"Colonel Fernandez," Don Mario proceeded, impressively, "did me this favor, knowing me to be a suitor for Rosa"s hand. In spite of his duty and the evidence he--"
"Evidence? What evidence?" Esteban asked, sharply.
"For one thing, your own letter to Lopez, the rebel, warning him to beware of the trap prepared for him in Santa Clara, and advising him of the Government force at Sabanilla. Oh, don"t try to deny it! I read it with my own eyes, and it means--death."
In the ensuing silence the fat man"s asthmatic breathing sounded loudly; it was like the respirations of an excited eavesdropper.
At last Rosa said, faintly: "Esteban! I warned you."
Esteban was taken aback, but it was plain that he was not in the least frightened. "They haven"t caught me yet," he laughed.
"You say they intend to arrest me also?" Rosa eyed the caller anxiously.
"Exactly!"
"But why?"
"Yes! Who accuses her, and of what?" Esteban indignantly demanded.
"That also I have discovered through the courtesy of Colonel Fernandez.
Your accuser is none other than Pancho Cueto."
"Cueto!"
"Yes, he has denounced both of you as rebels, and the letter is only part of his proof, I believe. I don"t know what other evidence he has, but, take my word for it, the Government does not require much proof these days. Suspicion is enough. Now, then, you can guess why I am here. I am not without influence; I can save Rosa, but for you, Esteban, I fear I can do nothing. You must look out for yourself. Well?
What do you say? We"re wasting precious time standing here with our mouths open."
When Esteban saw how pale his sister had grown, he took her in his arms, saying, gently: "I"m sorry, dear. It"s all my fault." Then to the merchant, "It was very good of you to warn us."
"Ha!" Don Mario fanned himself. "I"m glad you appreciate my efforts.
It"s a good thing to have the right kind of a friend. I"ll marry Rosa within an hour, and I fancy my name will be a sufficient shield--"
Rosa turned to her elderly suitor and made a deep courtesy. "I am unworthy of the honor," said she. "You see, I--I do not love you, Don Mario."
"Love!" exploded the visitor. "G.o.d bless you! What has love to do with the matter? Esteban will have to ride for his life in ten minutes and your property will be seized. So you had better make yourself ready to go with me." But Rosa shook her head.
"Eh? What ails you? What do you expect to do?"
"I shall go with Esteban," said the girl.
This calm announcement seemed to stupefy De Castano. He sat down heavily in the nearest chair, and with his wet handkerchief poised in one pudgy hand he stared fixedly at the speaker. His eyes were round and bulging, the sweat streamed unheeded from his temples. He resembled some queer bloated marine monster just emerged from the sea and momentarily dazzled by the light.
"You--You"re mad," he finally gasped. "Esteban, tell her what it means."
But this Esteban could not do, for he himself had not the faintest notion of what was in store for him. War seemed to him a glorious thing; he had been told that the hills were peopled with patriots. He was very young, his heart was ablaze with hatred for the Spaniards and for Pancho Cueto. He longed to risk his life for a free Cuba. Therefore he said: "Rosa shall do as she pleases. If we must be exiles we shall share each other"s hardships. It will not be for long."
"Idiot!" stormed the fat man. "Better that you gave her to the sharks below San Severino. There is no law, no safety for women outside of the cities. The island is in anarchy. These patriots you talk about are the blacks, the mulattoes, the--lowest, laziest savages in Cuba."
"Please! Don Mario!" the girl pleaded. "I cannot marry you, for--I love another."
"Eh?"
"I love another. I"m betrothed to O"Reilly, the American--and he"s coming back to marry me."
De Castano twisted himself laboriously out of his chair and waddled toward the door. He was purple with rage and mortification. On the threshold he paused to wheeze: "Very well, then. Go! I"m done with both of you. I would have lent you a hand with this rascal Cueto, but now he will fall heir to your entire property. Well, it is a time for bandits!
I--I--" Unable to think of a parting speech sufficiently bitter to match his disappointment, Don Mario plunged out into the sunlight, muttering and stammering to himself.
Within an hour the twins were on their way up the Yumuri, toward the home of Asensio and Evangelina; for it was thither that they naturally turned. It was well that they had made haste, for as they rode down into the valley, up the other side of the hill from Matanzas came a squad of the Guardia Civil, and at its head rode Pancho Cueto.
V
A CRY FROM THE WILDERNESS
New York seemed almost like a foreign city to Johnnie O"Reilly when he stepped out into it on the morning after his arrival. For one thing it was bleak and cold: the north wind, hailing direct from Baffin"s Bay, had teeth, and it bit so cruelly that he was glad when he found shelter in the building which housed the offices of the Carter Importing Company. The tropics had thinned O"Reilly"s blood, for the Cuban winds bear a kiss instead of a sting; therefore he paused in the lower hallway, jostled by the morning crowds, and tried to warm himself. The truth is O"Reilly was not only cold, but frightened.
He was far from weak-hearted. In fact, few O"Reillys were that, and Johnnie had an ingrained self-a.s.surance which might have been mistaken for impudence, but for the winning smile that went with it. Yet all the way from Havana he had seen in his mind"s eye old Sam Carter intrenched behind his flat-topped desk, and that picture had more than once caused him to forget the carefully rehea.r.s.ed speech in which he intended to resign his position as an employee and his prospects as a son-in-law.
That desk of Mr. Carter"s was always bare and orderly, cleared for action, like the deck of a battle-ship, and over it many engagements had been fought, for the man behind it never shirked a conflict. His was a vigorous and irascible temperament, compounded of old-fashioned, slow-burning black powder and nitroglycerine--a combination of incalculable destructive power. It was a perilously unstable mixture, tool, at times nothing less than a flame served to ignite it; on other occasions the office force p.u.s.s.y-footed past Carter"s door on felt soles, and even then the slightest jar often caused the untoward thing to let go. In either event there was a deafening roar, much smoke, and a deal of damage. O"Reilly felt sure that whatever the condition of Mr.
Carter"s digestion or the serenity of his mind at the beginning of their interview, the news he had to impart would serve as an effective detonator, after which it would be every man for himself. It was not the effect of his report concerning the firm"s unprofitable Cuban connections which O"Reilly feared would cause the decks to heave and the ship to rock--Samuel Carter could take calmly the most disturbing financial reverse--it was the blow to his pride at learning that anybody could prefer another girl to his daughter. Johnnie shook his shoulders and stamped his feet, but the chill in his bones refused to go.
He did gain courage, however, by thinking of Rosa Varona as he had last seen her, with arms outstretched, with eyes tear-filled, with yearning lips aquiver at his going. The picture warmed him magically, and it was with a restored determination to make a clean breast of the matter and face the worst that he took the elevator.
The office force of the Carter Importing Company looked up when the firm"s Cuban representative entered the door, but its personnel having changed as the result of one of those periodical disruptions that occurred in the inner office, he was not recognized until he presented himself to Mr. Slack, Samuel Carter"s private and intimidated secretary.
Mr. Slack smiled wanly, and extended a clammy, nerveless hand as cold and limber as a dead fish.
"You"re expected," said he. "Mr. Carter is waiting to see you before leaving for California."
"Seeing me won"t make his trip any pleasanter," O"Reilly said, somberly.
"We were afraid you wouldn"t get out of Cuba; thought we might have to get the American consul at work."
"Really? I didn"t know I was so important."
"Oh, you"re the office pet, and well you know it." Mr. Slack"s pleasantry was tinged with envy, for he had never been able to appreciate O"Reilly. "Conditions are bad, eh?"
"Yes. Anybody can leave," the other told him. "It"s getting back that"s difficult. The Spaniards don"t like us, and I dare say they have good reason, with all this talk of intervention and the secret help we"re lending the Insurrectos. They held me up in Havana; tried to prove I was a spy. They were positively peeved when they failed. Snippy people, those Spaniards."
"Well, I"ll tell Mr. Carter you"re here." The secretary glided un.o.btrusively toward the private office, disappeared, glided softly into view again, and waggled a boneless forefinger invitingly. O"Reilly went to meet his employer as a man marches to execution.
His heart sank further at the welcome he received, for the importer gave him a veritable embrace; he patted him on the back and inquired three times as to his health. O"Reilly was anything but cold now; he was perspiring profusely, and he felt his collar growing limp. To shatter this old man"s eager hopes would be like kicking a child in the face. Carter had never been so enthusiastic, so demonstrative; there was something almost theatrical in his greeting. It dismayed O"Reilly immensely to realize what a hold he must have upon his employer"s affections. Although the latter had a reputation for self-control, he appeared to be in a perfect flutter now. He a.s.sumed a boisterousness which seemed strained and wholly out of keeping with the circ.u.mstances.
His actions vaguely reminded the younger man of an ambling draft-horse trying to gallop; and when, for the fourth time, Mr. Carter inquired solicitously concerning his visitor"s well-being, Johnnie"s dismay turned to amazement. With a heavy playfulness Mr. Carter at length remarked:
"Well, my boy, you made a fizzle of it, didn"t you?" The tone was almost complimentary.