing in most apologetic fashion before our +friend had ceased speaking. + +"_Perdone, hermano!_" he murmured. "I erred most deplorably in imagining +that _los senores Americanos_ came as persons under constraint. _Con +permiso_, I hasten to rectify my error by urging them to honor my humble +abode with their presence." + +"I fear that the Senor Commandant will have to excuse _los Americanos_," +I said. + +"The sky is ever a welcome roof to us," added Pike, no less offended +than myself. + +"But that is impossible, senores!" urged the Commandant, with growing +concern. He turned appealingly to Malgares--"Pray persuade them, Don +Faciendo! Should they refuse my hospitality I could never forgive +myself!" + +"From the first our countrymen have given them the warmest of welcomes," +remarked Malgares, his chin still high. + +"_Por Dios!_ Do I deny it? Yet consider, I have but now received the +gazette from the City of Mexico." + +"The gazette?" inquired Malgares, unbending. + +"With the account of the terrible Colonel Burr." + +"Senor, we will be pleased to accept your hospitality," said Pike. + +Immediately there was a general exchange of amicable bows, and the +Commandant conducted us to his quarters. I could see that Malgares was +hardly less eager than Pike and myself to hear the news about Burr. But +diplomacy, no less than etiquette, compelled us to repress our burning +curiosity until our host had exemplified his hospitality with a light +evening meal. As we rose from the table, he remarked that we might +better enjoy our _cigarros_ under the starlight, on the _azotea_. + +"_Perdone, amigo_," replied Malgares, suavely. "You spoke of the +gazette. I would hardly venture to say how old was the last gazette +which I saw at Santa Fe." + +"_Con permiso_, senores," said the Commandant, bowing to Pike and +myself. + +At his command the attendant fetched the gazette, which he took into his +own hands and tendered to us, with a polite bow. When we shook our heads +over the Spanish text, he waved us back to our seats, and proceeded to +translate into French a most extraordinary mess of wild and +contradictory rumors regarding Aaron Burr. + +The redoubtable Colonel had descended the Ohio with an immense army; he +had invaded the Province of Texas; he was marching upon Santa Fe; he had +captured New Orleans; he was operating against Pensacola, with a view to +the conquest of the Floridas; he had joined forces with the British +fleet and had sailed to invest Vera Cruz; he was fighting the Eastern +_Americanos_; no! the atheist Jacobin Jefferson had sent a second army +to help him to conquer New Spain. Only the firm stand of the honest and +most upright _Americano_ Commander-in-Chief, General Wilkinson, had +prevented _los hereticos_ from breaking their sacred pledge by crossing +the Sabine River into the disputed territory. Risking the anger of the +hypocritical Jefferson, the brave Wilkinson had met the treacherous and +ferocious Burr in a terrific battle; had defeated the desperadoes and +either slain or captured the would-be conqueror of the domains of His +Most Catholic Majesty, King Ferdinand. + +So the account ran--a bushel of chaff heaped about a few scant grains of +fact. Yet even out of these garbled and fantastic details of an +evidently panic-stricken Spanish scribe, we could extract at least an +inkling of the truth. There could be no doubt that Colonel Burr had +actually embarked upon one or more of his venturesome enterprises, and +that there had ensued more or less public agitation, if not an armed +conflict. + +To my wider knowledge of the Colonel's schemes many things were clear +which puzzled and bewildered my friend, and I was not altogether +surprised to see by Malgares's look that he understood the situation +nearly as well as myself. When, however, at the first opportunity, I +sought to obtain an intimation that he had been a sharer in the Mexican +end of the great project, he avoided the inquiry with his usual tactful +reserve. + +For my own part, I concluded that my worst suspicions regarding the +treasonable intentions of Colonel Burr were all too true. Evidently +relying upon Wilkinson to force hostilities on the Texas border, he had +planned to sweep down the Ohio and the Mississippi, with the rallying +cry of "War with Spain!" to bring the frontiersmen flocking after him in +a vast army. With all the loyal-hearted marching to the conquest of +Mexico under Wilkinson and Jackson, it would then have been a simple +matter to seize New Orleans, declare a separation of the West from the +East, and appeal to the States and Territories west of the Alleghanies +to join in creating an empire which should extend westward to the far +distant Pacific and south to remote Panama. + +That the West was, and for years had been, far too loyal to listen to +the traitorous proposal, was not the question. The point was, that, had +Wilkinson supported the arch-plotter so far as the seizure of New +Orleans, the result would have been a bloody internecine war among our +people, with France and England alike gloating upon our dissensions, and +waiting, eager-fingered, to tear us asunder at the first opportunity. + +So it was that, taking matters at their face value in so far as I could +conjecture the facts, I gladly gave General Wilkinson credit for the +part he seemed to have played in checkmating the alleged invasion of the +lower Mississippi by Burr. + +The manner in which our host watched our faces as he read the gazette to +us, explained the discourtesy of his first greeting. It was evident that +he regarded our expedition as a reconnoitring party sent out by the +hated _Americanos_ to explore a road for the expected army of invasion. + +For my part, I firmly believe it was in fact so intended by General +Wilkinson, who had been known to boast that he could take all New Mexico +in a single campaign. But whether or not he had intended to use our +discoveries to further the treasonable projects of Burr, I will leave to +the verdict of History. At the time, it was enough for me that he had +not joined forces with Burr, but, on the contrary, it would seem had +averted the possibility of the dashing Colonel's capture of New +Orleans. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +GLIMPSES OF FATE + + +The day before our arrival at Chihuahua, when Lieutenant Malgares +despatched ahead a courier with letters to his wife's father and General +Salcedo, I was suddenly struck with the fact that this First of April, +like that other Day of All Fools out of Philadelphia, was bringing me to +the senorita high in hopes yet none the less uncertain. Then I had +chilled with the dread that my journey's end would find her dear +presence vanished beyond my reach; now I suffered the far more poignant +fear that I might find her heart lost to another. + +With such a thought lying like a torpid snake upon my breast, it is not +strange that I slept ill that night. But I was astir in the morning no +earlier than Malgares, who betrayed the liveliest apprehension over his +coming interview with the Commandant-General. It was the first time that +he had been permitted to come south to the seat of government since +leaving it for his daring expedition into our territories, nearly a year +past. Pike and I were astonished to find that he was not beaming with +expectation of the rewards his gallant exploit deserved. Instead he rode +along between us in silence, his fine Castilian face creased with lines +of anxiety, almost of dread. + +We were now passing over the last few miles of the vast +mountain-encircled plain which surrounds the city of Chihuahua and upon +which, as well as similar vast ranges in this Province of Nuevo Viscaya, +_los haciendados_ pasture herds of thousands and tens of thousands of +cattle. Only in the most favored spots was the dreary landscape broken +by trees, most of them the acacia-like mesquite, which here grows to a +height of thirty or forty feet. There was little cultivation of the soil +in this region, whose inhabitants depend upon cattle and the rich silver +mines for their subsistence. A far from pleasant proof of this fact was +to be seen in the great number of smoking ore furnaces and the enormous +extent of the cinder heaps all about the city. + +From the time we swung into our high-pommelled, high-cantled saddles, my +gaze was fixed through the smoke haze of the furnaces upon the lofty +towers of the _Parroquia_--the magnificent parish church of +Chihuahua--and the older and lower structure of the Jesuit Church of the +Campania. Noticing my intentness, even in his distraction, Malgares +courteously told the story of how the _Parroquia_ had been paid for by a +contribution from the silver produced by the great Santa Eulalia mine, +in all something over a million dollars, estimated in our money. + +Aside from the _Parroquia_ and a few other imposing stone edifices, such +as the royal treasury, the hospital, the military academy, and the +three or four lesser churches, the city of Chihuahua proved to be +interesting but not magnificent. A few of the private buildings were of +stone and of more than one story, but the greater part of the city was +built of the ubiquitous unbaked mud brick. + +Passing within sight of the huge arches of the great aqueduct, or +waterway, which bends around from the south to the east side of the +city, we at last found ourselves in the neat, close outskirts of +Chihuahua. Our course carried us toward the plaza through the better +streets, and it was evident from the number of ladies who crowded out +into their balconies to see us pass that the news of our coming had been +announced. + +That Malgares was well and favorably known among these bright-eyed +senoras and senoritas soon became apparent as we swept along at the head +of our clattering, swashbuckling dragoons. Fans were waved, _rebozas_ +and mantillas fluttered, and greetings called. Despite the anxiety which +damped his spirit, our companion responded with the most gallant of bows +and compliments. + +In the midst, a gay young senorita, more daring than her sisters, cried +out: "_Viva, los Americanos!_" + +Our response, I trust, was as gallant in spirit if not in effect as the +bows of Malgares. I qualify because Pike had to endure the mortification +of riding beneath the gaze of all those sparkling eyes in a costume +better fitting a backwoods farmer than a military gentleman. He was +still in his scarlet cap and blanket cloak. Yet, encouraged by our +acknowledgment of the first greeting, others of the ladies caught up the +cry, until we found ourselves being welcomed no less warmly and +frequently than Malgares himself. + +This should have been fair enough augury to reassure the most despondent +of travellers. But as we jingled past house after house, I found myself, +between bows, scanning the gay groups on the balconies with a sinking +heart. We were nearing the plaza. I could see the trees between the +blank, bare walls of the dwellings which flanked the narrow street. In a +little more we should pass the last of the balconies,--and I had seen no +sign of my lady. + +We neared the last balcony. Upon it were only three ladies, one of whom +held back behind the others, so much of her head and shoulders as showed +being muffled in a silk _reboza_, the Mexican head-drape or shawl. The +other two leaned eagerly forward over the balustrade, and the younger, a +plump beauty with the blackest and most brilliant of eyes, flashed at +Malgares a look that told me she was his wife, even before he called to +her in terms of extravagant endearment. Unlike so many of the Spanish +marriages, his had been a love match. + +The senora and her yet plumper companion at the rail called down a +welcome to _los Americanos_. Pike and I swept off our hats and bowed our +handsomest. I straightened and looked up. Malgares had not checked his +horse for an instant, so that we were now opposite the balcony, and I, +being on the right, was almost directly beneath it. My heart gave a +great leap. Smiling down upon me, over the rail, I saw the lovely face +of my lady. I started to cry out her name: "Al--" + +But already her finger was on her scarlet lips. I checked myself so +quickly that my exclamation sounded more like an "Ah!" + +My lady let fall her _reboza_ over her face and drew back out of view. +When at last I gave over craning my head about, Malgares met me with a +smile. "So you have discovered her already, Don Juan!" he remarked in +French. + +"My senorita!" I murmured. "She is the loveliest lady in the world!" + +"The most beautiful--that is true, but I cannot admit that she is the +loveliest," he returned, with the loyalty of a true gentleman. + +"I trust soon to repeat that last to your senora!" I exclaimed. "She was +the one to whom you called." + +He bowed in confirmation of my surmise. "It is the house of Senor +Vallois. That other was Senora Marguerite Vallois, his wife. The house +of my wife's father is on the cross-street. She came to the house of her +friends to see me pass, for she knew I could not turn out of my direct +way to the _palacio_." + +"What! Not a few moments to greet your lady after an absence of almost a +year?" I cried. + +"This is not a free republic as is your country. Our ruler--" He checked +himself, and looked from me to Pike with an anxious glance. "Friends, I +have not darkened your journey with sombre anticipations. But now is the +time for warning. Do not be surprised if a few hours hence you find +yourselves in the _calabozo_." + +"No!" said Pike, without raising his voice, but speaking in a tone of +indomitable resolution. "Your people may kill us, Don Faciendo, but they +shall neither disarm nor imprison us so long as there is breath left in +our bodies. My men have their orders." + +Malgares shook his head sadly. "You free-born _Americanos_! You do not +yet know what it means to stand before a despot!" He glanced back over +his shoulder as if fearful of being overheard. The nearest of the escort +was beyond earshot. He drew in a deep breath, and murmured bitterly: +"You see what it means. I am not accounted a coward, yet I turn cold at +the very thought of the man who can dishonor me." + +"Dishonor!" I repeated. + +"Death is a little thing! But who does not fear a life--or death--of +disgrace?" + +Our looks assured him of our sympathy. We came into the _alamo_, or +shaded ride, through the plaza. He pointed across at the fort-like mass +of the Governor's residence. "There lies the fate of all the Northern +Provinces, from the borders of Louisiana Territory to the Pacific, in +the grasp of one man!" + +"You have an appeal to His Catholic Majesty," remarked Pike. + +Malgares shrugged his shoulders in the manner of a Frenchman, a +gesture of which we would have considered his haughty pride incapable. +"It is a long journey to Old Spain to one who would oppose the +Commandant-General, and a far longer journey through the Court to the +Hall of Justice. No, _amigos_. Be advised. Discretion is sometimes the +better part of valor. Diplomacy wins many victories beyond reach of the +sword." + +"You have our thanks, Don Faciendo," replied my friend, soberly. "I +shall not forget that I am here as an officer of the Army of the +Republic. My first and only concern is the interests of my country, and +I will use all means to conserve those interests." + +We were by now approaching the great arched gateway which gaped in the +centre of the _palacio's_ stuccoed _facade_. The guard turned out with a +smartness which I could see impressed Pike not a little. There was a +moment's halt, and then we all clattered through the tunnel-like archway +into the brick-paved court enclosed by the building. + +This was not the first _patio_ we had entered, but it was by far the +largest. Here and there the court was ornamented with small trees and +potted shrubs, some already in flower. A line of them screened off in +the rear the view of the kitchens and stables. All around this court ran +the arched entrances of the building's inner tiers of rooms, the gallery +of the upper story being reached with outside stairways in opposite +corners. + +As the audience chamber was on the lower floor, we were ushered with +Malgares into the hall of the guards by one of the aides-de-camp, a +heavy-set, dark-browed Andalusian whom Malgares introduced as Lieutenant +Don Jesus Maria de Gonzales y Medina. Our six privates were left outside +in the care of the dragoons of the escort, with whom they had long since +come to the best of terms. + +Word had at once been taken in to the Captain-General that we were +awaiting his pleasure. Presently an aide appeared and bowed to Malgares. +This left Pike and me seated alone on a stone bench, under the eyes of +the guard and of a rabble of house and stable servants, who had pressed +in to gape at those strange creatures, _los Anglo-Americanos_. It was no +easy test for my temper to bear, nor, I judge, for Pike's. Added to +this, we were by now fairly on needles and pins as to the manner in +which this despotic ruler should choose to receive us. + +Lieutenant Medina had withdrawn. In his place appeared a ferret-eyed +little Frenchman, who snuffled complaints of how he had been abused in +this vile land, and sought to draw from us expressions of opinion +regarding the Spanish Government. Suspecting him to be a spy, Pike +pointed to the outer door, and gave him his _conge_ in Spanish: "_Vaya, +carrejo!_" + +The scoundrel went, followed by a muffled yet none the less hearty laugh +over his discomfiture from the rough, honest soldiers. After a time +Medina returned with a sandy, pale-eyed but well-built young officer +whom he introduced as Alferez Don Juan Pedro Walker. The newcomer +hastened to explain, in English, that he was the same John Peter Walker +of New Orleans who in 1798 aided Mr. Ellicott in surveying the Florida +line. + +At this moment Malgares appeared in the doorway of the audience chamber, +and requested Pike to enter. I started to follow, but he waved me back, +with an anxious frown. This boded ill for us. To conceal my concern, I +expressed to Walker my surprise that an American should have entered the +service of Spain. He answered quickly that he was not my countryman, +since his father was English and his mother French, and he had been born +and reared in New Orleans under Spanish rule. + +While he was explaining this, in rather an apologetic tone, Medina was +called away. There followed a summons to Walker to attend upon the +Governor-General, and I found myself left quite alone in the midst of +the gaping, muttering rabble. This was no throng of simple, hospitable +rustics such as I had met and liked in the North Province; but a stable +and kitchen mob, the low scullions and hostlers and lackeys of a great +man, puffed with reflected pride and saucy with second-hand arrogance. + +Soon I began to overhear jeers and scurrilous flings, of which the word +"spy" was the least galling. Before long all my apprehensions as to the +Governor-General were drowned in the swelling tide of my indignation and +anger. It was unendurable to sit for what seemed an endless time before +the insolent leers and coarse raillery of this scum. The soldiers looked +on, without attempting either to join in their scoffs or to silence +them. + +At last, when I was about to seize the foremost two of the rascals by +the scruff of the neck and crack their heads together, the aide-de-camp +Medina sauntered back from out in the court. I cried to him sharply in +Spanish: "Senor lieutenant! do you not know whether it is time to take +me in?" + +Such at least was what I intended to say. But, in my heat, I must have +slipped on my Spanish verb. The aide, mistaking me to mean that I had +been summoned before the Governor-General, immediately ushered me into +the audience chamber. + +My first glance gave me a general impression of a large apartment, +severe in its furnishings; the second took in a table at which sat Pike +and Walker and two or three others, all engaged in sorting books and +papers which I ruefully recognized as the charts and journals of our +expedition. + +The sight of Malgares, staring at me in open consternation, caused me to +fix my gaze upon the gray-headed, irascible little man at the head of +the table. We had expected a great show of regalia and the other +trumpery of court display about the Commandant-General. Of this there +was no sign to be seen anywhere in the room. Yet the bearing of the man +at the head of the table and the attitude of all others present in +facing him, told me that this was none less than His Excellency, Don +Nimesio Salcedo, the despotic ruler of provinces greater in total +extent than the United States and all their possessions other than +Louisiana Territory. Yet by now I was so goaded to indignant anger that +I held my head high and met his stern glance with the curtest of bows. + +"_Caramba!_" he swore, turning to Malgares. "Whom have we here?" + +"Senor Juan Robinson, Your Excellency," explained Malgares--"that most +excellent physician of whom I spoke, the surgeon attached to the +expedition of Lieutenant Don Montgomery Pike." + +It was only a fair example of Malgares's noble courtesy and friendliness +to seek thus to mollify in my favor the man whose single word could send +me to the garrotte as a spy. I thanked him with a look. + +Salcedo flashed a fiery glance at the luckless Medina. "Why do you bring +him in--_imbecil_? Let him retire." + +I turned on my heel, too heated now to care, whatever the tyrant might +have in mind to do. But the moment the door closed behind me, I found +Lieutenant Medina at my elbow, and he was as angry as myself. + +"_Satanas!_" he hissed, his little beady eyes snapping with fury. "I +have lost standing with His Excellency by this frightful blunder. +Explain! You told me I was to conduct you in! Explain!" + +"_Na-da!_" I drawled. "I did not tell you." + +"You said it!" he insisted. + +I gave him the Spanish equivalent for our adage not to cry over spilt +milk, adding that I preferred his room to his company. At this he went +off fairly boiling with rage, fearful, I take it, that if he stayed he +would explode, and so draw upon himself the wrath of his lord and +master. As by this time the rabble had dispersed, I was left to my own +bitter reflections. + +Surely if Salcedo had not scrupled to seize the records of the +expedition, he would not scruple to treat me as an outright spy. The +best I could forecast from that meant an indefinite confinement in the +terrible Spanish _calabozo_, compared with which the worst of our filthy +flea-and-fever-infested seaboard gaols is a palace of comfort. Yet the +thought of Alisanda spurred me to wild resolve. Let them fling me into +their dungeons. I would break through their bars and stone walls. I had +not crossed the Barrier to be daunted now. Nothing should keep me from +her! + +In the midst of my angry scheming, the door opened to permit the exit of +Walker, Pike, and Malgares. Walker bowed, and addressed me in French, +out of courtesy to Malgares: "If you please, Dr. Robinson, the General +has expressed his wish that yourself and Lieutenant Pike should honor me +by becoming my guests while you are in Chihuahua. We go now to permit +yourself and Lieutenant Pike to arrange your dress before returning to +dine with His Excellency." + +This was decidedly different from being invited to descend into a +dungeon. I bowed my acknowledgments. + +Malgares held out a hearty hand to Pike and myself. + +"God with you!" he exclaimed. "Pardon my haste. But I will see you again +at dinner. Now I fly to my Dolores!" + +"_Vaya usted con Dios!_" we replied, waving him not to linger. + +It would have been cruel to delay his departure an instant, seeing that +he had been separated from his senora for the greater part of a year. I +saw Pike heave a sigh, and knew he was thinking of the beloved wife and +children whom he had not seen for so many months, and might not see for +many other weary months to come, possibly never. + +My own thoughts, however, turned back to Alisanda. As Walker conducted +us across the plaza to the house where, in company with other young +bachelor officers, he had his quarters, a question or two set him to +gossiping upon the ladies, and, inevitably, to singing the praises of +Senorita Vallois. That was music to which I could have listened +unwearying for hours. + +But time pressed. Walker insisted upon loaning both of us neckcloths, +and Pike various other articles of dress suitable to the occasion. He +would have been as insistent upon sharing his wardrobe with myself had +not my size prevented. I had to content myself with the neckcloth and a +pair of silk stockings which I had in my saddlebags. In our prinking we +enjoyed the officious services of Walker's quaint old negro servant +Caesar, who had been taken in Texas with other members of Captain Nolan's +party, and was said by Walker to be the only man of his race in all +this region. + +Washed and dressed, we returned to the _palacio_ still escorted by +Walker, who had seen to it that we should not for an instant find +opportunity to speak a word in private. Arriving at our destination, we +found Malgares there before us, his fine eyes still beaming from the +meeting with his loving senora. + +This time we were shown in without delay to the _sala_, or salon, where +Salcedo received us with a formal bow, and then directed his attentions +to Pike and Malgares with an urbanity which belied the gash-like crease +between his shaggy gray brows. I was introduced to Senor Trujillo, the +treasurer, who, however, paired off with Walker. This left me to go into +table with the portly padre Father Rocus, who was the only other member +of the party. Our seats proved to be at the far end of the longish +board, and as the padre at once contrived to divert and hold my +attention, I heard and saw little of what took place among the others. + +Unlike the native-born priests I had met in the north, Father Rocus was +a man of profound learning and ability. Without allowing the +conversation to interfere in the least with his enjoyment of our elegant +French-cooked repast and the very superior wines, he quickly sounded the +none too profound depths of my learning in the sciences. He then touched +adroitly upon politics and religion. The thought flashed upon me that he +was seeking to lead me into some snare, yet I stated my convictions +candidly. If Salcedo wished to condemn me, he would condemn me, and that +was all there was in it. + +At the end Father Rocus sat for some moments sipping his wine, holding +the glass as daintily and caressingly between his plump white fingers as +I would have held my lady's hand. He set it down to be refilled by the +assiduous lackey at his elbow, and addressed me in English: "Republican, +heretic, and Anglo-American--it is unfortunate. None are popular in the +domains of His Most Catholic Majesty." + +"I did not come here to curry favor with your people, padre," I replied. + +"Not with all, perhaps, but--" Again he raised his glass and sipped for +several moments. Yet I observed that his half-shut eyes were fixed upon +me in a penetrating gaze. "You are acquainted in Chihuahua?" he +remarked, in a tone as much of statement as inquiry. + +"Lieutenant Malgares has honored us with his friendship." + +"Are there not others?" he queried. + +"If so, I am not at liberty to mention their names," I said. + +"Good!" he commented. "Discretion is the one quality in which I thought +you lacking. I now feel justified in returning to you an article which I +have reason to believe is your property." + +"An article--my property?" I repeated, not a little puzzled. + +He smiled, and, unobserved by the attendants, handed me my lady's +handkerchief. I gazed at it, first astounded, then dismayed. It was all +too clear that my message had been intercepted, probably by Don Pedro, +and intrusted to this priest, to be returned as a courteous hint that my +suit for the niece's hand was not acceptable. But as, greatly downcast, +I thrust the handkerchief into my bosom, the padre raised his brows, and +spoke in evident surprise: "You do not appear pleased, senor doctor. +From what she said, I was led to infer--" + +"What she said?" I broke in. "She? You mean--" + +"A certain senorita who voyaged down a long river in company with her +uncle and a certain gallant young heretic," he answered over his glass. + +"She--my Alisanda! Then it is from her you bring the kerchief! You are +our friend!" + +"I am her confessor, and, I trust, her best friend," he replied. "As for +yourself, God grant I may also become your friend and confessor." + +"Friend--yes!" I assented eagerly. + +"And confessor!" he urged. "Remember, you are now in the Kingdom of New +Spain. It is in point to remark that a heretic was burned at the city of +Mexico within the last three years." + +My head sank forward in gloomy meditation. I had crossed the Barrier, it +is true; but now I saw yawning before me the abyss of the Gulf. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +THE HOUSE OF VALLOIS + + +Before I could pluck up my depressed spirits sufficiently to ask Father +Rocus the thousand and one questions about my lady which for months I +had been longing to have answered, the Governor-General rose from the +table with an abruptness that surprised us. Though by now somewhat +informed as to the Spanish-Mexican custom of the siesta, we had supposed +that at a formal dinner, served in the usual mode, there would be some +lingering over the wine. + +We had sat scarcely an hour, all told. Yet His Excellency led us into +the _sala_, and awaited our adieus with a manner which, though urbane, +did not encourage extended farewells. As his bearing toward myself was +markedly less gracious than toward Pike and Malgares, I for one was not +so ill-pleased as I might have been over this hurried leave-taking. + +In the outer gateway Malgares for the second time excused himself to +gallop off to his senora, while we returned afoot across the plaza with +the ubiquitous Walker. Upon reaching his quarters, the latter invited us +to recline on the mattresses which had been provided for us by old +Caesar. He himself preferred one of the long net hammocks such as are +used among the Spaniards of the tropical coast lands. We chatted a few +minutes over our _cigarros_, and then Walker dropped asleep. + +Pike at once informed me that Salcedo had taken possession of all the +papers in his little despatch trunk other than the letters from Mrs. +Pike. These last, prompted by the same chivalry which had induced +Allencaster to restore me my treasures, the Governor-General had +permitted my friend to pocket without examination, upon the statement +that they were from a lady. But that all the really valuable papers, +such as our charts, astronomical observations, and journals, would be +retained the Lieutenant now had little doubt. + +"However," he concluded, "worse come to worse, we have your copy of the +courses and distances, covering everything except that side excursion to +the Platte and down the Upper Arkansas." + +"And there is your keen eye and retentive memory," I added. "We have +already seen enough of New Spain for the information to more than offset +the loss of the papers--if they really are lost. Had we headed straight +for the Red from the Rio del Norte, we should have saved the papers, but +should have gone home as ignorant of New Spain as we came." + +"And you without seeing your senorita!" + +"Ah, that!" I murmured. "It may be I shall pay dearly for the venture. +You saw how Salcedo varied his manner toward me. But it is worth the +risk. I could not have done otherwise!" + +"I believe you, John. I myself caught a glimpse of your lady. I no +longer wonder! But if Salcedo really is ill-disposed toward you, the +sooner you get in touch with the senorita and her people the better. It +may be they have influence." + +"I shall make every effort to do so before the day is over," I said. +"The difficulty is this Walker." + +"He is an informer," said Pike. "Of that I have no doubts. I propose to +give him enough and to spare of material for his tale-bearing." + +"Good!" I cried. "A bold front is the best. Salcedo is bound to release +you; while as for myself, if they garrotte me, they shall not have the +satisfaction of saying that I cringed. No! we will tell this informer +what we think of matters Spanish." + +Before Pike could reply, we were startled by a sudden out-clanging of +bells in the towers of the _Parroquia_. Walker started up and stared at +us. Pike yawned, stretched, and remarked to me, in a casual tone: +"You're right. This government is one fit only for masters and slaves." + +"You mean, a master and slaves," I returned. + +"No--one master here and one in Old Spain." + +"Why not put it, a master there and an overseer here? The comparison is +in point between this arrangement and that of one of our Virginia or +Carolina plantation-owners who lives in town and leaves his estate under +the care of an overseer. You could hardly call the overseer a master." + +"The difference is that he drives people of a race born for slavery, +while here--" + +"Here," broke in Walker, his face quivering--"here some who were not +born to slavery fall into it unawares!" + +"What!" I said. "Do you, who voluntarily joined the cavalry of New +Spain, complain of the Government to which you owe allegiance?" + +"Voluntarily?--No, gentlemen. New Orleans is not Chihuahua, nor was it +so even under Spanish rule. I did not realize what I was venturing when +I entered this service. I have attempted to withdraw, but they refuse to +accept my resignation." + +"Ah, well," said Pike, "since it seems we are to be your guests, +lieutenant, I am pleased that you understand and share our opinion of +this despotic Government. Discontent is a hopeful sign when tyranny is +rampant. Only let a few of the bolder spirits among you pluck up courage +to seek open redress for your wrongs, and Mexico will soon fling off the +yoke of Spain, as our glorious States broke their bondage to Britain." + +I saw our host's eyes begin to widen. To keep the ball rolling, I chimed +in along the same line. Walker did not again speak, but sat staring in +open amazement at our audacity,--of course with both ears wide. Having +started off at such a pace, we were almost out of material when Caesar +thrust in his woolly head and announced Senor Vallois. Walker promptly +called out a floridly complimentary invitation for the visitor to enter. + +Don Pedro came in, every inch the gentleman and grand _haciendado_. As +he straightened from his bows to our host, I had time only to observe +that since our parting his face had lost several shades of tan and +gained many deep lines of anxiety. A moment later he gripped my hand and +shook it with cordial heartiness. But at the end, instead of releasing +his clasp, he slipped his left arm around my waist and pressed himself +to me until our cheeks touched. It was the first time I had either seen +or experienced this curious custom of the country, and it so surprised +me that I stood unbending to his embrace. + +"How is this, Don Juan?" he demanded. "Are your friends so soon forgot?" + +"No, no, Don Pedro! It is only that I did not look for so warm a +greeting from you. You must be aware that I am here under a cloud." + +"The more reason for your friends to support you!" he protested with +generous fervor. + +"Senor, I should have known that so noble a gentleman as yourself could +have done none else!" + +We bowed together, and I then introduced him to Pike, adding for +Walker's benefit that the don was an acquaintance I had met in +Washington. So far we had held to the French. Now the don delighted Pike +by addressing him in English: "Sir, I am more than pleased to meet you. +I have heard rumors of your extraordinary trip to the headwaters of the +Mississippi." + +"You are kind, sir. But it was nothing worth mentioning. The soldiers of +the Republic are accustomed to doing their duty." + +"But this present expedition!" added the don. "I understand that you +crossed the Sangre de Cristo in February." + +"It was cross over--or perish." + +"_Madre de Dios!_ That is the point. It seems that you and Don Juan did +cross over when most men would have perished. Do you then marvel that my +wife is desirous of meeting two such heroes?" He turned to Walker with a +bow. "With your kind permission, Lieutenant Walker, I will borrow your +guests for the evening." + +"Ah--yes--indeed--" hesitated Walker. + +"My sincerest regrets, sir," broke in Pike. "You will pardon my +declining the kind invitation. This long ride from Santa Fe and the heat +have fatigued me more than I realized." + +"_Santisima Virgen!_" exclaimed Don Pedro, unfeignedly disappointed. +"Yet as you need rest, I must console myself with the hope that you will +honor us with your presence in the near future. As to this evening, +however, I must urge Don Juan to accompany me." + +"By all means!" I assented. + +This, as was plainly evident from his manner, put Walker into a +quandary. To have ordered me to remain would have exposed the hand of +the Governor-General. Yet how could he watch both Pike and myself if we +separated? It was an impossibility. He hesitated for a long moment, and +then bowed to Don Pedro: "With your kind permission, senor, I will pay +respects to Senora Vallois. Lieutenant Don Montgomery should be allowed +to repose in quiet." + +"Your pleasure is mine, senor," replied Don Pedro, with a punctilious +note in his politeness that told me he was not altogether pleased at +Walker's self-invitation. + +It occurred to me that the Governor-General might have as much or more +reason to spy upon him as upon myself. If the don was in the thick of a +revolutionary conspiracy, as might well be, he was vastly more dangerous +to the Government than myself. The thought filled me with sudden dread +for the safety of my lady's kinsman. But on the heels of this fright +came the reassurance that, after all, Walker's interest might well be +accounted for by the presence of a certain senorita in the home of Don +Pedro. We had taken for granted that he was an informer. Yet his present +course was quite as reasonably explained by his desire to see Senorita +Vallois. + +Leaving Pike to his own devices, we left the house and walked leisurely +around the edge of the plaza. This brought us past a number of the +city's largest merchandise establishments, to which groups of +_reboza_-veiled senoras and senoritas were beginning to saunter for the +evening's shopping. Now and again a bright, coquettish eye peeped out at +us from among the folds of a close-drawn headwrap. But I was not curious +to look twice at any of these over-rotund brunettes. To me there was +only one lady in all the world, and now I was going to see her, to hear +her exquisite voice, after almost a year of separation. + +A few minutes, which to my impatience seemed hours, brought us to the +door of Don Pedro. I should say, to the wicket in the great iron gate of +the archway. At sight of us the porter within sprang to free the bolt. +But before we could enter there sounded a clatter of hoofs in the +nearest side street, and Malgares came galloping into view. Don Pedro +paused for him to ride up, and a moment later they were exchanging that +curious salute of handshake and cheek-to-cheek embrace. Malgares then +explained that his wife was at the house of Don Pedro, and that he had +just secured relief from his duties to follow her. + +As we entered, a groom ran forward to take charge of Malgares's horse, +while the don conducted us up the stairway in the nearest corner of his +beautiful garden-court. A short turn along the gallery brought us to the +entrance of a large _sala_. By now I was so wrought up that I found it +necessary to pause beside the open doorway to regain my composure, the +result of which was that all the others passed in before me. + +I followed close behind Walker. The first glance showed me that my lady +was not in the room. Malgares, who had entered with Don Pedro, stood +before his wife and Senora Vallois, clasping the hand of the latter. The +ladies, I observed, wore the full petticoats and short jackets of their +countrywomen, though their costumes were of the richest and most elegant +materials. As I stood gazing at them, I was astonished to see Malgares +and the rotund lady exchange that same odd embrace of greeting with +which our host had favored myself and Don Faciendo. + +Knowing the fiery jealousy of the Spaniards, I looked for Don Pedro to +strike the audacious soldier, and Dona Dolores to burst into angry +tears. Instead, they stood by, beaming at the affectionate pair with +utmost complacency. Malgares turned to his smiling wife, and Senora +Vallois gave Walker her hand to salute. When he also stepped aside, Don +Pedro introduced me, first to his senora, and then to Dona Dolores +Malgares. Each permitted me to salute her hand. + +Straightening from my second bow, I was overjoyed to see Alisanda +crossing the room toward us. But Malgares was before me. He met her with +a bow. They grasped hands in that cordial manner, exchanged a few words +of greeting, and--embraced! + +This was too much! It might be the custom of the country--doubtless it +was the custom of the country--But for my lady to welcome another man +than myself, not of her family, was more than I could endure. I stepped +forward, frowning. Alisanda slipped from Malgares's embrace and came to +meet me, her lips parting in a demurely mischievous smile. + +"_Hola, amigo!_" she murmured. "It is joyous to meet a friend after so +many months!" + +"It is heaven!" I mumbled, attempting to read her eyes. + +But she drooped her long lashes. I clasped her little hand and bent to +kiss it. Again I was frustrated. She drew the hand back. But her firm +clasp did not relax. In the excess of my emotion, I did not realize her +purpose until she had drawn me close, and her left arm began to encircle +me. Then the truth flashed upon me. She had welcomed Malgares according +to the custom of the country that I too might enjoy that most delightful +of greetings! The discovery was too much for my discretion to withstand. +Swept away by my love and adoration, I caught the dear girl to me and +kissed her fairly upon her sweet lips. + +I heard a sharp exclamation from Don Pedro, and Alisanda thrust herself +free from me, her pale cheeks suddenly gone as scarlet as her lips. Her +dark eyes flashed at me a glance of scorn and anger which sobered me on +the instant. I half turned to the others, who were all alike staring at +me in angry amazement. + +"Senora Vallois!" I exclaimed, "can you not pardon this blunder--my +deplorable ignorance of your customs? This is my first experience with +your gracious salute of friends. The offence was absolutely +unintentional. Believe me, my esteem and respect for Senorita Vallois is +such that nothing could cause me greater grief than the consciousness I +had offended her." + +"Do not apologize further, Senor Robinson," replied the senora, melting +more at my tone and look of concern than at the words. "Your explanation +is quite sufficient. I am certain my niece will pardon you the error." + +"If only she may!" I cried, turning to Alisanda. "Senorita, will you not +forgive me? Do not hold it against me that in attempting to conform to +your etiquette I passed the bounds! You must know that no disrespect was +intended--Far from it! I meant only to express my great esteem." + +"My aunt has spoken for me, Senor Robinson," she answered coldly. "The +incident is already forgotten." + +"But not Senor Robinson," remarked Senora Malgares. "I am consumed with +curiosity to hear more about his marvellous adventures. My beloved +Faciendo has told me that the senor doctor and his fellow _Americanos_ +crossed and recrossed the northern mountains in the very midst of the +Winter." + +"They were a barrier in our way, senora. We could do none else than +cross them," I replied, with a side-glance at Alisanda. + +This time she met me with that calm, level gaze which I had always found +so inscrutable. Now, as then, I looked deep into those lovely eyes and +saw only mystery. But Dona Dolores would not be denied. + +"_Santa Maria!_" she exclaimed. "When am I to hear about your heroic +journey, Senor Robinson?" + +"Pardon me, senora," I replied. "Don Faciendo is better qualified to +serve as historian. He insisted upon learning the facts alike from +Lieutenant Pike and myself." + +"If Don Faciendo will graciously ease our impatience," urged Senora +Vallois. + +"Nothing could give me greater pleasure, Dona Marguerite," assented +Malgares. + +"Be seated, friends. I am sure we are all eager to hear," said the +senora. Even Walker bowed quick assent to this. "I am most interested of +all present, because Senor Robinson showered endless courtesies and +favors upon my beloved Pedro and Alisanda while they were journeying +through his country." + +"Believe me, senora," I protested, "what little I was able to do fell +far short of the favors I received." + +"One word or glance from Senorita Vallois were worth the service of a +lifetime!" put in Walker. + +My feeling went too deep for verbal compliments. I stood dumb, and +watched Walker receive a smile over my lady's fan that repaid him a +hundredfold. The others were now moving toward the end of the _sala_, +where were grouped three or four low divans. Alisanda glided after Dona +Dolores, and Walker promptly stepped out beside her. I followed last of +all, too fearful of another false move to force myself forward. + +Yet somehow, when we came to seat ourselves, I was delighted to find +myself beside Alisanda at the end of the divan, while Walker was hedged +off from her on the other side by Dona Dolores. As the plump little +senora chose to tuck up her limbs Turk-fashion, the interval was not +narrow. Walker had to perch on the extreme far corner of the divan. + +Malgares and our host sat across from us, while Dona Marguerite reclined +upon the third divan. Alisanda was the only one of the ladies who sat +upright. She did not look at me. But for the moment it was enough that +her shoulder touched my arm. + +When all were settled, Malgares plunged into his account, which he +rendered in a crisp, clear French that made every statement stand out +like a cameo. First of all he gave a brief and modest recital of his own +remarkable expedition, dwelling strongest upon his arrangements with the +savages to stop us; the vast extent of the all but treeless prairies, +and the grandeur of the mighty snow mountains of the North. + +He then described how our little party had come to the Pawnees and +braved their might; how, late as was the season, we had pushed on +westward, and how, in the midst of the midwinter's cold, we had +clambered about among those huge sierras of rock and snow. As told by +him, the account drew _bravo_ after _bravo_ from the little audience. +When he described our ascent of what we had supposed to be the Grand +Peak, Alisanda flashed at me a glance that put me into a glow of bliss. +Malgares was a flattering historian. But he was not satisfied with his +own efforts. When it came to the descent of the terrific gorge of the +Arkansas by Brown and myself, he broke off in the midst and insisted +upon my picturing that awful canyon in my own words. + +"_Nada_," I hesitated. "I cannot tell it." + +"You must, Juan!" murmured my lady. + +To say "no" to her was impossible. I went on with the tale as best I +could in my rude French, and related how Brown and I had made our way up +the icy ascent of the side ravine. As I described the cutting of +footholds and our slow clambering higher and higher out of the chasm, +Alisanda's eyes widened and her hands met in a convulsive clasp. Before +I had finished she was breathing hard with excitement. The other ladies +were hardly less thrilled. Women are so easily startled by the recital +of dangers which a man risks as a matter of course. + +But when I came to our terrible journey in the valley of starvation it +was not alone the ladies who were moved. Aside from Walker I felt that +all my listeners were friends, and I could not forego the opportunity to +describe fully the heroic fortitude with which my indomitable friend and +his men had endured their sufferings and struggled on against all odds. +If my eyes were wet when I told of the injuries of the poor lads Sparks +and Dougherty, there was at least one present who did not consider my +emotion unmanly. She bowed her head in her hands and wept. + +I went on to tell how the unfortunate men had sent the bones from their +frozen feet, in pitiful appeal to their commander, and how they were +being brought after us, maimed and unable to walk. It was not my desire +to harrow my listeners needlessly, but I knew that the Malgares and the +Vallois were among the richest families in New Spain, and felt certain +that to tell them the piteous truth would insure the injured men the +best of care so long as they should be detained by the Governor-General. + +Having covered this point, I went back and described how we had fought +our way on up the desolate plateau and across the Sangre de Cristo, and +had at last found relief from toil and frost and famine in the broad +valley of the Rio del Norte. + +"So there was an end of our hardships," I concluded. "We had crossed the +barrier." + +"You had crossed the barrier!" murmured my lady, and through the tears +which still glistened in her eyes she shot me a glance that repaid in +full for all my months of journeying to find her. + +"But that is not the end, Senor Robinson!" cried Dona Dolores, with the +sweet petulance of a young bride. "Faciendo, you must let them know how +Don Juan left his companions and came alone all the way to Santa Fe, +fearless of the hideous Apaches." + +"The Apaches do not range so far north, _nina_," corrected her husband. +"Yet is it dangerous for a man to go alone among any of the wild tribes, +or even among the tame Indians, if they have reason to believe his +murder will not be discovered. That, however, was a small matter +compared to the courage required to brave condemnation as a spy." + +"Spy?" exclaimed Senor Vallois. + +I saw Alisanda shrink at the word, and Walker bend forward to catch the +answer. + +"You must remember that Don Juan and his companions had been absent from +the nearest of their frontier settlements for seven or eight months," +explained Malgares. "How was he to foresee whether or not war had been +declared?" + +"War or not," interrupted Walker, "Senor Robinson not only invaded our +territories in company with a military force, but, as I understand the +event, he ventured into Santa Fe in disguise and without acknowledging +his relation to Lieutenant Pike." + +"How about it, Don Faciendo?" I asked. "Is an incursion into the +territories of a neighboring Government necessarily an act of war?" + +"_Por Dios!_" he laughed. "You have us there! I trust that His +Excellency will consider his own proceedings, and be moved to look with +a lenient eye upon the mistake of our _Americano_ friends." + +"So exalted a personage must be a man of discretion," I said, looking +fixedly at Walker. "His Excellency will think twice before exacting +vengeance for so small an offence. The garrotting or imprisonment of one +or all the members of the expedition would be a bad bargain if it +resulted in the loss to His Catholic Majesty of the Floridas. Mr. Walker +can tell you that the riflemen who muster for our backwoods militia +could, unaided, sweep the Floridas from Louisiana to the Atlantic. What +is more, they will do it at the first excuse. They are already at full +cock over the manner in which the British agents are allowed by your +people to come up from the Gulf and foment trouble against us among the +Creeks, Cherokees, and Choctaws. Let General Salcedo go to extremes +with our peaceful expedition, and there will be a setting of triggers +from Georgia to Louisiana." + +"_Madre de Dios!_ Be prudent, I pray you, Juan!" warned Don Pedro. "Such +words are best left unsaid." + +"Are they?" I demanded. "If to-morrow every free-minded man in New Spain +spoke out his real thoughts, to-morrow this land would be free from Old +Spain." + +"_Maria santisima!_" gasped Dona Marguerite, dropping her fan and +sitting erect. + +"We forget that Don Juan is a citizen of the Anglo-American Republic," +said Alisanda, calmly. "In his land men are not accustomed to wear +muzzles." + +"Because our fathers rebelled and triumphed over the tyrant who +oppressed them," I added. + +There followed a tense silence. The sun had set, and I could barely +distinguish the features of the others in the fast gathering twilight. +There was a shadow upon them, not alone of the night. + +Before any one spoke, the silence was broken by the peal of a huge +church bell. Instantly all others than myself bent forward, crossing +themselves and murmuring hasty prayers--"_Ave Maria purisima!_" "_Ave +Maria santisima!_"--while slowly the great bell pealed forth its deep +and sonorous note. + +In the midst a little hand slipped out and rested for a moment upon my +hard knuckles. I turned my palm about to clasp the visitor, but it +flitted like a butterfly. An instant later _la oracion_ was brought to a +close by a merry chime of smaller bells. The senoras began to chat in +lively tones, and servants hastened in with waxen tapers to relieve the +deepening gloom. + +Greatly to my annoyance, Walker rose to leave. I might have surmised +that he was prompted to the action by jealousy, but my ignorance of +local etiquette made me apprehensive of another blunder. This forced me +to follow his lead and join in his polite refusals of the pressing +invitations of our host and hostess to remain for the evening. In a land +where, upon an introduction to a man in the plaza, he presents you with +his house, and later is not at home to you when you call at that same +house, it is as well to take the most urgent of invitations with a grain +of salt. + +As we bowed to the ladies, Dona Dolores demurely slipped aside and drew +the attention of the others by a piquant remark about one of the fine +paintings upon the wall. Alisanda took the opportunity to flash me a +glance which set my heart to leaping with the certainty that I had lost +nothing by my crossing of the barrier. Just what I had gained was yet to +be seen. I knew I had gone far toward winning my lady's heart--I had +crossed the barrier of nationality and birth. But I did not forget that +I had yet to cross the gulf of religion. + +With that one swift glance, she drew back, and Don Pedro escorted us to +the door. We exchanged bows with him, and moved down the gallery to the +head of the stairway. Here we turned and again exchanged bows. We +descended to the first landing, and paused to return the bow which he +made to us over the gallery rail. Another exchange of bows from the edge +of the beautiful flower-and-shrub-embowered court, and we at last +escaped out through the tunnel-like passage to the great gate. + +Passing through the wicket into the street, which was lit up by the red +glare of a resin torch, we found ourselves face to face with Father +Rocus and Lieutenant Don Jesus Maria de Gonzales y Medina. The +aide-de-camp bowed stiffly and stared from Walker to myself with a +glance of fiery jealousy. I gave him a curt nod, and hastened to grasp +the proffered hand of the beaming padre. + +"God be with you, my son!" he exclaimed. + +"My thanks for the kind wish, padre!" I replied "I see you are coming to +call upon my friend Senor Vallois." + +"Your friend!" muttered Medina, for I had spoken in French. + +"My friend," I repeated. "I had the pleasure of meeting Don Pedro in my +own country. But now, senor, with regard to our misunderstanding this +morning, I wish to express my regrets and to explain that the error was +committed through inadvertence." + +"Ah--if you apologize," he said, with a complacent half-sneer. + +"You mistake me, senor. I do not apologize. I merely explain." + +He turned, without answering, and swaggered in through the archway. + +"You _Americanos_!" protested Father Rocus, reaching up to lay a hand +upon my shoulder. "Can you never be prudent? Medina is a swordsman. Your +friend here will tell you that out of five duels, the aide has to his +credit three deaths on the black record of Satanas." + +"If he is a swordsman, I am a pistol shot," I rejoined. + +"Then all turns upon the chance of who challenges and who has choice of +weapons. God grant the choice fall to you! He is in strong need of a +lesson." + +"That is true!" muttered Walker, with a shrug. + +"Meantime, my son, it will be well for you to consider the peril of your +soul and come often to the _Parroquia_ to hear me preach," admonished +the padre. He spoke in a severe tone, but I fancied I caught a twinkle +in his eye as he turned to enter the gate. + +Walker took me familiarly by the arm, and as we sauntered back to his +quarters, first inquired particularly as to my skill with the pistol, +and then went into the details of Medina's duels. Before he had finished +I divined that he and others of the officers at Chihuahua would be more +than pleased to see some one trim the comb of the braggadocio +aide-de-camp. If an outsider could be inveigled into taking the risk, so +much the better. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +THE SERENADE + + +The following morning I assisted Pike in the preparation of a sketch of +our trip, which had been most courteously requested by Salcedo. Walker +offered his services, and would take no refusal. But we found more than +one opportunity for a word apart, and Pike told me that he was already +in touch with the woolly-headed old Caesar, who had at once offered to +help us to obtain information as to the country's mines, ranches, and +Government. He had begun by pointing out to my friend the closet in +which were secreted the Government maps that had hung on the walls +before our arrival. + +After dinner and the siesta, we received calls from a number of the most +prominent gentlemen of Chihuahua, including Malgares's father-in-law, +Colonel Mayron, and Don Manuel Zuloaga, one of the under secretaries. +Almost in the first breath the latter insisted upon our visiting him +that evening, and as he chanced to be the first in the field, we +assented. + +Other invitations showered upon us thick and fast, so that it soon +became apparent we should not lack for social entertainment, despite our +equivocal position in the eyes of the Governor-General. More than once +we were urged to move to the luxurious homes of these generous +gentlemen, but declined because Salcedo had intimated his wish that we +should stay in Walker's quarters. Otherwise there seemed to be no check +upon our liberty. We were free to come and go in the city as we chose. +To save us the annoyance of arrest by the night patrols, we were even +given the especial countersign of "_Americanos_." + +During the afternoon Malgares and Senor Vallois pressed Pike and myself +to receive loans from them of sufficient money to replenish our +wardrobes. We declined, but later accepted a loan from Senor Zuloaga, on +his representations that Salcedo would soon comply with my friend's +application for an official loan, and that we owed it to the dignity of +our country to present a favorable appearance. Accordingly, we went out +with him to his tailor and to the stores, and made provisions for +complete costumes in the prevailing mode of Europe and our own country. + +This occupied us until vespers, or _la oracion_, after which, having +donned such articles of our new outfit as were ready for wear, we +accompanied Senor Zuloaga to his house. As the senor was a bachelor, we +spent a most interesting hour alone with him on the _azotea_, or flat +earthen roof of his house, discussing the great questions of politics +and religion. + +Our host talked with freedom, telling us, among other things, there was +reason to dread that Emperor Napoleon had designs to seize Spain and +dethrone King Ferdinand. In such event, he added, many of the loyal +subjects in New Spain would consider it the highest patriotism to +declare for independence. As Americans, Pike and I heartily commended +this revolutionary sentiment. + +Before we could further sound the position of our host, other callers +arrived, and he shifted the conversation to less perilous topics. We +descended to the _sala_, where there soon gathered a number of our new +acquaintances and other persons of wealth and station who expressed +themselves as eager for an introduction to the _Anglo-Americano +caballeros_. + +My truculent friend Lieutenant Medina came in early with Walker, to whom +he seemed to have much to say on the side. He greeted Pike effusively, +myself with marked reserve. After this he avoided us both, and soon sat +down to gamble at cards with other officers. The rest of the company +stood around or lolled on the divans, puffing their _cigarros_, and +_cigarritos_, the younger men chatting about women and horses, the older +ones adding to these stock topics the third one of fortune. + +As politics was a subject unmentioned, Pike attached himself to the +group which seemed most disposed to discuss silver and gold mining and +the other important industry of stock-raising. I kept more among the +younger men, gleaning in the chaff of their sensual anecdotes for grains +of information on military affairs. My harvest was so scant that I gave +over the attempt at the serving of the _dulces_ and wine, an hour or two +before midnight. + +This light refreshment proved to be the signal for a general change. The +gamblers gave over their cards, the others their barren chatter. A +guitar was brought in, and Lieutenant Medina sang a rollicking wine +song, nearly all present joining in the refrain. The aide was gifted +with a rather fine tenor voice--and knew it. At the end of the song, he +tendered the guitar, with a flourish, to the _Americano_ lieutenant. +Pike declined the honor; upon which Medina turned to me, with a yet +deeper bow, his lip curled in a smile of malicious anticipation. + +There was a general flash of surprise when I gravely accepted the +instrument and set about readjusting the strings to my own key. I did +not look at Medina, for I had need to keep a cool head. After so many +months my fingers bent stiffly to the strings. But I had not forgotten +my lady's lessons, and as the refrain of the first song had enabled me +to test my voice, I was able to render a Spanish love ditty with some +little success. + +"Bravo!" exclaimed our host as I handed him the guitar. "I did not know +that you _Americanos_ were singers." + +"We are not, as a rule," said Pike. "For the most part, our people have +been too intent upon hewing their way through the wilderness and +fighting for life and freedom to find time for skilled voice-training. +Yet we have our singing-schools even on the outer frontiers." + +"It is quite evident that Senor Robinson has found time to cultivate +his fine voice," remarked one of the crowd. + +"There will soon be a baritone beneath the balconies," added Medina. +"Beware, all you who have wives and daughters!" + +Senor Zuloaga handed the guitar back to me. "Pray accept this little +gift from a friend, Don Juan," he said. "The senoritas of Chihuahua will +be deprived of a great pleasure if you lack the means to serenade them." + +"Senor," I replied, accepting the guitar, "it would be most ungallant to +refuse a gift presented in such terms. Though I lack the skill and voice +of Lieutenant Medina, I will do my best. May I ask if His Excellency, +the Governor-General, is the father of one of your charming senoritas?" + +A sudden hush fell upon the company at the mere mention of their master. +The silence was broken by Pike. + +"Better sheer off from that shore, John. Should your ditties fail to +please His Excellency, you are apt to land in the _calabozo_." + +"And the other fathers are apt to drop tiles upon my head," I sighed. + +"Not they," reassured Zuloaga. "Keep in the shadow, and it will not be +known but that you are the suitor favored by the parents." + +"Yet what if I am discovered to be a stranger?" I inquired, with feigned +concern. + +A dozen voices hastened to reassure me that a serenade from one of the +gallant _Americanos_ would be taken in good part by the most +hard-hearted of parents. + +"But how do you find the window of the fair one?" I asked. + +"That is to be seen, senor doctor," put in Medina. "My way is to station +myself across the street and sing the first verse. That never fails to +lure the coyest of coquettes from her secrecy." + +"But, then, you have the voice," I mocked. + +"It is true," he replied, taking me seriously. + +"But what if the senorita's chamber is located in a remote part of the +house?" I questioned. + +"You are in truth a stranger to the women," he jeered. "Count upon it +that every senorita in Chihuahua, however ugly, has a balconied chamber, +either upon the front or the side street." + +"_Muchas gracias_, Don Lieutenant," I said, and turned to Pike. "_Hola_, +Don Montgomery! Would you keep the ladies waiting for their serenade?" + +This raised a polite laugh, in the midst of which Pike, Walker, and I +essayed the prolonged ceremony of leave-taking. At the door of the +_sala_ an attendant relieved me of the guitar, and for a little I +thought Zuloaga's presentation had been a mere formality. But as we +passed the gate into the street the attendant returned the instrument, +in a handsome case. + +"You are in fortune, doctor," remarked Walker. "That is as fine a guitar +as is to be found in Chihuahua." + +"So?" I said. "Then I really believe I will try it to-night." + +"You may lose yourself, or be struck down by the knife of some murderous +_ladrone_," he objected. + +"Not he," reassured Pike. "I'd back him to out-wrestle a panther." + +"What is more, I carry one of my pistols," I added. "So if, between you, +my guitar case will not prove too much of a burden--" + +"_Sacre!_" muttered Walker. "You may fall into trouble." + +"That's my risk," I replied with unaffected cheerfulness, and handing +the guitar case to my friend, I swung away up a side street before our +_dueno_ could interpose further objections. + +As I sped along in the shadow of the houses, I could have leaped up and +cracked my heels together for joy. I was alone and free for the first +time since joining company with the two Yutahs in the valley north of +Agua Caliente. But my coltish impulse was short-lived. I had not +questioned and planned for the last hour, to caper about in solitary +darkness now. + +The street up which I had bolted did not lead in the direction in which +I wished to go. This was soon mended by turning at the first corner. The +towers of the _Parroquia_, looming high against the starlit sky, guided +me to the plaza. I then needed only to skirt edge of the square to come +to the street corner upon which stood the great mansion of Don Pedro. + +More than once on my way I had heard the long-drawn notes of serenaders, +and the thought that there might already be one beneath my lady's +balcony hurried me into a run. But when, mindful of the counsel of the +complacent Medina, I slipped into a shadowy archway across from the +stone _facade_ of the Vallois mansion, I could hear no music within two +or three hundred paces. This surprised me not a little, and I stood for +some moments wondering at it, for my brief stay in Chihuahua had already +confirmed all that Dona Dolores had written to Malgares as to the great +popularity of Alisanda. + +It was, however, no time to ponder mysteries. Whatever reasons her other +suitors might have for staying away, I was here to woo her, and woo her +I would. I keyed my strings, and with my gaze roving from one to the +other of the balconied windows across, began to sing that love ditty I +had sung beneath my lady's window at Natchez. The first verse brought me +no response. Every balcony remained empty, every window gaped black +between its open hangings. + +After a short interval I sang the second verse. But though I stared at +the dim, ghostly outlines of the white stone mansion until my eyes +ached, I saw no sign of my lady. It then occurred to me that her chamber +might face upon the side street. I stepped out from my dark archway, to +walk around. But as I crossed over I could not resist gazing up at the +nearest balcony and whispering her dear name: "Alisanda! Alisanda! It is +I--John." + +Almost instantly a little white object darted out over the balcony rail +and came fluttering down through the limpid darkness. I caught it in the +air, and felt in my closing palm a roll of paper twisted through a ring. +That it was a note and from my lady I had no doubts. But I could not +read it here, and my love made me too impatient to be able to content +myself with this dumb favor. I thrust the missive into my pocket, and +called again: "Alisanda!--Alisanda! Speak to me, dearest one!" + +I waited a full minute. But she gave no sign. By now I was in desperate +earnestness. + +"Alisanda!" I appealed to her, "is it for this I have come to you all +these many leagues? Speak to me, dearest! I will not go--I cannot--until +you speak to me!" + +This time I did not call in vain. A shadowy form glided out the window +and bent over the balcony rail, and the sweet notes of my lady's voice +came down to me in heavenly music. + +"Juan! Juan!" she murmured, in tender distress, "you must not take this +risk! You will lose all! Go now, dear friend, before you are discovered. +Go, read what I have written." + +"What is a little risk, Alisanda, to one who has crossed the barrier to +reach you?" + +"You do not know! The risk is that you may find you have crossed the +barrier in vain. There is yet the gulf. Go quickly! I hear a step--some +one comes! He is almost here!" + +"But, dearest one--!" I protested, as she vanished. + +There came a sound of quick steps behind me, and an angry voice muttered +the fierce oath, "_Carrajo!_" + +A man reared in the wilderness acquires the instinct of the wild +creatures to act first and consider afterwards. I leaped away from that +angry voice before the last syllable of the oath hissed out. Even at +that I felt the prick of a sword point beneath my shoulder as I bounded +away. The owner of the voice had thrust--and thrust to kill. As my feet +touched earth again I had out my pistol; as I spun about, I set the +hair-trigger. The glint of a steel blade directed my gaze on the instant +to the dim figure crouching to spring after me. + +"Halt, senor assassin!" I commanded. "Take a step, and I shoot you down +like a dog!" + +"_Peste!_" he cried, lowering his sword point. "It is the _Americano_ +physician." + +"And you are Medina!" I muttered between my hard-set teeth--"Medina, the +aide-de-camp and bravo of Salcedo,--Medina the assassin." + +"_Peste!_" he repeated. "It is a lie." + +"You had better pray than swear," I warned him. "The trigger of my +pistol is set. The slightest touch of my finger, and you go straight to +hell." + +"_Santisima Virgen!_" he protested, a trace of concern beneath the +continued anger of his tone. "You do not comprehend." + +"I comprehend that you, an officer in the service of His Most Catholic +Majesty, sought to stab me in the back without warning. It was vile--it +was cowardly! Can you name a single reason why I should not shoot you?" + +"You do not comprehend!" he insisted. "I mistook you for one of those +whom I have warned." + +"Mistook me?" I repeated, catching at the chance for an explanation. It +is not pleasant to think of a gentleman and officer turned assassin. + +"Yes," he answered. "I have made this my privilege. Any man in Chihuahua +who wishes to serenade Senorita Vallois has my pledge that I will kill +him." + +"I am in Chihuahua, and I have serenaded Senorita Vallois," I replied. + +"But you did not know of my pledge. I will spare you this time." + +"_Muchas gracias_, senor. Yet it seems to me it is a question of my +sparing you." + +"In that case, Senor Robinson might do well to consider that His +Excellency, the Governor-General, would gladly welcome an excuse to +garrotte a certain _Americano_ spy." + +"That may be. Still, a sword prick in the back is fair evidence against +a dead assassin, even in a prejudiced court." + +"True. Then it may be that the _Americano caballero_ is sufficiently +gallant to consider the scandal of a slaying beneath the window of a +senorita of his acquaintance." + +"A scandal which, it seems, one Lieutenant Medina did not consider. For +all that, the argument is sound, _Vaya!_" I ordered, lowering my pistol. + +"No!" he rejoined. "I will not go and leave you here." + +"You shall!" + +"_Nada!_" + +For a moment I stood quivering with fury, wild to leap in, sword or no +sword, and strike him down with my bare fist. But he had spoken truth. A +death, or even a loud quarrel, beneath my lady's balcony, would draw +upon her the talk of all Chihuahua. + +"You are right in this," I forced myself to say; "we owe it to the lady +not to involve her in any scandal. You will give me your word, and I +will give you mine, to start in opposite directions, and neither return +here to-night." + +"Agreed!" he responded. "You have my word to it, senor physician." + +"And you mine," I said, wheeling. + +With punctilious precision he wheeled the other way and swaggered up the +street as I stalked down. With a last glance at the empty balcony of my +lady, I darted off across the corner of the plaza. Almost in front of +Walker's quarters I ran plump into the midst of a night patrol. + +"_Arreste!_" cried the officer in charge, and I stopped short with half +a dozen lances at my breast. + +"_Americano!_" I exclaimed. + +"_Vaya_," said the officer. + +The lance points flew up. I darted on through the gateway and around +the court to the rooms assigned to Walker. Our host and Pike had +retired, but old Caesar was dozing beside the door. I sent him hobbling +to bed with a few _medios_ to tickle his black palm, and the moment he +had disappeared, drew out my precious missive in the light of the +guttering candle. + +The ring was a plain gold band without any setting. Yet to me it was far +more precious than any seal or gemmed ring, for on the inner side were +engraved my lady's initials. I kissed the band and hastily forced it +upon my little finger, that I might read my note without further delay. +Though the message was written in English, the paper had been so +crumpled that I had to smooth it out with care before I could decipher +her dear words. + + "My Knight," it began, "you have proved yourself a true + champion. There is now no Barrier between us. I pray the + Blessed Virgin that you may also cross the Gulf! But you still + wear my colors. You have not honored them with your faith and + courage to shrink now from the greater task! You should know, + dear friend, that according to the Spanish law my uncle, who is + my guardian, has the bestowal of my hand. Therefore be + discreet. He will refuse your suit for a reason which I will + tell you another time. Talk as you please. It is the custom to + pay the ladies of my people extravagant compliments. But for a + time restrain yourself as to action, and pray be prudent in + what you say about political affairs. I fear for you! He who is + to decide your fate is in doubt as to how far policy will + permit him to venture. He would like to execute you as a spy, + or at least fling you into his dungeon, but hesitates for fear + the outrage might precipitate war with your Republic. Such was + the representation made to him by my uncle and the friends he + has interested in your fate. Therefore do not infuriate him + beyond his self-control. Seek out Father Rocus. He is a true + gentleman and my friend. You have made a good impression upon + him. He may be able to aid you to cross the Gulf and avoid the + danger which besets you. Then it will be for me to overcome the + objections of my uncle. Now farewell. God preserve you, dear + Knight! I press my lips to that name, for you have earned the + salute many times over. _Au revoir_, my Knight!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +A VICTORY + + +Delighted as I should have been, and was, to receive such a missive from +my lady, its effect was to rouse in me all the greater longing to see +her and win from her dear lips the admission that she loved me. In this +thought I now forgot all else. Even the demand of patriotism that I +should exert every effort on behalf of my country found me deaf. + +I stilled my conscience with the argument that if I, the accredited spy, +should devote my whole effort to a personal affair, it would tend to +divert attention from the splendid work of Pike. Every day saw important +additions to his notes and memoranda, and he had already hit upon the +ingenious plan of securing the notes in tight rolls inside waxed +wrappings and packing them down into the barrel of one of the muskets of +the men, who were quartered in the same building as ourselves. As the +gun's muzzle was of course kept plugged with its tampion, there was no +danger of discovery, and with five more barrels to fill, we felt that +whenever the Governor-General chose to release the Lieutenant and his +men, they would be able to march out of the territories of His Most +Catholic Majesty fairly _loaded_ with information against the tyrant. + +So, casting aside every thought of duty, I allowed my mind to dwell +constantly upon my wooing, and, frivolous as it may appear, was more +concerned over our visit to the tailor than to the magnificent hospital +in the old Jesuit edifices on the west side of Chihuahua. That +institution of healing was finely situated and furnished. But when I +ventured to suggest an improvement upon some of the antiquated and +barbarous methods of treatment, I met with such a heat of jealous +prejudice from the clerical physicians that I was forced to silence. + +Returning to the plaza, we were agreeably surprised to find our little +French tailor most modern not only in his knowledge of the modes but +also in the quickness of his work. He and his assistants had already +completed our suits. As the following day was a Sunday, it was +particularly gratifying to find ourselves becomingly costumed for +genteel society. + +Pike and our host slept late in the morning, but I had given old Caesar +orders to rouse me early. Donning my new garments, I slipped out and +hastened across the plaza toward the Parroquia. The bell was already +intoning for mass, and I passed numbers of _rebozo_-shrouded women +streaming churchward. With my Anglo-American eyes and complexion I +suppose I presented rather a striking figure among these people, who are +so very rarely other than brunette,--though it may be I attracted more +attention because of the fact that few other men had sallied out so +early to attend mass. + +Whatever the cause, I received enough smiles and alluring glances from +pretty senoritas and, I fear, senoras, to have quite turned my head, had +I not been far too intent upon the hope of seeing my lady to heed these +charming coquettes. What I did heed, however, was the fact that the +prettier the girl, the more jealously guarded was she by a keen-eyed +duenna. What hope had I of a word apart with Alisanda if she came in +company with Dona Marguerite? + +Between the thought of this and the need to scan the scores of +approaching ladies, I was not in a favorable frame of mind to appreciate +the grandeur and beauty of the _Parroquia_. Yet so splendid were the two +pillared towers, which reared against the sapphire sky a full hundred +feet above the front corners of the high edifice, and so ornate was the +white stone _facade_ with its carvings and numerous statues of saints, +that even my brief and preoccupied glances brought me a strong +consciousness of the church's magnificence. I even looked twice at the +carvings of the great round-arched entrance, so different in design from +the pointed style of our Gothic ecclesiastical architecture. + +That was as far as my observations went at the time, for as I again +glanced out, I saw approaching among the throng of Moorishly draped +figures one so tall and graceful that I knew her on the instant. I +sprang from the entrance to meet her, but checked myself at the thought +that it would be as well first to see who it was that accompanied her. + +Alisanda wore her black lace mantilla, her companion a _rebozo_ of +finest silk, and both walked with heads reverently bowed. Yet I needed +no second glance to feel assured that the duenna had not so portly a +figure as that of Senora Vallois. If not Dona Marguerite, who then? + +I was not long kept waiting for my answer. Standing with my stiff hat in +hand, I looked eagerly for a sign of recognition from my lady. She did +not so much as raise her head. But her companion straightened a little +and parted a fold of her _rebozo_ to bestow on me the mischievous flash +of a sparkling eye. It was hardly the glance of an instant, yet it left +me pleased and wondering why I had not at once recognized that plump, +petite figure. The duenna I had so feared was none other than the wife +of my friend Malgares, Dona Dolores. What was more, her look gave me the +impression that she knew all, and, with the national love of intrigue, +if not because of friendship for Alisanda, would aid us in our plans. + +Vastly relieved at this discovery, I followed them at a respectful +distance into the lofty domed interior of the _Parroquia_. As my eyes +were fixed upon my lady, that I might not lose her in the throng which +moved up the centre of the stone-flagged nave, I gathered at first only +the vaguest of impressions with regard to the church's interior. But +when she and Dona Dolores piously knelt upon the hard flagstones, in the +midst of the peon women and the filthy beggars, I could not resist the +impulse to look up and around. + +At once, in place of the vague impression of magnificence, there burst +upon my vision a glory of ornamentation almost dazzling. In all the +Republic we have no church or other edifice to approach the _Parroquia_ +of Chihuahua in richness and splendor of ornamentation. The windows were +filled with pictures of saints and angels wrought in stained glass, +which cast over all a rich coloring well in keeping with the +gold-and-silver-bedecked altar, the brass screens and railings, the +silver candelabra, and the brightly colored and gilded images and +pictures and crucifixes on the walls. + +Add to this splendor of decoration the rich vestments of the officiating +priests, the incense and wax tapers, and the solemn service of music and +prayer,--and the effect was one to impress the most frivolous of +believers in the Romish faith. + +Yet as I stood beside one of the carved pillars and watched the devout +bendings and prayers of Alisanda, I could not but compare her real +worship with the formal movements and parrot-like invocations of those +about her. Her religion was of the heart; theirs mere outward display. +So at least I surmised from the manner in which, between times, they +whispered and nibbled at _dulces_, and stared about at one another. Of +course Alisanda and her friend were not alone in their real devotion, +but I speak of the crowd. + +I followed the service as closely as the different accenting and +pronunciation of the Latin by Spanish tongues permitted. In justice to +Alisanda, it was my duty to learn all I could with regard to her +religion. I felt an added interest from the fact that the foremost of +the priests was none other than Father Rocus. + +Yet the closing of the ceremonies came as a vast relief to me. When for +the last time the congregation crossed themselves and rose to leave, I +leaned against my pillar and watched them pass out with as idle and +careless a gaze as I could assume. All the time I kept the mantilla upon +Alisanda's gracefully bowed head within the rim of my circle of vision. +But I was certain she never once cast a glance in my direction, nor did +Dona Dolores. + +Untrained as I was in the intricacies of Spanish courtship, I might have +been discouraged had I not observed that in their advance toward the +exit the two were drifting, so to speak, sideways. This brought them +angling through the crowd toward my pillar. Senora Malgares was on the +nearer side, and I fancied it was her purpose to speak to me. Instead, +they both swept by without so much as a glance. + +Only, as she passed, the senora raised an arm beneath her _rebozo_ as +though to adjust its folds, and the fringed edge swept over my hat, +which I was holding at my hip. A slight tug at its brim induced me to +look down, after a moment's prudent wait. Within the hat's crown lay a +scrap of paper upon which was written, in French, the single word, +"Follow." + +My height and dress, and the fact that I was one of the _Americanos_ +about whom the city was so curious, made me a marked man in the crowd. +But if any among the hundreds of interested eyes that followed my +movements had for owners some who suspected the purpose of my visit to +the church, I flatter myself the sharpest were unable to distinguish +which one of the ladies it was I followed into the open. To divert +attention I glanced about at the peeping senoritas with feigned +interest, until one angel-faced little coquette who could not yet have +seen her sixteenth springtime fairly stared me out of countenance. + +Once in the plaza, I had more room to man[oe]uvre, and started off at an +angle to the course taken by Alisanda and her friend. To my chagrin I +was at once surrounded by a tattered crowd of filthy _leprosos_, who +exposed their sores and whined dolefully for alms. I flung them the few +coppers I chanced to have with me, but that served only to whet the edge +of their persistent begging. Suddenly I remembered that Don Pedro had +given me the Spanish method for relieving oneself from these _caballeros +de Dios_. + +"Gentlemen," I addressed them in my best Spanish, "for God's sake, +excuse me this time." + +Even a few drops of Spanish blood carries with it appreciation of +ceremonious courtesy. My words and the bow with which I accompanied them +acted like magic upon the clamoring rabble. All alike bowed in response, +with a great flourishing of greasy, tattered sombreros, and all alike +stepped politely aside for me to pass. + +The delay had given Alisanda and Dona Dolores several yards' start of +me, but they were now sauntering so slowly that nearly all the members +of the congregation who had turned in the same direction had gone by +them. I followed several paces behind the last chattering, giggling +group. As they passed Dona Dolores she dropped her rosary. This I judged +was intended as a signal for me to join them. I picked up the string of +polished beads, and hastened forward beside their owner. + +"Pardon me, madame," I said in French, holding out the rosary, "you +dropped your necklace." + +"_Santisima Virgen!_" she exclaimed in mock surprise. "They are indeed +my beads. _Maria purisima!_ it is Senor Robinson! How fortunate that you +should have chanced to find them for me, senor!" + +I gave no heed to this mischievous raillery, for I was gazing across +into the tender eyes of Alisanda. I started to go around beside her. + +"_Nada!_" forbade Dona Dolores. "Not so fast, senor. I am the duenna, +and I have very sharp eyes. So also have others who are walking in the +plaza. You have chanced to find my beads, and are escorting me to the +house of Senor Vallois, where your friend, my husband, is to join me at +breakfast. Please do not forget that you are escorting me. If you choose +to pay compliments to my companion, and I am too deaf to hear anything +that is said, who can blame me? Besides, you know I do not understand +English." + +"Senora, you are an angel!" I exclaimed. + +"_Santa Maria!_ but that is the truth," she mocked. "Yet do not tell it +to me when she is in hearing." + +"Dolores! Is this a time for jests?" murmured Alisanda. The senora fell +to counting her beads, with the most pious of expressions. My lady +addressed me in English: "Dolores knows all, Juan. But it will be easier +for you to talk in English, and she will not have to strain her +conscience when she next goes to confession. Juan, it was rash to force +this meeting." + +"Forgive me, dearest one! But I could wait no longer. The interruption +of our last meeting--" + +"_Santa Virgen!_ that terrible aide! I was stricken dumb with terror +when he lunged at you--from the rear! The coward!" + +"You saw it?" + +"All! all! Juan, dear friend, you must guard yourself--you must be +careful! That savage Andalusian! I heard all you said--how you spared +him, that I might escape the scandal of a duel beneath my window. Has he +challenged you?" + +"Not yet." + +"Not yet! But he will--he will! Do not fight him with swords, Juan. You +told me once that you were not a swordsman. He is the most expert fencer +in all these provinces." + +"If he is a master, I have a better chance against him as it is than if +I were an average swordsman. He will at least not know what I am going +to do, as he would know with one who fenced according to rules." + +"But he will kill you! No, do not fight him with swords, Juan. Let him +challenge you, and be sure you name pistols." + +"Would you have me murder the man?" I protested. + +"You need not shoot to kill." + +"That is true. But, dearest, let us speak of more important matters. You +have not yet told me--" + +"I wrote of your danger from His Excellency, Juan. Be prudent. Make as +few enemies as you can. You have many friends." + +"Walker has intimated that I shall gain more friends if I tame this +Andalusian bull." + +"_Nada!_ If the swashbuckler challenges, you must fight, Juan. I know +that. But do not force the matter yourself. He stands high in the favor +of His Excellency." + +"Alisanda," I replied, "you, like all others here, are far too much in +fear of this tyrant Governor-General. But rest assured Lieutenant Pike +and I comprehend the man and the situation. Should we show the slightest +sign of weakness, I at least will at once be flung into prison, if not +garrotted. The only course which will avert the blow is for us to show a +bold front." + +"Yet a little diplomacy--" + +"Trust Lieutenant Pike to attend to the diplomacy. In his direct +communications with Salcedo, he will flourish the steel blade in a +velvet sheath. Aside from that, we have decided that the bolder our talk +and bearing the better." + +"Yet consider his absolute power--I fear for you, Juan!" + +"What odds of the danger, if I have your love--Alisanda?" + +A quick blush leaped into her pale cheeks, and she looked down, in sweet +confusion. + +"No, no, dear friend," she murmured. "Do not speak of that now. It would +be too cruel, if later--Juan, you must see Father Rocus!" + +"At once!" I assented. + +"Go, then, now! You will find him at the _Parroquia_." + +"But first, dearest one--" + +"No, no! Go at once. We approach my uncle's house, and it is as well he +should not see you." + +"Then, if you bid me go, _au revoir!_" I said, stopping short. + +She gave me a lingering glance which told all that her lips refused to +speak. Dona Dolores dropped her beads and looked up at me with one of +her bright, mischievous glances. + +"_Santa Maria!_ but you do not leave us, senor? You have been so +entertaining!" + +"And you, senora,--I could not have asked for a kinder duenna." + +She muffled a peal of girlish laughter beneath the folds of her +_rebozo_, and hurried Alisanda away, fearful, I suppose, that we had +attracted too much attention. I wheeled in the opposite direction, and +returned to the _Parroquia_. Aside from a few women kneeling here and +there before the wall shrines, the great church Was now empty. But a +young acolyte who came in to arrange the altar very courteously +directed me to the parsonage, where, he said, I should find Father +Rocus. + +When I announced my name at the entrance, the gate porter at once +admitted me, and rang a little bell. In a moment who should appear but +Chita, my lady's Spanish maid. She courtesied and motioned me to follow +her, without betraying the slightest sign of recognition. But the moment +we were out of sight of the porter, she paused to whisper: + +"_Tsst!_ Say nothing. They have sent me here that I might not aid her to +see you or write to you. They do not know that the padre is a friend. It +is as well that he even does not know how greatly I wish to aid you. +Senor, you are a _caballero_ and a man, and she loves you. It is right +that you should have her, though you be twice over a _heretico_. But she +will not wed unless the padre gives his blessing. It is true love +between you. If you cannot be a Christian, make pretence. For her sake, +bow to the holy images and cross yourself. Deceive the padre--for her +sake!" + +"No, Chita," I replied. "A _caballero_ may lie to save a lady's good +name, but not to win her." + +"_Peste!_ Then you will lose her!" + +"We shall see. Lead me in." + +She took me into a cosey library, where I found Father Rocus seated in a +huge easy-chair, one foot cushioned upon a stool, a glass and decanter +at his elbow, and a book of philosophy in his jewelled, white hand. + +"_Hola_, Don Juan!" he called at sight of me. "You come in good season. +Be seated on the saddle-chair It will save your new coat-tails a +creasing. I will not rise. A touch of the gout, as you see,--the first +in months." + +"Too much port," I suggested, swinging astride the narrow chair of +carved mahogany. "Better take to sour claret for a while." + +"_Nada!_ not while I can bear the pain. I might pass for an English +squire--I cannot forego the port." + +"I will write you a prescription that will ease the pain. Nothing will +cure you but abstinence." + +He drew a wry face between his smiles. "Then I fear my case is hopeless. +I am far from being a true Spaniard.--Chita, a glass for Senor +Robinson." + +The woman fetched and filled a glass while I drew my chair up to the +marble-topped table-desk and scribbled a prescription. Father Rocus +signed her to go out, and turned to me, still smiling, but with a +sharpened glance. + +"So you have already followed my advice and come to mass," he said. + +"Your Reverence has a keen eye," I replied. "It seemed to me I kept +close behind my pillar." + +"Men are not numerous at early mass. Brawny, six-foot _caballeros_ in +European dress are not seen every week. Lastly, this one has blonde +hair. A glimpse was enough and to spare. You talked with her?" + +"She has sent me to you." + +"Hum," he considered. "First of all, this Medina affair. Let him do the +challenging. She says you do not fence. 'Twould be butchery for you to +meet him with swords." + +"That is a small matter, padre. What I wish to know--" + +"Is whether you can conscientiously become a Christian," he put in. + +"No, padre. That is not the question. It is of no use for me to hedge. I +know I cannot become what you call a Christian. My religious principles +are too near those of our famous President, Thomas Jefferson." + +"Jefferson--that atheist!" he exclaimed, frowning. + +"Not so, padre," I insisted with much earnestness. "It is an injustice +to term Mr. Jefferson an atheist." + +"And you?" he demanded. + +"Your Reverence, I differ from most men of the age in this: I am content +to leave creeds and ceremonies to the theologians; to walk as upright a +life as lies within my power; and to trust in the great Author of all to +judge my deeds with the clemency of a father for his child." + +"You do not acknowledge God's vicar?" + +"I have not the faith which enables me to believe your dogmas. It is no +use to argue, padre. I am already sufficiently informed to know that a +man of my refractory mentality cannot accept many of the fundamentals of +your faith,--and I will not make false pretence by complying with the +outward form." + +Instead of flushing with anger, as I had expected, he looked grieved. +It was apparent that my position was a bitter disappointment to him. For +several minutes he sat gazing at the crucifix on the wall across, in +sorrowful meditation, forgetful even of his wine. + +"Padre," I at last said. "I love her with a love that dwells much upon +my own happiness, but more upon hers. I now know she loves me. Do you +not think such love God's will?" + +He crossed himself. "God give me light! I am not among those who believe +that the love of man and woman is of necessity an impure desire. God, +not Satan, made Eve to be a companion unto Adam. Therefore true love is +sacred in the eyes of God, and marriage a sacrament." + +"In effect, if not in form, Your Reverence, that is the belief and +practice of my people. With us a wife is the dear life companion who +shares our triumphs and our defeats, our joys and sorrows, who brightens +our pleasures, purifies and ennobles our impulses, and inspires us with +the highest aspirations." + +"Such, alas! is not the attitude of my people toward women," he sighed. +"Yet to give a daughter of the Church to a heretic! _Santisima Virgen!_ +It is a knotty problem." + +"To me, or to such a man as Medina," I argued--"which would be the +greater sin?" + +"Her uncle is set upon giving her, not to Medina, but to one as bad--one +as bad!" he repeated. "My son--my son! if you could but become a +Christian!" + +"God gave me my reason, padre. If it is wrong to use my reason as I use +it, I trust that He will forgive the error." + +"You are a true, clean man, and you love her as no man in New Spain can +love her." + +"I do, padre." + +"Yet it is against the canons of Holy Church--to give a true believer to +an outright heretic!" + +"She should be free to believe and practise her religion without +change," I argued. + +"True, but the children?" he demanded. "How as to the children?" + +The wine spilled from my upraised glass, and I bent my head quickly +aside to hide the strange emotion which overcame me. Children! Never had +my thoughts dared roam so far into the future. Children--my children and +hers! From the depths of my heart there gushed up such a flood of +tenderness and adoration that I could not speak. + +Despite his gouty toe, he came around before me, and with a finger +beneath my chin, raised my head until he could look down into my eyes. +Whether or not he read my thoughts I do not know. But I do know that he +raised his hands above me and gave me his benediction. + +"Padre," I murmured as he drew back a little way, "believe me, if I +could do what you wish--" + +"Swear that your children shall be raised in the Church," he demanded. + +"I cannot swear that, padre. It would be against my conscience." + +"Your word is enough." + +"Nor that. But if this will satisfy you, I give you my word that she +shall decide upon the rearing of--of our children throughout childhood." + +"Good!" he exclaimed, again all smiles. "You have won me over, my son. +Let us hope I may aid you to overcome your graver difficulties." + +"Her uncle--Don Pedro?" I asked. + +"Beyond hope, I fear, Juan. Yet I will try. For the present we must +avoid that problem, and bend every effort to mollify one who sits in a +high place." + +"Outface, not mollify," I returned. "Lieutenant Pike and myself are +resolved to show him how fully we rely upon our country to defend, and, +if need be, to revenge us. We have already pointed out to those who will +bear our words to His Excellency the fact that the Floridas are within +easy striking distance of our turbulent frontiersmen." + +"_Por Dios!_ You dared send such a message to Salcedo?" + +"You may call it a message. We spoke in the presence of Lieutenant +Walker. Nor is it the only one. Since the first, we have been loading +him with similar information." + +"Yet Salcedo has not incarcerated you? _Poder de Dios!_ It is a +miracle!" + +"Rather, it is merely that we have outfaced him." + +"God gave you the wisdom to be bold! Yet the danger is by no means past. +He may free your companions, but detain you for years, as he has +detained the men of Captain Nolan." + +"I could fancy a harsher fate, padre. To remain a prisoner, yet have +Alisanda to comfort my captivity--" + +He raised his hand warningly at the sound of sandalled feet scraping +along the brick pavement of the corridor. + +"Let us hope for the best, my son. Go now, and God be with you!" + +I thanked him with a glance, and hastened out past the withered old +priest who was shuffling across the threshold. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +A DEFEAT + + +That afternoon, immediately after the siesta, Pike and I received the +first fruits of our course of action with regard to the Government. +Malgares came to us from His Excellency, bearing a most urbane and +ceremonious message. The Governor-General expressed himself as more than +pleased to supply us with the official loan for which Pike had applied, +and offered to render us any and all other service which lay within his +power. Pike returned mellifluous thanks, while I looked at Walker and +smiled. + +In the evening we accompanied Malgares to the south border of the town, +where we found a delightful promenade beneath the intertwining boughs of +a triple row of fine trees. Here gathered the society of Chihuahua, to +loll in the many seats or saunter to and fro, the gentlemen with their +_cigarros_, the ladies with their fans, and few of either sex indisposed +toward an exchange of ardent glances. All displayed the utmost +graciousness toward the _Americano_ guests of the Government, and, as +usual, we found ourselves highly entertained. + +Among the ladies were Senora Vallois and Senora Malgares, and I was +pleased that Pike was introduced to them by their husbands. We met many +other ladies, but, with one exception, there was none other than Senora +Vallois whose husband was sufficiently free from the old Moorish ideas +about women to permit his wife to keep a _salon_. Needless to say, this +gave me little concern. I was far too disappointed over the absence of +Alisanda. + +When Don Pedro introduced Pike, I asked Dona Marguerite if my friend +might not have the pleasure of meeting her niece. She replied, in a most +gracious tone, that he should meet her as soon as we called, but that +this evening the senorita was indisposed and would not be present. A +little later, when the company assembled in the circular seat at the end +of the promenade, Dona Dolores found an opportunity to slip me a note. + +With the missive in my pocket I could not enjoy the voluptuous love +songs which the company sang in solo and chorus. I slipped away, in the +midst, while Medina was airing his really fine tenor. A torch at the +first gateway gave me light to read my lady's note. It was short, but, +alas! too much to the point:-- + + "We were seen in the plaza. They are not angry, but are + resolved to keep us apart. To save myself the shame of lock and + key, I have promised not to see you for a week. Be patient, for + I must keep my word, and our friends are not idle." + +That was all, but it was enough to fill me with bitter disappointment. +That she would keep her word with scrupulous honor I had not the +slightest doubt. Yet how was I to endure a week without so much as a +glimpse of her? + +Nevertheless we often suffer burdens which at first seem unbearable, and +I was strengthened to play a good part by the knowledge that my words +and manner would be reported upon in detail to Don Pedro and Dona +Marguerite. To mislead them with regard to the depth and resolution of +my passion, I managed to go about to our many dinners and calls with a +smiling face and merry words. + +During the week we again dined with Salcedo, who this time was hardly +less urbane to myself than to the Lieutenant. We both, however, received +greater enjoyment from our dinner at the house of Colonel Mayron, the +father-in-law of Malgares. There was present an officer from the +Province of Texas who was able to give us many correct details as to the +fiasco of Colonel Burr. + +Among other things, we now learned that the Colonel had been arrested at +Bayou Pierre in mid January, but had been released because of the +failure of the grand jury to bring in a true bill against him. Later he +had fled through the Cherokee nation toward the Spanish port of Mobile. +But it was rumored that had been captured in Alabama during February, +and was to be taken to Richmond, Virginia, for trial. This news from +home in part consoled me for the fact that Dona Dolores had no missive +for me from Alisanda. + +We returned to Walker's quarters, and were still discussing Burr, when, +soon after the siesta, Malgares called by for us in his coach. We drove +around past several points of interest which we had not before viewed, +and then, without a word of warning from Malgares, suddenly cut across +the plaza to the mansion of Don Pedro. + +When we stopped before the entrance the great gate was flung wide open +for Malgares to drive into the court. Instead he left his spirited bays +in the charge of a groom, and led us in afoot. When we came to the court +he dropped back beside Pike. I followed in the rear, wondering what +would be the nature of my reception by Don Pedro and his senora, and +whether I should be permitted to see Alisanda in the presence of her +relatives. + +These questions were soon answered. The moment we appeared Don Pedro +hailed us from the head of the stairway and hastened down to welcome us. +His manner to me was quite as cordial as it had ever been, and when he +led us up into the _sala_, Senora Vallois was no less pleasant. Alisanda +was not present. But immediately after our hostess had invited us to be +seated, she pulled what I presume must have been a bell-cord. Within +half a minute Chita appeared at one of the inner doorways. + +Dona Marguerite signed to her and called quickly: "Go, tell your +mistress we should be pleased to have her join us. We have guests of +her acquaintance and also Lieutenant Pike, whom I particularly wish to +introduce." + +Chita gave me a blank stare, and disappeared. Malgares smiled at my +heightened color, and Pike looked about, with a twinkle in his blue eyes +that belied his solemn face. Yet I managed to force my gaze away from +the inner doorway, and even joined in the conversation with some +lightness. In the midst of a sentence, I saw Pike's eyes suddenly widen +and glow with admiration. By that I knew Alisanda had entered the +_sala_, and I could not resist the impulse to turn about. + +It was small wonder my friend stared fascinated and that Malgares +uttered a quick exclamation of delight. Alisanda stood before us in the +costume she had worn at the Blennerhassets'. Her loveliness was +overpowering--intoxicating! No Grecian goddess could have exceeded her +in grace of movement and exquisite modelling of form, while the beauty +of her pale, oval face, with its wondrous eyes and luscious lips and +crown of sable tresses, was beyond all compare. + +Regardless of Spanish etiquette, I hastened to her side. She rewarded me +with a glance of adorable tenderness, and took my arm that I might lead +her down the long apartment to where the others were grouped. Don Pedro +frowned at my presumption, but the senora could not resist a smile at my +ready gallantry as I led up her niece to be presented to Pike. Their +first remarks opened a conversation as lively as it was elevated in +tone, and I took a seat to one side, eager for my lady and my friend +each to discover the wit and fine sentiments and high breeding of the +other. + +But neither I, nor, I fancy, our host and hostess had bargained on the +fervor of the Lieutenant's partisanship for me. Without ceasing to +render the most delicate of compliments to my lady, he adroitly turned +the conversation upon myself. Such a panegyric as he bestowed upon me I +had not thought it possible even for his fond bias to contrive. A man +may deserve some praise for his character, since that is acquired, but +why give him credit for the qualities of temperament with which he was +born? + +Notwithstanding my embarrassment, it was most blissful to watch my dear +girl flush and glow, and to see her lovely eyes glisten with love and +pride, as Pike went on and on, contriving to cast a glamour over the +most commonplace of my qualities and deeds. As may be surmised, my +feelings were directly opposite to those which racked Don Pedro and Dona +Marguerite. Nothing, I imagine, could have given them greater annoyance +than this pouring of the oil of incense upon the flame of my lady's +love. Yet Pike swept gallantly on, innocent of all offence, while our +host and hostess turned steadily colder beneath their forced smiles, and +I flushed hotter with blissful shame, and Malgares lolled back, with a +_cigarrito_ between his fingers, his fine face impassive, but his eyes +drinking all in with utmost amusement. + +At last, after one or two vain efforts to divert the conversation, Dona +Marguerite asked Malgares if he was not intending to take us around to +see our other friends. The hint was unmistakable. As we rose to leave, +our hostess deftly interposed the rampart of her plump figure between +Alisanda and myself. Our parting was restricted to a single exchange of +glances. + +That I should leave with this and no more was beyond my endurance. As we +bowed to Don Pedro at the head of the stairway, a sudden resolve came to +me. I signed to the others to go on, and addressed our host: "Senor, my +friends will pardon my desertion of them. I desire the favor of a +private talk with you." + +The frown which had creased his forehead at my first word vanished at +the last. He had thought I intended to ask for a private interview with +Alisanda. + +"At your service, Don Juan," he at once responded. + +I drew aside until he had bowed my friends down the stairway and out of +sight. He then turned to me, with a grave smile, and, taking my arm, led +me away from the _sala_ to his private cabinet, a small but elegantly +furnished room in the far corner of the mansion. But I was not +interested in the paintings by Titian, Velasquez, and Murillo which +decorated the rough-plastered walls, and to which he called my attention +with excusable pride. + +"Senor," I said, "these pictures are beautiful,--they show the skill of +master artists. But my whole being thrills with the matchless beauty and +grace of a living work of art,--the masterpiece of the Master of +masters, of God Himself!" + +"Juan!" he cried, "forgive me! I know now how you love her. Yet it is +impossible. If I dared give way to my personal regard for you, you +should have her. Believe me, I speak only the truth. But my country--for +the sake of its freedom, its welfare, I am resolved to give all--even +her!" + +"Even her!" I answered. "Then give her to me! I will fight for your +country,--I will pledge my life in the cause of freedom! What more can +you ask? Your country shall be my country; your cause my cause!" + +"No, Juan, it cannot be!" he replied, and his sigh proved that his +regret was real. "You would add strength to our cause, but not what may +be gained elsewhere. There are men in New Spain who, if they joined the +revolution, could singly bring over whole provinces." + +"You would give her to another!--as a bribe to win the support of +another!--when you know she loves me?" + +"God bear me witness, it is not for myself but for my country. What a +small price to pay--the disappointment of two lovers--in turn for the +freedom and happiness of millions!" + +"It is not your heart you would break," I retorted. + +"Do you then believe I can look upon her grief and yours without +sorrow?" + +"Let another pay the price!" + +"There is none other as precious--none other that can win him over. All +turns upon her beauty and charm. He whose aid I am resolved to gain by +the bestowal of her hand can be won only by the most lovely woman in New +Spain. And he is one whose leadership would at once bring us the support +of all the land, from across the borders of the Viceroyalty to Santa +Fe." + +I stood dumb, staring at him in deepening despair. + +"Juan, can you not look at the matter through my eyes?" he urged. "The +time is ripe. There are rumors that the Corsican is preparing to clutch +Old Spain out of the feeble grasp of King Ferdinand. It is well known +that the revenues from our mines have already for a long time been +flowing through the Spanish treasury into the coffers of France. Our +people are fast losing faith in Old World rulership. They hate and fear +the French." + +"Then let them rebel and win freedom with their blood, as did my people. +A people who would buy liberty by the sale of a helpless girl are worthy +only of utter slavery." + +He flushed a dull red beneath his swarthy skin, yet kept his temper well +in hand. + +"You do not understand, Juan. Listen. It is now only ten years since the +people of the Viceroyalty rose and proclaimed the Viceroy, Barnardo +Count of Galvez, King of Mexico. In his misguided loyalty, Barnardo +crushed the insurrection with merciless vigor,--for which he was duly +honored and then duly poisoned by his royal master. Had he been wise, he +would to-day be ruling over a freed country of devoted subjects. But +that revolution came to naught; the vast projects of your discredited +statesman Aaron Burr have failed most miserably; and now we lovers of +liberty here are left to do the best we can with our unaided strength." + +"And the purchasing power of divine and innocent beauty!" I cried. + +"So be it!" he replied, with a hardness of determination which I +realized all my anger and despair could not move a hair's-breadth. Yet +as he went on, his voice quivered with unfeigned commiseration for my +suffering. "Juan!--Juan! If I could sell my soul instead, and thereby +save her for you, I would do it. The thought of her anguish rends my +very heart cords! Yet it cannot be. She alone can win over the second +Galvez who shall free my country." + +There was nothing more to be said. Death alone can bend the course of a +good and strong man turned fanatic. Without a word I left the room, half +crazed with rage and black despair. He followed, murmuring words of +sorrowful regret; but to me his heart-felt condolences seemed only the +bitterest of mockeries. + +As I descended the stairway, I looked back, not to return his grave +bows, but in search of my lady. It was in vain. Dona Marguerite had +taken care to spirit her away. Heavy-footed, I dragged myself out into +the street and away from that hateful gateway. + +Before I could reach the plaza, I heard a sudden rumble of wheels and +thud of hoofs, and there swirled into the street a grand coach and six +that all but ran me down. I flung myself clear of the trampling hoofs, +but the forewheel of the huge gilded carriage grazed my leg as I pressed +back against the nearest wall. + +A few strides of the splendid horses whirled the coach upstreet to the +gateway I had just left. There the driver pulled up with a flourish, and +the footmen sprang down to stand at the heads of the horses and to open +the coach door, from which stepped--Medina! + +It flashed upon me that this was the man to whom my lady was to be +bartered. I turned on my heel to rush back and challenge him. But from +the manner in which he stood to one side, I perceived he had not come +alone. A moment later Don Pedro appeared in the gateway and stepped to +the side of the coach, bowing profoundly. A hand was reached out to him, +and from the coach descended, not the young gallant whom I looked to +see, but stern-faced, gray-haired Nimesio Salcedo. + +Greatly puzzled, I turned again and walked slowly to our quarters, +striving to discern an opening through the meshes of intrigue in which +Alisanda and I had become entangled. What could be the meaning of this +visit of the Governor-General to one who I knew had reason to detest +and fear him? And if, as it seemed to me Don Pedro had intimated, he +intended to win over the Viceroy Iturrigaray by the offer of Alisanda's +hand, why had he not already taken her to the City of Mexico, or stopped +there on his way from Vera Cruz? + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +HEART TO HEART + + +One result of my pondering of the tangled situation was the resolve to +keep from my friend all that concerned myself alone. He had enough and +to spare of anxieties and difficulties over the safety of himself and +his men, without becoming involved in my private affairs. At the least, +his concern for my safety and happiness would have tended to interfere +with the observations and notes which we hoped would be of such great +value to our country. + +The following morning being Sunday, I went early to the _Parroquia_, +thinking to visit Father Rocus, should I fail to meet Alisanda again. +This last was barely within the bounds of my fondest expectations, and I +was accordingly more grieved than surprised when she failed to appear. +As I was going out, a few minutes before the close of the service, a +rather well-dressed woman in the archway mumbled an appeal for alms. + +Struck by her lack of dirt and tatters, I stopped. She repeated her +appeal, this time in a clear tone, though without opening the veiling +folds of her _rebozo_. It seemed to me I recognized the voice of Chita. +At once I held out a coin to her. In reaching for it, she covered my +hand with the edge of her _rebozo_, beneath which I felt a note being +slipped into my palm. + +She turned away, with a shrill blessing upon the generous _Inglese_, +while I dropped my half-closed hand to my side, thrust it into my pocket +and left the note, to draw out a copper for the foremost of the wretched +_leprosos_ who came flocking about the rich foreigner. This time I was +provided with a quantity of the smallest coins of the realm, and +scattered two or three handfuls to right and left. While the beggars +swarmed after the coppers like a flock of fowls over their grain, I +slipped around the nearest corner of the church to read my precious +note. It was short but full of promise:-- + + "Do not go to the promenade. Feign illness. The _Parroquia_ at + nine o'clock to-night." + +The _Parroquia_?--at nine in the evening? It was an appointment to meet +her! Yet how could she escape the watchful eyes of Dona Marguerite and +Don Pedro, even should they, as was most improbable, take her out to the +promenade? + +However, I concluded that I could safely trust to her wit and courage to +bring about the meeting. My problem was how to fill the weary hours and +minutes which lay between. I wandered aimlessly about the city, stopping +now and then to watch the gambling with dice and cards, which, though +prohibited by His Excellency, is too deeply seated in the natures of +these people to be eradicated. + +Intense as were these games, where men and even women staked their +little all with passionate abandon, the excitement was far greater and +the betting higher at the numerous cock-fights. I looked on at +one,--which was enough and to spare. Man has a right to kill for food, +but none other than the cruel and brutal enjoys the torment of his +fellow creatures. + +A gay dinner at the house of Dona Maria Cabrera helped to pass over the +day until the siesta. But throughout the long hours of the afternoon +rest I could only lie and swelter and eat up my heart with longing and +anxiety. So heated and restless did I become that when Walker waked he +inquired whether I had a fever. + +This gave me my opening, and I stated my condition at some length, in +medical language which impressed him much while telling him nothing. +Even Pike was deceived by my statement, but I assured him that I should +be quite well by morning if I abstained from the usual round of calls +and the evening in the promenade. After condoling with me and explaining +my indisposition to the numerous friends who called, they at last heeded +my request for quiet, and went off to spread the news of my illness. + +Between then and the twilight, the few who called were permitted to peep +in and see me dozing on my mattress, with my head swathed about in wet +towels. But after _la oracion_, old Caesar had his orders to stop all on +the threshold of the outer room, and explain that I was not to be +disturbed. + +A full hour before the time set, I borrowed one of Walker's circular +cloaks, and shadowed my face in my wide sombrero. After explaining to +Caesar that I needed a breath of fresh air, but that he should say +nothing about my absence unless his master or Lieutenant Pike came in +before my return, I slipped out, unseen by any one else. + +The moon having risen, I had need of care to cross the plaza without +attracting attention. Fortunately it was too early for an encounter with +the soldiers of the night patrols, who would have required me to give my +countersign. Arriving at the _Parroquia_, I stationed myself in the +dense shadow around the corner of the farther tower, and waited with +such scant patience as I could command. + +Now and then persons passed by in the plaza, singly or in couples or in +groups. None caught sight of me, yet I could see them with perfect +distinctness, and as I considered this, I was seized with the fear that +Alisanda would inevitably be detected before she could reach my side. + +From the first I had kept my gaze fixed in the direction of the Vallois +mansion, and had watched with eagerness the approach of all the gowned +figures that came either alone or in pairs. As the time drew near, I +became more restless and could not keep so steady a watch. More than +once I had to turn to look about at all quarters of the plaza. + +It was during one of these chance glances that I was astonished to see +my lady approaching the church from the direction of the promenade. She +was accompanied by Father Rocus and Chita. + +When they came opposite me, I ventured a slight cough, but they went by +without stopping. It was otherwise with a group of young gallants, who +paused to stare at the graceful figure of my lady until she and the +padre and Chita had disappeared into the yawning entrance of the +_Parroquia_. The young beaux had at once guessed the identity of the +senorita, notwithstanding her veiling mantilla, and they stood within +twenty feet of me, discussing her lovely charms as we would name over +the fine points of a pedigreed horse. + +Meanwhile I fretted and fumed, in a swelter of impatience. No doubt my +lady was waiting for me and wondering at my delay! At last I was on the +point of stepping out boldly to follow her, when Chita came scuffling +out of the church, bent over like an old crone. She passed the young +men, muttering and grumbling, and tottered half sideways around into the +shadow. I caught her outstretched hand, and she led me quickly back +along the flank of the towering edifice. + +We stopped before the dim outline of a little door. Chita tapped upon +the panel, and stepped away a few paces, to stand with her back to me. A +moment later the door swung open, without a sound, and a dark figure +appeared. + +"Alisanda!" I whispered. + +"Juan!" she replied, stepping nearer. + +Ah, the rapture of that moment! Hers was no half love, to shrink with +false shame. As I clasped her in my arms, her own arms slipped about my +neck in tender embrace, and her lips met mine in a kiss of purest +passion. Our hearts throbbed together in ecstasy. She drew back her head +to gaze at me through the shadow. + +"Juan! Juan! my knight! Oh, the joy of leaning upon your dear breast! I +could swoon for joy!" + +"Tell me you love me!" I demanded. + +"Juan! Can you doubt it? Could you have doubted it from the first--the +very first? There in the midst of that miry avenue, when I looked out +the coach window into the windows of your soul,--then it was, my +knight--" + +"Then?" I questioned, my astonishment as great as my delight--"then, +dearest heart? You perceived the love, the adoration which filled my +whole being at my first view of your lovely face! You knew I would serve +you and love you forever after!" + +"No, dear. I knew you loved me that moment. But I did not know you. I +was very proud--I am still very proud. The blood of kings flows in my +veins. I had vowed I should wed none other than one of kingly blood. I +shall not break that vow." + +"Yet my arms are about you, Alisanda. See, I draw you still closer to my +heart; I kiss your adorable lips!" + +As I eased my embrace a little, she sighed, and her head sank upon my +shoulder. + +"Wait, dearest," she murmured. "Such ecstasy goes beyond my strength." + +"Alisanda!" I exclaimed, "tell me--you do love me--this is not a dream! +I know you are in my arms, yet it is unbelievable--it is not possible +that you--!" + +"Juan, my king!" she answered. + +"That?" + +"Yes, that! I believe in nobility of birth, for in that belief I was +born and reared. But you have taught me a new belief; you have opened my +eyes to see that there are men who are their own ancestors,--men so true +and brave and chivalrous that they are kings among their fellows, +whatever their birth." + +"Beloved," I said, "do not mistake. I am as other men. It was only the +love you inspired that gave me strength to win you. I am but an average +man. Yet with your love--with your dear self to glorify life for me, it +may be I can rise above the average." + +"My king," she repeated, woman-like, unmoved by the plain reason of my +statement. + +"We have no kings in the Republic," I argued. + +"But I have a king in my heart! Ah, Juan, if you but knew the fulness of +your conquest! Love was in my heart from the first. Love can creep +through keyholes. But pride barred the way against your entrance. Did I +not mock you and scorn you and look coldly upon you? Yet Love forced me +to give you the fighting chance, to put you to the test." + +"That was the mystery--the secret of your eyes!" I exclaimed. + +"And you had the courage to guess aright, to persevere against all my +scorn and hauteur, to cross the barrier of rock and the barrier of pride +and birth, into my heart, Juan!" + +"Forever in your heart, as you in mine!" + +"Forever!" + +"When will you wed me, dearest one?" + +At the words she quivered and sought to draw away, but I held her fast. +"No, Alisanda! I cannot release you until you have told me. When shall +we be married?" + +"Ah, Juan!" she sighed. "How can I answer you? I fear that it will be +never!" + +"Never!" + +"My uncle has asked me to sacrifice myself for the sake of the +revolution." + +"By marrying the Viceroy?" + +"No!" + +"No?--Then whom?" + +"The Governor-General." + +"Him--Salcedo?--that old tyrant?" + +"It is my uncle's wish. He says it would free millions of people, my +countrymen." + +"Your countrymen? You come from Old Spain! No! And what if that man +should sell himself for your beauty? Could such a man be trusted? Yet +suppose he held true to his pledge to lead the revolution, and suppose +the revolution should triumph, would it not be the triumph of Salcedo? +Would this wretched land be less oppressed under Salcedo the King than +under Salcedo the Governor-General? Answer me, Alisanda Vallois. You +know the man!" + +"_Madre de los Dolores!_--And I would have made the sacrifice for that! +Juan, you have given me an answer to my uncle's plea. He may break my +heart, but he shall not force me to marry against my wish. Rather than +that, I will take the veil." + +"Become a nun?" I protested. + +"If I may not marry you, Juan." + +"But you will marry me, Alisanda--you must!" + +"How can I, dear? You have yet to cross the gulf." + +"Father Rocus--" I began. + +"He has spoken for you on that, yet admits a doubt. Can I wed you while +I still think of it as a sin--a marriage against God's will?" + +A sudden great fear embittered my rapture and dashed me to the earth. + +"Alisanda," I pleaded, "is not our love true love? Can such love be +wrong in the sight of God?" + +"I have prayed the Virgin for hours without answer to that," she sighed. +"And when the holy priest admits a doubt--If I do not come to you with a +clear conscience, Juan, I shall be unworthy of your love." + +"Leave that to me to judge!" + +"No. We must wait, my knight. Rest assured I will not wed another than +yourself. Be patient. A few days may see the cutting of the knot. That +dangerous man Medina has wormed himself into the council of the +revolutionists. It would be like him to turn traitor, and demand me as +his price for not betraying the plot." + +"Your uncle will give you to him to save his own life!" + +"You do my uncle an injustice. He would sooner die. No; I was to be +given to Salcedo for the sake of this oppressed land. My uncle would die +rather than force misery upon me for other than the sacred cause of +liberty." + +"I have opened your eyes to the peril of trusting Salcedo. Now what is +to be done?" + +"Should Medina threaten, my uncle must flee from New Spain." + +"Taking you with him! The world is large, dearest one, but wherever he +may take you, I will follow." + +"If you escape Salcedo!" she whispered, and I felt her tremble. + +Before I could answer, the voice of Father Rocus murmured from the +little doorway: "My children, you must part now. I brought you away on +the plea of faintness, my daughter. I must take you in for a glass of +wine, that my servant may bear witness with a clear conscience, and then +we must hasten home with you before the return of your kinsfolk." + +"But when shall I see her again, padre?" I begged, clinging to my love +as she clung to me. + +"_Sabe Dios!--Quien sabe?_" he returned. "We will each and all do what +we can. Now we must hasten, for if my share in this be discovered, I +shall lose all power to help you." + +Reason compelled me to bend to this argument. I strained Alisanda to me, +and we exchanged a parting kiss. Chita came up beside us, and the moment +I released her mistress, hurried her to the envious doorway. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +A SPANISH BALL + + +Fortunately I did not know that before me lay a full week of useless +scheming and vain longing. Though we went about visiting and dining as +usual, even two evenings at Colonel Mayron's failed to bring me the +slightest relief from my suspense. Alisanda was kept in such seclusion +that even Dona Dolores could not reach her. + +On the other hand, Salcedo called twice at the Vallois mansion and took +with him Medina. This caused me the most intense anxiety. I was sure of +Alisanda's constancy, and yet did not know what pressure their casuistic +minds might bring to bear against her will. + +As to this Father Rocus might have enlightened me, had I not feared to +compromise him by a second visit. It would need only the slightest +shadow of a suspicion to put Don Pedro and his senora on their guard +against the padre. Also I relied upon His Reverence to inform me in some +secret manner at the first change in the situation. + +Another Sunday roused in me the wild hope of a second meeting with my +lady. But though I fairly haunted the _Parroquia_ throughout the +forenoon, I received no notes and saw nothing of my friends. Even +Father Rocus was absent. A casually spoken question at dinner brought me +the information that he was suffering a slight attack of gout. + +Pike, ever eager for the display of my small skill as a physician, +immediately urged upon me to offer my services to the padre. This was +seconded by Walker and the half-dozen guests present with us at table, +for it appeared that Father Rocus was a general favorite in Chihuahua, +from the mighty Salcedo down to the lowliest _leproso_. After much +insistence on the part of the others, I at last agreed to call upon the +padre and prescribe for him. + +Our little dinner, though frugal, was a merry one, for our host and the +guests were in high spirits over the prospect of a _baile_, or ball, +that evening. Though this ball was given at the house of a family we had +not previously visited, Walker took Pike and myself as a matter of +course. + +When we arrived we found most of the _elite_ of the city already +assembled in the large ballroom. Indeed, the first couple upon whom I +set eyes were Dona Dolores Malgares and His Excellency, Don Nimesio +Salcedo, Commandant-General of the Internal Provinces of the Kingdom of +New Spain, whirling about in a Spanish dance that displayed far more +liveliness than dignity. + +We were duly presented to our hostess, and made our compliments; after +which Pike plunged into the whirl with all the zest of his gallant +nature. I drew apart, to overlook the gay scene in search of my lady. +Not that I had much hope of seeing her, but I had learned that almost +anything seemed possible in this land of intrigue. + +At once I was challenged from all sides by brilliant-eyed senoras and +senoritas. But even had I wished to take one as partner, I was +unacquainted with the now spirited, now voluptuous measures of this +peculiar Spanish dance. Pike, daring at all times and in all places, was +attempting the step with the aid of a plump and kindly senorita. + +I was more than content to keep back and look on, while my ears drank in +the seductive melody of mingled guitar and violin and singing voices +which floated down the ballroom from the stand of the musicians. Both +the oddness and the agreeableness of this music was enhanced when at +certain intervals the guests joined in the singing. + +Confusing as was the whirl of the dance, I soon identified all present +who were known to me, the first turn of the dancers bringing me a smile +from my stately friend Malgares and a hostile stare from Lieutenant +Medina. The dread to which the latter had reduced many of his +fellow-officers was evident from the manner in which the young subaltern +who had pressed up beside me shrank away at the first glance of the +aide's baleful little eyes. + +Wondering how soon Medina would force a duel upon me, I drifted idly up +the room and back toward the entrance. No more guests had arrived since +ourselves, and I had given over all hope of seeing Alisanda. But as I +approached the Moorish arch of the ballroom doorway I caught a glimpse +of Don Pedro in the anteroom. It took me only a few moments to gain the +doorway. The close group of young officers about Don Pedro convinced me +that my lady was with him. I thrust myself unceremoniously into their +midst. Dona Marguerite sought to interpose, but, with a bow, I slipped +around her, and bent to salute the hand which Alisanda held out to me. I +was relieved to see that, like the rest of the ladies present, she was +dressed in the Spanish national mode, and also that she seemed in good +health and spirits. + +"God keep you, _amigo_!" she said in a clear voice. + +"_Muchas gracias_, senorita! May I beg the honor of your first dance?" + +"It is yours, senor," she responded. + +The other men fell away as she took my arm. Don Pedro stepped forward as +though to interpose, but desisted at a sign from Dona Marguerite. I +entered the ballroom with colors flying and the loveliest girl in all +the world upon my arm. For the moment Fortune was with me. The Spanish +dance had reached an end, and the musicians were striking up a waltz. +Nothing could have suited me better. Dancing was one of my few +accomplishments, and it was the very poetry of love and life to circle +about the long room with my darling in my arms, in rhythm to the pulsing +throb of the sweetest and softest of music. + +It was no more than human that my bliss should key yet higher with a +tang of triumph as I glided with my lovely partner under the nose of +the scowling Salcedo and past the lowering visage of his Andalusian +aide. It might be that I was to meet my death from one or the other of +them, but for the time at least I was the happiest man beneath heaven. I +was in Paradise. + +Before I was forced to relinquish her to Dona Marguerite at the stopping +of the music, I received my dear girl's pledge to give me all the +waltzes of the evening. More she dared not promise for fear of the +interference of her aunt. As may be imagined, it was a severe trial to +see her led out by another partner, even though she accepted Pike +instead of Medina for the voluptuous _fandango_ and though Dona Dolores +contrived to pilot me into the set in which my lady danced the minuet as +partner to His Excellency, Don Nimesio. + +Before the close of the _baile_, Medina's persistence and his open +warning off of the other officers won him two dances, strive as my lady +would to avoid him. But even he lacked the assurance to interfere with +Salcedo's marked attentions, and, for the rest, Pike, Malgares, and +myself contrived to foil him in every attempt, with the two exceptions +mentioned. For myself, I had the divine joy of dancing every waltz with +my lady, and it did not lessen my rapture that Medina followed us each +time with a gaze which would have struck me dead had it possessed the +power. + +Such bliss could not last. All too soon the ball began to draw to a +close, and when I came to lead out Alisanda for the last waltz, Dona +Marguerite interposed with the statement that they were about to leave. +Making the best of the situation, I claimed and was granted the +privilege of escorting my darling to the coach. Such complaisance on the +part of her duenna astonished me. I could account for it only on the +supposition that Senora Vallois thought to spur on Salcedo's ardor and +jealousy by the sight of a favored suitor. + +However that may have been, the last of my successes of the evening +still farther infuriated the truculent Medina. It is not improbable he +would have challenged me that night had not my failure to obtain a word +apart with Alisanda induced me to follow the Vallois coach all the way +across the city. + +Watching from the corner of the plaza, I saw the coach roll in between +the wide-flung gates of the Vallois mansion. I waited perhaps half an +hour, then stole silently up the street to my black doorway, across from +her balcony, and began to murmur the song which had twice brought me a +response from her. Almost immediately a light appeared behind the drawn +hangings. I started forward eagerly, only to check myself and step back +into the denser darkness of my lurking place. A hand had parted the +curtains, and between them appeared the frowning face of Don Pedro. + +I went home, if not in as black a mood as Medina, at least not disposed +to kindly thoughts toward my enemies. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +THE INSULT + + +As chance would have it, Medina and I did not again meet for four or +five days. In the meantime the Lieutenant and I were astonished to +receive the report that an American officer had arrived in Vera Cruz +some weeks since, and had been permitted to start for the City of +Mexico. What could be his mission and why the Viceroy should allow him +to travel through the midst of his territories was a puzzle we tried in +vain to solve. + +The same day I called upon Father Rocus, as I had promised, but saw him +only for a few minutes and in the presence of two other priests. This, +as I took it, was intended on his part as a precaution against suspicion +of his friendliness. That he had no news for me was evident from his not +passing me a note, though three or four opportunities offered for him to +do so without detection. + +A few days later I had a still greater surprise than the mystery of the +envoy to Mexico. It came in the form of an invitation for the Lieutenant +and myself to dine at Don Pedro's. Hope, ever unquenchable in the heart +of a lover, told me that the don had repented of his harsh patriotism +and was thinking to save his niece from a fate worse than death. Never +was a lover more bitterly disappointed! Don Pedro and Dona Marguerite +received us with the most suave and cordial hospitality--but Alisanda +did not appear. + +In answer to the Lieutenant's inquiries, Dona Marguerite explained, with +affected regret, that Senorita Alisanda was indisposed, and so could not +join us. I needed no more to assure me that the dear girl was under +restraint. What I could not understand was why I should have been +invited to dine. + +The nearest I could come to an explanation was a repeated assurance from +Don Pedro that he and his friends were doing their utmost to persuade +Salcedo that it would be advisable to hurry me out of the country with +my fellow members of the expedition. This I took as an intimation that +our host still regarded me as a friend, but that the sooner I was sent +away from Chihuahua the more pleased he would be. When we left, shortly +before the beginning of the siesta, I had not been favored with so much +as a glimpse of my lady, nor even of Chita. + +That evening we went to bid farewell to Colonel Mayron, who had been +ordered to a command in Sonora. Dona Dolores had no word for me other +than her assurance that I might rely upon the constancy of Alisanda. Of +that I was already certain, yet it pleased me to receive the +confirmation of the fact from her true friend. + +On the other hand, I experienced a kind of savage joy when Malgares took +occasion to draw me aside and warn me that Medina was looking for the +first opportunity to force a duel. I made no other reply than to request +that every effort be made to keep Pike in ignorance of my private +troubles, and to ask Malgares to act as my second. + +Being at such a disadvantage with the Government, I thought it as well +to refrain from explaining that Medina would not need to force me very +hard to reach an issue. Also I feared that a display of eagerness on my +part might cause even so noted a duellist as the aide to hesitate, and I +had become desperately desirous to break the blockade of events. + +Medina did not keep me waiting long. The following afternoon he found +his opportunity in a message to us from Salcedo. As an officer, he was +careful to attend first to his official business, which proved to be of +a character well suited to his temper. I happened to be in one of the +rear rooms when Walker ushered him in to where Pike was thumbing over +his beloved Pope's "Essay on Man." + +Recognizing Medina's carefully modulated voice, I lingered to adjust my +cravat with an extra touch. When I entered, the Lieutenant was in the +midst of a reply to some remark by the aide: "--Therefore, Mr. Robinson +and I have considered ourselves at liberty to discuss what we pleased, +and as we pleased." + +Medina met my half bow with a scowl. + +"May I inquire the purpose of our distinguished guest's presence with +us?" I asked. + +"He brings word from the Governor-General that it is high time we put on +muzzles," replied Pike, with one of his rare flashes of anger. + +"_Por Dios!_" I mocked. "Can it be Don Nimesio Salcedo does not admire +our teeth?" + +"Were I His Excellency," growled Medina, "certain teeth would be gnawing +crusts in the _calabozo_." + +"But as it is, Lieutenant de Gonzales y Medina comes as an aide in the +service of His Excellency," suggested Walker. + +The hint was sufficient to smooth Medina's ruffled front. He fixed his +gaze upon Pike, and addressed him with the most formal politeness: "Then +you admit, senor, that yourself and Senor Robinson have persistently and +deliberately inculcated and disseminated republican principles +throughout the period of your presence in New Spain?" + +"It is true," replied Pike. "We came to Chihuahua at the insistence of +His Excellency, yet have been assured that we are not to regard +ourselves as prisoners. Why, then, should we not discuss topics of +world-wide interest with the same freedom we should enjoy in our own +country?" + +"Lieutenant Pike overlooks the delicacy of his situation." + +"My compliments to His Excellency," retorted Pike. "My country is yet +young and poor. It may as yet lack strength to resent the outrages of +Britain and France. But present to His Excellency the assurance of my +confidence that the Republic can exact reprisals for injuries to its +citizens and officers inflicted by a secondary power." + +"_Satanas!_" swore the aide. "You dare name the great Kingdom of Spain +as not among the first of the powers?" + +"The sun of Spain is fast setting. Your statesmen sneer at the mistakes +and seeming weakness of the United States. I predict that unless Spain +elects for freedom, within a century she will be shorn of the last of +her glory, while free America shall grow in might beyond the grandest +dreams of her citizens!" + +"It is with the present we have now to deal, senor," sneered Medina. +"His Excellency sends you fair warning. Those who have permitted you to +indulge in your Jacobinical and atheistic discourse in their company, +and in particular those who have themselves indulged in the treasonous +discussions, are all noted, and their cases will be attended to in due +time." + +"That, senor, is doubtless one of the prerogatives arrogated to itself +by tyranny," said Pike. "As for Senor Robinson and myself, we are +citizens of the United States, and not subjects of His Most Catholic +Majesty. We propose to continue to express our opinions freely on all +subjects." + +"I shall report your reply to His Excellency," said Medina, rising. +"Rest assured your conduct will be represented in no very favorable view +to your Government." + +"As an officer of the army of the Republic, I am responsible to my +Government, and to none other," replied Pike, now fairly boiling with +rage. Fearful of his dignity, he gave Medina a curt bow, and withdrew to +our bedchamber. + +"_Nom de Dieu!_" gasped Walker, astonished that any one could have so +dared the power of the Governor-General. + +Medina looked aside at me, and saw me smiling. + +"Senor Robinson is pleased to be amused," he said with a feline suavity +which told me the time had come. + +"It is most amusing, senor," I replied. "That any one could be foolish +enough to imagine the possibility of intimidating Lieutenant Zebulon +Montgomery Pike is little short of ridiculous." + +"_Por Dios!_ Say rather it is an absurdity to expect courteous +compliance from the bearer of so barbarous a name." + +"How of my name?" I asked, with mock concern. "Is it also displeasing to +you?" + +He stepped close to me, with a menacing look. "Your name, Senor Spy, is +one to be linked in infamy with that of your double-dyed traitor, +General Wilkinson, who for twenty years and more has been in the regular +pay of His Most Catholic Majesty." + +My palm struck full across his mouth with a force that sent him reeling. +For a moment he stood in speechless fury, plucking at his sword-hilt. I +grasped the back of the chair in which I had been sitting, for my +pistols were in the bedchamber, and I had no mind to be run through. +But Walker stepped between us, and muttered a hasty word to Medina. The +latter made a sign for him to follow, and strode out into the court. +Walker was out and back in two minutes. + +"_Sacre!_" he protested, in great concern. "What am I to do? He insists +that I shall serve as his second. Yet with you as my guest--" + +"Accept, by all means. It would give me great pleasure. My one desire is +to keep this from my friend. The fewer who know of it the better." + +"But a second for yourself?" he questioned. "_Entre nous_, I should far +prefer to serve you than your opponent." + +"My thanks. But doubtless Lieutenant Don Faciendo will second me. I will +call upon him at once, and you can follow with such communications as +Lieutenant Medina desires to transmit." + +"At your bidding, doctor. _Nom de Dieu!_ what a blow you gave him! and +with the open hand! My lips are now sealed--yet it is a fact that you +have choice of weapons. You will of course advise with Lieutenant +Malgares." + +I waved him off, and as he went out again to tell Medina he would serve, +I hastened in to Pike. He was pacing up and down the bedchamber like a +caged panther. + +"Has he gone?" he demanded. I nodded. "It's well--it's well! I could not +answer for the consequences should I have to face his sneer again +before I've had time to cool. By the Almighty, had he spoken in his own +name and not as a messenger, I'd have challenged him, John!" + +"Doubtless. But this menace by the Governor-General?" + +"It cannot be he will go to extremes." + +"Yet would it not be as well to consult with our friends? They may have +knowledge of Salcedo's temper." + +"We can rely upon Zuloaga and, I believe, your Don Pedro." + +"Go to them, then, and I will look for Malgares." + +"Very well. I will call upon Senor Vallois, and will meet you later at +Zuloaga's, if Malgares can come." + +With this, we threw on hat and coat and started off in the gathering +twilight, on diverging paths. A few minutes of sharp walking brought me +to the Mayron mansion, where I was so fortunate as to find Malgares at +home and alone. Having first told of Salcedo's implied threat, I stated +my own personal affair briefly, and recalled his promise to act as my +second. + +"_Poder de Dios!_" he exclaimed. "Nothing would give me greater +pleasure. You will choose pistols?" + +"Can he shoot?" + +"Not at all." + +"Then let it be swords," I decided. + +"_Santisima Virgen!_ you are no swordsman. He will spit you with the +first thrust of his rapier." + +"I said swords, Don Faciendo. My thought was the straight cutlass of +your Texas cavalry. I have hefted a sabre, and your cutlasses must swing +much the same." + +"It is true, _amigo_, that the regulation cutlass would put you to a +slightly less disadvantage compared to the rapier. There would be more +play for your strength. Yet Medina is an expert--a master swordsman. You +would have no chance. He means to kill you." + +"I have quickness and strength. The odds are not so great as you fear. +But with pistols, he would be absolutely at my mercy." + +"Then you insist?" + +A lackey announced Walker. + +"I insist," I replied, as Walker bowed himself in. + +"What time?" asked Malgares. + +"The sooner the better." + +At this he excused himself, and conducted Walker into another room. I +spent the brief interval of waiting admiring a glorious painting by +Velasquez for which Malgares had paid a fabulous sum in gold ingots. My +enjoyment was not forced or feigned. With the assurance of action in the +immediate future, I really felt lighter and easier in mind than at any +time since the ball. + +Malgares returned, with a clouded brow. "He was astonished. I do not +wonder. Men nowadays are not usually so chivalrous as to give the game +into the hands of their opponents." + +"It is a case of two sets of loaded dice," I replied. "Mine are loaded +beyond all question of fair play." + +"And his the same!" + +"That is to be seen. You accepted the challenge? All is arranged?" + +Malgares nodded, still troubled. "I could do none else. We meet them at +sunrise to-morrow, at the east end of the aqueduct. It is possible we +may have use for your pistols. Have them ready. I shall call for you in +good time, with my coach." + +"You think there may be need of it to bring me home," I rallied him. + +"God forbid!" he protested, crossing himself. "My only thought was that +you might pass unobserved." + +"True," I replied, and I hastened to explain my reasons for not wishing +Pike to become involved in the affair. + +I was barely in time, for I had no more than finished when the +Lieutenant was announced. Not finding Don Pedro at home, he had called +upon two or three other friends, who had expressed great concern for our +safety, and advised him to consult with Malgares. Don Faciendo looked +grave, but expressed a belief that all would be well if we held on as +before with a bold front. This was also the opinion of the friends with +whom we spent the evening at Senor Zuloaga's. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX + +THE DUEL + + +Upon our return to Walker's quarters, the Lieutenant, who had been +working hard all day, at once retired. I remained up long enough to load +my pistols, and write, first, a farewell letter to my lady, and second, +a note to my friend explaining that I was to start early on a coach ride +with Malgares. This I left with old Caesar, whom Walker had already +instructed to rouse us before dawn. + +Faithful to orders, the old black had us out a good hour before sunrise, +and a biscuit and pot of chocolate ready for our refreshment. We dressed +and ate and made off, leaving Pike still fast asleep. Walker fetched his +horse from the stables in the rear of the courtyard, and conducted me as +far as the street. The expected coach was just wheeling into sight, +preceded by a pair of outriders with torches, for the night was as black +as Egypt. + +At once Walker sprang into the saddle and rode off through the gloom to +join his principal, while I ran up to the coach and slipped in beside +Malgares. With that the gilded carriage swung about and rumbled off +along the first street which led northward. Having taken possession of +my pistols and loading outfit, Malgares asked if I had any word to be +given to Senorita Vallois, in the event of any misfortune. I handed him +the letter, with the request that it be returned to me if all went well. + +"For her sake, you must see that it does go well!" he urged. + +"It is for her I fight. In any event, I must have struck him for what he +said. For whether or not it is true General Wilkinson is or has been a +traitor, in the pay of your Government, Lieutenant Medina intended his +remark as a deliberate insult. But we are alike fully aware that it is +because of the senorita we now meet." + +"God grant that for her sake you may win!--You will win, _amigo_!" +exclaimed my friend; and with that, to divert my thoughts, he fell to +chatting about various light subjects. + +Presently the coach turned eastward, and, after a time, southward. The +gray dawn now broke the darkness, and the outriders, at an order from +our coach-man, flung down their torches and rode back into the city. The +ruddy gleams of the full dawn shot swiftly up the sky. Our driver put +the lash to his horses, and we spun along through a dense cloud of dust, +in a race with the sun. + +Just as the upper rim of the blazing orb of day peered over the low +mountains to the eastward, the coach drew up beneath one of the immense +arches of the aqueduct. Malgares caught up the two cutlasses, which had +lain beside him in a wrapping of buckskin, and sprang out to meet +Walker, who was advancing from around the corner of the massive aqueduct +pier. They bowed and exchanged a few words, and Malgares, having handed +the swords to Walker, came back to the coach. + +"Permit me to assist you in removing your hat, cravat, coat, and +waistcoat," he said. + +I stripped to my shirt, delighted to be freed of the encumbering +garments. + +"We meet on the east side of the pier," he explained; and taking my arm, +he led me beneath the colossal arch to the corner. + +A step around brought us face to face with Walker and Medina. Their +horses, with the bridle reins thrown over head upon the ground after the +custom of the country, stood at a little distance, cropping the dry +grass. The ground for several paces alongside and out from the pier was +smooth and of a firm, dry, gritty earth. Medina, who had stripped in the +same fashion as myself, was looking at the cutlasses, which Walker was +holding up to his view. + +When we turned the corner, Medina immediately stepped back half a dozen +paces, with a readiness that showed his experience in the formalities of +the _code duello_. Malgares left me and stepped forward beside Walker. +They first measured and examined the cutlasses, then exchanged a few +words in a low tone. Medina cast an impatient glance at the sun, which +was now clearing the horizon. + +Malgares raised his hand, and stated, first to Medina, then to me: "The +principals will take position, at sword's-length, facing as at present. +At the word, 'On guard!' given by Lieutenant Walker, they will begin +action. At the word '_Arreste!_' by either second, the principals will +instantly cease action. Senor, do you comprehend?" + +"_Si_, senor," replied Medina. + +"_Si_, senor," I answered, in turn. + +We were each handed a cutlass, and led up within striking distance. +Malgares and Walker drew back three paces. + +"On guard!" cried Walker, in a thin, high voice. + +Instantly I dropped almost to the ground and made a long-armed sweep at +my opponent's knee. He leaped back barely in time to save himself from +being hamstrung. + +"_Arreste!_" shrilled Walker, springing between us. + +I rose and stood back, staring from him to Malgares. + +"What now?" I demanded. + +"That is not fencing," protested Walker. + +"No. It is fighting," I retorted. + +Walker wheeled about and exchanged whispers with his principal. He +turned again, to address Malgares: "My principal demands that the duel +shall be according to the rules of swordsmanship." + +"Enough!" I exclaimed. "If he wishes me to stand erect, I will stand +erect. Only do not again interrupt." + +"Very well," replied Walker, and stepping aside, he for the second time +gave the signal: "On guard!" + +I whirled up my cutlass. Medina stabbed at my heart. For all the +quickness with which I bent to the right, his point gashed full through +my left arm. But already my sword was descending in a sweeping stroke, +and the fierce sting of my wound gave all the more force to the blow. +Medina tore free his blade and whirled it up between my descending +cutlass and his head. But for his quickness, I believe I should have +split his skull to the chin. + +Given a fraction of a second more time, he, being so skilled a +swordsman, might even have glanced my stroke, despite its weight. As it +was, the edge of my blade caught the flat of his at a square angle, and +drove it down upon his head close above the temple. He fell like a steer +beneath the poleaxe, while my sword blade broke clean off, a span beyond +the hilt, and whirred down upon the dry soil. + +[Illustration: "He fell like a steer: my swordblade broke clean off, a +span beyond the hilt"] + +"_Dios!_" cried Malgares. + +"_Arreste!_" shrilled Walker, springing to stoop over the fallen man. +"_Sacre!_ I thought him dead. He is only stunned." + +In confirmation of this, Medina stirred, opened his eyes, and, assisted +by Walker, staggered to his feet. + +"Senor Walker," demanded Malgares, "as your principal is the challenger, +I now ask if he is satisfied." + +Medina muttered something in the ear of Walker, who replied to the +inquiry: "Senor, we contend that, so far, the honors are even. My +principal has been stunned, yours wounded. By the time Senor Robinson's +injury is bound up, Lieutenant Medina will have recovered a clear head." + +"The sword of my principal is broken," objected Malgares, as he spoke +producing the bandage I had provided. No artery having been severed, +there was no need of a tourniquet, and he bound up the wound during the +discussion. + +Walker consulted Medina, and replied: "We hold that each principal was +given a sword of equal quality, and that the duel must continue until +the matter is settled." + +"Good!" I exclaimed to Malgares, before he could remonstrate. "We +continue to fight each with his weapon. I shall use my broken blade as a +dart and the hilt as a tomahawk. I am far better armed than before." + +At this Medina drew away for a consultation with his second. Walker came +back alone. + +"We protest against the use of our opponent's sword as a missile," he +stated. + +"We refuse to consider the protest," rejoined Malgares. + +"We then suggest that the fight be continued with rapiers. My principal +has a pair at hand." + +"The naming of the weapons lies with my principal," replied Malgares. +"If you insist upon a second choice, we name duelling pistols, with +which we have come provided." + +Walker returned to Medina, and after a brief consultation, brought us +his assent to the use of pistols. Malgares immediately conducted me +around to the coach. As we turned the corner, we were astonished to see +Father Rocus racing toward us on a large white mule. He waved his hand +to us, and urged his mule to yet greater speed as Malgares drew out the +pistols and turned to go back. + +"Wait!" I said. "The padre wishes to speak to me. Insist upon Medina +firing both pistols as a test. That will give me time. Walker knows my +manner of loading." + +Malgares nodded and disappeared as Father Rocus galloped up and drew +rein beside the coach, purple-faced and gasping for breath. I gave him +my right shoulder, else he would have fallen in his descent. + +"_Virgen!_" he panted. "It is over already! You have killed him!" + +"No. We have tried swords without success. Now it will be the pistols. I +will shatter his right shoulder in the joint. He shall boast no more of +his swordsmanship." + +"_Nada_, my son! That is not enough. _Carrajo_! He must die! Listen! +This scoundrel has wormed himself into all the secrets of the +revolution. He has demanded Alisanda as his price--" + +"My God!" I cried. "But Salcedo--?" + +"If she could put her heart into luring him, Salcedo might be won over. +But now this scoundrel calls checkmate. He pledges faith to the +revolution in return for her hand. _Carrajo!_ I now know the utmost of +his baseness. He pledges faith, yet, once he has her, thinks to betray +all and gain the estate of her uncle as reward for his treachery." + +"God!" I cried. + +A shot rang out on the far side of the pier. + +"What is that?" exclaimed the padre. + +I explained, and my statement was punctuated with the report of the +second pistol. + +"So--he has tried them," said the padre. "Now they will be reloaded. You +will kill him, my son! It is God's will!... Malgares is not yet of the +revolution, but he is a true friend of Don Pedro. At dawn I went to +appeal to him to challenge Medina--His wife confessed that he had come +here as your second. I have ridden at breakneck speed--God be praised, I +am in time! You will kill the traitor!" + +"You are in time," I said. "I will place my ball so exactly between his +eyes that you cannot measure a hair's-breadth farther on the one side +than on the other." + +"God bless you, my son! You will save Alisanda and the revolution with +the same shot!" + +"I did not suspect that you were one of the revolutionists," I muttered. + +"For years,--like Padre Hidalgo in the South. But come. Malgares signs +to us." + +We hastened forward to the corner of the pier, where Malgares stood +ready to hand me my pistol. Medina already was in waiting, ten paces +from the spot to which Malgares led me. At sight of Father Rocus, the +aide and Walker started. But the padre at once reassured them: "It is +well, gentlemen. I come only to act as witness." + +Walker bowed. "Your Reverence is welcome. Senor Robinson, the terms have +been stated to my principal. I now repeat them. You will each stand in +the present position, with pistol pointed upward. Lieutenant Malgares +will say, 'One, two, three. Fire! One, two, three.' At the word 'Fire!' +you can aim and fire, during the time of the second count of three. If +either fires before the word, or after the count, you know the penalty. +Gentlemen, are you ready?" + +Medina and I bowed, and Walker took his station with Father Rocus and +Malgares against the face of the pier, out of the line of fire. + +"Ready!" called Malgares. We raised our pistols as directed. "One!" he +counted. "Two!--" + +Down came Medina's pistol! I saw the black dot of the muzzle only to +lose it instantly in a puff of smoke. The ball grazed the side of my +head. So unexpected and sudden was the dastardly deed, I stood +motionless, the report of the pistol ringing in my ears, but listening +for Malgares to continue the count. Instead he uttered a sharp cry and +rushed upon Medina. Before the aide could so much as turn, Malgares's +Toledo lunged through his heart. + +Whipping his sword from the body as it fell prone, Malgares faced +Walker, with his head high and his eyes flashing. + +"Witness!" he demanded. + +Walker bowed. "He fired before the word. You have done right to strike +him dead." + +"You have done right! _Satanas_ has claimed his own!" confirmed Father +Rocus. Suddenly he thought of me and hastened to my side. "We forget +Juan! My son, did the ball strike you?" + +I put up my hand and reached out to him one of my locks, which had been +clipped by the ball. + +"So close as that!" exclaimed Walker. + +"You know the saying, 'A miss is as good as a mile,'" I replied, as +Malgares took my loaded pistol and carefully lowered the trigger. "The +question now is to agree on an account for His Excellency that will +clear my noble friend and second, and place all the blame upon me, where +it belongs." + +"_Nada!_" rejoined Malgares. "He shall know the exact truth." + +"Leave the matter to me," said Father Rocus. "You know my standing with +the Governor-General. I engage to prevent any unpleasant consequences." + +"But--the--body?" murmured Walker, glancing askance at Medina's huddled +corpse. + +"I will take it in my coach," said Malgares, without hesitation. "You +will ride his horse, and lend your own to Senor Robinson." + +We each offered to take his place in the grewsome part he had chosen. +But all that he would accept of us was our assistance in stanching the +wound and carrying the body to the coach. Walker then set off ahead to +notify Medina's servants, while Father Rocus and I returned to the city +by a roundabout road. + +The moment we were alone I asked my companion a dozen and one questions +about Alisanda. + +He shook his head to them all. "There is nothing to tell, Juan, other +than she is holding out bravely against their persuasions and commands. +The point now is to convince Salcedo that the death of Medina has rid +him of one rival, and that he can free himself of another by sending you +away with your indomitable friend." + +"But if it is to leave her behind--!" I cried. + +"We shall see about that in due course," he replied. "One thing at a +time. Rome was not built in a day. Now ride on, and leave me, my son. We +approach streets where we are both known. _Adios!_" + +There was nothing for me to do but to obey. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI + +MY CROSS + + +Upon my return I found the Lieutenant so preoccupied over an intended +visit to Salcedo that one or two vague answers satisfied his curiosity +about my early morning excursion. He started out at last, an hour or so +before noon, when I contrived with the help of old Caesar to wash my +wound and dress it in proper manner. Lest the Lieutenant or any one else +should notice something amiss and make inquiries, I told Caesar he might +say I had been bitten by a scorpion, of which, truth to tell, there were +enough and to spare in and about Chihuahua. + +The Lieutenant returned much sooner than I had expected. He had been +informed that His Excellency was closeted with Father Rocus, and could +see no callers. This he took as an unfavorable indication of Salcedo's +temper, until I assured him I had reason to believe that the padre was a +friend and had called on the Governor-General in our behalf. The +confirmation came during the afternoon in the form of a polite message, +brought by Walker, requesting Pike to call at the _palacio_ that evening +without ceremony. + +When he returned, it was with the news that all was settled except as to +myself. The papers of the expedition were to be held, but Pike and the +six men with him were to march for Natchitoches in three or four days, +to be followed shortly by the detachment under Sergeant Meek, which all +this time had been carefully held back somewhere on the El Paso road. +The Lieutenant was inclined to be anxious over my fate, but I could not +but trust to the good offices of Father Rocus. + +He met the padre at Salcedo's table the following noon, and answered in +his usual fearless manner the adroit questions put to him by His +Reverence. This, I believe, must have proved the last straw to the +Governor-General, for that evening, while we were visiting Malgares, +Walker brought word that I was free to accompany Pike. In his +excitement, he spoke of the padre's cleverness in mollifying His +Excellency over the death of Medina, but Malgares averted a disclosure +of my share in the affair by the laconic statement to Pike that he had +killed the aide during a duel. + +Such a happy termination of the affair would have given me great +satisfaction had I not been distressed over my failure to hear a word +either of or from Alisanda. Even Dona Dolores was still refused +admittance to her. + +This was on a Sunday. Monday we spent in our preparations for marching. +I had need of all the diversion I could find, to keep down the maddening +thought that I should have to go without seeing my lady. In my despair I +called upon Father Rocus, who counselled patience, and promised to do +what he could to obtain for me a last meeting. But he warned me that +even should he succeed, I could expect to see her only in the presence +of the family. I begged him to give me some hope for the future. But he +shook his head. + +"_Sabe Dios!--Quien sabe?_" he said. "All that I can now say is that, if +she cannot follow you to your free republic, she will take the veil." + +"No!" I cried. "I cannot give her up!" + +"You can if you must, my son. There are few mortals who at some time +during their lives do not have to bear a heavy cross. If this one is +laid upon your shoulders, you will bear it with manly strength. But +there is still a hope for you. I shall advise with her before you pay +your farewell call at Senor Vallois's. If there seems a way of escape, +you will receive a message either from her or from myself." + +I thanked the good padre, and left him, my heart in a tumult between +fondest hope and blackest despair. + +In the morning, which was that of the twenty-eighth of April, the day +set for us to march, we visited about the city to say farewell to all +our friends. But when we came to Don Pedro's I informed the Lieutenant +that I wished him to make only a brief call and then go without me. +Malgares, who was to march in charge of our escort, and with whom we had +called upon the weeping Dona Dolores, assented to my request no less +heartily than did Pike. + +As I had expected, Don Pedro and Dona Marguerite received us with the +utmost cordiality--but alone. In the midst of our call Father Rocus +entered in a casual manner, but, unlike the Vallois, he greeted us with +a marked coolness. I was seized with the dreadful suspicion that he had +all along been playing double with me. Yet there was the memory of that +meeting at the _Parroquia_ to shame my doubt. + +Before I could calm my thoughts, Pike and Malgares rose to leave. I +followed them slowly to the door, then suddenly turned back and bent +upon one knee to take the hand of Dona Marguerite. + +"Senora," I begged, "for the love of God, give me a last word with her! +I am going away all those thousands of miles--I fear I shall never again +see her--have pity upon me! One word, senora!" + +"_Ave Maria purisima!_" she murmured, bowing her head and sighing. + +I had touched her heart. Another plea might have persuaded her. But Don +Pedro came hastening back, his face as cold and hard as a stone. + +"Your friends will be delayed, Senor Robinson," he said. + +"Senor," I replied, rising to face him, "at the least have the justice +to hear me out. You know that I love your niece with my whole heart and +body and soul. You know that she loves me with a love that will last as +long as life itself. Our love was born the first time we looked into +each other's eyes; since then our love has never wavered. It drew me to +her over deserts and mountains, through wildernesses before known only +to the red savages; it forced me to face singly the soldiers and +prisons and garrottes of your tyrannical rulers. I know now that I +cannot hope for you to turn from your cruel purpose. Yet for the sake of +the friendship you once professed to bear me and for the sake of her +love, give me at least a moment's farewell--a word of parting!" + +Despite the desperate earnestness of my plea, he stood throughout +without a trace of relentment in his cold face. But Dona Marguerite was +a woman, and I had spoken from the depths of my heart. + +"_Santisima Virgen!_" she cried. "It is only for a last moment's +adieu!--Padre! padre, advise us!" + +My heart gave a leap of wild hope as I saw Don Pedro look about at the +padre with respectful attention. + +"It is a hard question to decide, my children," deliberated Father +Rocus. "It may well cause her more sorrow than relief. And yet--and +yet--" + +He paused and seemed to sink into prayerful meditation. Don Pedro and +Dona Marguerite bowed their heads and murmured "_Ave!_" I stood waiting, +in a tremendous stress of doubt and joy, of hope and despair. At last +the padre raised his head, and pronounced his opinion: "As her guardian, +Don Pedro, yours is the decision. Yet as her confessor, I advise, for +the good of her soul, that you do not deprive her of this last +consolation. Even the meekest will rebel if pressed too hard, and she +has a high spirit." + +"Since you advise it, padre," acquiesced Don Pedro, though with evident +reluctance. "For the good of her soul, they may say adieu. But it must +be here, in our presence." + +Dona Marguerite hastened to pull the bell-cord. Chita appeared. + +"Prepare your mistress to say adieu to Senor Robinson." + +Chita darted away. We waited, I burning with impatience, the others +murmuring prayers. At last my sweet lady appeared in the curtained +doorway. Though she sought to smile, her face was wan and sad, and her +beautiful eyes heavy as if she had wept much and slept little. Had not +Dona Marguerite taken the precaution to lay a restraining hand on my +wrist, I should have rushed forward and clasped the poor oppressed +darling in my arms. + +We were permitted to approach each other. I bent on one knee and pressed +my lips to the little white hand she gave me. The others watched our +every movement and listened for every word. Yet I could not restrain +myself from speaking out the love with which my heart overflowed. + +"Dearest one!" I murmured, "it seems that we must now part--it may be +forever! I do not see how I can bear to lose you, my darling. But, as +the good padre says, we all have our crosses, and it may be that +strength will be given to me to endure. Yet most of all my heart aches +for your grief, Alisanda. God grant you surcease of sorrow!" + +My voice failed me. I heard Dona Marguerite sob. But Alisanda neither +wept nor sobbed. She gazed upward, with a spiritual glow in her dark +eyes. + +"God will do unto us according to His holy will!" she said. + +"_Ave Maria de los Dolores!_" sobbed Dona Marguerite. + +Alisanda looked down at me with the gaze which opened to me those +fathomless wells of mystery. + +"Juan," she said, "they tell me we can never wed. If such be the will of +God, we must submit. But--" She held up the gold crucifix of the rosary +which hung about her neck--"by _la vera cruz_ I vow to you, beloved, I +will wed none other mortal than yourself. If I may not be your bride, I +will become the bride of Christ!" + +"_Caramba!_" swore Don Pedro. "Recall that vow! I command you!" + +"God has heard it!" she answered. + +"The vow is registered in heaven," confirmed Father Rocus. + +"Absolve her!" demanded the don, fairly beside himself with chagrin at +this sudden turn that threatened to frustrate all his designs. + +"Peace, peace," soothed the padre. "I will consider the matter with +prayer and meditation." + +"_Satanas!_" cried Don Pedro, turning upon me in a rage. "But for you, +she would not have vowed! Go!--" + +"_Nada!_" I rejoined. "You said I could bid her farewell. I hold you to +your word as a gentleman." + +He turned on his heel, and strode over to stand beside Father Rocus, +doubtless fearful that he could not otherwise restrain himself from +attacking me. + +"Be quick!" urged Dona Marguerite. + +Alisanda took the rosary from about her white throat and held it out to +me. Her voice kept to the same clear, brave note: "Adieu, my Juan! We +part. You are not a Christian, I know, yet as a sign for the guidance of +your faith, I give you this golden symbol--_la vera cruz_!" + +As her dear hand placed the cross in my palm, my love and despair burst +all bounds. Forgetful of all else, I caught her to me and pressed my +lips to hers in passionate grief. But in a moment she was torn from me +by Don Pedro, who carried her off, half fainting, from the room. I would +have followed had not Dona Marguerite and Father Rocus clung to me on +either side and implored me to leave before the return of Don Pedro. + +Half stupefied with despair, I permitted them to lead me to the +stairway, where Dona Marguerite sobbed out an "_Adios!_" and turned +back. The padre hurried me down the stairway and out into the street, +where, after a hasty benediction, he hastened back to pacify the +violence of Don Pedro. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII + +THE MESSAGE + + +He left me none too soon. I could hear Don Pedro cursing furiously in +the courtyard. Fearful that if matters came to blows, I might do an +injury to the kinsman of my lady, I dragged myself away, heavy with +despair. Not until I was half across the plaza did I notice that I still +held her rosary in my hand. I stared at the little gold cross with +bitter hatred. It seemed so harsh a mockery that she should have given +me as parting gift that symbol of the gulf that now yawned between us, +wider and deeper than ever. Yet the gift was from her, and--I must bear +my cross! + +For a moment I was tempted to put a pistol to my head and end all. But +the life within me was sane and strong, and the memory of my lost lady +too sweet for me to hurl myself into the unknown. In reflex from that +last black thought of self-destruction there came to me even a feeble +consciousness of resignation--a feeling that for her sake I must +endeavor to live my life in a manner worthy of her memory. And this +feeling did not leave me, but increased in strength throughout the weary +weeks of our long homeward journey. + +We started that afternoon, immediately after the siesta, and proceeded +in a southerly direction on the road toward Durango. But I do not +propose to give here the tedious details of our trip. Greatly to our +disappointment, a few days brought us a parting from our noble friend +Malgares, who turned over his instructions and despatch-pouch to a +Captain Barelo. The latter took us so far south before rounding the +lower end of the terrible Bolson de Mapimi Desert that we at one time +thought he had secret orders to march us to the City of Mexico. + +Whatever the object of this long detour, it served the purpose of +enabling Pike and myself to take many more observations of the mines, +towns, and other features of the country than if we had followed a +shorter route. By the time we had swung around, north by east, up +through the Province of Coahuila, and crossed over the Rio del Norte, +which here is more often called the Rio Grande, we had all but one of +the musket barrels closely packed with notes. + +From the Rio Grande we proceeded northeastward, and crossing the border +of the Province of Texas, arrived at San Antonio on the seventh of June. +Here we were received with the utmost hospitality by the gallant and +beloved General Herrera and by Governor Cordero, who took us into his +own quarters, offered us every favor within his power, and had a house +especially prepared for the men. + +Many other prominent persons of the town were no less cordial and +hospitable. Among them was a Captain Ugarte, to whom we brought letters +of introduction from Malgares. His charming wife Dona Anita was a sister +of Dona Dolores. Hardly had we been introduced to her when the kindly +senora led me aside and showed me a letter which she had received from +Senora Malgares a week before our arrival. + +"My sister has roused my deepest interest, Senor Robinson, by the story +of your doleful separation from your Dulcinea," she explained. "This +letter begs me to do what little I can to console you." + +"You are most kind, senora," I replied. "But I know of nothing--unless I +might ask you to send a message by Dona Dolores to Senorita Alisanda." + +"Gladly! Have you received no message from her?" + +I shook my head sadly. She thought a moment, and then pressed me to tell +her of my last meeting with Alisanda. The moment I mentioned the cross +her face brightened. + +"Permit me to see the rosary," she said. + +I drew the bitter-sweet gift from my bosom and handed it over to her. To +my surprise, she began to examine the beads with a minute scrutiny, +feeling and shaking each in turn as she passed it along the cord. +Whatever she had thought to discover, she found nothing. At the last she +took up the little crucifix and turned it over in her slender hand. + +"Ah!" she exclaimed, holding it closer to her sparkling eyes. "Her name +is Alisanda Vallois." + +"Alisanda Vallois," I repeated, wondering at the remark. + +"A. V.--Alisanda Vallois. You have planned for a meeting in August?" + +"No, senora. We did not plan. I have heard of no such plan." + +"_Santa Maria!_ Men are so stupid!" she rejoined. "Look, there is your +message: 'A V--AUG'! What ever else can that mean than Alisanda Vallois, +in August?" + +"What?" I cried, half mad with delight. "But where?--what place, senora? +Tell me where!" + +She laughed at my blindness. "Where, senor? You ask that? What did she +call this gift--the exact words?" + +"_La vera cruz!_" Even as the words passed my lips, the truth flashed +upon me. I had indeed been stupid--blind!--blind not to have seen those +faintly scratched letters on the gold; stupid not to have joined the +symbolism of the gift to her words, "_La Vera Cruz_"! + +I kissed the senora's hand with a fervor which, I trust, did not disturb +the peace of mind of Captain Ugarte. Later she undertook to send to the +care of Dona Dolores a message which, for the sake of precaution, I +restricted to the one line:-- + +"_La vera cruz_ is my guide and comforter." + +Despite so joyful a revelation to glorify our stay at San Antonio, I +felt no regrets when another week saw us started on to the north and +east for Nacogdoches, the most eastward of the Spanish _presidios_ in +Texas. + +The second day beyond that place we crossed the Sabine, and were left by +our Spanish escort, being in the neutral zone. + +On the afternoon of July the first we at last arrived at Natchitoches, +only fifteen days short of a full year since we had departed on our long +and eventful journey from Belle Fontaine. + +Such greeting as we received from our officers at the fort may be better +imagined than expressed. And not the least of my joys upon this happy +occasion was that of hearing my brave and resolute friend hailed by his +fellows, not as Lieutenant, but as Captain! We were alike astonished and +gratified to learn that he had been entitled to that advanced rank since +the twelfth of the preceding August. What was more, his services had +been most handsomely noticed to Congress by President Jefferson. + +As the Captain had arrived at the journey's end outworn and in miserable +health, I restrained myself to remain with him long enough to assist in +arranging the great mass of notes which, to the exultant delight of our +countrymen, we brought to view by filing off the barrels of the six +muskets. + +There would have been no end to the questions of the officers of the +fort had not Pike intimated that discretion required silence with regard +to all the important details until after he had made his report to +General Wilkinson and the Secretary of War. The doughty General, we +were informed, had hurried east to Richmond some weeks past, to take +part in the trial of Colonel Burr and Harmon Blennerhasset for treason. + +But as to the facts of the great case, I observed that our countrymen +were decidedly circumspect in their statements; for it seems that the +General himself was accused by his numerous enemies of complicity in the +alleged treasonous conspiracy. Captain--I write the word with +pride--Captain Pike was highly indignant at this attempt to implicate +the friend and patron who had so helped him in his career. But I, +remembering what I had learned from Burr and from the General himself, +and above all considering that hideous charge by the aide Medina, had +the greatest difficulty in giving the passive assent of silence when my +friend said that he would include my respects in his letter to the +General. + +Truth to tell, having now the possibility of again meeting and of +winning my lady, I was extremely desirous for a commission in the Army. +It was an ambition which the Captain and I had frequently discussed +since our departure from Chihuahua, and which he told me he intended to +call to the attention not only of General Wilkinson but of the Secretary +of War, General Dearborn. + +I need hardly say that we had also discussed, in confidence, my plans +for a voyage to Vera Cruz. But as he knew even less about the sea than +myself, he could only commend my intention of applying for assistance +to Mr. Daniel Clark, and insist upon my leaving him as soon as his +health was a little improved and the notes partly arranged. + +At last my growing impatience and anxiety forced me to bend to his +urging. We parted, with more than brotherly regard and affection, in the +fond expectation of rejoining each other within a few months as brothers +in arms. His last words were an assurance that he could obtain me a +captaincy, and a heart-felt wish that I might succeed in my venture. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII + +IMPRESSED + + +It was a wearisome journey by river and forest and swamp to New Orleans +in the swelter of the July heat, but I pushed on by horse and boat to +the mosquito-and-fever-plagued city of the delta. Having long since +become hardened to the torments of the Southern insect pests and to the +dangers of ague, dengue, and yellow jack, I endured the first with +resignation and braved the last without a qualm. + +The sight of the creole city, with our glorious flag afloat above the +bold little forts, St. Louis and St. Charles, filled me with joy and a +sense of accomplishment. This marked my point of departure in the +crossing of the Gulf, which alone, I hoped, now separated me from my +lady. Though, even with the influx of our native-born Americans since +the annexation, the city could claim only nine thousand inhabitants, the +amount of its trade and shipping was enormous. Among the scores and +hundreds of sea-going craft which lay moored along the wharfs and the +levees or swung at anchor in the stream, I felt certain I should find +one to bear me to Vera Cruz. + +Of all the merchants of the city, I knew that few if any stood so well +with the Spanish authorities in the New World or carried on so extensive +a trade with the Spanish colonies as my acquaintance, Mr. Daniel Clark. +Accordingly I waited upon him the evening of my arrival, and stated my +keen desire to obtain passage to Vera Cruz. + +He took occasion to congratulate me on my share in the expedition, a +general account of which had come to him, I suspect through secret +sources of communication with the Spaniards. He, however, shook his head +over my request for advice and assistance, until, in desperation, I +confessed that the object of my intended voyage was to meet the lady to +whom I was betrothed. + +"Why did you not tell me that at the first, sir?" he snapped. "I set you +down for an agent of that double-dealing scoundrel and traitor James +Wilkinson." + +"Mr. Clark," I replied, "General Wilkinson will, I presume, be subjected +to the searching cross-examination of the counsel for Colonel Burr. +Personally I have little liking for the General, and have so expressed +myself in the past. But for the present I think it only just to him, as +to Colonel Burr, to await the publication of the facts of this +deplorable scandal and the verdict of the trial." + +"Ay, ay! You can take a dispassionate view, doctor. You have not shared +in all the heat and tumult of this last year. Very well. Be as +nonpartisan as you wish, just so you do not join in the hounding of +honorable men who chanced to show courtesies to that misguided dreamer, +Burr." + +"Sir, I have no other thought, no other object in life that I can +consider until I have returned this to my lady," I said, showing him the +rosary. + +He turned to his portfolio, and at once wrote a letter in a neat, clerky +hand. Having folded and addressed it, he handed it to me unsealed. + +"Present that to Monsieur Lafitte. You will find his sloop, the _Siren_, +somewhere along the water front. Wait. Are you in funds?" + +"Enough for the present, sir. But this Monsieur Lafitte--he sails for +Vera Cruz?" + +"I have written him that you wish to land in that port. He bears papers +from me which will enable you to effect a landing and a stay of a few +weeks. Should you need funds to carry you through with your venture in +that city, this letter will enable you to draw upon Captain Lafitte for +a hundred doubloons." + +I sought to express my gratitude, but he cut me short, and rang for his +mulatto boy to show me out. As it was by now past nine o'clock and a +dark, cloudy evening, I returned to my hotel for the night. + +But sunrise found me down in the midst of the hurly-burly and confusion +of the water front. Such a scene was never known elsewhere than here in +the port of the Father of Waters. Rowdy rivermen from the Ohio and +Mississippi settlements, and no less rowdy seamen from the four quarters +of the globe, lewd women and dock workmen, black and white, swarthy +creole merchants and weather-beaten ship's officers,--all jostling and +hurrying about wharf and levee in the cool of the early morning. + +Upon starting to inquire, I discovered that it was not so simple a +matter to find the sloop _Siren_ as I had imagined. The slaves and +creoles were polite in their replies, the sailors and rivermen gruff, +but all alike expressed their inability to enlighten me. + +At last I accosted at a venture a splendidly built gentleman of about my +own age and breadth but a full two inches taller. + +"Monsieur," I said, noting his black hair and French features, "your +pardon, but I am in search of the schooner _Siren_, Captain Lafitte." + +"Ah," he replied, eying me with a polite yet penetrating gaze. "May I +request you to name your business with Captain Lafitte?" + +"Sir," I answered, bowing, "my business with Monsieur Lafitte is +private. If you cannot favor me with the location of the _Siren_--" + +"If I cannot favor you with that, I can at least with the location of +Jean Lafitte," he said, bowing in turn. "Monsieur, permit me to +introduce myself as Jean Lafitte, at your service." + +"Monsieur, your servant, Dr. John H. Robinson, with a letter from +Monsieur Daniel Clark," I responded. + +His fine hazel eyes glowed. "A friend of Monsieur Clark!" + +I handed him the letter. He bowed with the polished ease of a courtier, +and after a polite apology, opened and read the letter. At the end he +slipped the letter into his wallet, and smilingly held out to me a +shapely, bronzed hand. + +"Monsieur Clark has explained your reason for sailing, doctor," he said, +with a manner that won him my regard on the spot. "I shall be more than +pleased to do all in my power to aid you. We shall first send for your +chests." + +I explained my lack of wardrobe. + +"_Sacre!_" he exclaimed. "But I sail at once. Come! I have it. I lost my +third mate in a brush with an English privateer last month. He was a +cleanly man of much your build. You shall ship in his berth." + +I pointed to the nearest flatboat. "That is the extent of my seamanship, +Monsieur Captain." + +He shrugged. "The clothes will fit, if the berth does not. You can save +your present costume for your landing." + +I bowed assent, and we at once swung along side by side to a wharf where +his boat was in waiting for him. With a courtesy which I did not then +appreciate, though I noted how it impressed the half-dozen swarthy, +red-capped oarsmen, he sprang first into the stern-sheets. The moment I +stepped in after him, the men pushed off. They rowed with a skill and +regularity of stroke that speedily brought us out around the brig which +blocked our view, when we approached the most graceful sloop upon which +I had ever set eyes. + +Not being a seaman, I can only say that the _Siren's_ masts and yards +seemed to me to be unusually long, and the former strongly inclined to +the stern--raked, I believe is the marine term. Her hull, which was +painted a dull gray, with a narrow stripe of red, was sharp in the bow, +broad and overhanging at the stern, and low-set in the water. + +When we came aboard, I noticed that the sloop's decks were cleaner and +more orderly than those of any other merchant vessel I had seen at close +quarters, and that besides a number of carronades, she carried abaft the +mainmast a great pivot-gun that could have found few mates afloat +elsewhere than aboard a man-of-war. It was a long French +twenty-four-pounder, which is really a twenty-six-and-a-half-pounder by +English weight. As is well known, many frigates carry no heavier longs +than eighteen-pounders. + +Observing my interested glance, Captain Lafitte said, with a smile: "As +you see, doctor, Monsieur Clark is disinclined to deliver his sloop and +cargo to the Spanish privateers without a protest." + +"Is the _Siren_, then, his vessel?" I asked in surprise. + +"For this voyage, at least," he answered; and leaving me to guess what +this might mean, he turned and called out a series of nautical orders in +a voice like a trumpet. + +Instantly such a swarm of sailors poured up from the forecastle and +hatchways and rushed here and there about the decks that I wondered they +did not run one another down. Between times the Captain beckoned to a +grinning imp of a cabin-boy and told him to show me below. + +It was three days before I again saw the deck. Once the sloop was under +way, Captain Lafitte came down long enough to start me overhauling the +chests of the dead third mate. This kept me occupied until the +mid-afternoon, aside from the time it took me to eat the savory meal +brought to me by the cabin-boy. Captain Lafitte remained all the time on +deck with the pilot who conned us down to the Gulf. When at last he did +come below, the sloop was pitching in a rough cross-sea and I was most +disgracefully nauseated. + +The gale freshening to a downright storm, we were, as I was afterwards +told, compelled to run before it under a storm jib. At the time I knew +only that I was too seasick to care whether the ship floated or +foundered. + +But on the fourth day the storm abated to a half gale, and the sloop, +being brought about and put under more sail, became so much steadier +that I made shift to eat a scant meal and crawl on deck. Such of the +weary-eyed crew as took heed of me grinned at the pale-faced landsman, +but they took on another look when at noon I helped the captain to take +his observations and work out the result. I had not spent all those +months with Pike for nothing. + +Lafitte appeared highly amused at this discomfiture of his tars, and +promptly declared in their hearing that I should be rated as third +mate. The following day, when I really found my sea-legs, he proposed in +all seriousness that I should accept the berth. Having candidly declared +his bitter hatred of the British, he sought to sting me to a like hatred +by relating in full detail the account of the shameful, brutal outrage +of the _Leopard_ upon the _Chesapeake_, off Hampton Roads, hardly more +than a month past. + +Despite my anger and humiliation at this unavenged insult to my flag, I +felt no longing for a seafaring life other than such as was necessary to +win me my lady. Lafitte acknowledged that, in my situation, my decision +was probably a wise one. But he went on with the statement that he, for +one, would live and die in the contest against tyranny on the high seas, +and repeated a terrible vow which he had taken against all Britons and +Spaniards. His hatred of the first I could well understand, since he was +a Frenchman. But his enmity to the latter, now the allies of his +country, I could explain only as the result of private injuries. On this +point he was as reserved as he was free in expressing his determination +to wreak vengeance upon the ships of both nations. + +Not two days later we were roused at dawn by the muffled cry of "Ship, +ho!" and slipping up on deck, found the _Siren_ within a cable's-length +of a British frigate. The surprise was complete, for the British sighted +us within a few moments after they were themselves seen. Detecting +Lafitte's attempt to set more sail, they fired a solid shot across our +bows. Our captain could do no other than obey this grim signal to +heave-to, since disobedience would have meant the blowing of the sloop +to matchwood by the frigate's broadside of long eighteen-pounders. + +According to a prearranged plan, the half-dozen British seamen in our +crew and a dozen of the more English-appearing Americans at once slipped +down into the hold, where they were hidden by their shipmates in a +stow-hole prepared for the purpose in the midst of the cargo. Meantime, +cursing beneath his breath, Captain Lafitte paced his little +quarterdeck, if so it may be called, and stared at the frigate's cutter, +which came racing toward us over the dancing waves in the refulgent glow +of the low, red sunrays. It was a pretty sight, but one which not a man +aboard looked upon with other than a sour face. + +Very shortly the cutter came alongside, and we were boarded by a pert +young cockerel of a midshipman, with a following of six or eight +heavy-jawed British tars. Meeting Captain Lafitte's punctilious bow with +a curt nod, the young fellow demanded to see his papers, and added with +the lordliness of an admiral: "Pipe all hands on deck, and let there be +no stowaways, for I warn you I shall exercise the rights of search and +impressment." + +Captain Lafitte made a formal protest against these so-called rights of +search and impressment aboard an American sloop sailing from the neutral +port of New Orleans to the unblockaded port of Vera Cruz. Without +waiting for the insolent reply which this elicited, he sent for the +ship's papers and ordered all hands on deck. While the midshipman +glanced through the papers and log, all the crew, other than those +concealed, assembled in the bows for inspection. + +Unable to find a flaw in the papers, for Lafitte and the _Siren_ were +alike certified to as belonging to the port of New Orleans, our +unwelcome visitor ordered the crew to file before him. In all the lot +there was not one British subject nor one who looked like a Briton, yet +the young tyrant picked out, without hesitancy, ten of the likeliest +looking men, seven of them lean, lantern-jawed Yankees and three French +creoles. In answer to the protests of the first that they were New +Englanders, he snapped out the one word "Hull"--to the creoles, +"Guernsey." + +"Good God!" I cried to Captain Lafitte, who stood by, gnawing his +mustache in silent fury. "You know these are native-born citizens of the +United States. Can you submit to such an outrage?" + +Far better had I held my peace! Instantly the middy demanded of the +nearest of our men who I was. The fellow, a stupid mulatto, mumbled +something about my being the third mate. + +"So!" snapped the Englishman. "Third mate? It is well known that all +Yankee ships are officered by British deserters. I'll take this +loud-mouthed sea-lawyer." + +"Not alive!" I rejoined. "I'm a free-born citizen of the Republic. I'll +not submit, you lying young scoundrel!--Captain Lafitte!--shipmates! +Show these bullies we can die like men!" + +My appeal was in vain. Lafitte still stood silent, and the men turned to +stare shamefaced at the guns of the frigate. I stepped back to catch up +a marlin-spike, but the British crimps were too well trained in their +despicable business. They sprang at and about me in a body. I struck out +right and left; then a belaying-pin crashed upon my head with stunning +force. + +When I recovered consciousness, I found myself swinging in a sailor's +hammock that was suspended from the beams of a low wooden ceiling. I +felt strangely weak and faint, but made shift to turn my head enough to +see that I was in a long, wide space between decks. The rows of cannon +resting each before its open port roused in me a sort of dull, vague +wonderment. A puff of salt sea air through the nearest port tempered the +suffocating heat of the place and revived me to a clearer +self-consciousness, though all my memory seemed, as it were, wrapped in +a gray mist. + +The first clear idea was that there was about my neck something precious +which must not be lost. I fumbled about with a feeble hand, and drew out +the rosary and cross from the open bosom of my shirt. I was gazing at +this, still bewildered, when there came to my side a dried-up, kindly +faced, bespectacled little gentleman who, at sight of my open eyes, +nodded and chirruped almost gayly: "Ahoy, Jack! Pleased to see your +wits out of limbo! You've had a narrow squeak of it, my man." + +"Who are you? Where am I?" I murmured. + +He took a pinch of snuff, sneezed with hearty enjoyment, and then +answered me with genial condescension: "In due order, Jack, I reply that +I am Dr. Cuthbert, surgeon to His Majesty's frigate _Belligerent_, of +whose crew you are a member." + +I stared at him, my memory still in that gray mist. Seeing my +bewilderment, he was thoughtful enough to explain: "You were so foolish +as to resist, my man, when Midshipman Hepburn impressed you. Either the +blow which stunned you, or the close air of the forecastle, or the seeds +of disease in your system, brought on a fever and delirium in which you +have lain for the past fortnight." + +"Fortnight!" I gasped. "But--I remember now--I must get to Vera +Cruz--Vera Cruz! Fortnight! What is the date?" + +"August the ninth." + +I groaned. + +"Vera Cruz?" he cackled. "Why should you wish to go to Vera Cruz?" + +I put my hand to my head, and tried to think--to penetrate that gray +mist. "I cannot remember--I cannot remember--only I know I must go--at +once--and it has to do with this cross." + +"Eh! eh!" he cackled. "I thought there was something in that rosary. +Third mates of merchantmen do not usually go about with Romish +crucifixes and beads about their necks. Your name?" + +I opened my lips, but not a syllable came from them. I racked my brains, +groping in that terrible mist of oblivion. It was in vain. I could not +remember my own name! + +"Eh! eh!" he murmured, when I told him the dreadful truth. "You are in a +pretty pickle. I have known before of such cases, resulting from a crack +on the head. The famous John Hunter agrees with Jean Louis Petit that it +is due to a bloodclot on the brain, which, in favorable cases, +dissolves, and the patient becomes fully restored." + +I stared, uncomprehending. I had forgotten Hunter and Petit; I had +forgotten all my learning--everything of my past life. I did not even +realize that I was a physician. + +He went on cheerily: "So you have some little hope for a full return of +memory, Jack. In the meantime you will soon regain strength enough to +leave the sick bay. For your own good, let me advise you to obey orders +and do your duty, with no further attempts at vain and foolish +resistance to your superiors. Whether or not you are a British +subject,--which personally I strongly doubt,--you are entered in the +crew of the 'Belligerent,' and the iron rules of the Royal Navy deal +severely with the slightest infractions of discipline." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV + +SHAME + + +It was another week before I recovered a fair share of my usual +strength, and I believe the kindly little surgeon kept me under his +charge two or three days longer than was strictly necessary. Meantime +the mist still shrouded my memory, and though otherwise my wits were as +clear as they had ever been, so far as knowledge of anything other than +the commonest matters of daily life was concerned I was in a dense night +of ignorance. + +Dr. Cuthbert took care to explain this to the officer of the watch in +which I was put, and the lieutenant was sufficiently humane to set me at +tasks which required no skill of seamanship. As it chanced, I saw +nothing of the midshipman who had impressed me. He was, as I afterwards +learned, in another watch. + +The day I was ordered on deck we sighted a palm-fringed coast, which my +fellow seamen spoke of as Yucatan. The word meant nothing to me, for my +memory was still in the mist, and the only name left me out of the past +was Vera Cruz. + +From Yucatan the _Belligerent_ cruised off in an easterly direction +toward Cuba. But the second day we fell in with a west-bound frigate, +which signalled the _Belligerent_ to patrol the mouths of the +Mississippi, on the lookout for a noted French privateer sloop _La Belle +Silene_, whose master, Jean Laffat or Lafayette, was rumored to have +turned pirate. + +Had I been in full possession of my mental faculties, I must surely have +noted the similarity of names. Jean Lafitte was not so far from Jean +Laffat, and the _Siren_ from _La Belle Silene_. As it was, I doubt +whether at this time the shouting of Lafitte's name in my ear would have +stirred the faintest echo of memory. + +The following morning, just at the change of the dog watch, the frigate +was suddenly roused from its dull, precise routine by the sound of a +heavy gun booming down the wind from the westward. Instantly the ship +was brought about, to tack to windward, and the order was given to clear +for action. The call to quarters was sounded, the marines paraded, and +the cannon run out ready for firing, all before we sighted the supposed +enemy. + +Meantime the boom of the heavy cannon had come rolling down the wind to +us at such regular intervals that the men about me swore there could be +only one big gun. Before many minutes we distinguished the hoarse, +barking roar of many carronades. At the same time we sighted the square +topsails of a Spanish merchantman, and, a little later, the gaff-topsail +of a sloop. + +Soon the word was shouted down from our lookout at the masthead that +the ship was running from the sloop, which carried the big gun and was +evidently having far the better of the engagement. The flag of the ship +now confirmed the opinion that she was a Spanish merchantman. But the +strongest of spyglasses were unable to make clear the small flag of the +sloop. It was enough, however, for the British captain, that, upon +sighting us, the Spaniard flew a signal for help, and veered so as to +run down to us. That her crew should thus seek to put their ship in the +way of certain capture was considered by the men about me clear proof +that the sloop was a pirate. + +As I had been left to pull and haul on deck, I was able to witness all +the fierce contest of the fight, and the race of the frigate to rescue +the assailed Spaniard. Sail after sail was set, and the bellying sheets +tautened as flat as the nimble seamen could draw them. + +But swiftly as we tacked to windward, and swiftly as the Spaniard +slanted down the wind to obtain shelter of us, the unfortunate vessel +was already in terrible distress from the relentless attack of her +little enemy. With an audacity which amazed the Britons, the sloop stood +on, undaunted by our approach, hanging close upon the quarter of her +victim. + +The fire of the ship was already silenced, while from half a +cable's-length the carronades of the sloop belched their missiles into +the rigging of the Spaniard with ever-increasing rapidity, and the great +gun on the mid-deck sent shot after shot crashing into the bulging hull +at the waterline. + +Suddenly we saw the mizzenmast of the Spaniard totter. It fell forward +and sideways, dragging after it the splintered mainmast. As the ship +broached-to, we could see that she was settling down by the stern. Even +I, despite the night of ignorance which lay upon me, realized that she +was beginning to founder. + +Certain of the fate of her victim, the sloop now sheered off. The +_Belligerent_ opened fire with the long eighteen-pounder bow-chasers, +but the shots fell short of the sloop by fifty yards or more. Within +half a minute the sloop had the stupendous audacity to fire her great +gun at us. By a rare chance, the ponderous ball struck the starboard +shrouds, snapping them like packthread, and hurled on aslant the after +deck, to chip a splinter from the mizzenmast and smash a great hole +through the roof of the cabin. + +Only the quickness with which the frigate was brought up into the wind +and the main and mizzen sails blanketed by the foresails saved the main +and mizzenmasts from being sprung, if not carried overboard. Never, I +fancy, did the crew of a man-of-war have to suffer such a maddening +checkmate. They dared not even come about to give the saucy sloop a +broadside, but could only bark away with the ineffective bow-chasers. +The sloop packed on what was a tremendous spread of canvas for so small +a craft, and fled away aslant the wind at a speed that the frigate could +not have hoped to equal on the same course, even had the rigging been in +perfect trim. + +By the time the British had stoppered the broken shrouds, reeved +preventer braces, and strengthened the splintered mizzenmast, the +Spanish ship had drifted down within hailing distance. She now sat very +low astern, and such of her people as had not been slain or helplessly +wounded had crowded up into her high-flung bows and were shrieking to us +for rescue. There was not one of their boats which had escaped the +fierce fire of the sloop's carronades. Seeing this, and that pursuit of +the sloop was now hopeless, the British captain ordered out all the +frigate's boats to take off the imperilled Spaniards. + +This was a simple matter, as there was little sea running and the wind +no more than a fair breeze. Soon the first boatload of Spaniards was +brought over from the sinking ship and rowed along our starboard side +toward the stern. As the boat passed, I looked down from the lofty deck +in the idle curiosity of my empty head. Seated in the stern-sheets I saw +a portly man in robes, and beside him a slender woman in the white veil +of a novice. The woman looked up--It was Alisanda! + +A cry burst from my lips, and I staggered back with a hand to my +forehead. In a twinkling everything had come back to me--full +consciousness and memory of myself, my life, my love! But in the same +instant all memory of my days aboard the _Belligerent_ became a blank. + +I stared about me in amazement. Then I remembered that my lady was being +rowed alongside this strange ship. I glanced over, and saw that the +boat had made fast alongside the ship's quarter,--that preparations were +under way to lift Alisanda to the deck. + +Heedless of all else in the strange unknown scene about me, I ran aft, +half mad with the mystery and joy of such a meeting. But suddenly a +marine sprang before me with lowered bayonet. + +"Halt!" he ordered. + +I stopped short, with the point against my breast. + +"Let me past--let me past!" I panted. "I must go to my lady! I am Dr. +Robinson! I must see her--at once!" + +"What's this?" demanded an insolent young voice, and the midshipman who +had impressed me swung around beside the marine. I recognized him on the +instant. + +"You!" I cried. + +"The dunce!" he rejoined. "Back before the mast, you damned Yankee!" + +"You!" I repeated. "Get out of my way. I'm going to my lady!" + +"Your lady!" he sneered, and he added a term which stung me to madness. +As he spoke, he struck me a heavy blow with his fist upon my jaw. +Catching him by the wrist, I jerked him forward and struck him a blow +between the eyes that would have felled him had I not held to his wrist. +The marine cried out, and sprang around for an opening to lunge at me +without striking his officer. I caught the staggering young scoundrel +by the shoulders and hurled him against the man. Both rolled to the +deck. + +At the same moment some one sprang upon me from behind and bore me down. +As I fell, others flung themselves upon my legs. My arms were wrenched +around behind my back and lashed together, my ankles bound fast, despite +my desperate struggles. Then a stern voice gave the order for me to be +taken below and placed in irons. I sought to cry out an appeal--to +attempt an explanation. But one of the men thrust a balled kerchief into +my mouth and tied in the gag with another kerchief which covered my eyes +as well. Dumb, blind, and bound, I was carried below, still struggling. + +The moment they had replaced my bonds with handcuffs and bilboes and +relieved me of the gag, down in the foul, cell-like prison, I so +implored and raved to see the captain that they thought I was beside +myself,--as, indeed, it may well be said I was. Instead of the captain, +they sent for Dr. Cuthbert, who was a perfect stranger to my restored +memory. He listened to my now incoherent statements that I was Dr. John +Robinson and must go to my lady, and sought to soothe me. My constant +repetitions convinced him that I was quite out of my head, and to quiet +me, he cunningly administered an opiate in wine and water. + +Discipline is swift-handed aboard a man-of-war. Before I had fully slept +off the effects of the drug, I was roused and taken before the +court-martial convened to try me. The judge-advocate was the officer of +my watch, though at the time I had no memory of him. For the first time +I saw the captain near at hand. He was a granite-faced Cornishman, and +looked upon me with a cold, blue-gray eye which condemned me before a +word had been spoken. + +My ankles had been freed from the bilboes before I was brought up, but +when I was ordered to stand, I could not readily obey because of the +continued numbness of my limbs. At this two of my guards jerked me up +with brutal roughness, and the charge against me was read. To my +amazement and horror, I learned that I was upon trial, under the name +Jack Numskull, for the crime of striking my superior officer, the +penalty for which was death. + +Ignorant of the procedure of the court, I sought to protest, but was +ordered to keep silent. In quick succession, the witnesses were called +and questioned,--first the midshipman I had struck, then the marine, and +after that four or five seamen. All testified without contradiction to +the damnable fact that I had struck Midshipman Hepburn. + +"Enough," said Captain Powers. "Has the prisoner anything to say?" + +The question was repeated to me. I bowed to the court as best I could +with my wrists locked together behind my back. + +"Gentlemen," I said, "I wish first to explain--" + +"Speak to the point," commanded the judge-advocate. "The law does not +require you to confess. Yet if you wish to meet death with a free +conscience, the court will receive your statement. Do you admit that you +struck your superior officer?" + +"No. I deny it." + +"You deny it--in the face of this positive testimony?" + +"I admit that I struck Midshipman Hepburn,--if that is his name. I deny +that I struck my superior officer." + +"Explain!" demanded Captain Powers, irascibly. + +"I deny that Midshipman Hepburn is my superior officer,--that any man on +this ship or in the Navy of George the Third is my superior officer. I +deny the jurisdiction of this court. I am a native-born citizen of the +United States of America. I was aboard a neutral vessel sailing from one +free port to another when this same Midshipman Hepburn boarded the craft +and unlawfully impressed me. In resisting, I was struck senseless. Of +whatever has happened since I have barely a vague consciousness. Only I +know that immediately before the affray for which I am now being tried, +I saw a lady being brought alongside in a boat, and at once full memory +came back to me. I am John H. Robinson, a physician of the Louisiana +Territory, born in the State of Pennsylvania, reared at Cincinnati on +the Ohio River, and educated at Columbia College, in the city of New +York." + +During my recital, all present except the captain regarded me with +lively curiosity, mingled with varying degrees of incredulity. Powers +did not betray the slightest interest or emotion. + +"We have heard the statement of the prisoner," he said. "Whether it is +or is not true is irrelevant. The fact remains that the prisoner, while +serving as a seaman in the service of His Majesty King George, did +strike a midshipman in said service, the same being his superior +officer." + +"Sir, may I suggest the doubt of the prisoner's sanity, in mitigation of +his crime?" interposed the judge-advocate. + +"Remove the prisoner," commanded the captain. + +I was led out and kept waiting for half an hour, while my life hung in +the balance. At last they led me back to receive the decree of the +court. By now I was in a half stupor of agonized despair, my thoughts +fixed upon Alisanda and all I was to lose. The terrible word "Death!" +roused me to consciousness of my surroundings. + +The judge-advocate paused, drew a deep breath, and continued the reading +of the sentence: "But, it being testified to by Surgeon Wilbur Cuthbert +that said prisoner was not at the time of the committance of his crime +rational or sane, said sentence of death is hereby commuted to the +sentence of one hundred lashes--" + +"Hold! hold!" I cried. "Not that! Shoot me!--murder me! But spare me +that shame!" + +This time when they dragged me out and down to the foul prison +black-hole they had no need of a gag. After that one wild protest, I +fell dumb. I had seen two floggings of twenty strokes of the cat since +coming aboard. With the words of my sentence the memory had come back to +me, and with the memory of those shameful floggings had returned the +remembrance of all my life aboard the _Belligerent_. + +When, an hour or so after my sentence, Dr. Cuthbert came to condole with +me, I recognized him and his kindness, but sat in sullen misery when he +sought to question me. The trial was over--sentence imposed. Why should +I accept the sympathy of these brutes? + +He may have divined my frame of mind, for presently he fell to deploring +the rigors of the times, brought about by the boundless ambition of +Bonaparte. England, he argued, alone interposed by means of her navy a +barrier against the world-wide domination of the Corsican adventurer. +That navy was the hope of the world. Yet, thanks to the French +privateers and Bonaparte's strength upon the Continent, Britain had lost +much of her commerce to the United States, to whose ships the British +seamen were constantly deserting to escape the harsh yet necessary +discipline of the Royal Navy. What, then, if occasionally a native +American was impressed? The struggle between Britain and the Corsican +was a struggle of life and death. Britain must man her ships, or submit +to destruction, and with Britain crushed, what nation or alliance of +nations could hope to withstand the infernal genius of Bonaparte? + +I waited for a pause, and inquired in a casual tone as to the welfare of +the Spanish lady rescued from the sinking ship. He started up, retreated +a pace or two, with his eyes fixed upon me, and then hurried off, +tapping his head significantly. I bowed my head with a sigh of relief. +The temptation had been taken from me. My weakness should not have +another opportunity to betray me. My lady should not know of my shame. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV + +UNDER THE LASH + + +In the early morning they led me out beside the foremast. There were +present the petty officer told off to wield the cat-o'-nine-tails, an +officer to tally the strokes, Dr. Cuthbert, and my guard. This was at +the first. Before the punishment had begun, half a hundred of the crew +had assembled to witness it, drawn I suppose by varying motives of +curiosity, pity, or craving for the exhibition of brutality. + +My guard was about to strip off my shirt, when Dr. Cuthbert interposed. +"One moment." They stepped back, and he addressed me: "Dr. Robinson, I +have never known a man possessed of a finer physique than yours. On the +other hand, none can say beforetime what any man can endure unless he +has been tested. You may succumb to this punishment." + +I looked at him a long moment, and for my lady's sake, found power to +beg a favor of this most insistently kind enemy. + +"Dr. Cuthbert," I replied, "may I ask you to remove the rosary from +about my neck?" He did so. "Sir, I now request you to guard my treasure. +If I survive this shame, restore it to me. If I succumb, I trust you as +a gentleman and a brother physician to give the cross into the hands of +Senorita Alisanda Vallois, with the simple statement that I died in your +care." + +"Senorita Vallois?--You know her?" he exclaimed. + +"Yes; but in God's name, doctor, do not tell her of my shame!" + +"Dr. Cuthbert!" interposed the officer in charge. + +The doctor stepped away, and my guard and executioner seized me fast. +With the deftness of sailors, they removed my handcuffs, stripped me to +the waist, and triced me up by the wrists to the foremast. + +"Ready!" called the officer. "One!" + +Down came the lash upon my bare back. But the sting of its thongs was as +nothing to the sting of shame which pierced my heart. Death would have +been far less bitter than this disgrace! + +The count went on. Stroke after stroke slashed across my back and +shoulders as heavily as my imbruted executioner could strike. Soon the +blood began to ooze, then trickle, then stream down. By the fiftieth +stroke I should judge that my back was a mass of raw flesh. Yet the +count continued, the strokes fell without ceasing, mercilessly. + +Coming as I did from a people bred to endure the utmost torture of the +Indian savage, I found no difficulty in restraining any outcry under +this equally fiendish torture of so-called Christians. But as the little +surgeon had said, no man can foresee the limits of endurance. At the +seventy-third stroke I swooned. They did not cut me down, but let me +hang by the wrists, and drenched me with buckets of sea-water, until I +revived. + +I gasped, stiffened, and writhed in the hell of agony which beset me +with returning consciousness. + +"Seventy-four!" called the officer. + +The lash descended, all the more forcefully for the rest enjoyed by the +wielder. + +"Seventy-five!--seventy-six!--seventy-seven!" went on the merciless +tally. + +I gritted my teeth, and vowed to endure and live, that I might overturn +heaven and earth to accomplish the shame and destruction of Britain. My +glaring eyes looked out past the mast upon the sailors before me with +such murderous rage that one by one they edged back and around beyond +reach of my vision. + +The count had now passed the eighties--it was at ninety. Only ten more +strokes! But despite my rage, a deathly sickness was fast creeping upon +me. I could no longer hold up my head. Try as I might, it sank lower and +lower, until my chin was upon my quivering breast. + +"Ninety-five!" The words came faint, from an immeasurable distance. I +was again about to swoon. + +Suddenly I heard a cry of anguish such as I trust never to hear again. +It was the voice of my lady! I looked up. She was darting toward me, her +beautiful hair flying wildly in the breeze, the rosary in her +outstretched hand. + +"Ninety-six!" Again the lash fell. + +"Ninety-seven!" But now she was beside me--she had flung herself between +me and the descending lash. I heard the sailors cry out. The executioner +whisked his lash aside by so narrow a margin that the tip of one of the +thongs left a crimson weal across her white forehead. + +"God!" cried the officer. There was a moment's breathless pause. Then he +called harshly, "Mademoiselle, stand aside. There are yet three +strokes." + +"Strike if you dare!" she cried. "I am here to defend him! Strike me!" + +"Mademoiselle, I would not force you away. But if I send for Captain +Powers--" + +"Send!" she cried. "_Poder de Dios!_ This gentleman is my betrothed +husband!" + +There was a gleam above my head, and the blade of a little dagger +slashed through the lashings which bound my wrists to the mast. I +attempted to turn, but tottered, and my knees bent and doubled beneath +me. I should have fallen headlong had she not eased me to the deck with +her arm across my naked, sweaty, blood-streaked breast. + +She knelt beside me, and drew my head against her knee. Then all again +became black. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI + +ACROSS THE GULF + + +This time, lacking the flood of sea-water, my swoon lasted much longer. +I recovered to find myself in the great cabin, lying upon a luxurious +berth, close to a stern window. Already my back had been covered with a +soothing, cooling balm and wrapped about with bandages. I sought to turn +upon my side, that I might look around. At once gentle hands lent their +aid to my support. + +"He revives!" exclaimed my lady. + +"'T was best to dress the wound before applying restoratives," chirruped +Dr. Cuthbert. + +But now I was fairly on my side, and could see the dear form of my lady. + +"Alisanda!" I murmured. + +"Juan!" she responded, kneeling and pressing her lips to mine regardless +of the doctor's presence. "My Juan! I am here, my beloved. I am with +you!" + +I caught sight of the weal of the lash across her forehead, and I +quivered with fury. + +"That!" I muttered--"that mark upon your forehead! They struck you?" + +"No, no!" she soothed. "Lie still, beloved. It was only an accident. It +does not hurt me--nothing can hurt me, Juan, now that we have found +each other!" + +"Dearest one!" I whispered. + +She bent close above me, with her soft round arm about my neck,--and +quickly all my pain and rage died away and were forgotten under the +glory of the golden love-light in her tender eyes. + +Dr. Cuthbert coughed, then took snuff. At that moment we would not have +heeded a cannon roaring in our ears. + +At last, however, Father Rocus entered, followed closely by Captain +Powers. Alisanda quietly rose to face them, but held to my hand as a +mother would clasp the hand of the child she sought to defend. The +captain stared at her between anger and admiration. + +"Mademoiselle Vallois!" he rumbled. "What does all this mean? How dare +you interfere with the discipline of my ship?" + +"How dare you, who call yourself an officer and a Christian, torture so +hideously this gentleman?" she returned. + +"Gentleman?--Torture?" he echoed, taken aback. + +"The gentleman I am betrothed to marry." + +"Marry!--Him?" + +"_Santisima Virgen!_ yes!" she cried. "And you!--you have lashed him +like a slave!--the truest, most gallant gentleman in Christendom!" + +He muttered something about the mad third mate of a sloop. To this Dr. +Cuthbert made hasty reply: "All a mistake, sir,--a most egregious +error. Mr. Robinson is, I am certain, precisely what he claimed." + +"Nevertheless," broke in the captain, his voice as hard as iron, "the +man has been tried, found guilty, and sentenced to one hundred lashes. +He has received ninety-seven. There are still three strokes." + +"I will bear them for him!" said Alisanda. + +"Mademoiselle, do not make yourself ridiculous," he reproved. + +"Better that than your cowardly cruelty in seeking to lash to death a +citizen of the Republic which revolted from your brutal rule!" she +thrust back at him. + +He stood for some moments gazing into her scornful eyes. Despite all his +harshness and arrogance, I believe he was alike pleased with her spirit +and softened by her beauty. + +"This man is entered in my crew as a subject of His Majesty," he at last +stated, in a tone which invited argument. + +"He is not a Briton," she replied. "I know he is an American. I met and +travelled with him in his own land. I saw, on the bank of the Ohio, the +tomb of his mother, who was slain by the red savages in the pay of your +Government. He was a volunteer with an expedition under Lieutenant Pike +of the Army of the United States. They crossed the western deserts of +Louisiana and the lofty sierras of the West, and came far south into New +Spain." + +"Hold!" exclaimed the captain. "That is incredible." + +"It is the truth," confirmed Father Rocus. + +"You support her statement, sir?" demanded Powers. + +"I am ready to swear to it, on my sacred word," replied the padre. "This +gentleman upon the couch is Dr. John H. Robinson, a physician of the +Louisiana Territory, who was the _compagnon du voyage_ of Lieutenant +Pike in the amazing journey of which Senorita Vallois has spoken. It is +as I told you before we entered." + +Father Rocus spoke with no less force than suavity. + +"It begins to look as though a mistake had been made," admitted the +captain with obstinate reluctance. + +"A mistake, sir, which has come near to costing Dr. Robinson his life," +ventured Dr. Cuthbert, snuff-box in hand. + +"A mistake which can never be rectified," added Father Rocus. + +The stubborn Briton was at last convinced. "I will make such reparation +as lies within my power. Dr. Robinson, I offer you my apology for this +unfortunate mistake." + +I closed my eyes and clung tightly to Alisanda's hand, that I might not +fling his apology back in his teeth. I heard the murmur of the padre's +voice, followed by the tread of feet and the opening and closing of the +door. Then once more Alisanda's arm was about my neck and her fragrant +lips were pressed upon my mouth. + +"Dearest," she whispered, "they have gone. I alone am here now, to +comfort you." + +"You are here!" I repeated. "Tell me. How did you come? I sailed for +Vera Cruz, but they took me by force from the sloop." + +I paused, as suddenly my two memories brought together the sloop _Siren_ +and the sloop which had sunk my lady's ship. + +"Lafitte!" I exclaimed. + +"Lafitte?" she asked, bewildered. + +"All's well that ends well!" I cried. "After all, he brought us +together." + +"Who, Juan?" + +"Jean Lafitte, the man who was to have landed me in Vera Cruz." + +"Ah, Vera Cruz--_Santa Maria!_ that terrible city! People were dying by +scores of the yellow fever. We lingered as long as we dared. But you did +not come. The padre said you could not have read my message aright. We +at last took ship for Western Florida. There was none sailing for New +Orleans." + +"You were coming to me! But the veil--the nun's veil?" + +"It is gone--see!" She put her free hand to the silky mass of her dusky +hair. "God forgive me, Juan! It was for your sake, and with the assent +of the padre, that I took the novitiate vows." + +"For my sake, Alisanda?" + +"That I might come to you, my knight! When you left me, my uncle became +all the more insistent that I should marry the Governor-General. The +padre had already planned for me this way of escape. I took the vows of +a novice. After that neither my uncle nor Dona Marguerite dared oppose +the counsel of the padre when he told them I must go to the Convent of +my Order in Vera Cruz. You see how selfish a love is mine. I could not +give you up, Juan. I was not a heroine, to give myself for the saving of +an oppressed people." + +"No!" I rejoined. "You could not have helped the people of New Spain. +They must fight their own battles. No people are worthy of freedom who +are not ready to give their lives for the ending of tyranny. Had you +sacrificed yourself to Salcedo, he would either have betrayed the +revolution, or he would have made himself a dictator, more tyrannous +than before." + +"You told me that in Chihuahua, dear. I repeated your words to the +padre, and he confirmed the statement. It was well, for had he shared my +uncle's faith in Don Nimesio, he also might have sought to persuade me +to give myself to the cause of liberty." + +"As it was," I murmured, "you attempted to come to me--alone!" + +"Not alone, Juan. There were the padre and my faithful Chita." + +"Ah, Chita--I did not see her in the boat." + +My lady began to weep. "Poor Chita! She was killed by a cannon-ball, +when standing beside me, during that fearful destruction of our ship by +the pirate sloop." + +"Pirate!" I repeated. "They flew the black flag?" + +"No; but it was a flag unknown to our captain, and he said they must be +pirates. They attacked us without warning and signalled that they would +give us no quarter--and they killed my poor Chita!" + +I remembered the dreadful vow of Captain Lafitte, but forgot it again in +my efforts to comfort my darling. I drew her lovely head down upon my +shoulder and stroked her silky hair. + +In the midst Father Rocus entered and came over to us, rubbing his +plump, white hands together with satisfaction. + +"My dear children," he said, "after all your trials, you have at last +won the happiness you deserve. Though you, my son, remain a heretic, I +believe that such love as yours is sacred in the sight of God. My +daughter, come now, that I may prepare you for the sacrament of holy +wedlock." + +"Now?--so soon?" she cried, drawing free from me, and standing, +scarlet-cheeked, her eyes fixed upon the deck, and her sweet bosom +rising and falling tremulously. + +"He is bruised and torn in spirit and body. You alone can soothe him," +said the padre. + +She cast at me a glance of unutterable tenderness, and withdrew into the +adjoining stateroom. Father Rocus paused for a last word to me: "My son, +this moment should be as solemn to you as it is joyful. Consider the +great goodness of God in giving to you a wife more precious than rubies. +In that thought, remember the words of our Blessed Lord Christ, 'Forgive +your enemies.'" + +With that he left me, and I lay alone in my burning pain, wondering if +it were possible for any man to forgive so bitter a shame and wrong as +had been done to me. But quickly a sort of ecstatic awe crept over me as +the consciousness of my marvellous--my splendid good fortune took +possession of my mind. It seemed unbelievable, and yet he had said it. +My dear lady was about to become my bride! She had crossed the gulf to +me! + +In the bliss of that thought, all my pain and anguish of body and mind +vanished, and the bitterness of shame, the fury of hate dissolved away. +I could not forgive my enemies, but the memory of their deeds was +blunted and smoothed over by the magic of love. + +When at last Captain Powers came in with a few others to witness the +ceremony, I was able to bring myself to the point of accepting the +apology he had tendered. This was well, for otherwise it would have been +difficult to endure the service which, as captain of the ship, it was +necessary for him to render us to assure the legality of our marriage. + +Soon Father Rocus led in my dear lady. She was no longer blushing, but +calm and pale. In the presence of the men who had condemned me to death +and to a disgrace worse than death, she raised her head and passed by +them with the hauteur of a queen. Yet once at my side, she knelt and +clasped my hand with a tender devotion that fetched more than one +envious sigh from the breasts of the younger officers. Never had she +seemed more lovely, more adorable, than as she waited beside me, her +dark eyes upraised and glowing with solemn ecstasy. + +The sonorous voice of Father Rocus rang in my ears like the sweet +harmonies of some heavenly choir. I had insisted upon lifting myself +upon my elbow, and when the padre handed me the ring, I made shift to +slip it upon the finger of my bride. A little more, and the good padre +raised his hands above us and blessed us as man and wife. + +With that the officers came forward and expressed their congratulations, +forgetting their British stiffness and reserve in their heartiness. At +such a moment I could have thanked Satan himself for a word of +good-will. Yet I was not ill-pleased when, having received my responses, +they bowed themselves out. As the last of their number closed the door +behind him, Father Rocus drew from his robe a rounded pouch of worn +leather, and held it out to me. + +"What is this, padre?" I asked, taking the heavy little bag. + +He nodded gayly to Alisanda. "According to the Spanish, and, I believe, +the American law, you are entitled to the charge of this property. When +we left Chihuahua, Senorita Vallois intrusted her jewels to my care. I +now deliver them into the hands of her husband." + +He smiled at my bewildered look, blessed us the second time, and left us +alone. + +"Sweetheart," I muttered, "I did not know--" + +She smiled in tender mischief. "Was it not a happy surprise? Before my +father died, there in the fogs of England, he sold all his Spanish +estates and bought jewels, that I might keep possession of my property. +Such being his will, not even his brother, my uncle, would take the +jewels from me." + +"Nor will I, Alisanda," I said. + +"You will share them equally with me, dear husband; for we are now one. +If it is your desire, we will purchase an estate at New Orleans. I dread +your cold, wet North." + +"Whatever your heart desires, dearest one, it shall ever be the object +of my life to obtain it for you. Your wish shall ever be my law, my +bride!" + +"Juan, my husband!" she murmured, and our lips met in that first +rapturous kiss of man and wife. + +Two days later, having in the meantime stood off toward the Spanish port +of Mobile, the _Belligerent_ fell in with a Philadelphia brig, bound for +New Orleans. The master of the Quaker vessel readily bargained to take +us as passengers, and we were accordingly put aboard the _Mary Penn_ by +Captain Powers, after we had taken a most affectionate farewell of +Father Rocus. He was going on to Mobile to care for the rescued +Spaniards, of whom, all being persons of no political or military +consequence, the British were eager to rid themselves. + +Except between ourselves and the padre, the parting afforded a welcome +relief to all. There had not alone been the matter of personal shame. In +these years of national humiliation, it would be difficult for any true +American to act the part of a gracious guest aboard a British +man-of-war. + +But once aboard the _Mary Penn_, there was nothing to mar the perfect +joy of our love. After a short and smooth voyage, the brig put into one +of the many mouths of the Mississippi, and, ascending in charge of a +pilot, landed us at New Orleans, the happiest couple in all the wide +world. + +THE END + + + + +BY MR. 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