by Guy Boothby
CHAPTER IX
It was evident to me that Hermanos had laid his plans most carefully,for some hundred and fifty to two hundred yards from the gate, wefound a vehicle of the _volante_ description awaiting our coming. Weentered it, and the driver, without asking for instructions, set offat a sharp pace. We had proceeded some distance before Don Jose spoke.
"I hope you understand, Senor Trevelyan," he said at last, "what aserious risk I am running on your account?"
"Many thanks," I replied. "I am afraid, however, you do me too muchhonour. I fancy if it had only been a question of _my_ safety, Ishould have had to appeal to you for some time before I should havehad your assistance."
I spoke out of the bitterness of my heart, half expecting that mywords would offend him. To my surprise, however, they did not do so.He only laughed in a quiet way, and then lapsed into silence oncemore. The carriage rattled through the silent streets, and at lengthpassed out into the open country on the other side. So far we had notattracted attention. Eventually we pulled up at the foot of a steephill, one side of which was formed by the mountain, the other lookingdown upon a stretch of plain, beyond which again was the open sea.
"We must climb this hill," said Hermanos, "and when we have descendedit again we shall be at the rendezvous. Let us hope Fernandez has notmade his appearance yet."
We accordingly alighted from the vehicle, and, when we had seen itreturn citywards, began to climb the steep ascent. At the summit, andjust before the hill begins to descend on the other side, were threepalms. When we reached these my companion uttered a low and peculiarwhistle. It was answered from the shadow, and a moment later a figureemerged from the darkness and stood before us. Hermanos went to himand said something in an undertone which I did not hear.
"It's all right," he remarked when he returned to me. "Fernandez hasnot returned yet. They are watching for him in the valley below, andwe had better join them."
"With all my heart," I replied, for, as you may suppose, I was eagerto have the business over and done with.
We accordingly descended the hill in the direction indicated. The roadhere was little better than a cart-track, and one that I should havebeen very sorry to drive along on a dark night. In the moonlit valleybelow could be seen the little fishing village of Horejos. I examinedmy watch and discovered that it wanted twenty minutes to threeo'clock. Needless to say, I profoundly hoped that Ferguson hadreceived my message, and that we should find the boat awaiting us.
When we reached the foot of the hill, it was to discover that the roadran between two walls of rock. Blasting operations were accountable atthis point for the existence of the track, which would otherwise havebeen impassable. On the top of the rock on the right, and continuingup the hill-side, was a thick wood, in which it would have beenpossible for some hundreds of men to have lain concealed. Behind therock on the other side was a gentle slope continuing to within a fewdozen yards of the shore. All things considered, a better place forthe work we had in hand could scarcely have been imagined. It wouldhave been out of the question for two carriages to have passedabreast, owing to the width of the road; and one glance was sufficientto show me that it would be quite possible for a determined man tobring a vehicle to a standstill at such a spot. That Hermanos was ina state of considerable trepidation regarding his share in thebusiness I could see. From what he had already said to me I gatheredthat, had he not advanced so far in the business, he would even at theeleventh hour have drawn back. Had he been left to himself, he woulddoubtless have allowed General Fernandez' rule to continue withoutbothering himself about Silvestre. Unfortunately, however, Silvestrehad obtained too great a hold upon him, and, in consequence, in orderto cover the shortcomings of his own past, he had been compelled totake up arms at the very juncture when he was most desirous ofremaining quietly in the background. Who the men with him were I hadno sort of idea, nor did he inform me. That they were desperate likehimself I could very well imagine.
When we reached the spot just described, Hermanos again gave utteranceto the low and peculiar whistle I have already mentioned. This whistlewas answered by another, and then a voice from the darkness said inSpanish, "All is well! He has not passed yet!"
A moment later a man scrambled down the bank and stood before us. Hewore a poncho, and had a broad-brimmed sombrero.
"No sign of him yet, Luiz?" Hermanos said.
"No, there is no sign yet, senor," the other replied. "But he can'tbe long now. In another hour it will begin to grow light, and if hedoes not come before daybreak, then our opportunity will be gone."
"When he comes, what do you propose to do?" I inquired.
"I thought that when the carriage arrives here some of us would appearin the road and stop the horses, while you go to the door and coverthe President with your revolver."
I should here remark that when Hermanos had handed me the hat andponcho, he had also given me a heavy Colt's revolver.
"And having done that?" I asked, more for the sake of seeing what hewould say than for any other reason.
"March him down by the path yonder to the sea, put him into the boat,and take him out to the yacht," he answered. "After that you can dowith him as you please."
"I trust the boat has arrived," I said. "Is there no way of findingout? We ought to make sure of that!"
"I will send a man to see," he replied, and then ordered theindividual named Luiz to go to the beach and discover whether the boatwas there.
The fellow made off; and after he had left us we walked a littlefurther down the road and seated ourselves upon the bank. A quarterof an hour passed, during which time we discussed everything but thebusiness before us. Then the messenger returned with the informationthat the boat was waiting for us, a couple of hundred yards or soaway, in charge of the chief officer.
"So far, all is well," I said, and as I spoke the sound of wheelsreached us from the distance.
"He is coming," Hermanos exclaimed, springing to his feet; then,turning to the man who had just returned from the beach, he cried:"Call the others, Luiz!"
His voice shook with excitement. The words had scarcely left his lipsbefore Luiz gave a loud whistle. In response to it three other menmade their appearance from the wood.
"Hermanos," I said, taking control of affairs, as the party began todon their masks, "you and two of your men had better stand here tostop the horses." Then turning to the others, I continued: "You two,follow me; and, if you don't want to be recognized, let me do whatevertalking there is to be done."
The noise made by the approaching carriage could now be distinctlyheard. At most it could not be more than a quarter of a mile away. Myheart was beating like a sledge-hammer. Closer and closer came thevehicle, then it turned the corner, and we could plainly see itslights. In a very few minutes it would be upon us. Without exceptionwe had all drawn back into the shadow of the cliff, so that they couldhave no idea of our presence. Descending the little decline, thecarriage entered the cleft between the rocks. The lights from thevehicle flashed like angry eyes upon us.
"Stop!" I cried in Spanish, and as I did so Hermanos and his twocompanions sprang into the centre of the road. The driver of thecarriage, seeing the revolvers pointed at him, pulled up his horses sosuddenly that they fell back upon their haunches. Meanwhile I hadsprung to the carriage-door and had opened it. "General Fernandez," Icried, "you are my prisoner. I am armed, and if you move hand or foot,I give you warning, I shall shoot you."
Meanwhile one of my companions had taken a lamp from the socket andhad turned it upon the interior of the carriage. By its light I wasenabled to convince myself that we had made no mistake. Fernandez wasseated in the corner nearest me, and, to my great astonishment, theSenorita was beside him. I will do the President the justice of sayingthat, at such a trying moment, he comported himself like a brave man.His voice was as calm as ever I had heard it when he addressed me.
"Ah! so it's you, Senor Trevelyan, is it?" he said. "I thought I hadstopped your little game! What's the meaning of thi
s?"
"It means that the scheme you did your best to frustrate has succeededafter all," I answered. "But I have no time to spare. I must thereforeask you to alight without further parley. Let me assure you it wouldbe no use your attempting to resist. There are six of us here, and weare all armed."
"It is evident, then, that you have the advantage of me," hecontinued, still with the same imperturbable good-humour. "Well, whatmust be must, I suppose," and with that he descended from the carriageand stepped into the road.
Before I could stop her the Senorita had done the same.
"Where you go I follow," she said, addressing the President. "I amsure we can rely upon Senor Trevelyan's doing us no harm."
"If you do as I ask you not a hair of your head shall be harmed,Senorita," I replied. Then turning to the President once more, Iadded: "Before we proceed further it would, perhaps, be as well tomake sure that you are not armed, General! We cannot afford to run anyrisk."
Fernandez gave a short laugh as he took a revolver from his pocket andhanded it to me.
"I was going to use this upon you as soon as I had an opportunity,"he said. "I see, however, that I am not to be permitted to do so!"
I turned to the coachman.
"Now, off you go!" I cried. "If you stop anywhere between here and thepalace I'll take care that you hear about it later. You can tell them,when you get there, that the President and the Senorita have gone intothe country for a change of air, and that you don't quite know whenthey will be back."
The man did not answer, but looked at Fernandez as if forinstructions. Seeing that the other did not speak, he whipped up hishorses and drove off without another word, leaving his master andmistress prisoners with us.
"Now we in our turn will be off," I said, as he disappeared over thebrow of the hill. "I must ask you, Senor President, to be good enoughto walk ahead. The Senorita and I will follow you."
It was a silent little party that made its way down the hill-sidetowards the beach. First walked the President with an armed man oneither side of him, his niece and myself followed next, whilstHermanos and two of his fellow-conspirators brought up the rear. Noone would have imagined that, only a few hours before, the Senoritaand I had been waltzing round the ball-room at La Gloria as partners,or that the President and I had been seated amicably togetherdiscussing the politics of Equinata in all apparent friendliness. Imust say in common fairness that, even under these tryingcircumstances, the Senorita behaved herself with as much coolness asdid her fellow-prisoner. Not once did she flinch or show the leastsign of fear.
The path from the road to the shore was an exceedingly rough one,little better in fact than a goat-track, and as the Senorita was stillwearing her light dancing-shoes, it must have been an unenviableexperience for her. Once her dress was caught by a cactus leaf, and Istopped to extricate it for her. I hoped that my action might breakthe silence that had so far characterized our march.
"Thank you, senor," she said gravely, and, without another word,continued her walk.
"Senorita," I said at last, "I can quite understand how angry you mustfeel with me. I suppose it is only natural that you should be. Yet,strange though it may appear, I cannot help feeling ashamed."
"I am not angry, senor," she replied. "My only regret is that weshould have been so weak as to have made such a miscalculation. Ithought my uncle had caused you to be arrested?"
"He certainly did have me arrested, but I managed to escape," Ianswered. "Doubtless, if your uncle had had his way, he would have hadme shot at daybreak."
"It is more than likely," she replied, still with the same gravity."And all things considered, I am not at all sure it would not havebeen better for the happiness of Equinata could this event have takenplace."
After such a speech there was not much to be said, so we continued ourwalk in silence. Ten minutes later we reached the beach, walked alongit for a hundred yards or so, and then found ourselves beside theyacht's gig, which had been pulled up on the shore to await ourcoming. As soon as they saw us the boat's crew, led by the chiefofficer, made their appearance from a hollow in the sand-hills wherethey had been concealed.
"Permit me to help you into the boat," I said to the Senorita, movingtowards it as I spoke. "When you are on board we can push her out intodeeper water."
She accordingly took my hand and stepped into the boat, after whichthe men ran it into the water.
"Now, Mr. President," I continued, "if you will be so kind as to getin, I think we had better be moving."
He hesitated for a moment.
"Before we do so, might I have a word with you in private, SenorTrevelyan?" he said. "I will not detain you more than a few moments."
I answered in the affirmative, and we moved a few paces away together.To make sure that he played no trick upon me, I took my revolver frommy pocket and carried it somewhat ostentatiously in my hand. Henoticed the precaution and gave utterance to one of his peculiarlaughs.
"You need have no fear," he said. "I shall not run away. My heart, asyou may have heard, is a little weak, and I am afraid a sharp run onthis sand would not tend to improve it. Let us talk here. Now, SenorTrevelyan, I am going to put a very simple question to you. I verynaturally presume that you have been well paid by my rival, Don Guzmande Silvestre, to effect my capture and deportation?"
"It is scarcely necessary for me to admit that fact," I answered."Yes! All things considered, I am _very_ well paid."
"Needless to remark," he continued, "I have no desire to leaveEquinata. Nor am I anxious to find myself in my old enemy's hands. Thequestion I wish to put to you, therefore, is this: What would yourprice be to let me go?"
"I cannot answer that question," I replied, "and for the simple reasonthat I am unable to let you go at all."
"I should be willing to pay a large sum in cash, and, what is more, Iwould give you a substantial guarantee that, if you would leave LaGloria to-morrow, I would let you depart in peace."
"I am very sorry, General Fernandez," I said, "but I am afraid youhave made some little mistake in your estimation of my character. Iwill be perfectly candid with you, and will admit that, if I couldlive the past few weeks over again, I should not be treating you as Iam doing to-night. However, I have accepted Don Guzman's offer, and Ihave taken his money. For that reason I cannot take yours, nor can Ilet you go, glad as I should be to do so. I wonder what you would havedone with me, had I not had the good fortune to escape from the cartelto-night?"
"I can tell you exactly," he answered. "You would have shared yourquarters with some of your fellow-conspirators, and I should have shotyou in the morning. Experience has taught me that there is nothinglike dispatch in these matters. Strike home, and strike hard, is mymotto."
"So I have been given to understand," I replied dryly. "And now let usreturn to the boat."
"You are still determined not to let me go?" he said. "What do yousay to an offer of twenty thousand pounds, in English money?"
"I could not do it for fifty thousand," I replied. "Come along, sir,the dawn will soon be here, and I am anxious to be out of Equinatabefore it comes."
He gave a little shrug of the shoulders as I spoke, and then movedtowards the boat.
"One more question," he said before we joined the others. "Where areyou going to take me?"
"I shall hope to be able to show you that in a very short time," Ianswered. "For the present, however, it must remain a secret. Now,sir, into the boat, if you please."
Before he got in he turned to Don Jose de Hermanos, who was standingwith his friends by the water's edge.
"Farewell, Don Jose," he said, as genially as if he were addressing avalued acquaintance. "I wonder whether you and I are destined to meetagain? As you are aware, I have a good memory for both friends andenemies! I once imagined that you and I would have been able to worktogether. I believe we should have done so, had not you committedyourself too deeply to my rival before I was able to bring myinfluence to bear upon you. I should put that mask in my pocket if Iwere
you. You forget that you have a mole upon your chin."
The man he addressed stepped back a pace as if he had been struck. Hehad disguised himself so carefully that he thought detection wasimpossible. Nevertheless, he had omitted to conceal a disfigurement onthe lower portion of his countenance that was sufficient to reveal hisidentity to any one at all acquainted with him. His astonishment mayhave accounted for his failure to reply to the other's speech.
The President having taken his place beside the Senorita, I preparedto follow him, but before doing so I held out my hand to Hermanos.
"Good-bye, my friend," I said. "I owe you something for what you havedone for me to-night. I don't suppose we shall ever meet again, but,if we do, I trust it may be under happier auspices."
"I never want to see your face again," he replied, with a candour thatwas somewhat remarkable. Then, lowering his voice to a whisper, hecontinued: "For your own safety's sake, take care that you never comeback to Equinata. I cannot help thinking that it would have beenbetter if we had shot him out of hand. I fancy you will agree with mebefore you have done."
His voice must have travelled further than he intended, for thePresident heard it and uttered a quiet laugh.
"Always the same, always the same," he said mockingly. "You know whatought to be done, but you don't do it. As somebody has said, you let'I would' wait upon 'I dare!'"
At the same moment a sob escaped the Senorita. This decided me, andspringing into the boat I gave the order to shove off. The crew stoodup and pushed with their oars, and a moment later we were afloat. Whenthe men sat down and bent to their work I glanced back at the littlegroup of dark figures on the beach watching us. After a few minutesthey were lost against the dark background, and I turned my head tosearch for the yacht. Already the sky was paling preparatory to thedawn, and I knew that, if we did not hasten, we should scarcely beclear of the coast by daylight. At last we reached the yacht, andpulled up at the accommodation ladder.
"Allow me to help you, Senorita," I said, springing out and giving hermy hand.
Presently we stood together on the deck. Ferguson raised his cap, andI could see that he was more than surprised at seeing a lady standingbefore him.
"We will get away from here as soon as possible, Mr. Ferguson, if youplease," I said. "I want to be clear of La Gloria before daylight."
"Everything is ready, sir," he replied, "and as soon as we have gotthe boat aboard I'll give the order for full steam ahead."
"In the meantime," I said, turning to the Senorita, "permit me toescort you to the saloon. Doubtless you are ready for some supperafter your long drive."
I was determined that my coolness should equal hers. Nothing was to begained by acting the part of the stern gaoler. We accordingly passedalong the deck to the saloon. The electric bell summoned the attentivechief steward, to whom I gave orders that a meal should be preparedfor us immediately.
I cannot attempt to make you understand how beautiful the Senoritalooked as she divested herself of her cloak and seated herself on theluxurious divan that ran round the saloon. It must be remembered thatshe had driven out from the city dressed just as she had been at theball, and as this thought crossed my mind I was struck with wondermentas to what she would do for wearing apparel on board. She could notspend the day in a low-necked dress, and with no stronger footgearthan a pair of white satin dancing-shoes. However, I postponedconsideration of the subject for the moment. Presently the stewardreappeared, the cloth was laid, and a meal placed upon the table. Mymessage from the cartel had given them time to prepare it, I suppose;at any rate, it was as delightful a little supper as any one couldwish to partake of. We sat down to it, as strange a trio as you woulddiscover in a very long day's sail.
Fernandez still wore his ribbon and orders; the Senorita, as I havealready observed, was in evening dress with a _collet_ of diamondsround her neck. I also was attired just as I had been at the ball,though my raiment was somewhat dishevelled by my encounter with thePresidential Forces on the wharf. We had scarcely sat down at thetable before the throbbing of the propellor announced the fact that wewere under way. Almost involuntarily I looked at the President.
"Our voyage has commenced," he said. "I drink to your health, SenorTrevelyan!"
I drew a long deep breath of relief. It was something to know that wewere leaving Equinata at last, and that I had got the Presidentaboard. Since his treatment of me that evening, I felt no remorse forhaving captured him. He had admitted that he would have shot mewithout compunction had I remained in his power. He could scarcelyblame me, therefore, if I experienced a feeling of delight in havingturned the tables upon him.
"I must say your employer is by no means niggardly to you," remarkedFernandez, when the servants had withdrawn. "As you do not provideit, I suppose it is not a breach of good manners to observe that thiswine is excellent, while the cooking is all that can be desired."Then, with a little sigh, whether real or assumed, he continued: "Myown _chef_ will now, I suppose, be obliged to seek another situation.And in some respects he was unrivalled. Well, well, it's the fortuneof war!"
"Senor Trevelyan, is there no way of arranging for our return toEquinata?" asked the Senorita, leaning a little forward and placingone dainty hand upon my coat-sleeve, while she looked pleadingly intomy face.
"I am afraid not," I replied. "Don Fernandez and I have alreadydiscussed that matter together, and have come to the conclusion thatit is impossible."
She rose from her chair. I thought she was going to break down, butshe managed to retain her composure.
"If you will allow me, I think I will retire to my cabin," she said.
I rang the bell for the steward and inquired what state-room had beenset aside for the lady. He informed me, and I immediately beggedpermission to conduct her thither. She bade her uncle good-night andwe set off together. When she reached the door she turned to me.
"I feel sure you will be sorry some day for the part you have playedto-night," she remarked. "Why should you wish to take us away from thecountry in which we were so happy, and for which we have done somuch?"
"For the simple reason that I am not my own master," I replied. "I ama paid servant, and must do as I am ordered."
She heaved a heavy sigh, and then, without another word, turned andentered the cabin. I thereupon returned to the saloon to find thatFernandez had left it and had gone on deck. I discovered him upon thebulwarks opposite the smoking-room entrance. He had just lit a cigar,and was doubtless meditating on his position. The yacht was cleavingher way through the water, and already the lights of La Gloria lay farbehind us.
"What are you thinking of, General?" I inquired as I took my positionalongside him.
"I was thinking how I could manage to outwit you," he replied.