*CHAPTER XXXIV*
*Dead Men Tell no Tales*
The Old Well--A Voice--Visions--Infimis
"It is locked, Senor."
Pepito had dismounted at the gate of the Casa Alvarez on the hillside.
"Shout, Pepito," replied Jack from the saddle of his mule. "Perhaps theold man will hear us from the house."
The gipsy put his hands to his mouth, and called shrilly. There was noanswer, no sound save the hum of bees and the song of birds.
"We must climb the wall, then," said Jack, springing to the ground.
"See, Senor, a face in the bush!" cried Pepito, pointing through theiron railings into the garden.
Looking, Jack saw, framed in the foliage of a dense laurel, the face ofthe old gardener.
"Adelante, hombre!" he said.
Instantly the face vanished. Jack called again; no voice answered, nofootstep was heard. The two riders tied their steeds to trees in theplantation on the right, then scaled the wall and hastened towards thehouse.
Nearly two months had elapsed since Jack's night adventure. He wasstruck by the alteration in the place. It had looked untidy,ill-cared-for, then; it was now a wilderness. Flowers and shrubs bloomedin unchecked luxuriance; hollyhocks drooped their heavy heads, sprays ofwoodbine twined in and out among the laurels, unpruned vines crept overthe weedy paths, the sweltering air was sickly with mingled perfumes.The house stood white and brown in the glowing sunlight; lush creepersalmost hid the door; the dry wood-work was blistered, the latticesfalling away; all was decay, silence, and desolation.
It was high noon of a sultry summer day, yet Jack shivered. He rappedat the door. There was no response save an echo. He walked round thehouse; every window was shuttered, every door barred. He went on downthe garden at the back, following the directions given him by Juanita,and Pepito crept along behind him, his big eyes wide with awe. Avulture flew up in front, and clattered away on creaking wings. Hestepped from the path, and pushed his way through tangled shrubs andmatted undergrowth towards a broad chestnut in the angle of the wall.Tendrils of convolvulus clung around his feet, the scent of thyme camein gusts with the cloying odour of gardenias. Suddenly the rankvegetation ceased, and before him, in a clear space, he saw the circularcovering of the old well.
Frame and winch had been removed. A broken moss-grown bucket lay hardby; near it was a long bar of wood. Around the well was a broad patch ofsoft black earth. As Jack approached to remove the wooden cover from thewell-mouth, Pepito touched him on the arm.
"Marks, Senor!" he said under his breath; "footsteps, and marks of amule's hoofs; fresh, Senor; made to-day."
Jack started. A green lizard, sunning itself at the edge of the well,disappeared in a flash. He saw the hoof-marks in the soil; his heartsank with a sudden misgiving. The well-cover seemed to have beenclumsily replaced.
"Help me lift it," said Jack.
They removed the heavy cover. The well opened black before them.Pepito peered over the edge; he saw nothing; there was neither rope norladder.
"How can we get down?" said Jack.
Looking around, he saw what appeared to be the end of a ladderprojecting from beneath a bush. He dragged it out; a snake dropped fromit and vanished in the grass; it was a ladder some sixteen feet long.
"It will not reach the bottom of the well," said Jack. His eye caughtthe bar of wood.
"Bring me that, Pepito."
He laid it across the well-mouth; on its mossy side there was a dullsplash of red. The bar stretched across the opening. Lifting it again,Jack gave it to Pepito, and, taking the ladder, lowered this into thewell till only the topmost rungs were above the brickwork.
"Put the wood through," he said.
Thus the ladder hung dangling on its support, fifteen feet into thewell. Pepito looked at his master enquiringly.
"Yes, you are to climb down. Stay!" he added, as the boy prepared tostep down on to the swinging ladder.
He took some papers from his pocket, twisted them into a loose mass, andwound about them the end of a long vine tendril. Then he kindled themfrom his tinder-box, and let the flaming mass down quickly into thewell. It burned until it was consumed.
"There is air enough. Go down, Pepito."
He steadied the ladder as the boy descended step by step. Jack countedtwelve rungs, then ordered the boy to stop.
"Do you see anything, Pepito?"
A few moments passed. The gipsy's eyes were adjusting themselves to thegloom.
"A hole, Senor, a big hole in the wall."
"Can you get into it?"
"No, Senor, it is on the other side, too far away."
Bidding the boy ascend, Jack shifted the ladder across the bar. Pepitowent down again, and soon Jack heard his muffled voice exclaim that hewas in the hole.
"Do you find anything there? Search thoroughly."
A minute passed. Jack was crouched at the brink, holding the joists ofthe ladder firmly with both hands.
"There is nothing, Senor; all emptiness."
"Come up again."
He stepped out on to the brickwork, and Jack rose to his feet.
"Dead! dead! dead!" said a quavering voice behind him.
He turned with a nervous start. While he had been engaged at the well,a figure had been slowly approaching from a thicket of laurel,furtively, with hesitation, stopping for a moment, then taking anotherunsteady step and stopping again. Jack recognized the old gardener, buthow altered! His limbs shook as with a palsy; his lips mumbled withoutsound; his eyes were wild.
"What is it, hombre?" said Jack quietly without moving.
The old man stood as if listening. Then, raising his shaking righthand, the long fingers working convulsively, he murmured:
"I saw it! ... Dead!"
Then he smiled, a thin wan smile, and tottering forward pointedwaveringly to the well. Jack recoiled. The old man's smile was moreawful than a sob of agony.
"They came through the gate;" he pointed across the garden to thefarther wall. "There were two; I was hidden in the copse; I watchedthem. I watched them. They brought a mule; it was a fine mule, with gaytrappings,--a fine mule..." The old man passed his hand across hisbrow. "What was I saying? I have forgotten."
"They brought a mule," said Jack.
"Yes, they brought a mule. They led it across the garden, tramplingdown the poor flowers--my flowers! I saw them! There were two. Onewas in front--the cursed afrancesado; I knew him; yes, did I not servehim at my master's table? the afrancesado! He was in front; behind hima man, a long thin man, a one-eyed man, with the mule. They crushed theflowers--my flowers ... what was I saying?"
"They came across the garden," said Jack.
"They came across the garden. They came here, here! where we arestanding. The man, the one-eyed man, fastened the mule to yonder tree;then they stooped down and lifted the cover. It was heavy...I watchedthem. They peered down into the well, into the deep well, but they couldsee nothing. Then the tall man, the man with the one eye, went away;the other, the afrancesado, the cursed afrancesado, waited, and while hewaited he cast pebbles into the well ... horrible! horrible!" Hecovered his eyes with his hand, as if to shut out some dreadful thing."What was I saying?"
"The tall man came back," said Jack.
"The tall man came back; he brought a ladder; he fetched a beam, thatbeam, and they let down the ladder into the well, the deep well ... Iwatched them. 'Twelve steps,' said the afrancesado, the cursedafrancesado, and the tall man, the man with the one eye, went down ...Twelve steps! ... The other, the afrancesado, bent over; there was anoise below; the afrancesado said 'Bien!'--I heard him. Then the man,the long man, the man with the one eye, came up, slowly; there was abox, a heavy box; the other took it, and the man, the one-eyed man, wentdown, ... twelve steps ... He came up again; there was another box, asmall box. I knew it; it was the master's. Then he went down again,... twelve steps, ... and the other, the a
francesado, the accursedafrancesado, drew his knife, silently; it flashed in the sun; I watchedhim..." The old man stared fixedly before him. "What was I saying?" hewhispered.
"He drew his knife," said Jack.
"He drew his knife," said the old man, still in a whisper. "The other,the long man, the man with one eye, came slowly, slowly, up. Hestretched his left hand for the box, he raised the arm with the knife.He was behind him. He leant forward; I saw him--him, and the long man,the man with one eye--he drove it between his shoulders..."
The old man made as if to brush a cobweb from before his eyes.
"Horrible! horrible! ... down! down! down! ... What was I saying?"
Boys of the Light Brigade: A Story of Spain and the Peninsular War Page 37