The Strange Case of Cavendish

by Randall Parrish

  CHAPTER XXV: IN THE DARK PASSAGE

  The uncertainty was of scarcely an instant. The open slit above thedoor was a perfect conveyer of sound, and a voice pierced the silence.It was the voice of Juan Cateras, vibrant with anger.

  "You sleepy swine," he ejaculated fiercely, "and is this the way youkeep watch? Come out of that!" the command punctuated by the scufflingof feet. "Damn you, Silva, but I will teach you a lesson for this whenI return. Now go to the hut and stay there until I come. This is amatter where Mendez shall name the penalty. Get you gone, you sleepydog."

  He either struck or kicked the man, hurrying the fellow down thepassage to the echo of Spanish oaths. Apparently no resistance wasmade, for the next instant the key turned in the lock and the dooropened. Cateras, smiling, seemingly unruffled by this encounter,stepped within, calmly closed the door behind him, and then turned togreet the lady. She met his bow with eyes of firm resolve, though herheart ached.

  "Why do you come, _senor_?" she asked so quietly that the man insurprise halted his step forward.

  "To keep my word," and his white teeth gleamed in an effort atpleasantness. "I am always truthful with your sex; and I told you Iwould return shortly."

  "Yet why?" she insisted, anxious only to keep him away as long aspossible, and yet enchain his interest. "If I am prisoner here, I amnot your prisoner. Do you come, then, to serve me?"

  "Can you doubt that, _senorita_?" still endeavouring to retain the maskhe had first assumed. "Because circumstances make me defy the law--amere love of adventure, no more--is no reason why I should be devoid ofheart and sympathy." He took a step nearer. "Since leaving here Ihave questioned the men who brought you, and learned why you were madeprisoner. I care nothing for this Bill Lacy--nothing," and he snappedhis fingers derisively. "Why should I? But, instead, I would be yourfriend."

  "You mean your purpose is to aid me to escape?"

  He bowed low.

  "It would be my great happiness to do so. There is danger, yet what isdanger to Juan Cateras? 'Tis only part of my life. The _senorita_ isan American, and to her one of my race may not appeal, yet I wouldprove my devotion with my life."

  "Your devotion, _senor_!"'

  "Is not the word expressive! Though I have seen you but once before,my heart is already devoted to your interest. I am of a Southern race,_senorita_, and we do not calculate--we feel. Why, then, should Iconceal my eagerness? It is love which causes me to thus defy all andoffer you freedom."

  "Love!" she laughed. "Why, that is impossible. Surely you only jest,_senor_."

  The smile deserted his lips, and with a quick, unexpected movement hegrasped her hand.

  "Jest! You would call it a jest. You will not think so for long.Why, what can you do? No; stop shrinking back from me. It will bewell that you listen. This is no parlour where you can turn me awaywith a word of scorn," and his eyes swept the bare walls. "I come toyou with a chance of escape; I will take the risk and pledge you myaid. I alone can save you; there is no other to whom you can turn. Inreturn I but ask my reward."

  She hesitated, her eyes lifting to his face.

  "You promise me your assistance?"

  "Within the hour."

  "How? What plan have you?"

  "That I will not tell; you must trust me. I am the lieutenant ofPasqual Mendez," a touch of pride in his voice. "And my word alonewill open the way. You will come?"

  "Wait; I must know more. You say it is love which prompts your offer,_senor_. I cannot understand; and even if this be true, I must befrank and honest in my answer--I do not return your love."

  "Bah! That is nothing. I know women; they learn love quickly when theway opens. I am not so ill to look at, _senorita_. A kiss now willseal the bargain! I will wait the rest."

  "You ask no pledge, then, of me?"

  "Only your consent to accompany me, and the kiss. Beyond that I takethe gambler's chance. Only you must say yes or no; for it will requiretime for me to clear the road."

  "It must be to-night?"

  "The sooner the better; they tell me Lacy will be here himself soon,and after he comes the one chance is over with. You will give thekiss?"

  "Do not ask it, _senor_!"

  "Oh, but I will--aye, more, I'll take it. A dozen will do no harm, andno scream from those lips will be heard. You may as well be nice, mybeauty."

  She was against the wall, helpless, and the grip of his hands was likesteel. She made no sound, although struggling to break free. Hisbreath was on her cheek; his eyes burning with lust gazing straightinto her own.

  Slowly, remorselessly, he bent her head backward until she feared herneck would snap. A sob started in her throat, but she silenced it withthe will of a superwoman. Into her terror-stricken mind leaped thesudden conclusion that resistance with this beast was futile; she mustoutwit him with her brains. Suddenly relaxing herself, she slipped tothe granite floor on her knees.

  "Please, please," she begged. "I give in, _senor_, I give in."

  But as she spoke her right hand closed about a square jagged bit ofrock.

  "So, my pretty," sneered Cateras, "you have learned that Juan Caterasis not a man to trifle with. It is well." And, releasing his gripupon her, he allowed the girl to rise.

  As she stood there in the half light, her grey eyes flashing, her youngbosom rising and falling, she was a vaguely defined but alluringfigure. So Juan Cateras thought, and he took a step nearer, his thick,red lips curling with lust, eager to claim their rich reward. As theycame closer Stella Donovan stiffened.

  "Look, _senor_," she whispered--"behind you!"

  The Mexican in his eagerness was off his guard. He turned to look, andat that instant the girl drew back her sturdy arm and then brought itforward again with all her vigour. _Cluk_! She heard the rock soundagainst her oppressor's head, heard a low moan escape his lips, and sawhim sink slowly to the floor at her feet.

  The next instant she was beside him, in terror lest she had killed him;but a hurried glance, supplemented by her fingers which reached for hispulse, assured her that she had only stunned her assailant. Her heartbeat less rapidly now, and she again had control of her mentalprocesses. With deft hands that worked speedily in the darkness sheunstrapped from around his waist the belt with its thirty-sixcartridges and revolver, then pulled from his pocket the keys, not onlyto her cell, but, she judged, to others.

  The feel of their bronze coldness in her hot hands brought a quickmessage to her brain; beyond a question of doubt, the missing Cavendishwas concealed in one of the dark, dank cells in the immediate vicinage,if not actually in this same passage, then in another one perhaps notgreatly distant. The speculation gave her determination and decision.

  Reaching beneath her outer skirt, she jerked loose her white petticoat,and then began tearing it into long strips which she knotted together.This done, she bound Juan Cateras's hand and foot, and, with somedifficulty, turned him over on his face after first thrusting into hishalf-open mouth a gag, which she had fashioned from stray ends of theprovidential petticoat.

  Then leaping to her feet and strapping the ammunition belt and revolverabout her waist, she stole on tiptoe to the doorway and peered out; thesilent, cavernous passage was empty.

  Lithely, like a young panther, she slipped out of the cell and beganmaking down the passageway to a spot of light which she judged to beits opening. She had scarcely gone ten feet, however, before shestopped short--somewhere in the dark she heard a voice.

  Flattening herself against the sides of the passage, she thoughtquickly; to return to the cell in which lay Juan Cateras would beunwise, for he might break the bonds, which were none too strong, and,in his fury at having been so easily duped, subject her to unknown butanyway horrible indignities, if not death itself. But what othercourse was there?

  As she stood there a fraction of a second against the wall, knowing notwhich way to turn, the girl wished with all her heart that big JimWestcott, strong, cool, collected, the master
of any situationrequiring force, tact, and acumen, were there by her side to take herarm and guide her out of this terrible predicament. But Jim waselsewhere--where, she could hardly guess.

  What was to be done? Her temples throbbed as the voices soundednearer. Then it came home to her--why not try one of the other cells?Possibly she would be lucky enough to find an empty one; the chanceswere, she felt, that most of them were.

  Suiting action to the thought, she stepped quietly from the niche inthe wall, moved noiselessly along its surface, and came at length toanother dungeon similar to She one she had occupied, except that it hadno window in its oaken door. Fumbling with the bunch of keys, she tookthe first one around which her fingers fell and thrust it hurriedlyinto the lock. Would it open the haven to temporary safety? Shestruggled with it--turning it first to the left and then to the right.The footsteps were sounding nearer and nearer every minute, the voiceswere growing louder.

  Frantic, she gave the key a final desperate twist, and as a sigh ofrelief escaped her lips the door swung open. Slipping through theaperture, she closed it softly after her and, panting from excitementand her exertions, turned and faced the recesses of her hiding-place.

  It was black, pitch-black, except for a long ray of light thatstruggled in between the heavy door and its casing, but as StellaDonovan stood there in the gloom she was aware that she was not theonly occupant of the cell. She crouched back, gripped in the hands ofanother fear, but the next moment her alarm was lessened somewhat bythe sound of a soft, well-modulated voice.

  "Who's that?" it said faintly.

  Then followed the repeated scratching of a wet match, a flame of yellowlight, which was immediately carried to a short tallow candle, and inthe aura of its sickly flame Stella Donovan saw the face of a man withlong, unkempt beard and feverish eyes that stared at her as though shewere an apparition.