by Bret Harte
CHAPTER XI
As Captain Carroll urged his horse along the miry road to La MisionPerdida, he was struck with certain changes in the landscape before himother than those wrought by the winter rains. There were the usualdeep gullies and trenches, half-filled with water, in the fields andalong the road, but there were ominous embankments and ridges offreshly turned soil, and a scattered fringe of timbers following acruel, undeviating furrow on the broad grazing lands of the Mision.But it was not until he had crossed the arroyo that he felt the fullextent of the late improvements. A quick rumbling in the distance, alight flash of steam above the willow copse, that drifted across thefield on his right, and he knew that the railroad was already inoperation. Captain Carroll reined in his frightened charger, andpassed his hand across his brow with a dazed sense of loss. He hadbeen gone only four months--yet he already felt strange and forgotten.
It was with a feeling of relief that he at last turned from thehigh-road into the lane. Here everything was unchanged, except thatthe ditches were more thickly strewn with the sodden leaves of fringingoaks and sycamores. Giving his horse to a servant in the court-yard,he did not enter the patio, but, crossing the lawn, stepped upon thelong veranda. The rain was dripping from its eaves and striking aminute spray from the vines that clung to its columns; his footfallawoke a hollow echo as he passed, as if the outer shell of the housewere deserted; the formal yews and hemlocks that in summer had relievedthe dazzling glare of six months' sunshine had now taken gloomypossession of the garden, and the evening shadows, thickened by rain,seemed to lie in wait at every corner. The servant, who had, withold-fashioned courtesy, placed the keys and the "disposition" of thatwing of the house at his service, said that Dona Maria would wait uponhim in the salon before dinner. Knowing the difficulty of breaking theusual rigid etiquette, and trusting to the happy intervention ofMaruja--though here, again, custom debarred him from asking for her--heallowed the servant to remove his wet overcoat, and followed him to thestately and solemn chamber prepared for him. The silence and gloom ofthe great house, so grateful and impressive in the ardent summer, beganto weigh upon him under this shadow of an overcast sky. He walked tothe window and gazed out on the cloister-like veranda. A melancholywillow at an angle of the stables seemed to be wringing its hands inthe rising wind. He turned for relief to the dim fire that flickeredlike a votive taper in the vault-like hearth, and drew a chair towardsit. In spite of the impatience and preoccupation of a lover, he foundhimself again and again recurring to the story he had just heard, untilthe vengeful spirit of the murdered Doctor seemed to darken and possessthe house. He was striving to shake off the feeling, when hisattention was attracted to stealthy footsteps in the passage. Could itbe Maruja? He rose to his feet, with his eye upon the door. Thefootsteps ceased--it remained closed. But another door, which hadescaped his attention in the darkened corner, slowly swung on itshinges, and, with a stealthy step, Pereo, the mayordomo, entered theroom.
Courageous and self-possessed as Captain Carroll was by nature andeducation, this malevolent vision, and incarnation of the thoughtuppermost in his mind, turned him cold. He had half drawn a derringerfrom his breast, when his eye fell on the grizzled locks and wrinkledface of the old man, and his hand dropped to his side. But Pereo, withthe quick observation of insanity, had noticed the weapon, and rubbedhis hands together, with a malicious laugh.
"Good! good! good!" he whispered, rapidly, in a strange bodiless voice;"'t will serve! 't will serve! And you are a soldier too--and know howto use it! Good, it is a Providence!" He lifted his hollow eyes toheaven, and then added, "Come! come!"
Carroll stepped towards him. He was alone and in the presence of anundoubted madman--one strong enough, in spite of his years, to inflicta deadly injury, and one whom he now began to realize might have doneso once before. Nevertheless, he laid his hand on the old man's arm,and, looking him calmly in the eye, said, quietly, "Come? Where,Pereo? I have only just arrived."
"I know it," whispered the old man, nodding his head violently. "I waswatching them, when you rode up. That is why I lost the scent; buttogether we can track them still--we can track them. Eh, Captain, eh!Come! Come!" and he moved slowly backward, waving his hand towards thedoor.
"Track whom, Pereo?" said Carroll, soothingly. "Whom do you seek?"
"Whom?" said the old man, startled for a moment and passing his handover his wrinkled forehead. "Whom? Eh! Why, the Dona Maruja and thelittle black cat--her maid--Faquita!"
"Yes, but why seek them? Why track them?"
"Why?" said the old man, with a sudden burst of impotent passion. "YOUask me why! Because they are going to the rendezvous again. They aregoing to seek him. Do you understand--to seek HIM--the Coyote!"
Carroll smiled a faint smile of relief--"So--the Coyote!"
"Ay," said the old man, in a confidential whisper; "the Coyote! But notthe big one--you understand--the little one. The big one isdead--dead--dead! But the little one lives yet. You shall do for HIMwhat I, Pereo--listen--" he glanced around the room furtively--"whatI--the good old Pereo, did for the big one! Good, it is a Providence.Come!"
Of the terrible thoughts that crossed Carroll's mind at this unexpectedclimax one alone was uppermost. The trembling irresponsible wretchbefore him meditated some vague crime--and Maruja was in danger. Hedid not allow himself to dwell upon any other suspicion suggested bythat speech; he quickly conceived a plan of action. To have rung thebell and given Pereo into the hands of the servants would have onlyexposed to them the lunatic's secret--if he had any--and he mighteither escape in his fury or relapse into useless imbecility. To humorhim and follow him, and trust afterwards to his own quickness andcourage to avert any calamity, seemed to be the only plan. CaptainCarroll turned his clear glance on the restless eyes of Pereo, andsaid, without emotion, "Let us go, then, and quickly. You shall trackthem for me; but remember, good Pereo, you must leave the rest to me."
In spite of himself, some accidental significance in this ostentatiousadjuration to lull Pereo's suspicions struck him with pain. But the oldman's eyes glittered with gratified passion as he said, "Ay, good! Iwill keep my word. Thou shalt work thy will on the little one as Ihave said. Truly it is a Providence! Come!" Seeing Captain Carrollglance round for his overcoat, he seized a poncho from the wall,wrapped it round him, and grasped his hand. Carroll, who would haveevaded this semblance of disguise, had no time to parley, and theyturned together, through the door by which Pereo had entered, into along dark passage, which seemed to be made through the outer shell ofthe building that flanked the park. Following his guide in the profoundobscurity, perfectly conscious that any change in his madness might befollowed by a struggle in the dark, where no help could reach them,they presently came to a door that opened upon the fresh smell of rainand leaves. They were standing at the bottom of a secluded alley,between two high hedges that hid it from the end of the garden. Itsgrass-grown walk and untrimmed hedges showed that it was seldom used.Carroll, still keeping close to Pereo's side, felt him suddenly stopand tremble. "Look!" he said, pointing to a shadowy figure somedistance before them; "look, 'tis Maruja, and alone!"
With a dexterous movement, Carroll managed to slip his arm securelythrough the old man's, and even to throw himself before him, as if inhis eagerness to discern the figure.
"'Tis Maruja--and alone!" said Pereo, trembling. "Alone! Eh! And theCoyote is not here!" He passed his hand over his staring eyes. "So."Suddenly he turned upon Carroll. "Ah, do you not see, it is a trick!The Coyote is escaping with Faquita! Come! Nay; thou wilt not? Thenwill I!" With an unexpected strength born of his madness, he freed hisarm from Carroll and darted down the alley. The figure of Maruja,evidently alarmed at his approach, glided into the hedge, as Pereopassed swiftly by, intent only on his one wild fancy. Without afurther thought of his companion or even the luckless Faquita, Carrollalso plunged through the hedge, to intercept Maruja. But by that timeshe was already crossing the upper end of the lawn,
hurrying towardsthe entrance to the patio. Carroll did not hesitate to follow. Keepingin view the lithe, dark, active little figure, now hidden by anintervening cluster of bushes, now fading in the gathering eveningshadows, he nevertheless did not succeed in gaining upon her until shehad nearly reached the patio. Here he lost ground, as turning to theright, instead of entering the court-yard, she kept her way toward thestables. He was near enough, however, to speak. "One moment, MissSaltonstall," he said hurriedly; "there is no danger. I am alone. ButI must speak with you."
The young girl seemed only to redouble her exertions. At last shestopped before a narrow door hidden in the wall, and fumbled in herpocket for a key. That moment Carroll was upon her.
"Forgive me, Miss Saltonstall--Maruja; but you must hear me! You aresafe, but I fear for your maid, Faquita!"
A little laugh followed his speech; the door yielded and opened to hervanishing figure. For an instant the lace shawl muffling her face waslifted, as the door closed and locked behind her. Carroll drew back inconsternation. It was the laughing eyes and saucy face of Faquita!