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diff --git a/57319-0.txt b/57319-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..261ef34 --- /dev/null +++ b/57319-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8093 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 57319 *** + + + + + + + + + ++-------------------------------------------------+ +|Transcriber's note: | +| | +|Obvious typographic errors have been corrected. | +| | ++-------------------------------------------------+ + + +SAN ISIDRO + +BY + +Mrs. Schuyler Crowninshield + +[Illustration: Logo] + +HERBERT S. STONE & COMPANY +CHICAGO & NEW YORK +MDCCCC + + +COPYRIGHT 1899 BY +HERBERT S. STONE & CO. + + +TO +C. S. C. +A MEMORY OF "LA MADRUGADA" + + + + +SAN ISIDRO[1] + + + + +I + + +People wondered why Don Beltran remained in the casa down by the river. +He had been warned by his prudent neighbors, who lived anywhere from two +to six miles away, that some time a flood, greater than any that the +valley had yet known, would arise and sweep house and inmates away to +the sea. + +Don Beltran laughed at this. He was happy as he was, and content. There +had always been floods, and they had sometimes caused the river to +overflow so as to wash across his potreros, but the cacao and bananas +were planted on gentle elevations where the water as yet had never +reached. Then, too, there was always the Hill Rancho, though neither so +large nor so comfortable as the casa. Why borrow trouble? At the first +sign of danger the cattle and horses had always betaken themselves to +the grove on the hill, there to browse and feed, until the shallow lake +which stretched across the plains below them had subsided. Once Don +Beltran, Adan, his faithful serving-man, and Adan's niece, Agueda, had +been belated. Adan had quickly untied the bridle of the little brown +horse from the tethering staple at the corner of the casa, and mounting +it, had swum away for safety. + +"That is right," said Don Beltran; "he will swim Mexico"--Don Beltran +said Mayheco--"to the rising ground, and save the young rascal. As for +us, Agueda, the horse had stampeded before I noticed the cloud-burst. It +seems that you and I must stay." + +Agueda made no answer, but she thought it no hardship to remain. + +"There is no danger for us, child; we can go up to the thatch and wait." + +"The peons have gone," said Agueda, shyly. + +"They were within their rights," answered Don Beltran. "All must go who +are afraid. I have always told them that. For me, I have known many +floods. They were always interesting, never dangerous. Had I my choice, +I should have stayed." + +"And I," said Agueda. She did not look at Don Beltran as she spoke. The +lids were drooped over her grey eyes. + +Agueda turned away and entered the comidor, leaving Don Beltran looking +up the valley: not anxiously--merely as one surveys a spectacle of +interest. Once in the comidor, Agueda busied herself opening cupboards +and closets. She took therefrom certain articles of food which she +placed within a basket. She did not move nervously, but quickly, as if +to say, "It may come at any moment; we have not much time, perhaps." She +recalled, as she lightly hurried about, the last time that the flood had +overtaken them at the casa. Nada, her mother, had prepared the basket +then. Nada, Adan's sister, who had kept Don Beltran's house, after she +had been left alone on the hillside--Nada, sweet Nada, who had died six +months ago of no malady that the little Spanish doctor could discover. + +Don Beltran prized his Capitas, Adan, above all the serving-men whom he +had ever employed, and nothing was too good for Adan's sister Nada--so +young, so fair-looking, so patient, her mouth set ever in that +heartrending smile, which is more bitter to look upon than a fierce +compression of the lips, whose gentle tones wring the heart more cruelly +than do the wild denunciations of the revengeful and vindictive. The +little Spanish doctor, who, like the Chinese, had never forgotten +anything, as he had never learned anything, had ordered a young calf +slain and its heart brought to where Nada lay wasting away. Warm and +almost beating, it had been opened and laid upon the spot where she +felt the gnawing pain; but as there is no prophylactic against the +breaking of a heart, so for that crushed and quivering organ there is no +remedy. And Nada, tortured in every feeling, physical and mental, had +suffered all that devotion and ignorance could suggest, and died. + +Agueda knew little of her mother's history, and remembered only her +invariable patience and gentleness. She remembered their leaving Los +Alamos to come to the hacienda down by the river. She remembered that +one day she had suddenly awakened to the fact that Don Jorge was at the +casa no longer, that her mother smiled no more, that she paid slight +attention to her little daughter's questionings, that Nada was always +robed in black now, that there had been no funeral, no corpse, no grave! +Don Jorge was not dead, that she knew, because the old Capitas, Rafael, +was always ordering the peons about, saying, "The Señor wills it," or +"The Señor will have it so." Then there had come a day when the +bull-cart was brought to the door--the side door which opened from their +apartment. In it were placed her little trunk, which Nada had brought +her from Haldez, when she went to the midwinter fair, and her mother's +American chair, which Don Jorge had brought once when he returned from +the States; she remembered how kindly he had smiled at her pleasure. In +fact, all that in any way seemed to be part and parcel of the two was +placed in the cart, not unkindly, by Juan Filipe, and then the vehicle +awaited Nada's pleasure. She remembered how Nada had taken her by the +hand and led her through the rooms of the large, spreading, uneven casa. +They had passed through halls and corridors, and had finally come to a +pretty interior, which Agueda remembered well, but in which she had not +been now for a long time. The walls were pink, and on the floor was a +pink and white rug, faded it is true, but dainty still. Here Nada had +looked about with streaming eyes. She had gone round behind the bed, and +Agueda had looked up to see her standing, her lips pressed to the wall, +and whispering through her kisses, "Good by, good by!" Then she had +taken Agueda by the hand. + +"Look at this room well, 'Gueda," she had said. + +"Why, mother?" + +But Nada did not speak. Her lips trembled. She could not form her words. +She stood for a moment, her eyes devouring that room which she should +never see again. Her tears had stopped; her eyes were burning. + +She stooped down by her daughter. + +"Agueda," she said, "repeat these words after me." + +"Yes, mother." + +"Say, 'All happiness be upon this house.'" + +"No, no! mother, I will not. This casa has made you cry. I will not say +it." + +"Agueda!" Nada's tone was almost stern. "Do as I tell you, child, repeat +my words--'All happiness come to this house.'" + +But Agueda had pressed her lips tightly together and shaken her head. +She had closed the grey eyes so that the curled lashes swept her round +brown cheek. Nada had lifted the child in her arms and carried her +through the corridors and out to the side veranda. She had set her in +the cart and got in beside her. + +"Where to, Señora?" Juan Filipe had asked gently. + +"To San Isidro," Nada had answered from stiff lips. + +"_Aaaaaiiieee!_" Juan Filipe had shouted, at the same time flourishing +the long lash of his whip round the animals' heads. They, knowing that +they must soon move, had tossed their noses stubbornly. Another warning, +the wheels had creaked, turned round, and they had passed down the hill. +Agueda never forgot that ride to San Isidro. Had it not been for her +mother's tears, she would have been more than happy. She had always +wished to ride in the new bull-cart; Juan Filipe had promised her many +a time. Now he was at last keeping his promise. This argued well. If she +could take one ride, how many more might she not have? All the time +during that little trip to San Isidro, Agueda was asking herself mental +questions. There was no use in speaking to her mother. She only looked +far away toward Los Alamos, and answered "Yes" and "No" at random. +Agueda remembered with what delight she had seen the patient bulls turn +the creaking cart into the camino which led to San Isidro. + +"Oh," she said, clapping her hands, "we are going to Uncle Adan's!" + +For was not this Uncle Adan's casa, and did not Don Beltran live with +Uncle Adan? She was not sure. But when she had been there with her +mother, she had seen that splendid tall Don Beltran about the house with +the dogs, or with his bulls in the field, or in his shooting coat with +his gun slung across his shoulder, or going with his fishing-tackle to +the river. Yes, she was sure that Don Beltran lived at Uncle Adan's +house. + +Agueda's thoughts sped with the rapidity that reminiscence brings, and +as she placed some rounds of cassava bread in the basket she saw her +mother doing the same, as if it were but yesterday, and saying between +halting breaths: + +"Never trust a gentleman--Agueda--marry some--plain, honest--man--a man +of--our people, Agueda--but do not--trust--" + +"Who are our people, mother?" the girl had interrupted. + +Aye, who were their people? + +Nada had not answered. She had lain her thin arms round Agueda's +unformed shoulders, turned the girl's head backward with the other hand +laid upon her brow, and gazed steadily into the good grey eyes. + +"My little Agueda," she had said--stopped short, and sighed. It was +hopeless. There was no escape from the burden of inheritance. Agueda had +not understood the cause of her mother's sigh and her halting words. She +had been ill to death--that she knew. Then came long years of patience, +as Agueda grew to girlhood. Could it be only six months ago that she had +lost her? + +"My sweet Nada," she whispered, as she laid a napkin over the contents +of the basket, "I do not know what you meant, but I do not forget you, +Nada." + +"Hasten, Agueda! There is no danger, but there is no need of getting a +wetting." + +Agueda turned to see Don Beltran standing in the doorway of the comidor. +He was smiling. His face looked brown and healthful against the worn +blue of the old painted door. His white trousers were tucked within the +tops of his high boots, and he wore a belt of tanned leather, with the +usual accompaniment of a pistol-holder, which was empty, the belt +forming a strap for a machete, and holding safely that useful weapon of +domesticity or menace. His fine striped shirt hung in loose folds partly +over the belt; the collar, broad, and turned down from the brown throat, +being held carelessly in place by a flowing coloured tie. He had an old +Panama hat in his brown hand. His wavy hair swept back from his +forehead, crisp and changeable in its dark gold lights. His brown eyes +looked kindly at the girl, but more particularly at the basket which she +filled. + +"Have you some glasses?" he asked, "and some--" + +"Water, Señor? Yes, I have not forgotten that." + +Don Beltran laughed merrily. + +"I fancy that we shall have water enough, 'Gueda, child. Get my flask +and fill it with rum. The pink rum of the vega. Here, let me get the +demijohn. Run for the flask, child. Perhaps I should have listened to +the warning of old Emperatriz." + +There were other warnings which Beltran had not taken into account. The +sultry day that had passed, the total absence of breeze, the low-flying +birds, the stridulous cry of the early home-flying parrots, the +dun-colored sky to the south and east, the whinneying and neighing of +the horses. The old grey, who knew the signs of the times, had torn his +bridle loose and raced across the pasture-land to the hill where stood +the rancho. He was the pioneer; the others had followed him, and the +little roan had galloped away last of all, with Adan to guide and +reassure him. The bulls, leaping and plunging with heads to earth and +hind hoofs raised in air, with shaking fringe of tail and bellowed +pleading, had asked, as plainly as could creatures to whom God gave a +soul, to be allowed to flee to the mountain. Adan, in passing, had +unclasped and thrown wide the gate, and they had raced with him for +certain life from the death which might be imminent. Emperatriz had +whined and had pounded her tail restlessly against the planks of the +floor. Then she had arisen, and stood with her great forepaws resting +upon Beltran's shoulder, gazing with anxiety that was almost human into +his face. + +"Caramba Hombre!" Beltran had said, as he threw the great beast away +from him. Then he had laughed. "I am like the peons, who address even +the women so. It does mean a storm, Emperatriz, old girl, but I do not +care to go." + +He had opened the outer door. The great hound had darted through, +leaped from the veranda to the ground, and fled toward the south, +barking as she ran at the encroaching enemy. She had circled round the +casa, nose in air, her whimpering cries ascending to the sky, which +shone, as yet, blue overhead. Then back she had torn to the steps, and +bounding up and in at the door, had crouched at her master's feet, her +nose upon the leather of his shoe, her flanks curved high. Then she had +leaped upon him again. She had taken his sleeve gently between her teeth +as if to compel him to safety, then crouched again, flapping her great +tail upon the floor, her eyes raised to his, her whine pleading like the +tones of a human voice. Beltran had shaken the dog away. + +"I am not going, Emperatriz," he had said, impatiently. "Be off with +you!" + +A few more circlings round the casa, a few more appealing cries, a +backward glance and a backward bark, and Emperatriz had started for the +rancho, and none too soon. The potrero had become a shallow lake, +through which she splashed before she had placed her forefeet upon the +rise. + +"Hasten, Agueda! Come! Come!" called Beltran. + +Agueda ran to the ladder, which was ever ready for just such surprises. +It was the expected which usually did not happen at San Isidro, but the +ladder was always there, fastened secure and firm, rivetted to the +floor and roof alike. It could move but with the house. Agueda stepped +lightly upon the rungs, one after the other. She raised the basket up to +Don Beltran's down-reaching grasp. He took it, placed it upon the gently +sloping roof, and held out a kindly hand to the girl, but Agueda did not +take it at once. She descended the ladder a round or two, and from a +nail in a near-by beam seized a coat which Don Beltran wore sometimes +when the nights were cool, and the trade winds blew up too freshly from +the sea. When she climbed again to the opening in the thatch, Don +Beltran was leaning against the old stone chimney, which raised its +moss-grown head between the casa and cocina. He had forgotten the girl. +His horizontal palm shaded his eyes from the ray of the level sun. There +was no sign of fear visible upon his face; he appeared rather like an +interested observer, which indeed he was, for he felt secure and safe, +for himself, his people, and his cattle. + +"See the commotion among the forests up there, near Palmacristi, Agueda! +It may be only a slight storm and quickly over, but if we do have a +flood like the last one, I have no wish that Garcia and Manuel Medina +shall float in at my front door in their dugouts and carry off all +things movable. It is so easy to lay everything to the flood!" + +"The men have been moving the furniture for an hour past, Señor. I +think there is little that can be carried away." + +Don Beltran gave a sudden start. + +"Where is the cross, Agueda? Did you remember that?" + +"I have it here, Señor." Agueda laid her hand upon the bosom of her +gown. "And the Señor's little cart, that is locked within the inner +cupboard. It cannot go unless the casa goes also." + +"And in that case I should want it no more in this world, Agueda. You +are thoughtful, child. The two souvenirs of my mother! Ah, see!" As he +spoke there was a stir among the treetops far over to the westward. +There, where yellow-brown clouds hung massed and solid as a wall over +the rift below, a strange agitation was visible. + +"It is a dance, 'Gueda. Do you see them, those fairies? Watch that one +advancing there, to the southward. She approaches the lady from the +east. See them skip and whirl and pass as if in a quadrille. It is a +pretty sight. You will see that once in a lifetime--not oftener. They +call it the _trompa marina_ at sea." + +Agueda raised her eyes and looked smiling towards the spot to which he +nodded. There white and twisting spirals danced and swayed against that +lurid background, and above the deep bay, which was hidden by the +hills. They advanced, they retreated, they dipped like sprites from palm +tuft to palm tuft. Sometimes they skipped gaily in couples, again one +was left to follow three or four that had their heads close together, +like schoolchildren telling secrets. It was all so human and +everyday-like, that Agueda laughed gaily and gazed fascinated at the +antics of these children of the storm. The long, ragged-edged split in +the angry clouds disclosed a blood-red glow behind, which sent its glare +down through the valley and across the woods, where it flecked the tree +trunks. From Beltran's vantage point the palm shafts stood black as +night against the glare. When he turned and looked behind him, unwilling +to lose a single bit of this latest painting from the brush of nature, +he found that she had dashed every tree trunk with one gorgeous splash +of ruddy gold. + +Agueda lifted her basket and carried it to the chimenea unaided. Beltran +was so absorbed in the grand sight that he had forgotten to be kind. +There was usually no thought of gallantry in what he did for the girl, +but even the natural kindliness of his manner was in abeyance. Agueda +set the basket behind the great stone wall. She remembered what he had +said the last time they had sought shelter from the water. "It is +ridiculous, that great chimney," he had said: "but even the absurd +things of life have their uses." She remembered how she had crouched in +her mother's arms the whole long day, but beyond a few drops there had +been no cloud-burst, no flood that came higher than the top step of the +veranda. They had descended at night dry and unharmed. + +"It may be like the last one," she ventured to say. But her sentence was +drowned. There came a rustling and swaying sound from afar, growing +louder as it approached. Beltran noted the ruthless path which it +indicated, and then, "there came a rushing, mighty wind from Heaven." It +fell upon the tall lilies as if they were grass, bent them to the earth, +and laid them prostrate. Some of them, denizens of the soil more +tenacious of their hold than others, clung to Mother Earth with the grip +of the inheritor of primogeniture. But the struggle was brief. + +"I was certain that those I planted upside down would stand," said +Beltran to Agueda. "I allowed twelve-inch holes, too." But there comes a +time when precaution is proven of no avail. The massive stalks were torn +from their holdings like so much straw, and laid low with their weaker +brothers. As they began to fall in the near field, "It is upon us!" +shouted Beltran. He seized Agueda's wrist and drew her behind the +chimney. And there they cowered as the wind raved past them on either +side, carrying heavy missiles on its strong wings. At this Beltran's +face showed for the first time some uneasiness. + +He was peering out from behind his stone bulwark. + +"There goes Aranguez's casa," he said, regretfully. "I had no thought of +that. I wish I had sent you to the rancho, child." + +They crouched low behind the chimney. He clung to one of the staples +mortared in the interstices of the stone-work, against just such a day +as this, and braced his foot beneath the eaves. Again he peered +cautiously out. A whistling, rustling sound had made him curious as to +its source. + +The river, which had been flowing tranquilly but a few minutes before, +now threw upward white and pointed arms of foam, They reached to the +branches, which threshed through open space, and swayed over to meet +their supplication, then straightened a moment to bend again to north, +to east, to west. The floods had fallen fiercely upon the defenceless +bosom of the gentle Rio Frio, had beaten and lashed it and overcome it, +so that it mingled perforce with its conqueror, while raising appealing +arms for mercy. It grieved, it tossed, it wept, it wailed, but its +invader shrieked gleefully as he hurried his helpless prize down through +the savannas to that welcoming tyrant, the sea. + +The water crept rapidly up toward the foundation of the casa. It washed +underneath the high flooring. It lapped against the pilotijos. It +carried underneath the house branches and twigs which it had brought +down in its mad rush toward the lowlands. As it rose higher and higher, +it wove the banana stalks and wisps of straw which it bore upon its +bosom in and out between the trunks and stems of trees. With the skill +of an old-time weaver, it interlaced them through the upright growth +which edged the bank. One saw the vegetable fabric there for years +after, unless the sun and rain had rotted it away, and another flood had +replaced within the warp a fresher woof. + +Beltran arose and took a few cautious steps upon the roof, but the wind, +if warm, was fierce, and thrust him back with violence. He barely +escaped being dashed to the new-made lake below. He caught at the +chimenea, and edging slowly round, seated himself again by Agueda. She +had been calling to him, and had stretched out her hand. Her eyes showed +her fear, and also the relief which his presence gave her. When she felt +that he was safe beside her she made no further sign. + +Beltran had laid his hand on Agueda's shoulder as he would have done +upon the chimney itself. By it he steadied himself in taking his seat. +She raised her eyes and shyly offered him his coat. He shook his head +with a smile. His lips moved, but she could hear no word for the noise +of the wind and water. Don Beltran put his hand to his mouth and placed +his lips to Agueda's ear. + +"Do not be afraid," he shouted. "There is really no danger." + +She shook her head and glanced up at him again, dropping almost at once +the childish eyes to the hands in her lap. She moved a little nearer to +their dividing line, and called in answer: + +"I am not afraid." + +He saw her lips move, and guessed at the words, though her look of +confidence would have answered him. Why had he never noticed those eyes +before? Was it because she had always kept them cast down? What slim +hands the girl had! What shapely shoulders! He looked at them as they +rested against the weather-beaten stones of the chimney. + +Agueda turned her head backward and clutched quickly at the light +handkerchief which confined the waves of her short hair. She laughed and +looked upward at Don Beltran from under her sweeping lashes. Her soul +went forth to meet his gaze, unconscious as a little child that she had +a secret to tell; unconscious that the next moment she had told it. How +can one tell anything except by word of mouth? + +Beltran drew sharply back, as far as the contracted space would allow. +He leaned over the edge of the roof, and saw that the water was now +sweeping through the casa, flowing more slowly as it spread over a +greater space. It glided in at the doors and out at the windows, which +he had left open purposely, not dreaming, it is true, that this flood +would be greater than others of its kind, but that in case it should be, +the resistance might be less. Glancing down stream, he saw a chair and +some tin pans bobbing and courtesying to each other as they drifted +across the potrero where the cattle usually browsed. + +The sun declined, the dusk came creeping down, and with the approach of +night the wind subsided. Fortunately there was no rain. The clouds had +been carried in from the sea at right angles with the stream, and had +broken in the mountains and poured out their torrents there. + +Still the rushing of the river drowned all other sounds. It grew quite +dark. Beltran leaned back against the chimenea. The slight creature at +his side rested, also, in silence. The darkness became intense. The +chimenea was needed no longer as a protection from the wind, but the +utter absence of all light made the slightest motion dangerous. A chill +mist crept up from the sea. The night began to grow cold, as do the +tropic nights of midwinter. Beltran shivered. Something was pushed +against his hand. He reached down and felt another hand, a hand slim +and cold. He took it within his own, but it was at once withdrawn, and a +rough and heavy article thrown across his knees. He felt some buttons, a +pocket which held papers, a collar. Ah! It must be his woollen coat, +which she had had the forethought to bring. Feeling for the sleeve, he +threw the coat round his shoulders, and with a resolve born in a moment, +reached out toward Agueda. His groping fingers fell upon her sweet +throat and the tendrils of her boyish hair, the great dark rings, which, +now that he could not see them, he suddenly remembered. Throwing his arm +around her, he drew the damp and shivering figure close. Then he grasped +the sleeve of his coat, and drew it towards him, forcing her head down +upon his breast. He sought the other hand, and later found the tremulous +lips. He held his willing prisoner close, and so they sat the whole +night through. + +Many and strange thoughts rushed through Agueda's brain during those +blissful hours. Life began for her then, and she found it well worth +living. She awoke. Her child's heart sprang into full being, to lie +dormant never again. Nada's words came back to her. She did not wish to +recall them, but they forced themselves upon her: "Never trust a +gentleman, Agueda; he will only betray you." + +"I should think much of your warning, Nada," thought Agueda, "if I saw +other gentlemen. I never do see them. If I do, he will protect me." The +danger had not arrived. It could never come now. She had found her +bulwark and her defence. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[1] Pronounced E-see-dro. + + + + +II + + +"When the flood has subsided," Agueda had said to herself, "all will be +as before. But stay! Would anything ever be as before? Well, what +matter? Who would go back? Shall we not trust those whom we love? Life +is the better for it. This was life. Life was all happiness, all joy. +The future? There was to be no future but this. This life of hers and +his should be the same until death claimed the one or the other. God +grant that they might go together, rather than that one should be left +behind. Let them go in a greater flood, perhaps, than the one which they +had outspent upon the thatched roof in the shelter of the old chimenea." + +Agueda knew not the meaning of those words of calculation--"the world." +She had never known the world, she had never seen the world. She found +herself living as many did about her. Only that they had heart-burnings, +jealousies, disappointments, and sorrows. She was secure, and she pitied +them that their lots had not been cast within so safe a fold as hers. +Her nature, if ignorant, was undefiled and undepraved; and noble, in +that she found no sacrifice too great for this splendid young god who +claimed her. What else was her mission in life but to make his life as +near Heaven as earthly existence could become? She stretched out her +young arms to the sky with a glow of happiness that asked nothing +further of God. There were the mountains, the fields, the forests, the +plantations, the river, and the rambling, thatched casa. These made for +her the world. + +Sometimes she thought of and pitied Aneta at El Cuco. Poor Aneta, who +had thought that a life-long happiness was hers, when suddenly one day +Don Mateo had returned from the city with a bride. + +"Poor Aneta!" Agueda used often to say, with a pitying smile through +which her own contentment broke in ripples of joy. How could she trust a +man like Don Mateo? As Agueda sat and thought, she mended with anxious +but unskilled fingers the pile of linen which old Juana had brought in +from the ironing room. Juana had clumped along the back veranda and set +the basket down with a heavy thump. There were table linen and bed +linen, there were the Señor's striped shirts of fine material from the +North, and his dainty underwear, and Agueda's neat waists and collars +keeping company with them in truly domestic manner. Agueda had never +done menial work; Uncle Adan's position as manager of the plantation +had secured something better for his niece. + +If Uncle Adan knew the truth, he made no sign. The lax state of morals +in the country had always been the same. In reality he saw no harm in +it. Besides which, had he wished to, what change could he make--he, a +simple manager and farming man, against the owner of the hacienda, a +rich and powerful Señor from Adan's point of view. + +Suddenly Agueda remembered that she had not seen Aneta for a long time. +She would go now, this very minute, and pay the visit so long overdue. +She arose at once. With characteristic carelessness she dropped the +sheet upon which she had been engaged on the floor, took from its peg +the old straw hat, and clapped it over her boyish curls. The hat was +yellow, it had a peaked crown, and twisted round the crown was a +handkerchief of pale blue. Agueda made no toilet; she hardly looked at +her smiling image in the glass. From the corner of the room she took a +time-worn umbrella, which had once been white, and started towards the +door. A backward glance showed her the confusion of the room. For +herself she did not care, but the Señor might come in perhaps before her +return. He had gone to the mail-station across the bay; the post-office +and the bank were both there. He was bringing home some bags of pesos +with which to pay his men. Possibly he would bring a letter or two from +the fruit agents, or the merchant to whom he sold the little coffee that +he raised; but the pesos were more of a certainty than the letters. If +he returned home before her, the sitting-room would have a disorderly +appearance, and he disliked disorder. His mother, the Doña Maria, had +been a very neat old lady. + +There are some persons to whom order and neatness are inborn. With a +touch of a deft finger here or there, an apartment becomes at once a +place where the most critical may enter. To others it is a labor to make +a room appear well cared for. It may be immaculate in all that pertains +to dust or the thorough cleanliness of linen or woodwork, but the power +to so impress the beholder is lacking. Agueda was one of these. She +sighed as she gazed at the unkempt appearance of the room. There was not +much the matter, and yet she did not know how to remedy it. She +re-entered the room and picked up the sheet from the floor, together +with a pillow-slip whose starched glossiness had caused it to slide down +to keep the sheet company. Folding these, not any too precisely, she +laid them upon the chair where she had lately sat. Then she glanced +around the room again. Its careless air still offended her, but time was +flying, and she had a long walk before her. Suddenly she put her hand +to her ear and took from behind it the rose that had been there since +early morning. It was the first that she had struggled to raise, and it +had repaid her efforts, in that hot section of the country, by dwining +and dwindling like a puny child. Still, it was a rose. She laid it on +the badly folded sheet; it gave an air of habitation to the room. She +smiled down at this, her messenger. She gave the linen a final pat and +went out, closing the door softly. It was as if a young mother had left +her sleeping child to be awakened by its father, should he be the first +to return. + +"It is something of me," thought Agueda. "It will be the first to greet +him." + +Agueda stepped out on the broad veranda. The loose old boards creaked +even under her slight weight. + +"Juana!" she called, "I'm going to see Aneta at El Cuco." She made no +other explanation. He would ask as soon as he returned, and they would +tell him. + +"Youah neva fin youah roaad in dis yer fawg," squeaked Juana. + +"The fog may lift," laughed Agueda. + +The river, forgetful of its past turbulence, smiled and glanced and +beckoned as it slipped tranquilly onward, but Agueda did not answer the +summons. She turned abruptly to the right and crossed the well-known +potrero path. This led her for a quarter of a mile through the mellow +pasture-land, where horses were browsing. The grey was not there--sure +sign of his master's absence, but the little chestnut was in evidence, +and farther along, beyond the wire fence, were the great bulls, which +had not been driven afield with the suckers. There stood Cæsar, the big +brown bull with the great, irregular white spots. Agueda went close to +the fence, and picked a handful of sweet herbs, such as Cæsar loved. + +"Cæsar," she called, "Cæsar, it is I that have the sweet things for +you." + +Cæsar threw up his head quickly, tossing long strings of saliva into the +air. He stood for a moment with hesitant look, then perceiving that it +was Agueda, trotted, tail held stiff, to where she waited, her hand held +out to him. He extended his thick neck, holding his wet, pink nostrils +just over the barrier, wound his dripping tongue round the dainty, and +then withdrew his head that he might eat with ease. + +"Too bad, poor Cæsar, that the horses get all the sweets, and you none." +With awkward arm held high, that she might not catch her sleeve upon the +topmost wire, she patted the animal's nose; then thrust one more bunch +of grass into the ready cavity, and turning, ran along toward the rise. + +When Agueda had closed the rickety potrero gate, she started up the +elevation which confronted her. Here the young bananas were just showing +above the ground. She had deplored the fact that this pretty hill-forest +had been sacrificed to banana culture, and had hated to see the great +giants which she had known from childhood cut and slashed. At the fall +of each one of them she had felt as if she had lost a friend. "I shall +never sit under the gri-gri again," she had thought, "and eat my guavas +as I look down on the river"; or, "I shall never again play house +beneath the old mahogany that stood up there at the edge of the meadow." +The face of nature was changed for her in this particular. It was the +only thing that she had to make her unhappy. Who among us would think +the world a sadder place because of the felling of a tree! The stumps +stood even with Agueda's shoulder, for Natalio, that African giant, was +the axe-man of the hacienda. His ringing strokes struck hip high. It was +less work to cut through the trunk some distance above its spreading +roots. There was no clearing up nor carrying away of branches or limbs. +With all their massive foliage, the branches were hacked from the parent +stem, and left to dry in the tropic sun. They were then placed in great +piles about the mother tree, lighted, and left to burn. Sometimes these +fallen denizens of the wood, whose life had seen generations of puny +men fade and wither, and other generations spring up and die while they +stood splendid and vigourous, refused to be annihilated. The fallen +trunk remained for years, proof of the vandalism of man. More often, a +long line of ashes marked the spot where the giant had blazed, then +smouldered sullenly, to become wind-blown, intangible. This great +woodland crematory having been made ready by death for the life that was +to spring up through its vanquishment, the peons came with their +machetes and dug the graves in which the bulbs, teeming with quiescent +life, were to be planted, each sucker twelve feet from any one of its +neighbors, there to be warmed and nurtured in the bosom of Mother Earth. +Because exposed upon a windy hillside, the bulbs had been placed in +their graves head and sprouting end downward, and at the depth of ten +inches. This was a provision against hurricanes, which, with all their +power, find it difficult to uproot so securely planted a stalk. + +And now the field which she had helped to "avita"--for one gives in when +the tide of circumstances flows too strong--the waste whose seed-graves +she had seen dug, whose bulbs she had seen buried from sight, had +suddenly become a field of life once more. Pale green spears were +springing up in every direction--a light, wonderful green with a tinge +of yellow. The spatulated leaves were handsomest, Agueda thought, when +spotted or marked with brown, or a rich chocolate shade. In their tender +infancy they were the loveliest things on earth, she thought, as she ran +about the damp, hot hillside, comparing one with another; and as she +again returned to the path, she nearly stumbled against the ebony giant, +who, standing just at the edge of the field, was watching her. + +"It is wonderful, Natalio," she said, "how quickly they have sprouted." +She smiled upward. + +"Si, Señorit'," said Natalio, smiling down. "It is the early rains that +bring the life. Perhaps the good God may be thanked a little, too, but +it is the good soil, and the rains most of all." + +He stooped his great height, and took some of the earth in his fingers. +"It is the caliche so the Señor says." He rubbed the disintegrated +gravelly mass between his fingers. Some of it powdered away. The fine +bits of stone that it contained dropped in a faint patter upon his feet. + +"I never heard the Señor say that," said Agueda, with the air of one who +would know what were the Señor's favourite convictions, "but of course +he knows, the Señor." + +"Bieng," said Natalio. "It is certain that the Señor knows." + +Agueda moved on up the hill. She felt, crunching beneath her feet, the +shells of the circular grub which had lost life and home in this +terrific holocaust. + +"It seems hard," mused Agueda, "that some things must die that other +things may be created." She smiled as she said this. She need not die +that other things might live. It had no personal application for her. At +least it would not have for sixty or eighty years, and that was a whole +lifetime. She might not be glad to die even then! Agueda had reached the +summit of the hill. She turned to look back at Natalio. He was standing +gazing after her. When he saw her turn he expanded his handsome lips +into a smile, showing his white teeth. Then he uncovered his head, and +swept the ground with his ragged Panama hat. He called; Agueda could not +hear at first what he said. + +"Que es eso?" she called back in answer. + +Natalio approached a few feet with his great strides. + +"I asked if the Señorit' would not ride the bull?" + +"Pablo is away," said Agueda. "I cannot go alone. The Señor will not +have me to ride the bull alone." + +"El Caballo Castaño, Señorit'," said Natalio, suggestively, approaching +nearer. + +"Would you saddle him, Natalio?" asked Agueda, thinking this an +excellent change of programme. + +"It would give me pleasure, Señorit'," said Natalio. + +Agueda turned and began to walk rapidly down the hill. + +"The small man's saddle, Natalio," she called. "I will be ready in a +moment." Agueda ran down the hill, keeping ahead of the giant, and sped +across the potrero. She flew to her room. There lay the rose as she had +left it upon the chair, but she had no time for sentiment. The horse +would be at the door in a moment, and indeed, before she had changed her +skirt for the cotton riding garment that she usually wore, and which our +ladies have imported of late under the name of a divided skirt, Natalio +was at the steps. Agueda buckled on her spur, and was out on the veranda +in the twinkling of an eye. Uncle Adan was coming up from the river. He +saw her stand upon the second step and throw her leg boy-fashion over +the saddle, seize the whip from Natalio, and canter away again toward +the hill. To his shout of "Where are you going?" she flung back the +words, "To Aneta's," and was off. + +Her easy seat astride the animal gave her a sense of freedom and +independence. The top of the hill reached, she struck off toward Troja, +on the other side of which lived Aneta, at El Cuco. Agueda galloped +along the damp roads, and then clattered through the streets of the +quiet little West Indian town. Arrived upon its further outskirts, she +allowed the chestnut to walk, for he was warm and tired. She was passing +at the back of Escobeda's casa, through a narrow lane shaded with coffee +trees. The wall of the casa descended abruptly to this lane, the garden +being in front, facing the broad camino. Agueda heard her name softly +called. She halted and looked towards the casa. A shutter just at the +side of the balcony moved almost imperceptibly, then was pushed open a +trifle, and she saw a face, the face of Raquel, the niece of Escobeda. +Raquel had her finger upon her lips. Agueda guided her horse near, in as +cautious a manner as could be. When she was well under the opening, +Raquel spoke again. + +"It is Agueda, is it not? Agueda from San Isidro?" + +Raquel whispered her words. Agueda, seeing that there was need for +secrecy, also let her voice fall lower than was usual. + +"Yes," she smiled, "I am certainly Agueda from San Isidro." + +"Ah! you happy girl," said Raquel, in a cautious tone, "to be riding +about alone." Agueda's head was almost on a level with Raquel's. + +"I am a prisoner, Agueda," said Raquel. "My uncle has shut me up here. +He means to take me away in a short time. It's a dreadful thing which is +to happen. Can you carry a note for me, Agueda?" + +"I will carry a note for you," said Agueda. "Is it ready, Señorita?" + +"I will write it in a moment. Agueda, good girl, you know the plantation +of the Silencios, do you not? Palmacristi?" + +"I can find it," said Agueda. "It is down by the sea. It is not much out +of my way." + +"If it were miles and miles out of your way, Agueda, dear, you must take +my letter." + +"Give it to me, then," said Agueda. + +There was a noise inside the room, at the door of the chamber. + +"Ride on to the clump of coffee bushes where the roads meet," whispered +Raquel. "The fog will help hide you, too. I will drop the note." + +As she tried to guide the chestnut softly over the turf, Agueda heard a +loud call from within. It was a man's coarse voice. She heard Raquel +answer drowsily, "In a moment, uncle; I was just asleep. Wait until I--" + +Agueda halted for some minutes behind the concealment of the coffee +bushes. She grudged this delay, for she had still some distance to +travel, and must make a detour because of Raquel's request. "But," she +argued, "had I walked, I should have been much longer on the way." She +watched the window at the back of Escobeda's house, then, presently, +from the front, saw a man mount and ride away in the opposite direction. +Then, as she still awaited the fluttering of the note, the shutter was +flung wide, and an arm encased in a yellow sleeve beckoned desperately. +Agueda struck her spur into the chestnut, and was soon under the window +again. + +"He has gone," said Raquel, "and I am locked in the house alone. All the +servants have gone to the fair." + +"You can climb down," said Agueda. "It is not high." + +"Where should I go then, Agueda?" asked Raquel. "No, he would only bring +me back. Now I will write my note, and I will ask you to take it to Don +Gil." As Raquel said this name her voice trembled. She coloured all over +her face. + +"You are lovely that way," said Agueda. "What does he do to you, +Señorita?--the Señor Escobeda. Does he starve you? Does he ill treat--I +could tell the Señor Don Beltran--" + +"You do not blush when you speak of him," said Raquel, who had heard +some rumours. + +"I have no cause to blush," said Agueda, with dignity. "But come, +Señorita, the note!" + +Raquel withdrew into the room. She scribbled a few words on a piece of +blue paper, folded it, and encased it in a long thin envelope. This she +sealed with a little pink wafer, on which were two turtle doves with +their bills quite close together. She leaned out and handed the missive +down to Agueda. + +"Thank you, dear," she said. "I should like to kiss you." + +"I should like much to have you," said Agueda. "Perhaps I can stand up." +Agueda spurred her horse closer under the window. She raised herself as +high as she could. The chestnut started. + +"He will throw you," said Raquel. "I will lean out." + +Raquel stretched her young form as far out of the window as possible. +She could just reach Agueda's forehead. She kissed her gently. + +"I thank you, Señorita," said Agueda. She felt the kiss upon her +forehead all the way to the plantation; it seemed like a benediction. +She did not reason out the cause of her feeling, but it was true that no +one of Raquel's class had ever kissed her before. + +Agueda rode along her way with quick gait. The plantation of Palmacristi +was some miles farther on, and she wished still to see Aneta. On her +way toward Palmacristi, and as she mounted the slope leading to the +casa, she met no one. Arrived at that splendid estate by the sea, she +spurred her horse over the hill and round to the counting-house. This +was the place, she had heard, where the Señor was usually to be found. +She had seen the Señor at a distance. She thought that she would know +him. + + +At that same hour the Señor Don Gil Silencio-y-Estrada sat within his +counting-house. The counting-house was constructed of the boards of the +palm, the inner side plain, the outer side curved, as the tree had +curved. The bark had not been removed. The roof of the building was also +made of palm boards; it was thickly thatched with yagua. + +Since the days of the old Don Gil the finca had enlarged and improved. +The counting-house stood within its small enclosure, its back against +the side of the casa, and though it communicated with the interior of +the imposing mahogany mansion, it remained the same palm-board +counting-house--that is, to the outside world--that the estate of +Palmacristi had ever known. + +Two tall palms stood like sentinels upon either side of the low step +before the doorway. The palm trees were dead. They had been topped by no +green plume of leaves since before the death of the old Don Gil. Now, +as then, the carpenter birds made their homes in the decaying shaft. The +round beak-made holes, from root to treetop, disclosed numberless heads, +if so much as a tap were given the resounding stem of the palm. + +No one wondered why Don Gil still used the ancient structure as a +counting-house. No one ever wondered at anything at Palmacristi; +everything was accepted with quiescence. "The good God wills it," a +shrug of the shoulders accompanying the remark, made alike, if a tornado +unroofed a house or a peon died of the wounds received at the last +garito.[2] + +The changes which had taken place at Palmacristi had nothing to say to +the condition of the counting-house, or it to them, except that it +acceded, somewhat slowly in some cases, to the payment of bills. Since +his father's day Don Gil had added much to the estate. Upon the right he +had bought more than twenty caballerias from Don Luis Salas--land which +marched with his own to the seashore. This included a tall headland, +with a sand spit at its base, which pushed itself a half mile out into +the sea. This sand spit curved in a hook to the left, and formed a +pleasant and safe harbour for boating. + +To the north of his inheritance Don Gil had taken in the old estates of +La Flor and Provedencia, and at the back of the casa, which already +stood high up on the slope, he had extended his possessions over the +crest of the hill. Had the original owner of Palmacristi returned on a +visit to earth, he would have found his old plantation the center of a +magnificent estate, with, however, the same shiftless, careless ways of +master and servant that had obtained in his time. This would probably +grow worse as his descendants succeeded each other in ownership. + +The casa was built upon a level, where the hill ceased to be a hill just +long enough to allow of a broad foundation for Don Gil's improvements. +At the edge of the veranda the hill sloped gently again for the distance +of a hundred yards, and then dropped in a short but steep declivity to +the sand beach. + +The old habitation had been built entirely of palm boards, but in its +place, at the bidding of Don Gil, had arisen a new and more modern +erection, whose only material was mahogany. Pilotijos, escaleras, +ligazones, verandas, techos, all were hewn and formed of the fine red +mahogany. The boards were unpolished, it is true, but dark and rich in +tone. They made a cool interior, where, coming from the white glare +outside, body and eye alike were at once at rest. The covering of the +techos was the glazed tile of Italy. Perhaps one should speak of the +roofs as _tejados_, as they were covered with tiles. This tiling proved +a beacon by day, as it glittered in the blazing light of the sun of the +tropics. + +Agueda guided her horse up the path between the two dead palm trees, and +rapped with the stock of her whip upon the counting-house door, which +stood partly open. + +"Entra," was the reply. She rapped again. + +"It is I who cannot enter, Señor," she called in her clear, young voice. +"I have not the time to dismount." + +An inner door was opened and closed. A fine-looking young fellow stepped +across the intervening space and appeared upon the threshold of the +outer door. He raised his brows; he did not know Agueda. Don Beltran +made various pretexts for her absence when he had visitors. + +Agueda held out the note. It was crumpled and dusty from being held in +her hand. + +"I am sorry," she said; "the day is hot, and my Castaño is not quiet." + +Don Gil gazed with interest at the boyish-looking figure riding astride +the little chestnut. "What a handsome lad she would make!" he thought. +"And you are from--" + +"It makes no difference for me. I bring a message." + +Silencio took the note which she reached out to him. + +"You will dismount and let me send for some fruit, some coffee?" + +"I thank you, Señor, I must hasten; I am going to El Cuco." + +"That is not so far," said Don Gil, smiling. + +"No, but I then have to ride a long way back to--" + +"To--?" + +"To San Isidro." + +"The Señorita takes roundabout ways. Is she then carrying messages all +about the country?" + +"Oh, no, Señor," said Agueda, smiling frankly. "When I go back to San +Isidro I go to my home. I live there." + +"Ah!" What was there imperceptible in Don Gil's tone? "You live there? +Is the Señorita perhaps the niece of the manager, Señor Adan?" + +"Si, Señor," answered Agueda, flushing hotly, she knew not why. + +She wheeled Castaño and paced down between the palm trees. + +"And you will not take pity on my loneliness?" + +Don Gil was still smiling, but there was something new, something of +familiarity, it seemed to Agueda, in his tone. + +"I cannot stop, Señor. A Dios!" she said, gravely. + +As Agueda rode out of the enclosure the day seemed changed. Why was it? +She had been so happy before she had delivered the note! Now she felt +sad, depressed. The sun was still shining, though there were occasional +showers of rain, and the birds were still singing. Nothing in nature had +changed. Ah, stay! There was a cloud over there, hanging low down above +the sea. It was coming to the westward, she thought. She hoped that it +would come, and quickly. She hoped that it would burst in rain upon her, +and make her ride for it, and struggle with it. Anything to drive away +that unhappy impression. + +Had Silencio been asked what he had said or done to cause this young +girl to change suddenly from a thoughtless, happy creature to one who +felt that she had reason for uneasiness, he could not have told. He had +heard vague rumours of the girl, Adan's niece, who lived over at San +Isidro. But that he had allowed any such impression to escape him in +intonation or gesture he was quite unaware. At all events, he was +entirely oblivious of Agueda the moment that she had ridden away, for he +opened the little blue note that she had brought, and was lost in its +contents. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[2] Cock-fight. + + + + +III + + +When Agueda left the Casa de Caboa she turned down the trocha towards +the sea. Although the sea was not far from San Isidro as the crow flies, +the dwellers at the hacienda rarely went there. In the first place, +there was the river to cross, and then the wood beyond the river was +filled with a thick, short growth of prickly pear. This sort of +underbrush was unpleasant to pull through. Don Beltran had tried to buy +it from Escobeda up at Troja, but Escobeda seemed to have been born to +annoy the human race in general, and Don Beltran and Silencio in +particular. He would not sell, and he would not cultivate, so that the +sea meadow, as they called it at San Isidro, was an eyesore and a cause +of heart-burning to Don Beltran. + +Agueda chirruped to her horse, and was soon skirting the plantation of +Palmacristi. The chestnut was a pacer, and Agueda liked his single foot, +and kept him down to it at all hazards. + +She felt as if she were in Nada's American chair, the motion was so easy +and pleasant. The beach was rather a new experience to the chestnut, +but after a little moment of hesitancy he started on with a nod of the +head. + +"Ah!" said Agueda, with a laugh, "it is you, Castaño, who know that I +never lead you wrong." + +She shook the bridle, and the horse put forth his best powers. They took +the wet sand just where the water had retreated but a little while +before. It was as hard and firm as the country road, but moist and cool. + +"How I should like to plunge into that sea," said Agueda to Castaño. +Castaño again nodded an acquiescent head. A salt-water bath was a +novelty to these comrades. + +After a few moments of pacing, Agueda came to the sand spit which ran +out from the plantation into the sea. Here was the boat-house which Don +Gil had built, and Agueda noticed that it was placed upon a high point, +with ways leading down on either side into the water. She looked +wistfully at the boat-house. "How I should love to sail upon that sea," +thought Agueda. "No water, however high, could frighten me." Then she +recalled with a flash the flood which had brought her happiness. She +smiled faintly, for with the thought the unpleasant feeling which Don +Gil's words had called up returned, she knew not why. Agueda was pacing +towards the south. Upon her right stood up tall and high the asta of +Palmacristi, the staff from which hung the lantern that, she had heard, +sent forth its white ray each night to warn the seafarers on that lonely +coast. + +"What harm for a ship to run on the sand," thought Agueda. "I have heard +that rocks are cruel. But the sand is soft. It need hurt no one." + +She struck spurs to Castaño, and covered several miles before she again +drew rein. And now the bank grew high, and Agueda awoke to the fact that +she was alone upon the beach, screened from the eyes of every one. Again +the thought came to her of a bath in the sea, and she was about to rein +the chestnut in when she heard a shout from the plateau above her head. +She stopped, and tipping back her straw hat, she looked upward. All that +she could discover was a mass of flowers in motion. "They are the +air-plants, certainly," said Agueda to herself, "but I never saw them to +grow like that." She looked to right and to left, but there was no human +being in sight along the yellow bank outlined by sand and overhanging +weeds. + +"Who calls me?" she cried aloud, holding her hair from her ears, where +the wind persisted in blowing it. + +"Caramba, muchacho! Can you not see who it is? It is I, Gremo." + +There was a violent agitation of the mass of blooms, and Agueda now +perceived that a head was shaking out its words from the centre of this +woodland extravaganza. + +"I can hardly see you, Gremo," said Agueda. "What do you want with me, +Gremo?" + +"And must I make brains for every muchacho[3] between here and the Port +of Entry? Do you not know there are the quicksands just beyond?" + +"Quicksands, Gremo! Yes, I had heard of quicksands, but I did not think +them here. Can I get up the bank, Gremo?" + +"No," answered Gremo, from his flower screen. "You must ride back a long +way." He wheeled suddenly toward the south--at least, the mass of +flowers wheeled, and a hand was stretched forth from the centre. A +finger pointed along the sand. Agueda turned in the saddle and shaded +her eyes again. + +"What is it, Gremo?" she asked. "I see nothing." + +"Then you do not see that small thing over which the vultures hover?" + +"I see the vultures, certainly," said Agueda. "Some bit of fish, +perhaps." + +"No bit of fish or fowl, but foul flesh, if you will, hombre. It is the +hand of a Señor, muchacho." + +"The hand of a Señor? And what is the hand of a Señor doing, lying +along there on the shore?" + +"It lies there because it cannot get loose. Caramba, muchacho! Do I not +know?" + +"Cannot get loose from what?" asked Agueda, still puzzled. + +"From the Señor himself, muchachito. He lies below there, and his good +horse with him. Do you not see a hoof just over beyond where the big +bird lights?" + +Agueda turned pale. She had never been near such death before. Nada had +passed peacefully away with the sacred wafer upon her lips, and in her +ears the good padre's words of forgiveness for all her sins, of which +Agueda was sure she had committed none. Hers was a sweet, calm, sad +death. One thought of it with relief and hope, but this was tragedy. +There, along the beach, beneath the smiling sand, whose grains glistened +in a million, million sparkles, lay the bodies of horse and rider, +overtaken by this placid sea. + +"I suppose he was a stranger," said Agueda. "There was no one to warn +him." Suddenly she felt faint. A strong whiff of air reached her from +the direction of the birds. She turned the chestnut rapidly, and struck +the spur to his side. + +"Wait, Gremo, wait!" she cried, "I am coming! Do not leave me here +alone." The chestnut paced as never horse paced before, and after a few +minutes Agueda found a little cleft in the bank where a stream trickled +down. Into this opening she guided Castaño, and with spur and whip aided +him in his scramble up the bank. She galloped southward again, and +neared the place where Gremo stood. She was guided by the mass of bloom. +As she advanced she saw the blossoms shaking, but as yet perceived +nothing human. Tales of the forest suddenly came back to her. Could it +be that this was a woodland spirit, who had lured her here to this high +headland, to throw her over the cliff again to keep company with the +dead man yonder and the birds of prey? She had half turned her horse, +when Gremo, seeing her plan, thrust himself further from his gorgeous +environment. + +"Ah! It is the little Agueda! Do not be afraid, Agueda, little Señorita. +It is I, Gremo." + +Agueda's cheek had not as yet regained its colour. + +"It is Gremo, muchachito." + +"What terrible thing is that down there, Gremo? And to see you looking +like this frightened me!" + +It was a curious sight which met Agueda's eyes. Gremo, the little yellow +keeper of Los Santos light, was standing not far from his signal pole. +He held a staff in each hand. The staves were crooked and uneven. They +were covered with bark, and scraggy bits of moss hung from them here +and there. The strange thing about them was that each blossomed like +the prophet's rod. At the top of the right-hand staff there shot out a +splendid orange-coloured flower, with velvety oval-shaped leaves. Near +the top of the left-hand staff was a pale pink blossom, large also, not +wilted, as plucked flowers are apt to be, but firm and fresh. But these +were not all the prophet's rods which Gremo carried. Across his back was +slung an old canvas stool, opened to its fullest extent, and laid +lengthwise across this were many more ragged staves, and on each and all +of them a flower of some shade or colour bloomed. Then there were +branches held under his arms, whose protruding ends blossomed in +Agueda's very face, and quite enclosed the yellow countenance of Gremo. +The glossy green of the leaves surrounding each bloom so concealed Gremo +that he was lost in his vari-coloured burden of loveliness. + +"So it is really you, Gremo! Do they smell sweet, those air-plants?" + +Gremo shifted from one leg to the other. One of Gremo's legs was shorter +than the other. He generally settled down on the short one to argue. +When he was indignant he raised himself upon his long leg and hurled +defiance from the elevation. + +The mass of bloom seemed to exhale a delicate aroma. So evanescent was +it that Gremo often said to himself, "Have they any scent after all?" +And then, in a moment, a breeze blew from left to right, across the open +calix of each delicate flower, and Gremo said, "How sweet they are!" + +"I sometimes think they are the sweetest things on God's earth," said +Gremo. "That is, when the Señorita is not by," he added, remembering +that his grandfather had brought some veneer from old Spain; "and then +again I ask myself, is there any perfume at all?" + +"Oh, now I smell it, Gremo!" said Agueda, sniffing up her straight +little nose. "Now I smell it! It is delicious!" + +"It is better than the perfume down below there," said Gremo, with a +grimace. Agueda turned pale again. + +"And what do you do with them, Gremo?" asked she. + +"I take them to the Port of Entry, Señorita. I get good payment there. +Sometimes a half-dollar, Mex. They stick them in the earth. They last a +long, long time." + +"Were you going there when you called me from--from--down there?" + +"Si, Señorita. I was walking along the bank. I had just come from my +casa"--Gremo gestured backward with a dignified wave of the hand--"when +I heard El Castaño's hoofs on the hard sand there below." He turned and +looked along the beach to where the noisome birds hovered. "I was too +late to warn the Señor. Had I been here, I should even have laid down my +plants and have run to the edge of the cliff"--Gremo jerked his head +towards the humped-up pit of sand--"and called, 'Olá! Porque hace Usted +eso? It is Gremo who has the kind heart, muchacho.'" + +"I am not a boy, Gremo," said Agueda, glancing down at her riding +costume. + +"It is the same to me, Señorita," said Gremo, who in common with his +fellows had but one gender of speech. + +Agueda was looking at the hand which thrust itself out from the sand of +the shore. It seemed as if the fingers beckoned. She shuddered. + +"They should put up a sign," she said, quickly. "I shall tell the Señor +Don Beltran. He will put up a notice--a warning." + +"Caramba, hombre! And why must you interfere? No people in this part +will go that way. They all know the danger as well as the birds. I live +here in this part. Why not leave it to me?" + +"But will you, Gremo?" + +"What? Put up the sign? I most certainly shall, Señorita. Some day when +I have not the air-plants to gather, or the lanterna to clean, or when I +am not down with the calentura, or there is no fair at Haldez, or no +cock-fight at Saltona. The Señorita does not know how long I have +thought of this--I, Gremo! Why, as long ago as when the Señor Don Gil +bought the sand spit I had the board prepared. That is now going on four +years, if I count aright. I told the Señor Don Gil that I would get a +board, and I have." + +"He thinks it there now, I am sure," said Agueda. + +"Well, well! He may, he may, our Don Gil! I am not disputing it, +Señorita. I am only waiting for the padre to come and put the letters on +it." + +"Have you told him, Gremo?" said Agueda, bending forward anxiously. + +"Caramba, Señorita!" said Gremo, raising up on his long leg, "where do +you suppose I am to find the time to tell the padre? If I should take a +half-day from my work when I am at San Isidro, and walk over to the +bodega, the padre might be away at the cock-fight at Saltona, or the +christening at Haldez. The Don Beltran is a gentle hombre, but he would +not pay me for half a day when I did not earn it. If I could know when +the padre was at home, I would go, most certainly." + +"You must have seen him many times in the last three years," said +Agueda. + +"I will not deny that I have seen the padre," answered Gremo, rising +angrily on the tips of his knotted brown toes. "But would you have me +disturb a man like our padre when he was watching the shoemaker's black +cock from Troja, to see if his spurs were as long as the spurs of the +cock of Corndeau?--that vagamundo!" + +Agueda reined Castaño round, so that his head pointed in the general +direction of the bodega, as well as homeward. + +"I can tell the padre, Gremo," she said, and then added with +determination, "It must not be left another day." + +Gremo settled down upon his short leg. + +"Now, Señorita," he said argumentatively, "do not interfere. It is I +that have this matter well within my grasp. There is no one coming this +way to-day--along the beach, I mean." + +"How do you know, Gremo?" questioned Agueda. + +Gremo shrugged his shoulders. + +"It is not likely, muchacho. Our own people never come that way, and +there are so few strangers--not three in as many years. We cannot now +help the Señor who lies there, can we, Señorita?" + +"No," said Agueda, sadly; "but we can prevent--" + +"Leave it to me, Señorita. I promise that I will attend to it to-morrow. +I--" + +"And why not to-day?" + +"Because, you see, muchacho, I must take the air-plants to the Port of +Entry. I am on my way there now. I but stopped to warn the Señorita, and +I pay well for my kindness. Now I shall not be able to return to-night. +As the Señorita has detained me all this long while, will she be so good +as to stop at my casa and tell Marianna Romando to come over and light +the lantern on the signal-staff at an early hour? This, you know, is +_my_ lighthouse, little 'Gueda. This is Los Santos." + +"Have I come as far as Los Santos head?" asked the girl. + +Agueda looked upwards at the place where the red lantern hung against +the staff. + +"How can a woman climb up there?" she said. + +"She will bring the ladder, the Marianna Romando," said Gremo, moving a +step onwards. + +"I do not think I know Marianna Romando. Is she your wife, Gremo?" + +"Well, so, so," answered Gremo. "But she will do very well to light the +lantern all the same." + +Agueda sat her horse, lost in thought. When she raised her eyes nothing +was to be seen of Gremo. An ambulating mass of bloom, some distance +along on the top of the sea bank, told her that he was well on his way +toward the Port of Entry. This was the best way, Gremo considered, to +put an end to discussion. + +Agueda did not know just where the casa of the light-keeper lay. Seeing +that a well-worn path entered the bushes just there, she turned her +horse's head and pushed into the tall undergrowth. After a few moments +she came out upon a well-defined footway. Her path led her through acres +of mompoja trees, whose great spreading spatules shaded her from the +scorching sun. She had descended a little below the hill, and once out +of the fresh trade breeze, began to feel the heat. She took off her hat +as she rode, and fanned herself. Five or six minutes of Castaño's +walking brought her to a hut; this hut was placed at a point where three +paths met. It stood in a sort of hollow, where the moisture from the +late rains had settled upon the clay soil. The hut was thatched with +yagua. It was so small that, Agueda argued, there could be but one room. +There was a stone before the doorway sunk deep in the mud. Before the +opening, where the door should be, hung a curtain of bull's hide. A long +ladder stood against the house. Its topmost rung was at least an entire +story in height above the roof, and Agueda wondered why it was needed +there. The only signs of life about the place were three or four +withered hens, which ran screaming, with wobbling bodies and thin necks +stretched forward, at the approach of the stranger. Their screams +brought a yellow woman to the door. If Gremo looked like a withered +apple, this was his feminine counterpart. Her one garment appeared to be +quite out of place. It seemed as if there could be nothing improper in +such a creature going about as she was created. The slits in the faded +cotton gown were more suggestive than utter nakedness would have been. +This person nodded at the chickens where they were disappearing in the +bush. + +"They are as good as any watch-dog," said she. "There is no use of +thieves coming here." + +Agueda rode close. + +"I am not a thief," said Agueda. "Can you tell me where is the casa of +Gremo, the light-keeper?" + +"And where but here in this very spot?" said the piece of parchment, +smiling a toothless smile and showing a fine array of gums. "But had you +said the casa of Marianna Romando, you would have come nearer the +truth." + +Agueda had not expected the casa of which Gremo spoke with such pride to +look like this, or to belong to some one else. + +"Well, then, I have come with a message from your hus--from Gremo." + +"The Señorita will get off her horse and come in? What will the Señorita +have? Some bread, an egg--a little _ching-ching_?" + +The woman smiled pleasantly all the time that she was speaking. Agueda +had difficulty in understanding her, for the entire absence of teeth +caused her lips to cling together, so that she articulated with +difficulty. Still she smiled. Agueda shook her head at the hospitable +words. + +"I have no time, gracias, Señora. You will see that I have been wet with +the showers," she said; "and I have been delayed twice already. Gremo +asked me to tell you that he would come to the Port of Entry too late to +return and light the lantern. He asks that you will do it for him." + +For answer the woman hurriedly pulled aside the bull's-hide curtain and +entered the hut. She reappeared in a moment with an old straw hat on her +head. She was lifting up her skirt as she came, and tying round her +waist a petticoat of some faded grey stuff. Her face had changed. She +smiled no longer. + +"It is that fat wife of the inn-keeper at the sign of the 'Navío +Mercante.'[4] She it is who takes my Gremo from me." She entered the hut +again, and this time reappeared with a coarse pair of native shoes. She +seated herself in the doorway, her feet on the damp stone, and busily +began to put on the shoes, her tongue keeping her fingers in +countenance. + +"As if I did not know why my Gremo goes to the Port of Entry! He will +sit in the doorway all the day! She will give him of the pink rum! He +will spend all the pesos he has made! His plants will wither! Oh, yes, +it is that fat Posadera who has got hold of my Gremo." + +Agueda turned her horse's head. + +"How do I go on from here?" she asked. + +"Where is the Señorita going?" + +"To San Isidro, but first to El--" + +"_Aaaaiiiieee!_" said the woman, standing in the now laced shoes, arms +akimbo. "So this is Don Beltran's little lady?" + +Agueda flushed. + +"I live with my uncle, the Señor Adan, at San Isidro." She pushed into +the undergrowth. + +"The Señora is going wrong," said the woman. "Señorita," said Agueda, +sharply, correcting the word. "Which way, then?" + +Getting no answer, she turned again. She now saw that the woman had gone +to the side of the house and was taking the long ladder from its +position against the wall. She bent her back and settled it upon her +shoulders. Agueda looked on in astonishment while this frail creature +fitted her back to so awkward a burden. Marianna Romando looked up +sidewise from under the rungs. + +"I go to light the señale now," she said. "It may burn all day, for me. +What cares Marianna Romando? Government must pay. Then, when it is +lighted I shall hide the ladder among the mompoja trees. He did not dare +to tell me that he would remain away. He knows that I do not like that +fat wife of the inn-keeper. I shall lead him home by the ear at about +four o'clock of the morning. There are ghosts in the mompoja patch, but +they will not appear to two." + +All through this discourse Marianna Romando had not raised her voice. +She smiled as if she considered the weaknesses of Gremo amiable ones. +She started after him as a mother would go in search of a straying +child; like a guardian who would protect a weak brother from himself. + +"I have only this to say to you, Señorita," she called after Agueda, +turning so that the ladder swished through the low bushes, cutting off +some of the tops of the tall weeds, both before and behind her. "Keep +the Señor well in hand. When they go away like that, no one knows whom +they may be going after." + +Agueda closed her ears. She did not wish to hear that which her senses +had perforce caught. She pushed along the path that Marianna Romando had +indicated, and in twenty minutes saw the white palings of Don Mateo's +little plantation, El Cuco. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[3] Lad. + +[4] Merchant ship. + + + + +IV + + +When Raquel had given Agueda the note and the kiss, and had seen her +ride rapidly away, she closed the shutter. She made the room as dark as +possible. She could not bear to have the sun shine on a girl who had +written to a man to come to her succour. It could mean nothing less than +marriage, and it was as if she had offered it. But what else remained +for her but to appeal to Don Gil? If the few words that he had spoken +meant anything, they meant love. If the beating of her heart, when she +caught ever so distant a glimpse of him, meant anything, it meant love. +She had received a note from him only a week back. She would read it +again. Her uncle had searched her room only yesterday for letters, and +she was thankful that she had had the forethought to conceal Silencio's +missive where he would not discover it. He had ordered old Ana to search +the girl's dresses, and Ana, with moist eyes and tender words, had +carried out Escobeda's instructions. She had found nothing, and so had +told the Señor Escobeda. + +"And when does the child get a chance to receive notes from the +Señores?" asked Ana, indignant that her charge should be suspected. It +was the reflection upon herself, also, that galled her. "I guarded her +mother; I can guard her, Señor," said the old woman, with dignity. + +"Do you not know that the young of our nation are fire and tow?" snarled +Escobeda. "I shall put it out of her power to deceive me longer." + +With that he had flung out of the casa and ridden away. It was then that +Raquel had beckoned to Agueda, where she loitered under the shelter of +the coffee bushes. After Agueda had gone, Raquel seated herself upon a +little stool which had been hers from childhood. She raised one foot to +her knee, took the heel in her hand, and drew off the slipper. Some +small pegs had pressed through and had made little indentations in the +tender foot. But between the pegs and the stocking was a thick piece of +paper, whose folds protected the skin. She had just removed it when the +door opened, and Ana entered. Raquel started and seemed confused for a +moment. + +"You frightened me, Ana," said Raquel. "I thought that you had gone to +the fair. So I told--" + +"You told? And whom did you have to tell, Señorita?" + +"I told my uncle. He was here but now. Oh! dear Ana, I am so tired of +this hot house. I long for the woods. When do you think that he will +let me go to the forest again?" + +Ana drew the girl toward her. Her lips trembled. + +"I am as sorry as you can be, muchachita; but what can I do? What is +that paper that you hold in your hand, Raquel?" + +Raquel blushed crimson. Fortunately Ana's eyes were fixed upon the +paper. + +"I had it folded in my shoe," said Raquel. She threw the paper in the +scrap basket as she spoke. "See, Ana." She held up the slipper. "Look at +those pegs! They have pushed through, and my heel is really lame. I can +hardly walk." Raquel limped round the room to show Ana what suffering +was hers, keeping her back always to the scrap-basket. "If he would +allow me to go to the town and buy some shoes!" said Raquel--Ana's +espionage having created the deceit whose prophylactic she would be. + +"You had better put on your slipper," said the prudent Ana. "You will +wear out your stockings else." + +"But how can I put on my slipper with those pegs in the heel?" asked +Raquel. + +"You had the paper." + +"It was punched full of holes." + +"Let me see it," said Ana. + +"I threw it away," said Raquel. "Get me another piece of paper, for the +love of God, dear Ana. My uncle does not allow me even a journal. I am +indeed in prison." + +Ana arose. + +"I will take the scrap-basket with me," she said. + +"Not until you have brought the paper, Ana. I shall tear up some other +pieces." + +When Ana had closed the door Raquel pounced upon the waste-basket. She +took the folded paper from the top of the few scraps lying there. This +she opened, pulling it apart with difficulty, for the pegs had punched +the layers together, as if they had been sewn with a needle. She spread +the paper upon her knee, but first ran to the door and called, "Ana, +bring a piece of the cotton wool, also, I beg of you." + +"That will keep her longer," said Raquel, smiling. She spoke aloud as +lonely creatures often do. "She must hunt for that, I know." She heard +Ana pulling out bureau drawers, and sat down again to read her letter. + + + "Dearest Señorita," it ran. "I hear that you are unhappy. What can + I do? I hear that you are going away. Do not go, for the love of + God, without letting me know. + + Your faithful servant, G." + + +"I have let you know, Gil," she said. "I am not going away, but I am +unhappy. I am a prisoner. I wonder if you will save me?" Ana's heavy +tread was heard along the corridor. Raquel hastily thrust the note +within the bosom of her dress. When the cotton had been adjusted and the +slipper replaced, Ana took up the scrap-basket. + +"Dear Ana, stay a little while. I am so lonely. Don't you think he would +let me sit on the veranda?" + +"He would let you go anywhere if you would promise not to speak to the +Señor Silencio," said Ana. + +"I will never promise that, Ana," said Raquel, with a compression of the +lips. + +She laid her head down on Ana's shoulder. + +"I am so lonely," she said. The tears welled over from the childish +eyes. The lips quivered. "I wonder how it feels, Ana, to have a mother." +Ana's eyes were moist, too, but she repressed any show of feeling. Had +not the Señor Escobeda ordered her to do so, and was not his will her +daily rule? + +Suddenly Raquel started--her hearing made sensitive by fear. + +"I hear him coming, Ana," she said. + +"You could not hear him, sweet; he has gone over to see the Señor +Anecito Rojas." + +"That dreadful man!" Raquel shuddered. "Why does he wish to see the +Señor Anecito Rojas?" + +"I do not know, Señorita." Ana shook her head pitifully. It seemed as +if she might tell something if she would. + +Suddenly she strained her arms round the girl. + +"Raquel! Raquel!" she said, "promise me that you will sometimes think of +me. That you will love me if we are separated. That if you can, if you +have the power, you will send for me--" + +"Ana! Ana!" Raquel had risen to her feet and was crying. Her face was +white, her lips bloodless. "Tell me what you mean. How can I send for +you? Where am I going that I can send for you? Am I going away, Ana? +Ana, what do you know? Tell me, Ana, dear--dear Ana, tell me!" + +But Ana had no time or reason to answer. There was a sound of horse's +hoofs before the door, a man's heavy foot alighting upon the veranda, +the throwing wide of the outer door, and Escobeda's voice within the +passage. + +"Ana!" it shouted, "Ana!" + +Ana arose trembling. "I am here, Señor," she said. + +"Where is that girl, Raquel?" + +"The Señorita is also here, Señor," answered Ana. + +The door was flung open. + +"Pack her duds," said Escobeda. "She leaves this by evening." + +"_I--leave--here?_" Raquel had arisen, and was standing supporting +herself by Ana's shoulder. + +"I suppose you understand your mother tongue. It is as I said; you leave +here this evening." + +"Oh, uncle! Where--where am I to go?" + +"That you will find out later. Pack her duds, Ana." + +Ana trembled in every limb. She arose to obey. Raquel threw herself on +the bare floor at Escobeda's feet. + +"Oh, uncle!" she said. "What have I done to be sent away? Will you not +tell me where I am going?" + +The girl cried in terror. She wept as a little child weeps, without +restraint. "I am so young, uncle. I have no home but this. Do not send +me away!" + +Escobeda looked down at the childish figure on the ground before him, +but not a ray of pity entered his soul, for between Raquel's face and +his he saw that of Silencio, whose father had been his father's enemy as +well as his own. He felt sure that soon or late Silencio would have the +girl. He spoke his thoughts aloud. + +"I suppose he would even marry you to spite me," he said. + +"Who, uncle? Of whom do you speak?" + +"You know well enough; but I shall spoil his game. Get her ready, Ana; +we start this afternoon." + +"There is a knocking at the outer door," said Ana. "I will go--" + +"You will pack her duds," said Escobeda, who was not quite sure of Ana. +"I will answer the summons myself." + +As he was passing through the doorway, Raquel said, despairingly: + +"Uncle, wait a moment. You went to the Señor Anecito Rojas. How did you +get back so soon--" + +"And who told you that I was going to him? Yes, I did start for the +house of Rojas, but I met him on the way, so I was saved the trouble." + +"Are you going to send me to him, uncle?" asked Raquel. The girl's face +had again become white, her eyes were staring. There was some unknown +horror in store. What could it be? + +"Send you to him? Oh, no! Why should I send you to him? I have a better +market for you than that of Rojas. He is only coming to aid me with +those trusty men of his, in case your friend Silencio should attempt to +take you from me. He had better not attempt it. A stray shot will +dispose of him very quickly." + +"Am I to remain on the island, uncle?" + +"Yes and no," answered Escobeda. "We take the boat to-night for the +government town. When we arrive, it will be as the governor says--he +must see you first." + +Raquel understood nothing of his allusions. Ana cried silently as she +took Raquel's clothes from the drawers and folded them. + +"I cannot see what the governor has to do with me?" said Raquel. + +"You will know soon enough," said Escobeda. His laugh was cruel and +sneering. + +Raquel turned from Escobeda with an increased feeling of that revulsion +which she had never been able entirely to control. She had felt as if it +were wrong not to care for her uncle, but even had he been uniformly +kind, his appearance was decidedly not in his favour. She glanced at his +low, squat figure, bowed legs, and thick hands. She had time to wonder +why he always wore earrings--something which now struck her as more +grotesque than formerly. Then she thrust her hand within the bosom of +her gown, raised it quickly, and slipped something within her mouth. + +Escobeda caught the motion of Raquel's arm as he raised his eyes. She +backed toward the wall. He advanced toward her threateningly. He seized +her small shoulder with one hand, and with a quick, rough motion he +thrust the thick forefinger of the other between her lips, and ran it +round inside her mouth, as a mother does in seeking a button or some +foreign substance by which a child might be endangered. Raquel +endeavoured to swallow the paper. At first she held her teeth close +together, but the strength of Escobeda's finger was equal to the whole +force of her little body, and after a moment's struggle Silencio's note +was brought to light. He tried to open it. + +"It is pulp! Nothing but pulp!" he said, shaking the empty hand at her. +Raquel stood outraged and pale. What was the matter with this man? He +had suddenly shown himself in a new light. + +"How dare you treat me so?" she gasped. + +"You have hurt her, Señor," said Ana, reproachfully. "Does it pain you, +sweet?" Ana had run to the girl, and was wiping her lips with a soft +handkerchief. A tiny speck of blood showed how less than tender had been +this rough man's touch. + +"If it pains me? Yes, all over my whole body. How dare he! Anita, how +dare he!" + +Escobeda laughed. He seated his thick form in the wicker chair, which +was Raquel's own. It trembled with his weight. He laid the paper +carefully upon his knee, and tried to smooth it. + +"I thought you said she received no notes from gentlemen," he roared. +Ana stood red-eyed and pale. + +"She never does, Señor," she answered, stifling her sobs. + +"And what is that?" asked Escobeda, in a grating voice. He slapped the +paper with the back of his hand into the very face of Ana. "Do you think +that I cannot read my enemy's hand--aye, and his meaning? Even were it +written in invisible ink. '_Gil!_' Do you see it? '_Gil!_'" He slapped +the paper again, still thrusting it under Ana's nose. + +"There may be more than one Gil in the world, Señor," sniffed the +shaking Ana. + +"Do not try to prevaricate, Ana. You know there is not more than one Gil +in the world," said Raquel, scornfully. + +Ana, in danger from the second horn of her dilemma, stood convicted of +both, and gasped. + +"There is only one Gil in the world for me. That is Don Gil +Silencio-y-Estrada. That is his note which you hold, uncle. It is a love +letter. I have answered it this very day." + +Raquel, now that the flood of her speech had started to flow, said all +that she could imagine or devise. She said that which had no foundation +in fact. She made statements which, had Silencio heard them, would have +lifted him to the seventh heaven of bliss. + +"He wants me to go away with him. He knows that I am imprisoned. He +implores me to come to him. Be sure," said Raquel, her eyes flashing, +"that the opportunity is all that I need." + +Ana stood aghast. She had never seen Escobeda defied before. All the +countryside feared to anger him. What would become of the two helpless +women who had been so unfortunate? + +Escobeda was livid. His eyes rolled with rage; they seemed to turn red. +He arose from the chair, leaving it creaking in every straw. He clenched +his fist, and shook it at the woman and girl alternately. His ear-rings +danced and trembled. He seemed to be seized with a stuttering fit. The +words would not pass the barrier of his brown teeth. He jerked and +stammered. + +"We--we--shall see. We shall s--s--see. This--this--eve--evening." + +Raquel, her short spurt of courage fled, now stood with drooped head. +Escobeda's anger seemed to have left him as suddenly as it had appeared. +He threw Silencio's note on the floor. + +"Ah! bah!" he said, contemptuously. "It sounds very fine. It is like +hare soup: first catch your hare. Silencio shall not catch you, my +little hare. His horses are not fleet enough, nor his arm long enough." + +"All the same, I think that he will catch me," said Raquel, again +defiant, with a fresh burst of courage. + +Escobeda turned on his heel. + +"Go to the door, Ana," he said, "and see who keeps up that thumping." + +When Ana had shuffled along the passage, Raquel turned to Escobeda. "It +may be a messenger from the Señor Silencio," she said. "I sent him a +letter some hours ago." + +"And by whom, pray?" + +"That I will not tell you. I do not betray those who are kind to me. You +told me early this morning that I was to be taken away. You will see now +that I, too, have a friend." + +Ana's steps interrupted this conversation. + +"Well?" asked Escobeda. "The messenger is--will you speak?" + +"It is the man Rotiro from Palmacristi," said Ana, in a low voice. + +Raquel gave a quick little draw of her breath inward. The sound made a +joyous note in that cruel atmosphere. + +"It will do you no good," said Escobeda. "Go and tell him that I will +see him presently. I will lock you up, my pretty Señorita, that you send +no more notes to that truhan.[5] You have now but a few hours to make +ready. Put in all your finery; though, after all, your new master can +give you what he will, if you please him." + +FOOTNOTE: + +[5] Mountebank. + + + + +V + + +It was an unthrifty-looking place, El Cuco--very small, as its name +implied. How Don Mateo had asked any woman to marry him with no more to +give her than the small plantation of El Cuco, one could not imagine. +The place was little more than a conuco, and Don Mateo, through careless +ways and losses at gambling, selling a little strip of field here and +some forest land there, was gradually reducing the property to the size +of a native holding. + +The lady who had inveigled Don Mateo into marrying her sat upon the +veranda, fat and hearty. Her eyes were beginning to open to the fact +that Don Mateo had not been quite candid with her. He had said, "My +house is not very fine, Señorita, but I have land; and if you will come +there as my wife, we will begin to build a new casa as soon as the crops +are in and paid for." The crops had never come in, as far as the Señora +had discovered; and how could crops be paid for before they were +gathered? There had grown up within the household a very fine crop of +complaints, but these Don Mateo smoothed over with his ready excuses +and kindliness of manner. + +Agueda leaned down to the small footpath gate to unfasten the latch. She +found that the gate was standing a little way open and sunk in the mud, +but that there was no room to pass through. + +"Go round to the other side," called a voice from the veranda. + +A half-dozen little children, of all shades, came trooping down the +path. Then, as she turned to ride round the dilapidated palings, they +scampered across the yard, a space covered by some sort of wild growth. +They met her in a troop at the large gate, which was also sunk in the +ground through the sagging of its hinges. Fortunately, it had stood so +widely open now for some years that entrance was quite feasible. + +Agueda struck spur to Castaño's side, and he trotted round to the +veranda. They stopped at the front steps, and throwing her foot over the +saddle, Agueda prepared to dismount. + +"What do you want here?" asked a fat voice from the end of the veranda. + +"I should like to see Aneta, Señora," said Agueda. "May one of the peons +take my horse?" + +"You can go round to the back, where Aneta is, then," answered the +Señora, without rising. "She is washing her dishes, and it is not you +who shall disturb her." + +Agueda looked up with astonishment. The last time that she had come to +El Cuco, Aneta had sat on the veranda in the very place where the +stranger was sitting now. That chair, Don Mateo had brought over from +Saltona once as a present for Aneta. It was an American chair, and Aneta +used to sit and rock in it by the hour and sing some happy song. Agueda +remembered how Aneta had twisted some red and yellow ribbons through the +wicker work. Those ribbons were replaced now by blue and pink ones. + +Without a word Agueda rode round the house. Arrived at the tumble-down +veranda which jutted out from the servants' quarters, she heard sounds +which, taken in conjunction with the Señora's words, suggested Aneta's +presence. When Aneta heard the sound of horse's hoofs she came to the +open shutter. Agueda saw that her eyes were red and swollen. A faint +smile of welcome overspread Aneta's features, which was succeeded at +once by a shamefaced look that Agueda should see her in this menial +position. + +"Dear Agueda!" said she; "how glad I am to see you! But this is no place +for you." + +"I wish that you could come down to the river," said Agueda. "I have so +much to ask you. Who is the Señora on the veranda, Aneta?" + +"Do you not know then that he is married?" asked Aneta, the tears +beginning to flow again. + +"Married!" exclaimed Agueda, aghast. "To the Señora on the veranda?" + +Aneta nodded her head, while the salt tears dropped down on the towel +with which she was slowly wiping a large platter. Agueda was guilty of a +slight bit of deceit in this. She had heard that Don Mateo was married, +but it had never occurred to her that things would be so sadly changed +for Aneta. Somehow she had expected to find her as she had always found +her, seated on the veranda in the wicker chair, the red and yellow +ribbons fluttering in the breeze, and in her lap the embroidery with +which she had ever struggled. + +"Can you come down by the river?" asked Agueda. + +"I suppose that I must finish these dishes," said Aneta, through her +tears. "Oh, Agueda, you have had nothing to eat, I am sure. You have +come so far. Let me get you something." + +"Yes, I have come far, Aneta. I should like a little something." It did +not occur to Agueda to decline because of the Señora's rudeness. She had +never heard of any one's being refused food at any hut, rancho, or casa +in the island. The stranger was always welcome to what the host +possessed, poor though it might be. + +"I will not dismount," said Agueda. "Perhaps you can hand me a cup of +coffee through the window." Agueda rode close to the opening. Aneta laid +her dish down on the table, and went to the stove, from which she took +the pot of the still hot coffee. She poured out a cupful, and handed it +to Agueda. + +"Some sugar, please," said Agueda, holding the cup back again. Aneta +dipped a spoon in the sugar bowl which was standing on the table in its +pan of water. It was a large pan, for "there are even some ants who can +swim very well," so Aneta declared. Agueda took the cup gratefully, and +drained it as only a girl can who has ridden many miles with no midday +meal. + +"I hoped that I should be asked to breakfast, Aneta," said Agueda, +wistfully. She remembered the time when she had sat at the table with +Aneta, and partaken of a pleasant meal. + +"I can hand you some cassava bread through the window, Agueda," said +Aneta, with no further explanation. + +She took from the cupboard a large round of the cassava and handed it to +Agueda. Agueda broke it eagerly and ate hungrily. + +"That is good, Aneta. Some more coffee, please." + +Aneta took up the pot to pour out a second cup. + +"And who told you that you might give my food away?" + +The voice was the fat voice of the Señora. She had exerted herself +sufficiently to come to the kitchen door. + +"Pardon, Señora!" said Agueda. Her face expressed the astonishment that +she felt. She unconsciously continued to eat the round of cassava bread. + +"You are still eating?" + +Agueda looked at the woman in astonishment. + +"Does the Señora mean that I shall not eat the bread?" asked she. + +"We do not keep a house of refreshment," said the Señora. + +Agueda handed the remainder of the cassava bread to Aneta. + +"I see you do not, Señora. Come, Aneta, come down to the river." + +Aneta looked hesitatingly at the Señora. + +"You need not mind the Señora, Aneta. She does not own you." + +At this Aneta looked frightened, and the Señora as angry as her double +chin would allow. + +"If the girl leaves, she need not return," said the Señora. + +"My work is nearly done," said Aneta, with a fresh flood of tears. + +"Crying, Aneta! I am ashamed of you. Come, I will help you finish your +dishes." + +Agueda rode around to the veranda pilotijo and dismounted. She tied +Castaño there, as is the custom, taking care that she chose the pilotijo +furthest removed from the main post, where several machetes were buried +with a deep blade stroke. + +The Señora was too heavy and lazy to object to Agueda's generosity. She +seated herself in the doorway and watched the process of dish-washing. +When the girls had finished, the worn towels wrung dry and hung on the +line, Aneta took from the veranda nail her old straw hat. + +"On further thought, you cannot go," said the Señora. "I need some work +done in my room." + +Agueda put her arm round Aneta. + +"I bought her off," she said. "Come, Aneta, I have so little time." + +At these words the Señora had the spirit to rise and flap the cushion of +a shuffling sole on the floor in imitation of a stamp of the foot. + +"You cannot go," she said. + +For answer the two girls strolled down toward the river, Castaño's +bridle over Agueda's arm, Aneta trembling at her new-found courage. + +Aneta was a very pretty, pale girl, with bronze-coloured hair, although +her complexion was thick and muddy, showing the faint strain of blood +which made her, and would always hold her, inferior to the pure Spanish +or American type. Her eyes were of a greenish cast, and though small, +were sweet and modest. She was perhaps twenty-three at this time. It is +sad to have lived one's life at the age of twenty-three. + +"I have so many years before me, Agueda," said Aneta. + +"Why do you stay here?" asked Agueda. + +"Where have I to go?" asked Aneta. + +"That is true," assented Agueda. + +"My father will not have me back. He says that I should have been smart +and married Don Mateo; but I never thought of being smart, 'Gueda; I +never thought of anything but how I loved him." + +A pang of pity pierced the heart of Agueda, all the stronger because she +herself was so secure. + +The two girls walked down toward the shining river. Castaño followed +along behind, nibbling and browsing until a jerk of the bridle caused +him to raise his head and continue his march. + +The river was glancing along below the bank. Low and shallow, it had +settled here and there into great pools, or spread out thinly over the +banks of gravel which rose between. + +"Can we bathe, Aneta?" asked Agueda. + +"I suppose so," said Aneta, mournfully. + +"Smile, Aneta, do smile. It makes me wretched to see you so sad." + +Aneta shook her head. + +"What have I left, Agueda?" + +Agueda hung Castaño's bridle on a limb, and seeking a sheltered spot, +the two girls undressed and plunged into the water, a pool near the +shore providing a basin. One may bathe there with perfect seclusion. The +ford is far below, and no one has reason to come to this lonely spot. +The water was cool and delicious to Agueda's tired frame. + +"Agueda," said Aneta, as they were drying themselves in the sun, "will +Castaño carry double?" + +"Why, Aneta, I suppose he will. I never tried him." + +"I promised El Rey to come to see him one day soon. That was weeks ago. +You know that Roseta has gone. The little creature is alone. If I should +go there by myself the Señora would say bad things about me. She would +say that I had gone for some wrong purpose. God knows I have no wrong +purpose in my heart." + +"Yes, I will go with you," said Agueda. "But, we must hasten. I have +been away so long already. What time should you think it is, Aneta?" + +Aneta turned to the west and looked up to the sky with that critical +eye which rural dwellers who possess no timepiece acquire. + +"Perhaps three o'clock, Agueda, perhaps four. Not so very late." + +"So that I am home by six it will do," said Agueda. + +She reproached herself that she should think of the happiness that +awaited her at home while Aneta was so sad. + +When they were again dressed, Agueda mounted Castaño, and riding close +to an old mahogany stump, gave her hand to Aneta, aiding her to spring +up to the horse's flank. Castaño was not over-pleased at this addition +to his burden, but he made no serious demonstration, and started off +toward the ford. The ford crossed, Agueda guided Castaño along the bank +of the stream. + +"Is this the Brandon place?" asked Agueda. + +"No," said Aneta. "It is part of the Silencio estate." + +Again Agueda felt the flush arise which had made her uncomfortable in +the morning. + +"I have never been this way," said Agueda, who was following Aneta's +directions. "I was there this morning, but I rode down the gran' +camino." + +"You went there?" + +"Yes; to carry a note." + +"To the Señor?" + +"Am I going right, Aneta?" + +"Yes," said the easily diverted Aneta. "Follow the little path. They +live on the river bank below the hill." In a few moments a thatched roof +began to show through the trees. + +"There it is," said Aneta; "there is Andres' rancho." + +When they arrived at the rancho they found that the door was closed. +Agueda rapped with her whip. "They are all away, I think," said she. + +"Oh! then, they are not all away," piped a little voice from the inside. +"Take the key from the window, and I will let you open my door." + +Agueda laughed. Aneta slid off the horse, and Agueda rode to the high +window, from whose ledge she took a key. + +"My Roseta, is that you?" called the child's voice. + +Aneta looked up at Agueda and shook her head with a pitying motion. The +child's sorrow had effaced her own for the time. + +"No, El Rey," she called; "it is Aneta, and I bring Agueda, from San +Isidro." + +"You are welcome, Señoritas," piped the little voice again. + +By this time Aneta had inserted the key in the lock and opened the door. +A small, thin child was sitting on the edge of a low bed. He arose to +greet them with a show of politeness which struggled against weariness. + +"Andres and Roseta are away," he said. "Andres said that he would bring +her if he could find her." + +Agueda had heard of El Rey, but she had never seen the child before. + +"I should think he would surely bring her," said she in a comforting +tone. She was seeing much misery to-day. She felt reproached for being +so happy herself, but she looked forward to her home-coming as +recompense for it all. + +"Would you like to come to San Isidro some time, El Rey?" she asked. + +"Does Roseta ever come there?" asked the child. + +"She has never been yet, but she may come some day," answered Agueda, +with that merciful deceit which keeps hope ever springing in the breast. + +Aneta stooped down towards the floor. + +"Have you anything to play with, El Rey?" she asked. + +"El Rey has buttons. El Rey has a book that the Señor at Palmacristi +gave him, but he is tired of those. When will Roseta come?" + +Agueda turned away. + +"I cannot bear it," she said. + +El Rey looked at her curiously. + +"Would you like to ride the pretty little horse, El Rey?" + +The child walked slowly to the door and peered wistfully out. + +"El Rey would like to ride; but Roseta might come." + +"We will not go far," said Agueda. "Come, let me lift you up." El Rey +suffered himself to be lifted to the horse's back, but his eyes were +ever searching the dim vista of the woodland for the form that did not +appear. + +"I cannot enjoy it, Señora," said he, politely. "El Rey would enjoy the +Señora's kindness if Roseta could see him ride." + +"I must go, Aneta," said Agueda, her eyes moist. + +She lifted the child down from Castaño's back. He at once entered the +casa. He turned in the doorway, his thin little figure occupying small +space against the dark background. + +"Adios, Señoritas," said the child. "Oh! will the Señoritas please put +the key on the window ledge?" + +"We cannot lock you in, El Rey," said Agueda. + +"Do you mean that we are to lock you in, El Rey?" asked Aneta at the +same time. + +"Will the Señoritas please not talk," said the child. "I cannot hear. I +sit and listen all day. If the Señoritas talk I cannot hear if any one +comes." + +"But must we lock the door?" asked Agueda. + +"Is that what Andres wishes?" asked Aneta. + +"If you please, Señorita; put the key on the window ledge." + +"I shall not lock him in," said Aneta. "I cannot do it. I will stay a +while, El Rey," she said. + +Aneta sat down in the doorway, her head upon her hand. She belongs not +to the detail of this story. She is only one of that majority of +suffering ignorant beings with whom the world is filled, who make the +dark background against which happier souls shine out. Agueda rode back +to the ford. She galloped Castaño now. At the entrance of the forest she +turned and threw a kiss to Aneta. The girl was still in the doorway, but +El Rey was not to be seen. Agueda fancied him sitting on the low bed, +his ear strained to catch the fall of a faraway footstep. + + + + +VI + + +The shadows were growing long when Agueda cantered down the path that +ran alongside of the banana walk. She crossed the potrero at a slow +pace, for Castaño was tired and warm. As she slowly rounded the corner +of the veranda, a figure caught her eye. It was Don Beltran, cool and +immaculate in his white linen suit. He was smoking, and seemed to be +enjoying the sunset hour. + +"Ah! are you here at last, child! I was just about to send your uncle to +look for you. Have you had dinner?" + +"Not a mouthful," laughed Agueda, at the remembrance of the Señora at El +Cuco. It was cruel to laugh while Aneta wept, but it was so hard not to +be happy. + +"Tell Juana to bring you some dinner. There was a san coche, very good, +and a pilauf of chicken. Did you see Don Mateo?" + +"No, Señor," said Agueda, looking down. + +"Why will you persist in calling me Señor, Agueda? I am Beltran. Say it +at once--Beltran!" + +"Beltran," said Agueda, with a happy smile. Poor Aneta! Poor everybody +in the world who did not have a Beltran to love her! + +As Agueda told Beltran the history of her long day, he listened with +interest. When she spoke of Aneta's changed life, "The brute!" said +Beltran, "the damned brute!" + +While Agueda was changing her dress for the dark blue skirt and white +waist, Beltran sat and thought upon the veranda. When she came out +again, he spoke. + +"Agueda," said he, "it is time that you and I were married." + +Agueda blushed. + +"I see no cause for haste," said Agueda. + +"It is right," said Beltran, "and why should we wait? What is there to +wait for? I want you for my wife. I have never seen any one who could +take me from you, and there is no such person in all the world. All the +same, you must be my wife." + +"I think the padre is away," said Agueda, looking down. + +"He will be back before long, and then, if the river is still low, we +will go to Haldez some fine morning and be married. Your uncle can give +you away. He will be very glad, doubtless!" Don Beltran laughed as he +spoke. He was not unconscious of Uncle Adan's plans, but as they +happened to fall in with his own, he took them good-naturedly. + +"Do you know, Agueda," he said presently, looking steadily at her, "that +you are better born than I?" + +"What does the Señor mean?" laughed Agueda. + +"The Señor?" + +"Well, then, Señor--Beltran. What do you mean by that?" + +"I mean what I say, Agueda. Your grandfather, Don Estevan, is a count in +his own country--in old Spain. That is where you get your pretty slim +figure, child, your height, and your arched instep. You are descended +from a long line of noble ladies, Agueda. I have seen many a Spanish +gran' Señora darker than you, my Agueda. When shall our wedding-day be, +child?" + +Agueda shook her head and looked down at the little garment which she +was stitching. She had no wish to bind him. That was not the way to +treat a noble nature like his. Agueda had no calculation in her +composition. Beltran could never love her better were they fifty times +married. She was happy as the day. What could make her more so? + +"Did the Señor enjoy his sail across the bay?" asked Agueda. + +"It was well enough, child. I got the draft cashed, and, strange to +say, I found a letter at the post-office at Saltona." + +"From the coffee merchant, I suppose, Señor?" + +"No, not from the coffee merchant, Señora," Beltran laughed, teasingly. +"Guess from whom, Agueda; but how should you be able to guess? It is +from my uncle, Agueda. My mother's brother. You know that he married in +the States." + +"I have heard the Señor say that the Señor his uncle married in the +es-States," said Agueda, threading her fine needle with care, and making +a tiny knot. Beltran drew his chair close. He twitched the small garment +from her hands. She uttered a slight exclamation. The needle had pricked +her finger. Beltran bent towards her with remorseful words, took the +slender finger between his own, and put it to his lips. His other hand +lay upon her shoulder. She smiled up at him with a glance of inquiry +mixed with shyness. Agueda had never got over her shy little manner. The +pressure of his fingers upon her shoulder thrilled her. She felt as ever +that dear sense of intimacy which usage had not dulled. + +Beltran again consulted the letter which he held. + +"Uncle Nóe will arrive in a week's time," he said. "He is a very +particular gentleman, is my Uncle Nóe. Quite young to be my uncle. Look +at my two grey hairs, Agueda." + +She released her hand from his, and tried to twist her short hair into +a knot. It looked much more womanly so. She must try to make it grow if +a new grand Señor was coming to San Isidro. Don Beltran was still +consulting the letter. + +"He brings his child--his little daughter. Now, Agueda, how can we amuse +the little thing?" + +Agueda, with work dropped, finger still pressed between her small white +teeth, answered, wonderingly: + +"A little child? Let me think, Señor." + +"Ah!" + +"Well, then, again I say Beltran, if you will. We have not much." How +dear and natural the plural of the personal pronoun! "We have not much, +I fear. There is the little cart that the Señora gave the Señor when he +was muchachito. That is a good little plaything. I have cleaned it well +since the last flood. The water washed even into the cupboard. Then +there is--there is--ah, yes, the diamond cross. She will laugh, the +little thing, when it flashes in the sunshine. Children love brilliant +things. I remember well that the little Cristina, from the conuco, up +there, used to love to see the sparkle of the jewels. But the little one +will like the toy best." + +"That is not much, dear heart." + +"And then--and then--there may be rides on the bulls, and punting on +the river in the flatboat, and the little chestnut--she can ride +Castaño, the little thing!" + +"Not the chestnut; I trained him for you, Agueda, child." + +"And why should not the little one ride him, also? We can take her into +the deep woods to gather the mamey apples, and to the bushes down in the +river pasture to gather the aguacate. Only the little thing must be +taught to keep away from the prickly branches, and--sometimes, +Don--Beltran, we might take the child as far as Haldez, if some acrobats +or circus men should arrive. We have not been there since Dondy-Jeem +walked the rope that bright Sunday. Oh, yes! we shall find something to +amuse her, certainly. A little child! We are to have a child in the +house!" It was always a happy "we" with Agueda. "How old is the little +thing?" + +"I have not heard from my uncle for many years. I do not know when he +married; but he is a young man still, Uncle Nóe. Full of affectation, +speaking French in preference to Spanish and English, which are equally +his mother tongues--I might say his mother and father tongue--but with +all his affectations, delightful." + +"A little child in the house! A little child in the house," murmured +Agueda over and over to herself. + +Now it was all bustle at the casa. San Isidro took on a holiday air. +There was no more talk of marriage. Not because Don Beltran did not +think of it and wish it, but because there was no time. A room down the +veranda must be beautified for the little child. She was to be placed +next her father, that if she should want anything at night, he could +attend her. + +"Where shall we put the nurse?" said Don Beltran. + +"I am afraid the nurse will have to sleep in the rancho, Beltran. These +two rooms take all that we have." Agueda looked up wistfully. "I wonder +how soon she will come," she said. "The little thing! the little thing!" + + + + +VII + + +So soon as Agueda had disappeared down the trocha which leads to the +sea, Silencio called for Andres. Old Guillermina came with a halt and a +shuffle. This was caused by her losing ever and anon that bit of shoe in +which she thought it respectful to seek her master, or to obey his +summons. She agreed with some modern authorities, although she had never +heard of them or their theories, that contact with Mother Earth is more +agreeable and more convenient (she did not know of the claim that it is +more healthful) than encasing the foot in a piece of bull's hide or +calf's skin. + +"Where is Andres?" asked Don Gil, impatiently. + +"Has the Señor forgotten that the Andres has gone to the Port of Entry?" + +"He has not gone there," said Silencio; "that I know, for I sent Troncha +in his place. See where he is, and let me know. I need a messenger at +once." + +As Guillermina turned her back, Don Gil bit his lip. "Then I am +helpless," he said aloud, "if Andres is not here." He arose and started +after Guillermina, calling impatiently: "Do not wait for Andres; get +some one, any one. I must send a message at once." + +While Guillermina shuffled away, Silencio sat himself down at his desk +and wrote. He wrote hurriedly, the pen tearing across the sheet as if +for a wager. As its spluttering ceased, there was a knock at the +counting-house door. + +"Entra!" called Silencio, rising. + +It was a moist day in May. The June rains were heralded by occasional +showers, an earnest of the future. The dampness was all-pervading, the +stillness death-like. No sound was heard but the occasional calling of +the peons to the oxen far afield. The leaves of the ceiba tree hung limp +and motionless; the rompe hache[6] had not stirred a leaf for two days +past. No tender airs played caressingly against the nether side of the +palm tufts and swayed them in fan-like motion. The gri-gri stood tall +and grand, full of foliage at the top. Its numberless little leaves were +precisely outlined, each one, against the sky. One might almost fear +that he were looking at a painting done by one of the artists of the +early Hudson River school, so distinctly was the edge of each leaf and +twig drawn against its background of blue. + +Rotiro stood and waited. Then he knocked again. A step was heard +approaching from an inner room. + +"Entra!" called a voice from within, but louder than before. + +Rotiro obeyed the permission. He entered the outer room to find Don Gil +just issuing from the inner one--that holy of holies, where no profane +foot of peon, shod or unshod, had ever penetrated. Rotiro touched his +forelock by way of salutation, drew his machete from its yellow leathern +belt, swung it over his shoulder, and brought it round and down with a +horizontal cut, slashing fiercely into the post of the doorway. It sank +deep, and he left it there, quivering. + +Silencio was moistening the flap of an envelope with his lip as Rotiro +entered. After a look at Rotiro, Don Gil thought it best to light a +taper, take a bit of wax from the tray and seal the note. He pressed it +with the intaglio of his ring. The seal bore the crest of the Silencios. +When he had finished he held the note for a moment in his hand, to dry +thoroughly. As he stood, he surveyed the machete of Rotiro, which still +trembled in the doorpost. The post was full of such gashes, indicating +it as a common receptacle for bladed weapons. It served the purpose of +an umbrella-stand at the north. Don Billy Blake had said: "We don't +carry umbrellas into parlours at the No'th, and I bedam if any man, +black or shaded, shall bring his machett into my shanty." + +Don Billy was looked upon as an arbiter of fashion. This fashion, +however, antedated Don Billy's advent in the island. + +Rotiro unslung his shotgun from his shoulder and stepped inside the +doorway. He leaned the gun against the inner wall. + +"Buen' dia', Seño'," he nodded. + +"Set that gun outside, Rotiro." + +"My e'copeta very good e'copeta, Seño' Don Gil. It a excellent e'copeta. +It is, however, as you know, not much to be trusted; it go off sometimes +with little persuasion on my part, often again without much reason." + +"Following the example of your tongue. Listen! Rotiro. I wish to do the +talking. Attend to what I say. Here is a note. I wish you to take it up +back of Troja, to the Señor Escobeda." + +"But, Seño', I thought--" + +"You thought! So peons think! On this subject you have no need to think. +Take this note up to Troja, and be quick about it. I want an answer +within an hour. Waste no time on thoughts or words, and above all, waste +no time in going or returning. See the Señor Escobeda. Hand him the +note, see what he has to say, and bring me word as soon as possible. +Notice how he looks, how he speaks, what--" + +"But the Seño' may not--" + +"Still talking? Go at once! Do you remember old Amadeo, who was struck +by lightning? I always believed that it was to quiet his tongue. It +certainly had that effect. But for the one servant I have had who has +been struck by lightning, I have had twenty who ought to have been. +There was a prince in a foreign land who was driven crazy by his +servants. He said, 'Words! words! words!' I wonder very much what he +would have said could he have passed a week on the plantation of +Palmacristi." + +As the Devil twists Scripture to suit his purpose, so Silencio was not +behind him in his interpretation of Shakespeare, and Rotiro prepared for +his journey, with a full determination to utter no unnecessary word +during the rest of his life. In dead silence he withdrew his machete +from its gash in the doorpost, tied the letter round his neck by its +cord of red silk, swung his apology for a hat upon his head, and was +off. Meanwhile Don Gil sat and waited. + +The hour ended as all hours, good or bad, must end. Don Gil kept his +eyes fixed upon the clock. Ah! it was five minutes past the hour now. + +"If I find that he has delayed one minute beyond the +necessary--possibly Escobeda has held him there, taken him +prisoner--prisoner! In the nineteenth century! But an Escobeda is ready +for anything; perhaps he has--" There was a step at the doorway. + +"Entra!" shouted Don Gil, before one had the time to knock, and Rotiro +entered. He had no time to say a word. He had not swung his arm round +his head, nor settled the machete safely in the post of the door, before +Don Gil said, impatiently: + +"Well! well! What is it? Will the man never speak? Did you see the Señor +Escobeda? Open that stupid head of yours, man! Say something--" + +Rotiro was breathless. He set his gun in the corner with great +deliberation. At first his words would not come; then he drew a quick +breath and said: + +"I saw the Seño' E'cobeda, Don Gil. He is a fine man, the Seño' +E'cobeda. Oh! yes, he is a very fine man, the Seño'!" + +"Ah!" said Don Gil, dryly, "did he send me a message, this very fine +man?" + +Rotiro thrust his hand into the perpendicular slit that did duty for a +legitimate opening in his shirt. He was dripping with moisture. Great +beads stood out upon his dark skin. He pulled the faded pink cotton from +his wet body and brought to light a folded paper. This he handed to Don +Gil. The paper was far from dry. Don Gil took the parcel. He broke the +thread which secured it--the thread seemed much shorter than when he had +knotted it earlier in the day--and discovered the letter which he +sought. The letter was addressed to himself. + +Don Gil opened this missive with little difficulty. The sticky property +of the flap had been impaired by its contact with the damp surroundings. +Don Gil read the note with a frown. + +"Caramba hombre! Did you go up back of Troja for this?" + +Rotiro raised his shoulders and turned his palms outward. + +"As the Seño' see." + +If Rotiro had gone "up back of Troja" for nothing, it was obviously the +initial occasion in the history of the island. The natives, as well as +the foreigners, seemed to go "up back of Troja" for every article that +they needed. They bought their palm boards back of Troja. They bought +their horses back of Troja. They bought their cattle back of Troja. Back +of Troja was made the best rum that was to be had in all the island. +Back of Troja, for some undiscovered reason, were found the best guns, +the best pistols, the sharpest "colinos," smuggled ashore at the cave, +doubtless, and taken in the night through dark florestas, impenetrable +to officers of the law. Many a wife, light of skin and slim of ankle, +had come from back of Troja to wed with the people nearer the sea. The +region back of Troja was a veritable mine, but for once the mine had +refused to yield up what the would-be prospector desired. + +"He'll get no wife from back of Troja," thought Rotiro, whose own life +partner, out of the bonds of wedlock, had enjoyed that distinction. + +"Whom did you see back of Troja?" + +"The Seño' E'cobeda, Seño'. The Seño' E'cobeda is a ver--" + +"Yes, yes, I know! How you natives will always persist in slipping your +'s,' except when it is superfluous! How did Escobeda look?" + +"Much as usual, Seño'. He is a very fi--" + +"Was he pleasant, or did he frown?" + +"In truth, Seño' Don Gil, I cannot say for one, how he look. I saw but +the back of the Seño' E'cobeda. He look--" + +"As much of a cut-throat as ever, I suppose?" + +"Si, Seño'. The Seño' was seated in his oficina. He had his back to me. +I saw nothing but his ear-rings and the very fine white shirt that he +wore." + +"Well, well! He read the note, and--" + +"He read the note, Seño', and--and--he read the note, and--he read the +n--" + +"Well, well, well!" + +"And shall I tell the Seño' all, then?" + +"Will you continue? or shall I--" Don Gil's tone was threatening. + +"If the Seño' will. He laugh, Seño' Don Gil. He laugh very long and very +loud, and then I hear a es-snarl. It es-sound like a dog. Once he reach +toward the wall for his 'colino.' I at once put myself outside of the +casa, and behind the pilotijo. When he did not advance, I put an eye to +the crack, all the es-same." + +"And it was then that he wrote the note?" + +"Si, Seño'; it was then that he wrote the answer and present it to me." + +"And said--?" + +"He said, oh! I assure the Seño' it was nothing worthy to hear; the +Seño' would not--" + +"He said--?" There was a dangerous light in Don Gil's eye. + +"And I must tell the Seño'? He said, 'Here! give this to that--that--'" + +"That--?" + +"'That _truhan!_' I pray the Don Gil forgive me; the Don Gil make me--" + +Silencio's face had flushed darkly. + +"Continue." + +Rotiro, embarrassed beyond measure, forgot what he had learned by fair +means and what by foul, and blundered on. + +"He did not say whether the Señorit' had go to the Port of Entry; he--" + +"And who told you to enquire whether the Señorita had gone to the Port +of Entry or not?" + +Rotiro perceived at once that he had made a gigantic slip. When Don Gil +next spoke, Rotiro was busy watching the parjara bobo which loped along +within the enclosure. The bird, stupid by name and nature alike, came so +close that Rotiro could almost have touched it with his hand. + +"Do you hear my question?" + +Rotiro started at the tones of thunder. + +"No one inform me, Seño'. I had heard talk of it." + +"Two fools in one enclosure! The bird is as clever as you. Do not try to +think, Rotiro. Have you never heard that peons should never try to +think? Leave the vacuum which nature abhors in its natural state." +Rotiro looked blankly at Don Gil, who often amused himself at the +expense of the stupid. Just now he was angry, and ready to say something +harsh which even a wiser peon than Rotiro could not understand. Rotiro's +vacuum was working, however, as even vacuums will. "Decidedly, I have +made a very grand mistake of some kind; but when a letter will not +stick, it is so easy--the thing, however, is not to let him--" + +"Rotiro!" + +The peon started. Don Gil stood facing him. His eyes were blazing. +Rotiro's arm twitched with the desire to reach for his machete. + +"If I ever find you--" Don Gil spoke slowly and impressively, his +forefinger moving up and down in time with his words--"if ever I find +you opening a letter of mine, either a letter that I send or one that I +receive, I will send you to Saltona, and I shall ask the alcalde to put +you in the army." + +Rotiro's knees developed a sudden weakness. He would much rather be led +to the wall outside the town, turned with his face towards its cold grey +stone, and have his back riddled with bullets. At least, so he thought +at the moment. + +"The Seño' will never find me opening a letter, either now or at any +other time." (_Nor will he. Does he think that I should be so stupid as +to open them before his face? Or within two and a half miles of the Casa +de Caoba?_) + +"Very well, then. Be off with you. Take your gun out of my +counting-house and your colino out of my doorpost, and yourself out of +my sight." + +"The Seño' Don Gil allow that I accommodate myself with a little +ching-ching?" + +"Always ching-ching, Rotiro. Bieng, bieng! Tell Alfredo to give you a +half-glass, not of the pink rum--that is not for such as you. You +remember, perhaps, what happened the last time that I gave you a +ching-ching. I should have said No." + +"I assure the Seño' that Garcito Romando was a worthless man. O, yes, +Seño', an utterly worthless man--an entirely useless man. He could not +plant the suckers, he could not plant the cacao, he could not drive four +bulls at a time; there was no place for Garcito Romando either in heaven +or in hell. Marianna Romando was weary of him. Purgatory was closed to +him, and the blessed island was too good for him. He stole three dollars +Mex. of me once. My e'copeta did, perhaps, go off a little early, but +the Seño' should thank me. He has on his finca one bobo the less, and +the good God knows--" + +Rotiro was not only fluent, he was confluent. He ran his words together +in the most rapid manner. + +Don Gil raised his hand as if to ward off the storm of words. "He was +certainly a fool to tamper with a man whose gun shoots round the corner. +Come! Be off with you! Three fingers, and no more." + +FOOTNOTE: + +[6] Literally, _hatchet breaker_. + + + + +VIII + + +There are days which are crowded with events; days so bursting with +happenings that a single twenty-four hours will not suffice to tell the +tale. There are other days so blank and uneventful that one sighs for +very weariness when one thinks of them. It is not well to wish time +away, but such days are worse than useless. It is, however, of one of +the former that this chapter relates. To a little community like that +surrounding San Isidro and Palmacristi, to say nothing of Troja, the day +on which Agueda carried the note for Raquel was full of events. + +When Escobeda went from Raquel's room, slamming the door after him, the +terrified girl dropped on her knees before Ana. All her courage seemed +to have flown. She bent her head and laid it in Ana's lap, and then +tears rained down and drenched Ana's new silk apron. + +"Ana," she whispered, "Ana, who is there to help me?" + +Ana sighed and sniffed, and one or two great drops rolled off her brown +nose and splashed down on the back of Raquel's dark head. + +"There is no one but you and God, Ana." + +"Holy Mother! child, do not be so irreverent." + +"Can you steal out into the corridor and down the two little steps, and +into the rum room, Ana, and hear what is being said?" + +"I am too heavy; that you know, Señorita. The boards creak at the very +sound of my name. I am tall, my bones are large. Such persons cannot +trip lightly; they tip the scales at a goodly number of pounds. Holy +Mother! If he should catch me at it!" and Ana shivered, her tears drying +at once from fright. + +"You could very well do it if you chose. Listen, Ana. If he takes me +away, I shall die. Now I tell you truly, Ana, I will never go to that +government house alive; that you may as well know. Get me my mother's +dagger, Ana." + +Ana arose and went to a bureau drawer. The drawer squeaked as she pulled +at the knobs. + +A far door was heard opening. "What is that?" roared Escobeda. + +"I am packing the child's trunks, Señor. How can I pack them unless I +may open the drawer?" There was a sound of retreating footsteps and the +closing of the door. Raquel looked at Ana, who was kneeling upon the +floor, searching in the drawer. + +"Ah! here it is," said Ana. "But you will not use it, sweet?" + +"Not unless I must," said Raquel. She sighed. "Not unless I must. I do +not want to die, Ana. I love my life, but there is a great horror over +there." She nodded her head in the direction of the Port of Entry. "When +that horror comes very near me, then I--" Raquel made as if she would +thrust the dagger within her breast. Ana shuddered. + +"I shall not see it," she said. "But I advise it, all the same, if you +must." + +She drew the girl up to her, and cried helplessly upon her neck. + +"Can't you think a little for me, Ana? It is hard always to think for +one's self." + +"No," said Ana, shaking her head, "I never have any fresh thoughts. I +always follow." + +"Then, dear Ana, just tiptoe down and listen. It is the last thing that +I shall ever ask of you, Ana." + +Ana, her eyes streaming with tears, took her slippers--those tell-tale +flappers--from her feet, and went to the door. She turned the knob +gently and pushed the door outward without noise. As she opened it she +heard Escobeda's voice, raised in angry tones. + +"Go now! now! while he is scolding," whispered Raquel. "He will not hear +you. I must know what he is saying to that man. Do you think it is the +Señor Silencio's messenger?" + +Ana nodded and put her finger to her lip. She crept noiselessly along +the passage. Raquel, listen as she would, heard nothing of Ana's +footsteps, for Escobeda was still swearing so loudly as to drown every +other sound. + +Raquel went to the bureau, and took from the drawer a piece of kid. She +seated herself and began to polish her weapon of defence. "Of death," +said Raquel to herself. "If I am forced--" + +She peeped out, but Ana had turned the corner, and was hidden from +sight. Ah! she must be in the rum room now, where she could both peer +through the cracks and hear all that was said on either side. Suddenly a +far door was violently wrenched open, and Raquel heard Escobeda's steps +coming along the corridor. Where was Ana, then? Raquel's heart stood +still. Escobeda came on until he reached the door of Raquel's chamber. +The girl did not alter her position, and but for her flushed cheeks +there was no sign of agitation. She bent her head, and rubbed the +shining steel with much force. + +"Where is that lazy Ana?" + +Raquel raised her innocent eyes to his. + +"Did you call, uncle? Well, then, she must have gone to the kitchen." + +"You lie," said Escobeda. + +Raquel's cheeks reddened still more. + +"Perhaps I do, uncle. At all events, she is not here." + +"What have you there?" + +Escobeda had stooped towards the girl with hand outstretched, but she +had sprung to her feet in a moment, and stood at bay, the dagger held, +not in a threatening attitude, but so that it could be turned towards +the man at any moment. + +"It is my mother's dagger, uncle." + +"What are you doing with it?" + +"Polishing it for my journey, uncle." + +"Give it to me." + +"Why should I give it to you, uncle?" + +"Because I tell you to." + +Raquel's hair had fallen down; she was scantily clothed. Her cheeks were +ablaze. She looked like a tigress brought to bay. + +"Do you remember my mother, uncle?" + +"I remember your mother; what of her?" + +"Do you know what she said to me at the last--at the last, uncle?" + +"I neither know nor care," said Escobeda. "Hand me the knife." + +"My mother told me," said Raquel, still polishing the blade and changing +its direction so that the point was held towards Escobeda--"my mother +told me to keep this little thing always at hand. It has always been +with me. You do not know how many times I have had the thought to turn +it upon you"--Escobeda started and paled--"when your cruelties have been +worse than usual. Sometimes at night I have thought of creeping, +creeping along the hall there, and going to the side of your bed--" + +"You murderess!" shouted Escobeda. "So you would do that, would you? It +is time that you came under the restraint that you will find over there +in the government town. Do you hear? Give me the knife. It was like that +she-dev--" + +"I can hear quite well with it in my hand," said Raquel. "You may say +whatever comes into your head, only about my mother. That I will not +bear. Speak of her gently, I warn you--I warn you--" + +"Do you know who the man was who came to me just now?" + +"The Señor Silencio?" said Raquel, breathless, her eyes flashing with a +thousand lights. + +"No, it was not the Señor Silencio." Raquel's eyelids drooped. "But it +was the next thing to it. It was that villain, Rotiro. I could have +bought him, as well as Silencio. A little rum and a few pesos, and he is +mine body and soul. But I do not want him. I have followers in plenty--" + +"Those who follow you for love?" said Raquel, with sly malice in her +tone. + +Escobeda flashed a dark and hateful look upon her. + +"It makes no difference why they follow me. They are all mine, body and +soul, just as you are mine, body and soul." + +"Are you going to tell me why Rotiro came here to-day?" asked Raquel. + +"Yes, that is what I came to tell you. I came purposely to tell you +that. The Señor Silencio sent me a letter by the villain Rotiro." + +"For me?" asked Raquel, breathless. "Oh, uncle! Let me see it, let me--" + +"No, it was to me. But I will tell you its contents. I will tell you +gladly. He offers you his hand in marriage." + +"Oh, uncle!" + +The girl's eyes were dancing. She blushed and paled alternately; then +drew a long sigh, and waited for Escobeda to speak further. + +"From your appearance, I should judge that you wish me to accept him for +you." + +"Oh, uncle!" Again the girl drew short, quick breaths. She gazed eagerly +into Escobeda's face. "Can you think anything else? Now I need not go +away. Now I need not be longer a burden upon you. Now I shall have a +home! Now--I--shall--be--" The girl hesitated and dropped her voice, and +then it died away in a whisper. But one meaning could be drawn from +Escobeda's cunning screwed-up eyes, his look of triumph, his smile of +wickedness. + +They stood gazing at each other thus for the space of a few seconds, +those seconds so fraught with dread on the one side, with malice and +triumphant delight on the other. + +"Your mother hated me, Raquel. Perhaps she never had the kindness to +tell you that. I found her when she was dying. You remember, perhaps, +when she asked you, her little girl, to withdraw for a while, that she +might speak with me alone?" + +"I remember, uncle," said Raquel, panting. + +"It was not to be wondered at that she preferred your father to me. She +had loved me first. She was my father's ward. But when he came, with his +handsome face and girlish ways, she threw me aside like a battered doll. +She said that I was cruel, but she never discovered that until she fell +in love with your father. She ran away with him one night when I was at +the city on business for my father. The doting old man could not keep a +watch upon them, but I followed their fortunes. She never knew that it +was I who had him followed to the mines, where he thought he had +discovered a fortune, and killed him in the cold and dark--" + +"Are you a devil?" asked Raquel. + +"His bones, you can see them now, Raquel; they were never buried--they +lie up there on the floor of the old--" + +The dagger slipped from Raquel's fingers, and she slid to the floor. + +"No, I did not tell her that I should take out my vengeance upon her +child. I knew my time would come. Silencio's offer is of as much value +as if written in the sand down there by the river, the--" + +Ana came in at the doorway. Escobeda stooped and picked up the dagger. +"She will hardly need this," he said, as he stuck it in his belt. + +When Raquel opened her eyes Ana was bending over her, as usual in floods +of tears, drenching the girl alternately with warm water from her tender +eyes and cold water from the perron. + +Raquel sat up and looked about her as one dazed. She clutched at the +folds of her dress. The piece of kid lay in her hand. + +"Oh, Ana!" she sobbed, "he has taken it away. All that I had. My only +protection." + +Ana arose and quietly closed the door. + +"Sweet," she said, "I have good news for you." + +"What is it?" asked Raquel, sitting up, all interest, her dull eyes +brightening. + +"I crept along the hall," said Ana, "and when I reached the rum room I +slipped in and closed the door softly, and listened through the cracks. +When he came here, I slipped out to the kitchen, and there I have been +ever since." + +"But the good news," asked Raquel. "Quick! Ana, tell me." + +"He was sitting at his desk, the Señor Escobeda, his back to the door, +so unlike any other gentleman. If they must rage, they stand up and do +it. But there he sat, swearing by all the gods at something. I saw that +that man Rotiro from Palmacristi had run out of the counting-house, and +was peeping in at the door; and I listened, hoping to find out +something, and I have, sweet, I have." + +"Well! well! Ana, dear Ana, hasten! hasten!--" + +"I have found out that the Señor Don Gil asks your hand in marriage." + +Raquel sank down again in a heap on the floor. + +"Is that all, Ana?" she said. + +"All! And what more can the Señorita want than to have a gentleman, +rich, handsome, devoted, offer her his hand in honourable marriage?" + +"I only want one thing more, Ana dear," said Raquel, sadly, "the power +to accept it." + +"The power to accept it?" said Ana, questioningly. "Is the child mad?" + +"He twits me with it. He says that I shall not accept him, the Señor Don +Gil. He says that I shall go in any case to the government town. He has +taken away my dagger. I cannot even kill myself, Ana. Oh! what am I to +do? Gil! Gil! Come and save me." + +At this heavy steps were heard coming along the corridor. The door was +burst open with a blow of Escobeda's fist. + +"You need not scream or call upon your lover, or on anybody else. You +have no one to aid you." + +"No one but God, and my dear Ana here," said Raquel. + +"One is about as much use as the other," said Escobeda, laughing. "Call +as loud as you will, one is quite deaf and the other helpless." + +Raquel rose to her feet. + +"Will you leave my room?" she said with dignity. + +"I will leave your room, because I have done all that I came to do." + +"You have broken the child's heart, Señor," said Ana, with unwonted +courage, "if that is what you came to do." + +"If I can break her spirit, that is all I care for," said Escobeda. + +"You will never break my spirit," said Raquel. She stood there so +defiant, the color coming and going in her face, her splendid hair +making a veil about her, that Escobeda looked upon her with the +discriminating eye of fresh discovery. + +"By Heaven," he said, "you are more beautiful than ever your mother was! +If I had not promised the Governor--" + +"Spare her your insults," said Ana, her indignation aroused. She pushed +the door against his thick figure, and shot the bolt. They heard +Escobeda's laugh as he flung it back at them. "What shall we do now?" +asked Raquel. "Shall I drop from the window and run away? There must be +some one who will aid me." + +Ana approached the closely drawn jalousies. She put her long nose to a +crack and peered down. The slight movement of the screen was seen from +the outside. + +"It is you that need not look out, Anita Maria," came up to her in +Joyal's rasping voice. "This is not the front door." + +"He has been quick about it," said Ana. "No matter, sweet, we must pack. +Some one must help us. When the Señor Silencio gets that devilish +message he must do something." + +"What was the devilish message, Ana?" asked Raquel. + +"Do not ask me, child; just hateful words, that is all." + +Raquel put her young arms round Ana's old thin shoulders. + +"Promise me one thing, Ana," she said. + +"Promise! Who am _I_ to make promises, sweet? All that I can, I will. +That you must know." + +"When I am gone, Ana"--Raquel looked searchingly at Ana and repeated the +words solemnly--"when I am gone, promise that you will go to the Señor +Silencio. Say to him--" + +"But how am I to get there, sweet? I should have to wear my waist that I +keep for the saints' days. I--" + +"Get there? Do you suppose if you asked me I would not find a way? My +uncle Escobeda will be gone. Remember he will be gone, Ana! There will +be no one to watch you, and you talk of clothes! You will not wear them +out in one afternoon, and when I am Señora"--Raquel halted in her +voluble speech and blushed crimson--"he, my uncle, would be glad to have +you go and say that he has taken me away. Nothing would please him +better. Now, promise me that when I am gone you will go to the Señor +Silencio, and tell him where he has taken me. Tell him that I accept his +offer. Tell him that if he loves me, he will find a way to save me. Tell +him that I sent him a note by that pretty Agueda from San Isidro--" + +"You should not speak to such as she--" + +"She seemed sweet and good. She carried my note, Ana. I must always be +her friend. Tell him--" + +A loud thud upon the door. + +Escobeda had stolen up softly, and was chuckling to himself outside in +the passage. + +"Ana has my permission to go and tell him all about how you love him, +Muchacha. That will make it even more pleasant for me. I thank you for +helping me carry out my plans, but for the present, Ana had better pack +your things, and quickly. The sun is getting over to the west, and you +must start within two hours' time." + +Raquel threw her arms round Ana and strained her to her childish breast. + +"You will go, dear Ana, you promise me, do you not? You will go?" + +"I will," said the weeping Ana, "even if I must go in my Sunday shoes." + + + + +IX + + +When the voluble Rotiro had vanished round the end of the +counting-house, Silencio retired to his inner sanctum and closed and +locked the door. The contrast between this room and the bare front +office was marked. Here cretonne draped the walls, its delicate white +and green relieving the plain white of the woodwork. Coming from the +outer glare, the cool coloring was more than grateful to the senses. The +large wicker chairs with which the room was furnished were painted +white, their cushions being of the same pale green whose color pervaded +the interior. The white tables, with their green silken cloths, the +white desk, the mirrors with white enameled frames, the white porcelain +lamps with green shades, all of the same exquisite tint, made the +sanctum a symphony of delicate color, a bower of grateful shade. Pull +one of the hangings aside, ever so little, and a fortress stared you in +the face--a fortress known of, at the most, to but two persons in the +island. + +It is true that the more curious of the peons had wondered somewhat why +Don Gil had brought down from the es-States those large sheets of iron +with clamps and screws; but the native is not inquisitive as a rule, and +certainly not for long. All señors do strange things, things not to be +accounted for by any known rule of life, and the Señor Don Gil was rich +enough to do as he liked. What, then, was it to a hard-working peon, +what a grand señor like the Don Gil took into his mahogany house? + +The man who had come down in the steamer with the sheets of iron had +remained at Palmacristi for a month or more. He had brought two workmen, +and when he sailed for Nueva Yorka no one but the owner of the Casa de +Caoba and the old Guillermina knew that the inner counting-house had +been completely sheathed with an iron lining, whose advent the peons had +forgotten. + +"This is my bank," said Don Gil to Don Juan Smit'. + +"It may become a fort some day, who knows?" answered the Don Juan Smit', +"if those rascally Spaniards come over here and create another rumpus." +Strange to say, Don Gil did not resent this remark about the nation +which had produced his ancestors. But, then, Don Gil was a +revolutionist, and had fought side by side with the bravest generals of +the ten years' Cuban war. + +"It is a very secure place to detain a willing captive," smiled Don Gil. + +"Well, I guess!" assented the Señor Don Juan Smit', with a very knowing +wink of the eye, which proved that he had not understood his employer's +meaning in the very slightest. + +Old Guillermina, who had reared Don Gil's mother, was the only person +allowed within the counting-house. + +"A very fine place for the black spiders to hide," remarked Guillermina, +as she twitched aside the green and white hangings, and exposed the iron +sheathing. "There is no place they would prefer to this." + +When Don Gil had locked the door, he seated himself and took Escobeda's +note from his pocket. He examined the flap of the envelope; it was badly +soiled and creased. He was morally certain that Rotiro had possessed +himself of the contents of the letter. He had told Rotiro that peons +should not think, but they would think, semi-occasionally, and more than +that, they would talk. When a peon was found clever enough to carry a +message, he also possessed the undesirable quality of wishing to excite +curiosity in others, and to make them feel what a great man he was to be +trusted with the secrets of the Señor. By evening the insolence of +Escobeda would be the common property of every man, woman, and child on +the estate, and, what Silencio could bear least of all, the insulting +news as to the ultimate destination of Raquel would be gossiped over in +every palm hut and rancho far and near. All his working people would +know before to-morrow the message which had been brought to him by +Rotiro, and it was his own rum that would loosen Rotiro's tongue and aid +materially in his undoing. His face grew red and dark. His brow knotted +as he perused the vile letter for the fourth time. Escobeda's +handwriting was strong, his grammar weak, his spelling not always up to +par. The letter was written in Spanish, into which some native words had +crept. The translation ran: + + + "TO THE SEÑOR DON GIL SILENCIO-Y-ESTRADA. + + "_Señor_:--You are forbidden to set foot in my house. You are + forbidden to try to see or speak to the Señorita Raquel. I do not + continue the farce of saying my niece; she is not more than a + distant relative of mine. But in this case, might makes right. I + control her and she is forever lost to you. You refused me the + trocha farm for a fair price. See now, if it would not have been + better to yield. The Señorita Raquel starts for the Port of Entry + this afternoon. She sails to-night for the government town. The + Governor desires her services. Knowing the Governor by repute, you + may imagine what those services are." + + +Silencio struck the senseless sheet with his clenched fist. His ring +tore a jagged hole in the paper, so that he had difficulty in smoothing +it for re-perusal. + + + "It pays me better to sell her to him than to give her to you." + + +Wild thoughts flew through the brain of Silencio. He started up, and +had almost ordered his horse. He was rich. He would offer all, +everything that he possessed, to save Raquel from such a fate, but he +sadly resumed his seat after a moment of reflection. Escobeda hated him, +there had been a feud between the families since the old Don Gil had +caused the arrest of the elder Escobeda, a lawless character; and the +son had made it the aim of his life to annoy and insult the family of +Silencio. Here was a screw that he could turn round and round in the +very heart of his enemy, and already the screwing process had begun. Don +Gil took up the mutilated letter and read to the end: + + + "We start for the coast this afternoon. Do not try to rescue her. I + have a force of brave men who will protect me from any number that + you may bring. We have colinos and escopetes in plenty. Your case + is hopeless. You dare not attack me on land; you cannot attack me + on the water." + + +Don Gil dashed the paper on the floor and ground savagely beneath his +heel the signature "Rafael Escobeda." + +"It is true," he said, shaking his head. "It is true; I am helpless!" + +With a perplexed face and knitted brow he went into the outer room, +closed the entrance door and took a flat bar of iron from its +resting-place against the wall. This he fitted into the hasps at each +side of the door, which were ready to receive it. Then he returned to +the inner room, and secured the iron-sheathed door with two similar +bars. After this was done, he looked somewhat ruefully at his handiwork. +"The cage is secure," he said, "if I but had the bird." + +Silencio opened the door which connected the office with the main part +of the house. He closed and locked it behind him, and proceeded along a +passage so dark that no light crept in except through the narrow slits +beneath the eaves. When he had traversed this passage, he opened a +further door and emerged at once into the main part of the house. Here +everything was open, attractive, and alluring. Here spacious apartments +gave upon broad verandas, whose flower boxes held blooms rare even in +this garden spot of the world. Here were beauty and colour and splendour +and glowing life. + +Don Gil threw himself down in a hammock which stretched across a shady +corner. Through the opening between the pilotijos, he could see the +wooded heights in the distance, those heights beyond which Troja lay, +Troja, which held his heart and soul. What to do? To-night she would set +sail for the government town in the toils of Escobeda, her +self-confessed betrayer and barterer--set sail for that hateful place +where her worse than slavery would begin. The person to whom she was to +be sold--none the less sold because the price paid did not appear on +paper--was possessed of power and that might of which Escobeda had +spoken in his letter--that might which makes right. He could give +countenance to speculators and incorporators, he could grant concessions +for an equivalent; into such keeping Escobeda, with his devil's +calculation, was planning to deliver her--his Raquel, his little +sweetheart. That she loved him he knew. A word and a glance are enough, +and he had received many such. A note and a rose at the last _festin_, +where she had been allowed to look on for a while under the eye of her +old duenna! A pressure of her hand in the crowd, a trembling word of +love under her breath in answer to his fierce and fiery ones! + +The cause for love, its object does not know nor question. The fact is +all that concerns him, and so far Silencio was secure. And here was this +last appeal from the helpless girl! They had started by this time +perhaps. Don Gil looked at the ancient timepiece which had descended +from old Don Oviedo. Yes, they had started. It was now twenty minutes +past six; they needed but two hours to ride to the Port of Entry. The +steamer would not sail until between nine and ten o'clock. Very shortly +Escobeda's party would cross the trocha, which at that point was a +public highway. It ran through the Palmacristi estate, and neared the +casa on the south. Could he not rescue her when they were so near? There +were not three men within the home enclosure. The others had gone direct +to their huts and ranchos from their work in the fields. He could not +collect them now, and if he could, of what use a skirmish in the road? +Escobeda was sure to ride with a large force, and a stray shot might do +injury to Raquel herself. No, no! Some other way must be thought of. + +Silencio arose, passed quickly through the casa and entered the patio. +He ran up the stairs which ascended from the veranda to the flat roof +above. He stood upon the roof, shading his eyes with his hand, and +straining his vision to catch the first sight of Escobeda and his party +of cut-throats. He was none too early. A cloud of dust on the near side +of the cacao grove told him this, and then he heard the jingling of +spurs and the sound of voices. A group of some thirty horsemen swept +round the curve and came riding into full view. In their center rode a +woman. She was so surrounded that by no effort of hers could she break +through the determined-looking throng. One glance at those cruel faces, +and Silencio's heart sank like lead. + +The woman was gazing with appealing eyes at the Casa de Caoba. Silencio +was not near enough to distinguish her features, but her attitude was +hopeless and appealing, and he knew that it was Raquel the moment that +he discovered her. + +Suddenly she drew a handkerchief from her bosom and waved it above her +head. There was something despairing and pitiable in her action. +Silencio whirled his handkerchief wildly in the air. He was beside +himself! Escobeda turned and struck the girl, who dropped her signal +hand and drooped her head upon her breast. + +Silencio put his hands to his mouth and shouted: "Do not fear; I will +save you!" He shook his clenched hand at Escobeda. "You shall pay for +that! By God in Heaven! you shall pay for that!" + +Yes, pay for it, but how? How? Oh, God! how? He was so helpless. No one +to aid him, no one to succour. + +At this defiance of Silencio's there came an order to halt. The men +faced the Casa de Caoba, Escobeda placed his rifle to his shoulder, but +as he fired, Raquel quickly reached out her hand and dashed the muzzle +downward. A crash of glass below stairs told Silencio where the shot had +found entrance. + +"And for that shot, also, you shall pay. Aye, for twenty thousand good +glass windows." Glass windows are a luxury in the island. + +A burst of derisive laughter and a scattering flight of bullets were +thrown back at him by the motley crew. They reined their horses to the +right, turned a corner, and were lost in their own dust. + +Silencio descended the stairs, how he never knew. He ran through the +patio and the main rooms, and out on to the veranda, from which the path +led toward the gate of the enclosure. He was beside himself. He seized +his gun from the rack; he cocked it as he ran. + +"He said that I could not reach him upon the water; I can reach him upon +the land. Piombo, my horse! Do not wait to saddle him, bring him at +once. No, I cannot reach him upon the water--" + +A sound of footsteps. A head bound in a ragged cloth appeared above the +flower boxes which edged the veranda, and pushed its way between the +leaves. A body followed, and then a man ascended slowly to a level with +Don Gil Silencio. Over his shoulder was slung a shotgun; in his leathern +belt, an old one of his master's, was thrust a machete; from his hand +swung a lantern with white glass slides. This man was stupid but kindly. +He pattered across the veranda with bare and callous feet, and came to a +halt within a few paces of Don Gil. There he stopped and leaned against +the jamb of the open door. + +At night Andres hung a lantern upon the _asta_ at the headland yonder, +more as a star of cheer than as a warning. The red lantern on Los +Santos, some miles further down the coast, was the beacon for and the +warning to mariners. The ray from its one red sector illumined the +channel until the morning sun came again to light the way. When the +white pane changed the ray of red to one of white, the pilot shouted, +"Hard over." With a wide and foaming curve, the vessel swept round and +out to sea, thus avoiding the sand spit of Palmacristi. + +Silencio's eyes fell upon the lantern in the hand of Andres, and in that +moment the puzzle of the hour was solved. So suddenly does the bread of +necessity demand the rising of the yeast of invention. The expression of +Don Gil's face had changed in a moment from abject gloom to radiant +exultation. + +"_Bien venido_, Andres! _Bien venido!_" + +No dearest friend could have been greeted with a more joyous note of +welcome. Andres raised his eyes in astonishment to the face of the young +Señor. He had expected to meet with Guillermina's reproaches because he +had forgotten to lower the lantern from the asta that morning, and had +left it burning all the long day, so that now it must be refilled. Here +was a very different reception. He had been thinking over his excuses. +He had intended to say at once how ill El Rey had been all night, and +how he had forgotten everything but the child; and here, instead of the +scolding of the servant, he was greeted with the smiles of the master. +Truly, this was a strange world; one never knew what to expect. + +"I come for oil for the lantern, Don Gil. It is a very good _farol de +señales_, but it is a glutton! It is never satisfied! It eats, and +eats!" + +"Like the rest of you." Don Gil laughed aloud. Andres gazed at him with +astonishment. "That blessed glutton! Let us feed it, Andres! Give it +plenty to eat to-night, of all nights. I will hoist it upon the headland +myself to-night." At Andres's still greater look of astonishment, "Yes, +yes, leave it to me. I will hoist the blessed lantern myself to-night +upon my headland." + +"The Señor must not trouble himself. It is a dull, dark night! The Señor +will find the _sendica_ rough and hard to climb." + +"What! that little path? Have not I played there as a child? Raced over +it as a boy? I could go there blindfold. How is the little king, +Andres?" Andres's face fell. + +"He is not so well, Señor. That is why I forgot the lantern. He was +awake in the night talking to her. I have left him for barely an hour to +fill the lantern and return it again to the asta. He talks to her at +night. Sometimes I think she has returned. He begged me to leave the +door unlocked; he thinks she may come when I am gone." Andres turned +away his heavy face, and brushed his sleeve across his eyes. + +"You shall go home early to-night, Andres; as I said, I will hoist the +lantern." + +The dull face of Andres lighted up with a tender smile, a smile which +glorified its homely lineaments--that smile which had always been ready +to appear at the bidding of El Rey. Poor little El Rey, who had never +ceased to call, in all his waking hours for Roseta, Roseta who had found +the charms of Dondy Jeem, with his tight-rope and his red trunk-hose and +his spangles and his delightful wandering life, much more to be desired +than the palm-board hut down on the edge of the river, with El Rey to +care for all day, and Andres to attend when he returned at night from +the sucker planting or banana cutting. + +"How is the sea, Andres?" + +"It is quiet, Señor, not a ripple." + +"And we shall have no moon?" + +"As the Señor says, not for some weeks past have we had a moon." + +Don Gil laughed. He could laugh now, loud and long. His heart was almost +light. What better tool and confidant could he procure than a peon who +knew so little of times and seasons as Andres? + +"And it is low tide at ten o'clock to-night?" + +"As the Señor says." + +Had Don Gil asked, "Is the sea ink?" Andres would have replied, "As the +Señor says." + +"At about what time is the red lantern lighted on Los Santos?" + +"At about six o'clock, Señor. I heard old Gremo say that he lights it +each evening at six o'clock." + +"He does not live near it now?" + +"As the Señor says. The old casa fell quite to pieces in the last +hurricane, and now Gremo lives at the Romando cannuca." + +"He must start early from the conuco?" + +"As the Señor says. At half after five. It is a long way to carry a +ladder--there and back. Gremo is afraid of the ghosts who infest the +mompoja patch. If one but thrusts his head at you, you are lost. +Marianna Romando says that Gremo is not much of a man, but far superior +to Garcito Romando. The few pesos that he gets for lighting the lantern +keep the game cock in food." + +"And no one can tamper with the light, I suppose?" + +"As the Señor says. The good God forbid! The cords by which it is +lowered hang so high that no one can reach them--not even Natalio, who, +as all know, is a giant." + +"And you could not get that ladder, Andres?" + +"As the Señor says, when Gremo carries it a mile away, and puts it +inside the enclosure. He is a good shot, though so old. There is only +one better in all the district. Besides, there are ghosts between the +asta and the cannuca." + +Don Gil stood for a moment lost in thought. + +"I suppose El Rey needs you at home, Andres. I should not keep--" + +"That is quite true; I do, very much, Señor." + +The thin little voice came from behind the giant ceiba round which the +circular end of the veranda had been built. + +"You here, El Rey?" + +A slight, childish figure emerged slowly from behind the giant trunk and +leaned against its corrugated bark. + +"El Rey becomes weary staying down there in the palm hut, Señor. There +is nothing to do but watch the pajara bobo, and the parrots, and listen +to river, going, going, going! Always going! Has Roseta been here, +Señor?" + +Don Gil shook his head. He gazed sadly at the child. + +"When do you think she will come, Señor?" + +"I know not, little one; perhaps to-morrow." + +The boy raised his hand and smoothed down his thin hair. The hand +trembled like that of an old man. His cheek was sunken, his lips +colourless. He lifted his large eyes to Don Gil's face. + +"They always tell me that. Mañana, mañana; always mañana!" + +He sighed patiently, looking at the Señor, as if the great gentleman +could help him in his trouble. + +Andres turned away his head. He gazed across the valley toward the hills +beyond which lay Troja. That was where they had gone to see Dondy Jeem, +he and his pretty Roseta--Roseta, who had tossed her head and shaken the +gold hoops in her ears when Dondy Jeem had kissed his hand to the +spectators. He had turned always to the seats where Roseta and Andres, +stupid Andres--he knew that now--sat. Then Roseta had given El Rey to +the ever-willing arms of Andres, and fixed her eyes on Dondy Jeem and +watched his graceful poise, the white satin shoes descending so easily +and securely upon the swaying rope, the long pole held so lightly in the +strong hands. It had been before those days that Roseta used to call the +child her king. Poor El Rey! He looked a sorry enough little king +to-day, a dethroned little king, with his pinched face and trembling +fingers and wistful eyes, searching the world in vain for the kingdom +which had been wrested from him. + +"How did you get out of the rancho, El Rey?" + +"That Señorita from El Cuco, she let me out." + +"You should be in bed, muchachito." + +"But it is lonely, Señor, in that bed. That is Roseta's bed. I turn +that way and this way. It is hot. I look for Roseta. She is not there. A +man look in at the door once; he frighten me. To-day a hairy beast came. +He push back the shutter. When he was gone, I ran. I stumble, I fell +over bajucos. I caught my foot in a root. That would not matter if I +could find Roseta. I would rather be here with the Señor than at the +river." + +El Rey pushed a confiding little hand into Don Gil's palm. Don Gil sat +down and took the child between his knees. + +"Andres, do you shoot as well as of old?" + +"I shoot fairly well, Señor." + +The Señor laughed. He had seen Andres at only the last fair, less than a +year ago, shoot, at eighty yards, a Mexican dollar from between the +fingers of Dondy Jeem. The scene recurred to Andres. "Had it been but +his heart!" he muttered, dully. And then, with a look at Don Gil, "There +are few who cannot do one thing well, Señor." + +"You are far too modest, Andres." + +Don Gil glanced again at the lantern which Andres had set down upon the +veranda rail. When he had first caught sight of that lantern in Andres's +hand his difficulty had vanished like the morning mist. With a flash of +thought, rather of many thoughts in one train, he had seen the +proceedings of the evening to come mapped out like a plan of campaign. + +"Will you do something for me, Andres?" + +"The good God knows; anything that I can, Señor. But what I should +prefer would be a night when the moon shines. He could not then see me +behind the old ironwood, and I could distinguish him better when there +is a little light. Is it the Señor E'cobeda, Señor?" + +Don Gil laughed again. He put El Rey gently from him, and arose. He +walked to the corner of the veranda and back again. Andres took El Rey +tenderly up in his arms, the child laid his hot head on Andres's +shoulder. + +"When will Roseta come?" he whispered. With the unreason and trustful +selfishness of childhood, he did not see that if his heart was breaking, +the heart of Andres had already broken. + +"No, Andres; it is not Escobeda. I do not hire assassins, even for such +a villain as he. But I need a servant as faithful and as dumb as if that +were my custom. I want something done at once, Andres, and I truly +believe that you are the only one upon all the coloñia whom I can trust. +Come in here with me. No! Set the child down; he will listen and +repeat." + +"El Rey will not listen at nothing, Señor," said the child. He clung +tightly to Andres's neck. + +"Come in, then, both of you." + +Andres, with El Rey in his arms, followed Don Gil across the large +living-room. Don Gil turned as he unlocked the door at the end of the +passage. + +"I have something to say to you," he said, "which must not be +overheard." + +Andres, the pioneer of his race, followed the Señor into the spring-like +privacy of the sanctum. + +"Now don't worry your brain, Andres. Listen to what I shall ask of you, +and go and do it. You know it has always been my theory that a peon +should not try to think, and why? Simply because he has no brain, +Andres." + +"As the Señor says," assented Andres. + + + + +X + + +When Andres issued from the counting-house of Palmacristi he was +examining critically the trigger of a gun. That fine Winchester it was +which had been the wonder and delight of the natives since the Señor Don +Juan Smit' had brought it down from the es-States. When the Señor +Silencio had asked the Señor Don Juan Smit' if the gun would shoot +straight, the Señor Don Juan Smit' had laughed softly, and had answered, +"Well, I guess!" and the Señor Don Juan Smit' had not exaggerated. + +"And El Rey?" + +"El Rey will go with Andres, Señor," answered the thin voice. + +"The muchachito will do as he chooses, Señor." The child was following +close upon his father's steps. + +"It is too far for him, Andres. Stay with me, El Rey." + +The child looked wistfully up at Andres. + +"Andres will carry El Rey. Perhaps we shall find Roseta at the place +where Andres goes to shoot." + +"I will carry him, Señor. His weight is nothing. Dear God! nothing!" + +Andres swung the child up to his hip, where he sat astride, securely +held by Andres's strong arm, and descended the veranda steps. + +"Come and tell me when it is done," Silencio called after them. + +"Si, Señor. Buen' noch', Señor." + +"Buen' noch', Señor," echoed El Rey's piping voice. + +"Here, Andres." From his height on the veranda floor Don Gil tossed a +key to Andres. "Open the boat-house, and run the boat out upon the +southern ways. The southern ways, do you hear? Those nearest the Port of +Entry." + +Andres looked up wonderingly. + +"Ah! you are trying to think. Do not try. It is useless. Obey! that is +all." + +Blindly faithful, Andres, having caught the key, turned away with an "As +the Señor says," and disappeared down the camino which led toward the +ocean cliff. + +When he reached the headland of Palmacristi he suddenly diverged from +the cliff path and ran hurriedly down the bank. The boat-house stood +upon a safe eminence in the middle of the sand spit, with ways running +down to the water on either side. Andres set El Rey down in the warm +sand, and unlocked the boat-house door. He then pushed the boat to the +end of the ways. The tide was still falling; it was nearly low water. He +laid the oars ready; then he arose and looked southward along the coast. +Ah! There shone the signal upon Los Santos headland. Old Gremo was at +his post, then. Andres raised his shoulders to his ears, turned the +palms of his hands outward, and said: + +"Thy labour is of no use to-night, Gremo." He then took El Rey up from +his nest in the warm sand, swung the child again to his hip, and +remounting the bank, proceeded on his way. + +So soon as Andres had departed Don Gil entered the comidor, and going to +the table, struck a bell hanging above it. Jorge Toleto lounged to the +doorway, against the side of which he propped himself. + +"Tell Piomba to go over to the bodega at once, and ask the padre to dine +with me this evening. Piomba has little time. Tell him to be off at +once." + +Jorge Toleto shuffled away, with the remnant of what in his youth had +been a respectful bow. When he was gone Don Gil crossed the living-room, +passed through two long passages, and entered a door at the end of the +second. Here was a sort of general storeroom. When he emerged he carried +in one hand a lantern, in the other he held a flat parcel. "A new +lantern will burn more brightly," he said to himself. + +It was growing dusk now. Don Gil descended the veranda stair and +followed in the footsteps of Andres. As he crossed the rough grass +beyond the veranda, old Guillermina espied him from a further window. +She was engaged in opening the Señor's bed for the night, searching +among the snowy linen to make sure, before tucking the rose-coloured +netting beneath the mattress, that no black spider had hidden itself +away, to prove later an unwelcome bedfellow to her adored Don Gil. For +your tarantula will ensconce itself in unexpected corners at times, and +is at the best not quite a desirable sleepmate. + +"And for the love of the saints, where is our Don Gil departing to at +this hour of the night? The dinner nearly ready, old Otivo watching the +san coch' to see that it does not burn! The table laid, everything fine +enough for a meal for the holy apostles! Aie! aie! for our Don Gil is +one who will have it as fine for himself as for the alcade, when--pouff! +off he goes, and we breaking our hearts while we wait. Ay de mi! ay de +mi!" + +The Señor, unconscious that he had been observed, passed hurriedly along +the camino, and shortly struck into the little path or sendica which +Andres had traversed but a short time before. As Don Gil glanced over +the cliff, he saw that the sea was still; almost calm. Even the usual +ocean swell seemed but a wavelet, as it reached weakly up the beach, +expending itself in a tiny whirl of pebbles and foam whose force was +_nil_, and lapsed in a retreat more exhausted than its oncoming. + +A walk of ten minutes brought Silencio to the headland which bounded his +property on the south. It was growing so dark that he could hardly +distinguish the staff upon which it had been Andres's custom to hang +each night his _lanterna de señales_, to send forth its white beam of +cheer across the sea. When, after passing the red light of Los Santos +Head, the pilot steered for the open ocean, the remark to the captain +was always the same stereotyped phrase: + +"Ah! There is the Palmacristi lantern bidding us Godspeed." + +It is a sad thing when the habit of years must be changed. When a +custom, fixed as the laws of the Medes, must be broken, chaos is often +the result. Thus thought Silencio, as he reached the foot of the _asta_. +It is, however, not necessary to say that his hand was not retarded by +the thought. He groped for the cords which dangled from the top, and +found them. He lighted a fusee and searched for and found the red slide, +which he had laid on the ground. This was all that he wanted. By +feeling, almost entirely, he removed the white pane from the lantern and +replaced it by the red one, which he took from its wrapping. He then +lighted the lantern, passed the cords through the metal hasps, and drew +the signal to the top of the staff. The cords were so arranged as to +permit of no swaying of the lantern. The light was fixed, and now from +the top of the staff a red beam shone southward. + +When Don Gil mounted the steps of his veranda at Palmacristi a tall, +thin figure arose to greet him. + +"Ah, padre, I am glad that Piomba succeeded in finding you. My dinners +are lonely ones." + +The padre laughed in the cracked voice of an old man. + +"Better is the stalled ox where love is, than a dinner of herbs and +poverty therewith." + +"Just enough learning to misquote," quoted Don Gil, laughing also, but +in a preoccupied manner. + +"Perhaps it would be better to say 'just enough appetite.' My dinners +are bad enough, since Plumero left me." + +"Better to have him leave you, even if under a guard of soldiers, padre, +than to let him put you where you can eat no more dinners. What was +that, padre? Did you hear anything?" + +"Nothing, my boy, but Jorge Toleto calling us to dinner. The willing +ear, you know." + +Don Gil ushered the old man into the comidor. His tall figure was bent +and thin. The shabby black coat, whose seams shone with a generation's +wear, flapped its tails about the legs of his scant white trousers. The +good priest's figure was one in which absurdity and dignity were +inextricably combined. The padre showed his years. He had never quite +recovered from the attack made upon him by his trusted servant Plumero, +the Good--Plumero, who now languished in the cep' over at Saltona. + +The savory meal was ended. The night was warm and close. + +"Let us sit upon the veranda and enjoy our cigarillos, padre." + +Silencio seemed unlike himself. He was nervous, ill at ease. He had no +sooner seated himself than he arose and paced the long veranda, the +spark of his cigarette, only, showing his whereabouts. He looked often +out to sea, and often in the direction of the _lanterna de señales_, +whose ray was hidden from sight by the near hill. + +"Do you hear anything, padre? Anything like a cry or a--" + +"No, nothing! my boy. And as I was saying, there was my poor fighting +cock lying in the corner, worse maltreated than he had ever been in any +garito, and when I awoke--" + +"That was certainly a gun. You are not rising to leave, padre; why, +your cigarillo is not even half finished. I expect you to stay the +night. No, no! I will take no denial. Guillermina, prepare the western +room for the Padre Martinez." + +"You know my weaknesses, muchacho mio. Very well, then, I will." But +Silencio was down the steps and some feet away in the darkness, +straining his ear for the sound which he knew must come. He took out his +watch, and by the light of the veranda lantern noted the time. "Early +yet," he muttered under his breath. + +"Pardon, my son, you spoke to--" + +"I was but saying that the moon is very late to--hark!" + +"You are restless, Gil." + +"It is this muggy weather. There! you certainly heard something?" + +"Nothing, Gil; nothing but the nightingale yonder." + +A cuculla flew into the padre's face. He brushed it gently away. It +returned to wander over the long wisps of grey hair which straggled over +the collar of the hot, dignified coat. The padre took the cuculla in his +fingers, and placed it gently upon the leaves of the bougainvillia vine. + +"I certainly think that the sweetest songsters I ever heard are the +nightingales in this enclosure." + +A footstep sounded on the graveled pathway which ran close to the +veranda. + +"Buen' noch', Señor." + +Silencio started nervously. + +"Ah! It is you, Andres? Buenas noches." Silencio raised his hand with a +warning gesture. Andres's stolid face expressed as stolid acquiescence. + +"Buen' noch', Señor. We did not find her at the _asta de lanterna_, +Señor." + +"Andres, take the child home; he is weary." + +The tone was curt, unlike the kindly Don Gil. It was as if he had laid +his hands on Andres's shoulders and were pushing him along. + +"I should like to remain here, Señor. Perhaps she may come to-night. Who +knows? Perhaps the good God will send her. He knows that +I--cannot--bear--it, I can _not_ bear--" The child's voice broke in a +sob. + +Silencio's kindly nature was touched. "Take him round to Guillermina, +Andres, and get dinner; both of you." + +The two disappeared in the darkness. + +Then Piombo brought a flaring Eastern lamp, at which Don Gil relighted +his often extinguished cigarette. + +"How still the night! How far a sound would carry on a night like this." +The padre had but just uttered these words when a long, booming sound +struck upon the listening as well as the unexpectant ear. + +Silencio bounded from his chair. He caught up a cloak which was lying +conveniently ready. + +"A steamer ashore!" he shouted. The old padre struggled to his feet. "Do +not come. Go round to the quarters. Send the men to help. It must be at +the sand spit. Follow me to the headland," and he was gone in the +darkness. The padre wondered somewhat at Silencio's suspecting at once +the locality of the stranded steamer, if that were the cause of the gun +of distress. As he wondered, it spoke again, and gathering his wits +together, he hastened round to the quarters. + +Silencio bounded along the camino and up the cliff pathway. His feet +seemed winged. The familiar local knowledge of childhood stood him in +good stead at this crucial moment. He reached the staff. It was short +work to release the cord and lower the lantern, extinguish the light, +replace the red slide with a white one, and hoist the darkened signal in +place again. Then he turned and ran quickly down the sandy bank. + +"Now the light has simply gone out," he said to himself as he ran. His +boat was where Andres had left it, the rising water making it just +awash. A glance seaward showed to Silencio a steamer's lights. There +came to him across the water bewildered shouts, the sounds of running +feet, and evidences of confusion. He pushed his boat into the water, and +bent to the oars. The steamer was, at the most, not more than a quarter +of a mile distant. He pulled with desperation. He heard the sound of the +foam as the propeller turned over, and he feared that with every +revolution the vessel would back off into deep water. When he rowed +alongside he was not noticed in the dark and confusion of the moment. He +held his long painter in his hand, and as he climbed up over some +convenient projections of the little vessel, fastened it securely. + +He drew himself up hurriedly to the taffrail, and slid down to deck, +mixing with the crew. He looked about now for the bewitching cause of +the disaster. Some dark forms were standing by the companion door, and +going close he discovered her whom he sought. He laid his hand on her +arm to draw her away. At first she started fearfully, but even in +darkness love is not blind, and she hurriedly withdrew with him to the +side of the vessel. + +"Stand here for a moment, Raquel," he whispered. "I am afraid that I +cannot get you over the side without aid." + +She stood where he placed her, and he ran forward with much bustle and +noise, seeking the captain, calling him by name. + +"Ah! the saints preserve us! Is that you, Señor Silencio? Where are we, +Señor? There is no light anywhere to be seen. Where are we, for the love +of God?" + +"I am afraid that you have run aground on my sand spit, Señor Capitan." + +"On your sand spit, Señor! Where, then, is Los Santos Head?" + +"Some miles further down the coast, Señor Capitan." + +"Ay de mi! I knew that pilot was no good. This is the first light that +we have seen, and now that has gone out. This was a red light, Señor." + +"Red light? You are dreaming, Señor Capitan." + +The captain took this rejoinder in its literal meaning. + +"It is true that I was dreaming, Señor. I beg of you not to mention it +at the port. I have suffered with a fearful toothache all day. The pilot +said that he was competent; we have never had any trouble." Silencio cut +him short. + +"I am here to offer my services, Señor Capitan. Can I be of any use? You +may have a storm from the southward. To-day has been a weather-breeder. +I think you have women on board. I could take them--" + +"Gracias! gracias! my kind Señor Silencio. That will help me above all +things." + +"And if the wind does not rise, Señor Capitan, the tide will. Keep your +engines backing, and there will be no harm done. I will take whom I can, +and send for the others." Which proves that love, if not blind, may, +however, be untruthful upon occasion. + +How Silencio got Raquel over the side he never knew. Some one aided him +at the captain's order, but he realized at last the blessed fact that +she was there beside him, and that they were gliding from the vessel's +hull as fast as he could impel the boat. + +"Some miscreant has done this," roared the captain above the noise, as +he leant over the side and strained his eyes after Silencio. "I beg you, +Señor, to look for him, and when you have caught him, hand him over to +me." + +"I shall remember your words, Señor Capitan." + +"I will have him shot in the market-place of the Port of Entry, and send +for all the natives to see." + +"I will remember your words, Señor Capitan, you may be sure of that, +when I catch him--" But the last words of Don Gil were lost in the +renewed efforts of the engineer to back the steamer from the sand spit. + +No words passed at first between Raquel and her rescuer. If love is not +always blind and sometimes not truthful, he is apt to be silent. Raquel +needed no explanation. As the boat glided through the darkness, Silencio +dropped the oars. He took her hands in his. His lips were pressed to +hers. What question should she ask? What more did she crave to know? +Here were life and liberty and love, in exchange for slavery, pollution, +and worse than death. + +When he lifted her slight form from the boat, he did not release her at +once, but held her in his arms for a moment. He could hardly believe +that his daring act had met with the one result for which he had hoped. + +"Your uncle, where is he?" + +"Escobeda? In the cabin, ill. There is a slight swell. He is always ill. +I had not noticed it, the swell, on board the steamer. But he is not my +uncle, Señor." + +"I have proof of it in his own written words, dear heart. But uncle or +not, he shall never separate us now." + +"When can they get the steamer off the sand spit, Señor? I heard you say +that the water is rising." + +"They will float off by twelve o'clock to-night, Sweetheart. I hope they +will forget you. But whether they do or not, they shall not have you +ever again, beloved. No, never again! You are mine now." + +"He has none of those men with him," said Raquel. "They went back to +Troja. But, Señor, he will come back from the capital, and +then--Señor--then--" + +"We will reckon with that question when it arises, dear one. At present, +let us not think of Escobeda and his crew." + +Half-way up the sandy slope they met the tall form of the padre +descending. Silencio said shortly what he chose. Explanations were not +in order, for, whatever had happened, and whatever might happen, this +young girl could not remain unmarried in the house of her lover. "You +must marry us this evening, padre; and we will go to the little church +at Haldez to-morrow," said Don Gil, "if that will salve your +conscience." + +"My conscience needs no salving, my son. Yours rather. Perhaps, if you +have anything to confess, I had better receive your confession before--" + +"Ah, padre, what a tempter you are! So holy a man, too! No, let them do +their worst. I have nothing to confess. I have won my stake; now let +them come on." But he regarded the beautiful girl at his side with some +uneasiness as he spoke. + +"You must let me give you a chime of bells, Padre," said Raquel. The +moon was struggling forth, and Silencio noticed her shy look as she +raised her eyes to his. "That is, if--if the Señor will allow. + +"Bribery, bribery!" said the padre in his thin old voice. + +Silencio put his arm round Raquel, and they stepped to the edge of the +cliff. With her head pressed close to his shoulder, together they +watched the dancing lights upon the steamer, and listened to the hoarse +orders and shouts which, mingled with the foaming spray under the +vessel's stern, came to them across the water. They had forgotten the +padre, for love adds another to her many bad qualities, that of +ingratitude. The padre had just promised to perform for them the +greatest service that it was his to give, and they had become oblivious +of him, and of everything in the world but each other. They stood so, +and watched the steamer for a little space, and then Silencio gathered +the girl to his breast. + +"Come home! dear Heart, come home!" he whispered, and she followed him +down the path, her hand in his. + +As they neared the Casa de Caoba they saw that a man was sitting upon +the veranda steps. He had a child in his arms. The man was sleeping +heavily, the slumber of the labouring peon. As Raquel came up the steps +of her new home, the child raised his large eyes wistfully to hers. + +"When El Rey saw it was a Señora, El Rey thought it might be Roseta. +When will Roseta come, Señor? When? When?" + +Raquel stooped and lifted the boy tenderly from Andres's nerveless arms. +She asked no question. With the instinct of the motherhood lying dormant +within her, she knew that here was a motherless child, and that it +suffered. At that moment she loved all the world. She pressed the boy +close to her heart. + +"Stay with me, little one; I will be Roseta to you." + +El Rey raised his eyes to the sweet, dark face above him. + +"Roseta was not gran', Señora," he said--he scanned her face +critically--"but she was more pretty than the Señora. The Señora will +pardon me if I say that Roseta's gown was much more handsome than the +one the Señora wear." + +At the word "señora" the young girl stooped and laid her lips upon the +child's head. + +"It was a gown of red. It had green spots--oh, such little green spots, +small, small spots. El Rey used to count them. There were some little +half-spots up there on the shoulder. Roseta said it was where the sewing +came. Roseta did not have shiny drops in her ears. The Señora's drops +are like the bits of glass that Andres shot from the top of the _asta_ +to-night. He had a gun, the gun of the Señor." + +Raquel looked inquiringly at Silencio. + +"It is true," he admitted. + +"At Los Santos?" + +"At Los Santos." + +"They came down in showers, Señor, like little red stars." + +"You are a poet, El Rey." + +"Rather," said Silencio, smiling down at the child, where he stood +leaning against Raquel, "El Rey is a little story-teller. He promised +not to say a word--" + +"It is a Señora who may know everything, all things. She has the good +eyes." + +"You are right, El Rey." + +"The rings in Roseta's ears were round. They were big and round. She +used to shake them when we went to the circus, so!" The tired head shook +slowly. Andres stirred uneasily. He opened his dull, sad eyes and looked +at El Rey. He had felt the touch on the wound even in his sleep. + +"I often put my finger round them, so! Often and often I did." + +Raquel took the little fingers between her own. She put them between her +lips and bit them playfully. Her white teeth made tiny indentations in +the tender skin. El Rey smiled faintly, a promise, Raquel hoped, of a +brighter day of forgetfulness to come. + +Silencio stood looking on. He loved to see her so, the child leaning +against her knee. Across the water came the sounds of shouts and hurried +orders which disturbed no one. Raquel stroked the thin, straight hair +over and over. She ran her soft fingers down the angular little face and +neck. Tiny tremors of affection ran gently through the child's veins. El +Rey laid his head upon the knee to which she drew him. His wasted hand +shook as he laid it upon hers. + +"You are good," said the child. "You are beautiful, you are kind, kind +to El Rey." His tone was patient and old and full of monotony. "But oh! +the Señora will pardon me? You are not Roseta." + + +There was one other person at the wedding of Don Gil and Raquel, besides +the padre, who united them, and old Guillermina and Andres. + +"Who will give you away?" asked Silencio. + +"I myself," said she. Silencio laughed. "That cannot be," he said. As he +spoke there was a humble knocking at the door of the salon. Raquel +looked up and bounded from her seat. + +"Oh, you dear old thing!" she said. She was fondling and kissing the +bony creature, who stood aghast before her, who in turn was crying and +begging the saints to have mercy upon her. + +"And for the good God's sake, tell me how you got here, Señorita, and +will the Señor allow me to sit down? My Sunday shoes have killed me, +nearly. Is there anything that I could wear instead--" Ana stopped +abashed at the sight of so fine a man as Silencio. + +"How did the Señor rescue you, my Sweet? Is the Señor Escobeda dead, +then?" Ana looked about her as if she expected to see the bodies of +Escobeda and his followers over there on the edge of the trocha. + +"I have been shipwrecked, Ana," said Raquel, smiling down upon the old +woman. + +"Ship--the holy saints pres--and you are not even wet--and where, then, +is the Señor Escobe--" + +"You seem very much worried about the Señor Escobeda, Ana," said Don +Gil, who at once made Raquel's friend his own. "Do you not hear him off +there now, cursing as usual?" + +Ana listened. She heard distant cries, and the sound of the water as it +churned underneath the propeller blades. + +Ana shrank to the size of an ant as she answered, her face blanching: +"Indeed! yes, I do hear the Señor, Señor. I have heard the Señor like +that, Señor, many a time. And does the Señor think that the Señor can +come here to the casa of Palmacristi?" + +"Not for some time, I think, Ana," said Don Gil, smiling, though a faint +wrinkle was discernible on his brow. + +"It always seems to me as if the Señor Escobeda could get anywhere, +Señor," said Ana, simply. "He has only to wish, the Señor, and the thing +is done." + +"That would be bad for us," said Silencio. "Ana, will you give this lady +to me?" + +"I? And what does the Señor think that I have to do with it?" + +"Is the Señor Escobeda a nearer relative than you are, Ana?" + +"Indeed, no! Señor," said Ana. "I was her mother's own cousin once +removed, while the Señor Es--" + +"Very well!" said Silencio, "that is all that I want. Come! padre, let +us prepare for the wedding." + + + + +XI + + +It was two or three days after this that Uncle Adan came in toward +sunset with a fine piece of news. + +"The Señor knows the hacienda of Palmacristi?" began Uncle Adan, more as +a preface than as a question. + +Don Beltran laughed. He had known the hacienda of Palmacristi as long as +he had known anything; he had known the old Don Gil well, who, indeed, +had been a distant relative of his own, and he had seen the young Don +Gil grow up to manhood. Beltran was ten years older than Silencio. He +had often envied the young fellow his independence and freedom in the +way of money. He thought him hot-headed and likely to get into trouble +some day, and now, from Uncle Adan's account, that day had arrived. He +did not think it necessary to say this; Adan knew it as well as he. + +"What has he been doing now?" asked Don Beltran. + +"Only getting married, Señor," answered the old capitas. + +"I did not dream that he would do anything so sensible," said Don +Beltran, with a glance at Agueda. + +Agueda bent her eyes low and blushed. How dear it was of him to think of +her first of all, and always in that connection. But what was the haste? +He loved her, of that she was sure. He would always love her. When he +was ready, she would be, but it was not a pressing matter. + +"The Señor E'cobeda does not think it so sensible, Señor Don Beltran." + +"Aaaah! it was the little Señorita Raquel, then. Wise man, wise +man!"--Agueda looked up suddenly--"to marry the girl of his choice. But +how did he get her, Adan? It was only three weeks ago that he wrote me a +line, begging that I would aid him in an effort to carry her off." + +"And the Señor answered--?" + +"I told him that I would come whenever he called upon me. I have no +liking for Escobeda. He will not sell me the lowlands between the river +and the sea. He is an unpleasant neighbour, he--" + +"He is a devil," said Adan. + +"I think that it must be I who made that marriage hasten as it did," +said Agueda, smilingly. "The Señor remembers the day last week when I +came home and found the Señor with the letter from the Señor Don Noé +saying that he would make a visit at Palmacristi with the little child? +It was on that day that I carried the note from the Señorita to Don +Gil." + +"And that was the very day of the marriage," broke in Adan, willing +enough to interrupt his niece, though not his master. "It was the very +day. There was a shipwreck, and somehow the young Señor got the Señorita +from the vessel. Como no, hombre! When one wants a thing he must have it +if he is gran' Señor. The padre was there, and he married them, and now +they have to reckon with the Señor E'cobeda." + +"Where was the precious rascal all this time?" asked Don Beltran. + +"Some say that he was on board the ship, Señor, and that he was carried +on to the government town. They say he knew nothing of the grounding of +the vessel; he was always sick with the sea, that Señor E'cobeda. +Caramba! _I_ should like to see him sick with the sea, or with the bite +of a black spider, or with anything else that would kill him--that Señor +E'cobeda!" + +"I cannot see what he can do, Adan," said Don Beltran. "If she is +married, he cannot change that." + +Adan nodded, and scratched his ankle with his machete. + +"Married fast enough, Señor Don Beltran. First by the padre at the +hacienda, and then at the little church at Haldez. I cannot see what +rights he has over the young Señora now. + +"None at all," said Don Beltran. "Does the lad want me over there--the +Señor Silencio?" + +"I have heard nothing from him, Señor Don Beltran. Juan Rotiro told me +many things, but the Señor knows what Juan Rotiro is when the pink rum +gets into his judgment. He says that the Señor E'cobeda will soon +return, and that there will be fighting, but it seems to me that the +Señor Don Gil can hold his own. Como no! when he has the law on his +side." + +"Law," Beltran laughed. "Do you suppose rascals like Escobeda care for +law? Besides, he has the Governor on his side. He pays large sums for +so-called concessions; that I know, and the Governor winks both eyes +very fast at anything that Escobeda chooses to do. Did you hear anything +about his getting that band from Troja together?" + +"Caramba! yes, Señor Don Beltran! It was spoken under the breath, and +just from one peon to the other. They did not know much." + +Don Beltran arose. "I think I will ride over to Palmacristi, Agueda; get +me my spur. Would you like to come, child?" + +Agueda shook her head, and ran into the sitting-room to hide her +confusion. Her face was a dull crimson as she took the spur down from +the nail. + +"The espuela is dusty; shall brighten it, Señor?" + +"Call old Juana. I will not have you soil your pretty hands, child, on +my spur. The grey, Pablo," he shouted toward the rambling structure that +was dignified by the name of stable. + +"And why not come with me, Agueda?" + +Agueda bent over her stitching. + +"I am much too busy to-day, Señor," she said. "Far too busy," she +thought, "to go over there, not sure of my welcome." Things had changed +at Palmacristi, and remembering the slight inflection in Silencio's tone +when last she saw him, she knew that henceforth Raquel was quite out of +her reach. + +"I was good enough to take her note for her when she was Señorita," +thought Agueda, "but I am not good enough to visit her now that she is +Señora." + +Agueda's sensitive and delicate nature had evolved this feeling out of +an almost imperceptible glance, a faint, evanescent colouring of tone in +the inflection of Silencio's voice, but it told her, as memory called it +up, that the front door of Palmacristi would henceforth be closed to +her. She would not hamper Beltran. He was thoughtless, and might suffer +more from a slight to her than from one to himself; or else he might +become angry and break his pleasant friendship with Silencio, a +friendship which had existed between the families for generations. No, +she had better remain at home. Again, when Beltran asked her, she shook +her head and smiled, though a drop of water lay near the surface of her +eye, but Beltran did not see, and rode away gaily, waving his hand. + +Arrived upon the height where stood the Casa de Caoba, he rode the grey +down to the bank, because on the calm sea he had discovered Silencio and +Raquel, in the little skiff in which Raquel had been rescued. He heard +Silencio say, "There is Beltran; let us go in and see him." + +"I do not know that Don Beltran," said Raquel. "Does not the girl Agueda +live there, at San Isidro?" + +"Yes; do you know Agueda?" As Silencio spoke he waved his hand to the +horseman on the bank. + +"Bien venido," he shouted. And then to Raquel, "Where did you see the +girl Agueda?" + +"I have often seen her," said Raquel. "She is very handsome. She looks +like a young boy. She is really no darker than I am. Have you forgotten +that she brought my note to you that day?" + +"No," said Silencio; "I have not forgotten it. She has perhaps more good +Spanish blood in her veins than either of us," continued he, as he bent +to the oars. + +"Such things are very sad," said Raquel. "She is so above her station. +I should like to have her come here and live with us." + +"That would not do at all, Raquel," returned Silencio, gravely. + +"Is there anything wrong with her?" asked Raquel, wonderingly. + +"N--no, not that I know of, but she is not of your station." + +"And yet you say that she has better ancestry than either you or I," +argued Raquel, as the boat grounded. "I am sure her uncle is a great +deal more respectable than mine." + +Silencio waved his hand to Beltran. "We were looking to see if there was +any sign of the yacht," he called. "I sent her round to Lambrozo to be +repaired. We may need her now any day. Oh! I quite forgot you do not +know my wife, Beltran. I must introduce you." + +Raquel bowed and walked onward to order refreshments for the visitor. + +"Let me congratulate you," said Beltran, when Silencio had thrown the +painter to Andres, who was standing near and had scrambled up the bank. +"I was surprised by your very charming news." + +"Hardly more than I was myself." + +"How did you manage, Gil?" + +"The gods were with me," answered Silencio, laughing, though Beltran +noticed that his brow clouded over almost immediately. His laughter +sounded false. "It is true that I have what I wished, Beltran," he +continued--"the dearest blessing that any man, were he prince or noble, +could ask." ("She is not half so beautiful as my Agueda," thought +Beltran, while nodding acquiescence.) "I have her, she is mine; +but--there is Escobeda still to be reckoned with." + +"Where is he?" asked Beltran. + +"I wish he were in hell," said Silencio, fiercely. + +"You are not singular in that, but the result is not always the +offspring of the desire. It would indeed be a blessing to send him +there, but unfortunately, my boy, there is law for him in this land, +though very little of it when it comes to the wrongs that you and I +suffer. The question is, where is he, and when do you expect him here?" + +"He went on to the government town with the steamer." + +Beltran threw his leg over the saddle and dropped to the ground, walking +beside his young friend. He heard all that there was to tell. + +"He was very ill when the steamer ran on the sand spit that night." +Silencio looked narrowly at his friend. He wished to see if his share in +the decoying of the steamer had been noised abroad. Beltran listened +without a flicker of the eyelash. + +"The doctor had given him something strong--a new thing down here, +called, I believe, chloral." + +"Como no!" burst forth Beltran, "if they only gave him enough." + +"They gave him enough for my purpose," said Silencio. "He was utterly +stupid. Was I going to awake him and ask permission to run away with his +niece? Caramba, Beltran! I should think not! He was stupid, I imagine, +all the way to the government town. When he called for the bird whose +wings he thought he had clipped, behold, the little thing had flown, and +with me, the dreaded enemy." + +Don Beltran laughed long and heartily. + +"You are a clever boy, Gil; but how about the future? As you say, you +have that still to reckon with." + +The darkening of Silencio's face recalled to Beltran that antiquated +simile of the sweeping of a cloud across the brightness of the sun. But +not all old things have lost their uses. + +"I know that," said Silencio; "that is the worst of it. I have taken her +from him to protect her, and now--and now--if--I--should fail--" + +"I rode over to-day for that very thing, Gil, to ask if I could help. I +will come over with all my people if you say so, whenever you send for +me. My uncle, Don Noé Legaspi, comes within a day or so, to stay with me +at San Isidro. He brings his little child, a motherless little thing, +with him, but I can come all the same. I think that it was never said of +my house that we deserted a friend or a kinsman in trouble." + +"I see what you are afraid of," said Silencio. "You think he will attack +me." + +"I do," answered Beltran; "but we can stand him off, as the Yankees say. +You have the right to shoot if he attacks you, but I hope that it will +be my bullet that takes him off, the double-dyed scoundrel!" + +"You will take some refreshment, Beltran?" + +"No, it is late; my breakfast is waiting. A' Dios, Gil, a' Dios." + +As they were about to part, Silencio called after his friend: + +"I will send you word as soon as I receive the news myself. You will +come at once, eh, Beltran?" + +Don Beltran paused in mounting the grey, and turned his head to look at +his friend. Silencio's fingers were nervously opening and closing around +one of the fence palings. + +"For myself I should not care; that you know, Beltran; but for her, it +would kill me to have her fall into his hands again. It would be death +to me to lose her. She will die if she thinks that she can be taken from +me, and by that villain. Do you know what they meant to do with her, +Beltran? They meant--they meant--" + +Silencio's voice sank to a whisper. His face had become white, his lips +bloodless. His eyes seemed to sink back in his head and emit sparks of +fire. In the compression of the mouth Beltran saw the determination of +certain death for Escobeda should he come within range of Silencio's +weapon. + +Beltran was in the saddle now. He turned and surveyed his friend with +some anxiety. + +"Be careful, Gil," he said; "don't come within reach of the villain. +Discretion is much the better part in this matter. Keep yourself under +cover. They will pick you off, those rascals. Send for me the night +before you know that he is coming, and I will ride over with ten of my +men. We can garrison at your house?" + +"I shall make ready for you," said Silencio. "My only fear is that I +shall not have warning enough." + + + + +XII + + +Beltran rode down to the coast to meet his young uncle and the child. He +started early in the morning, riding the black. The groom led the roan +for Uncle Noé's use, Pablo rode the spotted bull, and those peons who +could be spared from the cacao planting walked over the two miles to the +boat landing, to be ready to carry the luggage that the strange Señor +and the little girl would bring. + +As Dulgado's fin-keel neared the shore, Beltran could not distinguish +the occupants, for the sail hid them from view; but when the boat +rounded to alongside the company's landing, and a sprightly old +gentleman got out and turned to assist a young girl to climb up to the +flooring of the wharf, Beltran discovered that Time had not broken his +rule by standing still. On the contrary, he had broken his record by +outstripping in the race all nature's winners, for the young uncle had +become a thin little old man, and the child a charming girl in a very +pronounced stage of young ladyhood. + +"I should have known that my cousin could not be a little child," +thought Beltran, as he removed his old panama, wishing that he had worn +the new one. His dress was careless, if picturesque, and he regretted +that he had paid so little attention to it. + +Notwithstanding his somewhat rough appearance, Beltran raised the +perfumed mass of ruffles and lace in his strong arms. He seated the girl +in the chair, fastened firmly to the straw aparejo on the back of the +great bull. At Agueda's suggestion, he had provided a safe and +comfortable seat for the little one, to whose coming Agueda was looking +forward with such unalloyed pleasure. + +The girl filled it no more completely than Beltran's vision of her +younger self would have done, though her billowy laces overlapped the +high arms of her chair. Her feet, scarce larger than those of a child, +rested upon the broad, safe footboard which Beltran had swung at the +side of the straw saddle. Her delicate face was framed in masses of fair +hair--pale hair, with glints here and there like spun glass. + +Beltran could hardly see her eyes, so shaded was her face by the broad +hat, weighted down by its wealth of vari-colored roses. To many a +Northern man, to whom style in a woman is a desideratum, Felisa would +have looked like a garden-escape. She had a redundant sort of +prettiness, but Beltran was not critical. What if her eyes were small, +her nose the veriest tilted tip, her nostrils and mouth large? The +fluffy hair overhung the dark eyebrows, the red lips parted to show +white little squirrel teeth, the delicate shell-like bloom on cheek and +chin was adorable. It brought to Beltran's memory the old farm in +Vermont where he had passed some summers as a lad, and the peach trees +in the orchard. His environment had not provided him with a strictly +critical taste. How fair she was! What a contrast to all the women to +whom he had been accustomed! There was nothing like her in that swarthy +land of dingy beauties. Her light and airy apparel was a revelation. +Unconsciously Beltran compared it with the plain, straight skirts and +blouse waists which he saw daily, and to its sudden and undeniable +advantage. He was expecting to greet a little child, and all at once +there appeared upon his near horizon a goddess full-blown. He had seen +nothing in his experience by which he could gauge her. She passed as the +purest of coin in this land of debased currency. + +Her father, Uncle Noé, bestrode the roan which Eduardo Juan had brought +over for him. When Don Noé was seated, Eduardo Juan gave him the bridle, +and took his own place among the carriers of the luggage, which was +greater in quantity than Don Beltran had expected. Eduardo Juan +disappeared with a sulky scowl in answer to Pablo's contented grin, +which said, "I have only to walk home, guide the bull, and see that the +Señorita does not slip, while you--" + +Pablo waited with patient servility, rope in hand, until the Señorita +was safely seated in her chair. There was a good deal of sprightly +conversation among the Señores. There was more tightening of girths and +questions as to the comfort of his guests by Don Beltran. Then the +cavalcade started, Pablo leading the bull, which followed him docilely, +with long strides. The animal, ignorant as are the creatures of the +four-footed race, with regard to his power over its enemy, man, was +obedient to the slightest twitch of the rope, to which his better +judgment made him amenable. The long rope was fastened to the ring in +his pink and dripping nostrils. He stretched his thick legs in long and +steady strides, avoiding knowingly the deeper pools which he had +heretofore aided his kind to fashion in the plastic clay of the forest +path. + +Beltran rode as near his cousin as the path would allow. It was seldom, +however, that they could ride abreast. + +It was the southern spring, and flowers were beginning to bloom, but +Felisa looked in vain for the tropical varieties which one ever +associates with that region. The bull almost brushed his great sides +against the tree trunks which outlined the sendica. When she was close +enough Felisa stretched out her hand and plucked the blackened remains +of a flower from the center of a tall plant. It had been scorched and +dried by the sun of the summer that was passed. She thrust the withered +stems into the bull's coarse hair, turned to Beltran, and laughed. + +"If I remain long enough, there will be flowers of all colors, will +there not, cousin? Flowers of blue and red and orange." + +"You will remain, I hope, long after they have bloomed and died again," +answered Beltran, gallantly. + +They had not been riding long before Felisa sent forth from her lips an +apprehensive scream. Beltran spurred his horse nearer. + +"What is it, cousin? Is the _silla_ slipping?" + +Felisa looked up from under her cloud of spun silk, and answered: + +"No, I am wondering how I am to get round that great tree." + +Beltran, to whom the path was as well known as his own veranda at San +Isidro, had no cause to turn his eyes from the charming face at his +side. + +"Oh! the trunk of the old mahogany? That has lain across the path for +years. Do not be afraid, little cousin. Roncador has surmounted that +difficulty more times than I can remember." + +They were now close upon the fallen trunk. Felisa closed her eyes and +clutched at the bull's shaggy neck. She screamed faintly. + +Pablo turned to the right and pulled at the leading rope, but the bull, +with no apparent effort, stubborn only when he knew that he was in the +right, turned to the left, and Pablo perforce followed. It was a case of +the leader led. When Roncador had reached the point for which he had +started, a bare place entirely denuded of branches, he lifted one thick +foreleg over, then the other. The hind legs followed as easily, a slight +humping of the great flanks, and the tree was left behind. Suddenly +Felisa found that they were in the path again. + +"Ze bull haave ze raight," commented Pablo. "Ah endeavo' taike de +Señorit' roun' de tre'. Bull ain' come. He know de bes' nor me." Don +Beltran leaped his horse over the tree trunk, and Don Noé was taken over +pale and trembling, whether or no, the roan following Don Beltran's +lead. Beltran smiled openly at Pablo's discomfiture, and somewhat +secretly at Uncle Noé's fear. + +"A good little animal, that roan, Uncle Noé. How does he suit you?" +Uncle Noé looked up and endeavoured to appear at ease, releasing his too +tight clutch on the bridle. + +"Il est rigolo, bien rigolo!" said Don Noé, gaily, between jerks +occasioned by the liveliness of the roan. He glanced sidewise at his +nephew to see if the Paris argot which he had just imported had had any +effect upon him. He owed Beltran something for his superior +horsemanship. Beltran never having heard the new word, was, however, not +willing to give Don Noé a modicum even of triumph. He was bending over, +securing a buckle on his bridle. Without raising his figure, he +answered, "C'est vrai, mon oncle, c'est tout à fait vrai, il est très, +très rigolo." + +"Très ha ha!" added Don Noé. + +"Bien ha ha!" nodded Don Beltran, not to be left behind. + +"What wretched French Beltran speaks!" said Don Noé to his daughter, +later. + +Uncle Noé belonged to that vast majority, the great army of the +unemployed. He loved the gaieties of the world, the enjoyments that +cities bring in their train. But sometimes nature calls a halt. Nature +had whispered her warning in Don Noé's ear, and he at once had thought +of the plantation of San Isidro as the place to rest from a too lavish +expenditure of various sorts. He had come to this remote place for a +purpose, but he yawned as they rode along. + +Beltran, proud of the beauties of San Isidro, pointed out its chief +features as they proceeded. He turned, and said, still in French, to +please Uncle Noé, and perhaps to show him that even at San Isidro all +were not savages: + +"There is much to be proud of, Uncle Noé. It is not a small place, when +one knows it all." + +"C'est vrai," again acquiesced Uncle Noé. "A la campagne il y a toujours +beaucoup d'espace, beaucoup de tranquillité, beaucoup de verdure, et--" +The rest of the sentence was lost on Beltran, but was whispered in the +pink ear of Felisa, who laughed merrily. + +"At what is my cousin laughing?" asked Beltran, turning, with a pleased +smile. Uncle Noé did not answer. The words with which he had finished +his sentence were, "_et beaucoup d'ennui_." + +"You wanted to come," said Felisa, still laughing. + +"Did you ever see such a God-forsaken place?" returned her father. "I +had really forgotten how bad it was. Look at those ragged grooms. +Imagine them in the Champs Elysées!" + +"There can be no question of the Champs Elysées. How stupid you are, +papa." + +"And down in this valley! Just think of putting a house--I say, Beltran, +who ever thought of putting your house down here in the valley?" + +"It was my mother's wish," said Beltran. "I suppose that it was a +mistake, but the river was further away in those days. It has changed +its course somewhat, and encroached upon the casa, but we have never +had any serious trouble from it. I shall build a house on the hill next +year. The foundations are already laid." Don Beltran had said this for +some years past. "Not that I think that I shall ever need it. When we +have floods, the water makes but a shallow lake. It is soon gone." + +As they entered the broad camino, Felisa saw a man coming toward them. +He was mounted upon a fine stallion; the glossy coat of the animal shone +in the sun. The rider wore an apology for a hunting costume, which was +old and frayed with use. The gun, slung carelessly across his shoulder, +had the appearance of a friend who could be depended upon at short +notice, and who had spent a long life in the service of his owner. The +stock was indented and scratched, but polished as we polish with loving +hands the mahogany table which belonged to our great-grandmother. The +barrel shone with the faithfulness of excellent steel whose good +qualities have been appreciated and cared for. The man was short and +dark. As he passed he removed his old panama with a sweep. Beltran gave +him a surly half-nod of recognition, so curt as to awaken surprise in +the mind of Felisa. The contrast between the greetings of the two men +was so great that her slits of eyes noticed and compared them. + +"Who is that man, cousin?" + +"Don Matéo Geredo." + +"Why do you not speak to him?" + +"I nodded," said Beltran. + +"You did not return his salute. I am sure it was a very gracious one, +cousin. Why did you not return his--" + +"Because he is a brute," said Beltran, shortly. + +Felisa had not been oblivious of the glance of admiration observable in +the man's eyes as he passed her by. + +"Jealous so soon," she thought, with that vanity which is ever the food +of small minds. Aloud she said, "He seems to have a pleasant face, +cousin." + +"So others have thought," said Beltran, with an air which said that the +subject was quite worn out, threadbare. Then, changing his tone, "See, +there is the casa! Welcome to the plantation, my little cousin." + +And thus chatting, they drew up at the steps of San Isidro. + +Agueda came joyfully out to meet them. Ah! what was this? Where was the +little child of whom she and Beltran had talked so much? Agueda had +carefully dusted the little red cart. She had fastened a yellow ribbon +in the place from which the tongue had long ago been wrenched by Beltran +himself. The cart stood ready in the corner of the veranda, but Agueda +did not bring it forward. She caught sight of a glitter of bracelets and +rings against a snow-white skin, as Felisa was lifted down from the +aparejo in her cousin's arms. Her lips moved unconsciously. + +"The diamonds, not the playthings," was her verdict. + +As Agueda came forward, the surprise that she felt was shown in her +eyes. She bowed gravely to the Señorita, who condescended to her +graciously. + +"Shall I show the Señorita to her room?" asked Agueda of Beltran. + +With that wonderful adaptability which is the inalienable inheritance of +the American woman, Agueda had accepted in a moment the change from the +expected child to the present Señorita. It is true that Agueda's mother, +Nada, had been but a pretty, delicate octoroon, but Agueda's father had +been a white gentleman (God save the mark!) from a northern state, and +Nada's father a titled gentleman of old Spain. From these proud +progenitors and the delicate women of their families had Agueda +inherited the natural reserve, the refinement and delicacy which were so +obvious to all with whom she came in contact. She inherited them just as +certainly as if Nada had been a white woman of the purest descent, just +as certainly as if the gentle Nada had been united in wedlock to the +despoiler of her love and youth and life, George Waldon, for there ran +in Agueda's veins a heritage of good old blood, which had made the +daughters of the house of Waldon famous as pure and beautiful types of +womanhood. + +As Agueda asked her hospitable question, Beltran's square shoulders were +turned toward her. He was busying himself with the strap of the aparejo. +Agueda, who knew him as her own soul, perceived an embarrassed air, even +in the turn of his head. + +"If you please," said Beltran, without looking toward her. + +The Señorita loitered. She asked Don Beltran for her bag. He lifted the +small silver-mounted thing from the pommel of his saddle and handed it +to Felisa with a smile. He seemed to look down at her indulgently, as if +humouring a child. Agueda noticed the glittering monogram as it flashed +In the sun. Beltran's hand touched Felisa's. A gentle pink suffused her +features. Agueda caught the sudden glance which shot from Beltran's eyes +to those of his cousin. A sickening throb pulsed upward in her throat. +She shivered as if a cold wind--something that she had seldom felt in +that tropic land--had blown across her shoulders. + +Suddenly Aneta came into her thoughts, Aneta of El Cuco. Her lips grew +white and thin. It is moments like these, with their premonitions, +which streak the hair with grey. Agueda did not look at Beltran again. +She drew her breath sharply, and said: + +"If the Señorita permit, I will show her the way." + +"In a moment, my good girl," said Felisa, carelessly, and lingered +behind, bending above the flower boxes which lined the veranda's edge, +flowers which Agueda had planted and tended. + +"What a pretty servant you have, cousin," said Felisa. + +Beltran started. + +"Servant? Oh, you mean Agueda. She--she--is scarcely a servant, Agueda; +she keeps my house for me." + +Felisa turned and gazed after Agueda. The girl had walked the length of +the broad veranda and stood waiting opposite a door, lithe and upright. +She looked back, her face grave and serious. She was taller by several +inches than Felisa. Her figure, slender as Felisa's own, was clothed in +a pale blue cotton gown, fresh and clean, though faded with frequent +washings, a spotless collar and cuffs setting off the statuesque throat +and the shapely hands. + +Felisa tick-tacked down the long veranda, her ruffles and billowy laces +bouncing with her important little body. She uttered a subdued scream of +surprise as she reached the open doorway and caught sight of the fresh, +cool-looking room, with its white furniture and bare floors, its general +air of luxurious simplicity. The wooden shutter in the wall opposite the +door was flung wide, and one was conscious of a tender tone of yellow +green, caused by the rays of sunlight shining through and over the broad +banana leaves. Great lilac and yellow pods hung from the shafts of +greenery; some of the large oval leaves had fallen upon the veranda. +Felisa noted them when she crossed the room to inquire further into her +surroundings. + +A ragged black was sitting on the veranda edge, swinging his legs over +the six feet of space. "Hand me that leaf," said Felisa. The boy arose +at once, and picking up the lilac leaf of the banana flower, held it out +to her with a bow and the words in Spanish, "As the Señorita wishes." + +Felisa took the leaf, but threw it down at once. She had expected to +find a soft thing which would crumple in her hand. The leaf was hard and +tough as leather. She could no more crush or break it with her small +fingers than if it had been made of india-rubber, which, but for its +color, it strongly resembled. + +She turned and looked at Agueda. + +"And do you have no curtains at the windows?" + +"We have no curtains, and windows we do not have, either," answered +Agueda. "The Señorita can see that there are wooden shutters at the +windows. No one has windows on this side of the island." + +The tone was perhaps slightly defiant. It was as if Agueda had said, +"What! Finding fault so soon?" + +"Eet haave glaass obe' at dé ceety; Ah see eet w'en Ah obe' deyah." + +Felisa started. The voice came from the corner of the room, which was +concealed by the open door. She peered into the shadow, and faced the +shriveled bit of brown flesh known as Juana. + +Felisa laughed, as much at the words as at the speaker. + +"Señ'it' t'ink Ah don' haave--yaas-been aat de ceety. Ah been aat ceety. +Eet haave, yaas, peepul." The tone implied millions. + +Felisa was standing in front of the dressing-table, taking the second +long silver pin out of her hat. + +"What does she say?" she asked through the hatpin which she held +horizontally between her teeth. She removed the open straw, and ran the +pins, one after the other, through the crown. + +"She says that they have the glass--that is, the windows--at the city." + +Still staring at Juana, Felisa seated herself upon the small white bed. +Agueda pushed back the rose-coloured netting which hung balloon-like +from the ceiling. A freshly knotted ribbon gathered its folds and held +them together, thus keeping the interior free from the intrusion of +annoying or dangerous insects. + +Felisa reached down with one plump hand, and drew the ruffled skirt +upward, disclosing a short little foot, which she held out toward +Agueda. Agueda did not move. She looked at Felisa with a slight arch of +the eyebrows, and moved toward the door. + +Juana hobbled up. + +"De li'l laidy wan' shoe off? Ole Juana taake. Dat ain' 'Gueda business. +Don Be'tra' don' laike haave 'Gueda do de waak." + +"And why not, I should like to know?" + +Juana chuckled down in the confines of her black and wrinkled throat. + +Agueda went out to the veranda. She stood looking over toward the river, +her arm round the pilotijo, her head leant against it. Her thoughts were +apprehensive ones. She paid no heed to Juana's words. + +"She Don Be'tra' li'l laidy, 'Gueda is. She ain' no suvvan,[7] ain' +'Gueda. She 'ousekeep', 'Gueda." + +By this time Juana, with stiff and knotted fingers, had unlaced the low +shoes. She took the small feet in her hand, and twisted them round, and +Felisa with them, to a lying posture upon the low couch. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[7] Servant. + + + + +XIII + + +The casa at San Isidro had verandas running on either side of its long +row of rooms. This row began with the kitchen, store and sleeping rooms, +and ended with the comidor and sitting-room. The verandas ran the entire +ninety feet in a straight line until they reached the comidor. There +they turned at right angles, making thus an outer and an inner corner. +These angles enclosed the dining and living rooms. The inner veranda was +a sheltered nook when the rain swept up from the savannas down by the +sea, the outer one a haven of delightful coolness when the sun glowed in +the west and threw its scorching beams, hot and melting, into the inner +corner. Here were the steps leading down the very slight incline into +the yard and flower garden. Here, to this inner corner, were the bulls +and horses driven or led, for mounting or dismounting; here the trunks +and boxes of visitors were carried up and into the house; and this was +what was happening now. + +Agueda looked on listlessly as Felisa's large trunk and basket trunk and +Don Noé's various boxes and portmanteaus were deposited with +reproachful thumps upon the floor. The peons who had carried them, +shining with moisture, dripping streams of water, wiped their brows with +hardened forefingers, and snapped the drops from nature's laboratory off +on to the ground. They had carried the luggage slung upon poles across +country. For this duty six or eight of them were required, for there was +no cart road the way that they must come, as the broad camino ran +neither to the boat landing, nor extended to the plantation of San +Isidro. + +The men stood awkwardly about. One could see that they were expectant of +a few centavos in payment for this unusual labour. Don Noé kept himself +religiously secluded upon the corner of the outer veranda. He well knew +that the luggage had arrived. The struggle up the steps, the shuffle of +men's feet, the scraping sort of hobble from callous soles, reached his +ear. The heavy setting down of boxes shook the uncarpeted bare house, +but Don Noé was consciously oblivious of all this. He had come to pay a +long visit, and thus redeem a depleted bank account. Should he begin at +the first hour to throw away money among these shiftless peons? Beltran +had doubtless plenty of them. Such menial work came within the rule of +the general demand. To be sure, he had brought many small boxes and +portmanteaus. Don Noé thought it a sure sign of a gentleman to travel +with all the small pieces that he and a porter or two could carry +between them. + +A good-sized trunk would easily have held Don Noé's wardrobe, but there +was a certain amount of style in staggering out of a car or off a +steamer, loaded down with a parcel of canes, fishing-rods, and a +gun-case, while the weary servant, who did not care a fig for glory, +stumbled along behind with portmanteaus, bags, and hat boxes. It is +quite true, as Felisa sometimes reminded Don Noé, that he had never +caught a fish or shot a bird. Style, however, is a _sine qua non_, and +reputation, however falsely obtained, if the methods are not exposed, +stands by a man his whole life long. Self-valuation had Uncle Noé. From +his own account, he was a very remarkable man. And as he usually talked +to those who knew nothing of his past, they accepted his statements, +perforce, as the truth. + +The dripping peons hung about the steps. Their shirts clung to their +shoulders, but those the sun would dry. Don Noé sat quiet as a mouse +upon the angle of the outer veranda. + +Agueda came toward the lingerers. + +"It is you that need not wait, Eduardo Juan, nor you, Garcia Garcito. +The Don Beltran will see that you get some reward." + +"A ching-ching?" suggested the foremost, slyly. + +"I suppose so," said Agueda, wearily. + +She retraced her steps along the veranda, the men trooping after. Past +all the long length of the sleeping-rooms went Agueda, until she reached +the storeroom. The door of this she opened with a key which hung with +the bunch at her waist. She entered, and beckoned to Garcia Garcito to +follow. + +"Lift down the demijohn, you, Garcia Garcito, and you, Trompa, go to +Juana for a glass." + +Garcia Garcito entered, and raising his brawny arms to the shelf +overhead, grasped the demijohn and set it upon the table. Trompa +returned with the glass. Agueda measured out a drink of the rum for each +as the glass was emptied by his predecessor. The men took it gratefully. +Each as his turn came, approached the filter standing in the comer, +watered his dram, and drank it off, some with a "Bieng," others--those +of the better class--with a bow to Agueda, and a "Gracia." Eduardo Juan, +more careless than the rest, snapped the drops from his drained glass +upon the spotless floor, instead of from the edge of the veranda to the +grass, as the others had done. + +"Eduardo Juan, you know very well that that rudeness is not allowed +here. Go and ask Juana for a cloth that is damp, that you may wipe those +spots." + +Eduardo Juan smiled sheepishly, and loped off to the wash-house. He +returned with the damp cloth, got down upon his knees, and rubbed the +floor vigorously. + +"De Señora 'Gueda maake de Eduardo Juan pay well for his impertinences," +laughed the peons. + +"Bastante! Bastante!" said Agueda. + +Eduardo Juan obeyed as if Agueda were the house mistress. Such had been +Don Beltran's wish, and the peons were aware of it. Then Eduardo Juan +jumped to the ground, and followed the other peons where they had +disappeared in the direction of the stables. + +When he no longer heard the scuffle of feet, Don Noé tiptoed down the +veranda, and entered the room which had been assigned to him. He aroused +Felisa from a waking doze on that borderland where she hovered between +dreams and actuality. + +She was again seated upon the aparejo. The bull was plunging through the +forest, or with long strides crossing some prone giant of the woods. +Beltran was near; his kind eyes gazed into hers. His arm was +outstretched to steady her shaking chair. His voice was saying in +protecting tones, "Do not be afraid, little cousin; you are quite safe." +A pleasurable languor stole through Felisa's frame, a supreme happiness +pervaded her being. She felt that she had reached a safe haven, one of +security and rest. Her father had never troubled himself very much about +her wishes. She had been routed out of this town, that city, according +to his whims and the shortness or length of his purse. A dreamy thought +floated through her brain that he could not easily leave this place, so +difficult of access, more difficult of egress; so hospitable, so free! +The sound of Don Noé's short feet stamping about in the adjoining room +aroused Felisa from her lethargy. The absence of a carpet made itself +obvious, even when an intruder tried to conceal the knowledge of his +presence. Felisa now heard, in addition to the noise of tramping feet, +the voice of Don Noé, fiercely swearing, and scarcely under his breath. + +"Ten thousand damns," was what he said, and then emphasized it with the +sentence, "Ten thousand double damns." This being repeated several +times, the number mounted rapidly into the billions. Ah! This was +delightful! Don Noé discomfited! She would, like a dutiful daughter, +discover the reason. + +Felisa sprang from her bed, a plump little figure, and ran quickly to +the partition which separated her father's room from her own. This +partition did not run up all the way to the roof. It stopped short at +the eaves, so that through the open angle between the tops of the +partition boards and the peak of the roof one heard every sound made in +an adjoining room. She placed her eye to a crack, of which there were +many. The boards had sprung apart in some places, and numerous +peep-holes were thus accorded to the investigating. + +A scene of confusion met Felisa's gaze. All of Don Noé's portmanteaus +were open and gaping wide. They were strewn about the floor, alternately +with his three hat boxes, the covers of which had been unstrapped and +thrown back. From each one shaking masses of bright and vari-colored +flowers revealed themselves. + +"That dam' girl!" said Don Noé, under his breath. + +Felisa chuckled. Her only wonder was that by replacing her father's +belongings with her own, and transporting her numerous gay shade hats +thus sumptuously, her methods had not been discovered before. + +At each change of consequence, from boat to train, from horseback to +carriage, Don Noé had suggested unpacking a change of headgear for +himself. Felisa had, with much prudent forethought, flattened an old +panama and laid within it a travelling cap. These, with filial care, she +had placed in the top of her own small steamer trunk. With one excuse or +another, she had beguiled Don Noé into using them during the entire +trip. At Tampa it had been a secret joy to her to see the poor man +struggling out of the train laden with the hat boxes in which her own +gorgeous plumage reposed uninjured. In crossing to the island, in taking +the train to the little town where the small steamer was waiting to +carry them to their goal, and again, during their debarkation and +stowing away in the little schooner which carried them across the bay to +the spot where Don Beltran was to meet them, she had seen with supreme +satisfaction the care with which her millinery was looked after, while +Don Noé's assortment of hats was crowded into a small space in her own +Saratoga. + +"I knew it, I knew it," whispered the chuckling Felisa. And then, aloud, +"What's the matter, Dad?" + +Don Noé answered not. He was impatiently and without discrimination +hauling and jerking the clothes from an open portmanteau. Each shirt, +pair of trousers, necktie, or waistcoat was raised in air, and slapped +fiercely down on the floor with an oath. Don Noé was not a nice old man, +and his daughter relished his discomfiture. + +"Oh, damn!" he said, for the twentieth time, as he failed of jerking a +garment from the confines of a tray, and sat down with precision in an +open hat box. Some pretty pink roses thrust their heads reproachfully +upward between his knees. There was discernible, from the front, a +wicked look of triumph in Don Noé's small eyes. He revelled in the +feeling that he was sinking, sinking down upon a bed of soft and +yielding straw. + +"So I say," concurred Felisa, as the last exclamation left Don Noé's +lips. She sprang away from the partition and flew out of the doorway, +along the veranda, and into her father's room. + +"Get up at once!" she said. "Dad, do you hear? Get up at once. That is +my very best, my fascinator! Get up! Do you hear me?" + +She stamped her stockinged foot upon the bare floor. The pain of it made +her the more angry. Don Noé sank still further, smiling and helpless. + +"Get up at once!" + +Two of the peons had returned along the outer veranda. They still hoped +to receive a reward for their work of the morning. They lounged in at +the shutter opening, and looked on with a pleased grin. The disordered +room spoke loudly of Don Noé's rage; the crushed flowers and the stamp +of the foot, of the Señorita's fury. + +Felisa raised her eyes to the ebony faces framed between the lintels. +She could not help but note their picturesque background, the yellow +green of the great banana spatules, through which the tropic sunshine +filtered. + +"Come in here, you wretches, both of you! How dare you laugh!" + +Eduardo Juan thrust a bony hand inside and unbuttoned the lower half +door. He pushed through, and Paladrez followed him. They entered with a +shuffle, and stood gazing at Don Noé. He, in turn, grinned at them. He +was paying Felisa double--aye, treble-fold--for packing his hats in some +close quarter, where, as yet, he knew not. Perhaps she had left them +behind. A crack of the hat box! He was sinking lower. + +"If you don't care for my best hat, Dad, I should think you would not +wish to ruin your own hat box." Then, turning to Eduardo Juan, "Pull him +out at once!" + +Don Noé, certain that he had done all the damage possible, stretched out +appealing hands. The men seized upon those aristocratic members with +their grimy paws, and pulled and tugged his arms nearly out of their +sockets. They got him partly to his feet, the box and flowers rising +with him. Felisa saw that there was no chance of resurrection for the +hat, the ludicrous side of the situation overcame her, and she laughed +unrestrainedly. + +"Knock it off, confound you!" screamed Don Noé, in a sudden access of +rage. Felisa's return of good temper made him furious. She danced round +him, taunting and jibing. "The biter bit," she sang, "the biter bit." + +"Take something, anything, knock it off!" shouted Don Noé again. + +Palandrez, with a wrench, tore off the cover of the hat box and released +the prisoner. + +"You've ruined my hat!" "You've ruined my hat box!" screamed father and +daughter in unison. He shook his fist in her face. + +"Get out of my room, every man jack of you!" + +The gentle peons fled, a shower of garments, boots, and brushes +following them. The room looked like the wreck of all propriety and +reserve. + +"Don't you think you've made spectacle enough of yourself?" asked +Felisa, and with this parting fling she flew from her father's presence, +and fell almost into the arms of Don Beltran, chance having thus +favoured him. He held her close for a moment before he released her. She +was pink and panting from these two contrasting experiences. + +"He is often like that." She spoke fast to cover her embarrassment. "Did +you ever know him before, cousin? If you did, I wonder that you asked us +here." + +Beltran smiled. He did not say that the visit had been self-proposed on +Don Noé's part. His smile contracted somewhat as a heavy walking-shoe +flew out through the open doorway and knocked the panama from his head. +As Beltran stooped and recovered the hat, Felisa glanced at him +shamefacedly. She noticed the wet rings of hair, streaked faintly with +early grey, which the panama had pressed close to his forehead. + +"I remember hearing that Uncle Noé was a young man with a temper," he +said. "The family called it moods." He recalled this word from the +vanishing point of the dim vista which memory flashed back to him at the +moment. As Beltran spoke he glanced apprehensively at the open square in +the palm-board exterior of the casa. + +"Let us run away," he said, smiling down at the girl. + +"Until he is sane again," agreed Felisa. She plunged into her room and +caught up the discarded shoes; then springing from veranda to the short +turf below, she ran with Beltran gaily toward the river. A bottle of ink +shot out through the opening, and broke upon the place where they had +stood. + +"He is a lunatic at times," said Felisa, with a heightened colour. There +was a drop upon her eyelash which Beltran suddenly wished that he dared +have the courage to kiss away. + +"I shall hurt my feet," she said, stopping suddenly. She dropped the +shoes upon the ground, thrust her feet into them, and started again to +run, her hand in Beltran's. The sun was scorching. + +He took his broad panama from his head and placed it upon hers. It fell +to her pretty pink ears. + +She laughed, his laughter chimed with hers, and thus, like two happy +children, they disappeared within the grove which fringed the river +bank. + +Agueda saw them as they crossed the hot, white trocha. She saw them as +they entered the grove. + +"And that is the little child," she said aloud, "the little child." +Then, with a sudden painful tightening at the heart, "I wonder if he +knew." So quickly does the appearance of deceit excite distrust which +has no foundation to build upon. + +Beltran had known no more certainly than Agueda herself the age of this +unknown cousin. He was guiltless of all premeditation, but to say that +he was not conscious of an unmistakable joy when he found this charming +young girl at the landing, and knew that she would live under the same +roof with him for an indefinite period, would be to say that which is +not true. Beltran was a victim of circumstances. He had not desired a +change. He had not asked for it, yet when it came he accepted it, +welcomed it perhaps. Had the choice between the known and the imagined +been given him, he would have sought nothing better than his, until now, +happy environment. "It is fate," thought Beltran. + +When the cousins reached the river, Beltran parted the branches for +Felisa, and she slipped out of the white heat into a soft-toned +viridescence of shade. A path ran downward to the river shore. It was +cut parallel with the water's flow. The path was overshadowed by thick +branches. Mangoes, mamey trees, and mahoganies were there. The tall palm +crowned all in its stately way. The young palms spread and pushed +fan-like across the path, in intimate relation now with human kind. The +time would come when no one would be able to lay a finger tip upon their +stiff and glossy sprays, when their lofty tufts would look down from a +vantage point of eighty or a hundred feet upon the heads of succeeding +generations. + +Felisa ran down the sloping path and seated herself, all fluff and +laces, upon the slope of the bank. She sank into a bed of dry leaves, +through which the fresh green of new-born plants was springing. + +"Not there, not there!" cried Beltran, sharply. "You never know what is +underneath those foot-deep leaves. Come down here, little cousin. I have +a bench at the washing-stone." + +They descended still lower. Her hand was still in the one by which he +had raised her from the bank. + +"You have closed the bench quite off from the river, cousin, with those +hateful wires. I cannot get at the water or even at the broad stone +there." Felisa spoke petulantly. + +Beltran gazed down into the pretty face. The eyes, though not large, +held the dancing light of youth. The upturned little nose and the broad +mouth would not serve to make a handsome older woman, but the red lips +pouted over white and even teeth, a rose flush tinted the ear and cheek, +colourless curly tendrils escaped from under the large hat. + +Felisa's clothes, that most important factor in a man's first attraction +toward a woman, were new and strange, and of a fashion that Beltran knew +must be a symptom of modernity. He was utterly unconscious that a +certain fascination lay in those wonderful great figures of colour +sprawling over a gauzy ground of white. He would have denied that the +ribbon knot at the waist, and its counterpart upon the left shoulder, +had any particular charm for him, or that the delicate aroma of the +lavender of an old-fashioned bureau, which emanated from those filmy +ruffles with every motion of the restless little body, had anything to +do with his being so drawn toward her. + +Felisa seated herself and stretched out her feet, encased in a black +silk mystery of open work and embroidery. He knelt and tied the silken +laces. When he had finished this absorbing task he bent suddenly lower +and pressed his lips to the instep above. Felisa withdrew it quickly, +blushing. She knew nothing of such vigourous love-making as this. The +northern birds were more wary. + +"My hat," she said, "please get me one." + +Beltran turned and ran up the path. + +"I did not dream that I should like him so much," said Felisa softly, as +she gazed after him. + +Beltran ran swiftly to the casa and bounded up on to the veranda. +Felisa's door reached, he hesitated. Agueda stood within the room, +holding a hand-glass before her face. She was gazing at her reflection. +At the well-known step she started. What hopes arose within her breast! +He was coming back, the first moment that he was free, to tell her that +she must not mind his attentions to his cousin, that they were +necessary. She would meet him with a smile, she would convince him that +that hateful jealousy, which had been tearing at her vitals for the past +hour or two, had no part within her being. Ah! after all her suspicion +of him, she was still his first thought! She started and dropped the +glass. She turned toward him, a smile of welcome parting her lips. + +Beltran hardly looked at Agueda. + +"A hat! a bonnet, anything!" he said. "Give me something quickly!" + +She took from the table the gay hat in which Felisa had arrived, and +placed it in his outstretched hand, but she did not look at him again. +He almost snatched it from her. Was not Felisa waiting bareheaded down +there by the river? He sprang to the ground and hastened across the +trocha. After he had entered the grove, he buried his face among the +flowers, which exhaled that faint, evanescent fragrance which already +spoke to him of her. Agueda sighed and placed the silver-backed mirror +upon the table. Had one asked her what she had been searching for in its +honest depths, she could hardly have told. Perhaps she had been +wondering whether with such aids to beauty as Felisa had, she would not +be as attractive. Perhaps looking to see if she had grown less sweet, +less lovable in these few short hours. + +"Juana," she called. "Juana!" The old crone hobbled forth quickly from +the kitchen at Agueda's sharp tone. It was new to her. + +"Make this room tidy," ordered Agueda. Juana wondered at the harsh note +in Agueda's voice. The girl herself was unconscious that she had spoken +differently than she had been wont to do, but she was filled with a +defiant feeling, a fear that now the others would not treat her with the +respect which Don Beltran had always demanded of them. That new pain was +accountable. At the sharp note in her voice, Juana had looked +inquiringly, but Agueda raised a haughty head and passed along the +veranda to her own room. + +Felisa heard Beltran returning. Her quick ear noted every movement, +from the hurried run across the potrero and the trocha to his pushing +back with impatient hand the low-sweeping branches and his hasty +footfall down the path. She wondered if this new blossoming in her heart +were love? She had never felt so since those first early days of +adolescence, when as a young girl her trust had been deceived, ensnared, +entrapped, and left fluttering with wounded wings. Should she love him? +Was it worth her while? Her first word was a complaint. Experience had +taught her that complaisance is a girl's worst enemy. + +"Why did you place those wires there, cousin?" + +For answer Beltran came close and looked down upon her shining head. +Suddenly he took her in his arms and kissed her. She struggled, for she +was really somewhat indignant. + +"And may not cousins kiss?" asked Beltran. "Those wires were placed +there to prevent the little child whom we--I--expected from falling into +the river. You are scarce larger than the little child--whom +we--I--pictured, but oh! how infinitely more sweet!" + +He twisted one long brown finger in the ring of hair which strayed +downward nearly to her eyes. Felisa withdrew her head with a quick +motion. She was experiencing a mixture of feelings. She had come here +to San Isidro with a purpose, and now, within two short hours of her +arrival, she found that her purpose marched with her desires. Don Noé +had said, "Felisa, do you remember your Cousin Beltran, your mother's +nephew?" + +"No, papa, how could I remember him? I never saw him. I have seldom +heard of him." + +"Ah, yes, I know," returned Don Noé, with the sudden awakening of the +semi-centenarian to the fact that he is communing with a second +generation. "Well, that wretched old grandfather of yours, old Balatrez, +cut your mother off because she married _me_!" + +"Had he seen the hat boxes?" asked Felisa, who had a humour of her own. + +"Don't be impertinent. All that fine property has gone to Beltran, just +because your mother married _me_! She was sister to Beltran's mother, +your aunt, as you know. Now, Felisa, I intend to have that fortune +back." + +"How, papa? Do you intend to call upon my cousin to stand and deliver?" + +"I intend you to do that, Felisa." + +"I am tired of being poor, too, papa." + +Felisa considered a shrinkage from eighteen to eight new gowns a summer +a distinct sign of poverty. When Don Noé drew in his horns as to +expenditures, the young foreign attaché who had all but proposed to him +for the hand of Felisa relaxed his attentions. Felisa had hoped to be a +countess, but a title is no guarantee of perennial or even annual bread +and butter, and those indispensable articles some one must provide. At +the close of Don Noé's remarks, which were too extended to be repeated, +Felisa had said, "I am quite ready for your cousin-hunt, papa." + +A feeling akin to shame swept through her as she sat there and recalled +this conversation, and realized what this new intimacy with Beltran +meant to her--what it might mean in the days to come, for that he loved +her at once and irrevocably her vanity gave her no chance to doubt, and +she knew now that she was beginning to find this impetuous lover more +than attractive. One who knew Felisa thoroughly would have said that she +was beginning to care for him as much as it was in her nature to care +for any one but herself. + + + + +XIV + + +Agueda saw all the plans which they had made together for the coming of +the little child carried out by Beltran alone. She could not accompany +Don Beltran and his cousin upon their different expeditions; she could +not go as an equal, she would not go as an inferior. Besides which, +there was never any question as to her joining them. The bull rides, the +search for mamey apples, the gathering of the aguacate pears, all of +which she had suggested, were taken part in by two only; so was the +lingering upon the river, until Agueda shuddered to think of the +miasmata which arise after nightfall and envelop the unwary in their +unseen though no less deadly clutches. The walks in the moonlight, +ending in a lingering beneath the old mahogany tree for a few last +confidences before the return to the home-light of the casa, left no +place for a third member, because of the close intimacy which naturally +was part and parcel of the whole. + +All had come about as Agueda had planned, with the exception that she +herself was missing from plain, hill, and river. She had heard Beltran +say: "Yes, I will take you down to the potrero, little girl, to gather +the aguacates, but you must not approach the bushes, for the thorns +would sting your tender hands." Agueda recalled the day when she had +suggested this as one of the cautious pleasures open to the little thing +for whom they two were looking; but she, Agueda, who was to have been +the central figure, she, the one to whose forethought had been entrusted +the planning and carrying out of these small amusements, was excluded. +As the days passed by, Beltran and Agueda seldom met, except in the +presence of others. She addressed him now in the third person, as "If +the Don Beltran allow," or "If the Don Beltran wishes." When by chance +the two stumbled upon one another, neither could get out of the way +quickly enough. + +It was on a day when she was forced to speak to him as to the +disposition of some furniture, that her utter dejection and spiritless +tone appealed to him. As he glanced at her, he noticed for the first +time how large her eyes were, what hollows showed beneath them, how +shrunken and thin was her cheek. + +"What is it, Agueda? You treat me as a culprit." + +"No, oh, no!" She shook her head sadly; then threw off the feeling +apparently with a quick turn of the head. "The Señor is within his +rights." Beltran's heart was touched. He drew near to her, and laid his +arm about her shoulder, as he had not done now for a long time. She +stooped her fine height, and drew her shoulder out from under his arm. +She had no right now to feel that answering thrill; he was hers no +longer. A sob, which she had tried to smother in her throat, struck him +remorsefully. + +"They will soon be gone, Agueda; then all will be as before." + +"Nothing can ever be as before, Señor. I see it now, either for you or +for me." + +The wall within which she had encased herself, that dignity which +silence under wrong gives to the oppressed, once broken, the flood of +her words poured forth. The terrible sense of injustice overwhelmed and +broke down her well-maintained reserve. She looked up at Beltran with +reproach in her eyes, interrogation shining from their depths. + +"Why could you not have told me, warned me, cautioned me? Ah, Nada! Nada +knew." Her helplessness overcame her. Beltran had been her salvation, +her teacher, her reliance. She felt wrecked, lost; she was drifting +rudderless upon an ocean whose shores she could not discern. Where could +she turn? Her only prop and stay withdrawn, what was there to count +upon? + +"I do not know the world, Beltran. My people never know the world. I +have never known any world but this--but this." She stretched out her +despairing arms to the grey square which she had called home. "Ah! Nada, +dear Nada, you knew, you knew! I never dreamt that she meant you, +Beltran, you!" + +Hark! It was Felisa's voice calling to him. Soon she would be here. She +would see them; she would suspect. Beltran shrugged his shoulders, he +pursed out his lips. The Agueda whom he had known was ever smiling, ever +ready to be bent to his will. This girl was complaining, reproachful; +besides which, her looks were going. How could he ever have thought her +even pretty? He contrasted her in a flash with the little white thing, +all soft filmy lawn and laces, and turned away to rejoin that other +sweeter creature who had never given him a discontented look. + +It had come to this then! Her misery could wring from him nothing more +than a careless shrug of the shoulders! + +She stood gazing afar off at the hillside, where the bulls were toiling +upward with their loads of suckers for the planting. Some fields were +yet being cleared, and the thin lines of smoke arose and poured straight +upward in the still atmosphere. A faint odor of burning bark filled the +air. Near by the banana leaves drooped motionless. There were no sounds +except the occasional stamp of a hoof in the stable. The silence was +phenomenal. Suddenly a shrill voice broke the stillness. + +"Cousin, are you coming?" + +A welcome summons! He would go to the hills with Felisa, as he had +promised. She should see the fields "avita"-ed. He would forget Agueda's +reproaches in the light of Felisa's smiles. He shook his tall frame, as +if to throw off something which had settled like a cloud upon him; he +hurried along the veranda with a quick stride. The excursion to-day was +to be to the palm grove upon the hill. Uncle Noé was to be one of the +party. The peons were to burn the great comahen nest, for in this remote +quarter of the world such simple duties made amusement for the chance +guest at the coloñia. + +Agueda had prepared a dainty basket over-night. The old indented spoons, +the forks with twisted and bent tines, but bearing the glory and pride +of the Balatrez family in the crest upon the handle, were laid in the +bottom of the basket. Nothing was forgotten, from the old Señora's +silver coffee pot, carefully wrapped in a soft cloth, to the worn +napkins on the top with the crest in the corner, which was wearing thin +and pulling away from the foundation linen. The coffee, planted, raised, +picked, dried, roasted, and ground upon the plantation of San Isidro, +was ready for the making; the cassava bread was toasted ready for +heating at the woodland fire; the thick cream into which it was to be +dipped was poured into the well-scoured can; the fresh-laid eggs were +safely packed in a small basket; the mamey apples and the guavas would +be picked by the peons upon the ground, and the san-coche was still +bubbling in the oven. Juana, like one of Shakespeare's witches, bent +over the fragrant stew, and ever, when no one was looking, she put the +pewter spoon to her withered and critical lips. Where is the cook who +does not taste in secret? + +Palandrez would start an hour hence, taking the fast little roan, to get +to the hill in time to serve the san-coche hot and savory. + +Castaño, the horse which it had been Don Beltran's pleasure to break for +Agueda, stood at the foot of the veranda steps. Agueda's saddle was upon +its back; no other would fit Castaño. Indeed, there was no other. But +there was no sentiment to Agueda about the lady's saddle. She had always +ridden like the boy that she looked. Agueda walked with dragging step to +her solitary chamber; she would not remain to witness Felisa's hateful +affectations. She could bear it no longer; she could be neither generous +nor charitable. She had seen and heard so much of Felisa's clinging to +Beltran's arm, her little cries of fear, Beltran's soothing responses, +that her heart was sick. She closed her door to shut out the sounds, +and threw herself into her low sewing chair by the window. They would be +gone presently, and then she would wander forth in an opposite +direction, down by the river perhaps, or over to--where? Where could she +go? + +A large pile of linen lay in the basket. She had not touched it of late. +Ah, no! There was no one now to make the duty a pastime, no one to come +in with ringing step, and lay upon the welcoming shoulder a kindly +hand--no one to twitch the tiresome sewing impatiently from her grasp, +and bid her come away, to the river or to the potrero; no one to stoop +and kiss the roughened finger. It was as if she had emerged into a +strange and horrible land, a land of dreams whose name is nightmare, and +had left behind her in that other dim world all that had been most dear. +She could not awake, no matter how hard she tried. + +She sat looking dully out to where the flecks of sunshine touched here +and there the tropic shadows. She saw nothing. Nature was no longer a +book whose every leaf held some new beauty, each page printed with ink +from the great mother's alembic, telling a tale of joy that never palls. + +Suddenly Agueda turned from the scene and clasped her hands over her +eyes, for into her landscape had passed two figures. She had thought +that they would go by the river path, but they were passing along the +winding way which ran through the banana walk, one seated delicate and +graceful upon the accustomed chestnut, shrinking somewhat and swaying a +little as if in fear, the other bent close to her and gazing into her +eyes as if he could never look his fill. The old story, her story, the +part of heroine played by a fresher, newer actress, the leading +personality unchanged. They made a picture as they rode, one which an +artist would love to paint; the flanks of the brave grey side by side +with the little chestnut, the handsome lover leaning toward the pretty +bundle of summer draperies, the red parasol held in his hand and shading +her form from the sun making the one bit of brilliant colour in the +picture. It was worthy of Vibert, but Agueda had never heard of Vibert, +and the picturesqueness of the scene did not appeal to her. + +"This way?" questioned the high voice. "It is the longest way, cousin, +so you said this morning." + +"Yes," was Beltran's answer. How plainly she heard it as the breeze blew +toward the casa. "The longest way to others, but--" He bent his head and +spoke lower. One had to imagine the rest. Agueda closed the shutter and +threw herself upon the bed, as if she could as easily forget the picture +as she could shut out the shrill voice of Felisa. + +The day passed, as such days do, like an eternity. At noon-time a +stranger rode down the hill toward the casa. He brought a letter for Don +Beltran. + +"The Señor is up in the woods," said Agueda. "I will give it to him when +he returns." + +"It is from the Señor Silencio. He hopes that the Señor will read it at +once. The message admits of no delay." + +"Do you know the palm grove up on the far hill, on the other side of the +grand camino?" + +"I think that I might find it," said Andres, for it was he, "but I have +matters of importance at home. My little boy--El Rey--" + +Andres turned away his head. Stupid Andres! Only one thing could make +him turn away his head. + +"Are you, then, the father of that little El Rey?" + +Andres nodded. + +"Give me the letter," said Agueda. "I will send it to the palm grove." + +Not waiting to see Andres depart, Agueda hurried to the home potrero. +There Uncle Adan was keeping tally at the sucker pile. + +"Uncle Adan," she said, "is there a man who can take a message to the +Señor?" + +"I cannot spare another peon, Agueda--that the good God knows. What with +Garcia Garcito and the Palandrez off all the morning at the palm grove, +and Eduardo Juan hurrying away but a half-hour ago with the san-coche, +I am very short of hands. What is it that you want? Do not load the +little white bull so heavily, Anito; it is these heavy weights that take +the life out of them. What is it that you want, Agueda, child?" + +"It is a message for the Señor, Uncle Adan. It comes from the Señor +Silencio. It may be of importance." + +"Very well, then; it is I who cannot go. The Señor should be at home +sometimes, like other Señors. Since these visitors came I cannot get a +word with him." + +"The Señor is not always away, Uncle Adan," protested Agueda, faintly. + +"It is true that he is not always away," said Uncle Adan, tossing a +sprouted sucker into a waste pile, "but his head is, and that is as bad. +He seems to take no interest in the coloñia nowadays, and I am doing +much for which I have no warrant." + +Agueda recalled the many times when she had seen her uncle approach +Beltran with some request to make, or project to unfold, and his shrug +of the shoulders, and the answer, "Don't bother me now, Adan, there's a +good fellow; some other time--some other time." Agueda stood with her +eyes downcast. She knew it all but too well. Every word of Uncle Adan's +struck at her heart like a knife. + +"But the Señor must have the letter, Uncle Adan," she persisted. + +"Very well, then, child, carry it yourself. There is no one else to go." + +"Is there anything that I can ride, Uncle Adan?" + +"Caramba! muchacha! Castaño, certainly. Can you saddle him your--or, no! +I forgot. No, Agueda; there is nothing." + +"The brown bull? The letter may be important." + +"The brown bull has gone to the Port of Entry for tobacco for the Señor +Don Noé. No, there is nothing, child; you must walk if you will go. For +me, I would leave the letter on the table in the Señor's room. That +would be best." + +Agueda went quickly back to the house. She took the old straw from its +peg in her closet, put it upon her head without one glance at the little +mirror on the wall, and ran quickly down the veranda steps. The way +seemed long to her. She was not feeling strong; an unaccustomed weight +dragged upon her health and spirits. All at once she saw, as if a +picture had been held up to her view, that future which must be hers, +toward which she was so quickly hastening. A few months--ah, God! Was +it, then, to be with her as with all those others whom she had held in +partial contempt--a pitying contempt, it is true, but none the less +contempt. + +The distance seemed long to her. Time had been when she would have +thought a run over to the palm grove a mere nothing, but now every step +was a penance to both body and mind. + +When Agueda reached the hill, she walked slowly. The day was hot, as +tropical days in the valley are apt to be. She moved languidly up the +hill. Arrived at the top, there was nothing to reward her gaze but the +form of Don Noé, asleep under a tree; Palandrez sitting by, waving a +large palm branch to keep the insects away. At a little distance the +dying embers of the picnic fire paled in the sun. The place was +otherwise bare of people or servants. Under the shade of some coffee +bushes stood the grey and the chestnut, but of their riders nothing was +to be seen. When Palandrez saw Agueda coming he put his finger on his +lip. She approached him and held out the letter. He made a half motion +to rise, but did not spring to his feet, as he formerly would have done +at the approach of the house mistress. + +"I have a letter for the Señor, Palandrez," said Agueda. "I wish that +you take it to him at once." + +"It is I that would oblige the Señorita," answered Palandrez, sinking +back hastily into his lounging attitude, when he saw that action was +required of him, "but I was ordered by the Señor Don Beltran to stay +here, and not leave the Don Noé, unless, indeed, an earthquake should +come." + +"But it is a letter of importance," urged Agueda. "You must take it for +me, Palandrez." + +"And am I to obey the Señor or the Señorita?" asked Palandrez, in a +half-defiant, half-impudent tone. + +For answer Agueda turned away. She had thought of offering to keep the +buzzing insects from Don Noé's bald head, but her spirit revolted at the +thought of this menial service, and perhaps a slight curiosity as to +where the main actors in the drama had gone, and how they were employing +themselves, caused her to resolve to find Beltran herself. + +"Where is the Don Beltran?" she asked of Palandrez. + +"I have not seen them this half-hour, Señorita. When the feast was over +the old Don laid himself down to sleep, and the Don Beltran and the new +Señorita disappeared very suddenly. They went down there, in the +direction of the little brook." + +Palandrez waved his hand toward the further slope of the hill, and again +returned to the duty of keeping Don Noé asleep, so long as he himself +could remain awake. + +As Agueda began to descend the slope she heard a complaining voice. She +turned. Palandrez had stolen away to the edge of the hill. He had left +Don Noé sleeping with the branch stuck upright beside him in the soft +earth of the hilltop. The breeze waved the branch. "So," had thought +Palandrez, "it will do as well as if I was there fanning El Viejo." But +all in a moment the branch had fallen across Don Noé's face, and he had +awakened with a start. He belaboured Palandrez well with his sharp old +tongue. + +"I will tell your master, the Señor. Yes, I will tell him the very +moment that I see him." Palandrez bowed his tattered form and scraped +his horny sole upon the ground, and exclaimed, with volubility: + +"It was but muchachado,[8] Señor. I have the honour to assure the Señor +that it was but muchachado, no more, no less." + +Palandrez, in fear of what his own particular Señor would say of his +treatment of the Señorita Felisa's father, returned hurriedly to his +fanning, and Don Noé, pretending to sleep, and weary with resting, kept +one eye open, so to speak, to catch him again at his muchachado. + +Agueda descended the hill. When she came to the brook, she saw an old +log across which some one must have lately travelled, for it was +splashed with wet, and there were footmarks in the clay on the shore. +She crossed, and walked quickly along the further plain, and soon heard +the distant sound of voices, Felisa's high treble mingled with Don +Beltran's deeper, pleasant tones. The beauty of his voice had never been +so marked as now, when the thin soprano of Felisa set it off by +contrast. + +Following the sound of the voices, Agueda again ascended a slight rise, +and before long saw in the distance the light frills of Felisa's gown +showing through the trees. She knew the pastime well enough, the pastime +which caused Felisa to sit upon a level with Agueda's head, and to wave +up and down as if in a swing or high-poised American chair. She knew +well, before she came near them, that Beltran had given Felisa the +pleasure that had often been hers; that he had bent an elastic young +tree over to the ground; that among its branches he had made a safe seat +for Felisa, and that he was letting it spring upward, and again pressing +it back to earth with regular motion, so that Felisa might ride the tree +in semblance of Castaño's back; only Beltran was closer to her than he +could be were they on horseback, and Felisa's nervous little screams and +cries gave him reason to hold her securely and to reassure her in that +ever kind and musical voice. When Felisa saw Agueda coming along the +path bordered with young palms, she said, "Here comes that girl of +yours, cousin, that Agueda! What can she want?" + +Beltran turned with some surprise. Agueda had never dogged his footsteps +before. She had left him to work his own will, independent of her +claims--claims which had no foundation, in fact. All at once he +remembered those claims imagined, and he wondered if at last she had +come to denounce him before Felisa. + +As Agueda came onward, hurrying toward them, Beltran ceased his motion +of the tree, and leaned against its trunk, touching Felisa familiarly as +he did so. It was as if he arrayed himself with her against Agueda. The +two seemed one in spirit. + +Beltran's voice, as he questioned Agueda, showed some irritation, but +its musical note, a physical thing, which he could not control if he +would, was still there. + +"Why have you come here? What do you want with me?" He did not use her +name. + +Agueda stopped and leaned against a tree. She put her hand within the +bosom of her dress, brought forth the letter in its double paper, tied +round with a little green cord, and held it out to Beltran. She did not +speak. + +"Very well, bring it to me," he said. He could not let go his hold on +the tree, for fear of harm coming to Felisa, and he saw no reason why +Agueda, having come thus far, should not cover the few steps that +remained between himself and her. She pushed herself away from the tree +with her hand, as if she needed such impetus, and walking unevenly, she +came near to Beltran and laid the letter in his hand. "The messenger +said that it was important. It was Andres who brought it," said Agueda. + +"Ah! from Silencio," said Beltran, awkwardly breaking the seal, because +of the necessity of holding the tree in place. + +He perused the short note in silence. When he raised his eyes from the +page, Agueda had turned and was walking away through the vista of young +palms. Her weary and dispirited air struck him somewhat with remorse. + +"Agueda," he called, "stop at the hill yonder and get some coffee and +rest yourself." His words did not stay her. She turned her head, shook +it gravely, and then walked onward. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[8] A boyish trick. + + + + +XV + + +Don Gil Silencio and the Señora sat within the shady corner of the +veranda. In front of the Señora stood a small wicker table. Upon the +table was an old silver teapot, battered in the side, whose lid had +difficulty in shutting. This relic of the past had been brought from +England by the old Señora when she returned from the refuge she had +obtained there, in one of her periodical escapes from old Don Oviedo. +The old Señora had brought back with her the fashion of afternoon tea; +also some of the leaves from which that decoction is made. The teapot, +as well as the traditionary fashion of tea at five o'clock, had been +left as legacies to her grandson, but of the good English tea there +remained not the smallest grain of dust. The old Señora had been +prodigal of her tea. She had on great occasions used more than a +saltspoonful of the precious leaves at a drawing, and every one knows +that at that rate even two pounds of tea will not last forever. + +They had been married now for two weeks, the Señor Don Gil and the +Señora, and for the first time in her young life the Señora was happy. +Sad to have reached the age of seventeen and not to have passed one +happy day, hardly a happy hour! Now the girl was like a bird let loose, +but the Señor, for a bridegroom, seemed somewhat distrait and dejected. +As he sipped his weak decoction he often raised his eyes to the wooded +heights beyond which Troja lay. + +"What is the matter, Gil? Is not the tea good?" + +"As good as the hay from the old potrera, dear Heart. And cold? One +would imagine that we possessed our own ice-machine." + +The Señora looked at Don Gil questioningly. His face was serious. She +smiled. These were virtues, then! The Señora did not know much about the +English decoction. + +"Be careful, Raquel. That aged lizard will fall into the teapot else; he +might get a chill. Chills are fatal to lizards." Don Gil was smiling +now. + +Raquel closed the lid with a loud bang. The lizard scampered up the +allemanda vine, where it hid behind one of the yellow velvet flowers. + +"But you seem so absent in mind, Gil. What is it all about? You look so +often up the broad camino. Do you expect any--any one--Gil?" + +Don Gil dropped over his eyes those long and purling lashes which, since +his adolescence, had been the pride and despair of every belle within +the radius of twenty miles. + +"You do expect some one, Gil; no welcome guest. That I can see. Oh! Gil. +It is my un--it is Escobeda whom you expect." + +Don Gil did not look up. + +"I think it is quite likely that he will come," he said. "I may as well +tell you, Raquel; the steamer arrived this morning. He must have waited +there over a steamer." Had Silencio voiced his conviction, he would have +added, "Escobeda's vengeance may be slow, but it is sure as well." + +The Señora's face was colourless, her frightened eyes were raised +anxiously to his. Her lips hardly formed the word that told him of her +fear. + +"When?" she asked. + +"Any day now. But do not look so worried, dear Heart. I think that we +need not fear Escobeda." + +"But he will kill us, Gil. He will burn the casa." + +"No. He might try to crush some poor and defenceless peon, but hardly +the owner of Palmacristi. Still, all things are possible, all cruelties +and barbarities, with a man like Escobeda. His followers are a lawless +set of rascals." + +"And he will dare to attack us here, in our home?" + +The Señora's hands trembled as she moved the cups here and there upon +the table. + +"An Englishman says, 'My house is my castle.' If I cannot say that; I +can say, 'My house is my fort.' I will try to show you that it is, when +the time comes, but look up! Raquel. Smile! dear one. I know that my +wife is not a coward." + +With an assumption of carelessness, the Señora took a lump of sugar from +the bowl and held it out to the penitent lizard. It came haltingly down +the stem of the vine, stretching out its pointed nose to see what new +and unaccustomed dainties were to be offered it. + +"He has sent you a message, Gil?" + +"Who, Escobeda? Yes, child. He sent me a letter under a flag of truce, +as it were. The letter was written at the government town." + +"And he sent it--" + +"Back by the last steamer, Raquel. His people are not allowed to enter +our home enclosure, as you know. I allowed one of the peons to take the +letter. He brought it to the trocha. Any one can come there. It is +public land." + +Raquel dropped the sugar; it rolled away. + +"Gil, Gil!" she said, "you terrify me. What shall we do?" She arose and +went close to him and laid her hands upon his shoulders. "Escobeda! with +his cruel ways, and more cruel followers--" + +"He is Spanish." + +"So are we, Gil, we are Spanish, too." + +"Yes, child, with the leaven of the west intermingled in our veins, its +customs, and its manners." + +"Gil, dearest, I can never tell you what I suffered in that house. What +fear! What overpowering dread! Whenever one of those lawless men so much +as looked at me I trembled for the moment to come. And no one knows, +Gil, what would have hap--happened unless he--had been reserving--me +for--for a fate--worse than--" Her face was dyed with shame; she broke +off, and threw herself upon her husband's breast. Her words became +incoherent in a flood of tears. + +Silencio held his young wife close to his heart, he pressed his lips +upon her wet eyelids, upon her disordered hair. He soothed her as a +brave man must, forgetting his own anxiety in her terror. + +"My peons are armed, Raquel. They are well instructed. They are, I +think, faithful, as much so, at least, as good treatment can make them. +Even must they be bribed, they shall be. I have more money than +Escobeda, Raquel. Even were you his daughter, you are still my wife. He +could not touch you. As it is, he has no claim upon you. I am not afraid +of him. He may do his worst, I am secure." + +"And I?" + +"Child! Are not you the first with me? But for you I should go out +single-handed and try to shoot the coward down. But should I fail--and +he is as good a shot as the island boasts--Raquel, who would care for +you? I have thought it all out, child. My bullets are as good as +Escobeda's; they shoot as straight, but I hope I have a better way; I +have been preparing for your coming a long time, dear Heart, and my +grandfather before me." + +Raquel looked up from her hiding-place on his breast. + +"Your grandfather, Gil, for me?" + +Silencio smiled down upon the upraised eyes. + +"Yes, for you, Raquel, had he but known it. Come! child, come! Dry your +tears! Rest easy! You are safe." As Silencio spoke he shivered. "Your +tea has gone to my nerves." + +He took the pretty pink teacup from the veranda rail, where he had +placed it, and set it upon the table. He looked critically at the +remains of the pale yellow decoction. + +"Really, Raquel, if you continue to give me such strong drinks, I shall +have to eschew tea altogether." + +"I am so sorry. I put in very little, Gil." + +Silencio had brought a smile to her face. There is bravery in success of +this kind, bringing a smile to the face of a beloved and helpless +creature when a man's heart is failing him for fear. + +"Let us walk round to the counting-house," he said. + +He laid his arm about her shoulder, and together they strolled slowly to +the side veranda, traversed its lengths, and descended the steps. They +walked along the narrow path which led to the counting-house, and turned +in at the enclosure. At the door they halted. Silencio took a heavy key +from his pocket. Contrary to custom, he had kept the outer door locked +for the past fortnight. + +"Our Don Gil is getting very grand with his lockings up, and his +lockings up," grumbled Anicito Juan. "There were no lockings up, the +good God knows, in the days of the old Señor." + +"And the good God also knows there were no lazy peons in the days of the +old Señor to pry and to talk and to forget what they owe the family. +When did the peon see meat in the days of the old Señor? When, I ask? +When did you see fowl in a pot, except for the Señores? And now the best +of sugar, and bull for the san-coche twice a week. And peons of the most +useless can complain of such a master! Oh! Ta-la!" + +A storm of words from the family champion, Guillermina, fell as heavily +upon the complainant as a volley of blows from a man. Anicito Juan +ducked his head as if a hurricane were upon him, and rushed away to +cover. + +Silencio tapped with his key upon the trunk of the dead palm tree which +arose grand and straight opposite its mate at the side of the doorway. + +"Now watch, Raquel," he said. + +The tall trunk had sent back an answering echo from its hollow tube. +Then there was a strange stir within the tree. Raquel looked upward. +Numberless black beaks and heads protruded from the holes which +penetrated the sides of the tall stem from the bottom to the top, as if +to say, "Here is an inquisitive stranger. Let us look out, and see if we +wish to be at home." + +Raquel laughed gleefully. She took the key from her husband's fingers, +crossed the path, and tapped violently upon the barkless trunk of the +second palm tree. As many more heads were thrust outward as in the first +instance. Some of the birds left their nests in the dead tree, flew a +little way off, and alighted upon living branches, to watch for further +developments about the shell where they had made their homes. Others +cried and chattered as they flew round and round the palm, fearing they +knew not what. Raquel watched them until they were quiet, then tapped +the tree again. As often as she knocked upon the trunk the birds +repeated their manoeuvres. She laughed with delight at the result of +each recurring invasion of the domestic quiet of the carpenter birds. + +So engaged was Raquel that she did not perceive the entrance of a man +into the small enclosure of the counting-house, nor did she see Silencio +walk to the gate with the stranger. The two stood there talking +hurriedly, the sound of their voices quite drowned by the cries of the +birds. + +As Raquel wearied of teasing the birds, she dropped her eyes to earth to +seek some other amusement. A man was just disappearing round the corner +of the paling. Silencio had turned and was coming back to her along the +path which led from the gate to the door of the counting-house. + +She met him with smiles, her lips parted, her face flushed. + +"Who was that, Gil--that man? I did not see him come." + +"You have seen him go, dear Heart. Is not that enough?" + +Silencio spoke with an effort. His face was paler than it had been; +Raquel's face grew serious. His anxiety was reflected in her face, as +the sign of a storm in the sky is mirrored in the calm surface of a +pool. + +"Tell me the truth, Gil. You have had a message from Escobeda?" + +"Not exactly a message, Raquel. That was one of my men. A spy, we should +call him in warfare." + +"And he brings you news?" + +"Yes, he brings me news." + +"What news, Gil? What news? I am horribly afraid. If he should take me, +Gil! Oh! my God! Gil, dear Gil! do not let him take me!" + +She threw herself against his breast, white and trembling. This was a +horror too deep for tears. + +Silencio smiled, though the arm which surrounded her trembled. + +"He shall never take you from me, never! I am not afraid of that. But +your fears unman me! Try to believe what I say, child. He shall never +take you from me. Come! let us go in." + +He took the key from her hand, and unlocked and opened the outer door of +the counting-house. He pushed her gently into the room, and followed +her, closing and locking the door behind him. Then he opened the door of +the second room, and ushered her into this safe retreat. While he was +fastening the door of this room, Raquel was gazing about her with +astonishment. Her colour had returned; Silencio's positive words had +entirely reassured her. "I never knew of this pretty room, Gil. Why did +you never tell me of it?" + +"I have hardly become accustomed to your being here, Raquel. There is +much yet to learn about Palmacristi. Wait until I show you--" + +Silencio broke off with a gay laugh. + +"What! What will you show me, Gil? Ah! that delicate shade of green +against this fresh, pure white! A little boudoir for me! How good you +are to me! You have kept it as a surprise?" + +Silencio laughed again as she ran hither and thither examining this cool +retreat. He wondered if she would discover the real nature of those +walls. But the delicacy of Raquel prevented her from touching the +hangings, or examining the articles in the room except with her eyes. + +"I spoke to you of my fortress, dear Heart." + +"Oh! Are you going to show me your fortress? Come! come! Let us go!" + +She took him by the arm and urged him to the further door. + +"We need not go to seek it, child; it is here." + +Silencio drew back the innocent-looking hangings and disclosed the steel +plates which the Señor Don Juan Smit' had brought down from the +es-States and had set in place. Silencio tapped the wall with his +finger. + +"It is bullet-proof," he said. + +At the sight of this formidable-looking wall Raquel's colour vanished, +as if it were a menace and not a protection, but not for long. Her cheek +flushed again. She laughed aloud, her eyes sparkled. She was like a +little child with a new toy, as she ran about and examined into the +secrets of this innocent-looking fortress. + +"Gil! Gil!" she cried, "what a charming prison! How delightful it will +be to hear Escobeda's bullets rattling on the outside while we sit +calmly here drinking our tea." + +"Perhaps we can find something even more attractive in the way of +refreshment." Silencio had not forgotten the cup which had neither +inebriated nor cheered. + +"I see now that you have no windows. At first I wondered. How long +should we be safe here? Could he break in the door?" + +Silencio bit his lip. + +"Not the outer door. And the door leading into the house--well, even +Escobeda would hardly--I may as well tell you the truth, Raquel. Sit +down there, child, and listen." + +The young wife perched herself upon the tall stool that stood before the +white desk, her lips parted in a delicious smile. The rose behind her +ear fell forward. She took it in her fingers, kissed it, and leaping +lightly from her seat, ran to Silencio and thrust it through the +buttonhole of his coat. Then she ran back and perched herself again upon +her stool. + +"Go on," she said, "I am ready." And then, womanlike, not waiting for +him to speak, she asked the question, "Is he coming to-night, Gil?" + +"I only wish that he would, for the darkness is our best friend. +Escobeda expects an ambush, and my men are ready for it, but he will be +here bright and early to-morrow. But be tranquil, I have sent for +Beltran, Raquel. He will surely come. He never deserted a friend yet." + +"How many men can he muster, Gil?" anxiously asked Raquel. + +"Ten or twelve, perhaps. The fact that we are the attacked party, the +men to hold the fortress, is in our favour. I still hope that the Coco +will arrive in time. I hardly think that Escobeda will dare to use +absolute violence--certainly not when he sees the force that I can +gather at Palmacristi, and recognises the moral force of Beltran's being +on my side." + +"Oh, Gil! Why did you not send for the yacht before this?" Raquel +descended from her perch and crossed the floor to where Silencio stood. + +"Child! I had sent her away to Lambroso to prepare for just such a +moment as this. It was the very day that your note came. She should be +repaired by now. I cannot think what keeps her. I am sure that the +repairs were not so very formidable." + +"Do you think that Escobeda could have stopped the Coco, delayed her--?" + +"No, hardly, though he may have seen the yacht over there. But after +all, Raquel, we may as well go to the root of the matter now as later. +It may be as well that the yacht is not here. If we should run away, we +might have the fight to make all over again. However, we must act for +the best when the time comes. Have no fear, Raquel, have no fear." + +But as Don Gil looked down at the little creature at his side, a +horrible fear surged up within his own heart, and rose to his throat and +nearly choked him. She still raised her eyes anxiously to his. + +"And your friend, your relative, that Don Beltran. You are sure that we +may trust him, Gil?" + +"Beltran?" Silencio laughed. "I wish that I were as sure of Heaven as of +Beltran's faithfulness. He will be here, never fear. He never deserted a +friend yet. If you awake in the night at the sound of horses' hoofs, +that will be Beltran coming over the hill; do not think of Escobeda. Go +to sleep, and rest in perfect security. If you must think at all, let +your thoughts be of my perfect faith in my friend, who will arrive +before it is light. I wish that I were as sure of Heaven." + + + + +XVI + + +When Felisa had seen Agueda disappear below the hillside she turned to +Beltran. + +"What is it, cousin?" asked Felisa, leaning heavily upon his shoulder. + +He put his arm round her. + +"You must get down, little lady. I have a summons from a friend; I must +go home at once." + +"But if I choose not to go home?" said Felisa, pouting. + +"All the same, we must go," said Beltran. + +"But if I will not go?" + +"Then I shall have to carry you. You must go, Felisa, and I must, at +once." + +For answer Felisa leant over and looked into the eyes that were so near +her own. She laid her arm round Beltran's shoulders, the faint fragrance +that had no name, but was rather a memory of carefully cared for +_lingerie_, was wafted across his nostrils for the hundredth time. One +could not imagine Felisa without that evanescent thing that was part of +her and yet had no place in her contrivance, hardly any place in her +consciousness. + +Beltran took her in his arms and lifted her to the ground. The tree, +released, sprang in air. + +"Ah! there goes my stirrup. You must get it for me, Beltran." + +The gay scarf, having been utilized as a stirrup, had been left to shake +and shiver high above them, with the tremors of the tree, which was +endeavouring to straighten its bent bark and wood to their normal +upright position. + +"I can send for that; we must not wait," said Beltran. + +"Send for it, indeed! Do you know that I got the scarf in Naples, +cousin?--that a Princess Pallavicini gave it to me? Send for it, indeed! +Do you think that I would have one of your grimy peons lay his black +finger upon that scarf? You pulled the tree down before, bend it down +again." + +For answer, Beltran leaped in air, trying to seize the scarf. He failed +to reach it. Then he climbed the tree, and soon his weight had bent the +slight young sapling to earth again. Felisa sat underneath a ceiba, +watching Beltran's efforts. At each failure she laughed aloud. She was +obviously regretful when finally he released the scarf and handed it to +her. + +Beltran urged haste with Felisa, but by one pretext or another she +delayed him. + +"Sit down under this tree, and tell me what is in that letter, cousin." + +Beltran stood before her. + +"It is from my old friend, Silencio; he needs me--" + +"I cannot hear, cousin; that mocking-bird sings so loud. Sit down here +and tell me--" + +"It is from my friend, Silen--" + +"I cannot hear, cousin. You must sit here by me, and tell me all about +it." + +Beltran threw himself upon the ground with a sigh. She forced his head +to her knee, and played with the rings of his hair. + +"Now tell me, cousin, and then I shall decide the question for you." + +Beltran lay in bliss. Delilah had him within her grasp; still there was +firmness in the tone which said: + +"I have already decided the question, Sweet. I promised him that I would +go to him when he should need me. The time has come, and I must go +to-night." + +"And leave me?" said Felisa, her delicate face clouding under this news. +"And what shall I do if we are attacked while you are away?" + +"There is no question of your being attacked, little cousin. Silencio +has an enemy, Escobeda, who, he thinks, will attack him to-morrow at +daylight. In fact, Felisa, you may as well hear the entire story. Then +you will understand why I must go. Silencio is a sort of cousin of mine. +He has married the niece of as great a villain as ever went unhung, and +he, the uncle, Escobeda, will attack Silencio to recover his niece. He +is clearly without the law, for Silencio is married as fast as the padre +can make him. But there may be sharp work; there is no time to get +government aid, and I doubt if under the circumstances it would be +forthcoming. So I must go to Silencio's help." Beltran made a motion as +if to rise. + +Felisa now clasped her fingers round his throat. It was the first time +that she had voluntarily made such a demonstration, and Beltran's pulses +quickened under her touch. He relaxed his efforts, turned his face over +in her lap, and kissed the folds of her dress. + +"Vida mia, vida mia! you will not keep me," he murmured through a mass +of lace and muslin. + +"Indeed, that will I! Do you suppose that I am going to remain at that +lonely casa of yours, quaking in every limb, dreading the sound of each +footstep, while you are away protecting some one else? No, indeed! You +had no right to ask us here, if you meant to go away and leave us to +your cut-throat peons. I will not stay without you." + +"But my peons are not cut-throats, Felisa. They will guard you as their +own lives, if I tell them that I must be gone." + +"Do you mean to go alone?" + +"No, I mean to take half a dozen good men with me, and leave the rest at +San Isidro. There is no cause to protect you, Felisa, little cousin; but +should you need protection, you shall have it." + +"I shall not need it, for I will not let you leave me, Beltran. Suppose +that dreadful man, Escobeda, as you call him, becomes angry at seeing +you on the side of your friend, and starts without your knowledge, and +comes to San Isidro. He might take me away in the place of that niece of +his, to force you to get the Señor Silencio to give his niece back to +him." + +"What nonsense are you conjuring up, Felisa, child! That is too absurd! +Escobeda's quarrel is with Silencio, not with me. Do not fear, little +one." + +"And did I not hear you say that this Señor Escobeda hated your father, +and also hated you?" + +"Yes, I did say that," admitted Beltran, reluctantly, as he struggled to +rise without hurting her; "but he will be very careful how he quarrels +openly with me. My friends in the government are as powerful as his +own." + +"Well, you cannot go," said Felisa, decisively, "and let that end the +matter." + +They went homeward slowly, much as they had come, Felisa delaying +Beltran by some new pretext at every step. She kept a watchful eye upon +him, to see that he did not drop her bridle rein and canter away at the +cross roads. + +When they reached the picnic ground they found that Uncle Noé had +departed, and Beltran must, perforce, see his cousin safely within the +precincts of San Isidro. She did not leave the veranda after +dismounting, but seated herself upon the top step, which was now shaded +from the sun, and watched every movement of master and servants. Beltran +had disappeared within doors, but he could not leave the place on foot. +After a while he emerged from his room; behind him hobbled old Juana, +carrying a small portmanteau. As he came toward the steps, Felisa arose +and stood in his way. + +"Why do you go to-night?" she said. + +"Because he needs me at daybreak." + +"I need you more." Felisa looked out from under the fringe of pale +sunshine. "You will not leave me, Beltran--cousin?" + +"It is only for a few hours, dear child." + +"Is this Silencio more to you than I am, then, Beltran?" + +"Good God! No, child, but I shall return before you have had your dip in +the river." + +"I do not like to be left here alone, cousin. I want you--" + +"I _must_ go, and at once, Felisa. Silencio depends upon me. Good by, +good by! You will see me at breakfast." + +Felisa arose. The time for pleading was past. + +"You shall _not_ go," said she, holding his sleeve with her small +fingers. + +"I must!" He pulled the sleeve gently away. She clasped it again +persistently. Then she said, resolutely and with emphasis, "So sure as +you do, I take the first steamer for home." + +"You would not do that?" + +"That is my firm intention." + +"But Silencio needs me." + +"I need you more." + +Felisa withdrew her small hands from his sleeve and started down the +veranda, toward her room. Her little shoes tick-tacked as she walked. + +He called after her, "Where are you going?" + +"To pack my trunks," said Felisa, "if you can spare that girl of +yours--that Agueda--to help me." + +A throb of joy flew upward in the heart of Agueda, whose nervous ear was +awake now to all sounds. + +"Do you really mean it, Felisa?" + +"I certainly do mean it," answered Felisa. "If you go away from me now, +I will take the first steamer home. To-morrow, if one sails." + +"And suppose that I refuse you the horses, the conveyance, the +servants--" + +Felisa turned and looked scornfully at Beltran. + +"I suppose that you are a gentleman first of all," she said. "You could +not refuse." + +"No, I could not." + +"And you will remain?" + +Beltran dropped his head on his breast. + +"I will remain," he said. + +Beltran drew his breath sharply inward. + +"It is the first time," he added. + +"The first time?" She looked at him questioningly. + +"Did I speak aloud? Yes, the first time, Felisa, that I was ever false +to a friend. He counts on me; I promised--" + +"Men friends, I suppose. What about women? I count on you, you have +promised _me_--" + +Agueda threw herself face downward on her bed and stopped her ears with +deep buried fingers. + + + + +XVII + + +Silencio passed the night in wakeful watching and planning. Raquel slept +the innocent sleep of a careless child. Gil had promised that all would +come out well. She trusted him. + +Very early in the morning the scouts whom Silencio had placed along the +boundaries of his estate were called in, and collected within the patio +of the casa. The outer shutters of the windows were closed and bolted; +the two or three glass windows, which spoke of the innovation which +civilization brings in its train, were protected by their heavy squares +of plank. The doors were locked, and the casa at Palmacristi was made +ready for a siege. + +Silencio awakened Raquel as the first streak of dawn crept up from the +horizon. Over there to the eastward trembled and paled that opalescent +harbinger which told her that day was breaking. She looked up with a +child's questioning eyes. + +"It is time, sweetheart. Now listen, Raquel. Pack a little bag, and be +ready for a journey." + +Raquel pouted. + +"Cannot Guillermina pack my bag?" + +"No, not even Guillermina may pack your bag. When it is ready, set it +just inside your door. If you do not need it, so much the better. You +may open your windows toward the sea, but not those that look toward +Troja." + +Silencio flung wide the heavy shutter as he spoke. Raquel glanced out to +sea. + +"Oh, Gil! where is the Coco?" + +"I wish I knew. She should be here." + +"Are we to go on board, Gil?" + +"Unfortunately, even should she arrive now, she is a half-hour too late. +Now hasten, I will give you fifteen minutes, no more." + +"We might have gone out in the boat, Gil. Oh! why did you not call me?" + +Silencio pointed along the path to the right. Some of Escobeda's men, +armed with machetes and shotguns, stood just at the edge of the forest, +where at any moment they could seek protection behind the trees. They +looked like ghosts in the early dawn. + +"And where is your friend, Beltran?" + +Silencio shook his head. + +"He cannot have received my message," he said. + +"And are the men of Palmacristi too great cowards to fight those +wretches?" + +Silencio started as if he had been struck. He did not answer for a +moment; then he said slowly: "Raquel, do you know what we should be +doing were you not here?--I and my men?" + +He spoke coldly. Raquel had never heard these tones before. + +"We should be out there hunting those rascals to the death, no matter +how they outnumber us; but I dare not trust you between this and the +shore. My scouts tell me that they have kept up picket duty all night. +Escobeda expected the Coco back this morning; at all events, he was +ready for our escape in that way. The orders of those men are to take +you at any cost. Should I be killed, your protection would be gone. I am +a coward, but for you only, Raquel, for you only." + +The young wife looked down. The colour mounted to her eyes. She drew +closer to her husband, but for once he did not respond readily to her +advances. He was hurt to the core. + +"Get yourself ready at once," he said. "I will give you fifteen minutes, +no more. We have wasted much time already." + +Raquel hardly waited for Silencio to close the door. She began to dress +at once, her trembling fingers refusing to tie strings or push the +buttons through the proper holes. As she hurriedly put on her everyday +costume, she glanced out of the window to see if in the offing she could +discover the Coco. The little yacht was at that very moment hastening +with all speed toward her master, but a point of land on the north hid +her completely from Raquel's view. + +"Although he will not own it, he evidently intends to carry me away in +the yacht." Raquel smiled. "So much the better; it will be another +honeymoon." + +When Silencio left Raquel, he ran out to the patio. On the way thither +he met old Guillermina with a tray on which was her mistress's coffee. +Upon the table in the patio veranda--that used by the servants--a hasty +meal was laid. Silencio broke a piece of cassava bread and drank the cup +of coffee which was poured out for him, and as he drank he glanced +upward. Andres was standing on the low roof, on the inner side of the +chimney of stone which carried off the kitchen smoke. He turned and +looked down at Don Gil. + +"The Señor Escobeda approaches along the gran' camino, Señor." + +Silencio set down his cup and ran up the escalera. He walked out to the +edge of the roof, and shaded his eyes with his hand. + +"Yes, Andres; it is true. And I see that he has some gentlemen with +him." He turned and called down to the patio. + +"Ask Guillermina if her mistress has had her coffee." + +As he faced about a shot rang out. The bullet whistled near his head. + +"Go down, Señor, for the love of God!" said Andres. + +The company of horsemen were riding at a quick pace, and were now within +hearing. + +Silencio waved his arm defiantly. + +"Ah! then it is you, Señor Escobeda! I see whom you have with you. Is +that you, Pedro Geredo? Is that you, Marcoz Absalon? You two will have +something to answer for when I report this outrage at the government +town." + +Escobeda had ridden near to the enclosure. His head was shaking with +rage. His earrings glittered in the morning sun, his bloodshot eyes +flashed fire. He raised his rifle and aimed it at Silencio. + +"You know what I have come for, Señor. Send my niece out to me, and we +shall retire at once." + +"How dare you take that name upon your lips?" Silencio was livid with +rage. Another shot was fired. This time it ploughed its way through +Silencio's sleeve. + +"Shall I kill him, Señor?" Andres brought his escopeta to his shoulder; +he aimed directly at Escobeda. "I can kill him without trouble, Señor, +and avoid further argument. It is as the Señor says!" + +Silencio looked anxiously seaward. No sign of the Coco! + +"Not until I give the word, Andres." And then to Escobeda, "I defy you! +I defy you!" + +Shots began to fall upon the casa from the guns of Escobeda's impudent +followers. Escobeda leaped his horse into the enclosure; his men +followed suit. Silencio saw them ride in lawless insolence along the +side of the building, and then heard the hollow ring of the horses' +hoofs upon the veranda. He ran down the escalera. The mob were battering +at the front door with the butt ends of their muskets. + +Raquel appeared in the patio, pale and terrified. + +"Gil! Gil!" she cried, "they are coming in! They will take me!" + +"Coward! Come out and fight," was the cry from the outside. + +"I am a coward for you, dear." He seized her wrists. "To the +counting-house!" he whispered, "to the counting-house!" As they ran she +asked, "Is there any sign of the Coco?" + +"None," answered Silencio; "but we could not reach her now." + +Together they flew through the hallways, across the chambers, where the +blows were sounding loud upon the wooden wall of the house, upon the +shutters, and the doors. They ran down the far passage and reached the +counting-house door. Silencio stumbled over something near the sill. + +"Ah! your bag," he said. "I told Guillermina to set it there." + +He opened the door with the key held ready, and together they entered. +Silencio tore the rug from the middle of the room, and disclosed to +Raquel's amazed eyes a door sunken in the floor. He raised it by its +heavy ring. A cold blast of air flowed upward into the warm interior. +Raquel had thought the room cool before; now she shivered as if with a +chill. Silencio pushed her gently toward the opening. "Go down," he +said. + +Raquel gazed downward at the black depths. + +"I cannot go alone, Gil." She shuddered. + +"Turn round, dear Heart; put your feet on the rungs of the ladder, so! +Ah! what was that?" Silencio glanced anxiously toward the open doorway. +A heavy cracking of the stout house-door showed to what lengths Escobeda +and his followers were prepared to venture. + +"Go, go! At the bottom is a lantern; light it if you can, while I close +the trap-door." + +Raquel shrank at the mouth of this black opening, which seemed to yawn +for them. The damp smell of mould, the cold, the gloom, were sudden and +dreadful reminders of the tomb which this might become. She imagined it +a charnel house. She dreaded to descend for fear that she should place +her feet upon a corpse, or lay her fingers on the fleshless bones of a +skeleton. + +"Courage, my Heart! Courage! Go down! Do not delay." + +At the kindness of his tone, Raquel, taking courage, began to descend. +Terrible thoughts filled her mind. What if Escobeda and his men should +discover their retreat, and cut off escape at their destination? What +that destination was she knew not. Her eyes tried vainly to pierce the +mysterious gloom. It was as if she looked into the blackness of a +cavern. She turned and gazed for a moment back into the homelike +interior which she was leaving, perhaps for all time. The loud blows +upon the house-door were the accompaniment of her terrified thoughts. + +Raquel descended nervously, her trembling limbs almost refusing to +support her. She reached the bottom of the ladder, and by the aid of the +dim light from above, she found the lantern and the matches, which +Silencio's thoughtful premonition had placed there, ready for her +coming. As she lighted the lantern she heard a terrific crash. + +Silencio, with a last glance at the open door of the counting-house, +which he had forgotten to close, now lowered the trap-door, and joined +Raquel in the dark passage. He stood and listened for a moment. He heard +a footstep on the floor above, and taking Raquel's hand in his, +together they sped along the path which he hoped would lead her to +safety. + +"Oh, child!" he said, in sharp, panting words, as they breathlessly +pursued the obscure way, "for the first time I have given you proof of +my love." + +Raquel turned to look at him. She saw his dark face revealed fitfully by +the flashes of the lantern swinging from his hand. + +"Here am I flying from that villain, when I ache to seize him by the +throat and choke the very breath of life out of him. Here am I running +away, _running away!_--do you hear me, Raquel?--while they, behind +there, are calling me coward. But should he take you--" + +Raquel stumbled and almost fell at these dreadful words. + +"Gil, Gil, dearest! do not speak of it; perhaps he is coming even now +behind us." + +At the dreadful suspicion she fell against the wall, dragging him with +her. She clung to him in terror, impeding his progress. + +"This is not the time to give way, Raquel." Silencio spoke sternly. +"Call all your will to your aid now. Run ahead of me, while I stand a +moment here." + +Raquel gathered all her resolution, and without further question fled +again upon her way. Silencio waited a moment, facing the steps which +they had just descended, and listened intently. But all that he heard +was the sound of Raquel's flying feet. When he was convinced that no one +was following them, he turned again and ran quickly after Raquel. He +easily gained upon her. + +"I hear nothing, Raquel. Do not be so frightened." + +At these words the changeable child again regained confidence. + +"You have heard of a man building better than he knew," he said. He +waved the lantern toward the sides of the tunnel. "There were wild tales +of smuggling in the old days--" + +The colour had returned to Raquel's cheek. She laughed a little as she +asked: + +"Did your grandfather smuggle, Gil?" + +"He was no better and no worse than other men; who knows what--we will +talk later of that. Come!" + +He took her hand in his, and again together they fled along the passage. +As no sound of pursuing feet came to their ears, confidence began to +return. They were like two children running a race. Silencio laughed +aloud, and as they got further from the entrance to the passage he +whistled, he sang, he shouted! The sound of his laughter chilled the +heart of Raquel with fear. + +"Gil," she pleaded, "they will hear you. They will know where we have +gone." She laid her fingers on his lips as they ran, and he playfully +bit them, as he had seen her close her teeth upon El Rey's. + +The passage was a long one. Raquel thought that it would never end. + +"Have we come more than two miles, Gil?" she asked. + +Raquel was not used to breathless flights in the dark. Silencio laughed. + +"Poor little girl! Does it seem so long, then? When we have reached the +further end we shall have come just three hundred feet." + +At last, at last! the further door was reached. Silencio unlocked it and +pushed it open. This was rendered somewhat difficult by the sand which +had been blown about the entrance since last he had brushed it away. A +little patient work, and the two squeezed themselves through the narrow +opening. + +"Hark! I hear footsteps," whispered Raquel, her face pale with renewed +terror. + +Silencio stood still and listened. + +"You are right," he said; "they are behind us. Take the lantern and hold +it for me close to the keyhole." He began pushing the door into place. + +She took the light from him and held it as he directed. + +"Hold it steady, child. Steady!--Do not tremble so! I must see! I +_must!_ steady!" + +Raquel's hand shook as if with a palsy. + +The footsteps came nearer. To her they sounded from out the darkness +like the approach of death. + +"Hasten!" she whispered, "hasten!" She held the lantern against the +frame of the solid door and pressed her shoulder against it, that her +nervousness should not agitate the flame, whispering "Hasten!" the while +to Silencio, whose trembling fingers almost refused to do this most +necessary work. At last, with a bang and a sharp twist of the key, the +heavy door was closed and locked. + +"Do you see an iron bar anywhere, Raquel, in the bushes there on the +left?" + +She ran to the side of the tunnel, which still arched above them here. +Silencio was close to her, and at once laid his hand upon the strong +piece of metal. He sprang back to the door, and slipped the bar into the +rust-worn but still faithful hasps. + +Then he turned, seized her hand again, and led her hurriedly along +between the high banks. It was still dark where they stood, so overgrown +was the deep cut, but Silencio knew the way. He took the lantern from +Raquel's hand, extinguished it, and set it upon the ground. "We shall +need this no more," he said. + +The trees and vines growing from the embankment, which nearly closed +overhead, were interwoven like a green basket-work, and almost shut out +the daylight. Silencio took Raquel's hand in his and led her along the +narrow path. The light became stronger with every step. + +Suddenly Raquel stopped short. + +"What was that, Gil?" + +"What, dearest?" + +"That! Do you not hear it? It sounds like a knocking behind us." + +Silencio stood still for a moment, listening to the sounds. + +"Yes," he said at last, "I do hear it. It is some of those villains +pursuing us. Hasten, Raquel. When they find the door is closed, they +will return to the casa to cut off our retreat." + +Raquel found time to say: + +"And the poor servants left behind, will they--" + +"They are safe, child. You are the quarry they seek. Escobeda does not +exchange shots to no purpose." + +A few more steps, and Silencio parted the thicket ahead. Raquel passed +through in obedience to his commanding nod, and emerged into the +blinding glare of a tropical morning. Beneath her feet was the hot, +fine sand of the seashore. A few yards away a small boat was resting, +her stern just washed by the ripples. Raquel turned and looked backward. +The mass of trees and vines hid the bank from view, the bank in its turn +concealed the casa. As she stood thus she heard again a slow knocking, +but much fainter than before. It was like the distant sound of heavy +blows. + +"Thank God! they are knocking still," said Silencio. "Run to the boat, +child, quickly." + +Raquel shrank with fear. + +"They will see me from the house," she said. + +"You cannot see the beach from the casa; have you forgotten? Run, run! +For the boat! the boat!" + +Obeying him, she sped across the sand to the little skiff. + +"The middle seat!" he cried. + +He followed her as swiftly, and with all his strength pushed the light +weight out from the shore, springing in as the bow parted with the +beach. The thrust outward brought them within sight of the house. For a +moment they were not discovered, and he had shipped the oars and was +rowing rapidly toward the open sea before they were seen. + +It required a moment for the miscreants to appreciate the fact that the +two whom they had thought hidden in the house had escaped in some +unknown way. Then a cry of rage went up from many throats, and one man +raised his rifle to his shoulder, but the peon next him threw up the +muzzle, and the shot flew harmless in the air. + +It is one thing to fire at the bidding of a master, on whose shoulders +will rest all the blame, and quite another to aim deliberately at a +person who is quite within his rights--you peon, he gran' Señor. +Escobeda was nowhere to be seen. There was no one to give an order, to +take responsibility. The force was demoralized. The men formed in a +small group, and watched the little skiff as it shot out to sea, +impelled by the powerful arm and will of Silencio. As he rowed Silencio +strained his eyes northward, and perceived what was not as yet visible +from the shore. He saw the Coco just rounding the further +point--distant, it is true, but safety for Raquel lay in her black and +shining hull. + + +When old Guillermina saw Don Gil and the Señora retreat from the patio +and cross the large chamber, she knew at once their errand. Had she not +lived here since the days of the old Don Oviedo? What tales could she +not have told of the secret passage to the sea! But her lips were +sealed. Pride of family, the family of her master, was the padlock which +kept them silent. How many lips have been glued loyally together for +that same reason! + +As Guillermina crossed the large chamber she heard the blows raining +upon the outer shutters and the large door. She heard Escobeda's voice +calling, "Open! open!" as he pounded the stout planking with the butt +end of his rifle. The firing had ceased. Even had it not, Guillermina +knew well that the shots were not aimed at her. She had withstood a +siege in the old Don Oviedo's time, and again in the time of the old Don +Gil, and from the moment that Silencio had brought his young wife home +she had expected a third raid upon the casa. + +Guillermina walked in a leisurely manner. She passed through the +intervening passages, and found the counting-house door open. This she +had hardly expected. She joyously entered the room and closed the door. +Then her native lassitude gave way to a haste to which her unaccustomed +members almost refused their service. She quickly drew the rug over the +sunken trap-door, smoothed the edges, and rearranged the room, so that +it appeared as if it had not lately been entered. It was her step +overhead which Don Gil and Raquel had heard at first, and which had +caused them so much uneasiness. + +As Guillermina turned to leave the room, she heard a crash. Escobeda, +having failed to break in the great entrance door, had, with the aid of +some of his men, pried off a shutter. The band came pouring into the +house and ran through all the rooms, seeking for the flown birds. As +Guillermina opened the door of the counting-house to come out, key in +hand, she met Escobeda upon the threshold. His face was livid. He held +his machete over his head as if to strike. + +"So this is their hiding-place," he screamed in her ear. + +He rushed past her, and entered the counting-house. Its quiet seclusion +and peaceful appearance filled him with astonishment, and caused him to +stop short. But he was not deceived for long. He tore away the green +hangings, hoping to find a door. Instead a wall of iron stared him in +the face. He ran all round the room, feeling of the panels or plates, +but nowhere could he discover the opening which he sought. Each plate +was firmly screwed and riveted to its neighbour. He turned and shook his +fist in Guillermina's face. + +"You shall tell me where they have gone," he howled, in fury, and then +poured forth a volley of oaths and obscenities, such as no one but a +Spaniard could have combined in so few sentences. + +Guillermina faced him, her hands on her fat hips. + +"The Señor should not excite himself. It is bad to excite oneself. +There was the woodcutter over at La Floresta--" + +"To hell with the woodcutter! Where is that Truhan?" Then Escobeda began +to curse Guillermina. He cursed her until he foamed at the mouth, his +gold earrings shaking in his ears, his eyes bloodshot, his lips sending +flecks of foam upon her gown. He cursed her father and her mother, her +grandfather and her grandmother, her great-grandfather and +great-grandmother, which was quite a superfluity in the way of cursing, +as Guillermina had no proof positive that she had ever possessed more +than one parent. He cursed her brothers and sisters, her aunts, her +uncles, her cousins, her nephews and nieces. + +"The Señor wastes some very good breath," remarked Guillermina in a +perfectly imperturbable manner. "I have none of those people." + +Escobeda turned on her in renewed frenzy. The vile words rolled out of +his mouth like a stream over high rocks. He took a fresh breath and +cursed anew. As he had begun with her ancestors, so he continued with +her descendants, the children whom she had borne, and those whom she was +likely to bear. + +"The good God save us!" ejaculated old Guillermina. And still Escobeda +cursed on, his fury now falling upon her relationships in all their +ramifications, and in all their branches. + +"Ay de mi! The gracious Señor wastes his time. If the gracious Señor +should rest a little, he could start with a fresh breath." + +As Guillermina spoke, she rearranged the curtain folds, smoothed and +shook the silken pillows, and laid them straight and in place. She kept +her station as near the middle of the sunken door as possible. + +Again he thundered at her the question as to where the fugitives had +found refuge. Guillermina, brave outwardly, was trembling inwardly for +the safety of her beloved Don Gil. The young Señora was all very well, +she might grow to care for her in time, but her little Gil, whom she had +taken from the doctor's arms, whom she had nursed on her knee with her +own little Antonio, who lay under the trees on the hillside yonder--she +must gain time. + +"Does not the Señor know that the Señor Don Gil Silencio-y-Estrada and +the little Señora have gone to heaven?" + +Escobeda stopped short in his vituperation. + +"Dead? He was afraid, then! He killed her." Escobeda laughed cruelly. +"If I have lost her, so has he." + +"Ay, ay, they have flown away, flown to heaven, the Señores. The good +God cares for his own. I wonder now who cares for the Señor Escobeda!" + +With the scream of a wild beast he flew at her, and she, fearing +positive injury, sprang aside. Escobeda's spur caught in the rug and +tore it from its place on the floor. He stumbled and fell, pulling the +green and white carpet after him. Concealment was no longer possible; +the trap-door was laid bare. With a fiendish cry of delight he flew at +the ring in the sunken door. + +"To hell! to hell!" he shouted. "That is where they have gone; not to +heaven, but to hell." + +Escobeda had heard rumours all his life of the secret passage to the +sea--the passage which had never been located by the curious. At last +the mystery was solved. He raised the door, and without a word to +Guillermina, plunged into the black depths. The absence of a light was +lost sight of by him in his unreasoning rage. Almost before his fingers +had disappeared from view, Guillermina had lowered the trap-door into +its place in the most gentle manner. + +If one is performing a good action, it is best to make as little noise +about it as possible. As she fitted the great iron bar across the +opening, there came a knocking upon the under side of the iron square. + +"Give me a light! A light! you she-devil! A light, I say." + +Guillermina went softly to the door of the counting-house and closed it +to prevent intrusion. She could hear Escobeda's followers running +riotously all over the casa. Her time would be short, that she knew. She +knelt down on the floor and put her lips close to the crack in the +trap-door. + +"And he would curse my mother, would the Señor! And my little Antonio, +who lies buried on the hill yonder." + +"A light!" he shouted, "a light! she-devil, a light, I say!" + +"May the Señor see no light till he sees the flames of hell," answered +Guillermina. "The Señor must pardon me, but that is my respectful wish." + +She smoothed the innocent-looking carpet in place, replaced the chairs, +and went out, locking the door after her. + +"Let us hope," said she quietly, "that my muchacho has barred the door +at the further end of the passage." Looking for a wide crack, she found +it, and dropped the key through it. + +This is why the disused passage is always called Escobeda's Walk. + +Sometimes, when Don Gil and the little Señora sit and sip the +straw-coloured tea at five o'clock of an afternoon, the teapot, grown +more battered and dingy, the lid fitting less securely than of yore, the +Señora sets down her cup, and taking little Raquel upon her knee, holds +her close to her heart, and says: + +"Do you hear that knocking, Gil? There is certainly a rapping on the +counting-house floor." + +"I hear nothing," answers Silencio, as he gives a large lump of sugar to +the grandson of the brown lizard. And for that matter, there is an +ancient proverb which says that "None are so deaf as those who will not +hear." + + + + +XVIII + + +Uncle Adan had been taken ill. He was suffering from the exhalations of +the swamp land through which he must travel to clear the river field. He +had that and the cacao patch both on his mind. There was a general air +of carelessness about the plantation of San Isidro which had never +obtained before since Agueda's memory of the place. The peons and +workmen lounged about the outhouses and stables, lazily doing the work +that was absolutely needed, but there was no one to give orders, and +there was no one who seemed to long for them. It appeared to be a +general holiday. + +Uncle Adan lay and groaned in his bed at the further end of the veranda, +and wondered if the cacao seed had spoiled, or if it would hold good for +another day. When Agueda begged him to get some sleep, or to take his +quinine in preparation for the chill that must come, he only turned his +face to the wall and groaned that the place was going to rack and ruin +since those northerners had come down to the island. "I have seen the +Señor plant the cacao," said Agueda. "He had the Palandrez and the +Troncha and the Garcia-Garcito with him. He ordered, and they worked. I +went with them sometimes." Agueda sighed as she remembered those happy +days. + +Uncle Adan turned his aching bones over, so that he could raise his +weary eyes to Agueda's. + +"That is all true," he said. "The Señor can plant, no Colono better. But +one cannot plant the cacao and play the guitar at one and the same +time." + +Agueda hung her head as if the blame of right belonged to her. + +"You act as if I blamed you, and I do," said Uncle Adan, shivering in +the preliminary throes of his hourly chill. "You who have influence over +the Señor! You should exert it at once. The place is going to rack and +ruin, I tell you!" + +Agueda turned and went out of the door. She was tired of the subject. +There was no use in arguing with Uncle Adan, either with regard to the +quinine or the visitors. She went to her own room, and took her hat from +the peg. When again she came out upon the veranda, she had a long stick +in one hand and a pail in the other. Then she visited the kitchen. + +"Juana," she said, "fill this pail with water and tell Pablo and Eduardo +Juan that I need them at once." + +She waited while this message was sent to the recalcitrant peons, who +lounged lazily toward the House at her summons. + +"De Señorit' send fo' me?" asked Pablo. + +"I sent for both of you," said Agueda. "Why have you done no cacao +planting to-day?" + +"Ain' got no messages," replied Pablo, who seemed to have taken upon +himself the rôle of general responder. + +"You know very well that it is the messages that make no difference. +Bring your machetes, both of you," ordered Agueda, "and come with me to +the hill patch." + +For answer the peons drew their machetes lazily from their sheaths. + +"I knew that you had them, of course. Come, then! I am going to the +field. Where is the cacao, Pablo?" + +"Wheah Ah leff 'em," answered Pablo. + +"And where is that?" + +"In de hill patch, Seño'it'." + +"And did some one, perhaps, mix the wood ashes with them?" + +Pablo turned to Eduardo Juan, open-mouthed, as if to say, "Did you?" + +Agueda also turned to Eduardo Juan. "Well! well!" she exclaimed +impatiently, "were the wood ashes mixed, then, with the cacao seeds?" + +Eduardo Juan shifted from one foot to the other, looked away at the +river, and said, "Ah did not ogsarve." + +"You did not observe. Oh, dear! oh, dear! Why can you never do as the +Señor tells you? What will become of the plantation if you do not obey +what the Señor tells you?" + +"Seño' ain' say nuttin'," said Eduardo Juan, with a sly smile. + +Agueda looked away. "I am not speaking of the Señor. I mean the Señor +Adan," said she. "You know that he has charge of all; that he had charge +long before--come, then! let us go." + +As Agueda descended the steps of the veranda, she heard Beltran's voice +calling to her. She turned and looked back. Don Beltran was standing in +the open door of the salon. His pleasant smile seemed to say that he had +just been indulging in agreeable words, agreeable thoughts. + +"Agueda," said Beltran, "bring my mother's cross here, will you? I want +to show it to my cousin." + +Agueda turned and came slowly up the steps again. She went at once to +her own room and opened the drawer where the diamonds lay in their +ancient case of velvet and leather. The key which opened this drawer +hung with the household bunch at her waist. The drawer had not been +opened for some time, and the key grated rustily in the lock. Agueda +opened the drawer, took the familiar thing in her hand, and returning +along the veranda, handed it to Beltran. Then she ran quickly down the +steps to join the waiting peons. But Felisa's appreciative scream as the +case was opened reached her, as well as the words which followed. + +"And you let that girl take charge of such a magnificent thing as that! +Why, cousin, it must mean a fortune." + +"Who? Agueda?" said Beltran. "I would trust Agueda with all that I +possess. Agueda knew my mother. She was here in my mother's time." + +The motherly instinct, which is in the ascendant with most women, arose +within the heart of Agueda. + +"Come, Palandrez, come, Eduardo Juan," said she. They could hardly keep +pace with her. If there was no one else to work for him while he dallied +with his pretty cousin, she would see that his interests did not suffer. + +"Why, then, do you not go up there in the cool of the evening, +Palandrez? You could get an hour's work done easily after the sun goes +behind the little rancho hill." + +"It is scairt up deyah," said Palandrez. "De ghos' ob de ole Señora waak +an' he waak. Ain' no one offer deyah suvvices up on de hill when it git +'long 'bout daak." + +Agueda went swiftly toward the hill patch, the peons sulkily following +her. They did not wish to obey, but they did not dare to rebel. Arrived +at her destination, she turned to Pablo, who was in advance of Eduardo +Juan. + +"Where, then, is the pail of seed, Pablo?" + +Pablo, without answer, began to send his eyes roaming over and across +the field. Eduardo Juan, preferring to think that it was no business of +his, leaned against a tree-trunk and let his eyes rest on the ground at +his feet. As these two broken reeds seemed of no practical use, Agueda +began to skirt the field, and soon she came upon the pail, hidden behind +a stump. + +"Here it is, Eduardo Juan," she called. "Begin to dig your holes, you +and Pablo, and I will--_oh!_" This despairing exclamation closed the +sentence, and ended all hope of work for the day. Agueda saw, as she +spoke, that the pail swarmed with ants. She pushed her stick down among +the shiny brown seed, and discovered no preventive in the form of the +necessary wood ashes. The seed was spoiled. + +"It is no use, Pablo," she said. "Come and see these ants, you that take +no interest in the good of the Señor." She turned and walked dejectedly +down the hill. Pablo turned to Eduardo Juan. + +He laughed under his breath. + +"De Seño' taike no intrus' in hees own good." + +"Seed come from Palmacristi; mighty hard git seed dis time o' yeah," +answered Eduardo Juan, with a hopeful chuckle. If no more seed were to +be had, then no more planting could be done. + +Later in the evening, as Agueda went toward the kitchen, she passed by +Felisa's doorway. A glimpse was forced upon her of the interior of the +pretty room and its occupant. Felisa was seated before the mirror. She +had donned a gown the like of which Agueda had never seen. The waist did +not come all the way up to the throat, but was cut out in a sort of +hollow, before and behind, for Agueda saw the shoulders which were +toward her, quite bare of covering, and in the mirror she caught the +reflection of maidenly charms which in her small world were not a part +of daily exhibit. Agueda stopped suddenly. + +"Oh, Señorita!" she exclaimed under her breath. "Does the Señorita know +that her door is open? Let me close it, and the shutter on the other +side. I will run round there in a minute. Some one might see the +Señorita; people may be passing along the veranda at any moment." + +Felisa gave a shrill and merry laugh. + +"People might see! Why, my good girl, don't you know that is just why we +wear such gowns, that people may see? Come and fasten this thing. Isn't +it lovely against my neck?" + +Agueda could not but admit to her secret soul that it was lovely +against Felisa's neck. But she coloured as she entered and closed the +door carefully behind her. She had seen nothing like this, except in +those abandoned picture papers that came sometimes from the States, or +from France, to Don Beltran, and then, as often as not, she hid them +that she might not see him looking at them. She could not bear to have +him look at them. She felt-- + +"Open the door, that's a good girl! There! Are you sure that the catch +is secure? These beauties were my aunt's. See how they become me. I +would not lose them for the world. Oh! had I only had them before." + +"Are--are--they--has the Señor given them perhaps--to--to--" + +"Well, not exactly, Agueda, good girl; but some day, who knows--there!" +Felisa made a pirouette and sank in a low curtsey on the bare floor, +showing just the point of a pink satin toe. "See how they glitter, even +in the light of these candles. Imagine them in a ball-room--Agueda, and +me in them! Now I must go and show my cousin. Open the door. Do you not +hear--open the--" + +"The Señorita is never going to show herself to the Señor in such a gown +as that! What will the Señor say? The Señorita will never--" + +But Felisa had pushed past Agueda, and was half-way down the veranda. + +The thoughts that flashed through Agueda's mind were natural ones. She +had honestly done her best to keep the Señorita from disgracing herself +in the Señor's eyes, but she would have her way. She had gone to her own +destruction. There was a quickening of Agueda's pulses. Ah! Now he would +turn to her again. He could not bear any sign of immodesty in a woman. +He had often said to Agueda that that was her chief charm, her modesty. +He had called her "Little Prude," and laughed when she blushed. Was it +to be wondered at that Agueda rejoiced at Felisa's coming defeat, at her +imminent discomfiture, the moment that Beltran should see her? She stood +in the doorway of Felisa's room, watching the fairy-like figure as it +lightly danced like a will-o'-the-wisp down the dark veranda's length, +flashing out like a firefly as it passed an opening where there was a +light within, going out in the darkness between the doors, still keeping +up its resemblance to the _ignis fatuus_. + +Before Felisa reached the salon Beltran came out to discover why his +charmer had absented herself for so long a time. Agueda caught the look +in his eyes, as he stood, almost aghast at the meretricious loveliness +of the little creature before him. He gazed and gazed at her. Was it in +disgust? Alas! no. Poor Agueda! Rapture shone from his eyes. He opened +his arms. But Felisa eluded him and danced round the corner of the +veranda. + +"You pretty thing! You pretty, you lovely, you adorable thing!" she +heard Beltran exclaim, as utterly fascinated, he followed the small +siren in her tantalizing flight. + + + + +XIX + + +That succession of events designated as Time passed rapidly or slowly, +as was the fate of the beneficiary or the sufferer from its flight or +its delay. In some cases the milestones seemed leagues apart, in others +but a short foot of space separated them. + +To Beltran the hours of the night dragged slowly by, when, as was often +the case, he lay half awake in a delirious dream of joy, longing for +dawn to break the gloom that he might come again within the magic of +that presence which had changed the entire world for him. + +To Agueda the hours of the night flew on wings. As she heard the crowing +of the near and distant cocks answering each other from coloñia or river +patch, or conuco, she sighed to herself. "It is nearly four o'clock, +soon it will be five, then six, and the next stroke, oh, God! seven!" +For then would the cheery voice which could no longer wait call from the +veranda, "How are you this morning, little cousin?" and the answer from +that dainty interior would be, "Quite well, Cousin Beltran, if the +cocks could be persuaded not to roost directly under the floor of my +room, and keep me awake half the night." + +Then Agueda must attend to the early breakfast. Trays must be sent to +the rooms of the visitors, and for two hours would the Señor impatiently +pace the veranda or the home enclosure, awaiting the reappearance of his +goddess. + +There was no sign of the wearing effect of sleeplessness on the +shell-like face when that important little lady appeared upon the +veranda, clothed in some wonderful arrangement of diaphanous material, +which was to Beltran's vision as the stage manager's dream of the +unattainable in costume. With the joyous greeting there was offered a +jasmine or allemanda flower or bougainvellia bracht for the girdle +bouquet, which often Beltran assisted in arranging, as was a cousin's +right; and in return, if Felisa was very good-natured, there followed +the placing of a corresponding bud or blossom in Beltran's buttonhole by +those small, plump fingers, loaded down with their wealth of shining +rings. + +It was at this time that Agueda received a shock which, as a preliminary +to her final fate, more than all conveyed to her mind how things were +going. It was early morning. Juana had brought to Agueda's room the +fresh linen piled high in the old yellow basket. Together they laid the +articles on chairs and table, selecting from the pile those that needed +a few stitches. Agueda sat herself down by the window to mend. She took +up her needle and threaded it, then let her hands fall in her lap, as +had become her custom of late. Her head was turned to the grove outside, +and her gaze rested among the leaves and penetrated their vistas without +perceiving anything in grove or trocha. + +She had heard Beltran moving about in his room, but he had thrown the +door wide and gone whistling down the veranda toward that latest goal of +his hopes. She heard the gay greeting, and the distant faint response, +then a laugh at some sally of fun. Agueda looked wearily at the pile of +starched cleanliness, and took up her work again. How hateful the +drudgery seemed! Before this--in other days--time was--when-- + +It was a homely bit of sewing, a shirt of the Señor's, which needed +buttons. This recalled to Agueda that the last week's linen had been +neglected by her. It had been put away as it came from Juana's hands. +With sudden decision she determined now to face the inevitable, to +accept the world as it had become to her, all in a moment, as it were. + +Agueda arose and dropped the linen from her lap to the floor. She had +never been taught careful ways. All that she knew of such things had +come to her by intuition, and her action showed the dominant strain of +her blood--not the exactness of a trained servant, but the carelessness +of a petted child of fortune. She stepped over the white mass at her +feet and went to the door that led from her room to Beltran's. She +walked as one who has come to a sudden determination. Of late she had +not been there, except to perform some such service as the present +moment demanded. She seized the knob in her hand, and turned it round, +pressing the weight of her young body against the door. Instead of +bursting hurriedly into the room, as was her wont, she found the door +unyielding. Again she tried it, twisting the knob this way and that. + +She was about to call upon one of the men to come to her aid, as the +door had stuck fast, when suddenly she stopped, standing where the +exertion had left her. Her colour fled, her lips grew bloodless, she +leaned dizzy and sick against the door. On the floor, at her feet, she +had caught sight of a small shaving that had pushed itself through the +crack underneath. She put her hand to her side as if a physical pain had +seized her. She ran to the door of her room which opened upon the outer +and more secluded veranda. Passing through this, she walked with +trembling steps to the doorway of Beltran's room. She could hear his gay +badinage down at the end of the house, where she knew that Felisa was +sipping her chocolate inside her room, while he called impatiently to +know when she would be ready for the excursion of the day. + +Agueda entered Beltran's room and walked swiftly to the communicating +door. Ah! it was as she had feared. Some shavings upon the floor, and a +new bolt, put there she knew not when, perhaps when she was up in the +field on the previous day, attested to the verity of her suspicion. What +did Beltran fear? That, remembering the old-time love and confidence, +she should take advantage of it and of her near proximity, and when all +the coloñia slept, go to him and endeavour to recall those past days, +try to rekindle the love so nearly dead? Nearly dead! It must be quite +so, when he could remind her thus cruelly, if silently, that a new order +of things now reigned at San Isidro. + +Agueda appreciated, now perhaps for the first time fully, that her life +had changed, that she had become now as the Nadas and the Anetas of this +world. She closed her lips firmly as this thought came to her. Well, if +it were so, she must bear it. Like Aneta, she had not been "smart," but +unlike the Anetas of this life, she would learn something from her +misfortune, and be henceforth self-respecting, so far as this great and +overwhelming blow would allow. Never again should Beltran feel that he +had the right to bestow upon her a touch or a caress, however delicate, +however gentle. They were separated now for good and all. She saw it as +she had never seen it before. All along she had been hoping against +hope. She had constantly remembered Beltran's words that first week of +Felisa's stay: "They will be going home soon, and then all will be as +before." She saw now that Beltran had deceived himself, even while he +was deceiving her. He could not turn them out, as he had once said to +her, but he had now no wish to turn them out, nor did they wish to go. +He was lost to her, but even so, with the memory of what had been, +Beltran should respect her. He should find that, as she was not his +chattel, she would not be his plaything while he made love to that other +respectable girl, who would tolerate no advances which were not preceded +by a ceremony and the blessing of the church. Foolish, foolish Agueda! +Had she been "smart," she might have welcomed Felisa as her cousin, +instead of appearing as the slighted thing she now felt herself to be. +And then, again, her soul rebelled at such a view of the case. His wife! +What humiliation were hers to be Beltran's wife, and see what she saw +now every day, the proof of his love for this fair-haired cousin of his, +while she, his wife, looked on helpless. Then, indeed, would she have +been in his power. Now she was free--free from him, free to respect +herself, even in her shame. + +As Felisa has been likened to a garden escape in point of looks, so +might one liken Agueda to a garden escape in point of what people +designate as morals. Agueda had never heard of morals as such. She had +had no teaching, only the one warning which Nada had given her, and +that, she considered, she had followed to the letter. + +Agueda had stood intrenched within a garden whose soil was virtue. She +did not gaze with curiosity, nor did she care to look, over the palings +into the lane which ran just outside. She stood tall and splendid as a +young hollyhock, welcoming the sun and the dew that Heaven sent down +upon her proud young head. But though fate had surrounded her with this +environment, whose security she had never questioned, her inheritance +had placed her near the palings. Those other great white flowers that +stood in the middle of the garden could never come to disaster. But +Agueda, unwittingly, had been thrust to the wall. Love's hand had pushed +itself between the palings of the fence that surrounded her garden and +had bent the proud stalk and drawn it through into the outer lane. While +Beltran showed his love for her, she did not feel that she had escaped +from her secure stand inside. Her roots were strong and embedded in the +soil of virtue, and wanton love would never find a place within her +thoughts or feelings. She did not realise the loss of dignity. "All for +love," had been her text and creed. The remedy, if remedy were needed, +had been close at hand. It had been offered her. She had only to stretch +out her hand and take it, and draw back within her garden, showing no +bruise or wound, but happy in that she could still rear herself straight +and proud among the company of uninjured stalks. But though the remedy +had been at hand, Agueda had not grasped it with due haste. Unmindful of +self, she had allowed the opportunity to escape her, and now she could +not spring back among those other blooms whose freshness had never been +tarnished. Alas! She found herself still in the muddy lane. She had been +plucked and worn and tossed down into the rut along the roadside, where +she must forever lie, limp and faded. + + +What boots it to dwell upon the sufferings of a breaking heart? Hearts +must ache and break, just as souls must be born and die, for thus fate +plans, and the world goes on the same. + +Things went on the same at the plantation of San Isidro. Don Noé made no +motion to leave it, and Felisa was happier than she had ever been, and +so for once was in accord with her father. Beltran dreaded from day to +day the signal for their departure, but it did not come. + +Uncle Adan moved among all these happenings with a soul not above cacao +seed and banana suckers. He kept tally at the wagon-train or in the +field, and if he thought of Agueda at all it was with a shrug of the +shoulders and the passing reflection: "She is as the women of her race +have been. It is their fate." For she was surely of that race, though +only tradition and not appearance was witness to the fact. + +As for Agueda, no one about her could say what she felt or thought. She +remained by herself. What she must see, that she saw. That which she +could keep from knowing, she dulled her mind to receive, and refused to +understand or to accept. She endeavoured to become callous to all +impressions. One would have said that she did not care, that her passing +fancy for Beltran, as well as his for her, had died a natural death. And +yet, so contradictory is woman's nature, when placed in such straits as +those which now overwhelmed her, that sometimes a fierce curiosity awoke +within her, and then she would pass, to all appearance on some household +errand bent, within the near neighbourhood of Beltran and his cousin. +They, grown careless, as custom encourages, always gave her something +to weep over. Then for a time she avoided them, only to return again to +her foolish habit of inquiry. + +Agueda grew deathly in pallor, and thin and weary looking. Her face had +lost its brightness. Gaze where she would, she saw nothing upon her +horizon but dark and lowering clouds. Sometimes she opened her drawer to +look for a moment at the sewing, discarded now these many weeks, but she +did no more than glance at it. "It will not be needed," she said to +herself, with prophetic determination. + +She might have said with Mildred: "I was so young. I loved him so. I had +no mother. God forgot me, and I fell." As for pardon, Agueda did not +think of that. Consciously she had committed no sin. + +Not that she ever argued the matter out with herself. She would never +have thought of continuing Mildred's plaint, and saying, "There may be +pardon yet," although she felt, if she did not give expression to the +feeling in words, "All's doubt beyond. Surely, the bitterness of death +is past." There could be no "blot on the escutcheon" of Agueda. She had +no escutcheon, as had Browning's heroine, though perhaps some drops of +blood as proud coursed through her veins. She was not introspective. She +did not reason nor argue with herself about Beltran's treatment of her. +It was only that suddenly the light had become darkness, the sun had +grown black and cold. There was no more joy in life, everything had +finished for her. Truly, the bitterness of death was past. + + + + +XX + + +There came an evening when there were mutterings up among the hills. The +lightning pranked gayly about the low-hanging clouds. Occasionally a +report among the far-distant peaks broke the phenomenal stillness. + +Felisa lounged within the hammock which swung across the veranda corner. +It was very dark, the only lights being those gratuitous ones displayed +by the cucullas as they flew or walked about by twos or threes. At each +succeeding flash of lightning Felisa showed increased nervousness. Her +hand sought Beltran's, and he took it in his and held it close. + +"See, Felisa! I will get the guitar, and we will sing. We have not sung +of late." + +Felisa clasped her hands across her eyes and burst into tears. Beltran +was kneeling at her feet in an instant. + +"What is it, my Heart? What is it? Do not sob so." + +"I am afraid, afraid!" sobbed Felisa. "All is so mysterious. There are +queer noises in the ground! Hear those hissing, rushing sounds! Cousin! +cousin! What is it?" + +"You are nervous, little one. We often have such storms in the +mountains. It may not come this way at all. See, here is the guitar." + +He patted the small fingers lying within his own, then stretched out his +hand for the guitar, hanging near. He swept his fingers across the +strings. + +"What shall we sing?" he asked, with a smile in his voice. Volatile as a +child, believing that which she wished to believe, Felisa sat upright at +the first strain of music. She laughed, though the drops still stood +upon her cheeks, and hummed the first line of "La Verbena de la Paloma." + +"I will be Susana," she said, "and you shall be Julian. Come now, begin! +'Y á los toros de carabanchel,'" she hummed. + +The faint light from the lantern hanging in the comidor showed to Felisa +the look in Beltran's eyes as he bent toward her. + +"I do not like you, my little Susana," he said, bending close to her +shoulder, "because you flout me, and flirt with me, and break my poor +heart all to little bits. Still, we will sing together once more." + +"Once more? Why do you say once more, cousin?" asked Felisa, +apprehensively. A shadow had settled again over her face. + +"Did I? I do not know. Come now, begin." His voice was lowered almost +to a whisper, as he sang the first lines of the seductive, monotonous +little Spanish air. The accompaniment thrilled softly from the +well-tuned strings. + + + "Donde vas con mantón manila, + Donde vas con vestido chiné," + + +he sang. + +Her high soprano answered him: + + + "A lucirme y á ver la verbena, + Y á meterme en la cama después." + + +Beltran resumed: + + + "Porqué no has venido conmigo + Cuando tanto te lo supliqué." + + +"'Lo sup--li--que,'" he repeated, with slow emphasis. + +Felisa laughed, shook her head coquettishly, and answered as the song +goes. + +Then, + + + "'Quien es ese chico tan guapo,'" + + +sang Julian. "Who is he, little Felisa? Is there any whom I need fear?" +He dropped his hand from the strings, and seized the small one so near +his own. + +"I know a great many young men, cousin, but I will not own that there is +a guapo among them. And this I tell you now, that I shall go to la +Verbena with whom I will, if ever I return to Sunny Spain." + + + "Y a los toros de carabanchel," + + +she sang again defiantly, her thin head-notes rising high and clear. Was +there no memory in Beltran's mind for the contralto voice which had sung +the song so often on that very spot--a voice so incomparably sweeter +that he who had heard the one must wonder how Beltran could tolerate the +other. + +Agueda was seated half-way down the veranda alone. She could not sit +with them, nor did she wish to, nor was she accustomed to companionship +with the serving class. She endeavoured to deafen her ears to the sound +of their voices. She would have gone to her own room and closed the +door, but it was nearer their seclusion than where she sat at present, +and then--the air of the room was stifling on this sultry night. She +glanced down toward the river, where the dark water rolled on through +savannas to the great bay--a sea in itself. She could distinguish +nothing; all was black in that blackest of nights. She dared not go +forth, for she felt that the storm must soon burst. She sat, her head +drooped dejectedly, her hands lying idly in her lap. Uncle Adan joined +her, the lantern in his hand showing her dimly his short, dark form. The +manager looked sourly at his niece, and cast an angry glance in the +direction of the two at the corner of the casa. He had suddenly awakened +to the fact that Agueda's kingdom was slipping from her grasp, and if +from hers, then from his also. Should this northern Señorita come to be +mistress here at San Isidro, what hold had he, or even Agueda herself, +over its master? He spoke almost roughly to Agueda. + +"Go you and join them," he said. "Go where by right you belong." + +Agueda did not look at him. She shook her head, and drooped it on her +breast. A sudden flash of lightning made the place as bright as day. +Uncle Adan caught a glimpse of that at the further corner which made him +rage inwardly. + +"Did you see that?" he whispered. + +"No," said Agueda. "I see nothing." + +"I have no patience with you," said Uncle Adan. He could have shaken +her, he was so angry. "Had you remained with them, as is your right, +some things would not have happened." + +He left her and went hurriedly toward the stables. Presently he +returned. Agueda was aware of his presence only when he touched her. + +"The storm will be here before long," he said. "Can you get him away +without her? Anything to be rid of those northern interlopers." + +"What do you mean?" + +"Call him away, draw him off. Tell him to come to the rancho--that I +wish to see him about preparations as to their safety. Get him away on +any pretext. Leave the others here with no one to--" + +"It is not necessarily a flood," said the girl, with a strange, new, +wicked hope springing up within her heart. + +"It will be a flood," said Uncle Adan. "It is breaking even now at Point +Galizza." + +For answer Agueda arose. + +"Good girl! You are going, then, to tell him--" + +"Yes, to tell him--" + +"Call him away! I will saddle the horses. I will have the grey at the +back steps in five minutes. Tell him that Don Silencio has need of him." + +"If the Don Silencio's own letter would not--" + +"The grey can carry double. You can ride with him. I will go ahead. The +flood is coming. It is near. I know the signs." + +Agueda drew away from the hand which Uncle Adan laid upon her wrist. + +"Let me go, uncle," she said. + +Uncle Adan released her. + +"The flood will last but a day or two," he whispered in her ear, "but it +will be a deep one. All the signs point to that. We have never had such +a one; but after--Agueda, after--there will be no one to interfere with +you--with me, if--" + +Agueda allowed him to push her on toward the end of the veranda, where +the two were still singing in a desultory way. + +"I shall warn them," she said. + +"Him!" said Uncle Adan, in a tone of dictation. + +"I shall warn them," again said Agueda, as if she had not spoken before. + +"Fool!" shouted Uncle Adan, as he dashed down the veranda steps and ran +toward the stables. "And the forest answered 'fool!'" + +Agueda heard hurrying footsteps from the inner side of the veranda. Men +were running toward the stables. She drew near to Beltran. The faint +light of the lantern in the comidor told her where the two forms still +sat, though it showed her little else. She laid her hand upon his +shoulder, but she laid it also upon a smaller, softer one than her own. +The hand was suddenly withdrawn, as Felisa gave an apprehensive little +scream. + +"What do you want?" asked Beltran impatiently, who felt the warring of +two souls through those antagonistic fingers. + +"You must come at once," said Agueda, with decision. "The storm will +soon burst." + +"Nonsense! We have had many sultry nights like this. Where do you get +your information?" + +"My uncle Adan says that the storm will soon burst. He has gone to +saddle the horses." + +Felisa gave a cry of fear. + +Beltran turned with rage upon Agueda. A flash of lightning showed her +the anger blazing in his eyes. It also disclosed to her gaze Felisa +cowering close to him. + +"How dare you come here frightening the child? Your uncle has his +reasons, doubtless, for what he says. As for me, I am perfectly +convinced that there will be no storm--that is, no flood." + +"I beg of you, come!" urged Agueda. + +"Oh, cousin! What will become of us? Why does that girl fear the storm +so?" + +"There will be no storm, vida mia, and if there is, has not the casa +stood these many years? Agueda knows that as well as I." + +Agueda withdrew a little, she stood irresolute. She heard the sound of +horses' feet, she heard Uncle Adan calling to her. She heard Don Noé +calling to Eduardo Juan to bring a light, and not be so damned long +about it. Old Juana called, "'Gueda, 'Gueda, honey! come! Deyse deat' in +de air! 'Gueda!" + +There was a sudden rush of hoofs across the potrero, and then the +despairing wail from Palandrez, "Dey has stampeded!" She heard without +hearing. She remembered afterward, during that last night that she was +to inhabit the casa, that all these sounds had passed across almost +unheeding ears. She ran again to Don Beltran. + +"Come! Come, Beltran, dear Beltran," she said. "The river is upon us!" + +She wrung her hands helplessly. It seemed to her as if Beltran had lost +his power of reasoning. + +"How dare she call you Beltran?" said Felisa. + +There came a crash which almost drowned the sound of her voice, then a +scream from Felisa, intense and shrill. Agueda heard Beltran's voice, +first in anger, then soothing the terrified girl again, shouting for +horses, and above it all, she heard the water topple over the +embankment, and the swash of the waves against the foundations of the +casa. + +She ran hurriedly and brought the lantern which hung within the comidor. +When Felisa opened her eyes, and looked around her at the waste of +waters, she shrieked again. + +"How dare you bring that light? Put it out!" ordered Beltran. + +"We must see to get to the roof," answered Agueda, with determination. + +"The roof! The water is not deep. See, Felisa, it is only a foot deep. +The grey can carry you and me with safety." + +"Does not the Señor know that the horses have stampeded?" said Agueda. +"Our only hope of safety now lies upon the roof. We must get to the +roof. See how the water is already getting deeper." + +And now, Agueda, her listlessness gone, ran into the casa and seized +upon what she knew was necessary for a night in the open air. Beltran +followed her into the hall. He laid his hand upon her shoulder, and +shook her angrily. His judgment seemed to have deserted him. + +"Why did you not warn us?" he said. "Was it a part of your plan +to--to--" + +"My plan!" said Agueda. "Have I not begged you? I could have gone--Uncle +Adan told me--" + +Beltran seized the lantern and ran out and along the veranda to where +Felisa stood clinging to the pilotijo. She was crying wildly. + +As Beltran approached, the light of his lantern revealed to Felisa more +fully the horror of her surroundings. A fierce wind had arisen in a +moment, and was beating and threshing the trees, flail-like, downward +upon the encroaching river. Felisa turned upon Beltran in fury. She +pointed with tragic earnestness to the waters which now surrounded the +casa, and which had assumed the proportions of a lake. A thin stream was +reaching, reaching over from the edge of the veranda; its searching +point wetted her shoe. + +"You should have told me that such things happen in this barbarous +place! You pretend to love me, and to keep me with you, you keep me +ignorant of my danger, and now I must die. I must be drowned far away +from my home in a savage land, all because you pretend that you love me! +Oh, God! I am so young to die! So young to die!" + +Beltran enfolded the girl in his arms. + +"You shall not die. There is no danger of dying. We will go up on the +roof. See! here are the steps. You will behold a wonderful sight +to-night. You will laugh at your fears to-morrow." + +Beltran urged her toward the ladder as he spoke. + +"Agueda and I have spent more than one night up there, have we not, +Agueda? She will tell you that there is nothing to fear. Agueda, tell my +cousin that there is nothing to fear." + +"I did not know what there was to fear," said Agueda in a low voice. + +Felisa was crying bitterly, as Beltran aided her up the lower steps of +the ladder. Agueda followed Beltran and Felisa. She carried some heavy +wraps, and struggled up the steep incline unaided. Arrived upon the +roof, she found the cousins standing together, Beltran's arm cast +protectingly round the trembling girl, her eyes hid against his breast. + +"My cousin is nervous," said he, in a half apologetic tone; for though +his intimacy with Felisa had passed the highest water-mark, where +cousinship ends and love begins, he had not obtruded his actions or +words upon Agueda's notice. But now as he felt the shaking of Felisa's +young form against his own, suddenly he seemed to throw off all reserve. + +"Vida mia!" he said. "Vida mia! look up, speak to me. Do look. See that +faint light in the east! The moon will soon rise. It is a beautiful +sight. The Water will go down in a few hours. You will laugh at your +fears to-morrow, child. These floods do not last long, do they, Agueda? +When was the last one? Do you remember, Agueda?" + +"Yes, I remember," answered Agueda. + +"Come, then, and tell her. You can comfort her if you tell her how +little there is to fear." + +"I do not think that I shall comfort her," said Agueda. She glanced at +the refuge behind the chimney, and then back at Beltran. "It was one +long year ago," she said. + +He turned away. "Come, Felisa," he said. "There is shelter from this +wind behind the old chiminea." + +He guided her along the slight slope of the roof. The wind was rising +higher with every moment. It howled down from the hills; it bent and +slashed at the treetops; it caught Felisa's filmy gauzes and whirled +them upward and about her head. + +Beltran half turned to Agueda. + +"Give me the cloak," he said. He took it from her and enveloped Felisa +in it, then led her to the safe shelter of the broad old chimney. Behind +it was a figure upon his knees. It was Don Noé. He was praying with the +fervour of the death-bed repenter. + +Felisa, with a return of her flippant manner, laughed shrilly. + +"The truly pious are also unselfish, papa. Give us a little shelter from +this searching wind." + +"Oh, do not! Do not! If I move, I shall fall! You will push me off!" and +Don Noé continued petitioning Heaven in his own behalf. + +Agueda was left standing in the centre of the roof. Palandrez and +Eduardo Juan, who had followed the Señores to this their only refuge, +were lying flat upon their faces. They held a lantern between them--a +doubtful blessing, in that it illumined with faint ray the gloom and +horror below, but it told so little that the possibility seemed more +dreadful than the reality was at the moment. + +"Lay down, Seño'it' 'Gueda," called Eduardo Juan. "Lay yo' body down." + +A sudden gust of wind forced Agueda to run. She guided herself to the +chimney, and was held against it. Her garments fluttered round its +corners, striking Beltran in the face with sharp slaps and cracks. She +could not intrude upon that shelter. Her place was now upon the hither +side. She threw herself flat upon her face, as Palandrez had suggested, +her head above the ridge pole, her feet extended down the slight +incline, and clutched at a staple in the roof, placed securely there for +just such a night as this. + +There were no stars; there was no moon. Yet it must rise soon. + +Suddenly the lantern was overturned and its light extinguished, making +more ominous the sound of water rising, rising, rising! It lapped and +played about the pilotijos. It must be half-way up the veranda posts by +now. It eddied round the corners of the casa. It forced its way through +the weak places. One could hear it tearing and ripping at unstable +portions of the house, as it flowed through the interior. Grinding +noises were heard, as great roots and trunks of trees were borne and +swayed by the flood against the walls. They piled themselves up at the +southern end, remaining thus for a short, unsteady moment, and then, +overpowered by the rush and force of water, they parted company, some to +hasten along on one side of the casa, and some on the other. + + + + +XXI + + +Suddenly Agueda was conscious of something creeping against her foot. It +was cold! Good God! It was wet! The sole of her shoe was soaked; the +river had reached even there. She heard the licking of those hungry lips +which were ready to drink in the helpless souls stranded at their mercy. +This was indeed a sudden rising! Then there was no hope. She wondered +how long it would be before Beltran would learn the fact, and what he +would do when the truth came to him. She drew herself up by the iron +staple and curled her body half way round the chimney. Her ear touched +the ruffles of Felisa's gown. She heard a tender voice speaking much as +it had to her a year ago. + +"Come closer," it said. "Do not fear. I am here." + +"Beltran!" she called. "Beltran!" + +"Who calls me?" came his voice from out the blackness. "You, Agueda?" + +"Yes, it is I, Agueda. The river is rising very high. It has come up +quickly. I felt it against my foot. Can you not try to catch some tree +or branch?" + +"Oh, God! Oh, God! Save me!" It was Felisa's voice. "Why did I ever come +to this accursed island? Why, oh, why? How dared you tell me that I was +safe! Safe with you? Oh, my God! Safe with you! Are you greater than +God? If He cannot save me, can you?" + +As Felisa shrieked these words, which were almost drowned by the sound +of the swiftly rushing waters, she raised her small fist and struck at +Beltran. The jewels on her fingers cut his lip. + +His musical voice, patient and still tender, answered as if to a naughty +child. + +"Careful! you will throw yourself off! Agueda, why must you come here +frightening my cousin? When the moon rises she will see the falseness of +your story." + +As if to convict him out of his own mouth, the moon suddenly shone +through a rift in the black clouds which edged the horizon. It +discovered to Agueda Felisa clasped to a resting-place that was her own +by right. It showed her Beltran holding the little form in his arms, as +once he had held her own. It showed her Beltran covering the blonde head +with passionate kisses, as once he had covered her darker one. + +Agueda clutched the chimney for support. Death was no worse than this. + +Felisa opened her trembling lids and gazed abroad on the expanse of +waters. Wail after wail issued from her white lips and mingled with the +wind that blew wantonly the tendrils of her hair. She struck Beltran in +the face again, she pushed him from her with the fury of a maniac. + +Great trees and branches were pounding against the roof. The peons had +climbed to the highest point, and now, as a trunk came tearing down +toward them, with a pitying glance at those they left behind, and a +chuckle at their own presence of mind, they caught at it, and were +whirled away to death or to succour. + +Don Noé, ever on the watch, with face thin and fierce, with nostrils +extended and eyes wild and staring, peered round the chimney where he +hung in prayerful terror. His resolution was made in one of those sudden +moments of decision that come to the weakest. Watching his chance, he +sprang and clutched at the giant as it came bobbing and wobbling by, and +in company with Palandrez and Eduardo Juan, he floated away from his +late companions. + +Agueda, left alone upon her side of the roof, crouched, looking ever +toward the south, searching for a cask, a boat, a tree, a plank, a piece +of household furniture, anything by which she might hold and save her +life and Beltran's. Not Felisa's; that she could not do, even though +Beltran loved her. + +Until now Agueda had thought that she longed for death; but the instinct +of self-preservation is strong, and she could hardly comprehend her +newly awakened desire to seize upon some sort of floating thing which +might mean safety for herself. She stood gazing over the broad expanse +of water. It had become a sea. The face of nature was changed. The +position of the river bank was discernible only from the waving line of +branches which testified where their trunks stood. There were one or two +oases whose tops showed still above the surface of the stretching, +reaching flood. Agueda thought that she could discern some one in a +treetop near the hill rancho. She wondered if it could be Uncle Adan. +She thought that she heard a shout. She tried to answer, but the weak +sound of her voice was forced back into her throat. It would not carry +against the force of the wind. No other land nearer than the heights of +Palmacristi was to be seen. The horses and cattle must have perished. It +had indeed become, as Uncle Adan had warned her, a greater flood than +the country had ever known. To add to the unspeakable gloom of the +scene, the clouds parted wider and allowed the moon to sparkle more +fully upon the boiling water below and the trees and branches as they +rolled and hastened onward. + +As Agueda stood and gazed up the stream, suddenly, from out the +perspective of the moon-flecked tide, a little craft came sailing +down--a tiny thing that seemed to have been set upon the waste of waters +by some pitying hand. She watched it with eager eyes, as it floated +onward. Her body swayed unconsciously with each change in its course or +pointing of its bow to right, to left, as if she feared that it would +escape her anxious hand. Fate drifted it exactly across the thatch at +the south end of the roof. On it came, and was driven to her very feet. +Here was succour! Here was help! She could save herself, unwatched, +unknown, of those others behind the shelter there, and float away to the +chance of rescue. Agueda stepped ankle-deep in the water, and stooping, +held in frenzied clutch this gift of the gods. + +"The little duck boat of Felipe," she exclaimed, as she drew it toward +her. "The little duck boat of Felipe!" + +Beltran had arisen as he heard the boat grate against the roof. He +stepped cautiously out from behind the chimney, Felisa leaning upon him. +Agueda raised her eyes to them. She shook as if with a chill. She was +drawing the boat nearer, and battling with the flood to keep her +treasure in hand. + +"Agueda," called Beltran. "Take her with you. Her weight is slight." + +Felisa raised her head from his shoulder, and cast a terrified look +about her. Beltran looked at Agueda, and then down at Felisa. + +"She will save you," he said. + +"I will not go without you, Beltran," sobbed Felisa. "I dare not go +without you. Oh! come with me! That girl of yours, that Agueda, I dare +not go with her! She hates me! She will kill me!" + +When Beltran had said, "She will save you," Agueda had begun to draw the +skiff nearer to him. She moved with great care, that the flood might not +wrench from her this treasure trove. + +"It is true that I hate you," said Agueda, in a hard, cold voice, as she +brought the boat to Felisa's feet, "but I will not kill you." She pushed +the tiny craft nearer to Felisa. "Take your place," said she. "I will +hold it steady." + +"I will not go without you," again shrieked Felisa, turning to Beltran. +"I dare not go without you. Oh, Agueda! dear Agueda! You do not care to +live. What have you to live for? While I--" + +"True," said Agueda. "Will the Señorita take her place?" + +Felisa still held to Beltran's hand. + +"I will not go alone," she said. "Come with me, dear love! Come with +me; I cannot live without you." + +"There is not room for all," said Beltran, glancing, as he spoke, at +Agueda. "At least, Felisa, we can die together." + +Ever changeable, and suddenly angered at this, Felisa again struck at +Beltran, and tried with her small strength to thrust him aside, so that +his footing was imperilled. Agueda turned pale as she saw his danger. +Beltran laughed nervously, and seized with firmer grasp the staple +buried in the mortar. + +"And do you think that will compensate me?" screamed Felisa. "Do you +think that I shall welcome death because I may die in your company? I +tell you, I will not die. I love all the pleasant things of life--I love +myself, my pretty self. I am meant for life and love and warmth, not +cold and death. There is not a human being who could reconcile me to +death. Oh, my God! and such a death!" + +Felisa screamed hysterically. She sobbed and choked, and amid her +shrieks were heard the disjointed words, "I--will--_not_--die!" + +In her frenzy the fastening at her throat gave way, and Agueda caught +sight of the diamond pendant at her neck. Agueda, with her eyes on +Beltran, nodded her head toward the boat, as if to say, "Do as she +asks." When she spoke, she said: + +"I will hold it steady, as steady as I can." + +Felisa cast another horrified look around her upon the moonlit, +shoreless sea. + +"Oh, God!" she sobbed, as holding frantically to Beltran's hand, she +stepped into the boat. She drew him toward her, so that he could with +difficulty resist the impelling of her hand. Beltran tried to release +his fingers from the grasp of Felisa. He turned to Agueda, and motioned +toward the one hope of succour. + +She shook her head. + +"I cannot hold it long," she said. + +"Beltran! Beltran!" sobbed Felisa. + +The boat pulled and jerked like a race horse. Even Felisa's slight +weight made a marked difference in its buoyancy. + +Agueda's position was made the more unstable by her skirt, which +fluttered in the wind. + +"I can hold it but a second more," she said. She was still stooping, +holding the boat in as firm a grasp as her footing would allow. + +Beltran stood irresolute, wavering. + +"I cannot leave you here, Agueda, to die perhaps--for--her--for me." + +"I died long weeks ago," she muttered, more to herself than to him, and +motioned again with her head toward the boat. + +The water was rushing past them. It was ankle-deep now. Agueda steadied +herself more firmly against the chimney. + +Felisa, shivering with fright, stretched out her arms appealingly to +Beltran, her cheeks streaming with tears. Beltran glanced at Agueda, +with a look that was half beseeching, half apologetic, as if to +forestall the contempt which he knew that she must feel for him, +and--stepped into the boat. His weight tore it from Agueda's grasp. It +began to float away, but before it had passed a span from where Agueda +stood alone, he turned and shouted, "Come! Agueda, come! Throw yourself +in, I can save you!" + +Ah! that was all that she cared to hear. It was the old voice. It sank +into her heart and gave her peace. For in that flash of sudden and +overwhelming remorse which is stronger than death, Beltran had seen that +which he had not noticed before, the sad change in her girlish figure. +Felisa clung to him, threatening to upset the skiff. He thrust her from +him. "Come!" again he shouted, "Come!" He stretched out his arms to +Agueda, but as the words left his lips he was whirled from her presence. + +In that supreme moment Beltran caught the motion of her lips. "My +love!" they seemed to say, and still holding to the staple with one +hand, she raised the other toward him, in good-by perhaps--perhaps in +blessing. + +Agueda kept her gaze fixed upon the little speck, shrinking +involuntarily when she saw some great trunk endanger its buoyancy. + +The boat was drifting swiftly along in the waters now, and in that mad +rush to the sea Beltran strained his eyes ever backward to catch the +faint motion of that fluttering garment in its wave of farewell. + + +PRINTED BY R. R. DONNELLEY +AND SONS COMPANY AT THE +LAKESIDE PRESS, CHICAGO, ILL. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's San Isidro, by Mrs. Schuyler Crowninshield + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 57319 *** |