by Mayne Reid
CHAPTER FIFTY THREE.
A SERIES OF SURPRISES.
The _cochero_ had but a confused idea of what he was carrying away withhim. By the feel, watches, with chains and bracelets; besides somesmaller articles wrapped in bits of paper. The uncertainty of hisgetting safe up the cliff hindered him from giving them even the mostcursory examination, nor did he think of doing this till at sufficientdistance from the card-playing party to feel sure he was beyond dangerof pursuit. Then the temptation to have a look at the things, which hadso strangely and unexpectedly come into his possession, becameirresistible; and sitting down upon a ledge of rock, he drew them outinto the light of the moon. Two watches were there, both gold, and onewith a jewelled case.
"_Carrai_!" he exclaimed, as his eyes fell upon the latter, and becamefixed in a stare of blank amazement, "can it be! It is--the Condesa'swatch--the very one she would have given me! But how came the hunchbackto have it? Surely he must have stolen it. The other, too, with allthese things!"
He looked at the second watch, but as it had never been in his handsbefore, he was unable to identify it. Still, it resembled one he hadseen his mistress wearing, and most likely was the same.
The bracelets, chains, necklets, and brooches would be theirs, too; asalso the rings and other bijouterie, which the dwarf had found time todo up in paper.
"Stolen them?" continued the _cochero_ interrogatively, as he ran hiseyes over the varied assortment.
"How could he? The watches he might, but the other things? Why blessme, here are two pairs of ear-rings--and these grand pendants--I'm sureI saw them in the ears of the Condesa this very day. He couldn't havetaken them without her knowing it. _Santo Dios_! How ever has he comeby them?"
As he thus questioned and reflected, a feeling of apprehension began tocreep over him. A little before leaving the house to go after hishorses he had observed his young mistress and the Condesa going into theornamental grounds. And they went alone; Don Ignacio having repaired toa private apartment, where he was accustomed to shut himself up for theexamination of State papers, what if the ladies _were_ still in thegrounds, in some secluded spot, lying dead, where all these adornmentshad been stripped from their persons!
This horrible tableau did the faithful servant in imagination conjureup. He could not help it. Nor was the thing so very improbable. Hehad some earlier acquaintance with the desperate character of the dwarf,which later experience confirmed. Besides, there was the state of thecountry--thieves and robbers all round--men who made light of murder!
With a heaviness of heart--a painful fear that there had been murder--hestayed not to further examine the trinkets; but gathering all up again,and thrusting them back into his pocket, hurried on home.
And when home he went not to his own quarters in the coachyard, butstraight into the _patio_--the private court of the house. There heencountered Pepita; soon as he set eyes on her, asking--
"Where are the _Senoritas_?"
"What's that to you?" saucily retorted the maid.
"Nothing, if I only knew they were safe."
"Safe! Why what's the man thinking--talking about? Have you lost yoursenses, _hombre_?"
"No, Pepita. But the ladies have lost something. Look here!"
He had plunged both his hands into his pockets, and drawn them out againfull of things that scintillated in the moonlight--watches and jewelleryof different kinds, as she saw. With a woman's curiosity, glidingswiftly forward to examine them, she recognised every article at aglance, amazement overspreading her countenance, as it lately had his.
"_Ay de mi_!" she exclaimed, no longer in jesting tone. "What does itall mean, Jose?"
"Just what I want to know myself, and why I am asking after theSenoritas. But where are they?"
"In the garden, or the grounds somewhere. They strolled out about anhour ago, and haven't been in since."
"Pray God, they're still alive! Come with me, Pepita. Let us look forthem. I have terrible fears."
So appealed to, the girl gave ready assent; and side by side theyhastened towards the rear of the house, behind which were the ornamentalgrounds extending backwards. But they had not far to go before hearingsounds that set their minds at rest, removing all anxiety--the voices ofthe ladies themselves. They were not only alive, but laughing!
To Jose and Pepita this seemed strange as anything else--a perfectmystery. Merry after parting with all those pretty things; costly,too--worth hundreds of _doblones_! Withal, they were so; theirlightness of heart due to the knowledge thus gained, that their ownlovers were still living and safe; and something of merriment, added bythat odd encounter with the _enano_, of which they were yet conversing.
If their behaviour mystified their servants, not less were theythemselves puzzled when Jose presented himself before them with handsheld out, saying:
"I ask your pardon for intruding, but don't these belong to yourladyships?"
They saw their watches and other effects obtained from them by "falsepretences," as they were now to learn.
The revelation that succeeded put an end to their joyous humour; theirhearts that had been light for a moment were now becoming heavier thanever. The treachery of the hunchback and his intentions were manifest.He meant to guide Santander and his soldiers to the old monastery, wherethey would take the _patriotas_ by surprise.
"What is to be done, Ysabel?" despairingly asked the Donna Luisa. "Howcan we give them warning?"
To which the _cochero_, not the Countess, made answer, saying:
"I can do that, _Senorita_."
His confident tone reassured them; more still his making known thedesign he had already conceived, and his ability to execute it. He wasacquainted with the old convent and the paths leading to it--every inchof them.
It needed not their united appeal to urge him to immediate departure.He was off the instant after, and long before the clock of Talpam hadstruck the midnight hour, well up the mountain road, with eyes lookingto the right, in the direction of the Cerro Ajusco.